Sermon: "Some More Stuff About Stuff"

10th in the "Stone Tablets in a Wireless World" series.
Delivered August 16, 2009 by Janice McWilliams.
Sermon Text: Exodus 20:17

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And I am actually just recently back from being on a six-month sabbatical with my work with Intervarsity. I was not physically gone from here the whole time, but able to step back for some additional training and some space away from the ministry for a while. And have been gone for the summer, so I know what it's like to come back together and to be reunited. It's a wonderful feeling, and I know what it's like to be a little bit road-weary.

And my own kids, who are seven and nine, have been in many planes and cars over the last couple of months, and we have really wondered... how can we help them be entertained? And I know now one way they can be. You may not be able to see this very well, but some of you will know exactly what these are. Anyone? Right. Okay. People said that before. These are Bendaroos. Can't you tell that they have another name it sounds like?

They're kind of waxy sticks, and you can stick them together and make virtually anything, like fabulous jewelry, and a Bendaroo flower. See? You can wad up a lot of them and make a Bendaroo ball. After all, why play with a regular ball when you can play with a Bendaroo ball? Huh?

Now we knew nothing about Bendaroos until my children saw a television commercial for Bendaroos. And this became a place where once my children were content and now they were discontent.

We're talking about covetousness today as one of the Ten Commandments. And the way that sometimes we get from that peaceful, content feeling to a place of discontent... we hardly even notice that it happens. But the Bendaroos were definitely a way that it happens. My kids saw something they didn't have. They wanted it. They were Bendarood. Okay?

So we are looking at this commandment, so let me pray for us as we look into the Scripture together.

Jesus, thank you for a chance to be together this morning and to think about this topic. And I pray that through the power of your Spirit you would speak to each of us a word that is especially for us that enables us to grow closer to you and to walk with more joy and contentment and freedom. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Exodus 20, this is the last commandment because the summer has, if you've been around, has been a Ten Commandment series. And so we're here on the last one. Exodus, chapter 20, verse 17 reads like this.

"You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor."

So there it is in black and white. Do not covet. To covet means to want something of someone else's for your own. Now a couple of things to help put this into a little bit of context is that there are a lot of ways you could look at this, but the intent in this context and to the people of Israel, it's really mainly about... about material possessions.

Although there is mention of a wife you could think, "Oh, does that mean I might covet the nature of a relationship like somebody has a wonderful marriage and I wish that were mine." It's not really getting into that. The way the patriarchal society worked, this was the men owned everything. The wives were unfortunately considered somewhat of a possession. So we're looking at this in the eyes of seeing this word is really about neighbor's stuff. Right. It's about things.

You know another thing that I thought was kind of interesting when I really thought about this is that these guys are wandering in the wilderness at the time this comes to them. Correct? So they are not people with abundant possessions, right? So coveting your neighbor's house might mean sort of like coveting their lean-to or tent. Correct? They've been on like a 40-year backpacking trip. So the scope of coveting is really interesting to consider here... that anybody can covet no matter if you're destitute or fabulously wealthy. Anyone can covet.

But it does seem to hearken that this verse has a future-looking component to it. That your situation is here and you might be dealing with this, but let's also look, when all of you do have houses and all of you do have property... what is this going to be like? I feel this is kind of a prophetic edge for us in our society when things have grown and developed in such a way that we live in a place with such an abundance of possessions... such an abundance. It's hard for us to imagine being a little tribe of people backpacking and getting this word. Correct? We're in a whole different scale.

And when you're thinking about coveting itself, coveting is just the feeling before you buy anything, the desire in your heart. Well, we are invited to feel that feeling all the time. In fact, I would venture to say that the economy of our nation is pretty much built on that feeling. If we never were invited to want something we didn't have, where would America be? That's how we work. We are so inundated with invitations to covet and with working out that covetousness in buying things that I think we don't even see it. We don't consider it as wrong. We consider it as the American way.

And it's something that's inside. It's the pre-acquisition stuff, and so it's kind of secret. So what would it even be like to be in a society where you have no idea what a couch better than yours looks like? What if you never, never even knew that there was a dishwasher that didn't require you pre-rinse? Or how about that pleasant little voice in your car that gives you directions and tells you where to go? Imagine a society where you didn't even know that existed.

You see, we're being kind of pushed up this discontent in us to want some things that we didn't even know existed before. We've been Bendarood. You see, it's something that just works on us and we hardly know it's there. Our society really is built on coveting. It's a buzz in our minds that's always going on.

So why does this make the top-ten list, so to speak for God? It's because God is jealous for our hearts. God is jealous for our hearts. In the beginning of the Ten Commandments, he says, "I'm a jealous God. I want your full devotion to me. I want you to have no other gods." So what does that mean in the context of coveting? We need to take it seriously. It is something that Jesus' life, death, and resurrection was meant to conquer. It's a bondage that we're to be freed from, not just a buzz... not just a buzz.

One of the reasons I think God is so passionate about this is that he's very concerned about economic justice. You know possessing things has consequences, and it's very complicated.

I have a friend who went on a website where you could plug in some data about yourself and your economic situation and then see how many earths... how many planet earths would be required to sustain your lifestyle if everyone on earth lived like you. And so she plugged in her things, and I see this woman as someone who lives very simply.

She has a family, but they have one car. They keep their thermostat very low. They recycle everything under the sun, shop for used clothing... a really simple lifestyle. And so she plugged in the things that it asked for, and out came the result... three point five earths it would require to sustain her lifestyle. I thought, "What... what about mine? What about ours?"

There is something that has gone really haywire in our world that I can't even pretend to understand in gigantic proportions. And you know in the recent economic crisis, we hear even more about it that just baffles me. Like the only way out of economic mess we're in is for us to buy stuff? Really? Is that the only way is for us to get back on board the coveting train and get those purchases made? Something is very messed up.

There are huge implications and this commandment points forward to all this stuff. And it's a huge... I'm not, I don't understand it well enough to be able to say much more than that about it, but there is something messed up. But here's the amazing thing about this commandment to me too, is that it starts with the heart.

If you look at the way the commandments are written here, there is a pattern in the last few, you shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, and then it comes down to coveting. And with a lot of those there are New Testament passages where Jesus addresses it and says, "You have heard it said, 'Do not murder,' but I tell you... " And then he fills it out and he gets to the heart, right?

Well this commandment is different. If it followed that pattern, which is what we expect when we read it, I would think it would say something like, "Do not have an abundance of, you know, more than your share of possessions, or something like that." Right? It would have the result. And then Jesus would have filled it out and said, "You've heard it said, 'Don't have too many possessions,' but I tell you, don't covet because it's the matter of the heart." Are you following me? That's what makes the pattern work for me.

But for some reason, the pattern is broken, and we come straight to the heart. Coveting is pre-acquisition. Coveting is the feeling and the desire before the stuff is bought. It's very concerned with the heart. And I think it's because God is jealous for our hearts, and knows that this is such a distraction from what he wants, which is our devotion to him. The heart is so important, and the buzz of coveting in our heads... it distracts us from important things.

Imagine going to my friend's house and my friend is...we're going there to hang out and have relationship, but my friend has this awesome rice cooker, and it's way better than my rice cooker that is now 20 years old. And all the rice is coming out perfect and it's not too, you know, moist. It's not too dry. And I am so wanting this rice cooker. So we even maybe are talking about where the rice cooker... how it can come into my life. Right?

And before long we realize all this time has gone by and I haven't even talked to my friend about her life. We've been distracted with a thing that I want. So coveting can distract us from what is important, but it can also turn our attention away from deeper longings... an emptiness that Jesus wants us to deal with. The coveting can become, in a sense, an invitation to look at those deeper things, and to ask yourself, "Why is this discontent able to bubble up in my life that makes me want this thing? Why is there a pull towards dissatisfaction with what I have?"

You know a lot of times if you want some big ticket item like a nicer car or something that could be sort of a status symbol, if you look underneath that there is a wish to be more successful and a fear of not making it. And a fear that God won't provide underneath it.

Sometimes if you're coveting like something awesome to wear so you'll look fabulous, there can be, behind that, a fear of being unacceptable or not good enough in God's eyes. There is something that is underneath it that the coveting is actually covering over it and the buzz is distracting from any sense of Jesus being able to meet that deeper need.

And our jealous God wants that kind of relationship with us. He is jealous for our hearts, and that's why he says the other commandments that are there too. Don't have other gods before me. And even the Sabbath commandment is a call to be people of rest.

I came across a wonderful quote when I was preparing. "Where Sabbath rest encourages us against anxious activity, coveting is inherently an activity of untrusting restlessness." Coveting is an activity of untrusting restlessness. The heart gets stirred up with discontent and dissatisfaction.

In Philippians, chapter 4, Paul tells us a great wisdom that I think is a message for us in our society today and in the financial crisis that we're in.

"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 fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want."

Paul has a secret of contentment, and contentment is the opposite of coveting. Contentment is the antidote to coveting. The first step is really just recognizing the buzz and seeing that this feeling we're so accustomed to is something that God passionately wants purged from us so that we can be more intimately devoted to him. We have to learn to recognize the distraction and work on setting up our lives in a protected way so that we can experience the questions coming up that are the deeper ones that need to.

I had some training and spiritual direction and I was in a monastery for two weeks this summer, and the experience of being cloistered like that with very little contact with the outside world, literally in four walls, was so incredible because the buzz of my day-to-day life was gone. Many buzzes were removed. But also the buzz of material possessions and coveting, all of that was gone. And what happened in that community of people that was so beautiful is all kinds of deeper healing and longings came up that Jesus was able to address.

I felt like the invitation Jesus was giving to me personally was deeper. I want to go deeper with you always. And that cloistered space really enabled those things to come up. And we can work toward having that more in our lives here. We can do things like mandate in our family and our life and our home a media block out for a period of time. Like we're not listening to invitations to covet for a week or something and see... well what comes up out of that? What are the deeper longings that might bubble up?

We might be able to take prayer retreats where we get away and get into nature, and see kind of a different view. And that can help us get in touch with... what's behind this? It can be a very good discipline to wait to make purchases. And our society does not encourage that.

When I was making the call for the Bendaroos, there was this special offer and I could get twice as many if I paid only this much money and pushed this button in 30 seconds, you know. It was just this pressure. I'm like, "Wow, do I really need 1600 Bendaroos?" But you know, you think, "Maybe I do." The trap, the draw is then... maybe we do need it right now and this is the only chance. It's largely a deception to get us to buy more.

But if we can postpone our purchases and stop and ask, "What is the coveting covering up?" There might be something that Jesus wants to heal in us. Who knows? He might even change our desires.

Another place where Paul writes about this, also in Philippians, chapter 4, and in the context of coveting it just sounds really fresh for me in verse 6.

 

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Jesus."

Paul is pretty much saying here, "Look, if you have a request, come to Jesus with it. Tell him you want your flat screen TV."

Also, make sure there is an element of thanksgiving in your prayer. Contentment is the antidote to coveting. Gratitude is the doorway to contentment. Gratitude can be the thing that reorients our perspective to help us see what we really have and how we're blessed. But the invitation is to come to Jesus with it. Bring it, and let him speak to you about it.

You know it's very complicated stuff. Like we ended up buying the Bendaroos. Right? You will end up making purchases after this day, but perhaps there could be other disciplines that come into play so that the deeper work of having God first can emerge.

When we wait, I think that we're also able to see how God might provide in a way that we didn't expect. Consider a girl who was always very jealous of her sister. Her father gave her sister a black pearl ring. She always wanted that ring. She was really wounded by her relationship with her father. It was not a good one growing up, and as she got older she considered, "Maybe... maybe I'll get a black pearl ring for myself because my father never gave me one."

Consider if she felt stopped in that purchase by the Holy Spirit. She goes into a time of really coming to Jesus with the pains in that relationship with her father, and she has a lot of healing about it. She kind of forgets about buying the ring. Some years later, on her anniversary, her husband presents her with a gift... a black pearl ring, more beautiful than she ever thought she would have. And one she did not purchase for herself but that was given to her in love and had layers of meaning that she never could have manufactured for herself.

God may change the desires altogether, he may provide something richer and deeper. But the way we can sometimes grasp and go and get and buy, we don't even offer the chance. How many of you guys have stuff in your basement that you just thought was the thing that is now looking at you... laughing, saying, "You've been Bendarood?" It's just stuff.

Jesus wants us to be able to cultivate hearts like this. And the thanksgiving piece I find to be very challenging especially raising a family and even in myself, I have a lot more awareness of the discontents than I do the contentment and the gratitude. I actually have to work at the gratitude. I think adding disciplines to our life to nurture gratitude is a wonderful idea.

At the end of the day to look back and say, "What has God done? How has God provided? How have we gotten through this day?" And to let those things emerge, and it's the doorway to contentment when we do that. Our hearts can be settled and contented and more satisfied when we do that.

We can do creative things like making something visual or artistic at the end of a season of life to make a collage... what are we thankful for that has happened in this time? There are a lot of things we can actually do to nurture gratitude to get us to a more contented place. But there is not going to be a lot on television that is going to help us get there. And there are not going to be many radio advertisements that are going to help us get there. We're probably going to have to step up and make the disciplines to do it ourselves.

You know, a lot of us are probably thinking about stuff that we're thinking about purchasing now and that's very natural. I thought that I would end this time actually by giving just a moment of silence where we can ask God, "Is there something that I'm coveting that I would like to have? And is my coveting covering up something that you want to raise?"

And just in this moment of time to let the Spirit raise those things, and then I will pray to close and we will start our worship time together. So I'll open and then we'll have a moment of silence and then I'll close.

Lord Jesus, thank you for the space to reflect on something we're not challenged to think about very much. Thank you that in your wisdom you've given us this word. And I pray that your spirit would rest here in a way to raise the things that you long for us to see in order to be devoted to you. In our quiet, would you speak?

Lord, keep speaking to us. We thank you that we are free from the bondage of coveting by your life, your death, and your resurrection and the power in it. Please keep doing your work in us to free us, Amen.

© 2009, Janice McWilliams
Central Presbyterian Church, Baltimore, MD 21204 410/823-6145
www.centralpc.org