Covetousness: The Deadly Sin that Doesn't Exist - David Bercot

Lesson Transcript

Good morning. You're probably wondering about the title: Covetousness: The Deadly Sin That Doesn't Exist. It sounds contradictory, and it's not meant to be literal. The reason for the title is I've been in a lot of different churches, different kinds of churches. I have never, in my life, known of anyone who has been excommunicated or disciplined or asked to step down as a, you know, from deacon or bishop or whatever, because they were covetous.

I mean, I've never heard of someone being disciplined for being covetous. I mean, it must not exist. I don't know. Or maybe I lived in a sheltered world. Have any of you raised your hand? Have you been in a church where someone, you know, someone was disciplined? Yeah, they were covetous. So it's like, as Anabaptists, you know, most of our churches have written standards that, you know, we discuss various things like entertainment or dress, things like that, and we define that.

Most, I've seen all kinds of different Mennonite Amish standards. They don't usually say anything about covetous. You know, this is how we define covetous. There's nothing there, which is why I'm wondering, is there such a sin? I mean, we treat it as if it doesn't exist at all. So maybe it's just one of these little ones. It's just not a deadly sin. It's just something that doesn't matter. If you're guilty of it, no big deal because it doesn't matter.

Well, I mean, the way we handle it, you'd think that, that, yeah, just it must either be something like, you know, telling a white lie or whatever. If it's around, it's not something any of us have to worry about. But let's see what the scriptures say. I'm not going to read all the passages. Let's just look at some of them. First Corinthians 5:11.

But now I've written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother who is sexually immoral or covetous or an idolater or a reviler or a drunkard or an extortioner, not even to eat with such a person. So we're not supposed to eat with this person, but he doesn't exist. I mean, you know, no one has ever, you know, labeled as covetous. But he's saying, don't eat with that such a person. Okay? Don't eat with him, but who is he? It doesn't seem to exist. We don't talk about it in our churches.

No one's ever, you know, I've heard of people being disciplined for being drunkards or sexually immoral, but I've never heard uncovetous. Paul says again, do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Now, right now, we are citizens of God's kingdom if we are part of Christ's body. But we haven't inherited the kingdom. We're citizens. We're subjects of it. But that doesn't mean we're going to necessarily inherit it just because we're a subject right now or a citizen.

That's at the end of our life. And Christ is going to decide whether we're going to inherit it, whether we're going to be a part of this kingdom for eternity or if it's just, yeah, something for a few years that we call ourselves a member of it. He says, do not be deceived. So it's like, okay, apparently we're likely to be deceived that, oh, it's okay. In fact, what do most churches teach today?

Well, sin doesn't have anything to do with whether you're going to inherit the kingdom of God, whether you're going to have eternal life. Your works have no role in salvation. It's, yeah, it's all grace. So, I mean, that's why he's saying, do not be deceived. The Holy Spirit knew what would be being taught later on. And he's saying, do not be deceived. Neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor homosexuals nor sodomites nor thieves nor covetous again. Look who a covetous person is linked in with.

I mean, all of these other sins that we would say, yeah, that's a deadly sin. If you're guilty of that, you're not repentant. I mean, no, you're not going to inherit God's kingdom. Our churches would say that. I mean, like I say, plenty of other churches would say, no, it doesn't matter. And that's who he links covetous with. Nor drunkards nor revilers. Reviler is, there's not just one good English word. If you think of somebody who's foul-mouthed, loud, complainer, always telling people off, that's a reviler.

Nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. So he'd already said, don't eat with such a brother. And then he repeats it again in the same letter. You know, in case you didn't get it, you know, let me say it again. Don't be deceived. You know, these people will not inherit the kingdom of God. And like I say, most of these, yeah, we know what they are. And we would have no question. Covetous? What's that? You know, who's that? It must be a person who doesn't exist.

Because like I say, nobody is ever put out of a church. No one's ever disciplined. No one's ever anything. Ephesians 5:5-6. For this you know that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man who is an idolater has any inheritance in the kingdom of God, of Christ in God. Let no one deceive you with empty words. For because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. So here again, it's, I mean, it's clear this is a deadly sin. You will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But I mean, it's a sin, like I say, we just generally don't ever talk about it in church. Like just somehow it doesn't exist. If, you know, if it did exist, you wouldn't inherit the kingdom of God. But, you know, don't worry, it doesn't exist. I'm being facetious, but I mean, obviously it does exist. It's something we are supposed to be very on guard about. And we have all of these warnings in scriptures. But yeah, we just, it just kind of goes.

It's like, well, yeah, whatever it is, none of us have an issue with it. I think we deceive ourselves if we think that. Now again, I don't think it's my place, and I'm not going to get up here and say, okay, you know, you, you and you, you know, you're covetous. I can't read people's hearts. And I'm just going to give you some thoughts today for, I think, all of us to look at our own hearts and ourselves and see if maybe we are covetous because it's a deadly sin.

In other words, we don't want to fool around with it. We don't even want to be in the gray area. We want to make sure get as far away from that edge of the cliff as you can. That this exists, it's going to cost us eternity. So yeah, let's not say, well, I can get this this close to it. Let's just get as far away from it as we can. So what does it mean to be covetous? If we don't even know what it means, then obviously we can't be on guard against it. Now, Andre gave a message last year on it, you may remember.

And he talked about covetous, probably if you were going to come up with one English word that would come closest, it would be envy. And that is one aspect of covetous. But being covetous is multifaceted. It's like, you know, a gem that, you know, has been cut on different sides that it's not just one aspect. So envy, if you're envious, then yes, you're definitely covetous. Those go hand in hand. Some Bibles, and I would disagree with this, some of the modern translations, they don't use the word covetous.

They translate it as greedy. Well, a greedy person, yes, I think would be covetous. But it's more than that. I don't like that because greedy, well, I think a lot of people say, well, I'm not greedy. And yeah, it would seem like, okay, we're all off the hook. Now, when I was preparing this and looking at all the, I just did a search, you know, on my computer Bible for covetous, you know, and all the verses that deal with it or covetousness, both. And if you're from the South, it's covetousness.

But anyway, in case you're wondering what I'm talking about and you're from the Deep South, yeah, we're talking the same thing. Okay, so covetousness. I noticed Hebrews, this verse, I've read it many times, never thought about maybe the significance of it. But I wonder if this would be a good definition if we were going to try to define it. Let your conduct be without covetousness. So it gives us a command again, let it be without covetousness. And then he adds, be content with such things as you have.

For he himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. In other words, you can be content because God is watching over you. He is not going to desert you or leave you helpless. But going back to that, be content with such things as you have. Okay, he is saying that because if you're covetous, it means you are not content with the things that you have. So maybe if you're going to give a definition, I think being discontent with the things that you have would maybe be a way to define covetous.

It would embrace envy and greed and many of these other things. But if you are discontent with the things that you have, and that gets a little scary. Yeah, how many of us are just, we're content with what we have. I mean, Paul says this, and every time I read it, I think, who are we? For we brought nothing into this world. We know who that is. That's all of us. And it is certain we, that's all of us, can carry nothing out. No problem there. And having food and clothing with these we shall be content. Really?

Is it the same we? Are we content with food and clothing? I mean, he doesn't even mention shelter there because Paul himself never owned a house as far as we know. I mean, God always saw that he had shelter. Often it was in a prison, but he always did have shelter. But I noticed, I mean, with food and clothing, he said, with these we shall be content. Assuming that, yeah, if you're a Christian, you're content with food and clothing. And I think if we are all honest, probably none of us are.

I mean, we want more than just that. I think I would be dishonest. Now, that's not a, he's not saying you're covetous if you want more than that, thankfully. But he's saying, you know, we should be content with that. But yeah, going back, and I don't know if I can go back. Yeah, I made it. Be content with such things as you have. So we'll go there. We're not going to say if you want something more than food and clothing, you're covetous. I'm not going to make that claim today. But it's something to think about.

That verse is in there for a reason. And so he's saying, you know, this is really all you have to have. I mean, you need shelter, obviously, but you don't even necessarily have to own that. And many people don't. But you know, that's to live. You have to have food. You have to have clothing. Well, modesty and also unless you're in a very hot climate in order to not die from exposure. But being content with the things that you have. Now, I think you all know what that is. That's a medieval castle.

Now, if you read fairy tales or grew up with, you know, folktales, whatever, or just have read history, now picture a king or queen who lived in one of those castles in the Middle Ages that everybody would have thought, wow, this is the ultimate in life. I mean, the people who lived back then is like, wow, if they can't be happy, who can be? I mean, they've got everything. Now, that king or that queen living back there in the Middle Ages, they didn't even begin to approach the comfort level that everyone here has.

I mean, those castles are pretty. I mean, they're magnificent to look at. I mean, they were cold and drafty. I mean, you know, there was no central heat. You know, I mean, they had fireplaces all over. If you've ever had to depend on a fireplace as your only means of heat, yeah, I mean, it works. You're going to have a lot of cold spots in your house. You got a house that big. I mean, that's going to be cold everywhere. There's no way you're going to build something like that and not be drafty.

They didn't have the means of engineering that we do. Lots of times they wouldn't have even had glass in the windows. And I mean, that's just a start. You know, of course, in the summer, there's no way to cool it. It probably was a bit cool just because it was large. But you had rats, mice. I don't care how, you know, you were the omnipotent king. I mean, your castle, I guarantee you, was full of mice, rats, cockroaches, you know, insects, whatever. They had no way to keep those kind of creatures out.

No, I mean, no refrigerators. You know, if they wanted something cold, I mean, you know, sometimes they kept snow for a while or ice, you know, in certain things. But I mean, that was, boy, that was limited. Nothing like, I mean, we just, boy, we've got refrigerators. I think probably everyone here, a refrigerator, you just can have, you know, anything cold. You want something hot, instant, just stick it in a microwave. There you have it. I mean, you could go on and on. I mean, think of transportation.

I mean, you look at the carriages that the kings and queens rode in. And yeah, they look magnificent. They're all, you know, painted with gold and fancy scrolling on it. And they would have, you know, white horses all, I mean, you know, very pretty to look at. If you think riding in one of those carriages was anything near the comfort level that you and I drove to church this morning, you're imagining things. I mean, there was no way to heat it.

So if it was winter, you were in there, yeah, with a bunch of rugs, blankets, whatever, furs to keep you warm. But it's going to be drafty. There was no way to keep the air from, you know, coming in there. In the summer, absolutely no way to cool. You put the windows down. There's no paved roads, except maybe in a few of the cities, they had cobblestones. But you know, most places you would travel, you're traveling in dirt. In the summer, the horses are kicking up dirt.

There's going to be, you know, smells of manure, whatever, insects flying in and out. I mean, and I don't know what kind of shocks those carriages had, but nothing like you and I have on our cars. So you're bumpy, it's hot, it's dusty. I mean, they would have just, they couldn't even picture what you and I have of just, well, just being able to walk out and push a button. If you're in Quinn's car, you don't, you just go ahead and drive off, you know.

And you know, if it's cold outside, I mean, not only do you have, you know, instant warmth, you can get it, you know, the temperature that you want. Some cars, I don't have one, you know, you can heat your seat, you know, so that your seat is warm. In the summer, probably most of us have air conditioning. Man, you can get it down to, you know, whatever temperature you want. You want to hear a choir? Yeah, just you push a button. Yeah, you get to hear a choir while you're traveling.

Very little bumpiness on most of our roads. I mean, those are just a couple of things. I mean, that, like I say, we live at a level of comfort today that kings and queens didn't have back then. Now, if you told just the average peasant living in the Middle Ages, now imagine that there would be a time when someone of your class, not the kings and queens, but just the ordinary person, that you'd live in a house, that the whole house would be warm everywhere.

You wouldn't have to bring in firewood unless you wanted to. But anywhere in the house, it would be warm. And then when summer came, guess what? You could dial it back to spring in your house and have the temperature that you want, just the way that you want it. You want something cold? Yeah, you'd have a magical box or you could open up and just, you know, get cold things out. You could store things in. You'd eat meat, not once a week, but, you know, every day you'd get to eat meat.

Probably two meals a day, maybe three meals a day, you'd have meat. I mean, I don't know if kings had that back in that time. And then you described to them the kind of travel that just the ordinary person would have. Not to even mention things like, you know, if you wanted to talk to your neighbor, instead of walking over there, you can just pick up a device and talk to them. You have a device that does this or that.

Instead of taking a cold shower, yeah, you can just turn on and it's automatically just the water that comes out is warm. Get it just exactly the temperature that you want. I mean, they would have thought, well, I mean, that sounds like heaven. I mean, if someone lived in an age where they really had all of those things, well, everybody would be happy. I mean, how could you not be happy? I mean, like everything around you. But see, the problem is you could call our age the age of plenty.

I think that'd be a good description. We live in the age of plenty. We also live in the age of discontent. I think you could call it that. I would say that this century is probably the most discontent of any century, perhaps in human history. I mean, people, all of this has been given us. Like I say, we get to have, you know, quote, heaven on earth. And instead of it being that, people are not just all happy and content. They're discontent. I mean, they're further from Hebrews than they were back in Paul's day.

You know, when he wrote that, assuming Paul's the writer of Hebrews, that be content with the things that you have. I mean, yeah, most of them would have come a lot closer than us today. When we've got all of these things that they couldn't have even envisioned, they wouldn't have even believed that was possible to have that level of comfort, to have every need met, and then all these things that aren't needs, but comforts that they're met as well.

And then things even beyond that, just to make life even extra convenient, extra whatever, that that is there. And if we told them, yeah, you know, there was an age when everyone had that. And guess what? It was an age when there was so much discontent and unrest. And why is that? Because I'm not happy because you've got something more than I've got. Yeah, all my needs are met. All my comforts are met.

I've got all of this stuff, but I'm not happy because I think there's somebody out there who's got more than I've got. And I don't think that's right that they have more than I have. And so I'm discontent. And that's covetous. I'm not happy because somebody else has got something, or I imagine they've got something more than I have. And therefore, yeah, I'm discontent, disgruntled, unhappy. Just less than a month ago when I was in Honduras and I was sitting there chatting with a friend of mine, a Honduran friend.

And she was just, she was just like talking about Americans like, wow, what a strange group of people that they've got more than everybody on earth, more rights, more wealth, more conveniences, more whatever you want to name it. They're always complaining. I mean, that's what the world, they're, you know, when they see America, you're always complaining, always out there demonstrating, writing about something, you know, just, and it was just so strange to her.

It's like, wow, here in Honduras, we don't have a fourth of that. And it doesn't mean everyone in Honduras is happy, but nothing like the just endless unhappiness in the United States. You know, the scriptures say that a lover of silver is never going to be happy with silver. It's just, it's an unending thing. That's the problem with being covetous. You are not content with what you have. And if you get more, you're not going to be content then. You're going to go, well, if I just had a little bit more.

I mean, don't imagine that billionaires are just there like, wow, I don't need anything more. There's nothing more that I want. No, you know, don't imagine that those kings and queens in the Middle Ages were content with what they had. No, they wanted more. I mean, you read the history of those times, it's just like endless war. And the wars were mainly because, yeah, I want the land that somebody else has. I want whatever, you know, they've got that I don't have. And so I'm unhappy.

I search for things I can read at night that are hopefully boring to help me go to sleep. And so often it just doesn't end up being one. But I got a book, it's public domain, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. It was written, I don't know when, way back in the Middle Ages. And certainly not anyone trying to make it anything sound interesting. Just, I mean, it's what it says a chronicle of, you know, what was happening back in Anglo-Saxon England.

So this would have been before the Norman conquest, so like in the 900s, 800s, those years. And it's like, I mean, just every page, it's, yeah, this king has gone up against these kings. I mean, the Angles and Saxons, they come and take somebody else's land, you know, from the Britons. They steal their land from them and they settle there. But then they're not happy. No, you know, oh, so and so, he's got a little bit more than I do, you know. And so it's just, it's every page you go to.

I'm thinking maybe the next page, you know, you get to hear something, you know, that sounds good. No, no, next page, there's another king, another queen. They're fine. They're waging war against their neighbor on and on and on and on. It's just like, wow, cannot be content with what you have. Okay, so why do churches not enforce this command? Why don't we hear more on it? Why don't we ever see discipline? Why is it not in our church standards as a normal thing?

Well, I think probably the main reason it is often a sin of the heart. It's not something that's necessary. I don't know what is in your heart. And I don't necessarily, certain things might indicate you're not content with what you have. But I don't just, I can't read your heart, you know, and just, you know, know that for sure. I mean, you know, if Radford and I are walking in the parking lot, you know, I'm not going to look at Radford and say, Radford, are you coveting my Prius?

You know, if that's up to it, you know, I mean, you know, I mean, he may or may not. I mean, we don't have any way of generally knowing that. So that's one of the problems why it's very hard because it is a sin that is not as readily manifest as, say, sexual immorality or drunkenness, you know, something like that. The other thing, it's difficult to define the specific parameters. I mean, the Bible doesn't give us just, you know, this, okay, you've crossed the line here.

You know, we have, I think, like I say, that definition, be content with what you have. But yeah, what shows you're not content with what you have? I mean, does that mean you can't buy something more? Does that mean you're covetous if you buy another car, buy another that? I don't think that that necessarily means that you're covetous. What I'm going to do is suggest three practices that I believe God looks upon as covetous.

Now, I'm mentioning these as personal guidelines, and these are my thoughts, okay, to look at yourself. Each and me look at myself. I'm not proposing these are as laws or rules. It just, either we come back to the title that it's a deadly sin, but it doesn't exist. You know, covetousness, it doesn't exist. Or we come to the realization it does mean something. I mean, it is something. Okay. So here's some things that I would just say we're getting close to the brink here.

Now, again, I'm not saying this in judging anyone. Okay. Revolving credit card debt. You may not be familiar with that term. So we all know what credit cards are, and we all know what credit card debt is. That means you owe money on a credit card. Okay. I'm not suggesting there is anything wrong with that. Every month, I owe money on a credit card. I've almost quit using money anymore, and I use credit cards for almost everything that I buy. At the end of every month, I pay off the total balance.

In fact, I've got it set up where it's automatically paid off. It's going to be drafted from my bank account, and we make sure we don't spend more than what's going to be there when it's drafted. So I don't even have to worry. It's going to automatically be paid off at the end of the month. I'm not suggesting in any way there's anything wrong with that. But revolving credit card debt is when, yeah, you're not able to pay off the whole balance at the end of the month.

Now, from the credit card company's perspective, that's not bad. I mean, they don't like people like me. I mean, you know, they haven't benefited. They've benefited a little bit because they get money from the merchant. So yeah, they're benefiting from my purchases. But yeah, they want the people who don't pay off the whole balance at the end of the month.

So revolving credit card debt is when, yeah, every month you pay the minimum or you maybe pay a little bit, and then you just, you go right back and charge again. And so it's just, you've always got that balance there that you owe, that you carry from month to month. It revolves is why it's called revolving. This is a big problem in the United States. I mean, the richest country on earth, I mean, like I say, we have all of this, and people want more than what they have.

And the average credit card rate of interest is 20, you know, as of the end of last year, 20.4%. That's the average. Now, 20%, that would mean in five years, if you keep revolving your debt in five years, you would pay double whatever the price of everything that you've charged. If you carry debt for five years, then you just paid twice as much for that object.

And like I say, it's a way of life with so many people just, yeah, just keep, and it's like credit card companies love that because, I mean, they're just making this gigantic windfall off of most of the ones in the United States. I mean, well, like I say, it's 41% of the households. Again, I'm not suggesting it's a sin to purchase things with a credit card, or I'm definitely a huge sinner, you know, standing up here. I don't, now, it can be dangerous.

Some people, yeah, just don't need to have credit cards because they can't control it. So yeah, if you can't control it, then I would say, yeah, it's a tool of covetousness. Just, yeah, stay away from it. But if you can control it, then like I say, it is, particularly if you're purchasing things online, it's, you know, about the only way you can buy them. But what I think God looks on as covetous is buying a non-necessity when you don't have the money to buy it. In other words, it's not a necessity.

You can live without it. And I'm going to be very generous here. I'm going to include, you know, a washing machine, a microwave, a refrigerator as necessities. And they're not, you know, car, I mean, just the things that we Americans have gotten used to. I'm not even talking about those things. I'm just talking about things that are just, yeah, they're nice to have and you don't have to have it. Eating out, you know, fancy cell phones.

I mean, you can get different kinds of cell phones, but having to have the top one, whatever Americans spend their money on, I mean, there's so much out there that you can have. Now, I'm not suggesting that if you have the money, it's wrong to buy something you don't have to have. What I'm suggesting that I think God is going to look on as covetous. And again, I'm not saying this to judge anyone. I'm saying this that my fear is God is going to judge you, okay?

That in other words, how are you going to be able to say, I'm content, I was content with what I had, but I went out and bought something I didn't even have the money to buy, and I didn't have to have it. It wasn't a necessity, but I just went out and bought it anyway. I mean, can you really argue then, oh, I was content with what I had? That you're buying things, it's not a necessity. It's not even what an American considers a necessity, but yeah, I just had to have it.

I couldn't wait until I could save up enough. I got to buy it right now. Again, not saying that to judge anybody, but just look at your heart. I mean, covetous has to mean something. I mean, if, you know, if we're not content as Americans and we've got to buy things we don't even have money to buy, and we're even willing to pay absurd rates of interest, 20%, you know, like I say, every five years you're doubling the cost of things.

I would suggest, yeah, take a deep look, have a talk, husband and wife, and just, yeah, take a look at your life. I mean, when we had a house church, well, it grew into a building church in Texas. I was just sort of shocked because being older than everyone here except a couple of people there in the back, Dan's got me beat by a year, I think, or two, whatever. But you didn't have, see, when I was a boy, you didn't have credit cards. You didn't have bank credit cards, okay?

Visa, MasterCard, those weren't around, okay? You could get a gas station credit card, like Exxon or something like that. And when you bought gas there, you know, you couldn't use it other places. You could just buy gas, and then at the end of the month, you got a bill and you, you know, paid your, for your gasoline. My parents had one that's kind of a little convenient. You didn't have, you know, didn't get stuck in case you didn't have money on you. But that was pretty much it.

And I remember when Visa and MasterCard first came along, you know, and like, oh, you can just go to any store and use this. I mean, that was a real novelty. Well, like I say, that was, you know, in the 60s. Well, then just by the 90s, I mean, flip ahead 25 years or something, our church in Texas, we had all of these people. They didn't come from Anabaptist backgrounds. They just came from, you know, seekers out there.

I mean, I would say to my recollection, every single person who came to our church, every single family, with the exception of the Dean Taylor family, they were the only ones who came with their credit cards maxed out. I mean, they had used them to the hilt. And so now all they were doing is paying the minimum amount and paying all of that credit and yet still wanting things all the time. So they never paid it down because there was always something more that they wanted that they had to get.

And then, of course, if you're living that way without any margin, that, you know, everything is to the limit, you're spending every penny that you get, you have, you know, extended all your credit. Well, yeah, so what are you going to do when your car breaks down? What are you going to do when you have a medical expense? Yeah, you're in a bind. So then, you know, you're asking the church, hey, you know, I can't do this, okay?

And I'm not saying this, you know, like for someone to hesitate to ask the church for help. I'm not saying in that context. I'm just saying that lifestyle, we had a whole church that that was everybody. I mean, it was everybody in the congregation, like I say, with one exception. And so it was, it was like, you know, all of the kingdom money that, you know, I mean, there are so many millions, maybe billions in the world of people who, I mean, literally go hungry. I mean, an American has no idea what hunger is.

They know what it means, oh, I'm hungry, I want to eat something. Hunger that, yeah, you don't have enough food to even give you the calories you need each day. The needs are so great in so many parts of the world. And what I saw was, so all of this money that I'm giving to God's kingdom is just going to my fellow Americans because they're covetous, that they're not content with what they have. They spend more than what they have.

And we're always having to bail them out as a church because they're in this bind and that bind. And it's the only good thing that came out of that was the ministry I'm involved in with Honduras. You know, I finally just threw up my hands.

I'm going to get involved in a country where I know people are poor, and I'm going to help them because I'm sick and tired of, yeah, just Americans who have so much just wanting more and more and not wanting to use discipline and really just, I don't know any other, I don't know a polite way to say it, they're covetous. It just got to have more, got to always have more. I remember when cell phones first came out. I mean, I'm really dating myself here.

You know, most of you is like, you mean they haven't always been here? And they were the flip tops. I mean, you couldn't do all, I mean, now a cell phone is more like a mini computer. They were just a phone. And it was like, well, that's a new thought. Like, why do we have to have those? You know, I mean, yeah, I could see a few things handy.

When I would go into town running errand, Deborah would always say, you know, call me before you come home and see if there's something, you know, I've thought of that I'd like you to pick up. And she was, you know, super good at that. You just went, now in those days, it were pay phones. It cost you a quarter. You just put in, you just stop somewhere and call. Okay, I'm on my way home. Is there anything else you need? You know, or she would do the same. And that was it.

You know, it cost you a quarter and it got, but it's like, yeah, when you left home, no one was going to bother you. You didn't have to worry about anything. You wouldn't get, you know, a bunch of messages about this or that. You were free, you know, until you got back home, you know. And so it was like, well, nice, nothing wrong with a cell phone, but yeah, why, why I don't, you know, I don't have to have one of these. We were living on a strict budget ourselves. So it's like, yeah, we can pass on that.

But every, all these people in the church, no money, you know, always, yeah, I got to have this or that. Every one of them, you know, we were the last ones in our church to get cell phones. I mean, it's like, it's just like, got to have the latest thing, got to have this, you know. Do you have money for it? No, I just, so I just go and I go into debt, you know, further debt.

And then I want kingdom money to get me out of that, which then I'm taking money out of food out of the mouth of somebody, some part of the world that I'll never meet, not in this life. I might meet them on judgment day. I don't know. And it was just like, I mean, this is just insane. Just people who just have to have something more, you know. Again, nothing wrong with cell phones if you got the money to, I own a cell phone now, you know. But it's not a necessity.

And if you're going to have to go into debt to do it, one of the families in our congregation, he was wanting some help from the church. It's very ironic because he made more than anybody in the church. He made a considerable more than I did and more than anyone else. I mean, you know, he would have is like, and so he had asked if we could talk, you know, about, you know, could the church help him out of their, you know, get out of some of their problems and all of that.

So I said, well, let's, you know, let me come over, set a date. And I drove to his house. He was there alone. It was a very nice day. And we said, oh, let's go to the park. There was a park close to his house and we can, yeah, we can chat there, be pleasant. We can kind of walk. And so, you know, we got in my car and I started driving. I saw, oh man, I'm on empty. So I said, yeah, let me pull in the gas station. So I pulled in and I'm, you know, filling up my car.

And when I get through, I get back in and he's gone. Oh, he probably had to go to the restroom. You know, he went in the gas station. So, you know, I just sit there and wait. Well, he comes back out. He's got this great big drink. He's got like giant candy bars that I've never seen him that big, chips. I mean, it was just like, I just like, and okay, you want to talk about, you don't have, you need money because you don't have money. And it's like, you know, I don't have money.

When I go to a gas station, I don't go inside. I don't, I mean, I'm talking about then and it's the same, it's true now. I mean, you know, unless I have to pick up milk or something like that. And it's like, why? We just left your house. I mean, if you were hungry, we could have had some, you could add free food there. We just, I mean, like literally three minutes ago, we're at your house.

And it's like, so yeah, this is the problem that you think you've got to just spend money that you could have something a little bit less, you know, just not content with what you have. And like you say, lived in a very nice place, you know, had all of a bunch of creature comforts that I certainly didn't have.

And yeah, so we had a long talk about this problem of learning to be content with what you have and that, yeah, you got yourself in this mess and you're going to have to be willing to go through some unpleasantness, you know. If everyone always bails you out, then yeah, you never have tasted that, okay, you know, I spent money I didn't have. And so, yeah, it's going to be unpleasant.

It means for a while I'm going to have to go through a period of not getting very many of the, you know, extra perks I would like to have until I get this paid off. And, and you know, maybe cut up my credit card because, yeah, I'm just not able to control myself. I don't know. So that would be one thing.

You know, I would just suggest if you are buying non-necessities, even when you don't have the money to buy them, you're willing to go into debt to buy something you don't have to have and you don't have the money for, I'm going to suggest you probably have a problem with being covetous, okay? I'm not going to sit here and judge you. I'm just going to say, boy, take a hard look at yourself. All right. Number two, I said I mentioned three things. Buying a non-necessity with money you owe to somebody else, okay?

So you're not necessarily, you know, using a credit card. So I have bought something, let's say a store that gives you credit, okay? And I owe them money or I borrowed money from you. I wasn't, you know, destitute. Jesus said, you know, lend without asking back. If you're lending this to somebody who is very poor, then yeah, if they can't pay you back, you accept that. Now, Jesus didn't say borrow without any thought of paying back. He didn't put it that way.

But that's how it seems like a certain number of people take it. Yeah, I borrow, I make a promise to pay this back. And then when I have some money where I could pay it back and it's like, you know, I'd like to eat out today or I need a new cell phone, whatever. And so you spend that money buying a non-necessity. Again, I'm not talking about you don't have any food in your refrigerator. I'm not even talking about, you know, no gas in your car, you know, things like that.

Just something you don't have to have, you know, junk food, eating out, fast food, you know, like I say, the latest nicety that there might be when you owe money to someone else. Now, the principle I was raised on is if I borrowed money from you, when I got my money, okay, I had the right to use what I had for necessities. I wasn't expected to starve. Everything else is your money. I don't have any right to spend that. It's your money. I mean, I told you I would pay you back.

If I use your money, the way I was raised, I'm not saying this is necessarily God's law. I'm stealing from you. I mean, you know, you didn't give me permission to do that. I don't have to spend that money. I'm just taking your money that's pledged to you and I'm spending it on something I don't have to have. So I worked for this guy. He was not a Christian for a number of years when I was like 19, 20.

And yeah, he couldn't pay his electric bill, couldn't, I mean, he's making, you know, plenty of money to support a small family. He's a family of four. But yeah, owed his boss money. And so I would go, you know, with him. It was a door-to-door sale. So we would be out for a while. And you know, I'd always bring a brown, probably don't even know what a brown paper sack is. They hardly exist anymore, but it's something you got at the grocery store.

And you know, I'd make myself some sandwiches, put an apple in there, whatever, you know, and had a thermos. And yeah, that would be, you know, my supper. Usually we were working over the supper period. You know, I just, while I was in the car, that would be my supper. Yeah, he was always eating out. It was always, I mean, I'd say two meals a day. Didn't have money to pay back the people he owed, but he had money to eat out. And I finally just said something.

I said, you know, because I mean, I was aware of his problem because he's always talking about it, you know. I said, you know, why are you eating out when you owe people money? I mean, have you ever thought if you just didn't eat out, you could start maybe paying some of these people back? Well, if what this meal, his reply was, well, what if what this meal costs would get me out of my debt? Yeah, I wouldn't eat out. Yeah, well, yeah, it's not the cost of that meal. It's that meal and the one you had at lunch.

And it's the meal you're going to have tomorrow and the meal you're going to have the next day and so on. It was just, it's like, yeah, you cut all of those things out, then you can pay people the money that you owe them, that you have made a commitment to pay them. And I would just suggest, you know, I think that's being covetous, that, you know, you're getting something you don't have to have and it's with somebody else's money. You're basically robbing them.

And if that's not covetous, then again, it's a sin that doesn't exist. Having three, number three, having to get whatever the world entices us to buy, even if we can afford it. Now here it gets so gray because, you know, there's no way to put a parameter here. I mean, if you've got the money, you know, I think you have the right to buy something you don't necessarily have to have. Now, you maybe you're going to give an accounting on judgment day. You probably will how you used your money and didn't use it.

But if we're always just having to get, you know, what the world entices us and the business of manufacturers and merchandisers is to make you dissatisfied with what you have. See, they don't like Hebrews, sir. No, that passage in Hebrews, you know, be satisfied with what you have. Yeah, I mean, yeah, no company is going to put out that slogan, be satisfied with what you have. Yeah, their job and the job of advertisers is to make you dissatisfied with what you have. You're driving that car?

Well, this is what you need to be driving. You know, you're using that cell phone. Well, this is what you need to have. Wow, the latest one has this and that and you can do whatever. Whatever it is, make you dissatisfied with what you have so that, you know, you're even willing to spend money you don't have. But even if you have the money, yeah, is that the best use of it? Now again, gray area here. There is no way that I'm going to try to define what that is.

Jesus said, take heed and beware of covetousness for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses. So it's just a thought to think about, okay, am I just accumulating and accumulating things I don't have to have? Could that go to everlasting storing of treasures in heaven by helping people who do have need? Now, I feel very blessed that, you know, way back, fairly early in our marriage, Deborah and I gave up television because television, you were just constantly assailed by ads.

Well, you need this, you need to get this and that to make you unhappy with what you had. Magazines were that way. I'm glad magazines in some ways have kind of disappeared. It's sad in certain respects, but again, just what, you know, paid for what they had to, something had to bring the revenue and it wasn't the subscriptions that didn't cover the whole cost of a magazine. Most of the revenue came from ads. So yeah, ads to make you unhappy with what you had. You can get that today with catalogs.

I mean, I find I've got to be real careful, like a, how many of you know what Lehman's is? Okay, you know, you can get one of those catalogs and yeah, I mean, they know how to write everything to make it just sound like, wow, this is what you've got to have. And there's nothing, I'm not criticizing them for that, but yeah, I read it more just for entertainment because I'm not the one who does the shopping. So it's unlikely I'm going to actually get attracted to buy something.

And again, I'm not saying it's a sin too. I'm just saying you could very easily just get into a thing where, yeah, because they're going to try to make you want things you don't have to have. I'd encourage you to learn to go to a store to buy a specific thing or a specific group of things and not just to shop. Just, I mean, stores must hate me. And this doesn't come from any virtue on my part. It's just the way I am. I don't like spending time in stores. I don't like shopping.

So yeah, when I go in, I'm going in to get something, I don't even notice anything around me. I'm just, I mean, I'm always afraid when I walk into Lowe's, they're going to make an announcement. David Berceau just walked in. All the floor personnel can take their break now, you know, because yeah, I could walk right by a display that said, you know, buy one DeWalt drill, get 10 free. And I never even noticed. I mean, and again, I'm not saying there's anything virtuous on my part.

I'm just saying it's just, it's the way I am. I'm going there. I've got something. When Deborah was laid up in the hospital, she gave me these shopping lists. I go to the grocery store and yeah, I'm just going through, crossing off. I don't know what I was walking by that I might have wanted to get.

It just, and I'm saying, I'm not saying you have to be like that, but I'm saying if you're having trouble spending beyond your means or not being able to give as much to the kingdom as you would like, you might want to, you know, develop that kind of just go in with a list and this is what I'm going to get. And I'm going to look at what else is out there that they're trying to entice me to get. If you don't need something, it's not a good deal. It doesn't matter how cheap it is.

If it's 50% discount, if you don't need it, and I mean, and it's not something that's going to really give you any kind of, you know, enrichment of your life, then yeah, I would say forget it, you know, if you didn't walk in there for that. And one last thing, this isn't covetous, but it's for all of us, consider the effect on others of the things that we own. In other words, I may be free from being covetous. I'm satisfied with what I have.

I don't spend, you know, I don't buy things that I don't have the money to already pay for them. But I also need to think about my brother. So, and this is the part, it's definitely gray, but yeah, am I going to make my brother feel dissatisfied? That's his sin. But yeah, if I've got all the latest this and that and my brother doesn't, yeah, how, what effect will that have on him? It's something to think about. I'm not going to, again, dwell there. Well, we're going to end on this note.

Why does God condemn covetousness so strongly? So what's the big thing? Okay, so we've talked about certain things that likely constitute covetousness and there's plenty of other things beyond that. I'm just giving you some things that I think you're getting at the edge of the cliff or you're off the cliff. But why does he say you will not inherit the kingdom if you have this problem of covetousness? Well, I think one reason is it was the original sin.

Covetousness was the original sin before Adam and Eve's sin and the part of Satan. You know, we don't know exactly what he was covetous about. Some feel he wanted to be God. He coveted the position of the Father. He wanted to be the ruler of the universe. Others think he was covetous of the Son of God because Satan was an angel. He was a creature and the Son of God is not a creature. So he was jealous. There was somebody else other than the Father and he wasn't at that level. Something he was covetous of man.

We don't know what he was covetous. The only thing we know is he wasn't happy with what he had. And so sin entered the whole universe because one being was covetous, wasn't satisfied with what he had, had to have something more, wanted more than what he had. And everybody has paid the price ever since. Covetousness has been the cause of most wars. I'd say most thefts and burglary, countless other evils. I want something that's not mine, that someone else has, and I'm going to just take it.

If they don't give it to me, I'm just going to take it from them. And that would be most wars. Like I say, so much evil has happened because of covetousness. But there's something even more beyond that. God says that those who covet won't inherit the kingdom of God because unless with God's help, we rid ourselves of covetousness while we're here on earth. In other words, if we haven't solved the problem now, if we're still covetous here on earth at the end of our life, heaven is going to be eternal torment for us.

In other words, if you aren't content here, don't imagine that, oh, when I get to heaven, I'm going to be all content. Satan was in heaven. He was not content that it's going to be eternal torment. Heaven is not going to be equality. That's the word today, the buzzword for everything. Jesus has already told us the rewards are not going to be equal. We're not going to all get the same reward. We're not all going to have the same levels of authority in heaven.

That's just we humans who will be in the kingdom of heaven. But then there's angels, there's archangels, there's cherubs, there's serfs. We don't even know all these other creatures and they're not all in the same order. There's going to be people, no matter who we are in heaven, there's going to be people above us. There'll probably be people below us, but we're not all going to be on the same level.

So if I'm not happy unless I have got the same thing you have, if I'm going to covet that you've got something more than I've got, then I'm not going to be happy in heaven. It's going to turn heaven into hell. In other words, you're going to sit there, you're going to be in eternal torment because forever it's going to be that way. It's not like, oh yeah, next year you're going to climb up the ladder. No, there is never going to be equality in heaven. God is always going to be supreme.

There's always going to be the Son who is the Father is always going to be his head. And then under the Son, you know, we have the Holy Spirit. Then we have the creatures, the angels. And like I say, there's all these different levels. So if you can't accept that, that others are going to have a greater privilege than you have, they're going to have greater whatever than you have, heaven is not, is going to be no place you're going to be happy. You're just going to be miserable there.

And God is not going to have that. Covetousness, we've seen the effects once. One being who wasn't happy with his position caused all this evil. It's not going to happen again in heaven. If you're covetous, God does not want you there because, you know, you don't fit there, number one. Number two, you are going to be miserable. And you know, you might as well go where you will be miserable because, you know, you're going to be, like I say, either way, you're going to be miserable.

So that's, you know, that is what the universe, the rule of the universe. So what it boils down to is we've got to get hold of the problem now to be content with what we have. And that's why covetousness is a deadly sin. Why we can't inherit the kingdom of heaven. It's not just God, well, I'm going to be strict and mean with you, you know. It's like, you're going to be miserable here. Don't even think about coming here to heaven. You're going to be miserable. You've already shown that. You've lived on earth.

You've had more than you've needed and you've been unhappy there. You wanted more. You know, we're not going to bring that. We're not going to pollute heaven with that kind of person.