I don't care about the money...it's all the stuuufff.

Sunday at Providence Church I preached on the 10th Commandment, the prohibition against coveting. The following are some notes & quotes, the latter of which were particularly complimented.

(Click to Listen)

Alistair Begg ~ “The 10th commandment forbids wrong attitudes towards the possessions and position which other people hold. The 10th commandment teaches us to be content with what God has given us.”

Q: Why is coveting so bad?

1. Coveting is the engine that drives many of our conflicts and sins. (cf. James 4:1-3)
2. Coveting leads to discontent. Contentment and coveting are enemies.

Q: How do you keep from coveting?The secret is contentment in Christ.

1. Contentment comes through a relationship with Christ, not circumstances. (cf. Phil 4:10-13)
2. Contentment comes through an eternal perspective. (cf. Matt 6:19-21)
3. Contentment comes through trust in our heavenly Father. (cf. Matt 6:25-34)
   

Unknown ~ “I had no shoes and complained until I met a man who had no feet.”

Augustine ~ "You have made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until they can find rest in you."

John Piper ~ “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.”

Jeremiah Burroughs~ “Christian contentment is that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit, which freely submits to and delights in God’s wise and fatherly disposal in every condition.”

Oswald Chambers ~ “Faith is deliberate confidence in the character of God whose ways you may not understand at the time.”

Phillips Brooks ~ “I hear men praying everywhere for more faith, but when I listen to them carefully, and get to the real heart of their prayer, very often it is not more faith at all that they are wanting, but a change from faith to sight. Faith says not, "I see that it is good for me, so God must have sent it," but, "God sent it, and so it must be good for me." Faith, walking in the dark with God, only prays Him to clasp its hand more closely.”

Gunny ~ "Contentment and coveting are enemies."

Gunny ~ "Christianity is contrary to Marxism, but Christianity is also contrary to the dark side of Capitalism, namely greed/materialism."

Hartman Family et al ~ "You get what you get and you don't throw a fit."

Gunny ~ "God doesn't want me to have that? I'm okay with that, because I trust Him, knowing He has my good in mind." (cf. Rom 8:28)

The Rolling Stones ~ "You can't always get what you want. But, if you try sometimes, you just might find you get what you need."

Louis CK ~ “Everything is amazing right now and nobody’s happy.”

Edwin Starr ~ "War. What is it good for? Absolutely nothing. Say it again."

Pink Floyd ~ "With. Without. And who'll deny it's what the fighting's all about?"

Edmund Clowney ~ “Sin starts in our hearts before it slips merchandise into our pockets, with or without a credit card.”

Recommended Reading:

• Prov 30:7-9; Luke 3:14; Phil 1:19; 4:19; Col 3:1-2, 5; 1 Tim 6:6-10; Heb 13:5
• Jeremiah Burroughs, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment

Snowman, you got your ears on?

A few weeks back I preached on the 4th Commandment and mentioned that "Sunday morning starts Saturday night," with the implication being an impetus to prepare for the Lord's Day/Sabbath.

Along those lines, I share the following from John Piper.

10 things you can do Saturday evening and Sunday morning in preparation for hearing the Word of God preached:

1. Pray that God would give you a good and honest heart. (Lk 8:15; Ezek 36:26; Jer 24:7)
2. Meditate on the Word of God. Read portions of your Bible with a view to stirring up hunger for God.
3. Purify your mind by turning away from worldly entertainment. (James 1:21)
4. Trust in the truth that you already have. (Jer 17:7-8)
5. Get a good night’s rest on Saturday night.
6. Forebear one another [before the service] without grumbling and criticism.
7. Come in a spirit of meek teachability. (James 1:21)
8. Be still as you enter the room and focus your mind’s attention and heart’s affection on God. (Ps 46:10)
9. When the worship service begins, think earnestly about what is sung and prayed and preached. (1 Cor 14:20; 2 Tim. 2:7)
10. Desire the truth of God’s Word more than you desire riches or food. (Ps 19:10-11; Pr 2:3-5)

~From the Sermon, "Take Care How You Listen" – Part 2 on Luke 8:4-18 (February 22, 1998).

Any other suggestions?

A boy's best friend is his mother.

From my sermon Sunday on Exodus 20:12, the 5th Commandment ...

4 Ways We Dishonor Our Parents:

1. Disobedience dishonors parents. Ergo ... Obey your father and mother.*
2. Decision making independent of parents dishonors them. Ergo ... Value the counsel of your parents.
3. Disregarding your parents in their old age dishonors them. Ergo ... Make time for those who made you.
4. Making them look bad dishonors your parents. Ergo ... Make mom & dad look good.

*To the extent such obedience does not conflict with God's prescription for behavior.

Click to listen:


Below is the Bear Bryant commercial referenced in the sermon.

Shomer shabbos!

My sermon Sunday on the 4th Commandment was one of my longest on record. So many things were cut on the fly, including the following quote, which I hated to eliminate.

Setting aside the scandal caused by His Messianic claims and His reputation as a political firebrand, only two accusations of personal depravity seem to have been brought against Jesus of Nazareth. First, that He was a Sabbath-breaker. Secondly, that He was "a gluttonous man and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners" -- or (to draw aside the veil of Elizabethan English that makes it sound so much more respectable) that He ate too heartily, drank too freely, and kept very disreputable company, including grafters of the lowest type and ladies who were no better than they should be.

For nineteen and a half centuries, the Christian Churches have laboured, not without success, to remove this unfortunate impression made by their Lord and Master. They have hustled the Magdalens from the Communion-table, founded Total Abstinence Societies in the name of Him who made the water wine, and added improvements of their own, such as various bans and anathemas upon dancing and theatre-going. They have transferred the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday, and, feeling that the original commandment "Thou shalt not work" was rather half-hearted, have added to it the new commandment, "Thou shalt not play."
~ Dorothy L. Sayers (1893-1957)

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