ILL. A boat docked in a tiny Mexican village. An American tourist complimented the Mexican fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took him to catch them.
- "Not very long," answered the Mexican.
- "Well, then, why didn’t you stay out longer and catch more?" asked the American.
The Mexican explained that his small catch was sufficient to meet his needs and those of his family.The American asked,
- "But what do you do with the rest of your time?"
- "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, and take a siesta with my wife. In the evenings, I go into the village to see my friends, play the guitar, and sing a few songs. I have a full life."
The American interrupted,
- "I have an MBA from Harvard and I can help you! You should start by fishing longer every day. You can then sell the extra fish you catch. With the extra revenue, you can buy a bigger boat. With the extra money the larger boat will bring, you can buy a second one and a third one and so on until you have an entire fleet of trawlers. Instead of selling your fish to a middle man, you can negotiate directly with the processing plants and maybe even open your own plant. You can then leave this little village and move to Mexico City, Los Angeles, or even New York City! From there you can direct your huge enterprise."
- "How long would that take?" asked the Mexican.
- "Twenty, perhaps twenty-five years," replied the American.
- "And after that?"
- "Afterwards? That’s when it gets really interesting," answered the American, laughing. "When your business gets really big, you can start selling stocks and make millions!"
- "Millions? Really? And after that?"
- "After that you’ll be able to retire, live in a tiny village near the coast, sleep late, play with your children, catch a few fish, take siestas with your wife, and spend your evenings drinking and enjoying your friends."
We live in a culture today that tells us there is always something more, something better, something we have to have in order to be happy. Whether it is the latest PC or Big Screen TV, advertisers are paid big bucks to tell us we need something more.
The idea of wanting more is found throughout our society is called the Destination Disease. Destination Disease is a disease that says, “I can’t be happy right now. My current situation does not allow me to be happy”. Destination Disease says: I will only be happy when…
- I get a new job, I get a new boss
- I get a new car, I get rid of my old car
- I get married, I get divorced
- I move to a different city/ church
- I get to go on vacation, I win the lottery, I pay off all my bills...
In short, Destination Disease says, “I cannot be happy right now, I want first more of this or of that in order for me to be happy”.
Coveting Defined. What does it mean to covet something? After all is it wrong to simply want nice things? The psalmist said God will give us the desires of our heart. When do the desires of our heart cross the line and become the craving of coveting? I believe coveting can be defined in four ways…
A. Coveting is simple wanting the wrong things doesn’t matter the method.
Wanting control of something so I can be the center of attention, wanting wealth for myself or wanting power without reason – in other words wanting the wrong things.
B. Coveting is; wanting the right things but for the wrong reason.
In the area of leadership, Paul states: if a man desires to be a leader that is a good thing, if he desires to serve His Lord and church with wisdom and a proper attitude – that is good. But if he desires to be a leader just so he can call the shots and pull the strings, that is the wrong thing.
C. Coveting is also wanting the right things at the wrong time.
A couple comes to have a little talk with me - they love God and one another, and they plan to get married in 6 months, after she will get the citizenship – but they want to move in together now – they want the right thing (commitment to God and to one another), but the timing is wrong, they need to wait until they are married to live together.
D. Finally coveting is wanting the right things but the wrong amount
Take money for example, money is not a wrong thing it is part of life – money causes us a problem when we love money to the point that we become obsessed with getting more and more money to the exclusion of building relationships with God and others.
Definition. Covetousness is wanting the wrong things or wanting the right things for the wrong reason, or at the wrong time or the wrong amount.
Coveting things is not simply a 21st century problem. People have struggled with covet things for centuries. Nowhere is that more obvious than the children of Israel and their wilderness experience. Today’s account reads like a three act drama. As the drama unfolds we can see the need for God’s Grace, to focus on an attitude of contentment.
ACT 1 - Giving in to Wanting More
Numbers 11:4-6 - The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, “If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!”
These were the people who left Egypt along with the Children of Israel. Having seen the complete devastation of Egypt, they joined Israel hoping for a better future. Scripture says, “They began to crave the good things of Egypt”. The inference is that not only was the rabble complaining, but the children of Israel were drawn into their complaining as well. They had a selected memory; they remembered the good life of Egypt.
Verse 5, “We remember the fish we used to eat for free in Egypt. (It’s like a slap on God’s face because manna was free too!). And we had all the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic we wanted. It seems they longed for the good old days…
Mark Twain said: what makes the good old days the good old days is a bad memory.
Egypt was not a good place, Egypt was a place of bondage; it was a place of bricks and mortar – yet all they could see was the good things of Egypt – something to stuff their bellies…
While Egypt provided bondage, God was providing Manna… Free good food… Each morning as the dew fell God was giving his people a bread-like substance which would sustain them thru their wilderness journey.
Remember initially the trip was only a couple of months and soon they would be in a land flowing with milk and honey. The only thing God’s people would have to do is gather the manna each day and cook it – it would be enough to get them through the desert.
But the manna was not enough for them
Verse 6: "...our appetites are gone. All we ever see is this manna!” God’s provision only brought about complaints. Every day they had enough food, but they wanted something more. That is the bottom line of a covetous attitude – I want something more than I need!
I am stunned of how many people interested in Bible Seminars quit coming to the meeting after hearing the health message and about Leviticus 11. They want to be saved, but a healthier diet… oh no. This is too much… They cannot leave without greasy spoon . Lord, I will starve eating kosher, I need more… So they are slaves, in bondage like Israelites… I am sad.
The reason God hates for us to have a covetous attitude is we are saying to God: you do not give me enough – I have needs and you are not taking care of me, so I want to look someplace else to have my needs met.
For the children of Israel they wanted their needs met back in Egypt, for us we look to have our needs met by gathering things and possessions rather than seeking God. The Root of Covetousness is a Rejection of God’s Sufficiency. Something else must meet our needs.
Act 1 closes out with a very disturbing verse – verse 10, Moses heard all the families standing in the doorways of their tents whining, and the Lord became extremely angry.
Moses was also very aggravated.
Because the people were unappreciative of God’s provision – scripture tells us, “The Lord became angry”, “extremely angry” If you have every tried to do something for someone and they show little or no gratitude you can understand God’s anger at this moment.
Act 2 – Getting what you do not want
Numbers 11:18-20 - The LORD heard you when you wailed, “If only we had meat to eat! We were better off in Egypt!” Now the LORD will give you meat, and you will eat it. 19 You will not eat it for just one day, or two days, or five, ten or twenty days, 20 but for a whole month—until it comes out of your nostrils and you loathe it"...
Their request brought a dangerous reply. Basically God said: you want meat – I will give you meat… You will become sick of meat. I understand that phrase…Visiting a friend who was a farmer, long time ago, I ate cantaloupes for a whole week. To this day I do not like cantaloupes…
God gave them what they wanted but it did not meet their need. With god we can satisfied with what he provides for us but if we walk away from God’s provision we soon find ourselves empty. Nothing is essential, but God.
Things were never designed to take God’s place. When we covet something and make it essential - “I have got to have it”, we are saying to God there is something more than what He can provide.
Maybe today there is something you are putting ahead of God…
A Relationship
A Financial Goal
A Specific Dream for your future
If so I want to challenge you to seek first His Kingdom, before you seek out your own desires. Psalm 34:7 - Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Act 3 – Consequences to Getting What We Want
We now get the rest of the story - Numbers 11:31-34 - Now a wind went out from the LORD and drove quail in from the sea. It scattered them up to two cubits deep all around the camp, as far as a day’s walk in any direction. All that day and night and all the next day the people went out and gathered quail. No one gathered less than ten homers. Then they spread them out all around the camp. But while the meat was still between their teeth and before it could be consumed, the anger of the LORD burned against the people, and he struck them with a severe plague. Therefore the place was named Kibroth Hattaavah (GRAVES OF CRAVING) because there they buried the people who had craved other food.
The Lord was true to His Word. He sent the quail – boy, did he send the quail. For 36 hours the people gathered the quail – no one gathered less than 50 bushels…Then came the retribution. Their retribution came in two forms…
Lost focus – One of the problems that comes with a covetous attitude is that we lose our capacity for discerning. The Children of Israel had so much quail, scripture says they gorged themselves. They actually lost the ability to know when they had had enough. Instead of controlling their wants their wants were controlling them.
When you live a life of coveting you too can lose your focus, you begin to want a possession or a goal more than life itself and soon you too are controlled by something rather than you having the self control which is a fruit of the spirit.
Lost their life – God intervened and caused a severe plague to come upon the people and many people died. Interesting Israel wanted to go back to Egypt for the best of everything. But God sent a plague reminded them that all that was in Egypt was destruction and plagues.
If we are guilty of coveting we probably will not lose our life in such a dramatic fashion as the children of Israel did in the wilderness, but Jesus asked his followers a pertinent question that applies to us today when it comes to handling a covetous attitude. Luke 9:25 – What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?
Michael Jackson tragic death… I saw his property Neverland CA… His fans still mourning for him… If he is not saved, if He didn’t put his soul in Jesus’ hands, it’s nothing, ZERO… If anyone asleep in death will awake along with the lost ones, at the second resurrection – it will be an irrevocable lose…
The example of Israel rejecting God and choosing something else is a tragic story of coveting, the question we need to ask ourselves today is: What steps can we take to transform our life from an attitude of coveting to an attitude of contentment?
I believe the answer is found in 1 Timothy 6:6-8, [Let’s say these verse together]
- But godliness with contentment is great gain.
- For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.
- But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.
Understand contentment has a partner. Like Salt and Pepper, Like Tornado and NW AR: meant to be together – contentment’s partner is Godliness. We will never be satisfied with what we have – we will always have a desire to have more, but true contentment comes when we partner with godliness (verse 6), godliness with contentment is great gain.
Verse 7 states: For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.
We come into this world empty handed and we will leave this world empty handed, it is true we cannot take it with us… The key to contentment is not to ask yourself what am I going to do with the stuff I am accumulating but am I preparing myself for eternity?
Am I making decisions and choices in light of eternity? The interesting thing about eternity is for us to enjoy eternity tomorrow, we must prepare for it today. If we are to busy searching for contentment in stuff and things, we may miss eternity all together – Friends don’t miss eternity for the world.
Paul finishes his challenge to Timothy saying: if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that, realize there is a limit to the things we can possess, before they begin to possess you.
Paul said in Philippians, 4:11 ...I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances may be.
Success is not measured by what we possess, but by Who possesses us. And if Jesus Christ possesses you, you are successful. When we learn to love the situation God has allowed us to be in, then we will truly be content.
Jesus is our perfect example in this area too. (EXTRAPOLATE the idea and put Jesus in the center of this message!!!)
I’m so glad that Jesus Christ wrote those Ten Commandments with His own finger and gave them to us with His own love and His own power that we can keep these Commandments the best as possible to honor Him, not to be saved, but because we are saved.
