Smash the Idols Week 4

Smash the idol Covet. Be content. Don’t take content as a reason for complacent. Set your hearts and set your minds.

Smash the Idols. It will sounds like little bit violent but it's all about Life and the best life that God gave us.

What gets in the way of our love for God. When we love other things or when we love something more than we love God and his commands and how those things can easily get in our life?

Just because of you are a believer doesn’t mean to say that you don't have an idols.

There is a greater contention in our life when we become a believer, for idols and other things to actually distract us from God’s best.

Idol in 10 commandments : Coveting- You shall not covet what someone else has got. You shall not covet things. You shall not put other things before me.

You can just think of Don’t be greedy. Because it’s linked to greed.

Pastor Gary: When I was 9 years old, I liked the knight toy in shop very much. But I didn’t get chance to buy it. One day, We started to collect the money for our church. I am one of the kid who collects the money. I took some amount from the money collected for church and bought the knight toy. I took knight toy to my home. But everytime I look to it, I just felt guilty and ashamed because there was something about even at 9 years old, there was something about coveting something. In my life that actually caused me to thieve in a terrible way. It was a year later that I met Jesus and gave my life to him. You did not have to tell me that I was a sinner, I knew it.

Did children know that they are doing bad things? There was something in me that was dark and able to do things. This is what separates us from the love of God and that’s why we need Jesus, that’s why we need saviour, that’s why we need to smash the idols.

These idols designed to come and overtake our life. I’m not talking about the knight toy and a little thing happened. As we grow older, it turns from trying to possess the knight toy, to try to possess the girl, to try to possess the job, to try to possess the better thing, the better car, the better item.

The possession that somehow inside me is saying you’ve got to possess something better and it robs our lives.

This idol cause us to just think I’ll be happy.

Do you know where that knight toy is today? I don’t know where it went.

********We are giving everything and we will risk everything for something that later on we don’t know where it went.********

We will give our lives and work into things for years and years to obtain something, only to find out when we get there that, I don’t know if I care about anymore and that is the deception of the devil. There is something within us that wants to cause this thing to possess and to grab hold of things.

********To Covet: It’s a strong desire to obtain and possess something.********

To understand what it is to covet, we have to understand what content means.

********The opposite of content is to covet.********

The enemy wants to rob something, he’s robbing us of something. He is not just trying to deceive, he is trying to say that this is better. So the opposite of content is to covet.

Every person in this world want to be content. To know what it is to be content and say it’s good with my soul. That’s what world seeking for. The opposite of it, that works against us to rob contentment is when we covet. I will be content, if only I could possess and have that and little bit more things will cause me to be happier.

********CONTENT:arkeo(Greek Word) - “to be sufficient, satisfied and by implication to be strong and able to assist someone”********

When Paul talks about being content, he’s not just saying Be happy with what you got and sit back and think life is good. It’s more than that. It’s to be sufficient, satisfied, implication to be strong.

Content means, I don’t only have just enough I have more than enough that I am able to assist someone with what I have.

Content doesn’t mean that I’ve just got a measure and I’ve just got enough to get through life but it means the content that God gives to me is so much more that overflows from my life.

God is about overflow, he is not just about measuring up. He is not just about enough like coming together, may be on a Sunday to get enough of that message to see through the week. He is not about that, He is about you being strong, so you have more than enough not just for yourself but for others.

So it’s pointing from I need to obtain and I need to somehow consume, to I need to be consumed by who he is, and through being consumed there’s more than enough.

If you like this virtue, your actions will be self-seeking.

You do something for people, just because someone does some great things, it doesn’t mean to say that their intention is self-seeking.

I’ve done something in the past that I knew, If I did them, it would be able to create an opportunity. I would actually for a minute either give or help or assist, so that it would create an opportunity to see me go further.

So sometimes even what we’d give them, what we say doesn’t always necessarily reflect our heart. Scripture says All of us will be judged by the intention of our heart.

[Philippians 4:11]I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.

Paul is saying not he have an abundance in his life, in fact he had need. I am content because of who he is in my life, the way I’ve positioned myself.

Paul is saying that Although I am in need, although I have beaten, although I have been imprisoned, although I don’t know what the future is, I don’t know where my next meal is coming from, I have learned to be content. He is saying that satisfied, strong, in fact unable to even help others right now. It’s an act of defiance.

Enemy lies to us, oh yeah you’ve got that need in your life right now. So how can you be contended. But the Bible doesn’t talk that way. The truth says, oh no, there’s a secret that is greater than what you see in front of you. Even in a place of need you can go, you will say I’ve got this place of strength and contentment in my life and that’s where I am, that’s where I am sitting.

********Be aware that being content doesn’t mean to say you are complacent.********

It’s not about sitting back and being placid and think I just wait and see whatever happens. We need to seize hold of the promises of God. We need to press in.

Paul didn’t sit back and just say oh I am not in anymore shipwrecks. He kept going. So even insane he was content, he was not complacent.

*******Don’t use that as a reason of all, I’m just content. No, you are lazy.*******

Laziness become an idol.

Content is something powerful, it’s strong and it’s for others.

The first temptation of Jesus, very first attack he had from Satan. Jesus was in wilderness and he is fasting for 40 days and he is hungry. Enemy comes and questions his hunger, his need. He is saying to Jesus, take things into your own hands, you can turn the stones into bread. You’re hungry right now, you’ve got a need right now. Get your eyes off your father and do something about it. Because you have the power within you to do something about it.

The very first attack was getting eyes of Jesus off his father unto himself.

When we covet, We get our eyes off Kingdom provision and we start putting upon and we’ve got to make a way, We’ve got to achieve it, We’ve got to somehow grab it, we better like somehow get hold of it whatever means and it goes into us.

The point that enemy comes to tempt you even around coveting is actually at the point of pressure in your life.

Jesus had 40 days of fasting but there is like a great financial need in your life right now. The enemy will come and say “Don’t you trust your father, trust yourself and do whatever you need to do to get what you need”

The goal of the devil was to get Jesus out of contentment and into coveting. Do you think he might try the same with us?

********Coveting causes me to seek provision outside of God*******

Coveting - its starts with something small but then it increases like I need to seek provision outside of God that’s somehow he’s not coming through for me, I’ve waited, I’ve been patient, I prayed, My need got greater. So I just need to take some things into my own hands or we’ve got this opportunity and we just need bend a few rules to obtain what we need to get. It's so easy, It’s leads then to lying, deceptions involved, it leads us into a place of shame, it leads us into a place of hurting others where offence is caused. It can go on and on.

Every time we hit the point of pressure in our life, 40 days fasting, place of needs, there’s a tension, there’s a pressure and whenever we see a breakthrough there’s always a pressure, the enemy will go and say “you need to look outside of God for your provision” and that’s when we get into trouble. He wants to cause us to do it in our own way.

Achan - he went to Jericho and they said hey don’t take anything and they had amazing victory. He saw gold and silver and Babylonian robe and he coveted it. He thought If we’re not allowed to take anything from this battle, how we are gonna manage my family over this next few weeks. The enemy caused him to say you need to do something for yourself. He took it, he hide it and buried it in his family’s tent and paid huge price.

Saul did the same, he went into a city. He was told don’t you take anything but he left the best for himself.

********Covet:pleonaxia(Greek word) - An inappropriate desire for more, implying a self idolising served by a grasping nature.********

This is in every one of us. if you know it, you can smash it. If we think that I’m a little good christian and it doesn’t really affect me. Guys, there will be a weakness and area, the enemy will come. He had a lot of practice at this and he will say, oh If only…. You’re gonna be happier, if you just possess this.

It is the idea of grasping, grabbing… I was nine years old, but just think about what was within me. No one needed to teach that to me but I deceived and I thought, I just want to grab it, there’s something plastic soldier is somehow deceiving to think that I’m gonna be happier.

Marriage - I give you myself to rest of my life. Few years later, lack of honor, boredom stuff put ourself in the wrong place and then suddenly, I want to grab, I want to possess, I will do whatever I need to get hold of this, because this is what I need to make me happy and it’s the biggest lie of all. If there’s someone in your life right now and you’re thinking may be committing adultery, or you’re thinking of may be I just need to go step further, I want to sound it louder, there is only the death that comes from that. There’s not something that come out be healthy and good and a happy ending.

When we covet, it causes blindness.

We have seem families destroyed when parents died and there’s a dispute over the wealth. We are not interested, we are not bothered about money, no we are not sort of those people. Time and time and time again, brothers and sisters falling out because they got this or they didn’t get that or there wasn’t a wealth and we want this and who had the ring. There is something in us and this is where we need to run towards who Jesus is? We need to run towards him, we need to run towards goodness, we need to smash the idol.

When you feel that thing and if I need this, I don’t think it’s fair

10 commandments says, do not covet your neighbor’s wife, do not covet their house, do not covet these things, do not want to grab hold of these things. It can be lust works the same way.

Lust works the same way. There are young people caught up in lust, married people too.. Don’t think that when I get married somehow I can break lust.  It’s all around coveting. It’s like I want, I want but you can never have it and live in despair and shame and destroys your soul.

People lust after status because they think if they get the status, if I covet that position, I am gonna find who I really. You need to find who you are? And God will show you what he has for you.

Materialism - whether it is the car, the better car, the house or the thing is amazing how we will put ourselves in great debt. Just to be able to possess it, only to find a few months later, I feel the same but I’m in greater debt. You just got more rooms to clear.

So many things that would want to grab our attention or focus and we often spend our lives working towards them, spend our lives where we buy ourself in years and years and years of debt. So we just grab hold of something temporary when god says build for the eternal.

If we start being a church that were build for the eternal, we gotta start smashing the idols.

The eyes of coveting is all around us because it comes through the eye gate. It comes through what we see and what we hear. We are living in a digitalization world. We can see things, we can see virtual reality of things and we’re around things where everything is just made to look so amazing and incredible. The power of advertising, the power of media will make you think, if I need that in my life and if I need it,I think to do something that is not in line with God is Okay. because he’s a god God and yet we sell it, we sell ourself and end up in a place where we find that is empty. But its cost us so much.

[Garden of Eden: Adam and Eve.] They had everything they need. There was one bit of fruit the knowledge of good and evil. If I just I want that. You got everything you need. Yes but I want that.

You got everything you need in your life right now. But there’s something you told yourself, I will not be content until I get this thing. When you get that thing, it’ll be until you get that thing. And When you get that thing, it’ll be the when I get a bigger thing. It drives us to distraction and we serve idols instead of serving God.

********To covet is - believing that god is withholding his best for you********

When I covet, I am actually thinking, I need to do something about this, I need to grab this because why would my father not let me have the knight toy? I am gonna take it for myself. I am gonna do something.

God is Love. He is a giver, he’s like our father.

Something happened with Eve because Eve obviously was thinking how come God wants to keep this one thing from us. I wanna touch it. I wanna grab it. Eve listen to the devil who was trying to corrupt the character of God by saying “Why would he say that to you.surely he’s lying”. That’s what enemy wants to do for some one of us right now. You haven’t got answer to prayer right now, you’ve gone through some stuff and it’s probably because God is withholding his best, and the moment we think that way, the moment we start coveting. Because when I understand what contentment is , is the opposite. It’s all about the provider in my position and security.

[David and Bathsheba- 2 Samuel 11:2&4]

David close to God, an amazing leader, was in roof and he was wandering around (Eye Gate). He sees Bathsheba and he finds out she’s married but he wants her, he covets her, he takes her and there is a massive consequence. He ends up arranging the death of her husband by putting him on the front, so that he can have her for himself.

********Don’t you underestimate covetousness in your life********

David should have been at war but he remained in Jerusalem, looking around extra time on his hands. David stayed somewhere he shouldn’t have been.

When we find ourself in the wrong place at the wrong time, we get into trouble. If you’re in the wrong company at the wrong time, you’ll get into trouble.

If you’re someone who has a lot of time in your hands and you start watching what you shouldn’t watch, one step leads to another step and ends with coveting and its consequences.

You need to make sure that you are in right place at right time. Don’t find yourself somewhere you shouldn’t be.

Am I gonna look to good things? or Am I gonna look to things that will make me fall?

********What you focus on, forms your desires and floods your heart********

Whether that’s good or whether that’s bad, what you focus on forms your desires.

If you wanna to know how to build up an incredible desire for God, focus on him and his words and his truth. If you wanna focus on loving and being kind, it’ll flood your heart.

But if you focus on unforgiveness, it’ll flood your heart. You won’t be get out of your head. You’ll measure things, you’ll get into trouble.

You focus on what you want, you will go after it for years and years. You focus on grabbing hold of something, you don’t have thinking the grass is greener in the other side. It will flood your heart with lust. when you finally get it, you’ll find out that only brings destruction.

Covetousness is fueled by unrest. You will never find rest with it. It’s fueled by desires that is never fulfilled. That’s the fruit of covetousness. You will never find it fulfilled.

God wants us to look towards his contentment, to what it is to be truly content.

[Colossians 3:1-4]

Set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

Set your hearts and set your minds. If you just set your mind and not your heart, you’re in trouble. You have to be disciplined with your mind. You gotta set your heart for the treasure that is incorruptible, not the treasure that is temporary and blown away.

It’s all about what you focus on. It’s all about what you feed your soul with. You have to start desiring God and his purity and his goodness. You have to start desire what it is to be a giver.

Do you know why so many people struggle with tithing? Because we think God is taker not a giver. We don’t tithe because the idol of coveting is at work in our life. We say, I can’t afford to tithe. Why, Where did your money go? I’ve spent it on myself. I think that’s the fruit of coveting where you grabbed, you seized and you wanted more, you’ve got something bigger and you can’t really afford it. We pushed ourselves to the limit and now we can’t manage to give. Even if wanted to do, we couldn’t. Because that spirit, the idol of coveting got in our life said even if you give to God in faith, it won’t be enough for you because he is a withholder not a giver. Everything about God is a Giver. He gave everything, he gave the most precious thing, he gave his son.

We don’t need a revelation of what it is to receive a blessing. We need a revelation of what it is to be give. When you understand what is to give, that’s when your focus changes, that’s when you understand what it is to be content.

********Godly contentment: God is more than ready to overwhelm you with every form of grace. So you will have more than enough of everything in every movement in every way.[2 Corinthians 9:8]********

When you get to understand, what godly contentment is, it’s not about I got these needs. But this is who God is.

While we’re facing the great challenge, health issue, we’re waiting for some healing, You can say I’ve got this godly contentment in me that he is everything. He has everything for me. I will refuse the lies[you can’t trust him, take into your own hands] of enemy.

Godly contentment brings life to every one of us. This is his promise for us. It’s incredible, he displayed it by giving his own son.

Where is the discontentment in my life? Because it’s a great sign that we’re actually coveting something, because the opposites contentment, that’s his plan for you.