Today we conclude the teaching series from the Ten Commandments:
DO NOT
COVET
"You shall not covet your
neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male
servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that
is your neighbor’s." Exodus
20:17
INTRO: All he ever
really wanted in life was more. He wanted more money, so he parlayed inherited
wealth into a billion-dollar pile of assets. He wanted more fame, so he broke
into the Hollywood scene and soon became a filmmaker and star. He wanted more
sensual pleasures, so he paid handsome sums to indulge his every sexual urge.
He wanted more thrills, so he designed, built, and piloted the fastest aircraft
in the world. He wanted more power, so he secretly dealt political favors so
skillfully that two U. S. presidents became his pawns. All he ever wanted was
more. He was absolutely convinced that more would bring him true satisfaction.
Unfortunately, history shows otherwise. [He] concluded his life … emaciated;
colorless; sunken chest; fingernails in grotesque, inches-long corkscrews;
rotting, black teeth; tumors, innumerable needle marks from drug addiction.
Howard Hughes died, believing the myth of more. He died a billionaire junkie,
insane by all reasonable standards[Bill Hybels, “Power: Preaching for Total
Commitment,” Mastering Contemporary Preaching (Portland, OR: Multnomah Press,
1989), 120-121].
There is only one
Commandment that prohibits a thought, and it is this: "Do not covet." Why does the
Bible, which is preoccupied with behavior, legislate a thought? Because to
covet, to want what belongs to someone else, is the root of the preceding four
commandments and often leads to evil. Before someone murders, steals, lies, or
commits adultery, the desire to take what is rightly someone else's usually
comes first.
Why does God have a law against coveting?
1. God forbids coveting because it puts my FOCUS
IN THE WRONG PLACE.
"You shall not covet your neighbor’s house;
you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female
servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your
neighbor’s." Exodus
20:17
The last few commands that we have looked at have
been kind of short on details or further elaboration, but this command goes
into a little more detail. It talks about different categories of things that
we might be tempted to covet
House – To some people, having the right house in the right neighborhood is the ultimate in satisfaction.
House – To some people, having the right house in the right neighborhood is the ultimate in satisfaction.
Wife – “Why can’t you be more like that!?” (This could go
for husbands too!”)
Servants – Ok, so maybe you don’t covet servants as much these days. But how about their dishwasher, or their microwave? Or their car? It’s the servant that gets them places – do you covet their Mercedes, or their BMW’s?
Ox, donkey – To the people of Moses’ day, an ox, donkey or some other beast of burden was essential if one was going to make a living. They were his source of income. Without them, he could not bring in his crop. It’s very easy to covet another man’s job – another man’s source of income. “My next door neighbor makes twice as much as I do, and he spends most of his time out on the golf course with his clients. And I have to put up with a supervisor who cusses all day long and criticizes me even when I am not at fault!”
Servants – Ok, so maybe you don’t covet servants as much these days. But how about their dishwasher, or their microwave? Or their car? It’s the servant that gets them places – do you covet their Mercedes, or their BMW’s?
Ox, donkey – To the people of Moses’ day, an ox, donkey or some other beast of burden was essential if one was going to make a living. They were his source of income. Without them, he could not bring in his crop. It’s very easy to covet another man’s job – another man’s source of income. “My next door neighbor makes twice as much as I do, and he spends most of his time out on the golf course with his clients. And I have to put up with a supervisor who cusses all day long and criticizes me even when I am not at fault!”
Anything – So far, we’ve seen that you can covet a house,
personal relationships, possessions that make life easier and more prestigious,
and a different kind of job. But there are a lot more things that you can
covet, and rather than try and list them all out, God closes the verses with
the catch-all of “anything”. That just about covers it all. It leaves you to
investigate yourself and your own desires. Let’s see if we can’t come up with
some other things that we might have a problem with. How about these; do you
covet someone else’s sports ability, their marriage, their clothes, their bank
account, their figure, their kids – “Why can’t you kids be more like the
neighbor’s kids!?” Do you covet someone else’s teaching ability, or their
singing ability or anything that you feel like they can do better than you can
do?
All of the things that we have talked about so far have at least one thing in common. Each and every one of them is a part of this life. They are temporary. They are a part of the world that I will leave behind when I die.
All of the things that we have talked about so far have at least one thing in common. Each and every one of them is a part of this life. They are temporary. They are a part of the world that I will leave behind when I die.
The question is not “What am I building here?” but
“What am I sending on ahead of me into eternity?” When he sends Jesus down to
get us, He will not drag you to heaven. He doesn’t want us to hesitate when we
hear the trumpet blow. He wants us to be in such an attitude that we are
looking forward to His coming and that we anticipate it every day.
“Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.” Colossians 3:2
“Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.” Colossians 3:2
"Do not store up for yourselves
treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and
steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven... For where your
treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Matt. 6:19-21
"Watch out! Be on your guard
against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of
his possessions." Luke
12:15
2. God forbids coveting because it puts a BARRIER
BETWEEN ME AND MY NEIGHBOR.
The commandments, "Do not commit
adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do
not covet," and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in
this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself. Romans 13:9
My attitude toward my
neighbor is supposed to be love. It’s kind of hard to love someone who is
standing in the way of me getting what I think I really need in order for me to
be happy and satisfied in life. Love is characterized by self-sacrifice not by
self-gratification. Love rejoices with those who rejoice and weeps with those who
weep. A covetous spirit causes me to get envious when my neighbor gets a
new car or new furniture or when he gets a raise at work. A covetous spirit
causes me to laugh inside and secretly rejoice when that new car that he just
bought gets banged up in a fender-bender. It puts within me a spirit of
competition and comparison instead of cooperation. But a loving spirit allows
me to be glad when someone else is able to purchase a 2015 BMW when I’m still
driving a 2005 GMC Envoy.
3. God forbids coveting because it leads to BREAKING
ALL GOD’S COMMANDS.
For the love of money is a root of all
kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness,
and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But you, O man of God, flee
these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience,
gentleness. 1 Timothy 6:10-11
Here’s the worst example of this from the Bible: KING DAVID!
* David broke the 10th commandment coveting his neighbor’s wife.
* That led to adultery, which broke the 7th commandment.
* Then, in order to steal Bathsheba (breaking the 8th commandment) he committed murder and broke the 6th commandment.
* He broke the 9th commandment by lying about it.
* This brought dishonor to his parents, breaking the 5th commandment.
* He didn’t put God first, breaking the 1st and 2nd commandments.
* This dishonored God’s name, breaking the 3rd commandment.
- J. Oswald Sanders, Bible Men of Faith (Chicago: Moody Press, 1974), 13].
* David broke the 10th commandment coveting his neighbor’s wife.
* That led to adultery, which broke the 7th commandment.
* Then, in order to steal Bathsheba (breaking the 8th commandment) he committed murder and broke the 6th commandment.
* He broke the 9th commandment by lying about it.
* This brought dishonor to his parents, breaking the 5th commandment.
* He didn’t put God first, breaking the 1st and 2nd commandments.
* This dishonored God’s name, breaking the 3rd commandment.
- J. Oswald Sanders, Bible Men of Faith (Chicago: Moody Press, 1974), 13].
4. God forbids coveting because it will DESTROY
MY SPIRITUAL LIFE.
Other people, like seed sown among
thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of
wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it
unfruitful. Mark 4:18-19
“The ground of a certain rich man
produced a good crop. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place
to store my crops.’ Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my
barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.
And I’ll say to myself, ‘You have plenty of good things laid up for many years.
Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very
night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have
prepared for yourself?’” Luke 12:16-20
He had plenty and could have assisted so many
others, but he failed to see beyond his own consumptive greed. “I’ll tear down
what I have and build bigger and better.” How American he sounds! We should
hear the Lord’s evaluation carefully. “But God said to him, ‘You fool!
This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you
have prepared for yourself?’”
This can even come into
the church when we see God working in other’s lives and covet that for
ourselves:
How to Overcome a Coveting Attitude
1. Ask God to FORGIVE YOU .
My friends, here is what
I want you to know. I announce to you that your sins can be forgiven because of
what Jesus has done. Acts 13:38
2. Realize that THINGS WILL NOT SATISFY.
“Do not wear yourself out to get rich;
have the wisdom to show restraint. Riches... will surely sprout wings and fly
off...” Proverbs 23: 4-5
“Whoever loves money never has money
enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income...” Ecclesiastes 5:10-11
ILL: A successful businessman
and his friends were talking and laughing together and enjoying success. The
businessman told of his childhood of poverty. Someone had given him a big coin.
To have a coin was rare for children then, and his little sister begged to hold
it. He laughed over the memory of all the chores he could get her to do for him
just to get to hold the coin. He told of a day when she minded the cows all day
for the privilege of holding the coin, only to have to give it up at the end of
the day. All of the men laughed again at the childishness of the sister. Just
then, one man not laughing reminded the businessman that all he was doing now
in labor and service was for the privilege of holding onto a few possessions. “The
end of the day is coming, and you will have to give them up like your little
sister did.”
3. Think THANKFUL.
I will give You thanks with all my heart; I will
sing Your praise before the heavenly beings. Psalm
38:1-2 ( HCSB)
But godliness with contentment is great
gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.
But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want
to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful
desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction.” 1 Timothy
6:6-9
Your feelings come from
your attitudes. Your attitudes come from your thoughts. You can’t control your
feelings, but you can control your thoughts. So think thankful. It will
begin to reprogram your attitude. And that will change your feelings! Here
is an example:
4. Start coveting the RIGHT THINGS .
What is more, I consider everything a
loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for
whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain
Christ... Phil 3:8, 10
CONCLUSION: I encourage you to
covet – the things that will last!
The gold that I want is to be able to stand before Jesus, the ultimate judge of the greatest race of all, have him place a crown on my head and hear him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
The gold that I want is to be able to stand before Jesus, the ultimate judge of the greatest race of all, have him place a crown on my head and hear him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
PRAYER
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