Blind Spots
I recently discovered that I have a blind spot. In fact I have two. I had my eyes checked for new glasses a few weeks ago and while I was there they said I should have a field vision test. This is a test that checks whether there are parts of your retina that aren’t functioning properly. At the end the optometrist showed me the plot of the results. It was fine except for a very dark spot on each eye. She pointed out that these were my blind spots, the spots where the optic nerve enters the eye and where I have no sensors. Well that got me thinking about whether I had any other blind spots and when I started thinking about this sermon I thought that in fact this area of covetousness is a very common blind spot for many of us.
Jesus met a young man one day who had a blind spot. Luke tells us he was a ruler, that is he was one of the leaders of the Jewish people. And he had an important question to ask Jesus. He wanted to know how he could be sure of having eternal life. What good thing must he do to become worthy. Jesus’ answer is the orthodox Jewish answer: "Keep the commandments." But that’s not good enough for this man. That answer makes him look foolish. So he asks, "Which ones?" So Jesus tells him: "You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; 19Honor your father and mother." Then he throws in the ’catch all’ "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." "Phew" says the young man. "I’ve been obeying those since I was a youngster. So I guess I’m OK then?"
But as I said, he has a blind spot. And it’s a big one. It’s actually a blind spot that lots of people have; these days as much as in Jesus’ day. Jesus says "You still lack one thing. If you want to be perfect you need to go and sell everything you own and give the money to the poor. And instead you’ll find you have treasure in heaven."
This rich man’s blind spot was this: he thought his security and his self-worth were based on his material possessions, his no doubt considerable wealth. What he failed to see was that riches in heaven depend on something else. They depend on the attitudes of our heart.
Have you noticed how, as we’ve gone through this series on the 10 commandments, time and time again the issue has revolved around the hidden motives of the heart, Whether it’s been murder, adultery, stealing, truth, what’s mattered has been what’s in our hearts, what’s motivating us, where we look for satisfaction. And again coveting is about where our heart looks for satisfaction, for contentment. Are our hearts following the heart of God? Are we trusting God to provide for us.
Moralism
You see, the rich young ruler was only thinking about outward conformity; what good thing did he need to do to be worthy of God. What God was looking for was inward purity of heart; in Jesus’ instructions, a desire to offer love and support to others rather than looking after yourself.
This is the problem with moralism isn’t it? Moralism is the practice of creating rules to define what constitutes a moral life or a godly life. It allows us to feel we’re in control. It sets up a grid through which we can judge whether we’ve done the right thing or not. At its worst Christian moralism, or religious moralism, uses God in order not to need God any longer. Paradoxically, moral codes allow us to become independent of God, even if he created the laws in the first place. This is what the rich young ruler was looking for: a grid to measure himself against. But all that does is reduce our need for a saviour. And in the end it makes us think we’re offering our righteousness to God as a gift so it generates in us a sense of self-righteousness.
What God wants from us isn’t a dead conformity to an external set of rules. He wants a transformed life on the inside. He wants us to stop craving what other people have; to stop looking to our possessions for self-worth and status; instead he wants us to trust him to provide for our material as well as our spiritual needs.
The difficulty for us is that we’re surrounded by forces that are urging us to covet. There are pressures on every side offering us every conceivable thing to make our lives better or to make us feel better about ourselves. I collected a couple of days’ junk mail a couple of weeks ago. Here it is. I hate to think how many trees were cut down just so I could be tempted to covet new kitchen gadgets, digital TVs, KFC hot & spicy chicken fillets, clothes, mobile phones, car accessories, videos, etc. And it’s not even Christmas time! How do poor people survive when they can’t afford to buy all these good things!?
And what about the image shapers who try to convince us that we can’t be successful people unless we wear the right designer labels or drive the right car or use the latest sexy perfume. How many millions are they paying Michael Clarke to advertise bonds underwear that no-one will ever see? How much are we influenced by the models of successful people like that who are paraded before us day after day?
Those of you who are moving up in the workforce or thinking about the university course you might try to get into, what is it you’re aspiring to? Is there a danger that you might become a modern day rich young ruler. Seeking to achieve some goal of success that’ll remove your need for a saviour. Will you be the type who gets out his or her check list each day like this young man and ticks off the things you need to do to achieve perfection? Will you be like this young man and think that worldly success, wealth and social standing, are more important than a godly heart that seeks to serve God by serving others?
Well, let’s think about
What’s wrong with coveting?
Self-image
As I said earlier the first thing wrong with coveting is that it reflects a desire to improve our self-image by increasing our material possessions. Jesus’ response to this young man was really a killer response wasn’t it? I mean, what if our wealth were taken away? What if we couldn’t buy those designer labels? What if we had to live on the poverty line? How would we feel about ourselves? We live in a world where so much weight is given to your ability to buy what you want, or to your professional standing, to the school or university you went to, even to the suburb you live in. Is that a Christian world view? Of course not. Your self-worth doesn’t come from what you own or what work you do. What a totally pagan idea that is. The size of your bank account doesn’t indicate how much God loves you! No, your self-worth comes from the fact that you’re made in the image of God. It comes from the fact that Jesus gave up his life so you could live. It comes from the fact that God has adopted you as one of his children.
Spiritual Life
The second problem with coveting is that it chokes off spiritual life. Do you remember the parable of the sower and the seeds. Listen to how Jesus explained part of that parable: "18And others are those sown among the thorns: these are the ones who hear the word, 19but the cares of the world, and the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it yields nothing. (Mark 4:18-19)
It’s a very strong warning isn’t it? The cares of the world and the lure of wealth can so easily choke the word of God, choke our spiritual life. If I’m more worried about my possessions, or my status or my self-fulfillment than I am about my relationship with God then my spiritual life is in big trouble, isn’t it?
It betrays a lack of trust
The third issue is that it betrays a lack of trust in God to look after us. Let me ask you, do you trust God to look after you? Do you really trust God? Would you be willing to do what many people have done and give up your professional life in order to serve God as a missionary or as a Christian minister? If that’s too hard, would you be willing to hand over a proportion of your hard earned income to fund God’s work?
I often wonder why it’s so hard to get people to give even a tenth of their income to God’s work? My guess is that the average giving here at St Thomas’ is somewhere between 1 and 2% of income. Why are we giving God such a pittance? Is it because we don’t trust God to provide? Was it easier for that poor widow in Jesus’ day to give her few copper coins because she had to rely on God anyway? Someone pointed out that when Bill talked about stealing a couple of weeks ago he could have mentioned the passage in Mal 3 where God accuses his people of robbing him. Listen to what he says and see if maybe he’s speaking to you: "Will anyone rob God? Yet you are robbing me! But you say, "How are we robbing you?" In your tithes and offerings! 9You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me -- the whole nation of you! 10Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house, and thus put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts; see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing." (Mal 3:8-10) God can be trusted to look after us.
Finally coveting is a mistake because:
It can’t fulfill its promises
In the passage from 1 Timothy that we just heard, God warns us about the love of money. First he says "7we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it." Whatever it is that wealth and possessions seem to offer, it’s a counterfeit. It’s like the wildflowers that spring up with such beauty, but when the hot wind comes along fade away to a dead brown. You can’t take it with you is as true a saying as you’ll find.
But in fact it’s worse than that because he goes on to warn us: "9But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains." Not only do wealth and possessions let us down in the end, in the process they can so easily lead us astray. Wealth and power are the two most corrupting influences in our world. As soon as we begin to seek them we find ourselves diverted from seeking God.
What to do
So what can we do to fight this temptation to covet? The key, I think, is there in 1 Tim 6:6: "there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment." How can we be content? Well begin by remembering what God has promised. In John 6 Jesus talked about himself as the bread of life. He said: "35I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty." Jesus is the satisfaction of the soul’s thirst and the heart’s hunger. If we come to him he promises to satisfy us, to give us contentment. In Phil 4 Paul talks about his experience of God’s provision. He says: "I have learned to be content with whatever I have. 12I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. 13I can do all things through him who strengthens me." (Phil 4:11-13 NRSV) He thinks back on how God has provided for him in the past and his thankfulness for God’s mercy overflows into trust for the future. And then he passes on that sense of trust to his readers with this assurance: "19And my God will fully satisfy every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus."
It comes back to that question "Do you trust God?" doesn’t it? Do you trust him to satisfy all your needs, to look after you in all circumstances, to help you find contentment whether it’s in plenty or in need?
It’s interesting, isn’t it, that the 10 commandments begin with ’You shall have no other gods before me’ and they end with ’you shall not covet.’ They’re really the same commandment in different guises. Both are about trusting the true and living God to rule over us, to provide for us, to know what’s best for us.
Finally, look at the advice Paul gives Timothy at the end of 1 Tim 6, advice that applies equally to us: "11But as for you, man of God, shun all this; pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness." The remedy for covetousness is to pursue not wealth but righteousness, godliness, faith, love, etc.; to put our whole trust in the God who has already given us his only Son to die so we could be made his children and who promises to take us to be with him in glory forever.
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