The Seven Deadly Sins: Covetousness
--Deuteronomy 5:21; Philippians 4:11; Luke 12:13-21
Since 1991 Dr. Haddon W. Robinson has held the Harold John Ockenga Distinguished Professor of Preaching Chair at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Massachusetts. In a poll taken by Baylor University in 1996 he was named one of twelve most effective preachers in the English-speaking world. Writing in the periodical Leadership, vol. 9, no. 3, Dr. Robinson defines covetousness:
“Covetousness is simply craving more of what you have enough already.”
In contemporary translations of the Scriptures, particularly so in the New Testament, many times the term often rendered as covet or covetousness in the King James Bible is transliterated by the term greed. Covetousness is often defined as being “greed for riches.”
The last of the Ten Commandments as recorded in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 is clear: “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 you neighbor.” Its root meaning is a “strong desire for wealth,” or again in one word “greed.”
Covetousness is basically the sin of materialism. Paul often refers to covetousness or greed as being idolatry as in Colossians 3:5 where he gives us the commandment: “Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed—or covetousness—(which is idolatry).”
Idolatry is letting someone or something else become your God instead of the Lord Jesus Christ. When we covet things and put them in the place of God, we are committing the sin of idolatry.
Covetousness is basically an inner motivation, an attitude of the heart.
The tenth commandment warns us that we are not to desire any possession that belongs to our neighbor—not his wife, his servants, his livestock, or “anything else that belongs to our neighbor.”
When Scripture warns us not to covet “anything that belongs to our neighbor” that can encompass a lot of territory. We might covet their status, position, power, or prestige! That has been the besetting sin of many people throughout history both in the secular and the sacred realms.
Aaron and Miriam, Moses’ older brother and sister, one day decided not to submit to the leadership of little brother any longer. They wanted to be his equals. Numbers 12:1-2 tells us: “While they were at Hazeroth, Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married (for he had indeed married a Cushite woman); and they said, “Has the LORD spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also?” And the LORD heard it.”
Aaron and Miriam were angry with Moses for marrying a Cushite woman and declared they were on equal footing with him as a prophet and prophetess of the Lord and leaders of Israel. They coveted his leadership position and wanted to share power equally with him. The Lord became angry with Aaron and Miriam and struck her with leprosy for seven days. We can be just as guilty of coveting the position, power, or prestige of a neighbor as we can of coveting his wife or their riches.
Soon after Israel entered the Promised Land and early in the history of the Church, God’s people witnessed the destructive nature of the sin of covetousness. When Israel defeated Jericho, the Lord told them to destroy everything in the city because he declared Jericho an “accursed thing.” If they hoarded any of the material wealth of Jericho for themselves, the curse of Jericho would fall on them.
A man name Achan of the tribe of Judah coveted a “Babylonian garment, 200 shekels of silver, and a wedge of old” and hid them in his tent. His disobedience angered the Lord, and as a result when Israel first attacked the city of Ai, they were soundly defeated. The Lord showed Joshua that Achan was the guilty villain. Achan confessed: “It is true; I am the one who sinned against the LORD God of Israel. This is what I did: when I saw among the spoil a beautiful Babylonia mantel, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, then I coveted them and took them. They now lie hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath” [Joshua 7:20-21]. Coveting led Achan to steal material things God had commanded be destroyed. As a result, he suffered the death penalty, for “all Israel stoned him to death.”
In the early days of the Jerusalem Church everything was held in common by the believers. Acts 4:34-35 tells us: “There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. They laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.” An unscrupulous husband and wife by the names of Ananias and Sapphira sold some of their property, but because they coveted wealth, they “kept back some of the proceeds, and brought only a part and laid it at the apostles’ feet.” Coveting led to lying to the Apostles and in reality to God Himself. As a result, God struck them dead.
Last week we learned that the “seven deadly sins” are actually basic attitudes or motivating spirits in the human heart that are the root of other sins. Because Achan coveted wealth, he stole; because Ananias and Sapphira coveted material gain, they lied to God’s servants and to the Lord Himself.
Covetousness is a deadly sin because it so often gives birth to other sins. Another prime example in Scripture is King David, “the man after God’s own heart.” Because David coveted his neighbor Uriah the Hittite’s wife Bathsheba, he committed adultery with her and had Uriah, one of his bravest soldiers killed in battle. He then stole his widow Bathsheba by taking her to be his own wife.
Covetousness is subtle and deceptive by nature. We might not actually desire to take our neighbor’s possessions, only to have similar or ever greater ones ourselves. When my best friend’s grandparents gave him a portable television one Christmas, I did not want his television, only one like it for myself. In spirit and in attitude I coveted. Covetousness leads us to “keeping up with or surpassing the Joneses.
I have always appreciated entertainers and athletes who give Jesus the glory when they accomplish greatness. All our talents are gifts bestowed upon us by our Lord, and we are nothing without him. Although the great American miler Jim Ryan never achieved the Olympic gold medal in the 1500 Meter event, his desire was to win it as a Christian and give God the glory. Last year when she won the Oscar as Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance in DREAM GIRLS, Jennifer Hudson’s opening remarks were, “This is what God can do.”
Remember the earlier quotation we shared from Colossians 3:5, “Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed—or covetousness—(which is idolatry).” We said that covetousness or greed becomes idolatry whenever it leads us to make anyone or anything other than Jesus the lord and god of our lives.
Kathy Griffin, the star of the Bravo show “My Life on the D-List” won the 2007 Emmy for having the Outstanding Reality Program on television. However, she was not humble as were Jennifer Hudson and Jim Ryan. Instead she blatantly blasphemed the Holy Name of Jesus, and said, “A lot of people come up here and thank Jesus for this. He had nothing to do with this. . . .This (Emmy) is my god now” [SOURCE: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=57586]. This is a prime example of how covetousness may lead to idolatry, when a thing becomes your god. Paul furthermore warns us in Ephesians 5:5, “No covetous person, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and God.” If we let covetousness go unchecked without repentance and seeking divine forgiveness, it will destroy us spiritually, for anyone who worships material things has “no place in the Kingdom of Christ and God.” Without repentance and faith in Jesus, covetousness is indeed a deadly sin.
Bob James of Paint Rock, Texas, shares this story in Leadership, Vol.7, no.4: “Recently I laid a small circle of poison around a hill of stinging ants. Thinking the tiny granules of poison were food, the ants began to pick them up and carry them throughout the colony. I returned later to see how well the poison was working. Hundreds of stinging ants were carrying the poison down into their hill.
“Then I noticed a hole in the circle of poison. Some of the poison was moving the opposite way—away from the hill. Some smaller, not-stinging, ants had found this FOOD and were stealing it from their ant neighbors. Thinking they were getting the other ants’ treasure, they unwittingly poisoned themselves.
“When we see someone with more than we have, we must beware. The hunger to beg, borrow, or steal our way into what is theirs may poison us spiritually.”
Jesus and Paul share with God’s divine cure for covetousness in our New Testament Lessons for today. Jesus warns us in Luke 12:15, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” We must always be on spiritual guard duty when it comes to covetousness and all kinds of greed. Abundance of possessions does not bring true happiness and must not become our consuming priority in life.
To life in true joy we must live daily by the admonition of Jesus in 6:19-21, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Let’s store up treasurers in heaven and keep our hearts focused on eternal values.
Paul testifies in Philippians 4:11, “I have learned to be content with whatever I have.” Then in Romans 13:9 he reminds us: “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 neighbour as yourself.” Those who “love their neighbour as themselves, do not covet anything that is theirs. When we depend on God to enable us to love our neighbour as ourselves and to empower us to be content with what we have, we overcome covetousness.
Dr. Haddon W. Robinson is right on target: “Covetousness is simply craving more of what you have enough already,” but if left to go unchecked, it can kill you spiritually. Don’t let it kill you eternally. By God’s spirit “love your neighbor as yourself” and “be content with what you have.” Don’t let the poison of a covetous spirit and attitude poison your soul. Leave it on the altar, place it under the blood of Jesus, and yield it completely to the Holy Spirit. “IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, ‘AMEN!!!’”
