Affluenza! - Part A

The 10th commandment can be broken with nobody seeing it's all inwardness and accompanying his and in inner thing is not an outward action murdering as our adultery is outward, stealing his outward lying is outward, coveting, however, is an inside job that you heard about the intoxicated teen driver lost control of his father's truck, crushing it with cards and good Samaritans of the side of the road, showing some and injuring others. Because of this crash. According to the judge. It was affluenza the same judge said that's just another word for being a spoiled brat.

Well, that's a pretty intense thing to say. But before we get too angry with a young man to be here and connect with Skip weekend edition skintight supervisors that were all prone to affluenza why she continues her study of the 10 Commandments, one that we all struggle with the command not to covet other people stuff early this connection. Teaching series is called God's talk to if you've ever wondered how the 10 Commandments for review daily living. You're the right place just before we get started today. Here's what we have for you this month in the connect with Skip resource Center. A recent study to the cultural research Center found that Christians are almost just as likely to reject the idea of absolute moral truth. Is the art of accepting American adults believe in absolute moral truth is eroding across all age groups and political ideologies with other church for unchurched. What that means is that over 75% of Christ followers are those who purport to be Christ followers are saying that nothing can be known for certain. There is no absolute truth about you.

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Call 800-922-1888, and securely connectwithskip.com/off in our current series, God stopped and will be focused on Exodus chapter 20 verse 17 today so hope you open your Bibles there as we join Pastor Skip for more. How many of you know that things won't make you happy stuff doesn't make you happy.

In fact, truth be told staff doesn't matter. Things don't really matter when it comes down to what life is all about. Having said that your attitude toward things does matter, and it matters a lot. Whether you have a tight grip or light touch on stuff things you could ask Carl Coleman, Carl Coleman was driving his car to work one day and there was a woman passing him who got too close to his call her and she snagged her fender with his fender and the cars hit the pullover off the side woman got out admitted it was her fault surveyed the damage she started weeping because she said the car is less than two days old. How am I gonna face my husband I just crashed the new car.

Mr. Coleman was sympathetic but said look we have to exchange registration and license numbers, which they did, and as she reached into the glove box to get the documents. The first thing that tumbled out was a note written in heavy masculine scrawl obviously by her husband. That said, in case of accident, honey. Just remember, it's you I love not the scar that there's a guy who understood having a light touch, rather than a tight grip on things.

The name of this message this morning I'm calling affluenza, affluenza, and I know it sounds like it's a miss spelled word or it's not a word but it actually is a word that came about in the 1970s and really was put into dictionaries around the mid to late 1990s. You know that it's a takeoff from another familiar word influenza. You all know what that is. It's the flu and the flu influenza is a highly contagious viral infection of the respiratory system. While affluenza is a highly contagious social spiritual condition. It's the result of over abundance and as I mentioned, it was brought into English usage. You can even look it up in modern dictionaries. Affluenza from a 1997 television documentary on the subject so I found a couple of definitions of affluenza. Let me read them to you. Number one affluenza is a painful, contagious, socially transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety, and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more number two, bloated, sluggish and unfulfilled feeling that results from efforts to keep up with the Joneses. One observer noted that in American culture.

We are three times wealthier than we were in the 1950s were three times wealthier. As a nation than the 1950s, yet there's more stress and deeper depression today than in the 1950s. Why is that we've gotten more stuff, more things more affluent, why not a corresponding joy. Well, maybe it's like the very wealthy man who went to see the very wise rabbi who lived simply the rich man walked and had a bad attitude on life very discontented.

Went to see the rabbi.

The rabbi pointed to a window and said what you see. So the man looked through the window and he said I see some man I see a few women I see a bunch of kids playing then the rabbi pointed to the other side of the room at a mirror and said now look at that what you see, the wealthy man frustrated so well obviously I see myself very interesting said that wise rabbi because you see the window has glass. The mirror also has glass but with the thin lining of silver over the top. No sooner is the silver applied. Then one ceases to see others and sees only himself in Exodus chapter 20 verse 17 is our text this morning. It is the 10th commandment is the final of the 10 Commandments and it reads, you shall not covet your neighbor's house.

You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's right off the bat we see that this commandment is different than the previous Commandments, the other commandments right before this were much shorter and very concise.

No murder don't commit adultery. Don't steal. Don't bear false witness here.

There's a list it's more explicit. There's a list of seven things were not to covet, you might say Skip this message has nothing at all to do with me. I don't want to donkey.

I don't care about an ox and I don't want to female or a male slave but you could actually take all of these seven in the last and put them in the one of three modern categories things people and cultural status. That's what they all deal with things people and cultural status. Now most of us would never put coveting in God's top 10 of the top 10 things that God would warn people about why would he put coveting their see a lot of people would say that's not as bad as murder.

That's not as bad as adultery or is it in the New Testament. Paul the apostle in first Corinthians chapter 6 rights. Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites nor thieves nor covet shares will inherit the kingdom of God, wow.

Ouch. In that same category of what many would say are heinous crimes or sins coveting is so let's mole over affluenza this week. Let's mull over it. Not only this week but let's mull over this week and next week. Shall we. Because this week I like to talk you about the cause of affluenza and the curse of affluenza and the next week. The cure for this highly contagious virus and basically what were going to do today, and next time is compare two different approaches to life. One is the approach of covetousness and the other is the approach of contentment with you to see that in the next two weeks. Let's go back to our text and let's discover the cause of affluenza, which is written right here in verse 17 and that is covetousness. It says you shall not covet the Hebrew word is how Magda and it means to strongly desire or delight in okay and I did not sound weird. You shall not strongly desire or delight. So what kind of a commandment is that what's so bad about strongly desiring or delighting in will actually that's a good question to ask, because the word, is a neutral word, it can mean something good or something bad, something positive or something negative and both are used in the Bible. For instance, on the positive side in Psalm 68 verse 16.

Speaking of Mount Zion in Jerusalem. The Bible says this is the mountain which God desires, odd to dwell in. Use a good light or in Psalm 19 verse 10 where it talks about the laws the commandments of God says more to be desired are they than gold EA than much fine gold, odd is the word used for desired, but typically usually in the Bible. It has a negative connotation and the way it's usually written is that the object one desires is off-limits. So for example in Proverbs chapter 6 verse 25. Solomon is coaching his son to stay away from loose immoral women, i.e., the prostitute and he says do not desire or lost after her beauty in your heart, that's the word used. It can mean good. It can also mean bad and it goes all the way back to Genesis in the garden when God put that tree right there in the garden said hands off don't touch it. Don't go near it and Eve.

The Bible says saw that the tree was only good for food but here's the word desire is to make one wise, odd soap, a working definition then of coveting would be this the basic ideas craving or having an in ordinate desire for something delightful. We have all of us God-given desires desire to eat desire to drink desire to reproduce a desire to acquire things. All of those are God-given desires. Squirrels hard nuts for the winter birds collects sticks and mud to build nests for the young, but there is a huge difference between survival and superabundance. That's the idea here, not survival, but superabundance Mark Twain once said our necessities never equal our wants. He did you know that about 100 years ago the average American could produce a list of 70 wants 70 things the average American said I want this is what I want in my life today.

You know the average American wants how many things to figure hundred, 200 500 wants from 100 years ago we jumped from 70 to now 500 wants. We all know Dennis the Menace is right, America's favorite brat five-year-old Dennis the Menace and one of the cartoons was thumbing through a Sears catalog catalog came into the house. The Mitchell house and he was going through at mom and dad entered the room and Dennis the Menace looked up and said wow this catalog has lots of things I never even knew I wanted. Speaking of catalogs with stuff you and you don't know you wanted. Have you ever seen a sky mall magazine in an airplane. Have you ever wondered who thinks up these things. I don't know anybody who's gotten one and bought some from it. Maybe you have and I don't want to offend you, but I looked through some of these things. I think it who's doing this. Who wants for instance, on page 42 the anima Tronic Elvis got a have Elvis in your house prominently displayed so you can send me know the motor home, but I gotta have that gotta have that or toward the end of the book. I found this big foot garden sculpture who needs a dog when you can have big foot is only 100 bucks or how about this one. Sumo wrestlers, sculpture and glass top table. That's what everybody needs in their living room. Big fat dude holding a piece of glass on his head. Gotta have that now the 10th commandment, I want you to notice is different from all the previous nine because the 10th commandment can be broken with nobody seeing it.

It's all inward is in a coveting is in in inner thing is not an outward action murdering as our adultery is outward. Stealing is outward.

Lying is our coveting however is an inside job. And here's what's interesting about the 10th commandment. It's at this commandment that wiped Paul the apostle out.

It's this commandment that completely destroyed Paul's sense of self righteousness which at one time he had you remember how Paul talks about his background, his pedigree is list of honors in Philippians chapter 3 he says me tell you about myself.

I was circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin concerning the law, a Pharisee concerning zeal, I persecuted the church to listen to this concerning the righteousness which comes through the law I was blameless wow here's a guy who said on my report card. As far as keeping the law, I got straight A's.

I was blameless. I was perfect.

That is, it seems until Paul was thinking about this last commandment.

The 10th commandment, the coveting commandment and this is the commandment that wiped him out that if use any sense of self-righteousness at all and he writes about that.

I want you to look at what he says in Romans chapter 7 would you turn keeping a marker were were added in Exodus 22 Romans chapter 7 again this is autobiographical, this is Paul speaking about himself, his life.

Romans chapter 7 verse seven. What shall we say then, is the law sin, certainly not on the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, you shall not covet, but sin, taking opportunity by the commandment producing me all manner of evil desire for apart from the law sin was dead. I was alive wants without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died in the commandment which was to bring life I found to bring death for sin taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. Why because he realized that this commandment deals with something inside not something outside like the previous nine. In other words, Paul is saying. All I gotta do to break this commandment is open my eyes in the morning. I don't even have to get out of bed. I want to leave the house. I got my eyes and start thinking and if I think inordinately, I can break this commandment. So at one time I was blameless. I was perfect and I studied this commandment sin revived and I died.

It killed me to produce such a conviction of sin, his own life. This 10th commandment will that's the cause of the affluenza covetousness now want to do the rest of our time is considered the curse that affluenza brings and it really is a curse because it reveals something about us.

It ruins something around us and it ripens into something else. First of all, coveting, reveals dissatisfaction with God's provision.

Look back at Exodus 20 verse 17. Notice the list in verse 17 your neighbor's house wife servant aux donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's. In other words, here's what a covetous person will do a covetous person will compare what he or she has with what somebody else has their neighbor and in making that comparison will feel shortchanged unhappy in effect saying God hasn't been as good to me as he has been to that person and he might start thinking I deserve a better life.

I deserve a better husband. I deserve a better home. I deserve a better job I deserve more recognition they have it and I don't see a covetous person reveals there dissatisfied with what God is provided for them.

You all know what David said about this. It's the most famous Psalm in all of the book of Psalms Psalm 23 the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

We could translate covet because the Lord is in charge of my life. He's my personal shepherd, I don't want anything else.

I don't need anything else. I know he'll provide the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

What you see a coveting sheep really is a disgrace to his shepherd. It's revealing what I think about how that shepherd cares for me as a sheet.

The writer of Hebrews puts it this way.

Hebrews 13 same idea, let your conduct be without covetousness and be content with such things as you have, for he himself said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. So, we may boldly say the Lord is my helper, I will not fear what can man do to me there somebody who is independent of stuff things.

Materialism because he or she realizes the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

He himself that I will never leave or forsake were all in danger of affluenza and today here in Québec was gift weekend division Skip Heitzig begin defining this dizzy this teaching as part of our series God talk to your pastor, Skip studies, each of the 10 Commandments in detail and reveals them in a fresh way you can get your copy of the series that connectwithskip.com. We take it all. 17 teachings and bundle them as an audio CD package for only $39 plus shipping.

Find out more@connectwithskip.com along with this month's special connect with Skip resource fake news used to be restricted to tabloids at the grocery store checkout used to be so obvious. Chimpanzee had put on human body, but now there are entire websites dedicated to helping us figure out the story, speech or statistic is true or not your Skip Heitzig with important question.

Is there such a thing as absolute truth.

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Find out more and connectwithskip.com when we understand disease. We can begin to recognize it in ourselves the next time will learn more about affluenza here and connect with Skip weekend division presentation of connection so you guys never change and ever-changing time