Good morning. Welcome to the worship of the living God. If you have your Bibles with you, please turn in your Bibles to Exodus chapter 20. We'll continue through our sermon series in Exodus. This is the Ten Commandments we've been going through, and we're at number 10. You shall not covet. I want to remind you of the context in which the commandments are found Israel has been redeemed by God as a visible people of God. And God is going to use Israel. He's called Israel to be a light to the nation so that they would know the truth of the only and living God. And they were to live a certain way before God, worshiping Him and living obediently out of gratitude for being redeemed people. Now, we're in the second table of the law, as it's called. And if you remember, the second table is concerned primarily with our relationships to our neighbor or how we love our neighbor concretely. Sometimes we say, well, we love someone. The second table of the law is primarily concerned with teaching us how God shows us to love others as ourselves. And so I want to remind you as we're reading the second table today and we're focusing primarily on it. Remember that it is these are imperatives or these are commands that God's giving all of his people, all of his people throughout time. But he's doing so as a redeemed people, meaning we're to see these commands in Christ. These are not commands addressed to you so that you will try real hard to live them and then be saved. I have to remind you of this. These are commands given to you because you are redeemed and saved. And these are commands given to you because the Spirit of God, who Jesus has given to you, has written these commands on your heart. And so these are commands. We respond in obedience because we have been saved and united to Jesus Christ. If you have not been united to Jesus Christ, you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ, then be reminded that this, the law, sheds a spotlight on our hearts and our sins so that we realize we have no hope before God apart from Christ. And so the law reminds unbelievers and believers to constantly be turning away from oneself and your own righteousness, which is as filthy rags, the Bible says. to the righteousness found only in the Lord Jesus Christ. Today's 10th commandment, the sermon is called Living Contentedly, Coram Deo, in an age of discontentment and greed. Hear the word of the Lord from Exodus chapter 20, and I'm going to read the second table of the law, which begins in verse 12. The second table, or that which is primarily addressed to how we are to love our neighbor concretely. Exodus chapter 20, beginning in verse 12. Honor your father and your mother that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that is your neighbors. Thus ends the reading of God's word. Let us pray. Our father and our God, we thank you for Your precious word to us, your special revelation to your visible people here on earth. And we do await the day when Jesus shall return. Lord, until that time, help us to live gratefully and obediently in Jesus Christ, our Savior, as redeemed people. Help us to show forth to the world what it means to live freely. By your spirit, open our ears to hear today, our hearts to receive in our minds to understand. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. In the 1970s, John Lennon, the great rock and roll poet, wrote a beautiful hymn about ugly unbelief. He wrote a beautiful hymn about ugly unbelief. It was called Imagine. And he said, Imagine there's no heaven. It's easy if you try. No hell below us, above us only sky. Imagine all the people living for today. This beautiful hymn and yet ugly, unbelieving song has come true today in our culture. People are living as if there's no God above, no hell beneath, no judgment on a final day and living for today. Yet this song, this reality has not led us to some idyllic utopia. It's led us to a consumeristic, self-centered nightmare where we're all concerned about ourselves. That's what the Tenth Commandment is all about. It's to address the people of God about coveting. about our tendency to greed, about the fact that we complain, and we're not very good with just being content with the fact that we're united to Jesus Christ, and that God loves us, and that we are His children, and that He will provide all that we need, so we have no need to be anxious or worried about anything. And yet we live, as the rest of the world many times in the church, seeking more, more, more, more, more, more, more. And this commandment reminds us that we have all we need. And God in His grace does give us more in His own time, above and beyond what we could ask or imagine. But we're to be mindful of the culture in which we live, where people are living as if there's no heaven and hell. living only for today in a consumeristic culture that is a nightmare. Think about it, people of God. You have the world's offerings all around you. On a given day, you receive all kinds of magazines, not merely to tell you that there's a new product, but to tell you, look at what you don't have. Look at the new shoes you don't have. Look at this hat that would look so good on you. Look at these books that you haven't read. Look at all of this that you don't have. Understand magazines are not for your good. They're given to you by admin so they will... draw you in because of your greed, because of your covetousness, because of your desire for more, more, more. Advertisements, they say, we are hit with 3,000 a day. It's like being at a loud, a loud basketball game, college basketball game with a crowd cheering. We hear these advertisements like this buzz around us constantly. We're driving, we see an ad. We open a magazine, we see an ad. Everywhere we look, someone's telling us what we don't have. Thomas Clap Patton in his book Envy Politics gives us the staggering figure that Americans are exposed to over 3,000 ads a day. 70 to 90% of big city newspapers are ads rather than news. So you're reading some ads rather than news. Don't know how much information you're really getting. The subliminal message, he says in his book, Envy Politics, is always the same, whether you really need it or not, don't be without what other people have. Again, this is an example of how the secular culture is writing about the condition of our culture and our society that the church has to take seriously. God's given the church the truth, primarily, and he's given us the truth through his word so that we can live as light before the world. In Democracy in America, over 150 years ago, Alexis de Tocqueville wrote, "...among democratic nations, ambition is ardent and continual, but its aim is not habitually lofty, and life is generally spent in eagerly coveting small objects." So he says, we're all out there ready to be coveting. He's saying 150 years ago. But it's not. It's so lofty. It's the small things that really don't matter in the big scheme of things. And I think we're still chasing and pursuing those things. Even further back, Socrates says in the dialogues that greed and coveting more luxury are the elements that push some people to attack their neighbors and take their belongings. So, it's not just our culture today, you understand. It's a sinful condition. And that's why the Tenth Commandment addresses it. As in all the other commandments, it addresses a heart condition. And so, our culture, previous cultures, have all dealt with greed and covetousness. The Tenth Commandment, people of God, is the commandment, if you will, that summarizes all the truths of all the other commandments, if I can put it that way. Because breaking the tenth commandment is the commandment that gives you the potential of breaking the first nine. Let's look at the commandment together. Three parts. It's broken down into three parts primarily. You shall not covet your neighbor's house. Allow me a paraphrase. That is, you shall not covet the place where your neighbor lives. Two, you shall not covet your neighbor's wife. or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey." Okay, allow a paraphrase. You shall not covet the one your neighbor loves or his belongings. And then three, or anything that is your neighbor's. If the first two didn't summarize it well enough for you, the third part says, or anything, and that means anything. that belongs to your neighbor, that God has sovereignly given privilege, power, possessions, position. Those things are your neighbors. And we're not to covet those things. So you shall not covet the place where your neighbor lives, the one he loves or his belongings. And if that's not enough, anything that belongs to your neighbor. That's what the 10th commandment is saying to us. But that brings the question, what is coveting? What is it? What does it mean? We all know what it is when we do it, but how to define it might be the more difficult thing to do. Allow me this, coveting, coveting, it's desiring or wanting something that's not necessarily wrong, but it's inordinate desires. It's wanting something too much. It's whatever that too much may be. It could be money, more possessions, or if I could put it in the P's, the power, the possessions, the privileges, the position. Coveting is wanting things or stuff, sometimes good things or stuff, but wanting it too much, and particularly things we do not have that belong to our neighbor. Coveting begins with our desire to have more, more, more, not truly relying on God and trusting God for anything we might want. Coveting, like all other sin, is rooted in unbelief and doubt that God cares and loves us. You see, coveting is rooted ultimately in unbelief and doubt that God truly loves us and that he is a heavenly father. If he provides for the birds, How much greater are you than the birds? He loves you. You beautiful flowers we see in spring and then they're gone. I didn't get a chance to really enjoy these flowers. They're gone already. I can't wait till next spring. He loves you more than that. He clothes the grass of the field like that. How much more will he clothe you? Oh, you a little fake. How are coveting and greed related? Let me try this. Greed and coveting are very similar, but in the scriptures they're distinct. So I think we can make a distinction between greed and coveting without making a separation unnecessarily. Greed seems to be out for more in general. It's a sort of condition. You know, I'm greedy for money. I'm greedy for lust. I'm greedy for power. I'm greedy for privilege. I'm greedy for possession. Where coveting seems to be, the actual act of not only being out for more generally, but specifically the more that belongs to your neighbor. It's got more of a specific in mind, coveting or envying your neighbor's specific position, possessions, privileges, power. Let me say it like this. Greed might want more cars, bigger cars, nicer cars. Whereas coveting wants your neighbor's bigger, nicer car. Specifically. According to Scripture, coveting is idolatry and has implicit in it the breaking of all the commandments. Let me remind you of James 2, 8 to 12. James says, if you really fulfill the royal law, according to the scripture, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. You are doing well. But if you show partiality, you're committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. For he who said, Do not commit adultery also said, Do not murder. If you do not commit adultery, but do murder, you've become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. What a scripture teach elsewhere about coveting, we're to be reminded again, as the other commandments, it's a condition of the heart. It's not merely that we notice each time we covet. in word, thought, and deed. It's not merely an action, if you will, although it is an action. It's the acts or the deeds that are judged just as much as the word or the thought. But it is a condition first, you see. It is a way of thinking from the heart. And so, it's not merely to change the actions outwardly, it's to first change the heart, by God's grace, inwardly. See, if you want to stop coveting, it takes more than saying, I've got to stop coveting. I got to stop coveting. I got to stop coveting. Now, you may not like that. And behavioralistically, according to behavior rules, you may shy back at your covening, but you've not taken care of your coveting condition in the heart. See, be reminded what Mark 7 says, where Jesus says, what comes out of a person is what defiles him. OK. For from within, out of the heart of man come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. It comes from the heart. See, only Jesus can take care of that condition. You understand that? We might change behavior on the outside once in a while by good and rigorous discipline. But if Jesus doesn't change the heart, we'll still have a problem of coveting that hasn't been taken care of. Some other scripture in Ephesians 5 verses 3 and 5, Paul says, sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you as is proper among saints. Why no covetousness? Why no greed for one another? Because we're to show forth to the world that we share with one another, that we love one another, that we understand that God has given certain privileges, power and position and possessions to each one of us. And we're to thank him for that. And we're to be thankful when we see our neighbor and his or her success. Ephesians 5.5, for you may be sure of this, Paul says, everyone who's sexually immoral or impure or who is covetous, that is an idolater, has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Romans 1, speaking of those who continue in their unbelief before the living God, before his face, Coram Deo, those who continue in unbelief throughout their lives. Paul says in Romans 1, 29, he says they were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They're full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness, maliciousness, gossips. He lists covetousness as part of unrighteousness, evil, malice. And then Colossians 3, 5 says, "...put to death therefore what is earthly in you, sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry." So the Scriptures say that covetousness is idolatry because we're desiring something before God. We're loving that something, that specific something that belongs to our neighbor that we think we have to have or it's going to kill us. And we love that more than seeking God first in his kingdom. And so thus it is idolatry. That's what Paul is saying. That's what the Bible says. So where's the origin of all this covetousness? Well, as we saw in the ninth commandment, the origin of lion lying, it goes back to the evil one in the garden asking or questioning God's truth, lying for the first time. Has God really said? So we see the first visible covetousness in the garden. Remember the way Genesis 3, 6 says it. It says when the woman saw the tree was good for food, contrary to what God had said it was when she saw that it was good for food and that it was a delight to her eyes and that the tree was to be desired to make one. Why she took of its fruit and ate. And she also gave some to her husband who was with her and he ate. You see, before Eve and Adam reached forth outwardly to take what God had said not to take, they had already committed sin in their thoughts, in their heart, because they coveted the fruit that God said they couldn't have. And they sought another way to live in God's presence, one way that was forbidden by God Himself. It's an inward commandment from the heart. You could say that the fall happened in the heart of Eve and Adam before it actually before they actually physically took part and took the fruit and disobeyed. There was disobedience from the heart. And that's why Paul says in Romans 7, remember what we read earlier, Romans 7, if you'll turn there, it's worth looking at for a moment. In Romans 7, this is the commandment that Paul remembers from the heart that caused him to die. It's the commandment that he had no righteousness to offer before God. It was this commandment that exposed him as one man who was unclean before the Lord, who did not have the righteousness that he sought so, so hard to attain and to achieve. In Romans 7, the argument here of Paul in the context is that the law is good and holy, but the law reveals our sin and the need we have of a Savior. And Paul is in the context of Romans chapter 6 through 8 comparing when we were in the flesh or in Adam and now that we're in the Spirit or in Christ. He's saying that we can now bear fruit, that the law that was supposed to bring life couldn't bring life because of a sinful condition we had in us. And so he says in verse 7, notice this, and this is very important, he says, What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means. Yet, if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, You shall not covet. But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. Apart from the law, sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. The very commandment that promised life proved to be death for me. His argument is the law is holy, righteous, and good. It's good. He will go on later to say that the law is for the Christian in Christ. It is to direct us how to be grateful and obedient. But he's saying that we have this condition from the heart that when the law says don't do it, we want to do it. And that's the root of coveting. That it was that specific law, the tenth one, you shall not want what belongs to your neighbor. You shall not want his house, his wife, his belongings or anything that belongs to him that made Paul say, woe unto me. I'm a man of unclean lips living among a people of unclean lips. My own righteousness will not do. That's what slayed Paul. That's what killed him, he says, was the tenth commandment. It's the commandment, if you will, that helps us to understand why we don't like all the other nine. Because the origin was the garden. And so when we hear the other commandments, the reason the sermon series is so hard, the reason it's hard for me to study, the reason it's hard for us to hear, the reason the law facing the law is so difficult is because it reveals our covetousness. It reveals our desire to be outside the authority and sovereignty of God, to live Self-centeredly for ourselves. And it makes us realize we want something other than what God wants for us. And Paul said it kills him. Now, you could only imagine what it was he wanted in his neighbor. I could presume that he was a Pharisee of Pharisees who wanted his neighbor's righteousness. But it's only presuming it's only thinking it through. Paul desired something. that he didn't have. It's the commandment that damns or condemns us all people of God. Listen to how Luther wrote about this commandment, why it's unique. This is how Martin Luther wrote. He said this last commandment then is addressed not to those whom the world considers wicked rogues, but precisely to the most upright. To people who wish to be commended is honest and virtuous because they've not offended against the preceding commandments, at least outwardly. That's his intent. Such is nature that we all begrudge another's having as much as we have. Everyone acquires all he can and lets others look out for themselves. He goes on to say, yet we all pretend to be upright and righteous. We know how to put up a fine front to conceal our rascality being rascals. We think up artful dodges and sly tricks. Better and better ones are being devised daily under the guise of justice. We come up with these artful dodges and sly tricks. We brazenly dare to boast of it and insist that it should be called not rascality, but shrewdness and business, business acumen. In this, we're assisted by jurists and lawyers who twist and stretch the law to suit their purpose, straining words and using them for pretext without regard for equity or for our neighbor's plight. So, the 10th commandment, according to Luther, is very helpful. It's not for the wicked rogues. It's for the righteous. It's to remind us that it's easy to get caught up in discontentment and complaining as the Israelites did in the wilderness. After God had redeemed them, they got to murmuring and complaining because they weren't getting their way, even though God was providing all they needed. We need to be warned as the church. We need to be warned as the church and cautious about the consumeristic cult out there. Now, I didn't come up with this idea of a consumeristic cult. It's from Mark Buchanan's book, Sociologist. He refers to greed as the cult of the next thing. This is how Mark Buchanan speaks of the cult of the next thing. He says, or he warns us, it's very dangerous. It's very dangerously easy to get enlisted in the cult of the next thing. In fact, it happens by default, not by choosing the cult, but by failing to resist the cult of the next thing. He writes, the cult of the next thing is consumerism cast in religious terms. It even has its own litany of sacred words, such as more, you deserve it, new, faster, cleaner, brighter. It has its own deep-rooted liturgy, charge it, instant credit, no down payment, deferred payment, no interest for three months. It has its own preachers, evangelists, prophets and apostles, admin, pitchmen, celebrity sponsors. It has its own shrines, chapels, temples, meccas, the malls, superstores, club warehouses. It has its own sacraments, credit and debit cards. It has its own ecstatic experiences, the spending spree. This is the cult of the next thing. He goes on to say, the members of this cult spend more time with advertisements than with scripture. The cult of the next thing's central message proclaims, crave and spend for the kingdom of stuff is here. Sanctification is measured by never saving enough. For the cult teaches that our lives are measured by the abundance of our possessions. The cult of the next thing you join it. By not being aware of it. Richard Foster is known for his understanding of spiritual disciplines in his book, Money, Sex and Power, he suggests that all who follow Christ are to to to vow to simplicity. Not in the monastic way we might think of for him, simplicity is marked by contentment and trust. having an attitude of detachment from all of the things of the world that try to seduce us into thinking they'll make us happy, and having the wherewithal to reject the prevailing belief that more is better. This requires constant vigilance. So, the biblical principle of the Tenth Commandment is Jesus' teaching on covening. And how are we to avoid coveting? How are we to avoid not becoming members of the cult of the next thing and being the church of Jesus Christ? The antidote to it is learning contentment. If you remember in Luke 12 that we read in the scripture lesson, Jesus says, when the man says, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me, he says, man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you? Take care and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. He goes on to say two important things to keep in mind for those who naturally covet. He says in verse 31, seek his kingdom and all the things you're concerned about will be added to you. And then he says this beautiful line that Luke records for us is beautiful. People have got to listen to what he says. He says, Fear not, little flock. It's the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Stop worrying and being anxious about so much here when He's going to give you a kingdom that's above and beyond what you could ask or imagine. You're children of the living God. You're heirs of the world. You'll never have enough possessions to match what He's got planned for you. And so He says this beautiful passage, He says, Don't worry. Don't be anxious. Don't run after all these things. But fear not. Quit fearing. Quit doubting. Quit being anxious. Quit being worried. Seek first the kingdom. Little flock, it's my Father's pleasure to give you the kingdom. And all that means, everything that means, it means meditating on the kingdom. It means understanding what the kingdom's about. We already in the church have kingdom living. We see love. We see charity. We see hope. We see faith. We see comfort in our suffering. We see a foretaste of all that God will give to us in Jesus Christ. We spend too much time looking at what others have and not realizing what we have. Others' possessions, power, position, privileges, not realizing church. We have the Word of God, the means of grace, prayer. We're united to the living King, Savior, Jesus, who is at the right hand of the Father. Does that mean anything anymore to you? It still means a great deal to us. It should. We should meditate on the reality. We're united to Jesus. You've been given word. The very word of God that will go deep in your heart and change you, that will conform you to Christ likeness, that pronounces a sentence only to tell you that God has paid the sentence for you. To tell you, go deep in your heart and repent of these things. This life's too short to have worried and being anxious when He's wanting to give you the kingdom now. Not fully, but the promises of the kingdom through the gospel, through the Word. By setting a table for you in the wilderness of your covetousness and complaining and saying, come to this table. and feed with Jesus, the King of Lord heaven and earth. And we want something else. We covet it even as the church. We don't want to be the church. I don't know what we want the church to be any longer. But Jesus has given us all of these things, the kingdom in the church, even now, knowing what faith, hope and love looks like. Knowing what it means to be able to unite and mingle your requests and prayers with the living God, with Jesus who is ever interceding. for you. Think about when you're content. Watch out for worry or anxiety. It usually means you're coveting. You're either being generally greedy or specifically you're coveting something specific and you're worried or anxious that God doesn't care about you. But when we're discontent, people of God, remember when we're discontent, we're blind to the needs of others around us in the kingdom, in the church. We're blind to what God has given us. We're blind to what he's provided. We focus on what we don't have rather than what we do. We become self-centered and blind. We must be reminded no matter who specifically has been gifted by God with certain possessions or power or position or privileges. He's also granted to every one of you certain privileges, power, possessions and privileges. that are specific to your calling in this world, that are specific to you obediently answering the call, no matter where you are in your life. Young or old, you've been given at this particular time power, possessions, privileges, and power that He wants you to use for the good of your neighbor, to love, and not to be spending all your time and energy worrying and being anxious rather than praying and being thankful. Looking at what others have in power and position and prestige, privileges, possessions. I used another P before I said, you know. We focus on those things, you see. And we're not focusing on what he's given us when we're discontent, we're blind to what others do not have that we might could help them with. You know, if we're looking at their nice shiny car, we might not be looking at their soul. They might be acquiring all the possessions in the world. They might be building bigger barns. Literally, I think one of my neighbors is. But am I concerned about him losing his soul? If he gains the whole world and puts it inside that barn, has he gained anything? If the church gains all the power in the world and possessions and position, and we get a Christian in the White House, have we gained anything if we lose our soul and we lose the gospel and the means of grace that has been given to us, the keys of the kingdom, the power from above to open and shut the doors of heaven itself? What are we thinking? Coveting causes conflict. James says, but the conflicts not only with others, the conflicts within us. What causes the fights and the quarrels among us is it? Oh, it's that you don't have and you want so badly and you you want, but you don't ask. The conflicts within us go something like this, people of God, just to be specific, says something like, I should be honored for my position, my possessions, my power, my privileges. It goes something like this, he says, I deserve it. I deserve a little bit more. I'm worth it. And that was long before L'Oreal hair commercials. I will strive until I get the possessions, power and position that I think I should get. That's the kind of thinking. I don't think other people have it as bad as I do. They've got the easy life. I got it coming to me. You know, that's the conflict within us. And God is faithful to provide what we need. And when we ask him, we ask him to grant our needs, thy kingdom come, thy will be done and be satisfied with that. But the conflicts with our neighbors, too, we clench our teeth when something good happens to our neighbor. This never happened to us. What would they do? I've been working real hard at this thing. And they get the attention? Rejoice with your neighbor when something good happens to your neighbor. Rejoice that a power, a certain position, certain privileges, certain possessions have been given to them. Rejoice with them. God has granted that to them. What do we have that we have not received? And then we get angry with God. That's the greatest conflict. God! You've placed me here and I know all about that sovereignty stuff and I know about that theology. I know it. I know that theology. But and I'm not going to accept comfort from anyone. And I'm angry with you because you brought me here. And no, I'm not going to forgive. Not right now. I'm not ready to do it. We must. You've been forgiven. You must go forgive. You've been shown mercy in Jesus. You must be reminded by God's grace to learn contentment in whatever circumstances. You see, it was just in Paul's, the Apostle Paul's, circumstances he didn't really want, in suffering, in being hungry, that he learned the secret of being content. So here's the rub, the paradox. If you want to learn the secret of contentment, you have to learn to be faithful and happy in the circumstances. He's called you, and then you learn the secret of contentment. It can't be learned apart from God's sovereignty and circumstance, see? It happens in it. The Apostle Paul could have chosen a better place than a Philippian prison, you see, or a prison in Rome where he wrote the letter to the Philippians, I should say. But the gospel he had, and the gospel was going throughout that prison in that circumstances, and he wrote this beautiful little four-chapter letter on rejoicing always in the Lord. His circumstances could have got the best of him, and we might never have had the book of Philippians. But Paul knew that it was to rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to all. Don't be worried or anxious about anything. But in everything, with prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God. And the peace of God that passes all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. And he goes on to say, I thank you that you've remembered me in this place. And I thank you that I have. I receive your gift, he says to the Philippians. But I've learned the secret of being content in all circumstances, no matter where God calls me, because he is there. He will never leave me nor forsake me. I can do all things through Christ who gives me the strength. Now, people of God, remember, we all remember I can do all things through Christ who gives me the strength. We have this, you know, usually a nice little plaque on our wall or something. You know, I have one on my desk. and have to be reminded of the context. The context is that you can do all things with regard to circumstances, specifically in that context, that you can learn contentment in Christ. Years ago, I heard a poem by Charles Swindoll, and I want you to listen to this poem. I don't know if it was by Swindoll, but he quoted it. Listen to this. It was spring, but it was summer I wanted. The warm days and the great outdoors. It was summer, but it was fall I wanted. The colorful leaves and the cool, dry air. It was fall, but it was winter I wanted. The beautiful snow and the joy of the holiday season. It was winter, but it was spring I wanted. The warmth and blossoming of nature. Listen, young people. I was a child and it was adulthood I wanted. the freedom and the respect. I was 20, but it was 30 I wanted to be mature and sophisticated. I was middle aged, but it was 20 I wanted the youth and the free spirit. I was retired, but it was middle aged I wanted the presence of mind without limitations. My life was over and I never got what I wanted. Don't allow that to be a reflection of the Lord Jesus. Don't go away in your minds and imagination, seeking after something other than the kingdom and its righteousness. Your mind will play tricks on you at every age, in every circumstance. And your eyes will then look at someone else's power, position, privileges and possessions, and you will covet. And then you will worry and you will be anxious. And you will not like your neighbor very much. Hebrews 13 5 tells the church, keep your life free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for he has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. So we can confidently say the Lord is my helper. I will not fear. What can man do to me? People of God, we know the origin of coveting. Was in the Bible where Adam and Eve grasped at the tree, God had said no. And yet the one Jesus who saves us from coveting and who transform our hearts, Paul, in that circumstance in that Philippian jail, reminds Christians that Jesus did not consider equality with God something to be grasped at. Not to be coveted, but he made himself nothing, even becoming in the form of a servant so that he would lay down his life for covetous people like you and me. And God gave Jesus the name that is above all names so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Jesus went through his whole life in circumstances in circumstances of sin and misery going to death on the cross and being raised for your justification for all those who would believe so that we wouldn't covet anything other than Jesus and His kingdom, so that we'd only desire that, and God gives us the desires of our heart. Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health as it goes well with your soul. That's how 3 John 2.15 says it, that you be well, that you know who you are in Jesus Christ, the one who died for covetous people, and the one who is seated at God's right hand, ready to hear our prayers and petitions in our different places, reminding us that He will never leave us nor forsake us. And so there's no reason to be worried or anxious or covetous. Let us pray. Our Father and our God, we thank You for the Lord Jesus and for His help. We thank You that You call Your people, Lord, to difficult circumstances in our lives. We know that Christ's presence is with us. We know how you promised the Apostle Paul in his learning the secret of contentment. You told him that I will be your strength in your weakness, for my strength is made perfect in your weakness. And help us, Lord, as your church to remember that. Help us to look to you for our needs and our wants. Help govern our wants, Lord, so that we can see saying more, more, more, that we wouldn't be greedy, that you would change us to be giving, that we wouldn't envy and covet others, particularly our neighbors possessions, but that we would encourage them. Telling them the good news of the gospel for lawbreakers. Lord, we ask that you would strengthen the heart of those who are in difficult circumstances today, that they would see your sovereignty and your precious grace and know your comfort, that you're never you'll never leave them or forsake them, help them Help us all to learn the secret of contentment and those, Lord, who are discontent today in a good way because they don't know you and they're discontent and they're standing before you. We pray that you would give them alive hearts where they might look to Jesus and be saved. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.