Going for the Gold/Grasping for More
Exodus 20:17
The Olympics have just finished and all of the athletes have
completed their attempts at reaching for the gold. There were
over 300 athletes that went to Beijing China in search of their
chance to win a gold medal. Of all the medals won the United States
won the most (110) with China second (100) and 3rd place was Russia
(72).
The breakdown of medals for the United States:
· Gold = 36
· Silver = 38
· Bronze = 36
The breakdown of medal for China
· Gold = 51
· Silver = 21
· Bronze = 28
There were many athletes that went in search of the Gold and found
silver or bronze and there were those that went in search of (A)
medal and received none. I said all of that so say this; maybe
it was not intended for you to receive the gold.
LISTEN: Coveting in the only commandment that can not be physically
seen; the results can be seen but the actual sin is totally of
the heart and it is the one that causes all the rest to be broken.
Covetousness is the mother of all sins. All 9 of the previous
commandments are rooted in it.
The other commandments deal w/ actions, but this one with attitude.
The others are about behavior, but this one is about our mind.
“Don’t Steal” says keep your hands off. “Don’t
Covet” says don’t even think about it!
Finally God has gotten to the core of all the rest – the
heart of the matter and that is what the 10th commandment sums
up – if you are not guilty of the actions (#1-#9) then you
can’t be free from this one – God is including this
one as a disclaimer for all the rest.
BUT how do you enforce this one? – There is no way to enforce
it – our legislature is trying to pass “hate crimes”
laws BUT how do you enforce them?
Ill. It is the mother of the other 9 sins in the commandments:
· No other gods = the covetous worships the gods of money
and materialism
· No idols = the bow before things that they possess
[Man worshipped his sports car / let his wife drive it one day
/ that night she told him it wouldn’t run because there was
water in the carburetor / he said, you don’t know the carburetor
from the tail pipe...where is the car? / in the neighbor’s
swimming pool!]
· God’s Name in vain = no other name is used in such
a way
· Sabbath Day = stores are open on Sunday because it’s
one of the biggest shopping days of the week...it’s all about
money.
· Honor Parents = children dishonor their parents who have
passed by fighting over inheritance
· Don’t kill = many are killed every day by someone
who wanted what they had.
· Adultery = this always begins w/ covetousness, wanting
the spouse of another.
· Don’t Steal = this is obvious
· Don’t Lie = usually this is done to try to get out
of a jam, wanting a different reality than you’ve made for
yourself.
What is covetousness?
It is an excessive desire for something you don’t have –
grasping for more. There’s nothing wrong with wanting certain
things, like something better for your family, etc. But this is
an excessive desire that compromises convictions to gain something
you want. It is also an envious desire for what someone else has...desiring
what they have to be yours.
Hence the Title: Going for the Gold
SO, What if the gold is not yours? What if God has determined
for you to experience the silver or the bronze?
NOW don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that God would withhold
any good thing from His children BUT He does know what is best
& if we are dreaming of/desiring what we don’t have then
it blinds us to the things we do have from the Lord – it
also binds us to our possibilities NOW
Covetousness is not necessarily more devastating than the rest
– James 2:10, “For whosoever shall keep the whole law,
and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” –
BUT it is the beginning of problems of all the rest
SO why is it so damaging and how is breaking it going to hurt
me?
• A Debasing sin—it’ll turn you into someone else.
1Timothy 6:9-10
There’s no virtue in poverty AND some very godly people in
the Bible were rich – HOWEVER - It’s the desire for
more and more money that is sinful. It’s not necessarily
a rich man’s sin.
• A Deceiving Sin—usually the covetous person doesn’t
know they are that way.
1Thessalonians 2:5
Ill.—Spurgeon said of the thousands he had seen saved, he
never heard someone say they were saved from the sin of covetousness.
And yet this is the mother of all sins! – It is all told
in the story of Lot – Genesis 13-19
In chapter 13 Lot lifted up his eyes to the plains of the Jordan
and saw they were desirable. In chapter 14 Abraham has to rescue
Lot who had been captured along with the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah
– he was dwelling too close to trouble but could not see
it. It was deceiving him
NOTICE the progression:
· Lot lifted up his eyes – 1st step - Genesis 13:10,
“And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of
Jordan, that it was well watered every where…even as the
garden of the LORD…”
· 2nd step – He moved into the pains where there was
more desirable land Genesis 13:12, “Abram dwelled in the
land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and
pitched his tent toward Sodom.” – not the land of Canaan
which God had promised
· My the time you get to chapter 19, Lot was sitting at
the gate – the equivalent of being an alternate in the city
counsel – the leaders of the city would sit at the gate as
a security guard to check a persons credentials of whether they
had any business in that city or not
• A Damning Sin — one to take seriously!
Ephesians 5:5
It’s a sin to be saved from.
Ill.—people all over this town won’t come to church
because they have it in their head that all we want is their money.
We know that’s not true, but even if it was true, wouldn’t
it still be worth tolerating in order to go to heaven? It just
goes to show that the thing standing between them and God is their
material possessions!
Why is this so damaging and how is breaking it going to hurt me?
1) Bitterness
We have a sense of “entitlement” in this country and
culture. “If I see it then I need it and if I need it then
it must be mine”
The younger generation is more susceptible to this than any other;
they want to get married and immediately have all that their parents
have worked for and took years to accumulate – they want
it “RIGHT NOW”
Now the younger generation is not the only ones that this plagues.
Our consumer nation, in which we live, is continually bombarding
us with messages of a new gadget, new furniture, new house, new
car, new stuff…
This attitude of the heart is damaging to us because is causes
bitterness toward those that do have but also toward God –
“Lord you know I need this and how could you deprive me of
the things that I need” – bitterness because we don’t
have and think we know better than God
2) Barrenness
This sin is one that sows bitterness and reaps barrenness. Barrenness
because we have set out heart to that which we desire and harden
our heart toward God.
Not only is it discontentment with what we DO have but it breads
unthankfulness – and that is serious because if we have “Gold”
in our eyes/desiring the thing we want then we can not see what
God has provided
Why are we to be thankful?
· it shows a reliance on another other than self
· it shows a realization of where our blessings come from
· it is a reply to Him in faith/by faith
Without thankfulness that faithful reply will not happen
3) Conclusion
Where does this sin lead us?
Ill. A successful businessman and his friends were talking and
laughing
together and enjoying success. The businessman told of his childhood
of poverty. Someone had given him a big coin. To have a coin was
rare for children then, and his little sister begged to hold it.
He laughed over the memory of all the chores he could get her
to do for him just to get to hold the coin. He told of a day when
she minded the cows all day for the privilege of holding the coin,
only to have to give it up at the end of the day. All of the men
laughed again at the childishness of the sister.
Just then, one man not laughing reminded the businessman that
all he was
doing now in labor and service was for the privilege of holding
onto a few possessions. “The end of the day is coming, and
you will have to give them up like your little sister did.”
That is exactly how it is with all of us. Jesus warned; Matthew
6:19-20, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth,
where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through
and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where
neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break
through nor steal:”
How many there are today who are destroying their very life through
covetousness?
How many more are destroying even their soul for the same reason?
Then, thousands of thousands are ruining the lives of their family
and friends as they grasp for more.
Listen today to Jesus: Matthew 6:33, “But seek ye first the
kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall
be added unto you.”
There’s nothing wrong with having things. It’s when
you are dependent on things and the want of more things that it
becomes sin.
Now, there is only one area where the Bible encourages us to covet.
It says, 1Corinthians 12:31, “But covet earnestly the best
gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way.”
We are to look around us and see faithfulness, loyalty, dependability,
love and other good things in the lives of Christians and covet
those things. We should grasp desire and seek after the fruits
of the Spirit and not after the earthly possessions that belong
to our neighbor.
Listen; this morning God has 2 claims on you:
a) I made you
b) I redeemed you
If you are redeemed this morning then God has a claim on you to
obey His commands for it cost Him far more to redeem you than
it did to create you.
How do we show the world that we love God?
John 14:15, “If you love Me, (you will) keep My commandments”