Contentment and Covetousness

Well, you know, we're in a time of year that's an interesting time of year for all of us. We've just come through a Thanksgiving holiday that's nice. We have an opportunity to spend time with family that we might not have an opportunity through much of the year to spend time with. We think of God. It's nice that there is a national holiday that actually was founded based on the belief in God and thanking Him for things, even though the country itself has gotten away from some of that.

Hopefully we remember God, and He's front and center when we're observing Thanksgiving holiday. But as soon as we pass that through, we interventer a whole other time in the world's calendar, if you will. And, you know, as I've been—I don't watch a whole lot of TV that has commercials on it, and usually if I do, I tune the commercials out, but over the last couple weeks, a few things have caught my ear as I've listened to the commercials or heard something.

And there was a tone in—these commercials that we have where now people are being told you need to go out and buy this, and you buy that, and whatever, and spend, spend, spend. That was different. I remember one commercial, and I remember thinking, wait, what did they say? What did they say? And these people were jumping up and down in the background and whatever, and I thought, okay, well, they got something that they really liked and whatever.

So I paid attention, so the next time that commercial came on, I listened to it. And it was about giving me, myself, a gift. And they were all excited because they decided they were worth it, so they were going to buy themselves this rather expensive gift. I won't tell you what it was. And I thought, now, that's weird. That's weird. I mean, I'm going to buy myself a gift, and I'm all excited about it jumping up and down because I deserve it and whatever. I thought, that's a whole new spirit that I don't remember seeing before. And I was listening to another commercial where people were—you know, there was this group standing around, and they were told, you know, repeat after me, I am thankful.

And I thought, okay, I am thankful. And then they burst in to say, I am thankful for all the gifts I'm going to receive that I need. And I thought, wow, those two kind of capsulized it for me. And I thought, we've reached a new level here as we get into this time. And we all feel it. We all hear it. We all see it. The world is kind of now into a realm where, you know, it's spend, spend, spend.

We're always encouraged. You watch every news channel. I watched the news a little bit this afternoon—or not this afternoon, yesterday afternoon. And they were talking about, of course, the day that it was. And by the end of today, by the end of the day yesterday, they expected $7.5 billion will have been spent on gifts. And that was a tremendous thing and whatever. And I thought, yep, that's what it's all about. Spend, spend, spend is what we're told. And you have these commercials that flash by us and all these nice gadgets that you just can't live without.

You just have to have. And so everyone is kind of in a mode for the next month of, what am I going to get? You know, what can I buy? I would like this. I would like that. And here we are, you know, in a country that God has so richly blessed because we have all this wealth that people can buy all these things and spend all this money on things that they want and the things that they can get. And it has all become about that. And you and I sit and whether we work, whether we go to school, whether we talk to people in the neighborhood, where you kind of feel the same thing and how, you know, it's just that time of the year.

Well, when you look at, you look at a country that's been so richly blessed, you know, God, we know that God blessed this country greatly. It's because of Him that we have the wealth we have. And down through the biblical ages, when you look in the history of the Bible, God has blessed His people. There were times in Israel's life history, if you will, that they were poor and they were impoverished.

Oftentimes because they weren't obeying God. Other times they were the envy of the earth. People were visiting them and in awe of the wealth that God had given them. And oftentimes in those times of wealth, Israel departed from God. They did indeed one of the key things that God told them back in the very early days before, after they came out of Egypt and before they went into the Promised Land. And they became all enamored with their wealth and all the things that they had. And somehow the things that they had, they were able to look at, displaced what God was. Well, let's, we kind of live in a society like that today.

Let's look at John 12 for a minute. I'm sorry, Luke 12. Luke 12. Because Jesus Christ talked about that as he was introducing a parable here that had to do with money and wealth and things like that. And Luke 12 and verse 15 says, Christ said to them, Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.

Now that would ring not true in the commercial world of today. If you listen to the world today, yeah, your happiness depends on the things that you possess. Your happiness here in a few weeks is going to depend on what you get. But Christ says, no, that isn't what life consists of. It's nice to have possessions, not wrong to have them, but that is what life is made of. That isn't what's going to make you happy or satisfy you.

It happens often in a society that is awfully wealthy. But God, you know, cautioned wealthy society and wealthy people about what they should do when he gives them wealth. Let's go back to Deuteronomy 8 and just look at what God said here. We've done this before, but it's always good to rehearse it and look at the dangers that are associated with wealth.

Too much wealth, if you will. In Deuteronomy 8 and verse 10, Moses, under inspiration of God, says, When you have eaten in her full, then you shall bless the eternal your God for the good land which he has given you. Beware that you don't forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments, his judgments, and his statutes which I command you today.

Beware. You'll be tempted when you are full when you have all these things. You'll kind of look around and somehow you will just forget God and you will forget who you are and what you're supposed to be doing. Lest, verse 12, when you've eaten and are full and have built beautiful homes and dwell on them, and when your hers and your flocks multiply and your silver and your gold are multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, when your heart is lifted up and you forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage.

And then he goes on and explains what God has done, what he did for Israel back then. He's done for you and I as well. Drop down to verse 17, And you say in your heart, My power and the might of My hand have gained me this wealth. There comes a time that if we aren't paying attention to what we have and what we do, that we find ourselves thinking, you know, I've done pretty well in life. Look what I've amassed for myself. I don't have to worry about what I'm going to eat.

They don't have to worry about credit card bills that come in. I can do all these things. I've done pretty well. And there's a danger that's associated with that. You say in your heart, I've done all these things. Verse 18, 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.

And then he basically tells them, if you forget God, these things are going to happen and God can take that away. So Israel experienced that. And national wealth is something to be thankful for and to enjoy, but not to the point that you forget God. And when you look at the land we live in today, we certainly have forgotten God. And it's all about us.

It's all about our economy, our military, our whole infrastructure and everything. God is nowhere to be seen in it. And there's a danger. There's a danger in that, as we've read. There's also a danger in individual wealth, right? Some of us, all of us here in the room, are probably of different economic statuses. You know, some have much, some have little, some get by. Hopefully everyone is happy with what they have and isn't worried about that to that degree.

But we can bring it down to a personal level because this time of year we can kind of look around and think, well, I should have that and I could have that and whatever. We could fall prey to some of those things, not just this time of year or any time of year when we look around and compare ourselves, which is never a good thing to do, it tells us in the Bible.

But let's go back to Proverbs 30 because we find someone who was thinking about those same things here in Proverbs 30. It's attributed to a man by the name of Agar. No one really knows who A-G-U-R is.

Many of the commentators just think it's another name for Solomon who penned most of these Proverbs. But in Proverbs 30, he kind of takes things down and he talks about God and he comes up with two requests. But let's pick it up in verse 5 of chapter 30 and see what he has to say. Proverbs 30 and verse 5. He says, every word of God is pure.

He's a shield to those who put their trust in him. Not in their bank accounts, not in their stock market portfolios, not in their jobs, not in their security systems. He is a shield to those who put their trust in him. Don't add to his words, lest he rebuke you, and you be found a liar. And then in verse 7 he says, two things.

Two things I request of you, God. You pride me not before I die. Remove falsehood and lies far from me. Keep lies. Keep me from lying. It's so easy to lies and so easy to exaggerate things or just make things sound different. It's like, does it really matter if I change that a little bit? And he says, you know, don't even let me do that. Let me just speak the truth, the pure truth, tell it exactly the way it is. Remove falsehood and lies from far from me.

And give me neither poverty nor riches. I don't want to be rich. I don't want to be poor either. It's interesting that he would cite those two things because, of course, money is the thing that God looks at. How do we handle it? How do we deal with it? What's our attitude toward it? What does it do to us? And Agar says, I don't want to be rich. I don't want to be poor either. He simply says, feed me with the food allotted to me. And then he explains what the consequences are.

If I'm rich, I may be full and deny you and say, who is the Lord? Who is He? I've forgotten Him. Exactly what the danger is that Moses talked about in Deuteronomy 8. I forget Him. Things are going so well, I might even forget to pray for an entire week at a time because things are going so well. Who needs God? That might happen if I have too much. But on the other hand, if I don't have enough, in verse 9, I may be poor and I may be steel.

I may profane the name of my God. I might be led to sin. I might think that I have to steal this food or I have to steal whatever this thing is because I've got to make ends meet. I have to have this. And Agar says, I don't want to be tempted either way. They both are dangerous spiritually if we don't watch what we're doing. Again, absolutely nothing wrong with being wealthy. Don't anyone take out of here that it's bad to be wealthy? It's not. It's the attitude that we have toward it and how we look at things and how it can change us when we become self-sufficient, if you will.

So Agar sized all this up and he has these requests to God. Now, if we go back to Luke 12, where we just read Christ's words about one's life does not consist of the things he possesses, he follows that with a parable. And it's an interesting parable because as you read through it, you might find yourself thinking, well, I kind of get what that guy did.

I kind of understand what he did and yet Christ chides him for the thoughts that he had. So picking up in Luke 12, beginning in verse 16, he says, then it says, he spoke a parable to them saying, the ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. He had good crops. God blessed him richly. And maybe he got a good job, a good promotion, a lot of money.

All of a sudden, got a lot to be thankful for. The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, what shall I do since I have no room to store my crops?

I've got so much. What do I do with it now? Where do I invest it? How do I make more interest in it? Invest it in the stocks, invest it in CDs, invest in a company. What do I do with it? I have so much. Where do I put it all? So I said, I'll do this. I'll pull down my barns and I'll build greater. And there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease. Eat, drink, and be merry. I've arrived. I've done it. Look what I've done. I can just take the rest of my life off. I can just kind of be at ease. I don't have to pay any attention to the work I do anymore. I've done it. And as you read through this, you don't see God anywhere in this man's thought process. Nowhere is he thankful to God for what he's done. Nowhere is he aware of what riches can do. They're not supposed to, I guess, be just for us. I mean, again, there's nothing wrong with it. But he could thought, well, you know what? I could do something with this. Maybe I can help others. I mean, after all, when God blessed Abraham, he said, I'll bless you, but you need to be a blessing to others as well. None of that thought at all. It's all about me. I need to put more. I need to put, find more places to put everything that I have, everything that I've accomplished. And now I don't have to do anything else.

I can just eat, drink, and be merry because my job is over. Maybe some in America think about that as retirement. I can just do nothing. And, you know, certainly on a physical level, there's a time when work is done. Never a time when there's a spiritual time to relax, no matter how old we are, right? Never a time to lay down in the gauntlet and say, I've done it all. I just kind of eat, drink, and be merry, and God is okay. Now, right until the end of the time, end of our lives, you know, we work, and we work, and we do the things God wants us to do. So he says all those things, and we might read that and say, you know what? Yeah, I could, you know, maybe I've done that somewhere along the line. Maybe that's been my attitude. But look what God says. God says to him, fool. Now, anytime you see the word fool, you know, we might think one thing of fool. God is saying, you don't understand the word of God. You don't get it. Fool. This night, your soul will be required of you. Then whose will those things be which you have provided? This night. You know, you think you've got it made. You think you've got it all. You've got all this wealth. This night it's going to disappear. And, you know, for all of us, every single one of us here, no matter how much we have or no matter how little we have, literally it could all change in a day. We could all wake up Monday morning and see there's a stock market crash unlike the world has ever seen before, and it would all be gone.

It could happen to all of us, any one of us, singularly or collectively. And one day, maybe, just maybe, that's what God will have. One day, it'll all just be disappeared. Maybe, maybe we will have taken too much for granted. Maybe we will have forgotten God. Certainly, as a nation we have. I hope, never as God's people, that we would take the things that we have for granted and forget Him, that we would always be thankful and show that thanks by the things we do, as we talked about last week. But God said, for you, you, mister, it's all going to be gone. This very night, those things are going to be taken away from you. In verse 21, He says, so is he who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. If you're not rich toward God, because God is the one who gives the things that we have, God is the one who provides.

Let's not forget Him, lest He say, if you're not going to give me credit or think of me, you know, maybe you need to learn a lesson. Learn a lesson who it is who provides things.

You know, I've said many times, having a lot is as big a trial, maybe a bigger trial, than not having enough. Because there's always the danger that we become self-sufficient and we forget about trusting God, we rely on self. The country certainly relies on itself, we can enter the danger of doing the same thing if we're not careful of what we're doing. Certainly having a lot of money would lend us to think, you know, we've got it made, don't have to think about things.

But that isn't what God wants us to do. He wants us to learn to be reliant on Him, even if He gives us a lot. And that's a chore. That's a trial, if you will. Christ, back in Matthew 19, I guess it was, said, you know, it's easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle. Remember that?

Easier to pass through an eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.

That's an interesting thing for Christ to say. I mean, that's, that's, I mean, He kind of shows how difficult it is, the dangers that are there. He doesn't say it's impossible.

It's not impossible for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. I mean, there have been rich people in the Bible. Abraham was very, very wealthy all the way through his life. He'll be in the kingdom of God. David was a wealthy man. Joseph became a wealthy man when he became second in command of Egypt. Joseph was there. There are wealthy people who do very well, but it takes attention and constant attention to who God is and not allowing ourselves to get run away with the things of the world, the cares of the world, and what we've done.

So as we look at, you know, the society that we have around us and what we could do, we could find ourselves, you know, coveting. Hey, I've got this. You know, I look at this brand new whatever it is. I have to have that. My next door neighbor has it. So-and-so has it. I need it, too.

And so we could find ourselves in an attitude, as Christ said here in verse 15, of covetousness. Let's just take a moment and look at that word covetousness because we've all heard it. It's one of the Ten Commandments, you know, the tenth one there about coveting. But let's pare it down and look at the definition again just so that we understand what covetousness is. Cam reading to the King James Dictionary says, it's a deep desire to possess that which belongs to another.

Well, that's not good, right? A deep desire to possess that which belongs to another, or an inordinate desire or discontent for what one does not have. So we've got this obsession that comes. I have to have that. I have to have it. I saw it on TV, and I'm not going to be able to rest or be satisfied until I get out and get that thing and bring it home to me.

It goes on to say coveting generally is caused by greed and self-centeredness without regard for God.

And times in our life when we've kind of caught ourselves coveting something, God was nowhere in the picture. God was nowhere in the picture. It was 100% us. Just like those commercials that I was talking about that were 100% about, I deserve this, and I want this, and this is the way life is going to be that's being broadcast here to us. So we have Agar saying, don't give me poverty, don't give me wealth. So we can see the dangers of wealth, and we need to kind of pay attention to that and be on our guard when that is something that God allows us to have. Because probably at times in our life there will be times of plenty and times of not so plenty.

You know, you look at the men of God, Joseph for instance, he was a young man, grew up in a wealthy family, grew up with a privileged childhood, but then literally not even overnight, well maybe overnight, overnight he found himself a slave, down at the bottom of the heap. He had nothing, no possessions, everything he grew up with was gone. And then it got even worse, and he found himself in prison with even less than he had before, falsely accused. But Joseph, to his credit, he knew how to handle, he knew how to handle poverty. He could have said, you know, forget this thing I was taught when I was growing up, I have to do this and I have to do that, I have to play the politics of the land, I have to play the politics of the Potiphar's house, I have to do this, I have to do everything that everyone else is doing, but no he didn't, he stuck by and remembered the things of God that he was supposed to do, and God saw him through it, it took some years, but he came out, a very wealthy man with a very good position, possession, or position in there.

And so, oh, Agar says, don't give me wealth, but don't give me poverty either.

Now, poverty, when we look at it, can come by a number of ways. It can come from God. He may, he may give us, he may give us poverty to see what our attitude will be. You know, there's, I mentioned Joseph David. David had times of poverty here. He was anointed king as a young man. It took him years before he was actually coronated to be king, and there were times that he had to flee from Saul. He had nothing, didn't even have food. He had to go, he had his men for seven days at a time without eating. They just had nothing, and they had to rely on God. One day he has, one day he's at the top of the heap, the next day he's not. He lived through good times, he looked through bad times. We may live through good times and bad times, and perhaps between now and then we all live through some very bad times and learn where our loyalty is or where our trust is and where our reliance is. But Agar, Agar said, don't give me the poverty, and poverty can come from God. You know, it's not always because of the things we've done. It might be that God needs to teach us a lesson and see what's in our heart. Sometimes it is by our hand. You know, we can, if we don't handle our jobs well, if we're not diligent workers, if we're not faithful workers, if we're not blessings to our employers and giving them more and praying that they give more from us than they give to us, you know, we might find ourselves always with our hand out or wishing that there were more and not knowing why. But, you know, the Bible talks about some of the things that lead to poverty, and it could be our fault. And we need to learn that. Maybe we need to learn how to be diligent workers, very good workers doing the things that they say, and in time God would bless us as well. Well, we're in Luke 12. Let's go a few chapters forward to Luke 15. We find another parable that has to do with, this time, someone who had wealth but then lost it all and had to learn some lessons on his own. In Luke 15, we find the parable of the prodigal son. Prodigal, of course, means wasteful. So we could say the parable of the wasteful son, if you will. Let's pick it up. Let's pick it up in verse 11 of Luke 15 and see what we learn here. Christ said, A certain man had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me. So the father divided to them his livelihood. So you have a young man who's sizing things up and thinking, you know what, I just got my brother besides me, half of everything that my dad owns is mine. I want it now. I don't want to wait. I don't want to wait till he dies. I don't want to wait till the future. I want it now. I want to do my own thing. Now, how knows what the young man maybe didn't like what his dad had him doing. He didn't like working on the farm or whatever they had do here and thought, wherever I go, wherever I go, because we see that he leaves and goes far from home, life's got to be better wherever else I go than it is at home, just give me my money now. Now, dad, you know, dad for some reason gives it to him. You know, we don't have to give everything to our children that they ask for.

And of course, we know there's a spiritual application of this prodigal son as well. And it might be that the father was pretty wise. Certainly, God is wise and knows, okay, you want it? Let's just see what you do with it. There's something you need to learn about having it all now and doing something with it. And so we find that dad divides it up. Younger son goes with half of all of his inheritance and he runs off to a faraway place. Verse 13, not many days after, the younger son gathered altogether, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal, your margin says, wasteful living. Had it all. Had a whole basket of money, a lot of money that he never had like that before in his life. And what he did was just go and spend it on whatever he wanted. I want this. I want that. I'll have it all. I'll spend it on everything. Boom. It's all gone. It's all gone.

Now somewhere along the line, the young man will see, probably, and I'm going to say probably because I don't know, probably was taught some financial principles in his life. But he didn't really care for what his dad was teaching him. He didn't want to be there anyway. So, hey, give me my money. I'll be on my way and I'll deal with life as it comes. But he was going to learn that some of those financial principles of the Bible really do mean something and we need to pay attention to them. Keep your finger there in Luke 15. Let's go back to Proverbs. Proverbs 20.

Proverbs 20 and verse 21. Perhaps he heard this when he was young and maybe later on in his life after he wasted it all. Some of this stuff came back to him. Proverbs 20 verse 21. An inheritance gained hastily at the beginning will not be blessed at the end. Oh, he got it pretty quickly at the beginning of his life as opposed to in the natural order of things. An inheritance gained hastily at the beginning will not be blessed at the end. Well, let's look at chapter 21. Chapter 21 verse 5. The plans of the diligent lead surely to plenty, but those of everyone who is hasty surely to poverty. So the Bible speaks of, you know, maybe a modern day. You need to look ahead for a rainy day. You got to have something there for the rainy day that's going to come.

Nice to have something in the bank when these little problems befall us and little things that cost us have it. Nice that we haven't spent it all. That, oh, we didn't expect that to happen, but I can just go and I've got money saved up to do these things and I don't have to panic and whatever. I've handled my situations well. The plans of the diligent lead surely to plenty, but those of everyone who is hasty surely to poverty. And you know, you know, maybe from your own children, you've got children who, boy, as soon as you give them money, it is gone before you even turn around twice. Others is like, I'll save it. I'll save it. And some people naturally have that. I'll save it for something and I have that. Others have a weakness or I just spend it all. The minute I have it, that's what happens. And that's what happened in this family with the prodigal son. We have a, you know, one son who I wanted. I spent it all. The other son stayed at home. He was waiting for the time that it what happened. Put somewhere along the prodigal son, maybe had to remember his dad talking about 21 verse 5, maybe 21 verse 20 as well.

There is desirable, desirable treasure and oil in the dwelling of the wise. But a foolish man squanders it. Now that's some tricky wording in there, okay? What it boils down to, and in the New Living Translation says it like this. If I can find where I wrote that down.

The wise have wealth and luxury, but fools spend whatever they get. The wise have wealth and luxury, but fools spend whatever they get.

Now that kind of defines the prodigal son. You know, his brother, not so much him, he just kind of squandered it all. It was just all gone. On who knows what? I don't know if he had a storehouse of things that he bought or if he just wasted it away on food, restaurants, whatever it is, everything that his heart desired, he decided he was going to have.

But he might have learned and thought later on. I've squandered it. I've squandered it.

Let's go back to Proverbs 10. Proverbs 10. Let's look at verse 4. He who has a slack hand becomes poor.

God says be diligent. Everything your hand finds to do, do it with your might. Work for your masters like you were working for yourself. He who has a slack hand becomes poor, but the hand of the diligent makes rich. He who gathers in summer is a wise son.

He who sleeps and harvests is a son who causes shame.

There are seasons that you do things. Seasons you might have much. You gather. You save.

You do the things and don't live your life. And there are times when we have very little that we have to, so we have to spend everything we have. But in a case where you can save, do some of it. Do some of it. Don't waste it all like the prodigal son did. Now what he spent his money on, we have no idea. Today we could name a number of things. You could list off the things that you could waste your money on. I could list a whole bunch for you, but you know there's a lot of things that we call necessities in life that aren't really necessities. There's a lot of things that we spend a lot of money on that we don't really need. And if time is tight or money is tight, we might want to look at some of those things. We just don't have to have everything and every convenience that life has to offer. Let's go back to chapter 15 here in Luke. We have a young man here who needed to learn some principles, and he was going to learn them the hard way. So all those things that we talked about, and many more, many more. As you read through Proverbs, you find financial principles all over the Proverbs that you can, that you know, we should build into our lives and be aware of. This young man threw them all away, and he squandered everything that he had, everything his dad had, and that was it. There was no more inheritance after that. He just kind of gave it all away, and he had nothing to fall back on. Verse 14, when he has spent all, there arose a severe famine in the land, and he began to be in want.

Didn't see that one coming. Here I spent it all, and now I don't even have money to buy food.

Things have gotten tight. I wonder if he thought, I wish I had some of that money back. I wish I hadn't spent it on that, that, that, that, because it would come in a lot more handy now to have it than the little bit of satisfaction I got out of it back then. So he finds himself in an untenable situation. He spent everything, and now there's a famine in the land, and he was wanting. Now he was finding what it was like to be impoverished. He had it all, gave it all away, threw it all away. Now he finds himself in poverty. So he went, and he joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.

Not a pretty occupation, right? I dare say, no matter what he was doing for dad back home, it wasn't something like feeding swine. But things were desperate. He had to have a job, and here's a job that he, he had to have probably never saw himself in that position, but when we are in that position, we do what it takes. We do what it takes without sinning against God, without stealing. And the young man didn't do that anyway. He did go out and, and worked for his living. Verse 15, he went and joined himself. I read that 16. And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate. Can you imagine that? So hungry that I would, I would just eat what I'm feeding these pigs. You know, just who knows, several weeks before, a month before, he was eating the finest restaurant, spending it on everything he wanted. Now it's like, if I could just eat what these pigs are eating, I'd be happy. I need something. I have become so desolate, so desolate and so desperate. If I could just eat what these pigs are eating, and notice it says, and no one gave him anything. Now we can look at that and say, what was wrong with that society? Saw this young man was in desperate need, and, and you know, I mean, it is good when we see someone in need. The Bible tells us that. Help out. But in that society, they didn't do that. And I know that God put that in there for a reason. I have no idea what who the people who knew that young man were, but sometimes, you know, we see people who are want to put themselves in a position where they have caused the position themselves. This is what this young man did. And maybe the people who knew him thought, you know what, we watched you. We watched you spend all that money on frivolous, goofy stuff that you, that you didn't need to do, and you need to learn a lesson. And sometimes, sometimes, you know, we could give too much. Sometimes people need to learn the lesson that they need to learn, and this young man needed to learn the lesson.

If Dad or a friend or someone had come in and made it all okay, here, here's the money, here's, do this and whatever, he had to learn, I blew it. There's things that I didn't do right. I have to do it the way God said. I have to do it the way that I was taught. And sometimes help is not the help at all.

I'm not saying withhold it, and that's any of our decision, but it's interesting that God specifically puts in this account, there was Christ as he says it, and no one gave him anything.

He had time to think. What have I done? How have I lived my life? And you know, sometimes we're in desperate needs, and we have nowhere to turn, and no one is bailing us out.

We have only one place to turn, and that is God. To think back about the things that we may have just forgotten in times where we had all these things, and we were just kind of, life was good, and we could do whatever we wanted to do, and we have to stop and think, there's God.

I need to turn to God. I need to remember what I've forgotten, and go back to that. And that's what we can begin to see what happened with this young man. In verse 17 it says, when he came to himself, as he had time to think, as he looked at his situation, as he surveyed, what his life had become is like, who am I? I have no one to blame but myself in this situation. I did all this to myself. No one did it to me. I did it to me. And there's only one way to rectify this. When he came to himself, he said, how many of my father's hired servants have bred enough, have bred enough into spare, and I perish with hunger? I couldn't wait to get away from Dad. I thought that was the worst thing I could do was working for him. But you know what? If I could just go back there and do that, look, his servants, they eat. I'm not even eating. I'm wishing that I could eat these pods that these swine are eating. If I could just go back and do that... Well, to do that, sometimes is tough, right? Tough times are tough. When you got to kind of admit, I blew it. I didn't pay attention. I got to go back home, and I've got to tell Dad, Dad, I blew it. I blew it.

That can be a humbling experience, but without humility and without those humbling experiences, nothing good ever comes of it. And sometimes we go through those things so God can teach us that thing to come back and to remember what we have forgotten. And sometimes when we find ourselves in these situations, you know, never turn to sin. Always keep your eyes on God. Never fail to keep his commandments. This young man didn't do anything. He didn't turn to stealing. He didn't do anything. He went out and worked. But he had to come to a realization. I've blown it. So he says in verse 18, I will arise. I will go to my Father and I'll say to him, Father, I've sinned against heaven and before you. I've sinned against God. You know those principles you taught me? I kind of ignored them. I thought they didn't apply to me. I just kind of went out and did everything with it. And I've sinned against God and I sinned before you. I recognize it and I recognize it and I'm ready to change. And he says in verse 19, I'm not even any longer worthy to be called your son. Just make me like one of your hired servants if I just can come back to you and work on that basis. Oh, the Father was overjoyed as any Father would be. And as our Father in heaven is overjoyed when we look at the spiritual application of this, when we just look at the physical of it, the Father was overjoyed like any Father sitting in this congregation would be if your son came and said, I get it. I get it. I've learned my lesson the hard way. I know what I've done wrong. I know I need to follow God. I know why my life has become the mess it is. And now I just want to come back and acknowledge that and live my life in a different way.

Oh, the Father was overjoyed just like God is overjoyed when he sees us do those things on a spiritual basis. And we realize, man, what was I doing? You know, the Son kind of knocked himself in the head and said, what am I doing? Who have I become? And sometimes that happens to you and me. We're sitting there and we think, what have I done? How could I have not seen what I was doing?

Come back. Come back and seek God. Come back and find Him. And so that's what he did. And then there's the rest of it I'm not going to go into with the attitude of the rest of the Son. But you can sign to see where the Bible says we can learn lessons, maybe not good lessons, about ourselves and times of wealth. Maybe there's very valuable lessons we learn when we go through poverty and we see how did we get there and not blame God or not blame others, but look at ourselves and think, what is God teaching me during this time? What do I need to learn? How do I need to be more focused on Him and do the things that He needs to do or that we need to do? So, Agar says, don't make me rich. Don't make me poor. Just feed me with the food allotted to me.

Just give me what I need. You don't want to be hungry. You don't want to have plenty. Just give me what I need. You know, day to day I'll rely on you. Day to day I'll look to you. Day to day I'll seek you.

In Hebrews, Hebrews 13, we find what Agar was talking about.

The young man who might have been covetous learned, no, I don't need all those things to make me happy. All those things actually backfired on me. Hebrews 13 verse 5, let your conduct be without covetousness. Be content with such things as you have because God says I'll never leave you or forsake you. Just be content with what you have.

So, we have covetousness on one hand that the world would preach to us, if you will. We might preach to ourselves because we're all prone to it. God pretty much gives a command here. Let your conduct be without covetousness. Be content with such things as you have. Now, let me give you some of the features of being content, what someone who is content is like. This comes from one of the Bible dictionaries. Contentment, and they mentioned that God places a high value of importance on being content. As we'll see here in the next few minutes, high importance on being content. Number one, a person who is content is not inclined to complain or desire something else. He's satisfied.

He's got what he needs, doesn't complain, realizes what he has. Now, it doesn't mean that we shouldn't work hard, that we shouldn't desire to be promoted in our jobs, but we also have to understand the principles of working that we have, and that God will bless us as he sees us doing the things that he would have us do. Number two, submissive to circumstances. Accepting of those circumstances, one commentary said, it's learning to live within your means. Whatever God gives you to learn with to live within those means, and we can learn to live within those means. Sometimes we have to, you know, kind of review what we're doing and say, you know what, that $150 a month cell phone may not be the thing that I have to have. Better to have food and electricity than that cell phone.

Submissive to circumstances, accepting learning to live within your means.

And number three, freedom from worry. A person who is content is free from worry. His life is marked by peace of mind. And isn't that a nice thing to have? How do you put a price tag on that?

I don't worry. I'm not fretting about what my neighbor has. I'm not fretting about what I don't have. And I'm content. I'm just happy. I have that peace that Paul talks about. That surpasses all understanding. The Bible has some good examples of people who are content in their lives and how they live them. And we can look at their lives and say some of those lives are really tough, really tough. You could probably think of one offhand who learned to be content in all things that he did. Paul, right? Paul was a good example of being content. Let's go back to Philippians.

Philippians 4. Here's a man. We all know his history.

As God called him, he literally sacrificed his life to God to do whatever God asked him to do. And God had him go through some tough times. Paul was thankful throughout it. He lived his life with the action of thanksgiving, as we talked about last week. In Philippians 4, verse 9, he writes to the church there. He says, The things which you learned and received, and, Philippians 4.9, the things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do. Paul lived his life as an example of the Scriptures. He was diligent in searching the Scriptures and applying into his life what he saw the Bible teach. What you saw me do and the God of peace will be with you. Paul could have done a lot of complaining. He could have raised his fist at God and said, What do you mean, shipwrecking me? What do you mean, me being in prison? What do you mean, being beaten with this? I never counted on this. He just accepted whatever came his way because God was perfecting him. God was working with him. God was molding him into who he needed to be. And God knew exactly what he needed to become just like Jesus Christ. Verse 10, But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at last your care for me has flourished again.

Though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity. Well, one of the things Paul had to learn is while he was willing to do anything, he didn't really want anything from anyone. He didn't want to be a burden to anyone. He had to give people an opportunity to serve him too.

Not that I speak, verse 11, in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am to be content. Whatever state I'm in, if I have plenty, I'm content. If I have very little, I'm content. If I'm getting paid to preach the gospel, I'm content. And if I'm not, I'll work and I'll be content. If I'm free, I'm content. If I'm in prison, I'm content. I know how to be abased, verse 12, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things to Christ who strengthens me. We can endure all things through Christ who strengthens us.

Even wealth! We can endure it. We can be in the kingdom of God if we don't forget Him, if we never allow ourselves to think how great I am, but remember how great He is and how merciful He is. And even in times of poverty where we don't blame God for what He did, we look at what we did and realize, man, there's mistakes we made. Now I turn to Him and live my life and trust Him and give it to Him in that way. Well, as we talk about being content, often the times, as we've read here today, it comes down to money. That's why Christ said, you know, you can't serve God and mammon. You can't serve God and wealth. Either you're going to serve the one or you're going to serve the other, but you can't serve both.

So in 1 Timothy, probably another set of scriptures you've been thinking about, as Paul is teaching the young minister, Timothy, about this, he has something to say about contentment. Let's turn to 1 Timothy 6.

1 Timothy 6. Let's just, oftentimes, we turn right to the Scripture that we want, but let's just read a few things here leading up to verse 6 where we want to be.

Chapter 6, 1 Timothy 1. Let as many bondservants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor. He's giving a principle. Remember, Paul, be thankful for all men. Be thankful for your good masters and your not-so-good masters. Be thankful for all men. Let as many, talking about the employee-employer relationship, let as many employees as are under the yoke count their own employers worthy of all honor so that the name of God and his doctrine may not be blasphemed. And those who have believing masters, those who are in the church, might work for someone in the church, right? That would be a good thing. So those who have believing masters, let them not despise them because they are brethren, but rather serve them because those who are benefited are believers and beloved. Well, don't slack off just because you're working for someone in the church and think, hey, they owe me this and they owe me that. You know what? Work hard for them. Do even, I shouldn't say do even more, you should do whatever your hand finds to do for those in the church and not in the church. Be very good employees. Be blessings to those who work for you. And he says to Timothy, teach and exhort these things. If anyone teaches otherwise and doesn't consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the doctrine which accords with godliness... Well, let's stop and look at the word godliness for a minute. Every once in a while I'm asked, what is godliness exactly? What does God mean when he says godliness? How? What is a godly person? How can you tell a godly person? Well, the word is what the word is. It's someone who is practicing to be... practicing and making himself... I shouldn't say making himself... the Holy Spirit leading him to become like God. Here's what the King James dictionary says about godliness. It comes from the Greek word Eusebia, E-U-S-E-B-I-A. It's a religious life. A careful...

there's that word careful when we talk about obeying God's law. A careful observance of the laws of God and performance of religious duties preceding from love and reverence for the divine character and commands. It is Christian obedience. You love God. You do the things of God with all your heart, mind, and soul. That's what godliness is. That's what we've been called to, right? To become like Jesus Christ. And that's what Jesus Christ... that's what God the Father is doing through the Holy Spirit. As we learn about ourselves and as God weeds out the garbage in our lives and the things that are apart from that, as we listen and as we hear and as we make the choices and do the things to allow him to change our minds, to become like him, we become like him.

And so Paul says, if anyone, you know, if people don't preach these words into the doctrine which accords with godliness, he's proud. Well, part of the godly nature is humility, right? I mean, if we don't... if we do away with godliness, what happens to people? Naturally, we become proud. We think, wow, we are something special, especially if we have wealth, right? Maybe sometimes even we don't have wealth. Well, we're really something special. He is proud knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words from which come envy, strife, refiling, evil suspicions, useless wringlings of men, of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth. Wow, that's what happens when godliness isn't part of a character. You have all these all these conflicts, all these things going on around. Words, arguments, disputes, things going on, suspicious of each other. It's not what family should be. That isn't what God's family's like. That's not what it's like in heaven. That's not what it's supposed to be like among people of godly minds. Useless wringlings, corrupt minds, destitute of the truth. Who, notice verse 5, who supposed that godliness is a means of gain? Oh, well, if I'm going to be godly, I should be getting something out of it. Can you put a price tag on godliness? No. We love God. We yield to Him. We believe Him. We trust Him. We let Him make us into who we are, but godliness is not something we do, so we get something out of it. Whether it's a better job, whether it's a promotion, whether it's more dollars and cents, whether it's a position at work, whether it's a position at church, godliness is not a means of gain. Godliness is a means of respecting God and doing the things because God said to do it, whether it amounts to what we might think is gain or not. Some, though, at this church, and he's telling Timothy, godliness is not a means of gain. We don't do it because of what we will get. The world does things because of what it will get. We do things because of what God asks us to do and expects us to do because we love him and because we know it's the right thing to do and we know that's the thing that eternity is made of. And then verse 6, now godliness, being in accord with God, paying attention to everything that God says to do, all those things, godliness with contentment, I'm happy at whatever state you give me, God. I'm going to work hard because that's part of godliness. I'm going to do whatever you give me to do with the best of my ability, whatever my hand finds to do, I'll do it the best. I'll be the best employee. I'll be the thing. I'll be whatever it is because that's part of what you have taught me to do. That's part of who we are.

Godliness with contentment is great gain. You want a definition of wealth? There it is.

Godliness with contentment. Peace of mind. Happy. At one with God. At one with each other. Verse 8, having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. For all of us here, God's given us a lot more than just food and clothing, but he says with food and clothing be content. If that's what God chooses to give you at that point, make the most of it. Having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich, who think I have to have this and whatever, and who let that covenants become part of their nature, even what we might call in a minor way, 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, not the only one, 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.

Don't let me be rich, Ager said. Don't let me be poor. Now God is going to let us be those who learn lessons from them, but he sized it up and he says, just give me, let me be content with the food you've allotted to me. And so there is that state of contentment, a state where we can be thankful no matter what it is that God has given us. If he's given us many blessings, great! Enjoy them. Don't forget him. Draw closer to him. Worship him more. Pay attention to him more. If it's poverty, be thankful. Ask God to give you the lessons that he wants you to learn because to learn to trust him and not trust in ourselves and to be reliant on him. Godliness with contentment is great gain. Let's go back to Isaiah. Wrap it up in Isaiah 55.

You know, the world, as we look at what it's going through, I think happiness is going to come and, you know, momentarily on one morning they're going to be happy because they got this and they got that and with another within a week or two it means absolutely nothing. And so it fades into, gets put in a closet, stacked in the garage or whatever it is. Christ said, it's not the possessions that make you happy. It's what you're doing with your life, the yielding to God that's going to satisfy you. The world thinks they can be filled up and they can be satisfied, satisfied by the things that they have. But now it's like a good meal. You know, if you had Thanksgiving dinner and you came away and you were so stuffed beyond satisfied, you were kind of miserable for a while afterwards, right? But if you'd done away and just say, you know what, I'm not hungry and I'm not overly full. I don't feel sick. It's just kind of a nice satisfied feeling. That's what God wants us to feel in our lives. In Isaiah 55 verse 1, Christ says it in those words when he talks to us. Isaiah 55 verse 1, Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters.

You who have no money, come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. It's not money. I will give you what you need. Give me what I ask of you. Give me yourself. Why do you spend money for what is not bread and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me and eat what is good and let your soul delight itself in abundance. Remember John 10 10? Jesus Christ said, I've come that they might have life and they might have it more abundantly. Not the way the world would say abundantly, but the way God says abundantly.

Let your soul delight itself in abundance. Incline your ear and come to me. Hear, hear, there's a word we use all the time. Hear, listen, and your soul shall live and I will make an everlasting covenant with you. The sure mercies of David. Verse 6, Seek the eternal while he may be found. Call upon him while he was near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to God and he will have mercy on him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon. Just like the father did the prodigal son when we come back, when we acknowledge, when we say I've done wrong and I need to follow the things that you would have me do.

Shout down to chapter 56 verse 1. Thus says the eternal, Keep justice, keep justice. Here's the way we become godly. Keep justice. Do righteousness for my salvation is about to come and my righteousness to be revealed. Blessed is the man who does this and the son of man who lays hold on it, who keeps from defiling the Sabbath and keeps his hand from doing any evil. Choices we make. And as we go through some of these verses, you see the things that God says, these things we do that kind of have an effect on us when we make the choice to do it the way God said. Don't let the son of the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord speak saying, God has utterly separated me from his people. Don't listen to that. Jesus Christ said in Hebrews 13.5, I'm here. I don't forsake you. You forsake me. I didn't separate you. You separated you. The Lord has utterly separated me from his people. Don't let the eunuchs say, Here I am, a dry tree. What good am I? For thus says the Lord to the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths and choose what pleases me and hold fast my covenant, even to them I will give in my house and within my walls a place and a name better than that of sons and daughters. I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. You want to be satisfied? You want to know what wealth is? There it is. That's what God promises. Also, the sons of the foreigner who joined themselves to God, who become part of his body when he calls them, who join themselves the Lord to serve him and to love the name of the Lord, to be his servants, everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath and holds fast my covenant, even them I will bring to my holy mountain. I will make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar, for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations. As we live our lives in a world that is so given to the accumulation of stuff, let's be aware of what that can do on us, and let's not fall prey to that. Let's not fall prey to covetousness. Let's learn. Paul said he had to learn to be content in all things. Let's learn to be content and enjoy the riches that God has for us.