Introduction: 3 men were walking on a beach one afternoon when they came across an old lamp. The first man picked it up and began to rub it and out popped a genie. The genie said I am here to give each of you one wish each.
The first man did not hesitate he said I want a million dollars – POOF, instantly a million dollars appeared before him.
The second man said I want a mansion her on the beach – POOF, a beautiful mansion appeared right before his eyes and the genie handed him the keys.
This got the third guy really thinking about his wish, finally he stated Make me irrespirable to women – POOF the genie turned the man into a large box of chocolate!
What are you wishing for? Suppose you had three wishes; what are the items you would wish for that give you happiness & make your life more enjoyable?
We live in a culture today that tells us there is always something more, something better, something we have to have. Whether it is the latest Ipod 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. Pastor Tommy Jackson called coveting 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 a new husband, I get rid of my old husband
I make 10k more per year, I move out on my own
I get married, I get divorced
I move to a different city, I get a better church
I get to go on vacation, I win the lottery, I pay off all my bills
My business takes off, My business slows down
I lose weight, I gain weight
I finally finish school
My wife quits bugging me, My husband starts paying attention to me
My mom quits griping, My dad quits yelling
In short, Destination Disease says, “I cannot be happy right now, something has to change or be different in order for me to be happy”.
And Destination Disease leads us to covet – to want more and more.
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…
Coveting is; wanting the wrong things.
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
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 serve as a leader just so he can have the inside information or so he can call the shots that is the wrong thing.
Coveting is also; wanting the right things at the wrong time.
A young couple comes into my office for premarital counseling, they love god and one another, they are committed to one another and plan to get married in 3 months – but they want to move in together now – they want the right things commitment to God and to one another but the timing is wrong, they need to wait until they are married to live together.
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.
Covetousness is wanting the wrong things or wanting the right things fro the wrong reason, or at the wrong time or the wrong amount.
Coveting has a strong hold on people today, some people are in financial bondage because coveting while others are in serious denial about coveting, yet god’s word teaches us there is away to escape the trap of coveting and live a life of contentment.
Coveting things is not simply a 21st century problem. People have struggled with covet things for centuries. No where is that more obvious than the children of Israel and their desert experience.
Last week we noticed how their attitude of complaining caused God to discipline His people, which in turn caused the new generation to be thankful – to have an attitude of gratitude.
This morning I want us to look at another attitude of the Children of God were displaying; the attitude of coveting. I want us to consider asking God to change our covetous attitude to an attitude of contentment.
As with last week we need to look at the story and then discover the application.
Today’s account reads like a three act drama, as the drama unfolds we can see the need to focus on an attitude of contentment.
ACT 1 - Giving in to Wanting More
Then the foreign rabble who were traveling with the Israelites began to crave the good things of Egypt. And the people of Israel also began to complain. “Oh, for some meat!” they exclaimed. “We remember the fish we used to eat for free in Egypt. And we had all the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic we wanted. But now our appetites are gone. All we ever see is this manna!” The manna looked like small coriander seeds, and it was pale yellow like gum resin. The people would go out and gather it from the ground. They made flour by grinding it with hand mills or pounding it in mortars. Then they boiled it in a pot and made it into flat cakes. These cakes tasted like pastries baked with olive oil. The manna came down on the camp with the dew during the night. Moses heard all the families standing in the doorways of their tents whining, and the Lord became extremely angry. Moses was also very aggravated.
Numbers 11:4-10
Moses introduces us to a new group of people – the foreign rabble
These were the people who left Egypt along with the Children of Israel. Having seen the complete devastation of Egypt this group wanted nothing to do with their homeland, so 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. 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 – the things that would fill their physical appetites.
While Egypt provided bondage, God was providing Manna
Each evening as the dew fell God was giving his people a bread-like substance which would sustain them thru their wilderness journey. Remember the trip was to only take 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
Verse 6, our appetites are gone. All we ever see is this manna!” God’s provision only brought about complaints. Everyday 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!
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
Then the Lord said to Moses…”Say to the people, ‘Purify yourselves, for tomorrow you will have meat to eat. You were whining, and the Lord heard you when you cried, “Oh, for some meat! We were better off in Egypt!” Now the Lord will give you meat, and you will have to eat it. And it won’t be for just a day or two, or for five or ten or even twenty. You will eat it for a whole month until you gag and are sick of it. For you have rejected the Lord, who is here among you, and you have whined to him, saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?” Numbers 11:16-20
Their request brought a dangerous reply
Basically God said you want meat – I will give you meat, not just one day or two but you will have meat for 30 days. You will become sick of meat. I understand that phrase
My First Job – “Picking Watermelons” To this day I do not like watermelons
He gave them what they wanted but it did not meet their need
Psalm 106 is a companion passage for this event listen to what verse 15 says, He gave them exactly what they asked for, but along with it they got an empty heart. Psalm 106:15
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 you 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. I quoted a Psalm at the beginning of our message - God will give us the desires of our heart
Look at it in context - Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 34:7 – Israel’s problem was they wanted their desires but they did not want to delight in the Lord, may that not be said of us.
Act 3 – Consequences to Getting What We Want
We now get the rest of the story
Now the Lord sent a wind that brought quail from the sea and let them fall all around the camp. For miles in every direction there were quail flying about three feet above the ground. So the people went out and caught quail all that day and throughout the night and all the next day, too. No one gathered less than fifty bushels! They spread the quail all around the camp to dry. But while they were gorging themselves on the meat—while it was still in their mouths—the anger of the Lord blazed against the people, and he struck them with a severe plague. So that place was called Kibroth-hattaavah (which means “graves of gluttony”) because there they buried the people who had craved meat from Egypt. Numbers 11:31-34
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 (Show a bushel basket)
B. Then came the punishment
Their punishment came in two forms…
Lost focus - One 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 yur 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 loose 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 wit comes to handling a covetous attitude. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? Luke 9:25
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 Sunshine and Florida, Like Gators and Championships – 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. This is where we get the advantage is in conquering a covetous attitude. What does it mean to be godly? To seek out the attributes of God.
To love what he loves
To hate what he hates
The old hymn says it best Turn your eyes upon Jesus look full in his wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely dim , in the light f his marvelous grace.
Look to eternity
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, I have officiated at over 75 funerals and never once did I see a luggage rack on a hearse. The truth of the matter everything we possess is just wood hay and straw. 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 things we may miss eternity all together – Friends don’t miss eternity for the world.
Let enough be enough
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.
John D. Rockefeller – I have made millions, but they have brought me no happiness.
Cornelius Vanderbilt – The Care of millions is too great a load, there is no pleasure in it
Henry Ford, said at the end of his life – I was happier as a boy working in a mechanics shop, though we had nothing
We should follow the warnings of these men and understand there is a point when we become satisfied and it is only at the point when God is first place in our life.
The Psalmist said it best Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 34:7
True contentment comes from the Lord – it is he who gives us the desires of our heart – may our desires be for him. Psalm 42:1, As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. When we can say the words of the psalmist then the Lord has changed our attitude from one of covetous to one of contentment
PRAYER
