Resurrection Life: Contentment

Hello, you are listening to Second City Sermons,

a ministry of Second City Church in Midtown Harrisburg.

It's our hope that these sermons will draw you

more into the life of following God, Father,

Son and Holy Spirit. Please consider coming and

joining with us each Sunday morning at 10am in

the heart of Midtown Harrisburg. You can find

us online at SecondCityChurch .org and on Facebook,

Instagram and YouTube. We hope you enjoy this

sermon. God Bless. Lord, thank you for this beautiful

passage from John where this woman desires to

have the living water and that speaks to our

experience Lord because so often we we are reaching

for out for things to satisfy us To give us a

greater sense of meaning and purpose in life

So often we do that by coveting that which is

not ours our neighbor's house the stuff they

have, and the work they have, and the job they

have, and the spouse they have, and the kids

they have, and blah, blah, blah, Lord. And we

know how utterly destructive that is. And so,

Lord, we long, we ask, like this woman did, Lord,

give us this living water that quenches the thirsts

of our hearts. Please, please do this, God, and

use this sermon as one of your means to do that.

Hear our prayers. Amen. Okay, let me tell you

something about last Sunday. So last Sunday immediately

after the service maybe you noticed I I wasn't

around because I Well, one of the joys of being

a pastor Is that I get to be present in in some

of the key times in your life? When you're in

the hospital, I find it such an honor to be there

at Baptisms and at weddings and one of the great

joys is that often I get to go and visit when

there's a new baby and so I Tori and Jason were

kind. They didn't know how much I was praying

that they would say yes to me getting to visit

them. But they were like, yeah, you can come

visit. And I was like, well, I've got a flight

at 3 o 'clock, actually 2 .52, to go out to Louisville

for our denomination's general assembly. And

so I'm going to leave right after the service

and get down there. Of course, some of you wanted

to talk to me and whatnot. And I, so I got in

the car and it's a half hour drive to there at

the UPMC on the other side of Carlisle. So I

drove down there and we just talked. It was great.

I heard about the birth and we read some scripture

and we prayed and then Tori's parents and grandmother

came in. And then I was bold and I asked if I

could hold Caroline, which was like, I mean,

if you've had, many of you have had the experience

of holding a little one like that. It's such

a, it feels like you're just holding the greatest

treasure. I didn't really want to give her up

either. Do I need new batteries? Is it cutting

out? Yeah, okay. I'm just keep going. We'll get

new batteries. Anyway, so eventually I'm like,

oh, you know what? I should probably get going.

I get in the car. I'm like, look at my watch.

Oh my word. I need to get going. I get behind

a slow car all the way up 81. Finally get, I

mean, seriously, it was like really slow and

I could not get around. You know, 81 just got

all those tractor trailers. You're like, how

is it possible right now that I'm just going

this slow? So I get home and I'm like, ah. So

bags in car kids get in and Lisa made this delicious

hamburger Father's Day was awesome eating the

car You know get to the airport and I come come

in. I've got to check one of my bags And I go

there and I am one minute late and I'm not able

to check my bag One minute late. So earlier in

the week, I had gotten an email saying I could

change my flight because my original flight was

going to leave around 5 .50 and it would get

into midnight. So I changed it to this three

o 'clock flight so I can get in at eight. And

then I had to change it back. So I'm like, OK,

not the worst thing ever. I'll just stick around

the airport for the next three hours. I'll take

a nap, which I did, and other things. Red and

stuff. And then about an hour and a half before

my flight, I'm like, I should check my bag now.

So I go check my bag and the lady says, well,

do you have any ID? you know, a driver's license

or a passport. I said, here, here's my driver's

license. And I thought, I can't get through security.

Melisse has wisely been telling me to get real

ID and I don't have it. So I call Melisse about

seven times, frantically, texting, didn't get

through. She's a wise woman and like me, often

takes a nap on Sunday afternoon. So I called

Chris Gazy. Chris would you please run to my

house? They live about a block away and knock

on the door and please Please tell them I need

my passport within 20 minutes or else. I'm gonna

not get my flight Police calls me up FaceTime

cannot find the passport. It's none of the normal

places. We finally find it She runs I literally

of course, it's it's MDT. It's Harrisburg. I'm

running now I'm gonna get the flight and then

I sit there and wait So I get on the plane I

go to Chicago I fly through Chicago. I've got

two and a half hour layover. I'm like, oh, well,

there's some lounges that I'm allowed access

to because of our credit card in terminal five.

I'll go there. So I get out of the security.

I have to go through security, get out of terminal

one. I get on the train, go to terminal five.

I go and I'm going to get in line to go through

security and it's international only. I'm like,

okay, get back on the train, go back, go back

through security again. You know, whatever, blah,

blah, blah. My flight, we fly to Louisville.

There's a horrible storm. We circle around a

bunch. They go, hey, we're going to Nashville.

I'm like, okay. So we land in Nashville. We wait

it out. We wait the storm out. Now they have

to refuel the plane. We get back on the plane.

Well, actually, we never got off the plane. I'm

telling a truthful story. I'm not trying to embellish.

There's no embellishment here. We finally land

in Louisville at 2 .45 in the morning. A couple

buddies of mine who are pastors in Ottawa are

on that plane, thankfully. And so we wait in

line, because everybody there is waiting for

an Uber. So we wait for an Uber. I get to my

hotel at 3 .45 in the morning. I walk up to the

check -in, and she says, I can't check you in

right now. And I say, I literally left my house

14 hours ago. I would love a bed. And she said,

no can do. Our computer system's changing over

for the day, and I cannot check anyone in. You're

going to have to just go sit over there. Really?

So anyway, I get to bed at 4 AM. Blah, blah,

blah. I could keep going. It's actually been

more complex than what I said. but I got three

and a half hours of sleep that night and then

I spent most evenings late into the night catching

folk. And here's how I'm connecting this. Partly

I want to tell you the story. I need to connect

it to the sermon, which I don't think is too

tricky actually. There's some holy desires, you

know, I mean coveting is something that is odd

because Because you have desires that are good

and right desires. I actually should rightly

desire to listen to my wife's wisdom and get

a real ID on my driver's license. That's a good

desire. Now, but it's all kind of mixed in. Why

do I always have to fly to General Assembly?

Why can't I be one of the ones that lives close

who can drive? God, why did you put us here?

Make us this way? Why did you have me drive or

travel for 14 hours at the beginning of what's

bound to be a long week? Why not that situation?

Why not that person? Why not their shoes? Their

gifts? Their hair, whatever it is, you know?

Yeah, well I do say that sometimes. And you and

I can both hear Paul writing to Timothy, and

we know it's true where he says, but godliness

with contentment is great gain. For we brought

nothing into the world, and we can take nothing

out of the world, but if we have food and clothing,

with these we'll be content. I mean, I had food

and clothing. But I was racing through my mind

at times of all everybody else's opportunities.

So, we all need to hear this 10th commandment,

you shall not covet, which gets at our desires,

which we were not given. Things of others, the

traits of others, the opportunities of others.

Should I take those batteries? I mean, I don't

wanna really stop. But if any batteries on here

nobody's gonna be able to hear Now they're gone

Okay, they continue on What I wanna pose to you

this morning, excuse me, is that we do have this

kind of mix, right? We come to a passage like

this and it's very tricky. I mean, we kind of

know when we're coveting in such a way that actually

is destructive, but for the most part, we also

know that we have these desires that God gives

us. And I wanna say that there actually is something

right and good about desiring. And sometimes

desiring actually even that, which with what

you don't have currently, okay? And I want to

suggest to you that there's a lot of things that

are holy desires. They're good desires. Not all

of your desiring is bad. Not all desiring is

selfish. God gave us, He sort of made us to be

desirous creatures. It's a good desire to go

to bed before 4 a .m. particularly on a busy

week. where I'm supposed to be present to the

work that has given me to do, to attend to the

speeches and arguments that are being made that

I'm supposed to vote on. That's a good desire.

Nothing wrong with that at all. Just last week,

we were talking about stealing. We heard in Ephesians

chapter four, verse 28, let the thief no longer

steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest

work with his own hands so that he may have something

to share with anyone in need. Which is to say

to have a job that not only provides your needs

But actually provides enough that you can have

to give away is a good desire To put in the work

to get those jobs. That is a good thing to learn

the habits You know to desire to have the habits

that make you profitable in such a way. That's

a good thing Providing for a roof over your family's

head, that is a good and honorable desire. Education

for your children. Date nights with your spouse.

There's so many things that we could say these

are good and right and holy desires. To be dealing

with students in your work. So you might get

into a certain school, so you might use your

gifts for the blessing of the world. There are

many desires that we have that are good and holy

desires. In Proverbs 18 22, very specifically,

it says, he who finds a wife finds a good thing,

right? And obtains favor from the Lord. And some

of you say, I desire to be married, something

like that. So it's not just the case you kind

of look out and you say, oh, I desire that necessarily

bad. Okay, that's partly what I'm saying. God

actually makes us desire us beings and he gives

in us. holy desires that can motivate us towards

seeking jobs and seeking relationships, learning

how to groom oneself, learning how to talk to

somebody of the opposite sex, those kinds of

things. These are holy desires that can motivate

us towards good and wise living. Ephesians five.

tells us that we're not supposed to hate our

own flesh, but to nourish and cherish it as Christ

as the church. And of course, in Ephesians five,

it's talking about the oneness of marital union.

But you can think about how we're supposed to

nourish our bodies. We're supposed to tend to

our bodies. There's good desires for certain

kinds of food, certain kinds of athleticism.

That's not altogether bad. Those things can help

our mental acuity. I've said this before a couple

of years ago, we're looking at Genesis, the beginning

of Genesis, Genesis chapter two. There's this

paragraph in the middle of the chapter and it's

talking about... you know, the end of the creation

week and then how Adam looks upon the animals

and then at the end of the chapter, the Lord

makes Eve. But in the middle of it, there's this

paragraph that talks about how Eden is where

the river flows out into four rivers. You're

like, okay, this is interesting, the geographical

orientation. But then it just randomly kind of

says, and the gold of that land is good. Huh.

What's going on there? And then it says, Bedelium

and Onyx are there. And I think that from the

get -go, in a way, it's noticing beauty. So even

noticing beauty, that is not necessarily a bad

thing. The Bible does that in a number of ways.

The minister's gowns, the high priest's gowns,

had purple pomegranates on them, highlighting

beauty. And of course, Adam was right to sing,

right, when Eve was there, this at last, which

is to say that to some degree there was a holy

desire for something to compliment him, this

at last, this bone of my bone and flesh of my

flesh. You know, he was desirous of her and that

was a good desire, holy desires. And what I'm

saying is that there are many healthy and holy

desires that we are given. Most of all, we're

to desire God. or to desire to know him and to

love him. That holy desire can motivate us to

study his word, to be mentored maybe by an older

Christian, to make it your habit to worship,

to gather together with the saints. These are

good things. But for as much as we can say that

there are holy desires, we know this command.

You shall not covet. is a command for us. Because

so often we are not filled with holy desires,

but unholy ones, right? And we come to the end

of the Ten Commandments. And this is the last

one. And one commentator said, you know, it just

doesn't have the same, I don't know, you get

to the end and it feels like you should have

a big one. it really pops, stands out. This is

how one commentator put it. It's occurred to

me that whoever approved the final order of these

commandments didn't have much sense of suspense

or climax. He put all those dramatic, intriguing

sins like stealing, adultery, and murder first.

Then he ended up with coveting. It would have

seemed more logical to begin with the bland,

throw -away sins like coveting. and then work

up to the big stuff. I wonder if you feel that.

While it's good to acknowledge that there are

holy desires, and many of those holy desires

motivate us toward holy living and good living,

I think what we could do, even though we know

coveting is such something that happens in our

hearts, we can minimize the evil of it. It's

so easy to sort of maximize the evil of something

like murder. and the exterior dynamics of what

we do and minimize what's going on inside. And

this one is all about what's happening inside.

I mean, I can easily justify my thoughts and

feelings, the thoughts and feelings that I had

towards the women across the counter for me at

Harrisburg Airport. I missed it by one minute.

You know, I can justify the anger that... wells

up within me. Maybe I can justify by my holy

desire to be well rested. I can easily justify

my covetous thoughts and I guarantee you can

too. But we need to remember that not only did

our Lord include coveting in his list of commandments,

but he reiterated this command again and again

and again in the Bible. Did you notice when Rebecca

was reading that this is the only command that

actually literally just repeats the command?

That says, you shall not covet, right? You shall

not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not

covet your neighbor's wife. It's the only one

that says the command, the basic of the command

twice. And I wonder if it's because we're kind

of inclined to maybe push it to the side. But

think of how the scriptures are to this command,

to not dismissing this command. Another way to

think of covening is just desiring that which

we were not, or does not rightly belong to us.

And so one way we can think about it is greed.

Paulist greed right along sins like theft and

murder. Greed, only desires, unholy taking. coveting,

right, is listed right alongside theft and murder

when the apostle Paul says that the ones who

practice such things will not inherit the kingdom

of God. Writing in the book of Colossians, Paul

says in chapter three, put to death therefore

what is earthly in you, sexual immorality, impurity,

passion, evil desire, and covetousness. He lists

covetousness right alongside those others and

then he says which is idolatry Our Lord Jesus

in Mark 7 says for from within out of the heart

of man come evil thoughts sexual immorality theft

murder adultery coveting I Mean we're inclined

to kind of go And the constant message of Scripture

is that this is so utterly destructive, practically

destructive in your life, spiritually destructive

with our Lord. The truth is that coveting can

sink us down to hell just as fast as any of the

other sins. It's of course not too hard to think

why. Let me say just one reason. Coveting causes

so many other sins. I mean, the coveting person

can quickly go from simply desiring something

which is not properly yours, to plotting how

to get it, to grabbing it, to taking. Sinful

deeds start often with sinful desires. The New

Testament writer, the brother of Jesus, James

said, but each person is tempted when he's lured

away and enticed by his own desire. Then desire,

when it's conceived, gives birth to sin. And

sin, when it's fully grown, brings forth death.

Coveting at the beginning of that process, unholy

desire is at the beginning of the way to death.

And again, the Ten Commandments is not an exhaustive

list, right? I mean, we've talked about this

quite a bit. Remember the long examples I gave

you from the catechisms, all the ways that they

applied things like do not murder? The commandments

are not exhaustive lists. They're kind of the

main things that kind of breed, you know, speak

to the bigger picture. Murder, of course, our

Lord connects to anger and we can connect to

so much more and adultery to all kinds of other

unfaithfulness. stealing to having a proper understanding

of your own property and also respect for another's.

But coveting also touches on so much. Think of

how we can apply it to coveting a person's attributes,

right? We covet another's age, particularly once

you're past 25, where you physically peak. Some

happy news for us. We covet others' looks. We

covet others' minds, their mental acuity. We

covet others' athleticism. I'm still a 13 handicap,

golly. Their musical talents, all kinds of things.

We're commanded not to covet another person's

situation in life, right? Their marriage, maybe

the freedom they have in their singleness. Maybe

they're children. We're commanded to not covet

and we're commanded to not covet all things.

Maybe in a church there can be holy desires to

grow in the Lord, but we can also covet another

person's sort of spiritual attainment. The role

that they play in the life of the church having

some leadership role or whatever it is. The recognition

of their spiritual gifts. We are simply commanded

through and through Consistently in the Bible,

don't covet. Unholy desire quickly brings death.

Of course, how applicable, you know, we talked

in this series, we talked about idols. I said,

probably none of you are like harboring little

statues that you like innocence to in your house.

So we had to think through, how do we apply that?

My guess is that as soon as, if we had an open

discussion, well, how do we apply coveting to

21st century America? It wouldn't be hard. We

know that the world we live in has sort of the

motto, he who dies with the most toys wins. It's

all about what you get. And frankly, what neighbor

does not get. We live in the modern world where

there is so much that we can grasp and hold onto.

Say, look, it's mine. And where our life does

seem to consist in the abundance of our possessions.

And that's the world we live in. I read this

pastor who confessed this, I belong to the cult

of the next thing. It's dangerously easy to get

enlisted into. It happens by default, not by

choosing the cult, but by failing to resist it.

The cult of the next thing is consumerism cast

in religious terms. It has its own litany of

sacred words, 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. It has its own

preachers, evangelists, prophets and apostles,

advertisers, pitchmen, celebrity sponsors, influencers,

right? What is the influencer doing other than

trying to get you to buy something? They are

trying to influence your desire for what you

do not have. It has, of course, its own shrines,

chapels, temples, meccas, malls, super stores,

club warehouses. And this is dated, and so I

added it also has its own holy days, some of

which we celebrated this week. Prime Day? Black

Friday? I mean, it's just the narrative that

we live into. He who dies with the most possessions.

wins. It has its own ecstatic experiences, the

shopping spree, the cult of the next thing, things

central message proclaims crave and spend for

the kingdom of stuff is here. So what do we do?

How is it that this sin is so easily entangles

us? How are we free from it? Because it is simply

the world we live in. I mean, this guy says,

the only way to not be in it is to resist it.

How do we allow it to not so easily entangle

us? And how do we put it to death rather than

letting our unholy desires lead to our own death?

And this is gonna sound remarkably similar to

last week's sermon in this regard. And this is

the central thing of Christianity. I wanna tell

you, Again, look at the cross of Christ. Now

here's what I want to say. Just like there are

spiritual and practical implications of our desires,

right, our unholy desires, there are also spiritual

and practical implications of the cross. Jesus

tells us in the Sermon on the Mount, he says,

look at the birds of the air. They neither sow

nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your

heavenly father feeds them. Are you not of more

value than they?" He continues on, he says, consider

the lilies of the field, how they grow. They

neither toil nor spin. And I tell you, even Solomon

in all his glory was not arrayed like one of

these. But if God is so close, he so closed the

grass of the field, which today is alive and

tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not

much more close you? I said, there's like a practical

way that the cross actually answers this conundrum

that we find ourselves, that we live in this

world that tells us to covet and it's sort of

the default experience of our hearts. How do

we resist it? How's the cross begin to answer

that? Well, if we go back to Genesis, right?

We go back to Genesis and what you have is the

taking of the apple and what we're told is it

was desirous to be desired. and it was to be

desired to make one wise and that they were promised

that they could be like God. I want to suggest

to you that actually having your eyes fixed on

the cross, audience you to the fact that you

are not God. And what is our grabbing onto stuff

but saying, you know what, if I can just have

all this, I can control other people's perception

of me. If I have this, I can get this other thing

that I want. If I have this thing that I haven't

yet been given, look at all the opportunity,

what could I accomplish? I mean, so much of what

we wear and what we have and what we eat posting

so often as we do is for other people to say,

wow, look at you. And what the cross does is

it very practically humbles us. But also what

it does, and this is the lie that Adam and Eve

bought into, is that somehow that one thing that

God said, don't eat this, they thought if we

could just have that then we'd have enough while

they could look around and see all that God had

given them. I mean, why is the gold there in

chapter two? If you can remember back to years,

why I said I think it's there is because it's

just one demonstration of the utter abundance

of God. You know, he gave them fruit, trees bearing

fruit. He gave them plants they could eat. He

even placed them in a place that had good gold

and bedelium and onyx. It's almost just to say,

look at how lavishly the Lord loves you. Look

at how lavishly the Lord loves you. And so the

cross both humbles us, but what it also does,

both in a practical way and a spiritual way,

it says, look at how wildly I have provided for

you. If he did not spare his own son, but gave

him up for us all, how much more will he not

give us all things? There's nothing that can

separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus

our Lord. Nothing. If the Father so loves the

world that He gives His only Son that whoever

believes in Him should not perish but have eternal

life, why are we worrying about wanting our neighbor's

car? I mean, and yet so much of our energy is

spent on that. So brothers and sisters, look

to Jesus. Look at the cross. Look at how it humbles

us, but look at how it also tells us that God

will always provide. He will always care for

you. Harris can fall from your head and it will

be the Father's will and he will hold you in

his loving arms. This is the picture of God's

provision for us. that if he will go to the cross

for us, he will give you what you need. I personally

found when I was thinking of this sermon that

this is actually such an utter, a perfect commandment

to end on. Because, truth be told, as much as

my heart is an idol factory, as Calvin says,

the commandment about not bowing down to idols

is not the same temptation. The commandment to

murder, which Jesus properly applies to anger,

is absolutely applicable to me. But man, coveting?

Coveting is the world we swim in. I guarantee

it's for you. So brothers and sisters, look at

the cross. Have it ever before you. Because it

is so easy to get consumed with Prime Day. To

get consumed with other people's vacations and

other people's blah blah blah. And lose fact

of the reality that the God who made the world,

the God who made all things, has given his life

for you. How much more will he not give you everything

else? Lord, would you please give us holy desires,

holy desires that motivate us to work with our

hands that we might have something to give to

those in need, to desire holy relationships.

Most of all, Lord, move in our desires that we

might fix our eyes upon Jesus, that we might

desire to live at peace and rest in a world that

is full of anxiety, fraught with worry, constantly

desiring what we do not have, what you have not

given us, but will we find our peace and our

rest in you, in Jesus' name, amen. Thank you

for listening to Second City Sermons podcast.

We hope this sermon has encouraged you to worship

God and to celebrate the gospel of Jesus. Please

consider subscribing to this podcast and joining

us in person each Sunday at 10 a .m. You can

find us online at SecondCityChurch .org and on

Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. Thanks again

for listening. God bless.