Hello, you are listening to Second City Sermons,
a ministry of Second City Church in Midtown Harrisburg.
It's our hope that these sermons will draw you
more into the life of following God, Father,
Son and Holy Spirit. Please consider coming and
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sermon. God Bless. Lord, thank you for this beautiful
passage from John where this woman desires to
have the living water and that speaks to our
experience Lord because so often we we are reaching
for out for things to satisfy us To give us a
greater sense of meaning and purpose in life
So often we do that by coveting that which is
not ours our neighbor's house the stuff they
have, and the work they have, and the job they
have, and the spouse they have, and the kids
they have, and blah, blah, blah, Lord. And we
know how utterly destructive that is. And so,
Lord, we long, we ask, like this woman did, Lord,
give us this living water that quenches the thirsts
of our hearts. Please, please do this, God, and
use this sermon as one of your means to do that.
Hear our prayers. Amen. Okay, let me tell you
something about last Sunday. So last Sunday immediately
after the service maybe you noticed I I wasn't
around because I Well, one of the joys of being
a pastor Is that I get to be present in in some
of the key times in your life? When you're in
the hospital, I find it such an honor to be there
at Baptisms and at weddings and one of the great
joys is that often I get to go and visit when
there's a new baby and so I Tori and Jason were
kind. They didn't know how much I was praying
that they would say yes to me getting to visit
them. But they were like, yeah, you can come
visit. And I was like, well, I've got a flight
at 3 o 'clock, actually 2 .52, to go out to Louisville
for our denomination's general assembly. And
so I'm going to leave right after the service
and get down there. Of course, some of you wanted
to talk to me and whatnot. And I, so I got in
the car and it's a half hour drive to there at
the UPMC on the other side of Carlisle. So I
drove down there and we just talked. It was great.
I heard about the birth and we read some scripture
and we prayed and then Tori's parents and grandmother
came in. And then I was bold and I asked if I
could hold Caroline, which was like, I mean,
if you've had, many of you have had the experience
of holding a little one like that. It's such
a, it feels like you're just holding the greatest
treasure. I didn't really want to give her up
either. Do I need new batteries? Is it cutting
out? Yeah, okay. I'm just keep going. We'll get
new batteries. Anyway, so eventually I'm like,
oh, you know what? I should probably get going.
I get in the car. I'm like, look at my watch.
Oh my word. I need to get going. I get behind
a slow car all the way up 81. Finally get, I
mean, seriously, it was like really slow and
I could not get around. You know, 81 just got
all those tractor trailers. You're like, how
is it possible right now that I'm just going
this slow? So I get home and I'm like, ah. So
bags in car kids get in and Lisa made this delicious
hamburger Father's Day was awesome eating the
car You know get to the airport and I come come
in. I've got to check one of my bags And I go
there and I am one minute late and I'm not able
to check my bag One minute late. So earlier in
the week, I had gotten an email saying I could
change my flight because my original flight was
going to leave around 5 .50 and it would get
into midnight. So I changed it to this three
o 'clock flight so I can get in at eight. And
then I had to change it back. So I'm like, OK,
not the worst thing ever. I'll just stick around
the airport for the next three hours. I'll take
a nap, which I did, and other things. Red and
stuff. And then about an hour and a half before
my flight, I'm like, I should check my bag now.
So I go check my bag and the lady says, well,
do you have any ID? you know, a driver's license
or a passport. I said, here, here's my driver's
license. And I thought, I can't get through security.
Melisse has wisely been telling me to get real
ID and I don't have it. So I call Melisse about
seven times, frantically, texting, didn't get
through. She's a wise woman and like me, often
takes a nap on Sunday afternoon. So I called
Chris Gazy. Chris would you please run to my
house? They live about a block away and knock
on the door and please Please tell them I need
my passport within 20 minutes or else. I'm gonna
not get my flight Police calls me up FaceTime
cannot find the passport. It's none of the normal
places. We finally find it She runs I literally
of course, it's it's MDT. It's Harrisburg. I'm
running now I'm gonna get the flight and then
I sit there and wait So I get on the plane I
go to Chicago I fly through Chicago. I've got
two and a half hour layover. I'm like, oh, well,
there's some lounges that I'm allowed access
to because of our credit card in terminal five.
I'll go there. So I get out of the security.
I have to go through security, get out of terminal
one. I get on the train, go to terminal five.
I go and I'm going to get in line to go through
security and it's international only. I'm like,
okay, get back on the train, go back, go back
through security again. You know, whatever, blah,
blah, blah. My flight, we fly to Louisville.
There's a horrible storm. We circle around a
bunch. They go, hey, we're going to Nashville.
I'm like, okay. So we land in Nashville. We wait
it out. We wait the storm out. Now they have
to refuel the plane. We get back on the plane.
Well, actually, we never got off the plane. I'm
telling a truthful story. I'm not trying to embellish.
There's no embellishment here. We finally land
in Louisville at 2 .45 in the morning. A couple
buddies of mine who are pastors in Ottawa are
on that plane, thankfully. And so we wait in
line, because everybody there is waiting for
an Uber. So we wait for an Uber. I get to my
hotel at 3 .45 in the morning. I walk up to the
check -in, and she says, I can't check you in
right now. And I say, I literally left my house
14 hours ago. I would love a bed. And she said,
no can do. Our computer system's changing over
for the day, and I cannot check anyone in. You're
going to have to just go sit over there. Really?
So anyway, I get to bed at 4 AM. Blah, blah,
blah. I could keep going. It's actually been
more complex than what I said. but I got three
and a half hours of sleep that night and then
I spent most evenings late into the night catching
folk. And here's how I'm connecting this. Partly
I want to tell you the story. I need to connect
it to the sermon, which I don't think is too
tricky actually. There's some holy desires, you
know, I mean coveting is something that is odd
because Because you have desires that are good
and right desires. I actually should rightly
desire to listen to my wife's wisdom and get
a real ID on my driver's license. That's a good
desire. Now, but it's all kind of mixed in. Why
do I always have to fly to General Assembly?
Why can't I be one of the ones that lives close
who can drive? God, why did you put us here?
Make us this way? Why did you have me drive or
travel for 14 hours at the beginning of what's
bound to be a long week? Why not that situation?
Why not that person? Why not their shoes? Their
gifts? Their hair, whatever it is, you know?
Yeah, well I do say that sometimes. And you and
I can both hear Paul writing to Timothy, and
we know it's true where he says, but godliness
with contentment is great gain. For we brought
nothing into the world, and we can take nothing
out of the world, but if we have food and clothing,
with these we'll be content. I mean, I had food
and clothing. But I was racing through my mind
at times of all everybody else's opportunities.
So, we all need to hear this 10th commandment,
you shall not covet, which gets at our desires,
which we were not given. Things of others, the
traits of others, the opportunities of others.
Should I take those batteries? I mean, I don't
wanna really stop. But if any batteries on here
nobody's gonna be able to hear Now they're gone
Okay, they continue on What I wanna pose to you
this morning, excuse me, is that we do have this
kind of mix, right? We come to a passage like
this and it's very tricky. I mean, we kind of
know when we're coveting in such a way that actually
is destructive, but for the most part, we also
know that we have these desires that God gives
us. And I wanna say that there actually is something
right and good about desiring. And sometimes
desiring actually even that, which with what
you don't have currently, okay? And I want to
suggest to you that there's a lot of things that
are holy desires. They're good desires. Not all
of your desiring is bad. Not all desiring is
selfish. God gave us, He sort of made us to be
desirous creatures. It's a good desire to go
to bed before 4 a .m. particularly on a busy
week. where I'm supposed to be present to the
work that has given me to do, to attend to the
speeches and arguments that are being made that
I'm supposed to vote on. That's a good desire.
Nothing wrong with that at all. Just last week,
we were talking about stealing. We heard in Ephesians
chapter four, verse 28, let the thief no longer
steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest
work with his own hands so that he may have something
to share with anyone in need. Which is to say
to have a job that not only provides your needs
But actually provides enough that you can have
to give away is a good desire To put in the work
to get those jobs. That is a good thing to learn
the habits You know to desire to have the habits
that make you profitable in such a way. That's
a good thing Providing for a roof over your family's
head, that is a good and honorable desire. Education
for your children. Date nights with your spouse.
There's so many things that we could say these
are good and right and holy desires. To be dealing
with students in your work. So you might get
into a certain school, so you might use your
gifts for the blessing of the world. There are
many desires that we have that are good and holy
desires. In Proverbs 18 22, very specifically,
it says, he who finds a wife finds a good thing,
right? And obtains favor from the Lord. And some
of you say, I desire to be married, something
like that. So it's not just the case you kind
of look out and you say, oh, I desire that necessarily
bad. Okay, that's partly what I'm saying. God
actually makes us desire us beings and he gives
in us. holy desires that can motivate us towards
seeking jobs and seeking relationships, learning
how to groom oneself, learning how to talk to
somebody of the opposite sex, those kinds of
things. These are holy desires that can motivate
us towards good and wise living. Ephesians five.
tells us that we're not supposed to hate our
own flesh, but to nourish and cherish it as Christ
as the church. And of course, in Ephesians five,
it's talking about the oneness of marital union.
But you can think about how we're supposed to
nourish our bodies. We're supposed to tend to
our bodies. There's good desires for certain
kinds of food, certain kinds of athleticism.
That's not altogether bad. Those things can help
our mental acuity. I've said this before a couple
of years ago, we're looking at Genesis, the beginning
of Genesis, Genesis chapter two. There's this
paragraph in the middle of the chapter and it's
talking about... you know, the end of the creation
week and then how Adam looks upon the animals
and then at the end of the chapter, the Lord
makes Eve. But in the middle of it, there's this
paragraph that talks about how Eden is where
the river flows out into four rivers. You're
like, okay, this is interesting, the geographical
orientation. But then it just randomly kind of
says, and the gold of that land is good. Huh.
What's going on there? And then it says, Bedelium
and Onyx are there. And I think that from the
get -go, in a way, it's noticing beauty. So even
noticing beauty, that is not necessarily a bad
thing. The Bible does that in a number of ways.
The minister's gowns, the high priest's gowns,
had purple pomegranates on them, highlighting
beauty. And of course, Adam was right to sing,
right, when Eve was there, this at last, which
is to say that to some degree there was a holy
desire for something to compliment him, this
at last, this bone of my bone and flesh of my
flesh. You know, he was desirous of her and that
was a good desire, holy desires. And what I'm
saying is that there are many healthy and holy
desires that we are given. Most of all, we're
to desire God. or to desire to know him and to
love him. That holy desire can motivate us to
study his word, to be mentored maybe by an older
Christian, to make it your habit to worship,
to gather together with the saints. These are
good things. But for as much as we can say that
there are holy desires, we know this command.
You shall not covet. is a command for us. Because
so often we are not filled with holy desires,
but unholy ones, right? And we come to the end
of the Ten Commandments. And this is the last
one. And one commentator said, you know, it just
doesn't have the same, I don't know, you get
to the end and it feels like you should have
a big one. it really pops, stands out. This is
how one commentator put it. It's occurred to
me that whoever approved the final order of these
commandments didn't have much sense of suspense
or climax. He put all those dramatic, intriguing
sins like stealing, adultery, and murder first.
Then he ended up with coveting. It would have
seemed more logical to begin with the bland,
throw -away sins like coveting. and then work
up to the big stuff. I wonder if you feel that.
While it's good to acknowledge that there are
holy desires, and many of those holy desires
motivate us toward holy living and good living,
I think what we could do, even though we know
coveting is such something that happens in our
hearts, we can minimize the evil of it. It's
so easy to sort of maximize the evil of something
like murder. and the exterior dynamics of what
we do and minimize what's going on inside. And
this one is all about what's happening inside.
I mean, I can easily justify my thoughts and
feelings, the thoughts and feelings that I had
towards the women across the counter for me at
Harrisburg Airport. I missed it by one minute.
You know, I can justify the anger that... wells
up within me. Maybe I can justify by my holy
desire to be well rested. I can easily justify
my covetous thoughts and I guarantee you can
too. But we need to remember that not only did
our Lord include coveting in his list of commandments,
but he reiterated this command again and again
and again in the Bible. Did you notice when Rebecca
was reading that this is the only command that
actually literally just repeats the command?
That says, you shall not covet, right? You shall
not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not
covet your neighbor's wife. It's the only one
that says the command, the basic of the command
twice. And I wonder if it's because we're kind
of inclined to maybe push it to the side. But
think of how the scriptures are to this command,
to not dismissing this command. Another way to
think of covening is just desiring that which
we were not, or does not rightly belong to us.
And so one way we can think about it is greed.
Paulist greed right along sins like theft and
murder. Greed, only desires, unholy taking. coveting,
right, is listed right alongside theft and murder
when the apostle Paul says that the ones who
practice such things will not inherit the kingdom
of God. Writing in the book of Colossians, Paul
says in chapter three, put to death therefore
what is earthly in you, sexual immorality, impurity,
passion, evil desire, and covetousness. He lists
covetousness right alongside those others and
then he says which is idolatry Our Lord Jesus
in Mark 7 says for from within out of the heart
of man come evil thoughts sexual immorality theft
murder adultery coveting I Mean we're inclined
to kind of go And the constant message of Scripture
is that this is so utterly destructive, practically
destructive in your life, spiritually destructive
with our Lord. The truth is that coveting can
sink us down to hell just as fast as any of the
other sins. It's of course not too hard to think
why. Let me say just one reason. Coveting causes
so many other sins. I mean, the coveting person
can quickly go from simply desiring something
which is not properly yours, to plotting how
to get it, to grabbing it, to taking. Sinful
deeds start often with sinful desires. The New
Testament writer, the brother of Jesus, James
said, but each person is tempted when he's lured
away and enticed by his own desire. Then desire,
when it's conceived, gives birth to sin. And
sin, when it's fully grown, brings forth death.
Coveting at the beginning of that process, unholy
desire is at the beginning of the way to death.
And again, the Ten Commandments is not an exhaustive
list, right? I mean, we've talked about this
quite a bit. Remember the long examples I gave
you from the catechisms, all the ways that they
applied things like do not murder? The commandments
are not exhaustive lists. They're kind of the
main things that kind of breed, you know, speak
to the bigger picture. Murder, of course, our
Lord connects to anger and we can connect to
so much more and adultery to all kinds of other
unfaithfulness. stealing to having a proper understanding
of your own property and also respect for another's.
But coveting also touches on so much. Think of
how we can apply it to coveting a person's attributes,
right? We covet another's age, particularly once
you're past 25, where you physically peak. Some
happy news for us. We covet others' looks. We
covet others' minds, their mental acuity. We
covet others' athleticism. I'm still a 13 handicap,
golly. Their musical talents, all kinds of things.
We're commanded not to covet another person's
situation in life, right? Their marriage, maybe
the freedom they have in their singleness. Maybe
they're children. We're commanded to not covet
and we're commanded to not covet all things.
Maybe in a church there can be holy desires to
grow in the Lord, but we can also covet another
person's sort of spiritual attainment. The role
that they play in the life of the church having
some leadership role or whatever it is. The recognition
of their spiritual gifts. We are simply commanded
through and through Consistently in the Bible,
don't covet. Unholy desire quickly brings death.
Of course, how applicable, you know, we talked
in this series, we talked about idols. I said,
probably none of you are like harboring little
statues that you like innocence to in your house.
So we had to think through, how do we apply that?
My guess is that as soon as, if we had an open
discussion, well, how do we apply coveting to
21st century America? It wouldn't be hard. We
know that the world we live in has sort of the
motto, he who dies with the most toys wins. It's
all about what you get. And frankly, what neighbor
does not get. We live in the modern world where
there is so much that we can grasp and hold onto.
Say, look, it's mine. And where our life does
seem to consist in the abundance of our possessions.
And that's the world we live in. I read this
pastor who confessed this, I belong to the cult
of the next thing. It's dangerously easy to get
enlisted into. It happens by default, not by
choosing the cult, but by failing to resist it.
The cult of the next thing is consumerism cast
in religious terms. It has its own litany of
sacred words, more. You deserve it. New, faster,
cleaner, brighter. It has its own deep -rooted
liturgy. Charge it, instant credit, no down payment,
deferred payment, no interest. It has its own
preachers, evangelists, prophets and apostles,
advertisers, pitchmen, celebrity sponsors, influencers,
right? What is the influencer doing other than
trying to get you to buy something? They are
trying to influence your desire for what you
do not have. It has, of course, its own shrines,
chapels, temples, meccas, malls, super stores,
club warehouses. And this is dated, and so I
added it also has its own holy days, some of
which we celebrated this week. Prime Day? Black
Friday? I mean, it's just the narrative that
we live into. He who dies with the most possessions.
wins. It has its own ecstatic experiences, the
shopping spree, the cult of the next thing, things
central message proclaims crave and spend for
the kingdom of stuff is here. So what do we do?
How is it that this sin is so easily entangles
us? How are we free from it? Because it is simply
the world we live in. I mean, this guy says,
the only way to not be in it is to resist it.
How do we allow it to not so easily entangle
us? And how do we put it to death rather than
letting our unholy desires lead to our own death?
And this is gonna sound remarkably similar to
last week's sermon in this regard. And this is
the central thing of Christianity. I wanna tell
you, Again, look at the cross of Christ. Now
here's what I want to say. Just like there are
spiritual and practical implications of our desires,
right, our unholy desires, there are also spiritual
and practical implications of the cross. Jesus
tells us in the Sermon on the Mount, he says,
look at the birds of the air. They neither sow
nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your
heavenly father feeds them. Are you not of more
value than they?" He continues on, he says, consider
the lilies of the field, how they grow. They
neither toil nor spin. And I tell you, even Solomon
in all his glory was not arrayed like one of
these. But if God is so close, he so closed the
grass of the field, which today is alive and
tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not
much more close you? I said, there's like a practical
way that the cross actually answers this conundrum
that we find ourselves, that we live in this
world that tells us to covet and it's sort of
the default experience of our hearts. How do
we resist it? How's the cross begin to answer
that? Well, if we go back to Genesis, right?
We go back to Genesis and what you have is the
taking of the apple and what we're told is it
was desirous to be desired. and it was to be
desired to make one wise and that they were promised
that they could be like God. I want to suggest
to you that actually having your eyes fixed on
the cross, audience you to the fact that you
are not God. And what is our grabbing onto stuff
but saying, you know what, if I can just have
all this, I can control other people's perception
of me. If I have this, I can get this other thing
that I want. If I have this thing that I haven't
yet been given, look at all the opportunity,
what could I accomplish? I mean, so much of what
we wear and what we have and what we eat posting
so often as we do is for other people to say,
wow, look at you. And what the cross does is
it very practically humbles us. But also what
it does, and this is the lie that Adam and Eve
bought into, is that somehow that one thing that
God said, don't eat this, they thought if we
could just have that then we'd have enough while
they could look around and see all that God had
given them. I mean, why is the gold there in
chapter two? If you can remember back to years,
why I said I think it's there is because it's
just one demonstration of the utter abundance
of God. You know, he gave them fruit, trees bearing
fruit. He gave them plants they could eat. He
even placed them in a place that had good gold
and bedelium and onyx. It's almost just to say,
look at how lavishly the Lord loves you. Look
at how lavishly the Lord loves you. And so the
cross both humbles us, but what it also does,
both in a practical way and a spiritual way,
it says, look at how wildly I have provided for
you. If he did not spare his own son, but gave
him up for us all, how much more will he not
give us all things? There's nothing that can
separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus
our Lord. Nothing. If the Father so loves the
world that He gives His only Son that whoever
believes in Him should not perish but have eternal
life, why are we worrying about wanting our neighbor's
car? I mean, and yet so much of our energy is
spent on that. So brothers and sisters, look
to Jesus. Look at the cross. Look at how it humbles
us, but look at how it also tells us that God
will always provide. He will always care for
you. Harris can fall from your head and it will
be the Father's will and he will hold you in
his loving arms. This is the picture of God's
provision for us. that if he will go to the cross
for us, he will give you what you need. I personally
found when I was thinking of this sermon that
this is actually such an utter, a perfect commandment
to end on. Because, truth be told, as much as
my heart is an idol factory, as Calvin says,
the commandment about not bowing down to idols
is not the same temptation. The commandment to
murder, which Jesus properly applies to anger,
is absolutely applicable to me. But man, coveting?
Coveting is the world we swim in. I guarantee
it's for you. So brothers and sisters, look at
the cross. Have it ever before you. Because it
is so easy to get consumed with Prime Day. To
get consumed with other people's vacations and
other people's blah blah blah. And lose fact
of the reality that the God who made the world,
the God who made all things, has given his life
for you. How much more will he not give you everything
else? Lord, would you please give us holy desires,
holy desires that motivate us to work with our
hands that we might have something to give to
those in need, to desire holy relationships.
Most of all, Lord, move in our desires that we
might fix our eyes upon Jesus, that we might
desire to live at peace and rest in a world that
is full of anxiety, fraught with worry, constantly
desiring what we do not have, what you have not
given us, but will we find our peace and our
rest in you, in Jesus' name, amen. Thank you
for listening to Second City Sermons podcast.
We hope this sermon has encouraged you to worship
God and to celebrate the gospel of Jesus. Please
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for listening. God bless.