Be Content David A. Cawston Exodus 20:17 "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's."(NKJ) Introduction Our American culture is totally based upon the unbridled desire to have…to have the best, the newest, the latest, the most advanced, the safest, the most fashionable. Our national motto has become “Shop till you drop”. As one pundit has described modern day consumers, they are those who buy things they don’t need, with money they don’t have, to keep up with the people they don’t like. I am not saying that it is wrong to own property, purchase the goods and services we need or to succeed in private enterprise. But I am calling attention to an obsessive spirit in America: the drive to consume beyond the boundaries of need. Crown Ministries financial study says, “the average person in our country is three weeks away from bankruptcy. He has little or no money saved. Regular or fixed obligations to support relatively high lifestyle, significantly monthly credit obligations, and a total dependence on next weeks paycheck to keep the budget afloat.” There is so much personal debt from our desire to have that in this country the average person has been described as someone - driving on a bond financed highway, - in the bank financed car, - fueled by a charge card finance gasoline, - going to purchase furniture on the installment plan - to put in his savings and loan financed home. This tenth commandment brings us to the understanding that God wants us to learn to be content with where we are. Paul wrote to Timothy in I Timothy 6:6-10 and stated “Now godliness with contentment is great gain. Nor we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.(NKJ) Martin Luther wrote concerning this tenth commandment “We are to fear and love God so that we do not desire to get our neighbor’s possessions by scheming, or by pretending to have a right to them, but always help him keep what is his.” This tenth and last commandment seems to be the greater of this second section of these Ten Commandments. Nothing like this commandment exists in any other ancient laws. It goes beyond regulating outward acts to prescribing inner attitudes. Perhaps it appears last because the sin it prohibits, covetousness, is the most treacherous of all. We must learn to be content. I. The disease of discontentment. Let us take a look for a moment at the depths of this disease. It is a lot like cancer, within each of our human bodies, there are cells that are always multiplying (some of them rapidly). Cancer is not just rapid developing cells; it is rapid developing cells out of control. This is where discontentment and covetousness come in. Desire is apart of human nature. - Our desire for food makes us hungry and we eat, that is how we maintain our bodies. - Our desire for approval and respect is important. It causes us to take care of ourselves (wash our faces, comb our hair). - Our desire to conform to the rules of social etiquette, help us to get along with others. Without desire we won’t have much life. Desire is even important in spiritual matters. Paul say in I Corinthians 12:31 “Eagerly desire the greater spiritual gifts” Jesus also taught in Matthew 5:6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for Righteousness”,(NKJ) You see coveting is not merely desire for something, even something we don’t have. But this abnormal discontentment and covetousness, is to desire inordinately or to desire unlawfully. It is not wrong for a man to desire a house, a wife, a servant, an animal or a car. But it is wrong for him to covet his neighbor’s house, wife, servant, animal or car. This kind of desire is different because a desire for someone else’s belongings plants the seeds of a willingness to hurt, kill, lie or steal in order to fulfill the desire. Covetousness is when my desires become destructive. Almost every language and culture has proverbs about covetousness.- In English we say, “The grass is always greener on the other side of fence”. - One of Aesop’s fables tells us how a man killed a goose that laid golden eggs, concluding with this moral “Much wants more and looses all”.- A Scottish proverb says, “The covetous man will never have enough until his mouth is filled with mold”.- In India, a Hindu proverb says, “If you mention money, even the corpus opens it’s mouth”. Covetousness and discontentment effects every level of human life. We find it in the church, in ourselves, and in our community. Christ taught sacrifice and selflessness, yet we see little of that in our lives. This was the root of King David’s worst sin. For the Lord sent Nathan to King David after David had committed adultery with Basheba and murdered Uriah, her husband. However Nathan did not talk to King David about murder or adultery. Instead he told a story about a rich man who had a big ranch with lots of sheep and cattle. One day an important friend came to visit the rancher and he wanted to throw a party. But he didn’t go out to his ranch and kill one of his own sheep for the feast. Instead he turned to the poor man in the community who had only one little ewe lamb, a family pet. The rich man could have chosen from the vast herd, but he took the only lamb the poor man owned. That is covetousness and Nathan the prophet pointed out that was the root of David’s sin. James wrote in James 4:1-3 “What causes fights and quarrels among you? “ Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? “You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”(NIV) The disease of discontentment or coveting causes us to focus - On what we don’t have - On what others have and we don’t have And not on what God has given us. It is a cancer that will destroy. II. The distraction of discontentment Jesus spoke about this distraction that comes with this unbridled desire, when he talks about the types of soil that the seed is planted on. - Some seeds fell by the roadside - Some seeds fell on rocky ground - And other seeds fell among thorns. He talked about the thorniness of covetousness. The thorniness of discontentment. Did you ever wonder why he used the word thorn? Have you ever been stuck by a thorn? Have you noticed how much it distracts you? You might be looking at the most beautiful sunrise? Or you might be thinking about the most wonderful thought? But the minute you are stuck by a thorn, it all vanishes away. It is the thorn that consumes your attention. He said in Mark 4:19 "the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things …”(NKJ) These are the things that lead us to distraction. A. the distraction of never having enough It is that insatiable desire that is never satisfied. We believe we can have it all. We keep striving to satisfy this insatiable appetite. We look around and we see others whose lives seem to be free from struggle and pain. Their financially secure, intelligent, attractive or all three. We believe with just the right breaks, we can have it all just as they obviously do and we’re never satisfied. Illustration: Jim is a highly successful business contractor and from every indication, he lives the American dream. He drives a Mercedes. He wears a Rolex. He is a member of not one, but three country clubs. His wife is attractive and intelligent. They have three great kids. They go on exotic vacations, wherever they like. Beyond all that, he is well known and liked. So his begins to take on storybook proportions. But take a look on the other side of the fence! But Jim says, “I always thought when I reached this level in my life, I would be happy. I know this sounds crazy, but all the things I have don’t make me happy. They actually have become a burden. We have more debts than ever. All that we own is just that much more to take care of and I don’t know. It just seems the more we get, the more we want. Right now we live in an expensive home. We even have our eye on a more expensive one. It is in a nicer neighborhood and all. My wife really wants to move. But the mortgage, I have to admit will really put a lot of pressure on me. My work is always under some pressure. We are always trying to keep up with the Jones’s. I am so embarrassed to admit it, but it is true. It sounds greedy, doesn’t it? I mean having it all. It never stops. We never say no to ourselves, but things don’t seem to change much, except I am more miserable.” Solomon addressed this problem, when he said, “The abundance of the rich will not pre___ him to sleep”. Or “He who loves silver, will not be satisfied with silver”. Or “I have seen all the works that are done under the sun and indeed all is vanity and grasping for the wind”. This “you can have it all lie”, causes us to waste our entire lives with things that don’t satisfy and it becomes a distraction to the things of value. This discontentment and covetousness causes us to loose value in who we are. B. The distraction of being accepted. Because of this unbridled competitive nature, our culture has obsession with performance. We want to know - How many widgets the salesman sold - How many hits the baseball player gets - How many A’s the student made - How much money the worker made - How many degree’s the applicant has - On and on Somehow we have gotten character and integrity mixed up with externals. If the salesman for instance sells a million widgets, he must be a great man. While this attitude may an inescapable part of our competitive living, it is created in many of us that we are only as good as our last performance. This desire to “be something better to prove our worth” is destructive. You may remember the story of Kathy Ormsby. It was 1986 in Indianapolis Indiana, the site of the NCAA Track and Field Championships. Kathy was a pre-med. honor student and track star at North Carolina State University. She also happened to be the collegiate record holder in the Women’s 10,000-meter run. Something quite startling happened during the championship race. Kathy fell behind and couldn’t seem to catch the front runner. In a startling move, she ran off the track, out of the stadium, to a near by bridge, where she jumped off. The 40-foot fall permanently paralyzed her from the waist down. I don’t know what was going on in Kathy’s mind, but I can only guess that her perfectionism and tendency to equate her worth with performance, created an internal pressure she could not handle. All that talent and ability was destroyed by the lie of telling her, she was only as worthwhile as her performance. This discontentment distracts and destroys. You are only a worthwhile person: - if raise up the corporate ladder - if you live in a big home in the suburbs - or you drive an expensive car - or gold colored charge card - or wear designers labels You can finish the list for me, but nothing, nothing; nothing could be further from the truth. Jesus’ words are correct: we are much more than stuff. The true meaning to happy and meaningful life does not come from accumulating stuff. It comes with a solid relationship with our neighbors and our God; those are the things that are lasting and eternal. We are much more my friends, than what we do and what we have. This disease of covetousness and discontentment “ reaching beyond of what God had intended for us”, consumes and destroys. It is a distraction in our lives. C. The distraction leads us to self-pity. How many of you have said, - If only I had more money. - If only I could make better grades. - If only we owned a nicer home. - If only we hadn’t made that bad investment. - If only I hadn’t come from such a bad background. - If only we could have children. - If only the business could succeed. - If only my husband hadn’t died so young. - If only they had given me a break. - If only I hadn’t had the accident. - If only I had more friends. - If only my folks hadn’t divorced. The list is endless. Woven through the fabric of all those words, is a sigh that comes from discontentment. It distracts us and leads us to dead end street of self-pity. Discontented souls become so lonely. I am so pleased the Solomon did not overlook discontentment. He wrote sayings for all of us to read, especially when we feel tempted to feel sorry for ourselves. Proverbs 15:17 “Better a meal of vegetables where there is love than a fattened calf with hatred with it. “ (NIV) Who needs a T-bone steak or Chateaubriand for two, if it must be eaten in the absence of love? He is saying that that disease “If only”, has a price tag to it. You get it at the expense of loosing something else. Reminds me of the story of a gal at cocktail party trying to look happy. A friend noticed the hugh sparkling rock on her finger and said, “My what a gorgeous diamond.” Yes, she admitted, it is a Calahan Diamond. It comes with the Calahan Curse. “The Calahan Curse” asked her friend, “what’s that?” Mr. Calahan, she said with a frown. Solomon asked, “What good is it to have more and more of anything, if hatred is apart of the package.” Our desire to get more distracts us, draws us, we seek after it and disillusions us, when we find it we find emptiness and we are left with depression and self pity. D. This desire for more distracts us even from God The symbol of our culture’s addiction to consumerism and the need for more, is the shopping mall. The mall has become the secular cathedral, fulfilling the profound religious need in our society for security, human contact and closeness to the forces that shape our identity. It is not unusual to see people exercising in the mall; walking under its perimeter of protection of the security guard. Nor is it unusual to find teenagers hanging out at the food courts and the ice skating rinks. The latest trend is to build amusement parks inside the mall. Modern Mall seems to meet every need. Architects like James Ross, who was the driving force behind Baltimore’s Harbor Place, New York City’s South Street Seaport and more than 50 other malls and marketplaces, have consciously designed with centers with subtle religious themes. - The presence of vegetation symbolizing creation. - The fountains symbolizing baptism. - The light symbolizing God. These all speak to mans basic spiritual nature. The mall of America is where we worship. Instead of worshipping God, we give adoration to the latest fashions and countless other God’s of materialism. People may shop till they drop, but they will still leave the shopping center ultimately unfulfilled because consumerism does not meet the real needs of the human heart. Many Americans believe that the more possessions they acquire, the happier they will be. They wrongly assume that the person who produces more, owns more, or performs better is more important. In his book, Following Christ in a consumer society, John Cavanaugh tells the story of a young girl named Amy who committed suicide. Her farewell note contained these said words, “If I fail in what I do, I fail in what I am”. The distraction of discontentment and covetousness, not only destroys our values as a human, but it breaks down the relationship - between me and my neighbors - between me and my God. Once again, I make my neighbors, my God, and myself my enemies. And this distraction destroys my life. III. The discipline of learning to be content Doris Dunikin had married a man she knew would be successful. He was witty, intelligent, organized and she knew he would go far in his chosen field of education. Financially money was tight for them, but Doris knew it was only a matter of time until promotions came. The offers of promotion did come, many of them. Each time her husband turned them down. He was happy with the level he was, teaching. He so enjoyed being a Christian teacher in a secular classroom and he didn’t think he needed to seek fulfillment elsewhere. Apply for different positions, she urged him. No, I’m fine he said and Satan whispered to her that her husband had no ambition. Poor Doris, you could have so much if only he wasn’t content with a lowly position and a shameful modest salary. As Doris listened and agreed, her resentment grew. The new appliances of her friends, their trips, their dinners out, all made her more resentful. When she had to skimp and save for every piece of furniture. Of course she wanted the babies when they came, but their arrival made their financial picture even more difficult. If only, she thought for the hundredth time, if only he made more money. Tempted by the sin of greed and worshiping things, of wanting more than God’s plan aloud, Doris said yes to the sin of greed. Soon it was ruining her days. Dulling her marriage. robbing her joy. At last she admitted the burning resentment aloud, going to her Lord and to her husband, she confessed it all. The resolve in her heart was “I will serve the Lord, not myself, not my wants but God alone. In serving Him, I will be content and whatever it is that He provides for me”. The next morning she stated, “I had a new sense of freedom and to this day, I have not worried about financial matters.” A. Contentment Starts with a Decision to Surrender your life to God. After all He has a plan for your life which He is able to bring to pass if you cooperate with Him. Jeremiah 29:11-14 “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.I will be found by you," declares the LORD,(NIV) He is the source of your prosperity. Deut 8:18 “And you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.(NKJ) Let God be first and put your life together! B. Contentment is a Daily Learning Process. To break old tough habits is hard therefore the right decision must be renewed every day. There is discipline that must be exercised in learning to be content. It is communicated through Scripture. Paul said it in Philippians 4:11-13 “… for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”(NIV) The decision of learning to be content is just that. Listen to what Jesus says in Luke 3:14 14 “-- be content with your pay."(NIV) Listen to Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:10 “... I am well content in weakness.” Again in I Timothy 6:8 “But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.(NIV) And hear another apostle in Hebrews 13:5 “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, ..."(NIV) This isn’t easy to implement, you’ll be out numbered and out voted. You’ll have to fight the urge to conform. Even the greatest of all apostles admitted this, but Paul said, “I have learned to be content”. It is a learning process. It starts with surrender. Paul for example surrendered himself to Christ; his ambition, his education, his great ability as a speaker, a writer and a leader and his philosophical mind. Was Paul content with his spiritual progress? Oh No! He writes in Philippians 3:14 “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”(NIV) Was Paul content with the world around him? Oh No! He longed for people to know Jesus Christ as savior that he likened that desire to pains of childbirth in Galatians 4:19. “My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you,”(NIV) But Paul was content with the direction of his life and with the will of God as he found it in Christ Jesus. He was satisfied with Jesus. Conclusion: A. Contentment comes first by confessing you need it in your life! B. Contentment comes next by surrendering yourself to Jesus Christ; your future, your abilities, your talents, your gifts and bringing yourself and saying “Lord, I give myself to you totally”. C. Contentment comes by allowing the Holy Spirit to restore our hearts to their intended balance. Only when we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, will other things be given unto us in Luke 12:31. Since covetousness is a sin of the inner life, our supreme need is to be set right within our hearts. Are you a slave to your desires? Or are you a master to your desires? The only way to change, to become a master is to be mastered by Jesus Christ. Paul said in Philippians 1:21 “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”(NIV) The only answer to covetousness is a total surrender to God and a total infilling and cleansing of His Holy Spirit. Find your delight in God. He writes in Philippians 4:4 “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!”(NIV) The New Testament positively affirms that we should not be discontent, but be content. The only way you can do that is by being content in Jesus Christ.
