Friday, June 26, 2009
How Much Do You Need? The Danger of Coveting, Part 13 of 60
TEXT: "You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s" (Exodus 20:17).
"You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, and you shall not desire your neighbor’s house, his field, his male servant, his female servant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s" (Deuteronomy 5:21).
IDEA: A generous spirit is the opposite of covetousness.
PURPOSE: To help listeners evaluate covetousness in their hearts.
Do you think it’s easier to spot a covetous spirit in other people than in yourself?
Why?
We have a tendency to justify in ourselves the sin that we can see much more clearly in someone else.
If we’re really going to take stock of our lives, we’d have to be ruthlessly honest about our actions and our motives.
We have been look at the symptoms of a covetous spirit.
I. We have surfaced three symptoms in past conversations:
The first symptom of covetousness is that we want more and more of what we already have enough of.
The second symptom of covetousness is that we desire what we do not have a legitimate right to possess.
The third symptom of covetousness is that we exploit others to get what we want.
II. A fourth symptom of a covetous spirit is that we want to acquire things for ourselves but not care at all about sharing what we have with others.
In Matthew 6:20 Jesus says, “But lay up for yourself treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.”
How do you do that? Earlier in Matthew 6 Jesus said that we are to give to the needy and God our Father will see what we do and will reward us.
The apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 9:6-11 tells us: “He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work . . . Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness, while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God.”
