February 3, 2007

• Covetousness by Pastor Ted

  This Bible study was given January 26.

  What is the definition of Covetousness – envy, desire, jealousy, wanting what is not yours. We do not always realize that it is a sin when we are coveting, but coveting is a sin.
  There are good kinds of coveting like wanting a deeper relationship with God.
  Bad coveting is wanting the things of the world or things that God did not desire for you.

  In the church we can covet another person’s spiritual gift, a title, a position, etc.

  Covetousness is also idolatry, for we set before God things that we desire.

  Ezekiel 14:4-5 Therefore speak to them and say to them, “Thus says the LORD God: “Everyone of the house of Israel who sets up his idols in his heart, and puts before him what causes him to stumble into iniquity, and then comes to the prophet, I the LORD will answer him who comes according to the multitude of his idols, that I may seize the house of Israel, because they are all estranged from Me by their idols.”

  God will give us the desires of our heart, but not all the desires of our heart are God’s desires. Sometimes God will allow our lust, but we will then block blessings from Him into our lives. God looks at the intent of our heart. Like a good parent, sometimes God will let us learn from our mistakes, for when we put idols up in our hearts instead of God, we will stumble and fall. (Heather’s note: Beth Moore one time said that she prays that God will place godly desires into her heart, so that she does not choose desires that are not God’s best for her. She also pointed out that things that are innocuous to some, can be sinful for others. Ravi Zacharias stated in last week’s radio broadcast that God wants us to have fun, but if what we call fun takes us away from our ultimate goal in life than it is not good for us to pursue that even if it is not a sinful pleasure.).

  Then Pastor Ted took us to Joshua 7 and we looked at the battle for Ai. (Heather’s note: Ai means “heap of ruins” and when we covet things that are not godly, they are heaps of ruins, and will end up ruining us).

  Joshua 7:1 But the children of Israel committed a trespass regarding the accursed things, for Achan the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took the accursed things; so that the anger of the LORD burned against the children of Israel.

  A bit of history, Joshua went to Jericho and followed God’s instructions regarding the conquering of the city. But one of God’s instructions to Joshua was to (Joshua 6) not take any of the accursed things from Jericho – the vessels of bronze, iron, silver, and gold would be brought into the temple. God told them that if any looting was done, and accursed items were brought into the camp, it would curse and trouble Israel. Well Achan disobeyed the clear instructions from God, for he coveted some of the “treasures” of Jericho.

  Remember, God wants our love, and has told us that if we love Him we will keep His commandments. When we covet we do not keep God’s commandments.

  Israel (the nation God chose and named) seems to have a cyclical history with God, of obeying His commands, disobeying, repenting, and being returned to favor and obedience of His commandments, then disobeying.. This mirrors the cyclical nature our lives in God too.

  The cities Galilee and Gilgal both have the meaning of a wheel or a circle.

  Well, Joshua sends spies out to look at Ai, and they come back and report that it should be easy to conquer Ai. (Heather’s note, Joshua did not ask God the method of attack, he picked the method himself – that was the first mistake, for perhaps God would have revealed the sin of Achan to Joshua before any lives were lost). They decided to send only three thousand men down to attack Ai. Thirty six Israelites were killed in this and they retreated. Joshua 7:6-7 Then Joshua tore his clothes, and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the LORD until evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads. And Joshua said, “Alas, Lord GOD, why have You brought this people over the Jordan at all–to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? Oh that we had been content, and dwelt on the other side of the Jordan!

  God then reveals to Joshua the reason for the defeat.

  Joshua 7:10 So the LORD said to Joshua: “Get up! Why do you lie thus on your face?”

  When something goes wrong we want to blame other people, to blame God. But we really should ask God what we should do, what we have done wrong.

  Joshua 7:11 Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. For they have even taken some of the accursed things, and have both stolen and deceived; and they have also put it among their own stuff.

  Pastor Ted pointed out that covetousness causes us to lie, steal, murder and hide. (Heather’s note, God wants us set apart from the things of the world, to take the stolen accursed items and mix them with our own possessions brings worldly things into sacred space – and God cannot bless that.)

  Joshua 7:12-13 Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they have become doomed to destruction.Neither will I be with you anymore, unless you destroy the accursed from among you. Get up, sanctify the people, and say, “Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, because thus says the LORD God of Israel: “There is an accursed thing in your midst, O Israel; you cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the accursed thing from among you.

  We cannot serve God when we have hidden sin. Everything hidden will come to light.

  Joshua tells the people to assemble in the morning according to families and the Lord will show who has taken the accursed items. verse 15 Then it shall be that he who is taken with the accursed thing shall be burned with fire, he and all that he has, because he has transgressed the covenant of the LORD, and because he has done a disgraceful thing in Israel.

  Joshua 7:19 Now Joshua said to Achan, “My son, I beg you, give glory to the LORD God of Israel, and make confession to Him, and tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me.”

  We cannot hide our sins from God, and as we continue to sin, others will find out.

  Joshua 7:20-21  And Achan answered Joshua and said, “Indeed I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and this is what I have done: “When I saw among the spoils a beautiful Babylonian garment, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. And there they are hidden in the earth in the midst of my tent, with the silver under it.”

  As we learn more about Babylon we realize that it is confusion (remember the tower of Babel). He coveted the items and took them and hid them. This rebelion leads to death, and caused God’s covenant of protection to be removed from the whole nation. We do not sin in a vacuum.

  How did Adam and Eve fall? disobedience. They coveted the tree of Knowledge. Ephesians 2 and 3 point out that we are all fallen, we are children of wrath, and disobedience causes it.

  If we don’t overcome the nature of the world, it overcomes us. Nature can’t trust in nature. Nature deceives us, so we must overcome it. If we are desiring things in our natural mind, we need to be careful. Men begin to worship things and the creation, and then covet after them. We are to worship God, not the creation or created things. If we are coveting, we become like Achan (whose name means trouble and troubler), and trouble will follow.

  We will see coveting in many places in the Bible. Haman coveted the things of the Jews in Esther for example.

  In the battle Achan took things God told the Israelites to leave alone, and because of this act of coveting, the whole camp was judged. People died.

  In the Body of Christ, when we take from Babylon the whole camp will be judged. And even today we see coveting. There are more than 450 denominations, people are coveting titles, position, honor, amounts of members, etc. We need to realize that we are One Body, and serve God.

  Joshua 7:24 Then Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, the silver, the garment, the wedge of gold, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and all that he had, and they brought them to the Valley of Achor.

  Achor also means trouble. When we disobey God we bring trouble on ourselves and those around us in our camp (church, family, community, etc.). We don’t know the day or the hour, but we know that trouble will happen. Sometimes we do something against God and it seems that there are no immediate repercussions, but that does not mean that God doesn’t notice or that God won’t do something about it. He may wait until the time is right. (Heather’s note: Pastor Don often tells us that God’s lack of response does not mean that He won’t judge at a later date. We see this so often in the Old Testament where the people sin, and then they do not see the repercussions of their sins for a long time span. Sometimes God is waiting, wanting them to repent and change their ways. But sin does have repercussions).

  Joshua 7:25-26 And Joshua said, “Why have you troubled us? The LORD will trouble you this day.” So all Israel stoned him with stones; and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones. Then they raised over him a great heap of stones, still there this day. So the LORD turned from the fierceness of His anger. Therefore the name of that place has been called the Valley of Anchor to this day.

  A lot of concern was raised because not only Achan but his whole family was stoned and people thought that was an extreme punishment. But it was pointed out that the whole family knew about the illicit possessions, so they too were part of the problem. You don’t bury things in the middle of a tent without the rest of the people in the tent knowing about it. Any one of them could have stepped forward and told the truth.

  Also there were thirty six other people killed because of this act of rebelion (and Pastor Ted firmly believes that those thirty six people killed in the battle might have harbored similar greed in their hearts). God is just.

  But taken on a symbolic level, when we sanctify ourselves in Christ, we kill those parts of us that are not of Christ, those parts that are the flesh. We don’t just gently put them down, we take proactive measures to totally annihilate them. (Heather’s note – on a symbolic level rock and stones are symbols of Christ who is the chief cornerstone – when we throw Christ at our fleshly natures, our fleshly natures die).

  Then Pastor Ted went on to talk about King Saul in 1 Samuel. I will write the rest of the study tomorrow.

  Hoping you have a blessed day!

  Heather

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