The Life and Times of Asaph

As you can see, the title of the sermon is, A Life and Times at ASOP. I want to ask you a question this morning, and that question is, is coveting a problem for you? Is coveting a problem for you? It's kind of the unspoken commandment. As a matter of fact, I actually read a book one time that a priest, even though we're not Catholic, a priest was asked after 50 years, what stands out to you about your 50 years? And he said, I guess it's a confessional, in that during my 50 years, not one single solitary person ever came in and repented of coveting. So it's kind of the unspoken, right?

There's a statement once made that we all covet. It's only a matter of degrees. Only a matter of degrees.

Story is told of a woman who is in Walmart, and she's walking back to her car in the parking lot. And as she gets there, she stumbles and falls flat on her face in back of her car. And a car pulls up at that moment and says, are you hurt? Which surprised the woman being from Miami.

And she said, no, maybe just a little embarrassed.

And she says, well then, move. I want that car space.

Perhaps you have coveted something, but you weren't as obvious as that. Even coveting a parking space, they came up. Covetousness is mentioned so many times in the scripture, but there's not a good account of it.

Four thousand years.

In this book, the listing of man and his history of coveting. Four thousand years. Until you focus on it, you a lot of times don't pick up on it. But when you do a study of it, you begin to see big history here. And not only four thousand years, but perhaps millions of years before we had a being as it points in Isaiah 14 that said, I will ascend. I will be like the Most High as even Lucifer, the archangel, coveted, lusted for the seat of God. But and we know that that same mindset came down to what, Eve? And she saw that fruit and she looked at it and it was good to eat and then it was going to make her wise. So she did what? Before she ate, she coveted it. That's crystal clear in the Scriptures. And then you have the time of Cain and Abel where Cain coveted Abel's what? Yes, and his acceptance. Don't know that he did his offering as much as he did. He just wanted to be accepted. He wanted God to shine down on him like he felt God shine down on Abel.

The fruits of coveting, envy, jealousy, lust, and finally pride. I wouldn't say that's the entire list, but kind of the four pillars of coveting. The sin nobody really talks about. Hidden back in our minds. Because you can't see what I might be coveting. I said I'm coveting various things and no one would ever know. Thinking about this, I don't have to say I'm coveting Pearl's hat because Pearl's hat wouldn't look too good on me. I don't think up here looks good on her. Wouldn't look good on me. But there are other things. At the very core of most coveting is what?

Measurements. Measurements.

Thought about it? Isn't that what it's all about? That's what struck me here. As we look at things, we may, I guess that's why the Bible says not to compare yourselves among yourselves, but we tend to do that, don't we? Would you mind bringing me my chair? Thank you. I give this example because we all do it.

Who's the tallest man in here?

Who? Brandon! You know, nobody had the same. Nobody argued much. Brandon, you mind coming up here? As everybody looks up to Brandon.

Brandon is the tallest up here in some congregation. I might be the tallest, but I'm not very close.

Don't laugh. You're not even close.

But we look at Brandon, and we can see how tall he is. We can measure that, can't we? Now, without the hair, I don't know, but with the hair, if you'll stand up straight, you're not standing up straight, put your head back. With the top of his hair, we're at six foot six inches tall. He's the tallest man in here. Do you feel like the tallest man in here? Do you like looking down on people? No, he does. You may have a seat. You need to listen.

Brandon is the tallest, and we can measure it, and we can see. When I was his age, oh, did I want to be six foot something? Six foot sex. That would have been great. But I never got there. So who's the strongest in here? If you're looking at men, doubt it's Brandon, because usually tall people, it's short people, you know, shorter people. Neil's young. William, maybe one of these guys, this. We can measure that because we can measure what bench press or how strong or, you know. What about, though, the best dressed? Is it something you can measure? Being best dressed, is it something you can measure?

It's what? Subjective. Very subjective, but it's your opinion. So you can judge, right? You can judge and say, this is the best dressed person, who has the best hair?

Well, we go the longest hair, that's easy, right? And get Vicki up here and measure her hair.

Somebody else, yes. Who's the shortest? Dwight's probably the shortest. Louis is getting there, too? Yes. These are all things that we look at and we talk about, who has the best hair. It certainly is not this mop ear.

Okay. Now, when it comes to other things, like Trinidad, if they get a tape of this, they might. They have something there that I wouldn't say they covet, because they'll actually, if you like it or praise it, they'll give it to you. And that's women's shoes. They have the most amazing, largest selection of shoes from this tile to this tile to blingy. And when you walk in there, you know, you want to shake hands and get nobody, but shoes. It's the shoes. I mean, it's amazing. My wife come in at a time to hear, brought them the next day and gave them to her. So it isn't like they're coveting, but some people could. And you could see how that would be very important. The nicest car. I know Bill has a brand new car, which I went out and walked around, in case you didn't know. Okay? And tried not to lust or to covet. Okay? But also, your house. A lot of people measure, well, how big is your house? Oh, the bigger the house, the more respect you might get. Hmm. Doesn't matter how big that payment is, but how impressive, how impressed are we about this? Measurements. We even have a way to gauge and to judge and possibly covet your IQ. They have IQ tests. Our teachers will tell you that. Now, known people with very high IQs, but not much common sense. We all have seen that, right?

Up close and personal sometimes. All these measurements should not matter. But to some people, and sorry to say too many people, it matters. It matters. They're judging.

They are sizing things up.

Degrees. The statement that everyone covets only in degrees, I would have to say, knowing and talking to most people, you're right. Absolutely. In some way, shape, or form. I confess to you today, not that you're a priest, I confess to you today that I covet something.

I confess to you today I covet 40 years old. Anybody here 40 years old? If you don't mind. Oh yeah, Kobe. Man, you've aged a lot, Kobe, since I was gone. I thought you were 11 or 12 and now you're 40.

I covet 40 because at 40 I could work 16-hour days, go to bed, and get up and feel great. My mind could retain, I could read whole chapters of a book, the Bible, and just be able to say it off the top of my head. At 40 it was like, man, everything clicked. I was working all cylinders.

And I had a lot more wisdom. So yes, I covet that time because I can't get it back. That's 18 years ago.

And when I crawl out of bed now, I realize 18 years have gone by.

I will crawl out of bed in the morning and go to the gym after not being there for three weeks, and I will realize I'm not 40. Okay? I didn't always covet 40. When I was 16, I coveted 25. I thought 25 years of age was the perfect age. By that time when I was 16, I visualized myself being 25. I would have muscles just bulging. I would have the nicest car around. Around, I would have money, a job, and I would know everything.

But when I got to 25, all that stuff wasn't there. To the disappointment of my life, all those muscles weren't there. But she married me anyway the next year. So I guess she coveted me. I hope.

But I think youth wants to be older, and older wants to be younger too many times. Singles want to be married, and sadly some married want to be single. Oh, you said it. I didn't. Maybe we're finding something out here.

But we look at things, and life is like a big circle. Elton John said, the circle of life.

We grow up. We're Brandon's age. We're young, strong, tall.

And then you get your education. And once you get your education, then you get a job.

And a job, a lot of times, turns into a career. And you work 30 or 40 years at this career.

And as we come around, it's retirement time. And you retire. And then all of a sudden, you think in your mind, wow, all those places I wanted to travel. My auntie. See, that's why she left us and she's been traveling, and didn't want to be around her family here in Fort Lauderdale. But retirement comes, and then you travel.

And then you sometimes covet, and I've talked to many people who have retired, and they look for happiness, and they want to be happy.

Does anybody have their cell phone on by chance?

Would you mind looking up the definition of the word mirth? M-I-R-T-H. M-I-R-T-H. I'll let you zip through that very quickly. Because what do you, brethren, covet? We all do. Now, maybe it's not to extremes, and hopefully it's not, because he said, thou shall not covet. But in the back of your mind, you have to reign yourself in, because these things, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life, seems to want to control us.

And it's a battle. That's why Paul said that, that I know that. I shouldn't do that. I don't do that, and I shouldn't do that. I do, right?

Murph. Anybody have Murph? Yes, ma'am. Give us Murph.

Okay. You say that again, except louder.

So it's fun. It's laughing. It's having joy. It's like being up all the time.

And we all want Murph.

But we want more of it the older we get, because we usually live through somewhere on that circle as we get around the retirement. We've worked really hard. We've had all these problems. We have all these issues. We've had to confront this and handle this and handle this. So you kind of get, you know, that lies, let's have some Murph.

You don't hear that word used very often. It was in the Old King James, and it was used a few times by Solomon. Who what? He's done everything!

And he was looking, and at the end, all he wanted was Murph. One just have a good time. But then again, after he did that, he said, what? That too is vanity. Grasping for the will.

So I ask you, as you reflect now, if you were extremely wealthy, what would you covet? Yeah, I'm not talking about having $50,000 in your checking account. I'm talking about having millions laying around the house.

Would you covet?

Did Solomon covet? Yes. What did he covet?

Well, I like that. What didn't he? When you read his life, he coveted a lot. He could have anything. So what does that tell us? He's the richest man who ever lived.

It tells us that even when you have all you could want, you have the power for everything, you're still going to want what? More. You're still going to want more.

But most of us, we don't comprehend that, do we? We don't comprehend because there's something else. We sometimes want, oh, I should get that, oh, I need that.

Solomon had it all, but still wanted more. So let me ask you this. Jesus Christ, before he was the Son of God, he was the Word. And he had it all. He had it all. He had it all. When he was here and came so far down, did he even ever, ever think on, I want it back.

I want what I once had.

No. Because he would have been coveting.

He's not like me at 140.

I'm still a work in progress. He was the finished product. And we learn from that. So why do I bring all this up?

Today, not just because coveting's in the Bible, but as future kings and priests in the Melchizedek priesthood, right? Kind of the theme for this year that I have stressed many times. Hopefully you see what your destiny is. Hopefully we have brought that out so many times. So as future kings and priests in the Melchizedek priesthood, how important is controlling this beast called covetousness?

How important is it? Very. Glad you said that. Go with me in the New King James to 1 Corinthians 6 and verse...

Oh, about 9. 1 Corinthians 6 verse 9 said, Do you not know that unrighteousness will not inherit the kingdom of God? Our destiny, right? We're going to be the kings and priests in the kingdom of God.

It says, Do not be deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous people, will enter into the kingdom of God. That may be the last commandment, but right here, it's definitely one of those that keep you out of the kingdom. It's something we need to really address. And can you see how important it is for God to work with us so that that's not an issue and how we can address that? Now, if you take your Bible and you go through the rest of the afternoon and this evening, and you dig in there and you find the biblical examples of kings that coveted, it's going to take you more than this afternoon and tomorrow. They are many. And add to that, how about priests? The priests. Say, where to be the Melchizedek priests? Kings and priests! People can't handle it right now. They couldn't in the 4,000 years of this Bible.

But the sons of God, the children of God, will handle that. And as we see from the Scriptures we've already gone over, we will be kings and priests.

And judge.

The world but angels.

Talking about Brandon, that's tall stuff. Okay? That's pretty high stuff. But we look at the very first king, what? That God allowed when the people, I want a king, I want a king. We will be just like all the other people. We want a king. He said, okay, I'll give you a guy that was a little bit taller than Brandon. And most of the people at that time were only about 5'4-5', but he was a foot head taller than everybody else. So I'll give you a saw. And try the Benjamin.

Did Saul covet? Well, he was king! What would he do to covet? But he did, didn't he? He coveted what? The priesthood. The to reign as king wasn't good enough.

He coveted Samuel's position. Samuel told him what to do as a head spiritual guy. No, I'm not going to wait on you. He's late.

That's why sometimes I have to pray that God gives me the patience so that I'm willing to wait on my spiritual lead, Jesus Christ, to guide me and my decisions. How about David? Whoa, that's easy to go.

Stand up there on a cool night, like a nice night like it is going to be tonight, looking over when he shouldn't have been looking over and then not just stopping and going...

and then going...

Yeah.

Coveting. And then, of course, we've also talked about Solomon, right? He couldn't get enough! Here were the first three kings.

And their biggest sin, written in here, was about coveting. And then you see the others. And not only for Judah, but for Israel. Remember Ahab? He saw a vineyard.

And he had... he was... he had everything, but he didn't have this guy's vineyard.

I like a glass of wine, but I'm not going to steal a man's vineyard, right? Most of us wouldn't think about it, but he got so upset, he got sick, and went in, got depressed, and climbed in bed. And his wife had to go trump the guy up, and get him killed, and take the vineyard.

And it was like, Ahab, whoa! Okay, now I feel good. Oh, broad! Man's death was because of coveting. But we do not see that a lot of times, until we see the end product. God sees it from 1 Corinthians 6. God sees it that if you don't stop this, you don't get this under control, you're not going to be in the kingdom with me.

Now, he just got done explaining in verse 9 and 10 about homosexuals. Ooh!

About adulterers. But he puts in there to make sure we got it. Covetousness. It is an issue. It is a problem, and until we address it in our minds, how can he use us as kings and priests? Because we saw what happened to some kings here, and now we go look at some priests like Abiathar.

Abiathar was a dedicated priest, but then he saw he could have a step up and choose to go with the other son rather than Solomon. And he betrayed.

How about Gihazi? Gihazi! Gihazi's assistant! He'll be there, but he goes, oh no, I don't want your money. And Gihazi goes, oh I do. And so he runs after him. And then he ends up with the leprosy. Because he coveted money, he coveted wealth, God gave him what he didn't want. So how many of us want to covet what God? He wants to give us, or doesn't want to give us.

Do we covet God as much as anything else?

Is there a way to covet something righteously? Are there so many good things that we do not covet?

Let's go with Paul's advice. Let's go to Philippians 4. Philippians 4.

Philippians 4, verse 11, he says, Not that I speak in regard to need, for what I have learned in whatever state I am in, to be what? Content. I know how to be abased, I know how to bound. Everywhere and in all things, I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, to both abound and to suffer. He has learned to be content in whatever state he's in. Most people do not learn to do that.

It keeps you from coveting, if you're content.

Let's go to James 4. James 4.

James chapter 4. James 4. And he's addressing here. James 4 and verse 2, You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive because you ask commiss. That you may spend it on your pleasures.

You war and you covet. Because when you covet, it's a war in your mind.

I want to finish today with a story of Asaph.

Many of you see the 12 or 13 Psalms that he wrote. You'll see a song of Asaph. Most of us, A-S-A-P-H, do not even realize what Asaph means. You don't sometimes even see the word.

But Asaph, the word actually means, who gathers together. That's what that word means. Who gathers together. So as I saw these writings, these so forth, that I've read about Asaph, I go, yeah, I don't really know anything about Asaph. Somebody was to ask me, who's Asaph? He's a writer in the Bible.

Bye-bye. So I thought, I need to study. And it did take a lot of study. If you do not believe what I'm about to tell you, then you can go look and spend the three or four hours I spent. Look it up. Okay. Asaph was the son of a Levite. As a matter of fact, his father was named Barakiah. And he happened to be the doorkeeper, the Levite, the doorkeeper of the Ark. So that was what Asaph's father did. He stood at that door to make sure nobody went in. When it was in the tent.

And as far as we know, he stood there almost every day.

But he had a son. He had a couple sons. But one son was named Asaph. And Asaph came to the attention of David when he was a very young boy. You remember David being quite the musician? At a very young age, perhaps 15, 16 years of age. They had the whole nation. They had a million people to choose from to have a musician come in to calm down Saul.

Not leaving God out of the picture, but they chose David. And so David, in his last years, because many historians believe, and I rightly do too after studying, that from age 65 to 70 till his death, he was basically confined to his bed. He was sick.

He was injured. He was just not...he did not get well. And he did a lot of his composing and writing, and they transcribed what he said, which may have been one of the reasons God allowed him to be five years as an invalid. But during these five years, he was planning the temple. He was...it was in his mind. God gave this incredible temple that he was going to let his son Solomon build. Except the temple was this beautiful thing, and he drew the plans, but there was more to it than that.

And we'll go over that on the Feast of Trumpets when Solomon actually did dedicate that. And you'll see just how important the musicians were, and how in the worship of God, how important music, singing, and praising of God truly is. And so David, I'm sure he's thinking in his mind because he was a great composer. He was the Justin Bieber of his day.

He did. He was able to sing. He was able to play. He was able to compose. He had it all! And so now he's dying! And all of a sudden, this young kid is brought before him, who was thought to be somewhere between 18 and 19 years old. And his name is Asaph. And Asaph, David heard him sing and heard him play, and just realized he's a gift from God. He knew a great musician. He knew a God-given talent when he heard it. So instead of waiting, he pulls Asaph in at this very young age. He's only got a few years left. And David planted him in Jerusalem. His father was out where the ark was. The ark wasn't brought back yet. And so he said, no, you are going to be the head musician, the head everything, when this temple was built. And you are to put together the music. You are to put together the words. You are to put together the singers, the players, everything. This must be to the glory of God. And Asaph, he got it at a very young age. As a matter of fact, I was even telling Mary, that's the one thing I learned through this study that I never knew before. Because to be a Levite, to be a priest, you had to be, according to numbers, you had to be 30 years of age. And then, as Moses said, you would serve 20 years and retire at 50, except for the high priest.

Known that all these years. I did not know, I did not know in 1 Chronicles 23, that David actually changed that. David changed that rule and made it so that you could become a Levite at age 20. Don't believe me? Look it up. 1 Chronicles 23 and verse 24. Under David, they changed. Can you think of a reason he might want to do that?

Asaph!

He wasn't going to let that talent go to waste. And as interesting as I studied some other about that, that actually at age 20, because you couldn't operate with Levites until you were 30. So actually, even the younger guys, when they brought 20, they started training, training under the other Levites. So they're better prepared. But I had to reflect back on why this was changed by him.

Asaph was so gifted.

And you know, the amazing part was, he saw it all. He saw it all. Because you see, Asaph actually lived just a few years of David's last reign, years of reign. And then Solomon took over. And Asaph did. He did have the job. He did put everything together with the temple. And he wrote these incredible songs. And he wrote the music, and he prepared all this, so you can imagine what it was like for maybe one of the most gifted, musical people on the entire earth to put together the music for the dedication of the temple, when God's Holy Spirit would actually show its presence on that day in trumpets as Solomon's dedication. Imagine it was awesome. And yet you compare what Revelation 5, when the 10,000 times, 10,000s and thousands and thousands of angels, millions of angels stood before God and his throne and sang the new song. Definitely. Defining.

So here, Asaph had the responsibility of this, and you know what? He served the entire time of Solomon for 40 years.

And those first 20 years had to be some of the best years you would ever dream in your life. How about the last 20? When he saw this amazing man, he saw this man gifted by God with the wisdom of a God. Just implode! Go after other gods and build temples and altars to other gods! And coveted and married! So many women! And all of a sudden, the dream is no longer really the dream, is it? How would you feel? How would you feel if you had this up inside you? You had this godly gift to bring out music that will praise God, and you had a leader and everybody else that...they wanted to praise another god. Other gods! We'll keep this god, but we have other gods. How disappointing that must be! Do it for 20 years and see what it's like! And you know what happened? God let him live into Rehoboam. So then he saw the kingdom broken in two! And he saw the devastation that was going on! He saw the devastation! Rehoboam was 41 years of age when he came into the throne! And he reigned for 17 years! Most of the time, all the time in reality, that he was king. Asaph was there. What did he see? What did he see? He saw that within 5 years when Rehoboam took the throne, that Egypt came in, came into the temple, and slaughtered so many of the priests, and just stripped up of everything! They took everything! Gold, silver, everything out of the temple! Would that not? You've seen it from day one. You heard as a young man, David, describing this temple that would be gods. You saw it come together. You were there when it was put together. You were there at the dead occasion. You were there, and now you see it just totally stripped of everything. You can read about it. Scripture actually says they took all the treasures. They took away everything. Asaph, he saw it all, and he endured it. He actually lived to be 100 years old. Some said 110. So he lived through Solomon. He lived through Rehoboam, and he saw the nation turn away from God. And you know what their lesson is for us today, the times and lessons of Asaph? Could I get David? Do you mind handing this out as we go through this, and this will wrap up our sermon today? You pass those out there on your side. Louie, will you mind doing this so on this side? I got 30, so I hope that's...or did we print 35? I can't remember what we printed. 30. Okay, so if you don't have one for everybody, please share.

I'd like you to turn. If you have a New Living Translation, does anybody carry a New Living Translation? If you do. Okay, you can just turn with me there. I'm going to turn in the New Living Translation. Shall we wrap up today's message? And I'm going to turn to Psalm 73, which is in Psalm of Asaph. And I wanted to give you this because in the New Living Translation, it really helps you to understand because no matter what happens in our lives, no matter what happens in this world, as Chris even talked about, what the future lies in front of us, men have been there before, and they stay dedicated to God.

Our job is to be a priest in the Kingdom of God, is to be in the Kingdom of God, and is to keep our focus. And we have to look at ourselves and not be shaped because here was this man who lived some of the best times ever in the history of the Bible, and he also lived in the worst.

Sometimes we live...our days are really good, like today. It's a good day. It's a Sabbath. But you're going to have others that aren't. Let's go back. Let's look now at Aesop, Psalm 73, in the New Living Translation, said, "...truly God is good to Israel, to those whose hearts are pure." What was he seeing? It was thought he was much older at this time, perhaps even 90 years old when he wrote this. And he had a lot of these Psalms already composed, but he went back and started putting them down.

But as for me, I almost lost my footing. My feet were slipping and I was almost gone. Ever felt that way? I have. But here was this man, a man of God, gifted by God, and he said, Man, I was almost gone. For I envied the proud. And when I saw them prosper to despite their wickedness, they seemed to live such painless lives. Their bodies are so healthy and strong. They don't have trouble like other people. They're not plagued with problems like everyone else. They wear pride like a jeweled necklace and clothe themselves with cruelty.

These fat cats have everything their hearts could ever wish for. Solomon, Rehoboam, they scoff and speak only evil in their pride. They seek to crush others. They boast against the very heavens and their words strut out through the earth. These words strut out through the earth. They're heard! They're heard by the people of the world.

How many people we look and say, Man, I can't believe they're publishing that. They're printing that. They're playing that on the Internet. They're showing it on TV. All these people. And it's going to the entire world. And so, the people are dismayed and confused, drinking in all their word. What does God know? People begin to doubt God. When the leaders are not leaders, they begin to doubt God. Does the Most High even know what's happening? Look at these wicked people enjoying their life of ease while their riches multiply.

Don't we look around sometimes and see that? We're going, Wait a minute. I don't barely have a car, much less a Maserati. Then go up. I want to go to verse 21. I wrapped it up because I wanted to encapsulate Asaph's thought. Then I realized that my heart was better. And I was all torn up inside. Brethren, we must realize this. Coveting can take it. And we'll be all torn up inside. We won't be right with God. We won't be right with our mate. We won't be right with the people we work with. I was foolish and ignorant. I must have seemed like a senseless animal to you.

He's talking to God. Yet I still belong to you. You hold my right hand. Strong hand. You guide me with your counsel, leading me to a glorious destiny. Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire. I desire. I covet. I lust. Righteously. More than anything on earth, I covet you. Can we say that? He's back right. I desire you more than anything on earth. My health may fail and my spirit may grow weak. Right, Melita? But God remains the strength of my heart. He is mine forever. Those who desert you, He will punish.

For you destroy those who abandon you. But as for me, how good it is to be near God. I have made the sovereign Lord my shelter. And I will tell everyone about the wonderful things you do. Brethren, do we? Are we blessed? Are we lucky?

We are truly blessed. Let's make sure, like Asaph, we look back at this incredible man. It's not much said in the Bible, but what he says. Let's remember to make the main thing the main thing.