5, February 2006
Dakota Community Church
Constant Craving
Introduction:
Begin with the dream.
This week I want to continue looking at the issue we began with last week when we looked at the story of Esau.
Every now and then lust has to do with sex, but most of the time it does not.
I am talking about those hungers, those cravings, those desires; those longings for things that we know are the opposite of the Lord’s will for us.
By revealing the true nature of lust I am hoping to expose it for what it really is and in so doing strip it of some of its deceptive power in our lives.
Three Characteristics of lust:
1. The craving is sensual.
Genesis 3:1-6
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, ’You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?"
The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ’You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ "
"You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.
All five of Eve’s senses were in play at the temptation and fall of man.
Remember Esau? He saw the red stuff, he smelled it, he heard Jacob’s tempting “MMMM’s”.
There is much debate about what kind of fruit it was that the serpent tempted Eve with.
Show pictures of various fruits been eaten finish with ear to ear watermelon.
Lust is always an appeal to the sensual side of us.
Gen. 2:8
Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food.
Lust always promises us something that it cannot deliver.
The God of genesis is characterized by pleasure. “It was good”; “It was very good.”
Eve believed it was not good enough.
The enemy is always appealing to our flesh with the idea of a better offer than what God says is good.
That leads us to the second characteristic of lust I want to look at today:
2. The craving is a lie.
2 Samuel 13:1-15
In the course of time, Amnon son of David fell in love with Tamar, the beautiful sister of Absalom son of David.
Amnon became frustrated to the point of illness on account of his sister Tamar, for she was a virgin, and it seemed impossible for him to do anything to her.
Now Amnon had a friend named Jonadab son of Shimeah, David’s brother. Jonadab was a very shrewd man. He asked Amnon, "Why do you, the king’s son, look so haggard morning after morning? Won’t you tell me?"
Amnon said to him, "I’m in love with Tamar, my brother Absalom’s sister."
"Go to bed and pretend to be ill," Jonadab said. "When your father comes to see you, say to him, ’I would like my sister Tamar to come and give me something to eat. Let her prepare the food in my sight so I may watch her and then eat it from her hand.’ "
So Amnon lay down and pretended to be ill. When the king came to see him, Amnon said to him, "I would like my sister Tamar to come and make some special bread in my sight, so I may eat from her hand."
David sent word to Tamar at the palace: "Go to the house of your brother Amnon and prepare some food for him." So Tamar went to the house of her brother Amnon, who was lying down. She took some dough, kneaded it, made the bread in his sight and baked it. Then she took the pan and served him the bread, but he refused to eat.
"Send everyone out of here," Amnon said. So everyone left him. Then Amnon said to Tamar, "Bring the food here into my bedroom so I may eat from your hand." And Tamar took the bread she had prepared and brought it to her brother Amnon in his bedroom. But when she took it to him to eat, he grabbed her and said, "Come to bed with me, my sister."
"Don’t, my brother!" she said to him. "Don’t force me. Such a thing should not be done in Israel! Don’t do this wicked thing. What about me? Where could I get rid of my disgrace? And what about you? You would be like one of the wicked fools in Israel. Please speak to the king; he will not keep me from being married to you." But he refused to listen to her, and since he was stronger than she, he raped her.
Then Amnon hated her with intense hatred. In fact, he hated her more than he had loved her. Amnon said to her, "Get up and get out!"
Why? Because lust is a lie.
It cannot ever deliver what it promises.
Why then do so many people fall for the same lie over and over again?
To find the answer to that question we need to ask a few deeper questions.
- What is the craving behind this craving?
He keeps working harder and harder to buy bigger and bigger toys that he doesn’t even have time to enjoy because he has to work harder and harder to prove to his Mother that he really is successful.
- What is this craving promising to give me?
She sleeps with more and more men and picks loser after loser telling herself each time that she will never make this mistake again and yet finding herself waking up trapped in an abusive relationship again, because some where inside she is just aching for the unconditional love that her daddy never gave her.
- What is the deep need I am trying to fill?
It used to be that one or two really good bargains a week were enough to make her feel pretty but lately it seems that she is drawn to the mall everyday and the credit card is actually heating up from all the friction and she wants to be able to show off her prizes but she feels ashamed at being out of control.
He was really serious this time about losing the weight but he’d been so good and all he wanted was just a little treat to reward himself and somehow he ate the whole box and now he can’t understand why he feels so hungry and so stuffed at the same time.
When she started it was just an occasional drink and then it became a daily habit to take the edge off after a long day and then somewhere along the way she just couldn’t deal with the kids and his nonsense and where did the bottle go I just opened it.
Why? Why do you do it?
You have believed the lie that God’s way is not enough. You have been trying to fill a spiritual need with a natural craving.
Which brings me to the third characteristic of lust.
3. The craving cannot bring satisfaction or peace.
Ecclesiastes 2:1-10
I thought in my heart, "Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good." But that also proved to be meaningless. "Laughter," I said, "is foolish. And what does pleasure accomplish?" I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was worthwhile for men to do under heaven during the few days of their lives.
I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired men and women singers, and a harem as well—the delights of the heart of man. I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me.
I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor.
Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.
You cannot reach a spiritual destination using natural means.
The definition of “damned” – never enough!
If I can just have ________________, then I will be satisfied.
What is it for you? Can you go without it for the day? For a month? For a year?
The only thing we really need is God.
I want to pray with you this morning.
- Do you need to discover the craving behind the craving?
- Do you need to get help and accountability for something?
- Have you become entangled in something you need deliverance from?
Let’s pray.
This Sermon based on a message by Rob Bell entitled “Watermelon Lust” available for purchase at http://www.mhbcmi.org/findex.html
PowerPoint available on request – dcormie@mts.net
