"You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor." ––Exodus 20:17 (NIV)
All of us are familiar with the scenario. Our neighbor, Don Jones, drives up one day in his new BMW. We can’t help but notice. That old Ford Taurus he had been driving was a respectable, but modest car. It made us feel comfortable. But this new BMW is another story. This classy car makes us feel uncomfortable. In fact, a new emotion seems to surface. It is envy. It is the emotion known as "keeping up with the Joneses." We resolve the problem a few days later by driving up in our driveway in a new Lexus. Now we feel better.
If this scenario seems familiar, it is because it is being played out everywhere across our nation. Our culture is geared to create these emotions in all of us. Notice the ads on the television. In general they are saying, "Look at these people. They are having a great time. Look at what they have. If you had what they had, you would be happy too. Don’t you wish you had what they had? Go out and buy it today! Don’t have the cash? Charge it!"
Those who design the advertising that we see, hear and read seek to encourage discontentment as a strategy to sell their products. Their job is to create a desire in you for their product. If they can get you dissatisfied with what you have, they stand a better chance of selling you what they have. Whether you really need it or not is immaterial. Unfortunately, they have been all too successful.
Deep down within all of us, we know that this is not quite right. In fact, the Bible teaches that covetousness is a sin. The Tenth Commandment, the focus of our attention today, is a prohibition against covetousness. This Commandment clashes with the philosophy of our age. It clashes with the attitudes of our heart. Listen to what God’s says. "You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor."
We need to remember that the God who made us, who knows how we work, who loves us and wants the best for us, in His wisdom gave us this Commandment. As committed Christians, we want to obey God’s word. So, we would like to live lives free of covetousness. We don’t desire to let envy rule our attitudes. But it is easier said than done.
I heard of a teacher, who in Sunday School told the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus. You recall how the Rich Man went to Hell while Lazarus went to heaven. She asked her students which one they would like to be, the Rich Man or Lazarus. One young boy replied, "I’d like to be the Rich Man while I’m alive, and Lazarus when I die." All too often we are like this little boy.
While we would like to be free from covetousness, there is a struggle raging in us. All Christians must deal with attitudes of envy and covetousness at some time or another. Indeed, dealing with our attitudes is a much more difficult challenge than dealing with our actions. It is easier not to murder than not to hate. It is easier not to commit adultery than not to lust. It is easier not to say an evil word than not to think an evil word. God knows this, and that is why He gives us this Word. The Laws of God are given to liberate us. To walk in the Law of God is to walk in freedom. To walk in violation of the Law of God is to walk in bondage.
Sin is bondage. The devil lies to you when he tells you a different story. Any of us who have experienced the shackles of sin in our own lives know what a complicated web of despair we can become entangled in. The Law of the Lord liberates. It puts us on a straight path. It simplifies life, and gives us clarity of vision and freedom in spirit. In Psalm 119:45 (NLT), the psalmist said, "I will walk in freedom, for I have devoted myself to your commandments."
Our text makes clear the choices we have to make. We must choose between a covetous heart and a contented heart. Let’s look at these choices together. The first thing we must do is to …
Define and Destroy CovetousnessAs we examine a covetous heart, we will be struck with the reality that a covetous heart is never satisfied. This dissatisfaction is fed by our society. As we look at American culture, it is impossible not to conclude that we are very materialistic. It seems that within all of us there is a passion to possess. Perhaps this is a result of our capitalistic way of life. In any case, it marks our Western culture. If you were to compare our Western culture to its Eastern counterpart, you would find Western civilization is far more overtly materialistic than Eastern societies. This passion to possess is especially dangerous in our society.
Covetousness, by definition, is a powerful desire to have. It is not appreciating the value of something, rather it is the envious desire to possess what is not ours. The emotion is so powerful that it captivates our minds. We see something and we have to possess it.
In a cemetery in England stands a grave marker with this inscription: She died for want of things. Alongside that marker is another which reads: He died trying to give them to her.
Advertising executives spend a billion dollars a year in marketing research. A vast network of people, from Madison Avenue to Hollywood, spend their full work week designing novel ways to trigger our desires. Music, slogans, Technicolor sights, digitally produced sounds, and dramatic movement, all collaborate to create a passion to possess. Nothing is beyond consideration. They use envy, pride, fear, jealousy, nostalgia, and sex to produce the desired effect. Their goal, like that of all salesmen, is to temporarily suspend our self-control. Unfortunately they are creating a pattern of thinking –– an attitude of covetousness that will continue long after their product is forgotten. They are creating dissatisfaction with life. They want you to want more. Visualize it. Desire it. See yourself in it. And you will possess it! This is where many people live.
Colossians 3:1-2 (NIV) says, "Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things." As believers, we are exhorted to seek things above. To desire what God desires should be the goal of all believers. It should seem reasonable to us that as believers we should focus our attention on the Lord. As Christians, those who are called to be like Jesus, we should recognize that our Lord held material things loosely while focusing His attention on eternal things. He exhorted us not to set our affections on things that will rust, rot, and depreciate. Jesus was interested in people, not things.
Coveting captivates our minds and tears down our convictions. A covetous person becomes "me-centered." They begin to neglect their life with God, and find no time for service, Bible reading, and prayer. You see, covetousness consumes us. Proverbs 27:20 (NCV) says, "People will never stop dying and being destroyed, and they will never stop wanting more than they have."
Coveting is especially sinful when directed at another person’s possessions. When coveting turns from an "I want something" attitude to an "I want yours" attitude, it becomes exceedingly destructive. When someone at work sees another in a better position and covets his job, it not only affects the one coveting, it affects the one coveted against. The relationship between these two people will most certainly become antagonistic. Perhaps things will be done to undermine the other’s position. Even if not done consciously, a covetous attitude will harm the relationship. Someone may covet someone else’s spouse. That form of covetousness may appear in unfavorable comparisons of one spouse to another. "If you would only be more like so and so." It’s possible to covet someone’s income, house, car, or even social standing. This kind of thing always destroys relationships, and it indicates a lack of love for others.
Remember, the covetous heart is never satisfied. Covetousness unmasks the greatest dissatisfaction of all when it unmasks our dissatisfaction with God’s provision for our lives. Bill Hybels comments that when we covet someone else’s job, spouse, income, house, or car, we are saying, "You’ve not been fair with me God, I deserve a nicer job, or a more lucrative income, or a bigger house, or a nicer wife. You’ve short-changed me. You owe me something better, God!" You may not say those things directly. But a covetous heart is filled with those thoughts.
Oh how we must see the horrible destructive potential of these attitudes. They destroy us, and they destroy those around us. They place us in bondage and rule our lives. May God grant us eyes to see what demonic forces are behind covetous attitudes of heart, to target them and to destroy them. And may God also give us the eyes to see the alternative to covetousness –– contentment. This brings us to the second thing we must do. We must …
Desire and Develop ContentmentContentment is the key to fulfillment, freedom, and security. Whereas a covetous heart is never satisfied, a contented heart is always secure. God calls us to be contented.
Now you may be saying, "You must be kidding! How can I live like that? I’ll never get anywhere. I have ambition, drive, motivation. I’m going someplace important. I am not going to let the world pass me by!"
You may be thinking these kinds of thoughts, but this is not the picture of contentment painted by Scripture. To be content does not mean to be passive. To be content is not the absence of ambition. A person can be extremely well motivated, with a great personal drive, and still be contented. Contentment is a state of mind. Actually, I believe it is more a state of grace.
The apostle Paul, in Philippians 4:11-12 (NIV), says, "I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want." How did Paul do this? The secret is found in the next verse, verse 13 (TEV): "I have the strength to face all conditions by the power that Christ gives me."
The contented person, like Paul, knows that God has given him not only everything that he needs, he has been given more than he deserves. In whatever circumstances he finds himself, he learns to praise God for the provision He has given. Christ is his strength. Christ is his provision. The contented person is secure in his Lord.
Just look at what God has already done for you. The Lord has given you life. He gives you the air you breathe, the food you eat, the health you enjoy. He has blessed you with His forgiveness, salvation, and the promise of eternal life. He has given you your family, your friends, and so many other things that we take for granted. Now look at your life. What have you given Him? Have you always been faithful? Have you always given all? Why do you want to shake your fist at God, claiming that He has been unfair with you?
Look around you at others - not at others better off than you, but at others who suffer lack. It’s so easy to look at others who have more. It’s easy to ask why we do not have what they have. But look again at your own heart. Do you deserve even what you do have? No, look at those who are less fortunate. Are you any better than they?
Look at Job. The story of Job is an illustration given to us by God of a man who trusted in God, not for what God would give him, but simply because God was God. Listen to what Job says in 1:21 (TEV): "I was born with nothing, and I will die with nothing. The Lord gave, and now he has taken away. May his name be praised!"
Satan thought that Job just served God for what God had given Job. He accused Job before God (Job 1:9 TEV) saying, "Would Job worship you if he got nothing out of it? He goes on to say in Job 1:10-11 (TEV): "You have always protected him and his family and everything he owns. You bless everything he does, and you have given him enough cattle to fill the whole country. But now suppose you take away everything he has—he will curse you to your face!" Then God allowed Satan to take away everything that Job had. Job lost it all. Verse 22 (TEV) says, "In spite of everything that had happened, Job did not sin by blaming God." Job did trust God for nothing. He did not trust God for what God gave him, he trusted God for who God is.
We must learn to find our fulfillment in Jesus. This world, and the things in this world, will never fulfill us. God wants us to find our fulfillment in Him. God wants people who will place themselves in His arms. He wants people who are secure in His provision, trusting in Him to provide what they need in His wisdom. He does not want grasping people, gloating people, people who are threatened by someone else’s possessions or position. He wants people with open hands, open hearts, open arms. He wants people who will rejoice when others are blessed, not when others suffer loss. He wants safe people. A safe person is a person through whom God can bless others, because He knows that person will not close his hand around what God puts there. A contented person is a safe person for God to use.
The choice is ours. The choice between a covetous heart and a contented heart is very real and relevant today. But how do you make that choice? Many times we desire to be what God wants us to be and yet we find we don’t know how. I wish I had five easy steps with a guarantee of success. I don’t. But it seems to me that we must first see the sin for what it really is. We must see it as God sees it. We must see its destructive power for us, for others, and for our relationship with God. We must despise it as an offense to a holy God. And then we must see ourselves as those who so easily fall into the bondage of covetousness. And we must be fed up with following that course in our own lives. Then we must repent with a genuine brokenness and humility. We must ask God to change our hearts and minds. We must ask God to give us a desire for contentment, and a love for Him, along with a trust that He will supply our needs. And finally we must seek the things above. We must remind ourselves that Jesus is indeed faithful, whatever we feel, and whatever the devil throws at us.
God, make us thankful for what you have given us. Help us to learn to be content in whatever situation we find ourselves, trusting in you to be all that we need.
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