For the past few weeks, we have been going through the ten commandments, and today, we are skipping to the last commandment (though this is certainly not the last sermon in the series). But, first, we want to introduce you to a friend of ours. Now there are a few things about our friend that you ought to know. He’s a bit peculiar… Smells most of the time… Really strange.. Honestly, not that attractive… but we love him nonetheless, because we love everybody. He does however have something valuable that we want him to share with you this morning. So, without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Things-N-Stuff.
Mr. Things-N-Stuff enters from the back/side of the sanctuary…
PB/PC :: Well it looks like Mr. Things-n-Stuff has already made his way into the room. He kind of has a way of doing that.
Mr. Things-N-Stuff makes his way through the audience, taking things from people throughout the congregation.
PB/PC :: Ummmm… Hey Mr. Things-n-Stuff?
Kyle :: Hey Guys I’ll be with you in just a minute, I kind of have my eye on some stuff here that I need to look at really quick.
PB/PC :: That is nice and all, but we invited you here today so that we could talk to you.
Kyle :: Huh? Oh, yeah, I know, but have you seen these shoes? I really like them. I really, really like them. *Awkward Pause* Hey, can I have them?
PB/PC :: Ummmm, Mr. Things-N-Stuff, you cannot just come in here and start taking people’s stuff. Where are you even going to put it all?
Kyle :: Hey Bro, I mean Pastor Bro or whatever, just don’t worry about it.
PB/PC :: Ok, I kind of do have to worry about it a little bit. How much stuff are you going to grab here anyway?
Kyle :: Not much more, just a little bit more. Oh man look at the shirt on that guy. I really like it! Hey, can I have it?
PB/PC :: Well I guess we will just keep focused on what we were doing while Mr. Things-N-Stuff finishes up whatever it is that he is doing.
You see this guy suffers from a few syndromes. There’s not a medication or prescription for these syndromes, but we see them nonetheless. I want to show you a clip from an old commercial that will help us to understand the first syndrome.
Although it is not money that Mr. Things-N-Stuff craves he does suffer from the “I-Want-My-Stuff-And-I-Want-It-Now” syndrome.
“I-WANT-MY-STUFF-AND-I-WANT-IT-NOW”
The Bible actually talks about this syndrome. When you take the word love and look at it through the eyes of the people living during the time of the writing of the Bible, they understood it a few different ways. One of those ways was a brotherly love. The Greek word as we have taught you before is Philos or Phileo. This is where Philadelphia gets the nickname, “City of Brotherly Love”.
Each and every one of us is capable of this love. Each and every one of us demonstrates this love. We are to love everybody with this brotherly love. What happens when somebody is suffering from “I-Want-My-Stuff-And-I-Want-It-Now” is that the love that they are supposed to give to other people is given to things and stuff.
See, it’s not the love itself that is wrong. As already stated, philos is a type of love that is commanded from us in Scripture. What is wrong is the direction, the focus, the intention of that love. The word that we have been talking about this entire time without actually saying it is… covet. Coveting is a misdirected type of philos love. Actually, when one begins to study the origin of this word, it is a Greek compound of the two words philos (brotherly love) and silver.
Coveting is a type of love that should have been given to your brothers, to those around you, but it instead stolen by your insatiable need for “stuff.” There’s an interesting story in Scripture when Jesus is challenged with the question, “Who is my brother? Who is my neighbor?” The sneaky thing about coveting is that we may not even realize what exactly it has stolen from us. We look around and notice that, “Hey, I love people. I love my friends. I love my brothers.” But, your brother is not just the person it is easy to love. Your brother is the person that doesn’t have anything to pay you back with. Your brother is the person that is a little more difficult to love. And, if you don’t have one of those people in your life, perhaps… just maybe… the syndrome of “I-Want-My-Stuff-And-I-Want-It-Now” has stolen something secretly from you.
On the other hand, coveting steals something more. The Pauli exclusion principle is “the quantum mechanical principle that no two identical fermions (particles with half-integer spin) may occupy the same quantum state simultaneously.” Huh?
It’s just like these Christmas ornaments. They are shiny and attractive. But, when we try to put two of them in the same space, it becomes dented. We continue pushing and trying to cause two things to occupy the same space, and it starts to break and fall apart. In the end, what we are left with is a broken and fractured shell of what was meant to be.
We’ve all heard it in its much simpler form, which says, “No two objects can occupy the same space at the same time.” When this is applied spiritually, we begin to covet and divert our attention and fill our thoughts will other things besides the things of God — the good things. In the end, we run the risk of being left as a broken and empty shell of what God has intended for us simply because we cannot allow Him to occupy the depths of our heart when they are already filled with something else.
In fact, as we read through 1 Corinthians, Paul says this to us:
//1 CORINTHIANS 12:31
31 Now eagerly desire the greater gifts. And yet I will show you the most excellent way.
//1 CORINTHIANS 14:1
1 Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy.
The things we are to eagerly desire is not a large savings account, the next gadget, the next woman, the next football game, the next… thing. We are to eagerly desire the greater gifts, the better gifts, the gifts that have eternal and lasting value… the gifts of the Spirit. Then, the great promise of God in Matthew 7:7-8 comes to life, “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.” When we eagerly desire the things of this world, we will be left sorely unsatisfied and empty. When we eagerly desire the things of God, He gives and He fulfills and He satisfies our deepest longing.
PB/PC :: Mr. Things-N-Stuff where are you?
Kyle :: I’m just upstairs here.
PB/PC :: Doing what exactly?
Kyle :: You know, just looking through some stuff
PB/PC :: Wow I did not even know we had some of that stuff. You know that you can’t just take all of this stuff with you right?
Kyle :: Why not!?
PB/PC :: Well, for one thing, how in the world are you going to carry it all out??
Kyle :: I’m not really worried about it, I’m sure I can find a nice white jeep that i can hook a trailer up to.
PB/PC :: Um, Mr. Things-N-Stuff do you get anything that we are saying?
Kyle :: Yeah man I get what you are saying… maybe you should take some of my stuff…. Here take this hat
PB/PC :: Really? Thanks man!
Kyle :: Yeah you owe me one! Tell you what let me buy you lunch today…
PB/PC :: Wow thanks!
Kyle :: Yup now you owe me another now, though. You owe me another one… It was nice chatting with you guys, but I’m outta here!
PB/PC :: Well, that was awkward.
“I-GOT-YOUR-BACK-YOU-CAN-JUST-OWE-ME”
The next syndrome that Mr. Things-N-Stuff suffers from is “I-Got-Your-Back-You-Can-Just-Owe-Me.” In this mindset, there is no such thing as a favor. We do something always expecting something in return. It’s more like a loan with interest than a gift.
What we found out today is that things and stuff is incredibly distracting. We find that the things around us divert our attention, and we are locked on to the next shiny thing. We stop looking at people and start looking at what’s in their hand. We are no longer about relationships; we’re entirely about possessions, and we base who is better dependent upon what they own and accumulate.
We determine a person’s value based off of what they are able to do for us in return. Almost like buying something knowing that you can return it right after to get your “refund.” The “Things-N-Stuff” mentality isn’t just about materials, it affects how we interact with people. Just like you wouldn’t want to hoard things n stuff that have no value why would you want to love people when they aren’t “worth it” because they can’t do anything for us in return.
If we only give based on what others can give back we start treating them like things-n-stuff instead of people.
//Luke 6:30-36
30 Give what you have to anyone who asks you for it; and when things are taken away from you, don’t try to get them back. 31 Do for others as you would like them to do for you. 32 “Do you think you deserve credit merely for loving those who love you? Even the sinners do that! 33 And if you do good only to those who do good to you, is that so wonderful? Even sinners do that much! 34 And if you lend money only to those who can repay you, what good is that? Even sinners will lend to their own kind for a full return. 35 “Love your enemies! Do good to them! Lend to them! And don’t be concerned that they might not repay.
It is very clear through these scriptures that Jesus is telling us the opposite of what Mr. Things N Stuff is doing. He wants us to be completely generous. He not only tells us to love those who love us, and lend to those who can pay us back; he tells us to love those who are cruel to us and to lend to those who cannot pay us back.
Sometimes if not all of the time this is a very, very difficult passage of scripture. We think that people that are mean to us deserve cruelty in return. We act as though the one who cannot pay us back is undeserving of anything we would give to them.
All the while Jesus does something here that is clever and very pointed. He says, “Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to the unthankful and to those who are wicked. 36 You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate.”
He is basically reminding us that none of us is deserving of God’s love, and yet God gives it to us. We have been unfaithful and yet He has remained faithful. God values people over things and stuff.
Proverbs 19:17 teaches us that when we are good to the poor, God will repay us. We can take courage knowing that God sees what we do and He will repay us for caring for who He cares about.
//Proverbs 19:17
If you help the poor, you are lending to the LORD — and he will repay you!
WHAT DOES JESUS SAY ABOUT THINGS N STUFF?
Gateway Sin:: Coveting is like this gateway sin. It leads into other things; it leads into lying to get what we want; it leads into stealing to get what we want; in extreme cases, it leads into murdering to get what we want. Often, people do not even realize the detriment it has caused them.
Two masters // Matthew 6:: Jesus teaches us to put our minds on eternal things instead of temporary things.
//Matthew 6:19-24
19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! 24 “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.
Rich Young Ruler // Luke 18:: In Luke 18, a Rich Young Ruler encounters Jesus, asking what he has to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus lists off five of the six commandments that pertain to our relationship with people. The one that He left out?
Coveting. While the other listed commandments were dealing with the young man’s actions, Christ was asking for his heart. Is your heart ready? Is your heart at the point of surrender?
Content in all situations:: In Philippians 4, the Apostle Paul’s contentment was not found in what he had or did not have; it was found in the fact that He trusted that he could do all things through Christ Jesus. God’s plan is not dependent on our possessions, but on our dependence on Him.
CHALLENGE!
This morning, we challenge you to tip the scales the other way. Let’s start valuing people and not stuff. Let’s stop treating people like objects, like some have more value than others, and remember how God views each individual–unique but equally valuable.
The challenge this week is that we want each one of you to do something selfless, do something for your brothers. It’s going to cost something, but that’s the point. Do something for someone who can never pay you back. That way you don’t run the danger of valuing the recognition or the coming return payment… you value that person.
Coveting manifests itself in indebtedness. Financially we are indebted. We are in debt relationally with people and relationally with God. This morning some of us are undoubtedly already living in the midst of these consequences. We have valued possessions more than people. We have valued stuff more than God. We have tried to fit too many things into one space and we might even feel like we are a shell of the person that God intended for us to be.
So many people today have the mindset that good moral standards will tip the scale in their favor. If they could only change a thing here or a thing there, but the reality is that God doesn’t merely desire a moral people. He desires a redeemed people. Just like when a man recites his wedding vows to his bride, he is not attempting to gain her love in that moment; rather, his vows are a demonstration of the love that has already changed his life. We do not do good or become moral to gain God. Instead, we humbly approach Him and accept the redemption that He freely offers and that will change who we are as a people. God wants to redeem you today; He wants to pay your balance and debt; He was to restore your hope and future to you. So today the ultimate question and challenge for you is this:: Are you redeemed? We want to give you a chance today to choose God’s forgiveness and redemption. If you would like to surrender all of the “things-n-stuff” in your life today to God and turn your focus and attention on God this is your opportunity.
