The Pattern of Coveting Ice Breaker - coffee or tea? Review of Last two weeks: Week 1 - Definition of Coveting - what is coveting? inordinate desire or culpable desire Week 2 - Root of Coveting - why we covet? unbelief - specifically regarding the goodness of God and the sovereignty of God. Introduction This week weʼre going to look at the how of coveting. Weʼre also going to look at the seriousness of coveting. Goals - (1) how we fall into the sin of coveting; (2) how coveting is both an inward sin and outward sin -->Is coveting really that big of a deal? -->How is coveting more than just a private sin? -->How does coveting affect Godʼs glory? This covers how we ever get caught in the battle of coveting to begin with. Coveting can feel like the battle that weʼll never win, or that we canʼt even fight - itʼs something outside of our control. But thatʼs because youʼre not aware of how youʼre falling into this sin - We need to grow in our awareness of whatʼs happening as a first step to fighting the battle. (Next week - Melissa will cover specifically how we fight. This week weʼre just going to talk about how it happens in our heart.) The second thing weʼre going to look at this morning is to see how coveting is not merely an inward sin. The world will often disregard sin if it doesnʼt hurt someone else. I think coveting is one of those easily overlooked and disregarded sins - the world barely notices it, and even within our own community we donʼt usually pay much attention to it. But I hope after this morning youʼll see that coveting only begins as an inward sin - and it quickly grows and becomes an outward sin that hurts others. The second half of the book does a particularly good job at unpacking this - exposing how our coveting hurts others in more than the obvious ways (i.e beyond just adultery, murder, stealing, etc.). If you havenʼt read the chapter, and I listed on the board what the steps to coveting are, you might think Melissa was quite clever and insightful to come up with these. But the truth is theyʼre straight out of Scripture. Theyʼre small details, words that are easy to overlook - but theyʼre there! And although they seem obvious, I find comfort in the fact that itʼs an age old problem - going all the way back to the Garden. Truly what you and I struggle with today is common, and the snares of the devil arenʼt any different today than they were when the world began. So - start with the two Biblical examples. Then weʼll close the lesson with looking at our own hearts very broadly - how we fall into this same pattern of coveting. (Next week
weʼll look at the general pattern of how we fight coveting. Then the month of February weʼll look at how this pattern of coveting shows up in very specific ways.) Biblical Examples: " Eve - Genesis 3 describe context read Genesis 3 The Pattern: See - tree was good for food, a delight to the eyes Covet - desired it for wisdom Take - took the fruit and ate it, gave some to her husband Hide - covered themselves and hid from God See What are the lies that are believed here? What unbelief is at play? -->God cannot be trusted? Why? Because what He says isnʼt reliable; and what He says isnʼt good. --> Godʼs Word isnʼt reliable: --Satan treats Godʼs Word with contempt, preying on a lack of knowledge (Did God actually say...?) --Godʼs warning of consequences was an empty threat - He isnʼt truthful. (Itʼs easy for us to project that on to God - and believe that when he gives a warning, He doesnʼt really mean it. Especially when we look around the world and see so many people who donʼt heed his warnings, that donʼt appear to be suffering the promised consequences. It takes faith to believe God when He gives us a warning, and it takes trust to follow and obey Him.) --God canʼt do anything about it - He isnʼt sovereign --> God isnʼt good --Godʼs command to obedience is asking too much - itʼs an unreasonable request. (The apple is desirable, and God is not good to withhold it. Similarly - are there areas of obedience that God is calling you to, which seem to unfair? See the examples from Scripture, and let them teach you of the consequences of sin. See how this has played out in your own life and relationships. And believe - by faith - that those same consequences will happen if you disobey God. What He is asking is not too much, and He is not withholding any good thing from you.) --God is harsh and selfish, not wanting to share authority with Adam and Eve or provide for them This was not the first time Eve saw the fruit. Calvin: She could previously behold the tree with such sincerity, that no desire to eat of it affected her mind; for the faith she had in the word of God was the best guardian of her heart, and of all her sense. But now, after the heart had declined from faith, and from obedience to the word, she corrupted both herself and all her senses, and depravity was diffused through all parts of her soul as well as her body.
Consequences - What were the consequences of Eveʼs sin? On herself: physical consequence - pain in childbearing emotional consequences - desire to rule over her husband, but he would rule over her On her family: her husband suffered as a result of her example leading him into sin he experiences his own set of consequences, which will inevitably affect her On her community banished from the Garden, unable to eat the fruit of the tree of life the rest of humanity is now marred by Adamʼs sin On her Lord: Godʼs glory affected - Godʼs image bearers are now marred and broken " Achan describe context read Joshua 7 The Pattern: See - saw the beautiful cloak and the valuable silver and gold (he knew how much they were worth) Covet - he coveted them Take - he took them Hide - he hid them in his tent See: Why do you think these items might have been tempting to Achan? Or to any of the Israelites? -->Because they were the very things that they all lacked: homes, clothing, food, luxury items, livestock. They wouldʼve provided comfort, stability. Others saw the same objects that Achan did, and yet he is the only one who took them. They saw with eyes of faith, that the Lord is the only One Who can provide for them. Achan saw with eyes of unbelief, and coveted the items. What we choose to set our gaze upon is often a reflection of the idolatry in our heart. p.79 (Side Note - what you covet may seem objectively desirable to you, but it is not. You may look at something and think Of course that is desirable, of course I would want to have that - who wouldnʼt want it? Why canʼt I have it? My life would be so much better with it. But not everyone wants what you want - some people donʼt notice it at all, and some donʼt even want it. We often excuse our sinful desires by thinking them common. They may not be as common as you think, and they certainly arenʼt universal - the fact that others donʼt even want what you desire so desperately should point out to you that the desire may be covetous in nature.) What false lies about God did Achan believe? -->Godʼs goodness
--God is harsh and unloving: Henry points out one possibility: God did not bring them to these goodly cities and houses filled with all good things, to tantalize them with the sight of that which they might not touch; but, having received the first-fruits from Jericho, the spoil of Ai, and all the cities which thenceforward came into their hands, they might take for a prey to themselves. -->Godʼs sovereignty " --God will never know/i can get away with this " --God will not provide for me and my family (tied to the lie about Godʼs goodness, " above) Matthew Henry: The way to have the comfort of what God allows is to forbear what he forbids us. -->How have you seen this to be true in your life? I see it mainly in the lack of enjoyment of things when sin or guilt is attached. An easy example - I sleep better at night, and enjoy going to bed more, when Iʼve had a good day (not a day when all things went well, but a day when I was faithful to what I was called to do.). Marriage is more enjoyable when there is no sin between us - there is a lot of freedom and trust in our relationship, and we more easily enjoy one another. Hide Sin and temptation promises much - but never delivers. Notice that the consequences were not expected - both in type, breadth, and depth. One of the ways that Satan is successful in tempting us is by presenting the bait and hiding the hook. Satan promised wisdom to Eve, but hid the fact that her sin would bring all the consequences that ensued. Satan promises the soul honour, pleasure, profit, but pays the soul with the greatest contempt, shame, and loss that can be. (Brooks, p. 30) Consequences: Again, the consequences are not what Achan would have expected. On Himself: Fear - what must it have been like to watch, tribe by tribe, and see Joshua zeroing in on him and his family? Death On His Family: Death On His Community: Death - 36 men lost their lives at the battle of Ai Fear Discouragement Lack of faith in God, and in Joshua their leader On God: stole from the Lordʼs treasury Godʼs Glory, His reputation was at stake in Israelʼs behavior. Losing the battle at Ai said something about Godʼs character and abilities to the rest of the world. How are Eve and Achan similar? How are they different?
--circumstances were different - Eve was in the Garden, which was perfect. Achan was in the midst of battle, after having been in the wilderness, which was hard. **Circumstances do not cause coveting.** (This is covered in more detail in Ch. 4 - Christ in the wilderness vs. Eve in the Garden vs. Achan in the Promised Land) Us How do we see this pattern in our lives? How does the world encourage this? See When does seeing happen? --the thing that is missing from our own life. There are lots of things missing from your life - but you only care about some of them. --when we compare. Didnʼt feel like we were missing anything until we saw what someone else had. World encourages this by - continually flaunting things in front of us. Commercials, advertising, etc. Reminder - what weʼre talking about here is seeing mixed with unbelief. Seeing and letting yourself believe a lie about God. Covet Lies that we believe: " --Other people are getting it all while weʼre getting second best " --God loves other people more/heʼs not being good to me World encourages this by - overlooking this sin. Coveting isnʼt a sin, itʼs the thing that keeps our economy going. Itʼs normal. It also feeds on the covetous desires you already have - convenience and comfort drive much of the products and advertising today, beauty drives the rest of it. Church encourages this sin by - not making a big deal out of it. Itʼs just a little sin, it isnʼt that serious. But sin comes on by degree. We all understand how murder grows out of an ever increasing anger - and that murder is much worse than anger. We understand the concept of degrees of wickedness, we just set the bar really low. But actually our perspective is wrong. All sin is punished by death not because all sin is equal, but because the least sin is so bad it deserves death. Our hearts are hardened to sin and we donʼt believe this - but a mark of growing maturity is a greater sensitivity towards sin. As you grow to love God more, youʼll grow in your view of sin - it will look more and more evil to you. --Brooks uses an example similar to what Eve struggled with. She first had low thoughts about God and His Word. Thatʼs where Satan started the temptation. Similarly - low view of Scripture leads to slighting Scripture, which leads to manipulating Scripture to fit your view, which leads to casting off Scripture, which leads to lifting yourself and your opinions above Scripture entirely. --Flee the little sin!! Stare for just a minute at your neighborʼs backyard, think for just a minute about what it would be like for your husband to bring you flowers, take just a short walk through the mall - itʼs not just a little sin! Be aware of what is tempting to you and flee even the smallest of temptations. The big temptations
and sins startle us and make us quickly see serious danger. But the little things worm their way into our hearts and minds, work silently on our soul, growing undetected - and you wonʼt notice it until itʼs so big the damage is done. I see this in my heart - dwell on things I want, stirring up bitterness in my heart (I want more time, more freedom from responsibilities, etc.). It primes me for becoming discontent when I see others who have solutions to the problems I see in my life. Take World encourages this by - encouraging rights, self-esteem, independence, and freedom, an overemphasis on happiness. Examples???? Hide World encourages this by - minimizing the consequences and removing shame and guilt. Shame and guilt are only bad if your sin is forgiven by Christ. Until youʼve repented of it and found relief in Christ, you should feel bad about you sin. If you try to make yourself stop feeling bad apart from Christ, you will harden your heart, become less sensitive to the Spirit, and move further and further away from God. " --Downton Abbey - one of the reasons I like it is because it makes a big deal out " of sin. Consequences Ourselves Loss of future blessing - Eve (eating from the tree of life) and Achan (enjoy the plunder from future battles). For us it could be physical death, but it could also be death of a dream, loss of hope, or lessened enjoyment of a current blessing. Brooks: loss of divine favor, loss of joy, loss of peace, loss of divine influences by which your soul is refreshed, enlivened, raised, strengthened, and gladdened, and loss of many outward desirable mercies, which otherwise the soul might have enjoyed natural consequences of our sin - addiction, STDs, jail, divorce, broken relationships, bankruptcy, health problems Our Families we pass on our sin patterns to our children - they pursue the things we pursue, and they handle circumstances and trials the same way we do (anxiety, anger, impatience, etc.) Our Community effect on others as they seek to minister to you effect on those you should have been ministering to effect on those who are affected by your sin Strains friendships/relationships. People feel your bitterness or sourness toward the thing you have in your life, and it makes it difficult and awkward to relate well to that person. God unbelieversʼ view of Godʼs work in the lives of Christians will be lessened when they see sin God does not satisfy, He is not sufficient
God appears harsh and unloving when we complain about His ways Heaven is not desirable - earth is just as good or better; or maybe heaven doesnʼt exist at all. life is found on earth, not in the Lord Warnings from Eve & Achan: Coveting isnʼt a private sin! Coveting isnʼt a minor sin Hope from this lesson: All temptation I face is common and God will provide a way out. I can endure this temptation, I can overcome the temptation. Next week - learning to crave a much better feast ----- p. 73 - He stirs up discontentment in her heart, as well as a longing to rule, rather than be ruled. Our desire to be in control is complicated. But I think much of it stems from a distrust and lack of affection for the one weʼre being ruled by. Have you ever worked for a boss that you loved? Or perhaps in the first months or years of your marriage you found submission easy. A lot of this stems from trusting the person who is in charge, believing they have your best interest at heart, and loving them. So even if they lead in a way that is different than what you would do - you still willingly follow and support them. Submission becomes hard when trust and affection are gone or weak (because of sin in the leader, or sin in your own heart). God does not sin - so we struggle to follow Him because of sin in our own heart, chiefly expressed through distrust and a cold heart towards God.