Introduction

 

1. This is a lesson that I think we all need to think about because we are all covetous. Yes, we are all covetous and so you must not even try and say you are not.

 

2. Now this lesson is not just so you can think about covetousness, it is a lesson to make you think and then do something about it. If you are going to say, “Oh, but I am not even covetous!” then I think you should go home now. This lesson is for people who want to grow and learn how to please God, it is not a lesson for people who want to pretend that this lesson is not for them.

 

3. This lesson is not only for you girls, it is for boys as well, and for anyone else who sees this lesson.

 

4. Now you might be saying, “Oh, what is she on about because we do not even know what covetous means?” Well, by the time we finish this lesson, you will know what it means and you will be expected to do something about it.

 

I. So What Is Covetousness?

 

A. I have looked in lots of places to find out what covetous means.

 

1. Here are some ways of saying what it means…

 

a. To be greedy.

 

b. To keep wanting more of things.

 

c. To keep wanting everything you see.

 

2. Here are some things we say that show we are greedy…

 

a. “That dinner was really nice and it has filled me up and I really should not have any sweet. Well, ok, I will just have a small piece.” You are being greedy but you are trying to fool yourself and make other people think you are not greedy by saying, “Ok, I will just have a small piece, though.” Find out what your weight should be and then stand on the scales and even those scales will tell you that you are greedy, even if people are too polite to say anything. That is what happens, people get grossly overweight through overeating because they are greedy but no one says anything.

 

1) Now some people are overweight because of illnesses and so that does not mean they are greedy. I am not saying that people who are overweight are covetous or greedy, no. Only people who are grossly overweight because they eat too much are greedy.

 

2) Now listen because this is important: we have to be careful about judging people wrongly. What I mean is that you might see someone who is overweight and say, “Oh, they must be greedy people.” Well, that might not be true because some people have some kind of illness and they cannot help being overweight. So before you make a judgement like that you have to make sure you have your fact straight. So be very careful not to judge people just by outward appearances.

 

b. “Hmm! I have six pairs of shoes but I need another pair to go to that party” or, “I have eight skirts but we are having people around for supper and so I need a new one for that.” So, the next time you say, “Oh, I need a new skirt” or something like that, just take a look in your wardrobe and see how many pairs of shoes, trainers, skirts, dresses, pullovers, and tops you have, and then you will see how greedy you are.

 

c. “Ooooh, I would really like that laptop!” or “Look at that bag! I would really like that, yes.” That is what we (so that means me as well) say when we go to the mall and keep seeing things in those store windows. Take a note pad with you the next time we all go to the mall and write down what each other says when they see something in a store window. If you do that, then you will see how greedy we are. And, do you keep saying to your parents, “Mom, I really want a laptop like all my friends” or “Daaaaddy, can I have some money for an X-Box?” That shows that you are just wanting things all the time and it means you are greedy or covetous.

 

d. “Daaady, can I have an increase in my allowance?” Now, you might already be getting a good allowance but because you keep wanting things all the time, you keep asking for an increase.

 

II. Can People Know If You Are Greedy?

 

A. Now some people are very greedy but they think that people cannot even know about that. It is like when you are jealous or something like that; it is something going on inside your head and so you think, “Oh, nobody even knows about that.” Well, that is where you are wrong! You can easily tell if someone is greedy, yes.

 

B. So how can you tell if somebody is greedy or covetous (we must learn to say “covetous” because that is what the Bible says)?

 

1. Here are some ways…

 

a. Listen to what someone talks about. Someone my mom used to know just talked about fixing up their house all the time. She just kept telling mom all the things they were doing to the house and how much it cost. Some of you girls just talk about all the clothes you have and what clothes you want all the time. So that is greedy or covetous talking that shows what is really inside your brain.

 

b. Look at people. Some people are so grossly overweight through overeating that they can hardly walk. People that overeat and get like that are greedy (but like I already said, some people are overweight because of medical problems, so be careful not to say they are greedy until you know for sure they are overweight because they overeat). Some people are always getting and wearing new and expensive clothes. That is because they are covetous.

 

c. Look at what people do. Some people, when you go to their house, are just showing you all the new things they have bought since the last time you were there. That is because they are covetous. Some people just keep working all the time for more and more money and they are always checking their bank accounts to see how much money they have. That is because they are greedy for money. Some people are always going shopping all the time. That is because they are covetous. 

 

2. So you can see that you can tell when someone is covetous.

 

C. So, if I am so greedy or covetous, how come no one even says anything to me? Here is what I think about that:

 

1. People are scared about hurting your feelings. Now supposing you are very greedy and overeat all the time and people see you are grossly overweight because they see you overeating all the time, do you think people will say anything? So many do not say anything. People will not come up to you and say, “Oh, I keep seeing you overeating and you are so overweight and so you are covetous and so you had better start losing some weight.” Well, that rebuke would hurt someone’s feelings wouldn’t it? And that is what people do not want to do. People do need to be rebuked but you must rebuke them in a loving way, not a nasty way.

 

2. People are scared of a break up. Supposing I come up to you and say, “Oh, you are always talking about all the things you want all the time. I think you are covetous and you need to start thinking about what other people need for a change.” Now, you might say to me, “BECKY, you are such a rude girl and you have said some very horrible things about me and so now I do not even want to be your friend anymore.” So maybe I am scared to say that in case we have a break up.

 

3. People would be criticizing themselves!!! There are so many people that are covetous and so they will not saying anything because they know they would just be criticized back. Now how can you have one person who is grossly overweight because of overeating rebuke another person who is grossly overweight because of overeating? And how can you have someone who is grossly overweight because they overeat rebuke someone who only cares about making money all the time? So that is why hardly anyone ever says anything. When no one says anything we feel like its ok.

 

III. So What Is So Bad About Covetousness?

 

A. I think you should understand what covetous is by now. So now we will look and see what the Bible says about it:

 

1. Covetousness (greediness, the wanting of things all the time) is bad because some people think that is what life is all about.

 

"Then He said to them, Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions" (Luke 12:15 NASBR)

 

a. You have to beware of covetousness and be on your guard against every form of greed.

 

b. Because even if you get everything you want and keep on getting things, it will not make you live any longer and it will not make you happy. Getting things all the time is not what life is all about.

 

2. Greediness leads to all other kinds of bad things.

 

"For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs" (1 Timothy 6:10 NASBR)

 

a. Greediness leads to all other kinds of evil. “To what the ‘other kinds of evil’ refer, we may deduce from other sins of which covetousness is associated: perverting judgment (1 Samuel 8:3), murder (Ezekiel 22:27; James 4:2), violence and oppression (Micah 2:2), theft (Joshua 7:21), adultery (2 Samuel 11:1-4), fornication (Proverbs 6:24-26), incest (2 Samuel 13:1-15), disobedience to God (Genesis 2:16-17 > 3:6), slothfulness (Proverbs 13:4; 21:25-26), pride – boasting in the accomplishments of evil desires (Psalms 10:2-3), murder, violence, and oppression (Jeremiah 22:17), apostasy (Mark 4:19; 1 Timothy 6:10), malice, envy, and hate (Titus 3:3), willful ignorance (2 Peter 3:3-5), derision (Luke 16:13-14) and blasphemy (2 Timothy 3:2)” (I got this from my daddy’s book, ‘Diseases of the Heart.’ It is very good and I think you should read it. Tell me if you want to read it and I will tell you where you get it).

 

b. If you have a covetous brain then you will not even care about anything but yourself and so you will probably stop going to church, you will not read your Bible, and you will not say your prayers because all you care about is money, food, and getting more clothes and things all the time. Those things will not make you happy if that is what you think and you will be sad and even lose eternal life – Matthew 16.26.

 

3. Covetousness is idolatry. Now we talked about idolatry before and you girls said, “Oh, we only worship God and we do not bow down to bits of wood or anything like that, so we are not idolaters.” Well, if you are greedy then you are an idolater and that is what the Bible says:

 

"Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry" (Colossians 3:5 NASBR)

 

a. It says that greed amounts to idolatry, doesn’t it?

 

b. So why does greed amount to idolatry? Well, you have to think about what it means to be an idolater.

 

“To whatsoever we yield our wills is our Lord, whatsoever is the motive for all our thoughts, words and actions is our master, and whatsoever we adore and delight in is our God. Thus, the man who is covetous (“eager to have more” 4124) of wealth has made mammon his god” (Quotes & Things, D. Collins).

 

4. You will not have eternal life if you are a greedy person.

 

a. A person who is greedy will start sinning in other ways – 1 Timothy 6.10.

 

b. So if you start sinning in other ways then you will not inherit eternal life will you? Look at what the Bible says…

 

"Nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Corinthians 6:10 NASBR)

 

IV. So What Do You Have To Do?

 

A. Well, first, you really need to examine yourself and stop deceiving yourself.

 

"Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?" (2 Corinthians 13:5 KJV)

 

"Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, the covetous will not inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Corinthians 6:9-10)

 

1. Examine yourself. That is why I made this lesson, so we can all examine ourselves. It might be scary to examine ourselves but that is what the Bible says we must do. So are you grossly overweight from overeating all the time? Are you always talking about things you want all the time? Do you keep wanting things that you see in the stores or advertised on TV? If you are covetous and you can confess it then I will be very proud of you and God will be proud of you for admitting it as well.

 

2. Do not deceive yourself. Now if you have said, “Oh, I am not covetous or greedy one little bit!” then you have to be very, very careful that you are not deceiving yourself.

 

a. Look in the mirror, listen to what you say, and look how you behave. If you try and pretend that you are not covetous or come up with all kinds of excuses then you are deceiving yourself. That means you are lying to yourself, lying to your brothers and sisters in Christ, and lying to God. And you know what will happen to liars don’t you?  

 

b. Now another way to see if you are deceiving yourself is to think about what would happen if someone tried to live exactly the way you live. So if they copied your eating habits, would they get grossly overweight? If they repeated everything you say, would they be boasting about all the things they have or want all the time? If they did what you did, would they be working all the time to get as much money as they could and going out and buying things all the time, and spending thousands of dollars on their homes? So think about that.

 

B. Second, you must learn to trust in God and be content.

 

1. You can get things the right way or the wrong way. You can choose. The wrong way to get things is by being greedy or coveting. The right way to get things is to trust God.

 

a. Jesus says we just need to pray for our daily bread – Matthew 6.11.

 

b. God knows what we need and He cares about us and He says should not worry about it.

 

"No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof" (Matthew 6:24-34 KJV)

 

2. So, if you are trusting God to give you good things then you should just be content with what God gives you – Philippians 4.11, Hebrews 13.5. If you are not happy with what God gives you then you are just being ungrateful and you have greed in your heart.

 

C. Third, you must exercise self-control.

 

"And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible" (1 Corinthians 9:25 KJV)

 

"Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me" (Psalms 119:133 KJV)

 

D. Forth, you must repent. Now we spoke about what repentance means a long time ago and so you should remember what that is all about. This is going to very hard to do and you will either do it or you will just become sad.

 

"And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God. Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother. And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up. Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me. And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich. And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!" (Luke 18:18-24 KJV)

 

1. If you are greedy for food then you must exercise self-control: eat healthily and exercise and do not make up any excuses. Just do it.

 

2. If all you care about is money and you just work all the time for money. You must stop working so much and just work normally to provide what you need. Now what about all that money you have got because you were covetous? You need to help the poor.

 

3. If you have loads of toys or clothes or computers and other stuff that your room or house is packed out with, then you need to help the poor with it. Now some of you girls might say, “Oh, you are telling us to do that but how come you have not done that?”

 

a. First, just because someone else does not do what is the right thing to do, it does not mean you do not have to do what is right. That is a very childish attitude and we are not little children anymore are we? Are you growing up or are stuck as a little baby?

 

b. Second, I have done that anyway. So this is what happened: those old folks down at the RH needed some Bibles and so I got mom to sell my TV to get some Bibles for them. And, I looked in my wardrobe and I saw all my clothes and so I got loads of them out and then me and Rachel took them to a place in Baltimore where they take old clothes and then give them out to children who need them. I think they send them to Africa or somewhere like that. That is what you need to do.  

 

Summary

 

1. If you are covetous it means you are greedy and you just want things all the time.

 

2. Whenever you eat more than you need, or you want to buy another skirt when you already have twelve, or you see things in stores and just want them, then you know you are greedy or covetous.

 

3. People can tell if you are covetous because they listen to what you say and you probably talk about all the things you buy, or maybe they see you going shopping all the time, or maybe they look at how grossly overweight you are (people of the world look at grossly overweight people and think it is because they are greedy but we are Christians and so we must not make assumptions like that; it may be they are overweight due to illness. So make sure you do not assume anything by judging outward appearances).

 

4. Maybe you do not feel ashamed about being covetous because people do not want to say anything to you in case they hurt your feelings, or they might be scared that you will not want to be friends anymore, or maybe they are so covetous that they know you could rebuke them as well.

 

5. Covetousness is bad because some people think getting things is what life is all about and they do not think about their life after death, it leads to all kinds of other sins, it is idolatry, and you will not inherit eternal life.

 

6. If you want to stop being so covetous, you need to examine yourself to find out if you are covetous, you must learn to trust God and be content with what God gives you, you must exercise self-control, and you must repent of it. If you really want to repent then you have to bring forth fruits worthy of repentance: eat healthily and exercise, give all the money you do not need to help the poor and just work for what you need, if you have tons of toys, loads of clothes, and all kinds of electrical stuff then maybe you can pack it up in boxes and give it to people who have nothing and really need those things.

 

7. Once you have freed your mind of thinking about what you want, you can start thinking about what other people need and make yourself useful to God in serving people. God want us to be holy and He created us for good works

 

"For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication" (1 Thessalonians 4:3 KJV)

 

"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:10 KJV)

 

 

This lesson inspired Carolyn to write a poem:  The Idol of Covetousness