Covetousness Is Idolatry

Well, I have often been struck by the phrase that's found in our text for today in Colossians 3, 5, which tells us that covetousness is idolatry. Covetousness is idolatry. And there are other texts in the Bible that tell us essentially the same thing. Now in our text for today, that last phrase, covetousness, which is idolatry, maybe I should say the last phrase, which is idolatry, is by some commentators attached to everything that is in the verse. In other words, fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which all are idolatry. It's obvious that there is some truth in that particular interpretation because all of the things in this verse can become idols and very often do become idols in the hearts of men and women. But the question is not what does the text allow us to think about, but rather what actually does it say?

What did the Holy Spirit of God say through the Apostle Paul when he inspired him to write this text? And I have become convinced that both according to the Greek grammar and to parallel texts in other places that the attachment of covetousness to idolatry is exactly what the Holy Spirit has in mind. Idolatry is therefore especially attached to the sin of covetousness.

Though it's true that it can be attached to any sin, any sin can become an idol. Nevertheless, this text and others tell us that covetousness is particularly dangerous. Covetousness is particularly vulnerable to the sin of idolatry.

And let's see if we can understand why. And I would like for us to look at five areas of consideration. First, let's notice the reality which covetousness discloses. Covetousness, or as some translations put it, greed, which amounts to idolatry as one translation puts it, tell us that this Greek word translated in my version, covetousness, and in other versions, greed, is a word that can equally be translated either way. Two words that in the English are similar but not identical, but probably both of the ideas of the English word covetousness as well as the English word greed are legitimately found in the Greek word which underlies this text. So, the reality which covetousness discloses, and let me pose three questions to get at the answer to that particular consideration. Number one, what is covetousness? And number two, what is idolatry?

We're joining them together in our text. And number three, why is covetousness idolatry? What is covetousness or what is greed? The Greek word is a compound word that simply means to have more.

More to have is the Greek order of this compound word. And therefore, at its root, it means to have more, but it rises above that idea to desiring more and to live for getting more and more and more and more. In other words, it is a strong desire to have more than you currently possess. Covetousness, in our English understanding, is a desire to have what belongs to another. We see something that someone else has and we want that for ourselves or we want something just like that for ourselves. We are covetous, not only for what that other person possesses that we don't, but often intermixed with envy because that person has it and we don't. Whereas greed, similar, does not necessarily carry the idea of wanting what others have, it just has the idea of wanting more than I have. This is what I have, I'm not satisfied with that, I want more, I want more, I want more, I want more, I want more.

That's what is conveyed by the word greed. And though only Christians would probably understand this statement, covetousness is a dissatisfaction with what God has currently supplied. It is saying I'm not satisfied with what I have, I'm not satisfied with what God has given me. God hasn't given me enough, God has not given me what I, many times we would supply the word need, though often times that's not really the correct word because God has promised to supply the needs of his children. So I take it that what we have is what we need, but sometimes we don't think so, but regardless of that, we're dissatisfied with what God has supplied for us. Why has he given that person more than he's given me? Why can that person enjoy this and I can't?

Why don't I have more of this world's goods? Dissatisfaction with what God has supplied, that's covetousness. What is idolatry? Well, idolatry is simply the worship of something or someone other than the one true God. We who have been saved by the grace of God have been made to know the one true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Yahweh, as he was addressed in our morning prayer. The God of the Bible, the God of creation, the God who was able to bring everything in this universe into existence by the speaking of a word.

What a mighty God, what an incredible God, what an unfathomable God. The only real God, all other gods are make believe, all other gods are fake, all other gods are a dim, dim, dim distant reflection of what God is and who God is. The Bible tells us that to worship something or someone other than the true God is idolatry. Or we could say idolatry is putting something above God in our affections and desires. We are to love the Lord our God, affections, to love the Lord our God with all of our heart and soul and mind and strength. We are to desire to know him and to fellowship with him. That's the way God created Adam and Eve in the garden, to know him, to fellowship with him, to desire his communion, and to be satisfied with him and he alone as their hearts desire in full satisfaction.

And yet in the fall that was lost, that desire was broken, that connection was broken, that proximity, that closeness to God Almighty was broken. And from that point on there has always been not only the tendency but actually the reality that most people put other things than God in the place of their hearts affections, their hearts desires, what it is that they want out of life, what it is that they are aiming for in life. It is anything but the desire to know God, to draw close to him, to be satisfied with him. Idolatry is to give something to the devotion that belongs only to God, to give to something or someone the devotion that belongs only to God. Idolatry is to seek satisfaction in something other than God. Why therefore is covetous idolatry as Paul by the Spirit of God tells us in our text and it should be pretty obvious by now but it's because covetousness makes material possessions and material gain getting more of those possessions are God. That's what is supreme in our affections and desires.

More than God we want this, that and the other thing. More than God we desire other things and we think we'll find our satisfaction in them and therefore covetousness which is the strong desire for more and more things is in fact idolatry. It is putting money and the things which they buy above God. It is in short idolatry without images. The idolatry that we find in the Bible usually is accompanied by manufacturing images that are worshipped as God, images of stone or wood or precious metals. But the idolatry that most people at least in the Western world are guilty of is not bowing down to images but it is nevertheless putting something or in some cases someone above God in our hearts affections and desires. It is practicing idolatry without a single image, a single idol.

We can be idolaters without having what is obviously an idol. And so the first area of endeavor to dig into this subject is the reality which covetousness discloses and we learn that the presence of covetousness reveals idolatry in our hearts. Those who are covetous are idolatrous whether they recognize it or not whether others recognize it or not but God says that is the case.

If you are allowing covetousness to find place in your heart to that extent you are idolatrous, you are worshipping other gods than the one true God. The reality that covetousness discloses, number two the company that it keeps, that takes us to our text, the entirety of our text. Therefore based upon the indicative of verses one through four we come to an imperative in verse five. The facts, the information that was given us in verses one through four now brings us to something that we are to do in light of this knowledge in verse five. Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth, put to death those elements of your earthly life that tend toward these things.

What are they? Number one fornication, number two uncleanness, number three passion, number four evil desire and number five covetousness which is idolatry. Please notice the company that covetousness keeps, four words that describe sexual immorality followed by a fifth word that is greed or covetousness and is singled out as especially being idolatrous. Four words for various sexual sins and we need to avoid these as Paul tells us.

Therefore put to death, put to death. In Christ you died, in Christ you rose again, in Christ you are a new creature, in Christ you have the life of Christ within you but you're still in this world and you are not entirely sanctified. And even though the Holy Spirit has put you to death in Christ, that's how you are justified, the Holy Spirit commands you to put to death these sins in your life that are number one fornication. The way we use the word fornication today it generally refers to sex outside of marriage, generally premarital sex as distinct from adultery but the fornication as it's found in the Bible is actually any form of sexual activity outside of marriage. The Greek word is parnia, that's where we get the word pornography but fornication is not really focusing upon pornography, the depiction of illicit sexual acts but it is focusing upon the acts themselves. Any sexual activity with anyone who is not your legitimate marriage partner is fornication, fornication which was rife in the world and which Paul wrote to the Colossians all throughout the Roman Empire, it was rife. In fact it's pretty difficult to find any place in all the world where fornication was not very, very, very common, encouraged and practiced and these people were saved out of that background as the passage we read at the beginning earlier in the service shows us.

And Paul is saying that was your former life but don't let it characterize your present life, put out of your life fornication, any, any sexual act, any sexual activity, any sexual interchange or intercourse with anyone who is not your married partner, fornication. Number two, uncleanness. Uncleanness is sometimes translated impurity and now our focus turns to thoughts and words involving fornication but may not be the actual practice of sexual activity but it is flirting with sexual activity by viewing images of others who are involved in sexual activity. And dirty jokes that are found everywhere in our world today, you have to put up with that no doubt at work unless you live in a very, very unusual work environment and how you should thank God if God has put you in a place where this is not common because it is common for most of your brothers and sisters in Christ to be in a place where they are continually hearing dirty jokes being spread. Let that never cross the lips of one of God's children.

Let none of us ever blemish our Christian testimony by joining in to such ribald humor and enjoying it and laughing about it because that is the uncleanness which God says we are to put out of our lives. So number one fornication, number two uncleanness, number three passion. Passion or strong desires, it could here be translated erotic desires because of the context in which it is found and it means uncontrolled and unrestrained desires. Desires that are strong and so strong that we think we can't control them and we therefore indulge them and often times say well I can't help it, God made me this way, I've got to have an outlet, an expression for this and so these strong, strong erotic passions and desires. Paul by the Spirit of God says if you are a child of God you can and should and must get that out of your life as well.

And the fourth one, evil desire is very closely connected with the third and that has the idea of illicit cravings, craving what is forbidden. And so whether we are talking about the actual activity that involves sexual conduct outside of marriage, whether we are talking about uncleanness which is the viewing of and thinking about sexual activity that is forbidden by God. Whether it is the passions that arise within our Adamic nature that cry out for release in these things or other evil desires that drive us in that direction.

Paul says identify those, recognize that they don't belong to Christians, they belong to the unredeemed, they belong to your former life, recognize those and get them out of your life. What a sordid list of sins to then come to the fifth one, the fifth sin in the list which is covetousness. But we are considering the company which covetousness keeps. Covetousness therefore is evidently not a respectable sin as some I am sure have categorized it. I am not hurting anybody, I am not striking anybody, I am not killing anybody, I am not doing anything, I am not even involved in fornication, adultery or whatever.

I just have the normal natural desire that everybody has to have this or have that, what is wrong with that? Yeah, notice the company that covetousness keeps and realize there is something pretty seriously wrong with this. If it can be listed right along with fornication and uncleanness and passion, erotic passions and evil desires then evidently covetousness is a pretty serious matter.

Notice that by the company which it keeps. It is not a respectable sin as if there were anything that could properly be called a respectable sin. Certainly not in God's sight, if it is in our sight then there is something wrong with our sight.

We need to have an adjustment in our ability to see. You remember of course the tenth commandment in the Decalogue, don't you? What is the tenth commandment? You shall not covet. This whole list of things that you shall not do, you shall not steal, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not bear false witness, no lying, no stealing, no adultery and so forth.

When you get to the last one, you shall not covet. That one is a little puzzling in some ways because all of the others are things that are outward and are activities that are seen by others at times, not always when we do them, but often seen by others when we do them. Certainly some of these have to involve other people and most of them are things that other people will hear us say or view our doing. But when it comes to covetousness, this can be entirely within our hearts and in some cases pretty well contained there.

Though in many cases it does break out of simply desires into actual activities of one kind or another. Covetousness leads to stealing, covetousness leads to deception, lying to one another and so forth. But it is in the Decalogue, the tenth of the ten commandments, which gives us some idea of God's viewpoint of covetousness. Thou shalt not covet. And it goes on to say, you shall not covet your neighbor's house, you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, you shall not covet his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's. That's God's view. And here in our text for today, covetousness and sexual immorality are placed in very close proximity.

They seem to fall into the same category of something even though they're very different. In our estimation, fornication, that's over here, covetousness, that's over here and we wouldn't normally put those together but what I'm showing you is that God does put them together. Let me give you a couple of other texts. 1 Corinthians 5, 9 and 10, writing to the Corinthian church, Paul says, I wrote to you in my epistle not to company with sexually immoral people. You know, I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world or with the covetous, there it is in the same category, or extortioners, people who steal, or idolaters, there's idolatry again attached to this.

Since then you would need to go out of the world. Yes, here's another place where God puts covetousness along with sexual sins and calls it idolatry. Or 1 Corinthians 6, 9 and 10, do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither fornicators nor idolaters. Well, there it is again, side by side. Fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor homosexuals nor sodomites nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.

We need to let that sink in. Along with the habitually immoral who will not repent and stop their immoral conduct. Along with the habitually drunken who will not acknowledge the sin of drunkenness and stop their indulgence in alcohol. Along with extortioners and others that if they will not repent of their sins and be freed from their sins are going to eternal destruction. Right along with that list we find the covetous will also find themselves in the place of eternal condemnation. Listen to Ephesians 5, 3 through 5, but fornication, there it is, and all uncleanness or covetousness.

God, do you have to keep putting these things together? Fornication, uncleanness, 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. Did I say that?

No. I would have been hesitant to say that. I'm just telling you what God said. And if He said it, it's true. And if He said it, covetousness is serious. If He said it, we'd better give heed to this. If He said it, we'd better get a handle on this.

If He said it, we need to take this seriously. Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch, but this is the word of the living God. There are innumerable sins in the world around us and within our own heart, but there are two that dominate.

What are they? Sexual immorality and greed. That's what really dominates in this world in which we live. That's what drives most people.

Other things, yes, are there, but what is it that seems to be the captivating, motivating power that drives most people? It is either sexual immorality or greed or both. And greed, of course, leads to a lot of other things. The Bible tells us that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.

We'd better take this seriously. And so, therefore, moving from the reality which covetousness discloses, namely that it is, it indicates the presence of idolatry, and the company that it keeps as we find it in very, the company of other very, very serious sins, we now thirdly look at the reality that it denies. And the reality that it denies, and I've already touched upon it, is how serious it is. We don't tend to think of covetousness as being a particularly serious matter. Most of us would agree with the Bible when it tells us that illicit sex is bad, it's very bad, it's very dangerous. We can see how it ruins lives, we can see how it captivates men's hearts, how it pushes out thoughts of God and thoughts of truth, and keeps driving people on and on and on to eventual destruction. We can see that, but can we understand that covetousness does the very same thing? It captivates the heart, it drives our lives, it shapes our motives, it determines what many people do.

And, if it is not recognized and repented of, cleansed and removed by the power of God, it will lead people to hell who have never committed an act of adultery, who have never done anything obviously unkind to their neighbor. They've been a pretty good neighbor, seemingly living by the golden rule. But covetousness, greed, desire for more, the acquiring of more, has been the goal of their lives to shut out everything else until one day they die and drop into a Christless eternity, having achieved maybe some of the things that they wanted to get. Never all, because greed is never satisfied.

Have you noticed how many? I saw an article recently that said something like 40-some percent of millionaires say they're middle class. They don't have enough.

They've got to become a multi-multi-multi-millionaire before they'll admit to being rich. It's never enough when you have this desire, when this is what motivates you, when this is what drives you, when I want to have more, I want to have more, I've got to have more, I've got to have more. I'm not satisfied with this.

I'm not content that this is enough to give me safety in the rest of my life, security. I've got to have more and more and more and more. It's never enough.

It doesn't matter how much you have. The millionaire wants five million and the five millionaire wants ten million and so forth. On it goes. And greed is never enough. And that will lead us to hell, just like sexual sins. Sexual immorality we recognize will destroy us, but covetousness, do we recognize that that also will destroy us if it is not checked? Sexual immorality will control us, will consume us, will destroy us, but greed will also control us, consume us.

And eventually destroy us. Sexual immorality, unrecognized and unrepented of, will take you to hell. But covetousness, unrecognized and unrepented of, will also take you to hell. Because it is idolatry and nobody goes to hell worshiping a false god.

I mean, nobody goes to heaven worshiping a false god. Thinking of the Decalogue once again, the Ten Commandments, have you ever noticed there's a connection between the First Commandment and the Tenth Commandment? The first is, you shall have no other gods before me. I am the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. That's why you shall not covet your neighbor's house, or his wife, or anything that is your neighbor's.

Because if you covet something that belongs to your neighbor, then you are idolatrous, you are worshiping some other god besides the one true and living god. And so there is actually this connection between Commandment One and Commandment Ten. And so the reality that covetousness denies is the reality that this is a serious sin that will damn souls to hell if it is not recognized and forsaken.

Which brings me, number four, to the penalty which it incurs. Our text tells us that it incurs God's wrath. Verse five, Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth, fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry, because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience. The penalty for these sins, unrepented of, unforsaken, unremoved from our hearts, will bring the wrath of God upon us. God's wrath, an often overlooked truth in the Bible. God's disfavor, God does not favor those who continue in these sins.

God's opposition, God will oppose those who continue on in sexual immorality and will not stop. And God will oppose those who continue on in covetous idolatry and will not stop. And if we need anything in our lives, we need God to be for us, not against us.

Do you agree? We need God for us, not against us. And yet here we are told there are things that if we will persist in them and will not let go of them in spite of the admonitions that are given to us in the word of God, that God's wrath will come upon us, God's opposition will come upon us, God's favor will be withdrawn from us. We will find ourselves as enemies of God. That's pretty serious stuff.

I don't know anything that could be more serious. So I come number five to the practicality that covetousness encourages. Knowing these things, what should we do?

And I think two things. Number one, we need to cultivate contentment. That's the opposite of covetousness. Covetousness is discontentment with what I have.

I always want more. And so the remedy for that is the cultivation of contentment. You remember what Paul said to the Philippians in chapter four, not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am to be content. I know how to be abased and I know how to abound.

Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. That doesn't mean that you can become a super athlete through Christ which strengthens you. I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. I can be content with whatever God gives. That's what that verse is saying.

I have a little sticker that Nancy Verdi gave me some time ago. It says, I can do all things through a verse taken out of context. Awful lot of people leaning on a verse that doesn't say what they think it says. What Paul was saying is through Christ I can learn to be content. I can cultivate contentment.

And we need to do that as well. Contentment is number one something that is enabled by the new birth. Unconverted people will never be content. Those who have not experienced a new birth will never be content. People who have not truly been born again will not be able to get rid of this covetousness within their hearts because you have to be a child of God with a new heart, with new spiritual understanding, with new spiritual resources, with the Holy Spirit of God within you. That's the only way you'll break this bond of covetousness that makes you discontent with your lot in life. And therefore that's the reason why so many church members seem to be motivated and captured by materialism and covetousness is because frankly many church members have never been born again.

And that's where it's got to start. And if you're having trouble with this, if you're struggling with this and can't seem to get a handle on it, then maybe what you need to do is go to the Lord and say, Lord, is it possible that I've never been born again? If so, please show me because I need your divine help. I need your divine transformation.

I need the change that only you can bring to my heart if I'm ever going to break out of this bondage of covetousness. But the Apostle Paul didn't say, I learned to be content on the day that I was born again. He said, over time I have learned in my Christian life to be content. In other words, contentment is something that is enabled by the new birth, but contentment number two is something that must be cultivated, that must be learned by the people of God. We still carry with us into the Christian life these old Adamic sins, these old Adamic desires, these old Adamic attachments to this physical world. And sometimes it's hard to let them go. Sometimes we have to ask the Holy Spirit of God, pry my fingers off these things.

Please, Lord, help me. Something that has to be learned and Paul learned it. And how did he learn it? Well, because he learned that there is someone to be trusted supremely, namely God.

He learned that God is sovereign in his rule and that God disposes to his children what he wants them to have at any particular time. And he doesn't give the same things, the same amounts to everyone. And it's perfectly within his right to give more to this one and less to that one. And we have no right to question that or to chafe against it. God is sovereign.

That's his right to rule in this way. And Paul learned that. I've learned whatever state I am therewith to be content. Paul learned to bow to God's sovereign rule. Paul learned to believe in God's immense wisdom, unrivaled wisdom. Paul learned to entrust himself into God's amazing love. Paul learned to believe the promises of God when God said and Paul wrote it down as the Holy Spirit gave it to him. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose. We quote it.

Do we really know it? And we know that all things work together for good. Then how come you're so dissatisfied with the things that God has brought into your life? How come you're not trusting him to make all these things to work together for your good? How come you don't believe in his wisdom to do better for you than you would do for yourself if you could make your choices freely without his involvement?

How come you don't believe that God will indeed supply your needs as he has promised to do and many other promises that are in the word of God? And so to learn contentment, we have to learn to trust God. To learn contentment, we have to grow in our worship of God. God is not only someone to be trusted, but he's someone to be worshipped. And to worship him supremely as the one true God and to put no other gods before him is to deal with any idolatrous desires in our lives so that we can worship God without hindrance. To worship God means to find our satisfaction in our worship of him, to need nothing more than knowing him and delighting in him and living in the truth of his word and fellowshipping and communing with him in prayer and serving him being our highest goal, our highest motive in life and trusting him to give us what he knows we need as we give ourselves to serve him. We give him ourselves and we trust him to supply what we need as we serve him with all of our heart and soul and mind and strength.

Jesus said, your Heavenly Father knows you have need of these things. Why are you worrying? Why are you fretting?

Why are you grasping? Why are you thinking about what will happen tomorrow if this happens and I don't have enough of this or don't have enough of that? Your Heavenly Father, your Heavenly Father knows exactly what you need. He knows you have need of these things. So seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and, and what? All these things will be added unto you. Is that God's promise? Is it? Amen.

Do you believe it? So the first thing is to cultivate content, but the second thing is to cultivate giving. That'll break. That'll break the bond of covetousness. It's the opposite of getting, giving. Reluctant givers usually are reluctant because they have a covetous heart. It's not a matter of economic status. Some of the stentiest people I know are rich people and some of the most generous people I know are poor people who would give you anything even though they have almost nothing.

It's not a matter of economic status. It's a matter of either having or not having a covetous heart. Reluctant givers have a covetous heart.

Minimal givers have divided hearts. Generous givers have God honoring hearts. They've learned to trust God. They've learned to love God.

They've learned to believe the promises of God. They believe that he will draw close to those who honor him in all of their ways, including giving to him. They believe that he will reward cheerful givers. They believe that he will enable fruitful growth in the ability to give to those who give. He who sows sparingly shall reap also sparingly. He who sows bountifully shall reap also bountifully. And that's why I have come over the years to view the Faith Promise program that we started back in 1970 something when Mel Rudder was with us.

Do any of you remember Mel Rudder? That goes way back. I've come to view that not first and foremost as a way of funding missions but first and foremost as a way for Christians to grow in grace and knowledge. And one of the areas of growing in grace is giving.

And that is such an essential area. To not learn to do that means that covetousness has too big a place in your life which means that you still have remnants of idolatry in your life. And so you need to learn to break that by cultivating contentment on the one hand and cultivating giving on the other hand. And the Faith Promise program will help you to do that.

So begin with the tithe. If you're not there yet just make that your goal. And it may take you a while to get there because you've got to adjust your budget. Got to adjust your borrowing.

Got to adjust your spending. So work at it until you get there. And then when you've achieved that just keep going.

Just keep going. You say, I don't believe in tithing. That's Old Testament.

Yeah it is. Way before Moses. It goes way, way, way, way, way back to Abraham.

And back to Jacob. And no it's not a command for God's New Testament, New Covenant people like it was for his people under Moses. But it's still a good, a good amount to figure out. Am I covetous or not? Covetous hearts will deceive ourselves. They will convince us that this little bit I give is generous. It's enough. If you're not giving a tithe you're not probably doing very much in giving the way God views it. This has been the basic standard for millennia.

No reason to just ignore it. That'll help you know where you are in the scale of covetousness. If you just can't do that, can't bring yourself to do that, can't agree that that's a good place to start then you need to examine your heart for covetousness. But continue to give and as God blesses and supplies give more. And then you'll be able to enjoy with a clear conscience the blessings of a covetous free heart. You'll be able to truly enjoy the bounty that God always bestows upon those who freely and generously give to him.

The Lord loves a cheerful giver and cheerful generous givers are not covetous idolatrous people. Shall we pray? Oh Father we need to examine texts like this. We need these truths to be set before us. We need materialism and covetousness which is idolatry to be driven out of our Adamic hearts that still cleave to the things of this earth. We need oh Lord to trust you more. We need to love you more. We need to worship you more. We need to become more involved in the work of Christ's kingdom. And therefore help us in all of these areas we pray in Jesus name. Amen.