The Remedy for Taking God for Granted

If you have your Bibles with you, and you should, uh, please turn to the second book of the Bible, Exodus, chapter 20, to the list of the ten commands. We're going to focus on the last one on verse 17 in a few minutes. Let's take a minute, break. So, we turn our attention to you, Father. You're the holy one. You're the one who has given us new life. You've opened our eyes and hearts. And now, as we turn to the scriptures, speak to us in clear and life-changing ways. Where we're wrong, turn us around. Where we're doing right, confirm it. We pray that you'd give us through the spirit and through the word the ability to to to make decisions that are good for us in glorifying to you. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Well, there's a hundredyear-old hymn that says this. Turn your should I sing this? Yeah. Right. Yeah. Good luck on that one. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. look full in his wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. How many of you know that that talk? Yeah, of course. Most strangely dim. Let me ask you, how dim is all this stuff around you right now? My guess is that right now it's pretty bright, pretty sharp, pretty glittery. As we draw near Christmas, most of us are facing a frenzy of shopping as well as giving hints of what we want to others. We have we have lists of stuff to buy and lists of what we want and our inboxes are absolutely jammed with advertisements and our television and social media is are peppered with holiday appeals. So between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, I thought it would be appropriate to take a few minutes and, you know, as the flurry of shopping begins, uh, to address the condition of our hearts, not the stuff, but what's going on inside. And so this morning, I would like to explore two polar opposites on the cardiac spectrum. On one end is coveting, and the other end is contentment. These two conditions, I think, reflect more of what's going on in our hearts than nearly any other indicator. One is expressly forbidden. The other one is enthusiastically encouraged. One is supernatural. The other one is all too natural to us. If you have one, you're probably not going to have the other. Uh they're mutually exclusive. In fact, one I think is the antidote to the other. There are two internal conditions, two states of mind, two very different ways of looking at all of life. And both seem to surface in all of us at this season of the year. So this morning, allow me to probe those two conditions as we prepare to launch into the Christmas season. So let's start with what's wrong, the sin of coveting. If you look at Exodus 20:1 17, it says it very simply. He says, God says, "You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that is that is your neighbors." Now this is the 10th and final command of the ten commands and though and through it God is for forbidding being discontent marital someone else's wife uh or or your status well I don't have those male and female servants not that many or even financially houses fields ox when you see ox think pickup

and you know what's God is surprisingly comprehensive and detailed about about it because he knows that you and I are going to try to make exceptions to the rule. And that's why he's so detailed about not this, not this, not this, not this, not this because there there aren't any exceptions. Don't covet anything ever. He says, "Okay, well, we better get real clear about this. What is coveting?" Coveting is the overwhelming desire to possess what you don't or can't or shouldn't have. The overwhelming desire to possess what you don't have, what you can't have, or what you shouldn't have. In other words, I need this. I I want it. I want it badly. I want it so badly I can taste. I'll do anything to get it. It's really not addressing materialism. Materialism is the obsession with stuff. it because it's not it's not about having, it's about wanting that's warned against. It's it's not possessing that is warned against. It's obsessing about wanting. So, you can have a nice car, a big house, a consuming hobby, and really not be guilty of this. Or you can have nothing at all and be deeply infected with it. You can be rich. You can write a check for anything and you can absolutely shatter this command. Or you can be in need of the basic necessities of life and fully follow what God has instructed because it's not really about the stuff. It's about our hearts. And you think, well, how big of a problem is this? Well, I think it's really big. I read a book by Dr. Richard Swinson a few years ago called Margin. Did you know that at last count there's 195 nations in the world and every year Americans spend more on trash bags than the individual gross national product of half of those countries. We spend more on eating out than the gross national product of most of those countries. And yet you tune into any TV or glance at any magazine or surf on the website, any website, and it isn't long before your senses are assaulted by the message, you need this, whatever this is. One commentator said it this way. Never in the history of civilization have people been as pushed to possess as we are. Marketing research is a billion dollar a year business. Thousands of people across this country spend 40 hours a week designing ways to trigger our buying mechanisms. They use music, slogans, sights, sounds, and colors to inflame our passion to possess. Often they attempt to stimulate fear, nostalgia, pride, sexual arousal, jealousy, or some other intense emotion. And their ultimate goal though is to impair our self-control just long enough for us to decide that we simply must have their product. In short, they're trying to make us covet.

Chat GPT says that a that the actual number of advertising messages that you, the average American, are exposed to each day is boy. Just think what what what number is he going to say? What is what is he? It's going to be 10, 15, 15, 100, 500. No, no, no, no, no. Between 4,000 and 10,000 messages every day. I did the math. That's one appeal every 8.6 seconds. You have to have this. Think of all the commercials and the billboards and the magazine ads and the sales pitches and the digital ads, all carefully designed to inflame our passion to possess what we don't have. And they all directly challenge Jesus word. Jesus said this. Take care and be on your guard against all covetedness. Covet covetousness. I can't even say it. Covetousness. For one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. And our whole society screams does too. And if you want it, you can have it. We'll help you. We'll loan you the money at 5.9% interest for 48 months. No payments until June. If you're uncertain, we'll lower your inhibitions. We'll give you reasons why you need this right now. Indulge and you'll really be living. Don't listen to Jesus.

The push to possess what we don't have starts with a dissatisfaction with what we do have. This is why it's so ruinous to covet. We think, you know, what I want, I don't have. What I have, I don't want. Everything's wrong. Nothing is right. I want a newer iPhone. I want a more stylish wardrobe. I don't want these clothes that I have. I I want a job that pays more. I want a nicer house. I want a a shapely wife. I want a more communicative husband. Right? So, what why would why, you know, are these bad things to want? What? Why would God say no to these things? Why would he be warning uh against this? Well, in other words, what's wrong with what I want? Why would God maybe not give it to me? Well, it might be the wrong time. God is saying not now. Sometimes God wants us to go through a process to get something and that process is more important than the than the product or that having something right now might short circuit a greater need. Uh years and years and years ago in in a different time and age, Barb and I were engaged. Uh we were engaged for a long time actually. We actually went together for five years and then we were engaged for two more. I know that sounds like a very long time and it was, but I wanted to get I I was in in seminary and she was actually at Biola in a nursing program that she had gotten in and both of us were right dead center in the middle of it. And uh I just wanted to get married so badly that I flew out from Dallas to LA to to surprise her and talk her into an accelerated timeline. uh drawing and you know I we went out to to eat and and I I made the pitch you know this is this makes a lot of sense for us to do this and and you know uh and she was very uh quiet and clear and listening and when I when I was all done I looked at her I was expecting her to say yeah let's let's do this and she she asked me the question she said do you think we perceived God's timing correctly when we set the eight.

Uh-huh.

Well, she pressed. Do you think he's changed his mind?

Uh-uh.

Do you think you ought to go back to Dallas now? Mhm.

So, I returned and you know, waiting actually built trust and patience and it scraped off some of my flakiness, some of it. Because sometimes God says no because it isn't the right time.

Sometimes he says no because it's the wrong item, not not this. I'm fixated on a new car and he wants me to have a used car and enjoy that having the means uh to give to other people's needs to give to to the to the church. Or I might want an income greater than my ability and wisdom can righteously handle. We all know people who have gotten a lot of money either, you know, through an inheritance or maybe somehow they got lucky and they got, you know, the right, you know, they they won a lottery or something like it absolutely destroyed them.

If I get more, it it could harm me spiritually through bad choices. You might want this more than anything, but he have you might have that in the wings and he might be throwing up roadblocks right and left to keep you from indulging your covetousness and ruining your life. Maybe maybe nothing's wrong with the item. It's just that it's the wrong item for you. So, it could be the wrong time, could be the wrong item, or it could be a forbidden item. And you might be saying, "Not ever, like someone else's wife." Or or you covet uh someone else's husband or a different situation in in in life that's unrighteous, a compromising way out of a bad situation, an unrighteous divorce, pornography, anything contrary to God's revealed will. If it's forbidden, you shouldn't set your heart on it. Now, you may think you know better than God does or that God is a grump or a Scrooge for saying no to you, but I think Jay Vernon McGee is right. He says, "This is God's universe and God does things his way. You may have a better way, but you don't have a universe.

So maybe we shouldn't be so quick to ignore what God is warning against." and and and what he warns against is coveting.

So why is coveting so bad? Well, I can tell you that it sour our taste. Ecclesiastes 5:10 says it this way. Who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income. This also is vanity. Dave Gibson when we went through uh Ecclesiastes made made us made it clear for again and again that that word vanity implies frustration and emptiness. And so the idea is that when we covet, we undermine our satisfaction with what we already have. We'll never learn to enjoy and appreciate all that God has given us unless we curb our coveting. Because when I covet, it takes away the comfort and joy of what I have because of what I don't have. In other words, you might have a really nice home, but because you want another home, the one that that you have gives you no joy. You might have a faithful wife or husband, but because you've been eyeing another wife or husband, you don't appreciate the glory of the person God gave you. And when you want something so badly that you can just taste it, it actually makes everything else but what you covet taste sour.

John Jason Layman wrote a poem to show the irony of coveting. He says, "It was spring, but it was summer that I wanted the warm days and the great outdoors. It was summer, but it was fall I wanted the colorful leaves, the cool, dry air. It was fall, but it was winter. I wanted the beautiful snow and the joy of the holiday season. It was winter, but it was spring. I wanted the warmth and blossom blossoming of nature. I was a child, but it was adulthood. I wanted the freedom and the respect. I was 20, but it was 30. I wanted to be mature and sophisticated. I was middle-aged, but it was 20. I wanted the youth and the free spirit. I was retired, but it was middle-ag. I wanted the presence of mind without limitations. My life was over and I never got what I wanted. Wow.

Coveting sour us. But not only does it sour us, it it affects our judgment. There's a story in the Old Testament about a guy named Achen. Anybody is that familiar with anybody? Achen. Ever hear of Achen? Achen is in the book of Judges. And though he knew better, um he had clearly uh heard God forbidding taking gold or silver or clothing in the fall of the city of Jericho.

But he coveted and he took stuff and he hid it in his tent. And Israel then attacked Ai. But they suffered a horrible defeat and as a result many many Israelites were killed. Because of Achen's disregard, God had withdrawn from Israel and allowed them to be slaughtered. And Joshua sought the uh sought the reason for the defeat. And through a series of events, Achen was exposed as the culprit. And in front of everybody, he confessed this. This is what he said. Actually, this is from Joshua, not Judges. Uh Joshua 7, truly I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel. And this is what I did when I saw among the spoil a beautiful cloak from Shinar Babylon and 200 shekels of silver and a bar of gold weighing 50 shekels and I coveted them and took them and see they're hinted in in the earth inside my tent with the silver underneath. I'm I'm very glad that he he he fessed up. But I want you to see that Achen coveted something that he was warned by God not to take a robe, some silver coins, and a bar of gold. Even though God clearly said, "Don't do it beforehand." I mean, this is not a long time ago that God said it and then and then he tried to apply it to his situation there. It was it was don't do this. And immediately after he did it and the result was disastrous. All of his stuff was taken and destroyed including cattle, sheep, and donkeys that belong to him. He and his family were executed and buried under a pile of rocks as a reminder to take God seriously. I mean, this coveting thing apparently can really badly affect our vision and our judgment. I mean we might not listen to anybody not even God. And if you doubt that, think of it this way. When cutting in infects us, it disables our our our minds. It numbs our thinking and our senses. So we end up breaking every conviction to get what we want. We might ignore our kids, our children. We might work too long. We might make our health suffer. We might use people for our own ends to get what we want. We might neglect our spiritual life and keep our money to ourselves and become stingy instead of generous. In short, we could compromise everything that we once said was important to us and put on hold our very destiny just to get what we covered. [Music] Giving into coveting can sabotage us to the point where we're no longer free to love God or serve him as his agents in this world.

Coveting can really affect your judgment and it essentially it questions God's care. Jesus says it this way. He says, "Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on, clothing. It's not life more than food, and the body more than clothing. Therefore, do not be anxious, saying, "What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear?" For the Gentiles, people who don't know God, seek after all these things, and your heavenly father knows that you need them all. So worry is a backhanded slap across the face of God's care. And to covet is to think, look, if I don't if I don't look out for myself in my own happiness, no, nobody will. God's wisdom about what is good for us and what we need coupled with his power to do what he thinks best is his sovereign care for us. Do you believe that God will take care of you? Well, I can't count on God to provide. So, I'll have to take matters into my own hands. I want it. I'll get it no matter what. And I will say it's a thin line between acquiring things righteously and getting them no matter what we have to do or who we have to hurt. The question that we have to ask is, can I trust God to provide for me? And coveting removes God from the equation. and puts a wish list in his place. And when I check off everything on that wish list, does that mean that I'll be satisfied and I'll never covet again? What are you crazy?

Philosopher Emanuel Kant said, "Give a man everything he wants and at that moment everything will not be everything." Right?

So, how do you get free of coveting? Uh, you can't just by sheer will do it. Uh, you can't just stop wanting if you want badly. Um, the way to curb coveting is to is to do just the opposite to u to to cultivate and crave contentment. Uh, Philippians 4 11 through13 says it this way. Not that I am speaking of being in need, says Paul, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be what? What does it say? Content. I know how to be brought low. I know how to abound in every and in any and every circumstance. I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Okay, just like we did with coveting, let's do the same with contentment. Let's define it. What is it? Well, it essentially is being able to truthfully say in our hearts, it is enough. It's enough. And act actually the word in the original language for content literally means enough or sufficient.

So the implications of what Paul is saying is that first it's a lesson that you learn. I have learned he says and that means that it isn't this instantaneous thing. It's not like you just make one decision. Uh it's not like a an aspirin that you take. It's like a lesson that you learn. It starts in our heads with how we think and how we see things. But it doesn't stay there. Contentment isn't a one-time decision. It's also a discipline that we practice. It isn't something that we acquire once and and for all. You have to get good at it over time. It's a learned discipline. And it means learning to bite your tongue when you feel like you have just cause for complaining uh or choosing a brighter attitude when it's, you know, the same old grind because coveting sneaks up on you and contentment is something that you choose. Some of you feel trapped in a difficult marriage. It's hard. It's hard right now. Stick with it. You You might feel like you're locked into a frustrating job or weighed down by small children. You might be feeling resentment over being passed over for a promotion or having a loan application denied or you know you're single and you and you don't want to be single or or you're a single parent or you're s you you've suffered from an unwanted divorce and so you're so you're tempted to think that happiness is beyond your grasp because your circumstances are unlikely to change. I will tell you that contentment works as a discipline in those very instances. But you have to decide to practice it. Verse 12, uh Paul says that he could be content in any economic condition. And I think all of us know people who have had much more than us. Uh that could we would even say, "Oh, that guy's really wealthy." Wealthy is a relative term. actually means more than they have more than me, more than, you know, we do. And we and we know people that have had more than us, but are still unhappy and discontent. And we we say, "Hey, what's wrong with them? If I only had what they had, I'd be content." Really? Really?

One of the keys to learning contentment is not expecting or seeking anything or anyone other than God to meet the deepest needs of your heart. I'm going to say this again. If I could jump up and down 10 times and say it and make sure that you got it. This is the this is a this is really really important because one of the lies that coveting tells you is that if I only had this you can fill in the blank with anything then I'd be happy and that's not true. Honestly, we have obtained many of the top items in our wish list. We have a mental wish list. I actually made a wish list just as a thing. I was thinking, hey, you know, I should try this sometime. And so I actually wrote a wish list, a crazy wish list. It was like in the mid90s. Here I am now in 2025. I still had that wish list and most of the items have been checked off.

And the wish list has been replaced with how many others?

Only God can meet the deepest needs and desires of our hearts.

And when we finally believe and live by that, we'll discover that coveting will be more easily curbed and content contentment will grow. Okay. So, how do I learn it? Well, I think you have to start with the the notion that God actually cares for us. The 10th command itself itself I think is a ray of hope. It's a promise because God who is forbidding this this this coveting this this this obsession with whatever I want and he says don't do that. He's implying you don't have a need to covet. Don't do it. I will take care of you. And then we turn in the New Testament we read stuff like this. He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all. How will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Wow. If God has provided what we needed most at his great personal greatest personal expense, doesn't that demonstrate his commitment to provide whatever else we need? And do you really believe that if you need it, God's going to give it to you? He'll provide it for you. That's where you start. I believe I have to believe that God cares for me and then I want to give him a chance to provide for me. Matthew chapter 7, I love this. Uh Jesus says, "Ask, it'll be given to you. Seek, you will find. Knock, it'll be open to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and the one who knocks, it'll be opened."

Or which one of you if a son asks him for bread will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish will give him a ser serpent. I'm not going to God's not going to give you something that's going to hurt you. If you then who are evil know how to give good gifts to your kids, your children, how much more will your father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him? So you want that? Why not give God a chance to provide it for you? He's not going to give you something that will hurt you, but he does delight in giving. That's why he says, "Ask, seek, knock." He's he's Jesus is saying, "Go ahead, ask God." Ask him. Now, you shouldn't violate any means of acquiring something. Don't steal. Don't hurt somebody else in order to get what you want. But why not ask God and trust him for the means? He may use your earning power. You might get a raise. You might get a great deal. It might be a gift from a completely unexpected source. Just look for his hand in in it and ask him first. Yeah. Well, what if I don't get it? Well, well, then be patient. Hebrews 6 13-15 says this way. Uh he says, "When God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, saying, surely I will bless you and multiply you. You're going to have a kid." And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise.

Yeah, it's good. Good, good, good job, Abraham. Okay, now wait a minute. How long did he have to wait? If you know the story, it was 25 years.

25 years. That's like God promising us something in 2000 and now it's 2025 and it's only this year that he delivers. Wow. Well, when he doesn't provide, be patient.

I can assure you he has a better grasp of time than you do and a better grasp of your needs.

And if he doesn't provide in the pro in the process, cultivate thanksgiving. Um, Philippians 4:6. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication. What are the next two words? Read it with me with thanksgiving. Let your requests be made known to God. So, tell God what you want. Don't be anxious about it. Be patient if you don't get it. Focus not only on what you don't have, but on what you do. and be thankful for all that God has already given. Don't fixate on what you don't have or on what you deserve. Focus on all the things that he's flooded your life with. Things that maybe you don't deserve at all, like forgiveness, God's love and acceptance, assurance of eternal life, a purpose, having the family of God around us, uh, and then all the other stuff that we have. It's crazy. This woman I got to share with um in uh in Cuba on the island of old cars and I shared the gospel with this woman and her little uh little boy. And uh this young woman's husband fled the country and left her and and their little boy with absolutely nothing. It's kind of a hvel of a of a shack that she lived in. and um in tears and in gratitude as I'm sharing the gospel with her. She puts her faith in Christ and she's so thankful that we came and and she wanted to know if she if she could make make me something, you know, like some coffee or something like that. And and the entire time I'm thinking, God, I have so much

And she has so little and she is so thankful

regardless of what happens. Put stuff in perspective. Uh 1 Timothy puts it this way. And by the way, the Bible is just shot through with the notion that we shouldn't covet.

And so Paul says, "Godliness with contentment is great gain." With contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, that's pretty low bar. But if we have that, we'll be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. So, so let me just put it this way just so so we make sure that we understand what he's saying. He's saying godliness, which doesn't mean god the word godliness in the New Testament is not the word for morality. It doesn't mean that he's a he's a nice guy or he's a moral guy. Godliness means I care about what God wants. That's what it means. I care about what God's God wants. I want to do whatever pleases him. That's godliness. You have a person who is a godly person. That person cares about what God wants. godliness plus contentment. Being godly, caring about what God wants, and being contented with where you are in life, that's great gain. It's lifechanging. Often times we read it wrong. We We think godliness being moral plus a lot of stuff, then we'll be content.

And we need to really make sure we get this right. Possessions aren't the most important thing in the world. In fact, they don't even last. We We didn't bring anything in. And we'll leave it all behind when we die. And we should be content no matter what or how much we have or don't have. So, so here's the deal. If if you have come in here and you've and you're you're just wondering about your spiritual life, your internal life, your relationship with God, and you've never actually understood that you have to put your faith and confidence in Jesus. And when you accept him as the only way to become right with God, you accept what he did as enough to make you right with God. Then the spirit of God comes into your life, starts to change you from the inside out.

You receive the twin gifts of complete forgiveness and new life that will never end. That's the gospel. Christ died in your place and was raised from the dead. And when you do that,

then contentment can happen. But without him, there's this vacuum, this void, this emptiness that only his presence can fill. And so he's calling you through your discontent. And he's saying to you, "Come to me. Admit your need. accept me as your savior. I will forgive you and you will be mine and I will be yours. See, that's why we have this statement of purpose to glorify God by pointing the affections of all peoples to the allsatisfying person of Jesus Christ because we do think that with Jesus contentment in any circumstance is possible. And without Jesus, you got a great big hole in your life. and absolutely nothing will be able to fill it.

But if you put your faith in trust in Christ, you're a Christian, then your relationship can satisfy your deepest needs. And so what the writer to the Hebrews said, I challenge you to believe.

Keep your life free from the love of money and be content with what you have. For he has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." So, as we enter into this Christmas se season when we're celebrating the coming of our savior Jesus, let's ponder everything that we have in Christ and let's put in perspective all else that we have. And we have a lot. all else that he's given to us. Despite whatever we don't have, we should confess with joy, Jesus is enough. Amen. Let's pray.

Jesus, you are enough for us. We have so much. I pray that we would not fixate on what we do not have but on what we do that we you'd make us into grateful, thankful, contented people.

Thank you that you will never leave us or forsake us. We love you in Jesus name. Those agreed said amen.