Pleonexia
Colossians 3:5
Pastor Ryan
Part of Uproot—Killing the Desires of Residual Sin
August 10, 2022

In our “Uproot” series we have dealt with the reality that the of sin grow in the garden of our lives.

• The goal of our series has been to answer questions like:

// What does it look like to

sin and how do we do it?
// If Jesus has delivered us from sin, why do we still need to be on against it?
// What are these sin weeds that tend to be so persistent and ?

• Victory is not you overcoming

. Victory is Jesus overcoming .
• Today, we come to the end of the verse where Paul identifies the last weed that we need to uproot. It is the dually-named weed of covetousness or greed which leads to idolatry.
• The Greek word for greed sounds so menacing that I have chosen it as the title of the message today: Pleonexia.

Put to death…covetousness, which is idolatry.

• There is a tendency today to associate all sin with idolatry. Paul seemed to make a firm connection between covetousness and idolatry though >> Ephesians 5:5 | For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
• What is covetousness here and why does Paul make this connection? Pleonexia (the Greek word for “covetousness” or “greed” describes a drive of insatiable

.
• The man ruled by pleonexia considers to exist solely for his own profit. The heart that is covetous lives to accumulate all he can at whatever expense at the moment. The Christian, in contrast, lives for the glory of God, for the benefit of others, with eyes fixed on his or her eternal future.
• What is the opposite of covetousness? .
• What is the connection to idolatry? We can see it in something we have already said: One who is ruled by pleonexia considers others to exist solely for his own profit – even God Himself. This person and their wants effectively become their own God.

// Matthew 6:24 | “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
// Matthew 6:19-21 | “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
// Colossians 3:1-4 | If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

• Things of this earth cannot

and deliver upon what they promise

// They cannot deliver lasting, present satisfaction because those who love money will never have enough >> Ecclesiastes 5:10 | He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity.
// They cannot deliver eternal security. Greed keeps us from building a legacy that is unfading. Accumulating wealth in this life is useless because, when you die, you never know where it goes or who will get it >> Psalm 39:6 | Surely a man goes about as a shadow! Surely for nothing they are in turmoil; man heaps up wealth and does not know who will gather!

How do we cultivate contentment?

• The most-satisfying thing God has given us is

. He is the end of our desire. God created us to desire, to crave, and to pursue what we want and what satisfies.
• C.S. Lewis >> If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world…It would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with [earthly things] when infinite joy is offered to us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a [beach vacation]. We are far too easily pleased.
• The answer to your wants is not a complete of your craving. It is a redirection of your craving to find satisfaction in God. In deeper experiences of His presence, in greater displays of surrender and obedience, in an ever-expanding vocabulary that comes from meditating on His power, His promises, and His purposes.
• This is the key to killing sin. It is not about fixing your eyes on the badness of the sin, but fixing your eyes on the glory of your God.