LIFE IS AN ATTITUDE – PICK A GOOD ONE
Things R Us
Sunday February 4, 2007
Scripture Reference: Romans 12:2, Numbers 11:4-15, 18-20, 31-35
Intro.
A. What do you wish for? I have been trying to be a little more interactive in my sermons lately so that we can begin to see the impact changing our attitudes can have. I would like you to join me in another brief exercise. I want you to write down the one thing you wish for. Now I am not going to ask you to share this with anyone so you can be perfectly honest. What do you wish for?
1. Let’s see if any of the things you wish for are on the same list as these people. [] Show “I Wish” video.
B. To say that greed, materialism, or covetousness is a problem in America today is really more than a statement of the obvious. To say that we are living in an age of wanting more and more stuff is like telling the people jumping off the Titanic to be careful because the water is cold.
1. The danger to us today and I will direct my concerns to those of us who call ourselves Christians is not simply that there is a problem in our culture with materialism the greater danger is that we by in large do not even see the danger anymore. It is so much a part of us that we don’t even see it as a problem anymore. [] It is like the banner that hangs on the back of our sanctuary wall. That banner expresses the mission of our church, yet I wonder how many of us who attend Cornerstone on a regular basis even see it anymore. It’s not even that we don’t agree with the statement it’s just that we don’t really give it much thought. Last week I share a quote from a Vance Havner and in that quote he said, “What we take for granted we never take seriously.” If this is true and I believe it is then I don’t think we are taking it all that seriously that we have a real problem within the church with the attitude of covetousness, or wanting more and more stuff.
Trans. Now let’s begin today as we have done in the past with this series and define what we mean by coveting or materialism.
I. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO COVET?
First of all to covet is to want the wrong things.
A. To Covet Is To Want The Wrong Things.
1. Now let me list for you a few of the things that I think are wrong for us to want or to pursue. I think that it is wrong for us to want power or to pursue power. Now I will say that power is not intrinsically evil meaning that power is not evil in and of itself but wanting power or chasing after power is wrong. People who want power are people who want to be in control and usually they want to be in control of others. [] I was in a class on Child molestation and Child Abuse a few weeks ago at a police chaplain’s conference. The instructor told us that in all cases the child molester is not after the sexual gratification he is after the power. He wants power over others and usually because he had no power over others in his early life. I think wanting position is wrong. Do you want to be the “boss” the supervisor, the club president? Now is there anything wrong with being a boss or supervisor or club president? Of course not but you would be hard pressed to convince me that people who want the position and pursue them find themselves doing things they would not normally do in order to achieve that position.
B. To Covet Is To Want The Right Things For The Wrong Reasons.
1. [] Let me use the illustration of police chaplaincy. I have witnessed in the 13 years that I have been a police chaplain that there are a few of the men who wanted to be police chaplains so that they could wear a badge or a uniform. Or they wanted to be a policeman but couldn’t make it through the normal channels so they decided to become a police chaplain. It is certainly a good thing to want to serve your community in this particular role but it becomes wrong when we want the right things for the wrong reasons.
2. We see this also in the life of the church. I have known people who wanted to be pastors. I think that is a good thing. I subscribe to what my pastor told me when I felt called to ministry. He said you are either called or crazy because no one would knowingly choose to be a pastor. But as I listened more closely to these people I discovered that they wanted to be pastors for the wrong reasons. They saw this as a cushy job where they could work just a few days a week. They saw pastors up in front of people getting a lot of attention and thought that would be cool. A college professor set us straight on this one as well. He said the fact that you stand up there in front of the people just makes you an easier target. They failed to read the words of James in 3:1 where James said that leaders would incur a stricter judgment.
C. To Covet Is To Want The Right Things At The Wrong Time.
1. This happens over and over again with young couples and I am talking about young couples even within the church. These young couples want to get married. They have been dating for a while, they believe they are really in love, they believe God has brought them together so they say; “We want to start living together.” Now let’s be honest, that statement does not mean, “We want to share responsibilities in the home.” The man is not saying, “I want to start right now helping do the dishes and do the laundry and vacuum the floors.” These couple is not saying, “We just can’t wait to begin paying rent and utility bills and credit card bills.” What we are being told here is, “We want to sleep together.” Now there is doubt that sex is a good thing, but it is the wrong thing if we want it at the wrong time.
D. To Covet Is To Want The Right Things In The Wrong Amount.
1. The best illustration here is money. It is not wrong to want money, money is a good thing money is a necessary thing, but it becomes the wrong thing and it becomes an attitude of coveting if we want money in the wrong amount. Why do most people want more money? Is it so we can give more of it away? Oh we hear that as the reason but I have rarely witnessed as the fact. Let me help you with some thing here. This may help those of you who feel that if you win the lottery you will really help out the church. I can guarantee you that if can’t give God ten percent of $1,000.00 now you will not give Him ten percent of one million dollars then.
Trans. OK so let’s quickly review. To covet is to want the wrong things, it is to want the right things for the wrong reasons, it is to want the right things at the wrong time and it is to want to the right things in the wrong amount. Let’s look at this story in Numbers to learn a few more important truths about coveting. First of all, beware of the warning signs.
I. BEWARE OF THE WARNING SIGNS.
We all know that when it comes to diseases or illnesses in most cases there are specific warning signs that say, “Something is going on here and you better take a look at it.” [] My dad was diagnosed with lung cancer in April last year, was that the first warning sign that something was wrong? Not according to his own words. He told us that for months he had been feeling different. He said that whenever he bent over he found that he was losing his breath. I don’t know if it would have made a difference in his case but I know that in many cases the outcomes could be much different if we heed the warning signs. I think one of the most prominent warning signs that we are developing a covetous attitude is this:
A. I Could Be Happy If…
1. Now it may not always be expressed just like this but it means the same. It might come out like this, “If only I had…” or “Someday I am going to get…” However we may chose to express it the bottom-line is the same. “I can only be really happy or content if I have something more than what I have now.”
2. These Israelites forgot the very thing many of us forget. They were just passing through this wilderness are on their way to the land God had promised to them. This wilderness was not to be their home, it wasn’t their resting place. It was just the place they were passing through to get to the really great place God had in store for them. Isn’t it true that we are guilty of this very same thing? We forget that this world is not our home, not if you are a child of God. What difference will all the wealth in the world matter if we spend eternity apart from God? [] I saw a bumpier sticker on a car once that said, “Nothing in this car is worth your life.” I understand the intent of that bumper sticker. He wanted people to know that if you touch his car or anything in it he will kill you. The problem is that many people, in fact I will go further to say most people in America today are killing their selves for more stuff. We are snuffing the spiritual lives out of ourselves in our quest for more things. Please remember that no one has come to the end of their lives saying, “I wish I had spent more time at work” or “I wish I had bought more stuff.”
Trans. Here is another warning sign.
B. Don’t Stare!
1. How many of you know that the longer you stare at something you would like to have the more likely you are to get it? [] There are times when I go to the refrigerator or cupboard to get something to eat. Now that I am on a diet I know there are things I shouldn’t eat because I will gain weight and I don’t want to, but I also know that the longer I stand there looking at the cake in the fridge or the cookies in the cupboard the more likely I am to give in and have some. There have been times though when I take a quick look and then close the door. I saw something I wanted to have but since I didn’t entertain the idea for long the desire passed.
2. Have you also noticed that the longer you stare at something or entertain the desire for whatever the thing might be the more desirable you make it? [] Every one of us who has dieted has said this, “I will start the diet tomorrow.”? We know that we need to lose weight, but there is something that we really want to eat and so we convince ourselves that this thing we want is more desirable than losing those extra pounds. Let’s be honest and admit that we are all extremely proficient at lying to ourselves. We are proficient at making ourselves believe things that really aren’t true. Look at your next credit card bill and tell me this isn’t true. Look at V.4-5 (read). What were they saying? They were saying “We remember how great life was for us in Egypt.” “We remember the great bounty of food we have to choose from.” Well if you know anything about those years after Joseph died you know that this was anything but true. Life was extremely hard for them. What little they had was reaped by the sweat of their brow. Here is what they were saying when they were still in Egypt, Exodus 2:23 NLT Years passed, and the king of Egypt died. But the Israelites continued to groan under their burden of slavery. They cried out for help, and their cry rose up to God. What these children of Israel were doing was practicing selective memory. They only remember what they wanted to remember and those things did not include the suffering they were under while they were in Egypt and how they wanted God to help them.
Trans. Here I believe is another warning sing we need to watch out for. This the warning sign that says I want God and _____________.
C. God and _________________.
1. What is happening here when we say we want God and _______________. We are in essence saying that God really is not enough for us that God is more like optional equipment for us. He is nice to have but God is not enough we want God but we also want to have all these other things because God is not enough to satisfy us.
2. There is a very interesting term used in the passage we looked at today, let’s look again at V.4 (read). Other translations phrase it better by saying “mixed multitude”. What it refers to is the fact that when the Israelites fled Egypt you may recall that the bible said that the Egyptians were favorably disposed towards the Israelites and many of them joined up with them and left Egypt as well. The problem with many of these Egyptians is that they seem to have wanted to tag along with the Israelites only because they wanted in on the good things that were happening to them. They saw the consequences Pharaoh and many of his people had suffered under God’s hand and they wanted to avoid those same consequences. Here was the problem with these people. They never were following God they were following merely following God’s goodness or as we might phrase it “God’s Blessings.”
3. If you listen again to what these people are saying you can understand fully what is happening here. The bible says they began to crave other food. What had God been doing for them? He had been providing Manna. This food came down at night and all they had to do was step outside their tents each morning and pick up all the food they needed. It was all they needed to live but they said, “Sorry God this is no longer good enough, you need to provide something better.” Are we guilty of this very thing? Are we saying things like, “I want God but I also want a home or a new home and bigger home?” “I want God but I want more money.” “I want God but I also don’t want God to tell me what I can or cannot do.” I want God but I don’t want to give my tithe.” Let me remind you that God is a jealous God and He will not be one of many gods in our lives. Jesus said that the greatest commandment was to love God with all of you heart, soul, mind, and strength. God is not willing to be the optional equipment in your life. He will either be Lord of all or He will not be Lord at all.
Trans. I have two more points I need to make in this message so I am really going to have to hurry so hold on tight. Here is another lesson we learn from these verses. If we are not careful we might just get the gift we don’t want.
III. THE GIFT YOU DON’T WANT.
We have all heard this expression before, “Be careful what you wish for because you just might get it. Well that’s what happened to these people.
A. You Might Get What You Wish For.
1. You know getting what we want does not mean that we get what we need. I believe that what most of us need today is not more but less and please understand that I include myself on that list. I don’t really need more but I sure do need to learn to be content with what I already have. Look at what happened to these people in V.18-20a (read). [] I love hamburgers. I have joked before that I could eat hamburgers everyday but I know that is not true. We all know that too much of a good thing can be bad. Quail might have been good for a few days, maybe even a week but that was not what they got, they got quail every day for a month straight. [] I have told this story before but since we have some many new people on our church I get to tell it again. When I got caught smoking as a kid my dad decided that if we liked cigarettes so much that maybe we would enjoy eating them also. So he had my brother and I eat some cigarettes. Guess what? I have never had a problem with tobacco. Oh I will admit that I did try it a couple of times when I was in Jr. High school but somehow I never could acquire the taste if you know what I mean?
2. Look at what it says in V.31-32 (read). Can you imagine this scene? I am not even sure how they walked around.
Trans. What we also learn here is that:
B. You Might End Up Despising the Gift.
1. Look at V. 20 again (read). [] It would be my guess that almost everyone here knows this experience firsthand. There has been something that you desperately wanted. You made some sacrifices to get that thing or you even violated laws to get it and what happened after you got what you so desperately wanted? You began to hate that thing. [] What about Judas and the money he was paid to betray Jesus? He got what he wanted but what happened to him? He threw the money away and hung himself. Doesn’t sound like what he thought he wanted was really worth while. [] I can still remember a man in my church in Fresno who desperately wanted a travel trailer. Now I know some of you own travel trailers so let me preface this by saying this is no attack on those who own travel trailers. But this gut just had to have one. Guess what? He had not owned that trailer one month before he was regretting his decision. In fact he ended up selling it back to the dealership for a lose just to get rid of it.
Trans. Let me closer today by sharing with you some of the consequences of coveting.
IV. THE CONSEQUENCES OF A COVETOUS ATTITUDE.
A. Discontent.
1. The fact is that if you have or are developing a covetous attitude you are finding that enough is never enough. Let me warn all of us, this can easily become the frog in the kettle syndrome. Do you understand what I am talking about? If you put a frog into a boiling pot of water it will jump right out, but if you put that same frog in a pot of cool water and then gradually raise the temperature that frog will stay in that water and boil to death. What I am trying to tell us today is that it is very possible and likely that we can be sitting in this pot and not be aware that the water is beginning to boil. In our culture today we are so enamored with getting more stuff that it almost does not seem wrong any more it seem natural.
2. I think to discover whether or not we are suffering this consequence of a covetous attitude need to go back to the warning signs. Do we find ourselves saying “If I just had this I could finally be happy?” Do we find ourselves fixed on some new toy we want? Remember the longer we stare at that thing the more likely we are to yield to that temptation and that will become sin.
3. Beware! A covetous attitude will render you unable to discern what a need is and what a want is. Listen to what Isaiah 55:2 NAB Why spend your money for what is not bread; your wages for what fails to satisfy?
Trans. Here is another consequence.
B. An Empty Heart.
1. Listen to Psalm 106:15 MG He gave them exactly what they asked for— but along with it they got an empty heart. Jesus when he said, Mark 8:36 NLT And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? I don’t know how many times I have seen this where people pursue things and they get those things but they lose the only thing that matters and that is life in Christ, eternal life. Listen to me; you can’t be greedily pursuing the things of this world and the things of God at the same time. This is that warning sign of “God and______.”
2. We can never find satisfaction in our natural desire until first we find satisfaction in our spiritual desires? Do you understand what I mean here? I can be satisfied with whatever I have as long as Jesus is Lord of my life. If I have not fulfilled that desire the stuff I can get or earn from this world will always leave me empty.
3. Here is a critical point. NOTHING IS ESSENTIAL BUT GOD!
Trans. I know I have said lot here and frankly I can say a lot more but can I give you one more consequence of a covetous attitude? I think it is important that I share this last one with you.
C. Our Greed Hurts Others.
1. The greed started with the foreigners, but it didn’t stay there. Everyone in the camp was effected look at V.10 (read). Just a warning here I am about to step on toes so don’t say you weren’t warned OK? Our greedy or covetous attitudes do not only affect us personally but they affect others around us. The local church is hurt quite profoundly by the covetous attitude of the people in it. Why doesn’t every person who calls Jesus their savior tithe and give offerings? Oh I know that many will say, “Well I just can’t afford to.” And why is that so? Isn’t it so because we have been living a life of covetousness? We have been spending our money on things that can’t satisfy us to impress people we don’t like. I have yet to meet the person who went into debt giving to God. All the people I know who have been rich towards God always seem to be satisfied and have enough. No they don’t all drive BMW’s or Mercedes Benz, or Hummers (though so of them do) but they have transportation and that seems to be enough for them.
2. Look with me at V.10-15 (read). The greed of these people even hurt their leadership. [] I use to look at people’s giving records in the church, but I don’t do that any more. Now some pastors I know feel it is very important for us to do so but I will tell you why I don’t. I don’t look because it hurts me to much. It hurts to see people who talk a good talk but don’t walk a good walk. When we chose an attitude of covetousness we hurt our fellow church members and we hurt the leadership. So much has to be left undone because there is never enough money to do the things we want to do and feel led to do.
LIFE APPLICATION
A. I have included in your bulletin a little 12 question quiz to help you see if coveting is a problem for you. I really challenge you to take the test because I think you might be surprised at the results. I took the test feeling pretty confident in my contentment but discovered at least from a non-scientific test that I may not be as content as I have led myself to believe.
B. Let me suggest one other way that we can help ourselves see if we are living with a covetous attitude. This is very simple and you can just do this on your own. Simply take a sheet of paper and divide it down the middle. On one side write NEED and on the other side write WANT. Now all you have to do is decide what in your life a need is and what is a want. Once you have done that you can easily see if you are honest with yourself whether or not you are chasing after needs or wants. It may well be for many of us that we have to cross off a few of those wants so that we still have money for the needs.
