Thou shalt not covet Exodus 20:1-17
I heard a story about one elderly couple who were having dinner at another couple’s house, and when they finished, the wives left the table and went into the kitchen. The two men were talking and one said, "Last night we went out to a new restaurant and it was fantastic, I’d recommend it very highly." So, his friend said, "What’s the name of the restaurant?" The first man thought and thought and finally he said, "What’s the name of that flower you give to someone you love? You know... the one that’s red and has thorns." And he said, "Do you mean a rose?" "Yes, that’s the one," replied the man. Then he turned towards the kitchen and yelled, "Rose, what’s the name of that restaurant we went to last night?”
Two elderly gentlemen from a retirement center were sitting on a bench under a tree when one turned to the other and said: "Slim, I’m 83 years old now and I’m just full of aches and pains. I know you’re about my age. How do you feel?" Slim says, "I feel just like a newborn baby."
"Really!? Like a newborn baby!?" "Yep, I’ve got no hair, no teeth, and I think I just wet my pants."
Someone said, “Old folks are worth a fortune. They’ve got silver in their hair, gold in their teeth, stones in their kidneys and lead in their feet.” And for those of you who are young, I don’t want to depress you, but you’re all headed in the same direction.
“And God spake all these words, saying, I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it. Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor’s.”
The first nine commandments all deal with our actions. The first four address the issue of our worship and tell us we are to worship God and only God. We are to worship Him from our hearts and according to His word and we are not to be dependant on any thing or any ritual because the things we depend on to help us worship; can lead us into idolatry. Then we’re told to be careful in our speech, and that means we are never to use God’s name in a careless or frivolous way. The only time we are to use the name of God is when we’re either talking to Him or talking about Him. And we are to worship on the Sabbath and this simply means; we are to set one day aside for God and this is to remind ourselves that the rest of the week belongs to Him as well.
So, we could say that the first four commandments which address the area of worship begin with our attitude toward God but then they work themselves out in a very practical way.
It always gets me when I hear people say, “I’ve gone to church” like they’ve done their religious duty and they’re finished with God until next Sunday; but in these commandments it’s very clear that every bit of our lives are to be lived in relationship to Him. So, our family lives, our work our leisure activities, everything is to be done to the glory of God.
Then the next five commandments deal with our relationships with one another. And listen, if we have a proper relationship to God then it’s going to affect how we see and how we treat those who are made in His image. For instance, we’re told to be obedient to authority and that always begins in the home, by our honouring our parents and this is demonstrated by our obedience. Then we see the need to respect the lives of others and we also want them to show the same kind of respect toward us, so the sixth commandment tells us, we are not to kill each other. Now, that sounds awfully basic, but when you consider the world we live in and the history of civilization in general, it’s not a bad rule to have.
Then we’re also told; we are to have moral respect for ourselves and others in the sense that we are to treat our marriage vows as promises to God and because we see them as so such solemn commitments then we will not be committing adultery. And then we have the commandment not to steal and this tells us, we are to respect the property of others in the same way we want them to respect that which belongs to us. And then God addresses the basic issue of honesty and tells us, we are not to bear false testimony against one another which is the same as lying and this applies to whether we’re in court; or holding court on the street corner. After all, truth is foundational to the very nature of God, to our legal system and being truthful is also the basis of every human relationship.
Now, these are the practical commandments. And the last five are commandments that even non-Christians keep. I’ve known people who have lived out the last five commandments, every day of their lives, even though they have no relationship with God or any desire to have one. They simply live good lives because they were raised that way and it seems to work out well for them.
As a matter of fact, there’s one man who came to Jesus and he made such an impression on the rest of the disciples that this story is told in Matthew, Mark and Luke and he’s the man we call the rich young ruler.
Let me read the account that’s found in Matthew 19:16-22, “And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And He said unto him, why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. He saith unto him, which? Jesus said, thou shalt do no murder, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, honour thy father and thy mother: and, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. The young man saith unto him, all these things have I kept from my youth up: (Now, stop right there. What he was saying was, I’ve done everything I’m supposed to do up to this point but then he asks a really important question.) what lack I yet? (Did you get that? He said, there’s something missing and You know it and I know it but I don’t know what it is.) Jesus said unto him, if thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.”
Here’s a guy who had everything and he lived a pretty good life. He said he had kept all these commandments; and keep in mind; he was talking to Jesus, who is omniscient and that means He knows absolutely everything and He could not only see inside this guy’s heart but He also knew everything there was to know about his past. So, if he was lying Jesus would have known it and pointed it out; but he wasn’t. You see, his problem wasn’t in his actions because he was a pretty good guy but his problem was in his attitude.
So, Jesus listed all the commandments on the second table that dealt with human relations except the last one; and when He addresses the issue of covetousness He told him to go sell everything he had and give all the money to the poor.
Now listen, He doesn’t say this to everyone but He says it to him because this guy had a problem with things! And everything he had that was going to rot or rust was more important to him than having a relationship with the living God with whom he could live forever. I think his basic problem was; he wanted to add salvation to all the rest of his trophies but Jesus said, listen, it’s all or nothing. If you want to give Me your life you have to be willing to surrender everything you’ve got.
So, this tenth commandment, “Thou shalt not covet” deals with our attitude and sooner or later a wrong attitude is going to result in the wrong action. Now listen, coveting literally means, “A fervent and passionate desire for more.” The Greeks understood this as, “An excessive desire for that which one does not have; especially, that which belongs to another.” So, if we always want what somebody else has, to the point that where our wanting it means we’d be just as happy if they lost it, then we’re covetous. Epicurus, the Roman philosopher once said, “If you want to make a man happy, add not to his possessions but take away his desires.”
There’s an element of covetousness that many of us can relate to and when we think about it; we’ll realize that either we have been or are presently guilty. I might have told this story before but the bitter feeling I had makes it come up every once in a while. When I was in grade three I was sent to live with my grandmother in Cape Breton and since we were very poor and I had nothing else to do, I really paid attention in school. I did all my homework and up until grade eight I was always in the top five academically. And every year when I came home with my report card; all the neighbors sat on their door steps and they asked how you did and congratulated you if you passed but when I got home; no one seemed to care. It was like, you went to school and you were supposed to pass, you passed, so, what’s the big deal?
And then in grade eight, when I came home; there was a crowd of people at my neighbor’s house and they were all looking at his brand new bicycle. I mean, it was a CCM and that was the Cadillac of bicycles and this one had red streamers, a little holder behind the seat for your bicycle wrench and a kick stand. I mean, it stood up all by itself. It was to me, the bike of bikes. It was a Rolls-Royce on two wheels.
Now, the problem was, I always did well in class but I got nothing for it, not even, “good job” and this guy got a brand new bike and he failed. He went from grade seven to grade seven and drove away on a brand new bike. (And to tell the truth I’m still a little ticked off.) I thought, first of all, he doesn’t deserve it and then second I thought, “I hope someone steals it.” Now, listen, that’s covetousness. It’s not just wanting what belongs to someone else but wishing that if you can’t have it then they can’t have it either.
We see another element of this when Paul spoke of coveting in Romans 7:7-8 when he said, “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, thou shalt not covet. But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.”
Now, let me simplify Paul’s words by saying, whatever is forbidden becomes desirable. How many of us have walked through a park or somewhere and saw a sign that said, “Wet paint. Do not touch.” And our first reaction is to touch it. We want to see how wet it is or if it’s even wet at all. Ordinarily, we couldn’t care less about whether paint is wet or not but because the sign tells us not to touch it, well, that’s just asking for trouble. Or, if we go to the grocery store and we see grapes or cherries and there’s a sign that says; “Do not sample” listen, am I the only one who has to have one? I’ve often wondered what would happen if they put the same sign on dog biscuits. The speed limit says 110 but everybody’s going 115. Why do people do that? I think there’s a false feeling of freedom because we’re doing something we’re told not to and it makes us feel like we’re getting away with something.
We see covetousness at work in society where some business people are more concerned with their profit margins than they are with satisfying the needs of their customers. I once worked for a man in the meat business and found out he had a bizarre philosophy of business. We were talking about the level of corruption in the meat business and I said, “If someone would just concentrate on giving fair value and good service, they’d have more business than they could ever handle.” And he said, “That’s probably true but it’s a slow way to make money. I think you should just stick it to them when you can because you may not get a second chance.” And he wasn’t kidding.
We see the same attitude in industry where companies are more concerned with the bottom line than they are with the safety of their workers or the damage they’re doing to the envoirment. I know its extreme; but look at the tobacco industry where they know they’re killing people but they fight tooth and nail to suppress any testimony that’ll prove it. And then there’s our provincial government and they’ve done the same thing in their support and promotion of gambling or as they like to call it the gaming industry. They see the millions of dollars a year coming through both these machines and lottery tickets and they figure; the best way to get control of the industry is to fill your pockets with the proceeds.
I personally think the gambling industry is a tax on the stupid but listen, covetousness is at the root of the gambling industry; whether it’s the gambler who’s looking for something for nothing or the government who’s providing the service.
So, whether it’s a corrupt business person, the industry that doesn’t care about the people it’s supposed to be serving or the government that puts revenue ahead of quality of life, they all have one thing in common; they’re all subject to the law of diminishing return. They give less then they’re promising and the more they get the more they want; that’s the result of covetousness.
We see the same thing on a personal level. We see something we want it and in the back of our minds we say, “If I had this, that or the other thing; I’d be happy.” And it’s always something far off in the distance because when we finally get the thing we want, we aren’t satisfied and we want something else.
How many here remember the Hula-hoop? When they came first came out in 1957; they cost around $2 each. They were made of plastic and it was probably the first big fad; in the sense that it was not only worldwide but every age group were playing with them. I mean, from little kids to their grandparents and everyone in between. In the first year they sold 400,000 and the next year they sold 25 million and then they had spin-offs like the smaller ones for the wrist or legs.
And with the Hula-hoop came national competitions that included how long you could go, (as a matter of fact; two eleven year olds from Mississippi went for 11 hours and 34 minutes.) There were also the free style competitions where you could impress the judges with your unique style and of course there were all kinds of people telling you the Hula-hoops were either good for your health or about to cripple the entire nation.
I’m sure that a lot of people tried them because they were so easy to use but a lot more tried them simply because everyone else was doing it. The fact is; we want what everyone else wants. In the same year the Hula-Hoop came out there was another world wide phenomenon and it was called the Frisbee.
And every decade after that; there have been tons of junk. In the sixties there were lava lamps, bell bottom pants, mood rings, granny glasses and mini-skirts. And then in the seventies; there were CB radios, Play-Doh, polyester everything, silly string, silly putty and eight track tapes. And then the eighties brought us; the Atari computer game, Rubik’s cube, guys wearing one earring, Chia pets and Cabbage Patch dolls. The nineties gave us, Tickle Me Elmo, car air fresheners, wide leg jeans, extreme sports and spandex shorts. And since 2000 we’ve had the I-Pod, blogging, robotic pets, energy drinks such as Red Bull, Full Throttle and Monster Energy, text messaging, vanilla Coke, wireless camera phones and a lot of different colored wrist bands to show everybody that we believe in or support something or another. And all these fads catch on simply because we have the impression that everybody else is doing it. And all this junk has been produced for the sake of making money and none was ever made because we needed it. No wonder Paul said in I Timothy 6:10, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” So, covetousness is also associated with the love of money.
And here’s the strange part; some of the poorest people in this world have actually been some of the richest; because what they had they couldn’t enjoy but all they enjoyed was the fact that they had it.
I read a book about a woman by the name of Hetty Green and they said she was a mean-spirited, tightfisted, shrewd woman! She is listed in Guinness Book of World Records as the greatest of misers. Her parents died in 1865 and left her an inheritance of nearly $10 million which Hetty immediately began investing in the financial markets and scored her first major success after the Civil War when she bought depreciated U.S. government bonds from skittish investors. Her philosophy was simple: "Buy cheap and sell dear" and she had an instinct for knowing which was which!
Now, keep in mind that she started with $10 million and yet she spent her entire life living in cheap boarding houses and took public transportation to her Wall Street "office" which was actually the vault of Chemical National Bank. And there she sat, clipping coupons from her municipal bonds and diligently pouring over financial reports and forecasts. She was known as ‘The Witch of Wall Street’ because of the way she was dressed and they said she was so miserable that she had no friends and everybody avoided her.
Even her son was the recipient of her mean-spirited cheapness. One time he injured his knee but she refused to pay for a doctor and tried to treat the injury herself. Two years later, when her son’s knee still hadn’t healed, Hetty dressed him in rags and pretended he was a charity case in order to get free medical treatment but when the doctor found out who she was; he demanded payment and she left his office in a rage and soon after her son’s leg had to be amputated.
They said she lived off cold oatmeal because she was too stingy to heat it and get this, when she died she was considered to be the wealthiest woman in the United States. Listen, what’s the sense in having anything if you can’t enjoy it? I’m not saying you should go out and waste everything you have but if you’re goal is to die with the most money in the bank, well, that’s just stupid.
I remember when we lived in Guelph and one of the families from our church had a beautiful home on the edge of town but the owner told me that when they bought the place, the previous owners had been a man and his mother and they had never thrown anything out. He said, everything that ever came into the house stayed there and they kept filling every room from floor to ceiling with dirty clothes and garbage and when there wasn’t any room left; they sold the house. Needless to say, it took them months to get both the garbage and the stink out of the place. And the previous owners didn’t lack money because this was a big beautiful home on forty acres. Listen, coveteousness makes rich people poor.
II We see the sin of covetousness illustrated in scripture. There are at least three men who suffered and caused others to suffer because of their covetousness.
First, we have the account of Achan’s sin in Joshua 7. The Israelites had just come back from conquering Jericho and you know the story of how they had walked around the city for seven days in obedience to God’s command and then He caused all the walls to fall down; and then He told them to capture the city of Ai but not to take any spoil. You see, God was so angry with the people of Ai because of their idolatry that He didn’t want anything around to remind His people of them.
So, it says Joshua just took two or three thousand soldiers and they not only lost the battle but thirty-six of their people died. Now, that doesn’t sound like very much; but keep in mind that nobody had died at Jericho and it was a well armed and fortified city. So, it was obvious that God had let this happen for a reason. And when they drew lots to find out who did what wrong; Achan was chosen and then we read this exchange between him and Joshua.
In Joshua 7:19-21, “And Joshua said unto Achan, my son, give, I pray thee, glory to the LORD God of Israel, and make confession unto him; and tell me now what thou hast done; hide it not from me. And Achan answered Joshua, and said, indeed I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done: when I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.”
Listen, he coveted them and then he took them. His attitude became an action and it cost thirty-six lives as well as his own and that of his family. This tells us that God deals very severely with the sin of covetousness. And do you know one way God deals with this sin; He lets people get everything they want and then leaves them without the capacity to enjoy it. They’re goal was in the getting but they found that an empty life followed everything they got.
Then we have the account of Ahab who coveted Naboth’s vineyard. And it wasn’t that Naboth had a bad attitude and wouldn’t sell his vineyard to the king or that he was holding out for a better offer but according to Old Testament law, he wasn’t allowed to sell it. It was part of his inheritance that was given to his forefathers when Joshua divided up the Promised Land according to the direction of God. So, Ahab wanted something he wasn’t supposed to have. The scripture says, he made himself sick and went to bed and as he was pouting his wife Jezebel came in and helped him get what he wanted at the cost of killing Naboth; but eventually it cost both of them their lives as well. So, Ahab coveted this property and was willing to kill to get it but he end up dying for his actions.
And then the third example we have is of Gehazi who was the servant of Elisha; one day Elisha healed Naaman the Syrian of leprosy and even though Naaman encouraged him, he refused to take a gift. Maybe he didn’t want this man to go home thinking that he had paid for his healing and he wanted him to understand that this miracle had come from God and not from man; but Gehazi saw a chance make himself some money.
2 Kings 5:20-27, “But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, behold, my master hath spared Naaman this Syrian, in not receiving at his hands that which he brought: but, as the LORD liveth, I will run after him, and take somewhat of him. So Gehazi followed after Naaman. And when Naaman saw him running after him, he lighted down from the chariot to meet him, and said, Is all well? And he said, all is well. My master hath sent me, saying, behold, even now there be come to me from mount Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets: give them, I pray thee, a talent of silver, and two changes of garments. And Naaman said, be content, take two talents. And he urged him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of garments, and laid them upon two of his servants; and they bare them before him. And when he came to the tower, he took them from their hand, and bestowed them in the house: and he let the men go, and they departed. But he went in, and stood before his master. And Elisha said unto him, whence comest thou, Gehazi? And he said, thy servant went no whither. And he said unto him, went not mine heart with thee, when the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee? Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and olive yards, and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and maidservants? The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed for ever. And he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow.”
Listen, Gehazi coveted the gifts Elisha had refused. He had no right to these things because he hadn’t done anything for Naaman and God dealt severely with Gehazi’s covetousness just as He had with Achan and Ahab.
Now, what’s so terrible about the sin of covetousness? I believe it was the first sin that was ever committed and I’m not talking about the one in the Garden of Eden but the very first one in heaven; when Satan looked at God and everything He was and everything He had and he said, “Now, that’s what I want.” He was the first one to covet and he’s been paying the price ever since.
And on a human level, Paul says in Ephesians 5:5, “For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.” Listen, anyone guilty of any kind of immorality is equal to the covetous person in the sight of God. Paul tells us both here and in Colossians 3:5 that covetousness is idolatry. It’s putting something else ahead of the will of God and wanting something God doesn’t want us to have because He knows it’s detrimental to our spiritual life.
Have you ever wanted something and yet you knew that God didn’t want you to have it? Others might have had it but God told you it was wrong for you. There are some things; given our individual personalities and weaknesses that can be harmful to us while beneficial to others. Take the issue of money. Some people are better off poor because money does weird things to their heads. Maybe they’d be lazy or obnoxious and God knows that the best thing He can do; is to keep them dependant on Him. Or maybe you thought, I would have liked to be a professional sports player or something else but God knew it would do more damage than it would good.
Abraham Lincoln was walking down the road one day with two of his kids and both of them were crying. A neighbor asked, what the problem was and he said, “Same problem as the rest of the world, I have 3 walnuts and both want two.” Covetousness; wanting something that’s not ours and we have no right to have it.
Jesus mentions covetousness in two major teaching sections on money. The first is in Luke 12:13-15 where two brothers were fighting over an inheritance and one of them asked Jesus to make a fair division but Jesus refused to get involved and in verse 14 He warned them about covetousness. I think the issue here is obvious. They both had a bad attitude toward money and God knew there was no way He could possibly please them both.
Then the second illustration is found in the same chapter where we’re told a man was building bigger barns where he intended to keep all his stuff. His goal was his comfort and his sin was; he was sacrificing the things of eternity on the altar of the present. He was rich before man but poor in the sight of God. And God said, “You fool, this very night you will be asked for your soul! Then who is going to possess all you own?”
Money is to be used for God’s glory and Jesus said in Luke 16:33, “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”
So, why do we wrestle with covetousness? Some want to accumulate things to prove their worth. They assume that others will see what they have and be impressed by their importance. One of my favorite musicals is, “Fiddler on the Roof” and my favorite song from that is, “If I were a rich man” and in this song Tevye says, “If I were a rich man people would ask me for advice because when you’re rich they think you really know.” So, some want money because then people will think they’re something they’re not. And then there are others who find security in the things they own. And the problem is; they end up trusting in their bank accounts rather than trusting in God.
The cure for covetousness is found in Philippians 4:11 which Paul wrote from a Roman dungeon when he said, “Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content.” And then in I Timothy 6:8 he wrote, “And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.” And the author of Hebrews said in 13:5, “Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For he Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’” And the key to all three verses is the word ‘contentment’.
So, how do we learn to be content? By being grateful to God for everything we have and thanking Him daily for all of His blessings; such as our health, our friends, our home, our country, our church, our Bible, our food and everything else we’ve got. We need to learn to enjoy the things we have rather than worrying about the things we don’t have.
Conclusion
The bottom line is; covetousness is trusting in things rather trusting in God. Can a Christian be guilty of this? Of course, that’s why Paul wrote to Timothy in I Timothy 6:10 and said, “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”
The most difficult trial any of us face today is not overcoming the bitterness that accompanies a lifestyle of great need but controlling the apathy that accompanies great abundance. Listen, we can be just like the Laodician church who had no needs in terms of material things but God called them luke warm.
God knows us and He knows we have a tendency to get over excited about our success and He says in Jeremiah 9:23-24, “Thus saith the LORD, let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.” You see, God doesn’t want us bragging about ourselves because He knows there’s not all that much to brag about. He doesn’t want us talking about how smart we are because compared to Him none of us are all that smart. He doesn’t want us bragging about our wealth because all we have is shaky at best considering the state of the economy. And He doesn’t want us telling everyone how powerful we are because compared to Him we’re powerless in every way possible.
But listen, He says, if you really feel like bragging; you’re free to brag about what a great God you have because no matter what you say you’ll never be overstating the case.
