THE SECRET TO LIFE IN EVERY SITUATION
The Good Life #10
Pastor Dennis Clanton
Woodland Church
Sunday, March 17, 2024
(Exodus 20:17, NLT) “You must not covet your neighbor’s house. You must not covet your neighbor’s wife, male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor.”
(Philippians 4:10–13, NIV) “I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”
LOVING GOD COMPLETELY WILL BLESSES ME WITH CONTENTMENT.
WANTING IS GOOD. COVETING IS SINFUL.
1. COVETING WANTS SOMETHING THAT BELONGS TO SOMEONE ELSE.
(Exodus 20:17) “You must not covet your neighbor’s ___________________ ….”
(Joshua 7:21, NIV) “I coveted them and took them.”
COVETOUSNESS’ EFFECTS
a. Conflict
(James 4:2–3, NIV) “You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight.”
b. Exhaustion
(Proverbs 23:4, NLT) “Don’t wear yourself out trying to get rich. Be wise enough to know when to quit.”
c. Uneasiness
(Ecclesiastes 5:12, CEV) “If you have to work hard for a living, you can rest well at night, even if you don’t have much to eat. But if you are rich, you can’t even sleep.”
(Ecclesiastes 5:10, CEV) “If you love money and wealth, you will never be satisfied with what you have. This doesn’t make sense either.”
2. COVETING SAYS GOD DOESN’T SATISFY ME.
(Exodus 20:2, NLT) “I am the Lord your God.”
“Oh, you don’t quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!” –Mark Twain
“You have stood before some landscape, which seems to embody what you have been looking for all your life; … . Even in your hobbies, has there not always been some secret attraction … always on the verge of breaking through, the smell of cut wood in the workshop or the clap-clap of water against the boat’s side? … You have never had it. … ‘Here at last is the thing I was made for.’ … It is the …the thing we desired before we met our wives or made our friends or chose our work, and which we shall still desire on our deathbeds, when the mind no longer knows wife or friend or work. While we are, this is. If we lose this, we lose all. –C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain, pp 127-128, Kindle edition
THE SECRET OF CONTENTMENT
(Philippians 4:12, NLT) “I have learned the secret of living in every situation…”
“Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire: well, there is such a thing as sex. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.” –C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
a. Rejoice in my relationship with God.
(1 Timothy 3:16, NLT) “Without question, this is the great mystery of our faith: Christ was revealed in a human body and vindicated by the Spirit. He was seen by angels and announced to the nations. He was believed in throughout the world and taken to heaven in glory.”
b. Rely on the promises of God.
(Hebrews 13:5, NLT) “God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.”
c. Refocus on God’s purpose for my life.
(2 Corinthians 4:18, NLT) “We fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.”