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Sep 18, 2022

The Sum of Life: Throw Yourself on Grace

The Sum of Life: Throw Yourself on Grace

Speaker: Patrick Lafferty

Series: Life in Ten Words

The last of the ten commandments you might say is the hardest because it means more than choosing a behavior but transforming a desire. And who of us can simply change what we want as an act of will? The command not to covet–to desire deeply, fretfully, enviously–what another has makes us despair of ourselves and throws us back on God for help to do what can’t be done apart from a deep inner work.

Readings & Scripture

PREPARATION: Lamentations 3:21-24
LEADER: But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:

PEOPLE: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;

LEADER: they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.

ALL: The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”

AFFIRMATION OF FAITH/SCRIPTURE READING/CORPORATE PRAYER:) Romans 7:7-12, 22-25

LEADER: What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. . . .For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

CENTRAL TEXT: Deuteronomy 5:21, Philippians 4:4-13, 19-20
Deut. 5:21 “ ‘And you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. And you shall not desire your neighbor’s house, his field, or his male servant, or his female servant, his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.’

Phil. 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Phil. 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

Phil. 4:10 I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. 11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. 12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. 13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. 20 To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.

BENEDICTION: Philippians 4:19-20

LEADER: And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

ALL: To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.

RELATED SCRIPTURES:

Genesis 3:6
Deuteronomy 8
Job 20:20
*Psalm 131
Matthew 6:31-32
Luke 12::15
Romans 7:7-10
1 Timothy 6:6-8
Hebrews 13:5

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

  1. What was something you might’ve been desperate to get when you were younger? Why that? Did it come to you? If so, describe the experience both then and later. 
  2. Now get philosophical for a moment: what was good about the desire for what you answered in the preceding question? What may have been naive, presumptuous, or childish about the degree of the desire?
  3. Let’s review our terms here. What is coveting? How is it related to but still distinct from simply desiring? (Look back at the use of the same word, but in different meanings, between Genesis 2:9 and Genesis 3:6.)
  4. What is harmful to a person who covets? What is harmful to a community in the individual or collective practice of coveting?
  5. The commandment is out to act upon our will. How does fulfilling the commandment’s intention require something more than just our will? 
  6. How does Paul define contentment in his concluding words in Philippians? How does contentment operate uniquely between times of “plenty” and times of “want”?

Illustrations

InView Media Album 09.18.2022

QUOTES: 

 

  • We all think that fate has dealt us a wretched sort of lot in life, and that others must be better. Jorge Luis Borges, “The Duel”
  • If the track is tough and the hill is rough, THINKING you can just ain’t enough. Shel Silverstein, “The Little Blue Engine”
  • The Tenth Commandment is unenforceable, even by oneself, even with the best will in the world, and it is violated constantly. . . .I believe the sin of covetise is the pang of resentment you may feel when even the people you love best have what you want and don’t have. . . .there is nothing that makes a person’s fallenness more undeniable than covetise—you feel it right in your heart, in your bones. Marilynne Robinson, Gilead
  • Coveting is when the beauty of other lives [is] a misery and an offense. . . .it’s the pang of resentment you may feel when even the people you love best have what you want and don’t have. . . you feel it right in your heart, in your bones.” Marilynne Robinson, Gilead
  • No friend or lover, no husband or wife, no community...will be able to put to rest our deepest cravings for unity and wholeness.  Henri Nouwen
  • [Contentment is] evenness and proportion between our hearts and our circumstances. Jeremiah Burroughs
  • A contented man, just as he is the most contented, so he is the most unsatisfied man in the world. You will say, ‘How is that?’ A man who has learned the art of contentment is the most contented with any low condition that he has in the world, and yet he cannot be satisfied with the enjoyment of all the world… though his heart is so enlarged that the enjoyment of all the world and ten thousand worlds cannot satisfy him for his portion; yet he has a heart quieted under God’s disposal. Jeremiah Burroughs
  • He who wants something other than Christ does not know what he wants. He who seeks something other than Christ does not know what he seeks. He who works for something other than Christ does not know what he is doing. St Philip Neri
  • When Job was prospering, he prayed. When he was suffering, he still prayed. Tim Keller

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