Sunday, September 8, 2013 am
PURER IN HEART (13)
Dangers -2
Lust – Covetousness & Pride
The word typically
translated “lust” in the Greek is a word that means intense desire.
It can have a positive application (Phil 1:23, 1 Thess. 2:17,
Luke 22:15). But when the
word “lust” is found, it is always in a bad sense.
As such the word has reference to intense cravings for that which
you are not entitled to have.
An interesting
passage to consider as we begin our study today is Romans 7:7 which
says, “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.’”
(Also Rom. 13:9) The word “covetousness” and “covet” are based
upon the same word that we have discussed for “lust” (cf. 1 John
2:15-16). And that leads us
to the next form of lust that we will discuss today.
I.
Covetousness – The Lust of the flesh and eyes
a.
Covetousness –
i.
Louw &
Nida (25.22) defines the word (πλεονεξία, pleonexia) [most common usage]
as, “a strong desire to acquire more and more material possessions or to
possess more things than other people have, all irrespective of need”.
A simple definition for covetousness is the lust for things.
ii.
We speak
of the sensual appeal being everywhere in our media and society, but it
receives strong competition from the appeal of materialism.
WE live in a materialistic world.
The pursuit of things is the mantra of the day.
iii.
Wealth is
often portrayed as the way to get what you want, and the miseries are
often downplayed. We are
told that we deserve it and it is made available to us, “with easy
monthly payments”. Our “heroes”
are often showered with wealth, whether it be sports, theatre, movies or
in the business world. Book
stores have shelves devoted to financial security and accumulation.
b.
Covetousness can also find its way into the Lord’s church
i.
It can
cause members to not give as they ought to.
ii.
It can
cause a church to concentrate on the externals instead of its standing
before God. Think of the
attitude condemned in James 2:1-4 dealing with partiality.
iii.
It can
lead to compromise of the truth rather than face material consequences
(such as angering an influential member or offending those in sin).
iv.
There is a
reason its leaders are expected to be “not greedy for money” (1 Tim.
3:3, Titus 1:7).
v.
The health
and wealth gospel appeals to the covetous attitude
- we even have preachers
proclaiming that God wants you to be rich with this world’s possessions.
Many of these charlatans are very successful, in spite of the
warnings in scripture about such.
2 Pet. 2:2-3 speaks of the covetousness of false teachers (and
prophets). 1 Tim. 6:5 speaks
of those who suppose that godliness is a means of gain.
c.
Associated
with covetousness is
selfishness -
i.
Because of
the materialism and worldliness that is so prevalent, we live in a very
selfish society. We are
still in the “me” generation.
Society is replete with examples of the self-serving attitude and
selfish goals. Many of the
reality shows, including game shows demonstrate and provoke selfishness.
The winner of these shows (which last for weeks) will often do
whatever they have to, to win – lie, betray, scheme, etc.
ii.
Selfishness is a work of the flesh – Gal 5:20.
iii.
2 Timothy
3:1-5 gives what I describe as a list of selfishness.
When we sin, chances are it is the product of selfishness.
iv.
Romans
2:5-9 gives warning concerning those who are self-seeking and do not
obey the truth. Indignation
and wrath awaits them.
v.
The
self-serving attitude will NOT complement the pure heart.
In fact, it will taint virtually every attribute of it.
It is the antithesis of the life the Christian is to live –
serving God and others.
vi.
1 John
3:17,“But whoever has this world’s
goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him,
how does the love of God abide in him?”
This is just ONE passage that demonstrates the problem with
selfishness.
vii.
Phil.
2:3-4 calls for us to, with humility, avoid selfish ambitions.
Vs. 5-8 give us the ultimate example of selflessness – our Lord
Jesus Christ.
d.
The
pursuit of things WILL clutter and corrupt the heart.
I say clutter because we may fill our lives with stuff that is
not wrong within itself, but too much of it takes away resources (time,
money, energy, etc.) from matters that serve God and others – which are
qualities of a pure heart.
e.
Jesus
said, probably to His disciples, “Take
heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the
abundance of the things he possesses.” (Luke 12:15)
f.
Ecclesiastes 5:10, “He who loves
silver will not be satisfied with silver; Nor he who loves abundance,
with increase. This also is vanity.”
g.
In the
Parable of the Sower, Jesus described 4 different types of hearts (Luke
8:4-15). One type was the
thorny soil (heart). Vs. 14
says, “Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard,
go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and
bring no fruit to maturity.”
In this we find how STUFF can corrupt the pure heart filling it
with weeds.
h.
Jesus told
the rich, young ruler that his possessions stood in his way of salvation
(Luke 18:18-23).
i.
Peter
spoke of the motives of false teachers as, “having
eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable
souls. They have a heart trained
in covetous practices, and are accursed children.” (2 Peter
2:14)
j.
Colossians
3:5 calls covetousness idolatry & Ephesians 5:3–5 elaborates saying, “But
fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be
named among you, as is fitting for saints; neither filthiness, nor
foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather
giving of thanks. For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person,
nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom
of Christ and God.”
k.
Matt.
6:24, Jesus said, you CANNOT serve 2 masters –God and mammon – a word
that is descriptive of worldly wealth.
l.
Learning contentment and love for others will help one overcome
covetousness.
Heb. 13:5 says, “Let
your conduct be without covetousness.
Be content with such things as you have”
a.
Another
danger to the pure heart.
Like the other sins we have discussed, Jesus said that pride proceeds
from within, out of the hearts of men – Mark 7:21-23.
He concluded, “All these
evil things come from within and defile a man.”
b.
The idea
of pride (ὑπερηφανία, huperephania) is the lust for self-exaltation.
It is descriptive of one who has an inflated sense of himself and
his accomplishments. He sees
himself as great, and usually better than others.
Often he desires to show it.
Not only will he manipulate a situation to put himself in the
best light, he will also look down upon others, often with a different
standard than he holds to himself.
The expression “puffed up” is sometimes used to describe this
egotistical attitude.
c.
The
products of pride include self-righteousness and arrogance.
Self-righteousness, like pride is an attitude of moral superiority, but it deals
specifically with one’s perceived standing before God.
In the parable of the Pharisee and Tax collector (Luke 18:9-14),
Jesus was speaking “to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised
others”. The
self-righteous person is one who you can’t talk to because his ego is so
inflated you can’t bring him down.
Clearly this attitude is condemned.
Arrogance
– is the outward display of one’s
pride and self-righteousness.
It describes one who readily exalts and parades his greatness as
he looks down on others. It
describes one who thinks he is invincible and thus he might act prideful
or foolishly.
When Peter rebuked Jesus saying he would never deny Him, there was some
arrogance there.
Selfishness – like covetousness, pride lends itself to
selfishness as well. When
one acts, he always does so in his own self-interest.
One who is prideful causes suspicion when he does something
charitable. The reason
is because quite often the first question he asks is, “What’s in it for
me?” Consider that tax collector in Luke 18.
Consider also the warning of Jesus in Matthew 6:1-3 concerning
the giving of alms. What
they do is for egotistical praise – to draw attention to themselves.
Matthew 23:5 sais of the hypocritical leaders of Israel, “all
their works they do to be seen of men.”
d.
Prov.
16:5, “Everyone
proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD; Though they join
forces, none will go unpunished”;
Prov. 16:18, “Pride
goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall.”
e.
Prov.
21:4, “A haughty look, a proud
heart, And the plowing of the wicked are sin.”
f.
1 Peter
5:5, “Likewise you younger people,
submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one
another, and be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud, But
gives grace to the humble.”
g.
Developing humility will overcome pride and arrogance
And thus we can see
the dangers of lust to purity of heart.
We have discussed the three avenues of lust in this lesson (1
John 2:16). We will continue
our study next week with other dangers to the pure heart by examining
ignorance and unbelief.
Meanwhile, our goal
in studying these things is to make us aware of them.
We must never forget to be sober and vigilant in our service to
God. That includes keeping
our hearts pure. There is a
common saying, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
That applies as we seek to take care of our physical bodies.
It is also true spiritually.
The first step to avoiding pitfalls is awareness.
Let us seek to be aware not only the qualities that produce a
pure heart, but also those which will taint it.
We are not ignorant of the devices of Satan, lest he take
advantage of us (2 Cor. 2:11).
How is your heart?