IDEA: Covetousness is a major league sin that shows up in what seem to be minor league ways.
TEXT: "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).
"You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife; and you shall not desire your neighbor’s house, his field, his male servant, his female servant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s" (Deuteronomy 5:21).
PURPOSE: To help listeners glimpse what covetousness is in their lives.
If you were to think of Christians on a scale of 1 to 10, how do you think they would rank themselves in terms of keeping the Ten Commandments?
I. We tend to think quite well of ourselves.
Barna reports that most evangelical Christians today don't think they
Tolerate other gods (76%)
Fail to obey their parents (77%)
Murder (93%)
Commit adultery (82%)
Steal (86%)
Lie (48%)
This last commandment aims at all of us, but a majority (53%) of evangelicals insist that they completely follow this final commandment.
So God issues this final commandment, "don’t covet," in order to drive home that even desiring sinful behavior makes us guilty of offending the whole Law.
"For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all" (James 2:10).
II. We may feel that we pass muster with this tenth commandment because we really haven't thought about its implications.
The Westminster Shorter Catechism, written 500 years ago, spells out the details of this commandment.
"The tenth commandment requireth full contentment with our own condition, with a right and charitable frame of spirit toward our neighbor and all that is his, [and] forbiddeth all discontentment with our own estate, envying or grieving at the good of our neighbor, and all inordinate motions and affections to anything that is his."
If the Westminster Shorter Catechism seems complicated, think about what the commandment is saying in your own life.
Have you ever found that a friend has been selected for an honor? He or she is valedictorian and you missed it by three points. If you weep with those who rejoice, that's covetousness.
Have you ever known someone good looking who actually laughed when saying about another attractive person, "I wouldn't mind it if someone threw acid in her face"?
Some people like to visit model homes, but it can cause a discontentment with what we have.
III. Covetousness strikes at the heart and thus at the very core of what we are.
Like a boy stacking cans, one by one, growing in pride as he builds the pyramid higher and higher, we stack our character, charity, virtue, spirituality, and obedience as though God sees the same value in our "righteousness" as we do. After tolerating our ignorance and arrogance, God descends and with one blow strikes the pyramid and scatters all our well-placed efforts, just as he laid siege to the Tower of Babel.
People say, "I don't murder or steal." This commandment strikes at that pyramid and all the cans come tumbling down.