Family Values - Week 10 Series

We’ve been in this series called Family Values.

The Ten Values are based on Ten Commandments and they all come from God.

The first nine commandments deal with our actions.

But Commandment #10, deals with an attitude of the heart.

The first nine are outward issues, dealing primarily with behavior. The tenth is more inward, it deals with something far less tangible than specific behaviors.

The tenth Commandment reveals the darkest corners of our hearts.

It would be fair to say that lust, greed, and selfishness are all rooted and centered in the tenth commandment, which is found in Exodus 20:17.

Exodus 20:17 (NIV)

17 "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."

Every single one of us have broken this command.

It began when we were toddlers fighting over each other’s toys in the nursery.

It continued as teenagers when we secretly desired the physical traits or characteristics of one of our friends.

It’s what happens when we want what others have.

It could be a car, a house, a motorcycle, a phone, a gadget, or some other material thing.

But it’s not just stuff. It is broader than that

It could be your desire for someone else’s spouse, or their position, or their influence, or their children. The list of possibilities is endless.

It can lead to some very dark places.

Coveting is the uncontrolled desire to acquire…

The desire to acquire can be applied to just about anything that someone else has.

That doesn’t mean we cannot desire anything.

We can have ambitions. We should set goals.

But coveting has to do with an excessive craving for things that belong to someone else.

Coveting is often rooted in greed, envy, and jealousy.

Whenever we want something that someone else has,

we have subtly rejected God’s desire for our lives.

It is like we’re saying what God has provided, and what He has blessed us with is not enough.

There is an unhealthy craving for more.

We rarely hear the word covet, but we see plenty of examples of coveting all around us each and every day.

The desire to acquire in itself, is not a bad thing.

God placed that desire, or that ambition within you.

He filled the world with all kinds of exciting, wonderful, good, desirable things and He's give you a healthy desire to acquire these things.

That in and of itself is not bad.

The problem comes with control.

There are some things that are off limits.

They are not yours to want.

They will harm you.

So, we need to be careful.

We need to exercise control.

And that is not easy to do in our materialistic world.

Contentment sometimes seems to be in short supply.

This morning I want to begin by looking at some of the harmful effects of always wanting more.

This is what happens when I don't control this drive to acquire.

Coveting leads to FATIGUE.

In our push to get more (and never in history have we been so pushed to get so much so quickly) we overwork and take on second and third jobs for the sole purpose of acquisition.

It's the material rat-race and it leads to fatigue.

Proverbs 23:4 (NLT)

4 Don’t wear yourself out trying to get rich. Be wise enough to know when to quit.

It's foolish to wear yourself out constantly trying to get more.

God’s Word challenges us to be wise enough to know when to quit.

Coveting leads to DEBT.

Thanks Jeff and Michelle Ellis – This afternoon they will complete the current session of FPU. This has been our largest class to date.

I also want to congratulate those who have been a part of this or previous classes.

One of the primary lessons learned in FPU is to curb your wants and live within your means. Get rid of debt.

This is one of the paths coveting inevitably takes us down.

Ecclesiastes 5:11 (TLB)

11 The more you have, the more you spend, right up to the limits of your income. So what is the advantage of wealth—except perhaps to watch it as it runs through your fingers!

Sometime the problem isn’t that we don't make enough money.

Sometimes we just want too much.

A lot of the things we call needs are actually greeds.

Some people can’t seem to get enough.

It always costs more to have more.

Coveting can drive people further and further into debt.

If the grass is greener on the other side of the fence

you can count on it - the water bill is higher too.

Coveting can wreck your budget and drive you into debt.

Coveting leads to WORRY.