INTRODUCTION
• SLIDE #1
• Today we are concluding our series on the Ten Commandments. I hope that each of these messages has touched you in some way.
• The Tenth Command is one that I wish I would have understood when I was a young person.
• When I was a kid, my parents did a great job providing for my needs, but being the typical young person, at times that was not enough.
• The town in which I was raised was very affluent. We were in the middle class. I remember when I was in High School looking around at all of the kids who had new cars out on the school parking lot. I remember being jealous and envious of all the kids who were able to seemingly buy new clothing instead of washing what they had on.
• I remember feeling so cheated at times because I was not one of the kids who had the newest clothing or the nicest sports car on the school parking lot. I still remember the names of many of those kids with whom my jealousy and envy was directed at.
• I remember when I was a young adult having some of those feelings towards others in the factory.
• I remember being a young Christian struggling with wanting what my close Christian friend had. He always had the neatest and newest car.
• I remember being a young minister feeling envious of the other preachers who had their college degrees when I did not have mine. It took me a long time to get over this sin.
• As you look at the Ten Commandments, most of them are action oriented. We are told to do something or not to do something. The Tenth Command is one that goes down to the deeper level of what goes on in the mind.
• SLIDE #2
• Exodus 20:17 (ESV) “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”
• We are going to look at what it means to “covet”. Then we will look at why it is bad for us to covet and then we will finish up with ways to keep us from becoming a covetous person.
• SLIDE #3
SERMON
I. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO COVET?
• Coveting is an inordinate desire to possess what belongs to another, usually tangible things.
• When we covet we do not just want something; we want it at the expense of another.
• While the Hebrew word for “covet” can also be translated “to desire,” in the Tenth Commandment it means an ungoverned and selfish desire that threatens the basic rights of others. Coveting was sinful because it focused greedily on the property of a neighbor that was his share in the land God had promised His people. (Holman Bible Dictionary)
• It deals with trying to secure something illegitimately, something that is not yours. It also involves begrudging anther person for what they have.
• When you look at the command you do not see any prohibition against wanting to have a wife, or other possessions, but we are prohibited from wanting another person’s wife or property.
• Coveting is not just the desire to have a house like your neighbors but it is wanting their house and harboring malice towards them because they have it.
• There is a subtle difference between coveting and greed. A greedy person just wants everything, they really hold no malice towards others; they just want it all for themselves.
• A woman said, “My daughter was ready to serve cake to the family when one of her children, Brian, said, "I want the biggest piece!" "Brian, it is not polite to ask for the biggest piece." Brian looked at the floor. "Well, then, how do you get it?"
• This sin manifests itself in the realm of the spousal relationships. A man or a woman sees a person who belongs to another person and they want them. If we desire something or someone who belongs to another, we are breaking this commandment. When we want something at the expense of another, we are guilty of coveting.
• SLIDE #4
II. WHY IS IT BAD TO COVET?
• I want us to consider four reasons that it is harmful for us to covet.
• SLIDE #5
A. Coveting shows my heart and life are focused in the wrong direction. 1 John 2:15-17, Matthew 6:19-21
• When I was younger, my focus was definitely not on God, it was on getting stuff and getting stuff that other people had. When we are focused on what other people have and being upset over the fact they have it, our focus is not on God. The direction of our life is wrong.
• SLIDE #6
• Matthew 6:19-21 (ESV) “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
• Possessions are not inherently evil; it is when they become what we are all about. You are more than what kind of jeans you wear, what kind of car you drive or what part of town your house is located.
• SLIDE #7
B. Coveting will keep me from loving God and my neighbor. Romans 13:8-10
• If we are focused on something another owns and we are consumed with getting it, we most likely will not love that neighbor.
• Think of the instance of desiring the spouse of another. What would your thoughts be toward that person’s husband or wife?
• Remember the story of David and Bathsheba? Did David care about her husband Uriah when he sent him out to the frontlines to die so David could possess his wife?
• SLIDE #8
• Romans 13:8-10 (ESV) Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
• SLIDE #9
C. Coveting will lead to breaking many more of God’s commandments. James 4:1-4
• The sin of coveting leads to breaking many other of the commandments.
• How are we going to get what we are coveting? Remember David? He stole another man’s wife, he more or less committed murder to get her. He committed adultery. I am sure you could squeeze a few more broken commandments in there also.
• SLIDE #10
• James 4:1-4 (ESV) What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
• One bad thing leads to another.
• SLIDE #11
D. Coveting will lead to my personal destruction. Ephesians 5:5
• Ultimately being a covetous person will lead to your personal destruction.
• SLIDE #12
• EPH 5:5 For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
• We may think that what goes on in our minds just stays there, but that is not true. Our thoughts can betray us as much as our actions.
• What we do has consequences.
• SLIDE #13
III. HOW CAN WE PROTECT OURSELVES FROM BEING A COVETOUS PERSON?
• I want us to examine three things we can do to protect ourselves.
• One thing we can do is:
• SLIDE #14
A. Learn to be content with what you have. Philippians 4:11-12
• Look at what Paul has to say concerning contentment.
• SLIDE #15
• Philippians 4:11-13 (ESV) Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
• The key to being content with what you have is to be thankful for what you have.
• There are too many people complaining about what they do not have instead of feeling blessed with what they DO have.
• If you are content with what you have, getting more will not make you happy. There is nothing inherently wrong with wanting to improve you station in life, but if that is what you are banking on to make you happy, you are sadly mistaken.
• SLIDE #16
B. Learn to have a proper perspective on material things. 1 Timothy 6:6-10
• I do a lot of funerals. I have yet to see a person being lowered into the ground with all there stuff. They leave it all behind.
• SLIDE #17
• 1 Timothy 6:6-10 (ESV) Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment,
for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.
• Why should we get hung up on something that we cannot take with us? The only thing you can take with you is your faith. Why would we want to base our happiness on stuff that will not make us happy?
• SLIDE #18
C. Learn to be happy for other people when they are blessed.
CONCLUSION
• The Ten Commandments were written a long time ago. The beauty of them is that they are still as applicable to us today as they were when they were first passed down to Moses.
• The Ten Commandments were never meant to be a means of salvation, but they were in part given to us so that we could see the need for a Savior. They were given also so that we could have some semblance of an orderly society.
• Coveting is something that can destroy you from the inside out. Remember that God will NEVER bless ill gotten gains. He will NEVER bless relationships that are hatched out of covetousness nor will He bless us materially.
• Place your faith and contentment in Jesus and you will experience joy beyond belief!
