Deeper: S3, E1 - Contented

We're going to give ourselves some time to work backwards thru the 10 commandments and see if that can help us unearth what Jesus is hoping for in the 'life in all its abundance' that he said he'd come to bring humanity.  This is episode one of season 3 and is called, "Contented".  We look at the 10th commandment - Don't covet other people's stuff.

Transcript

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Hi there, welcome to season three of our deeper podcasts. And in this season, we are going to be drilling down into something that Jesus hints at repeatedly throughout John's Gospel. So in John chapter 2, we see Jesus at famously at the wedding in Cana where he turns water into wine. There's this abundance of wine. Chapter 4 sees Jesus talking to a woman at the well, and he tells people that whoever believes in him will have this well inside them that fills to the brim so they are never thirsty again. John chapter 6, Jesus turns one boy's pack lunchbox into enough food for thousands of people. Then he goes on to say that if you come to him, you will never hunger or thirst again. And in John 7, he comes out with it on the steps of the temple, where he announces that anyone who believes in him will have living streams of the Holy Spirit pouring out from inside them. In John chapter 10, we see Jesus talking about who he is and why he's come. And he says this I came that people may have life and have it in full abundance. Full abundance. So what does that Jesus mean by that? What that's what we're gonna spend the next 10 episodes looking at. And to do that, we're gonna move backwards through the Ten Commandments. Hopefully, we're gonna dig a little deeper into what these top ten rules for living are truly all about. And as we do it, we're gonna discover more and more about this abundant life that Jesus is talking about. So brace, brace for impact. Here we have season three, episode one, contented. Father God, as we look at what it means to have this abundant life you say believers will have, I pray that you'll help us to have the courage to put down things we might already think and feel about how we live, who you are. Help us to lay these things down at your feet, and to re-examine our beliefs and our practices in the light of what you might be saying. Help us to weigh up what's going to be said in this podcast, to take what's coming from you, and to leave behind anything that's just not from you. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. So, abundance of life. I mean, it does sound amazing, doesn't it? If we were to do an interview with people out on the street, I'm sure that the question, what does it mean to be a a tr to have a truly abundant life, most people would start off by talking about the things they have. They would probably talk about money, so we don't have to worry about the future or or uh having enough belongings or the latest gadgets or devices, a car and a home, stuff like that. And more and more, as the answers come, we will confirm to each other this lie that is put out constantly by the TV and shops and adverts and media and news that we are what we own. But not everyone would tell us that, would they? Not everyone. Some people, when you ask them about what it means to have an abundant life, would talk about feeling fulfilled. Some would talk about relationships or opportunities they've taken up, others would talk about a sense of accomplishment. I have the privilege of taking funerals with people on a regular basis, and I can tell you that when I meet people whose loved one has passed away, the abundance of their life is hardly ever measured by anything material. The basic rule is if you can touch it, you will one day have to leave it behind. But for so much of our lives, we get caught in this web of powerful advertising and marketing. I mean none of that is inherently wrong, but the problem is that it feeds this drive we have to fill our lives and our homes with all this stuff that we just don't need to have, and to spend our hard-earned cash on the things that bring us status and so-called happiness. Let me say it again. If you can touch it, you will one day have to leave it behind. So in Exodus chapter 20, we read that the tenth commandment is this: do not covet your neighbour's house or their partner or their servants or their animals or anything else they have. Today, that would kind of translate into don't seek after keeping up with the Joneses next door, don't be jealous of their home or their family, don't be jealous of their business success, their cars, maybe their private jets, or their ability to stay ahead of the curve on all the latest fashions and trends. Well, that's easier said than done, isn't it? And what's wrong with it anyway? I mean, what is the big problem with looking at other people's stuff or success and wanting to have it? How is that so bad that it's ended up as the final commandment in God's massive list of ten? I think part of the problem with a society that does that is that it carries on this lie that to be successful at life means to have an abundance of things. Here's how we measure ourselves. So people who have things are people who are well paid. People who are well paid are people who are important or significant in some way, and people who are important or significant in some way have reached the top of this social tree that we pretend isn't there. I mean, how many times have I been a little bit intimidated by meeting someone powerful or successful, like a movie star or a world leader or a world-class global influencer? And why is it that we find ourselves out of work or divorced or without a home and we feel like we've somehow failed at the whole of life? We don't know how to introduce ourselves anymore because we usually introduce ourselves by taking some kind of credential, don't we? I'm Alex, I'm an astrophysicist, sounds like we've made it. Or if I pull up at an event in my latest electric Lexus car, I don't need an introduction. But if I arrive on a bus in old clothes and I say, hi, I'm out of work, it feels like somehow I've failed at life. Well, the first thing I think we need to notice is that Jesus does life in a very different way. So remember, Jesus is actually God. And he doesn't chase after any of these things. He doesn't start his wonderful God franchise, he he doesn't ask people to subscribe to his channel or start writing books. Uh he's not he doesn't even have regular meetings that people need to attend. He doesn't have a bank account or even a donkey of his own, despite the need to travel thousands of miles for his ministry. And who did Jesus give his time to? He was constantly criticized by the religious top dogs because he refused to play their cultural ladder games. You see, things get even worse when we start to lay success onto spiritual value. If we think that our physical abundance here, like our money or our house or our relationships or our job or our car, you know, things like that, if we think those things are a mark of God's blessing and approval, we've got it wrong. As if God rewards our godliness and faithfulness to him with little presents or with cash or bribes or opportunities. If that was the case, we'd have to conclude that everyone who is sick or out of work or lived in Islam or whose family had walked out on them, all of those people were somehow living terrible, sin-filled lives. That is simply not the case. That's exactly what the book of Job in the Bible seems to be about. This poor guy Job is super faithful to God, he loses everything, and for this excruciatingly long time, his friends come and sit with him and they advise him that it's gotta be God and he's gotta be sinning, he should man up and face it. Well, that's not how Jesus does things at all. He finds people whose lives appear to have gone down the toilet and he spends live time with them. He eats with them, he drinks with them, he stays in their houses, and he heals them, no conditions, and hands them back dignity and worth. Again and again and again, Jesus tells us to stop making judgments about people, instead to see everyone as equals. Those who feel like they're at the top of the tree are gonna find themselves at the bottom, and those who find themselves at the bottom of the tree are gonna find that they could be at the top. One of my favourite verses, I think, in the New Testament about this drive to measure ourselves and each other by the things we have or don't have, comes from a man called Paul. Paul had been this huge success. He was highly intellectual, he was wealthy, he was skilled, he was deeply spiritual, he had studied under one of the most prominent Jewish scholars of the time and risen to be one of the top leaders. And then he had this life-altering encounter with Jesus after Jesus rose from the dead. And from that point on, Paul's life seems to have gone downhill. He lost his reputation with the religious leaders, he was beaten multiple times, he was imprisoned again and again for his faith, he was on the run, people tried to execute him, all his possessions were removed, and while he was under house arrest, and he was in a shipwreck, he was bitten by a deadly animal, uh, and he ended his days in jail. To the outsider, this man had lost everything. To the outsider, measuring his success or his spirituality, even, by his stuff, Paul has lost it. But here's what Paul writes about his own sense of abundance. In Philippians chapter 4, verses 12 and 13, he writes this. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learnt the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether I'm well fed or hungry, whether I'm living in plenty or with nothing. I can do all this through Jesus who gives me strength. I have learned the secret of being content. It fosters resentment, it kills gratitude, it draws us into comparison and it feeds judgmentalism. It also perpetuates a way of using our resources that focus on our needs for ourselves rather than the greater good. Feeds this lie that we are justified when we say we need another house, we need more space, we need more land, we need more holidays, we need an upgrade on our phone, we need more fashionable clothes, I need to have this optional cosmetic surgery to make me look 10 years younger, and of course I need the car that's come straight off the production line. Meanwhile, billions of people across the globe live in slums or have no clean water or their kids are working in brick factories or they die because they can't afford a two-pound mosquito net. One day we will all be standing side by side with each other in the presence of God, all equal, and we will have to give an account of the way we used our time, our money, our words, our influence. If only we could learn the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether in plenty or in need. Released from the feeling of inadequacy that is linked to this constant comparison to other people, released to know that as far as God is concerned, we are enough. John the Baptist lived one of the most deeply spiritual and connected lives in the whole of the Bible. When he was dressed in rags, he lived in the wilderness eating insects. Jeremiah the prophet lived a life marked by poverty and persecution. Ezekiel the prophet was probably also poor and lived in the middle of nowhere. Even the mother of Jesus, Mary herself, was an ordinary woman with a husband who was a handyman. All of these people lived abundant lives because they remained contented and they were guarding their hearts by remembering this tenth commandment. Do not let the claws of materialism get their fingers into your heart. So, Father God, help us as individuals and as whole cultures to live freely, thankful for what we do have, trusting you for what we don't have, untied from the need to have what others have, and able to separate out wealth or success from personal value or closeness to you. Amen.