Affluenza! - Part A

The tenth commandment can be broken with nobody seeing it. It's all inward, isn't it? Coveting is an inner thing. It's not an outward action. Murdering is outward. Adultery is outward. Stealing is outward. Lying is outward.

Coveting, however, is an inside job. Have you heard about the intoxicated teen driver who lost control of his father's truck, crashing into a car, and some good Samaritans on the side of the road, killing some and injuring others? The cause of his 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 that young man, today here on Connect with Skip Weekend Division, Skip Heitzig reminds us that we're all prone to affluenza, and we'll see why as he continues our study of the Ten Commandments with one that we all struggle with a bit, the command not to covet other people's stuff. Our latest Connection teaching series is called God's Top Ten, and if you've ever wondered how the Ten Commandments fit into your daily living, you're in the right place.

And 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 from the Cultural Research Center found that Christians are almost just as likely to reject the idea of absolute moral truth as they are to accept it. For American adults, belief in absolute moral truth is eroding across all age groups and political ideologies, whether they're churched or unchurched. What that means is that over 75 percent of Christ followers, or those who purport to be Christ followers, are saying that nothing can be known for certain. There is no absolute truth.

What about you? We want to help you understand the nature of truth so you can pursue God's truth and apply it in your life with two brand new booklets by Pastor Skip, Why Truth Matters and God and Suicide. If you fall into that category, what do you do with the claims of Christ? Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. These booklets are our thanks for your gift of $35 or more today to help keep this ministry on the air, connecting more people to God's word.

To give, call 800-922-1888 or give online securely at connectwithskip.com slash offer. In our current series, God's Top 10, we'll be focused on Exodus chapter 20 verse 17 today. So I hope you'll open your Bibles there as we join Pastor Skip for more. Well, how many of you know that things won't make you happy? Stuff doesn't make you happy. In fact, truth be told, stuff 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 a 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 car and she snagged her fender with his fender and the cars hit. They pulled over off the side. The 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 going to 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 this car.

Now 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 misspelled 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 take-off 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. Well, 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 this 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, the 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. We're three times wealthier as a nation than the 1950s. Yet there's more stress and deeper depression today than in the 1950s. Now 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 in, had a bad attitude on life, very discontented, went to see the rabbi. The rabbi pointed to a window and said, what do you see? So the man looked through the window and he said, I see some men, 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 do you see? The wealthy man, frustrated, said, well obviously I see myself. Ah, very interesting, said that wise rabbi, because you see the window has glass.

The mirror also has glass but with a thin lining of silver over the top. No sooner is the silver applied than 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 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. Don't 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 we're not to covet. Now you might say, Skip, this message has nothing at all to do with me. I don't want a donkey.

I don't care about an ox and I don't want a female or a male slave. But you could actually take all of these seven in the list and put them into 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 there? 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 1 Corinthians chapter 6 writes, 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 covetous, will inherit the kingdom of God.

Wow, ouch. In that same category of what many would say are heinous crimes or sins, coveting is put. So let's mull over affluenza this week. Let's mull over it not only this week, but let's mull over it this week and next week, shall we? Because this week I'd like to talk to you about the cause of affluenza and the curse of affluenza, and then next week the cure for this highly contagious virus. And basically what we're 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.

We're going to see that in the next two weeks. Well, 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 chamad, and it means to strongly desire or delight in.

Okay, now doesn't that sound weird? You shall not strongly desire or delight in. You say, what kind of a commandment is that?

What's so bad about strongly desiring or delighting in? Well, actually that's a good question to ask because the word chamad 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 chamad to dwell in.

It's used in a good light. Or in Psalm 19 verse 10 where it talks about the laws, the commandments of God, it says more to be desired are they than gold, yea than much fine gold. Chamad 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 lust after her beauty in your heart.

Chamad, 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 not only good for food, but here's the word desirous to make one wise, chamad. So, a working definition then of coveting would be this, the basic idea is craving or having an inordinate 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 hoard nuts for the winter.

Birds collect sticks and mud to build nests for the young. But there is a huge difference between survival and super abundance. That's the idea here.

Not survival, but super abundance. Mark Twain once said, our necessities never equal our wants. Never equal our wants. Hey, 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 what the average American wants? How many things would you figure? 100, 200, 500 wants.

From 100 years ago, we've jumped from 70 to now 500 wants. We all know who Dennis the Menace is, right? America's favorite brat, five-year-old. Dennis the Menace, in one of the cartoons, was thumbing through a Sears catalog. The catalog came into the house, the Mitchell house, and he was going through it. 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 don't know you wanted, have you ever seen a SkyMall magazine in an airplane? Have you ever wondered who thinks up these things?

I don't know anybody who's gotten one and bought stuff from it. Maybe you have and I don't want to offend you, but I look through some of these things and I'm thinking, who's doing this? Who wants, for instance, on page 42, the animatronic Elvis? Gotta have Elvis in your house, prominently displayed, so you can sing, they know the motor home, you gotta have that. Gotta have that. Or toward the end of the book, toward the end of the book, I found this Bigfoot garden sculpture. Who needs a dog when you can have Bigfoot? And it's only a hundred bucks.

Or how about this one? Sumo wrestler 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, isn't it? Coveting is an inner thing. It's not an outward action. Murdering is outward. Adultery is outward. Stealing is outward. Lying is outward.

Coveting, however, is an inside job. And here's what's interesting about the 10th commandment. It's 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, his list of honors in Philippians chapter 3.

He says, let me tell you about myself. I was circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin. Concerning the law of Pharisee, concerning zeal, I persecuted the church.

But 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 and 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 diffused 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 where we're at in Exodus 20, to Romans chapter 7.

Again, this is autobiographical. This is Paul speaking about himself, his life. Romans chapter 7 verse 7. 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, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law, sin was dead. I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And 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 got to do to break this commandment is open my eyes in the morning. I don't even have to get out of bed. I don't have to leave the house. I can open 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. Then I studied this commandment. Sin revived and I died.

It killed me. It produced such a conviction of sin in his own life, this 10th commandment. Well, that's the cause of affluenza, covetousness. Now, what I want to do the rest of our time is consider 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, 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, ox, 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 wife. 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. And you see, a covetous person reveals they're dissatisfied with what God has 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. Or you could translate it, 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. But 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 sheep. 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's somebody who is independent of stuff, things, materialism, because he or she realizes, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He himself said, I will never leave or forsake you.

We're all in danger of affluenza, aren't we? And today here in Connect with Skip Weekend Edition, Skip Heidzig began defining this disease. And this teaching is part of our series, God's Top Ten, where Pastor Skip studies each of the Ten Commandments in detail and reveals them in a fresh way. You can get your copy of this series at connectwithskip.com.

We've taken all 17 teachings and bundled them as an audio CD package for only $39 plus shipping. Find out more at connectwithskip.com along with this month's special Connect with Skip resource. Fake news. It used to be restricted to tabloids at the grocery store checkout, and it used to be so obvious.

Chimpanzee head put on human body. But now there are entire websites dedicated to helping us figure out if a story, speech, or statistic is true or not. Here's Skip Heidzig with an important question. Is there such a thing as absolute truth? I want you to just think about that question. We want to help you get started in answering that question with two brand new booklets by Pastor Skip, Why Truth Matters and God and Suicide. You see, the Bible makes truth claims, and some of those claims are, well, pretty absolute. But how can you know it's really true? These resources will help you better understand the nature of truth so you can pursue God's truth in your life. And there are a way to thank you for your gift of $35 or more today to help expand this Bible teaching outreach.

Get your copies when you give online securely at connectwithskip.com slash offer, or call 800-922-1888. Well, you've heard about it, so maybe it's time for you to add the Skip Heidzig channel to your Roku lineup. When you do, you'll get live streaming of all services and access to over 3,500 teachings by Pastor Skip. Find out more at connectwithskip.com. When we understand disease, we can begin to recognize it in ourselves. And next time, we'll learn more about affluenza, right here on Connect with Skip Weekend Edition, a presentation of Connection Communications. .... connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.