The Word Made Plain

Guest (Male): Welcome to the Word Made Plain with Senior Pastor Tony Clark of Calvary Chapel Newport News in Virginia. Currently, Pastor Tony is teaching a study in the Book of Acts. Please open your Bible to Acts chapter 20, verses 32 through 38.

Tony Clark: We covet people's bank account, we talk about with anger and derision and with our noses up what they can spend their millions on because we wish we had it to spend. I just saw—we got the little Alexa in the kitchen area, they got the little TV screen on it—it shows stuff that's going on in the world, and I just happened to walk by and I saw over in Spain somebody spent 29 million on a painting.

And I just laughed because God has me see things like that when I'm going to be talking about stuff like this. He has me see these things and I said, "29 million on a painting." And I said, "Wow, what I can spend 29 million. The church would be out of debt and we would just—boy, I tell you, man, I—"

Paul said, "I have coveted no one's silver or gold." We covet people's cars. That's what the 10th Commandment meant by ox or donkey. We covet their cars. In other words, we covet everything God told us in the 10th Commandment not to covet. We do it. Paul says, "I coveted no one's silver or gold," or watch this, "or apparel." Oh, how we covet people's clothes, their shoes, their jewelry, and the list goes on and on.

Paul said, "I didn't do that." God cured Paul of coveting, and he says it here. See, when you realize that you have been commended to God and to the word of His grace, He will break you of things that are not right. Now, how? How will God do this? By teaching us contentment. Paul would later write in Philippians 4, verse 11, "For I have learned in whatever state I am to be content." And as we can see, contentment is a virtue that is learned.

How? The very next verse, Philippians 4:12, tells us, "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." Oh, what a powerful verse because in it we see from Paul's own words how covetousness was broken in his life. He said God allowed him in whatever state he was in to be content. How? In the classroom of life. He learned. Contentment is learned.

How to have a lot and how to have it all taken away from him. How to abound and how to suffer need. But through it all, he was learning to be content in whatever state he was in. There are a lot of people here today who need to hear this next statement slowly: In whatever state you're in, Virginia, to be content. I say this because this duty station, this job, or this living arrangement here has been difficult for you. And God is teaching you to be content in whatever state, the state of Virginia, that you're in.

My dear friend in Lynchburg, Virginia—I'm going to have him come and share with us maybe in May or something—but he taught me this very early on. We were on staff together in California at a church in California, and he came here and he started a church two months before I did. He started Calvary Chapel Lynchburg in August of '94, and I started here in October of '94.

And so I used to tell people in California, "It's going to take an act of God to get me to leave California." Sunny sunshine, palm trees, beaches, and stuff. It was always sunny. It never rained. Just sunny, blue skies. You can plan anything you want to plan outside because it's going to be sunny out. I just loved it out there. You've got to understand, I came from the hood. I came from Gary, Indiana. I came from the hood, and we hadn't seen nothing like that.

I'd tell people it would take an act of God to get me to leave California. So, it did. And so I came here. For months and even years, I longed to go back to California. And so I was talking to him one time. "Man, I can't stand it here. Virginia just stinks. Virginia, the people are rude. People have attitude." I told him, "Man, this place, I'm ready to go back to California." And he said, "Let me tell you something." He said, "Remember Paul said, 'In whatever state I am to be content'?" He said, "Whatever state."

And that hit me like an arrow going through my heart. I said, "That's good, bro. That's good." And I say that because there are many of you who are in the military and you come here and you don't like this duty station here, whatever you're on, Eustis, Langley, whatever. You don't like it here, and you're talking, "Get me out of here. Get me out of here." In whatever state, you've got to learn how to be content. This is critical. I had to learn this lesson. See, He's teaching you to be content here before He moves you anywhere else.

Watch this. Singles, you will not find Mr. or Mrs. Right until you learn contentment in being single. Not until. If you're so occupied with finding Mr. or Mrs. Right, you will never find them because God needs to teach you contentment. Can you be content with being alone? And not until you can answer that sincerely to God. And see, here's the thing: we already know you don't have the gift of being single. You're looking for Mr. or Mrs. Right. So that's not the issue. The issue is trying to find Mr. or Mrs. Right, and God will elude them from you, keep them from you until you learn how to be content with being single.

Watch this. Not until you learn how to use your singleness for God. You don't have any constraints. You don't have anybody at home. "Where you been? You're ten minutes late. Where you been? You said you'd be back at such and such time. Where you been?" You don't have that mess to deal with. You don't have to answer to anybody. Who do you have to answer to? You go home and just chill. Pick up and go as you please. You don't have anybody to answer to.

You don't have anybody calling you up, "Can you get a gallon of milk on the way home?" "I ain't get no—didn't you just stay at Walmart? What's going on?" You don't have those conversations. You know you're out of milk, you go get you some. You don't have anybody calling you up, making you detour. You don't have that mess. Not until you use your contentment for the Lord. Contentment is learned and is the key to being set free from covetousness because you learn to be content with what you have.

Somebody needs to hear that again. Not until you learn contentment with being in that apartment before God opens up a house for you. You're complaining about these neighbors and their music banging on the door, banging on the walls. Not until you learn contentment being in that apartment. See, Paul said, "I learned how to be abased, I learned how to abound, I learned how to have a lot, I learned how to suffer need." All of that was the classroom of life. That was the lesson plan of life that was going to break him from covetousness. Because he's had a lot, then he's had nothing. He was raised up, he was put down. God was teaching him in all these phases just be content where you are.

Maybe you're in a good season right now. Be content with that. Amen. It can all be gone. I tell people all the time, they say, "Oh, Pastor Tony," my pastor friends and stuff, "man, you speak all over the country at all these conferences and stuff." I say, "Let me tell you something. It's only by the grace of God." I said, "That stuff can be taken away in a half a heartbeat." I said, "I don't take none of that stuff for granted. I don't take any invitation for granted because it can all be gone." I know how to be abased, I know how to abound, I had to learn contentment. Classroom—you never graduate because there's a new level of contentment. There are levels to this thing, and some of you need to learn it.

Now, Paul was totally different from the false teachers going around ripping the people off financially. Jesus said in Matthew 6:24, "You cannot serve God and money." Can I stop right there? I was thinking about this again this morning as I was going over my notes. There are many pastors and leaders that need to take heed to what Jesus just said: "You cannot serve God and money." But there's a whole doctrine, a whole teaching in the church today. "God wants you wealthy and healthy. Blab it and grab it, name it and claim it. It's yours. Look at that billfold and say, 'You billfold, you be full of money, you big billfold, I'm claiming it.'"

We got a whole teaching. Jesus said, "You cannot serve God and money." But we have a whole teaching that's throughout the world now, not just in the United States, throughout the world that is based upon "godliness is a means of gain." Jesus said, "You cannot serve God and money." Said no man can serve two masters. If you're serving money, you ain't serving me. And if you're serving me, you won't serve money. Why are these verses put here and people of my ilk is not going to believe it?

This is what Jesus said: "You cannot serve God and money." Then they go around saying Jesus was wealthy. If Jesus wasn't wealthy, then why did he have a treasurer? Jesus said, "Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to even lay his head." Jesus said, "I'm homeless." But we're going to have this kind of teaching. This is what the speakers used to go through this area, they used to rip people off financially. Hebrews 13:5 says that we need to be content with what we have.

So Paul testifies that he had not coveted anyone's silver or gold or apparel. Then he wanted them to confirm what he was saying in verse 34 by saying, "Yes, you yourselves know." He said, "With these hands, I have provided for my necessities." We know from Acts 18 and verse 3 that Paul's occupation was a tentmaker. Not only did he provide for his own hands, but for the needs of others because he said, "and to those who were with me." Look what it says there in verse 35. It says, "I have shown you in every way, by laboring like this, that you must support the weak, and remember the words of our Lord Jesus, that He said, 'It is more blessed to give than receive.'"

Now, we see that Paul is now telling them to follow his example with the phrase, "I have shown you in every way." He tells them and us the motive of why we should work. Not to try to be rich, but to, number one, support the weak. Jesus said in Mark 14 and verse 7, "For the poor you have with you always. And whenever you want to do good for them, you can do good for them because they're going to be around all the time." So God gives us jobs so that we may help those who are weak, poor, and less fortunate. So don't turn your little snooty little noses up at folks on the corners begging. Now, some of them they are out scamming. Some of them are. We know that. To me, I'll give you a couple dollars just for you to have the courage to stand out there like a fool with a sign and hold up saying, "I need some money." I'll give you a couple dollars just for the courage to do that. But we know some of them are scamming, but some of them are really in need.

Jesus said the poor you have with you always. So some of them are in need. So we work so we can help those who are weak, poor, and less fortunate. But then Paul said that God gives us jobs to, number two, remember it is more blessed to give than receive. Now, this isn't recorded in any of the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—but according to John 21 and verse 25, it says that there are many things that Jesus said that are not written down. So either he got it from when Jesus appeared to him in the Arabian desert for three years like Galatians 1:17 and 18 says, or the apostles heard it from Jesus and they handed this word down.

But I have to ask us here: do you know the blessedness of giving? We can never out-give God. You've heard me say that many times. And you've heard me say many times that I will never, ever ask you to do anything that I don't do myself. When we were looking for finances to build all this out in the children's ministry and all that sort of stuff, hey, let me tell you something, I tried to lead the way in giving. Because I would never ask you to do something I don't do. The Marine Corps taught me leadership by example. Therefore, I would never ask you to do something I don't do. So I give. I understand the blessedness of giving.

The blessedness that comes from not allowing money to rule your life. To give yourself out of stinginess. Giving is a way of breaking you of your stinginess and trying to hoard money. Giving is a way to break you. Because we're all stingy and selfish. We are. Moms are less stingy than we as men are, but we're stingy and selfish. Moms will give you their last bite. "Can I have that?" And they give it. Men, "Can I have that?" "No, you just ate. Get out of here, beat it kid." I love seeing my sons handle their children opposed to my daughter. My daughter just gives, gives, gives. My son, "Beat it kid, you just ate. Get out of here."

And I just laugh. But to a certain degree, we're all stingy. And the way you get out of that, you break that, is through giving. You give out of stinginess. That's the best way to do it. Now, look at verses 36 to 38 so we can wrap it up. It says, "And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. Then they all wept freely and fell on Paul's neck and kissed him, sorrowing most of all for the words which he spoke, that they would see his face no more. And they accompanied him to the ship."

After Paul wrapped up his speech, verse 36 says that he knelt down and prayed with them all. They all wept freely and fell on Paul's neck in verse 37 and kissed him. What a sorrowful but yet beautiful picture of genuine Christian love. As true believers, this is the kind of genuine love we should have for one another. But there is so much messiness and ugliness in the church that it is sad to see. You have staff in churches don't trust each other. Choir members backbiting, devouring one another. Members not speaking to each other. See each other in the same church and won't even—make sure they sit on the other side or in a church like ours, go to a different service.

Just messy. Jesus said in John 13 and verse 35, "By this all men shall know you're my disciples, by the love you have one for another." And this is one of the reasons why unbelievers don't want to come to church because they see us fighting one another, hating one another, treating each other badly. They say, "I don't want to be a part of that mess. Why would I come here and be a part of mess? My family is messy enough." And this is a sad thing instead of us loving one another. So the people wept, and not only because of the farewell speech he gave, but because they knew that they would see his face no more. And this broke their hearts.

They followed them all the way until they got on the ship. They just didn't want to let it go. And so often in the church we say, "You're leaving? Well, good riddance. Don't let the doorknob hit you." And we mumble, "I couldn't wait until they left." Paul lived in such a way that they wept when he left. And we will see where Paul and his team traveled, God's will, next time.

Let me conclude with this. In part three of this message, "Your Last Words," we saw how Paul commended them to God and to the word of His grace. He put them in God's hands where they belong. And so too you put your children—listen to me, parents—you put your children, your spouse—listen to me, married folks, and if you're living together and y'all not married, don't call each other spouse, that's not a spouse, that's reserved for married folks—put your spouse and everybody listen to me, your boss, you put them in God's hands.

You can't change people. Only God can. Watch this. You can manipulate people, but you can't change them. You can threaten people, but you can't change them. Proverbs 21:1 says the heart of the king is in the hands of the Lord like the rivers of water; He can turn it whichever way He wants to turn it. Only God can change people's hearts. Leave them in God's hands. We also saw how Paul commended them to God's word because it is the only thing that is able to build us up and give us an inheritance among those who are sanctified. So spend time in God's word this upcoming week so God can begin to put you back together again.

Many of you came in here broken, hurt, beaten up by life. And only God's word can put you—I'm commending you to God and to the word of His grace. Get into this word. Put that phone down for a minute. A minute. And get into God's word. Get into His word and let Him put you back together again. And finally, if you're having a hard time with coveting what belongs to someone else, come to the one who can set you free like He did Paul because it is one of the Ten Commandments that you're going to be judged by.

Before we close in prayer, I'm going to have the worship team come back up and those who are serving, I'm going to let them get to their posts so your experience leaving here can be just as good as when you came. And as they're coming up right now, this is a time for the believers to be in prayer because if you're here today and you've never repented of your sin and accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior, this is the time we're going to give you to ask Jesus to come into your heart and change you. We already know life is short, and we don't know around what corner death is. And the question is, are you ready to meet God?

The Ten Commandments is how we're going to be judged. And one of the Ten Commandments we talked about today: you shall not covet. Covet means to be materialistic or greedy for gain. The one before that is you shall not lie. If you've told a lie, you've coveted, you've stolen anything, you've committed adultery either with your eyes or physically, these are the commandments God is going to judge us by. Are you ready to meet God? Have you repented? Asked Jesus to come into your heart? Or maybe you have and you've strayed away? You need to come back home.

Guest (Male): If the Word Made Plain has been a source of inspiration and encouragement, why not consider becoming a Word Made Plain giving partner to keep this listener-supported program on the air? As a giving partner, you join forces with Calvary Chapel Newport News's kingdom vision of spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can make your tax-deductible gift online at calvarynn.org or send your gift of any amount to 15553 Warwick Boulevard, Newport News, Virginia, 23608, and receive a gift from Calvary Chapel Newport News as our thank you. In addition to your financial support, we ask that you pray for the Word Made Plain broadcast, that it touches hearts and generates change in the lives of people around the world. We pray you've been blessed by God's word today and hope you'll tune in next time to hear the Word Made Plain.