Ten Words to Live By: Do not Covet
Exodus 20: 17
Patter Jefferson M. Williams
Chenoa Baptist Church
10-12–2025
Intro
Thursday night, I joined several thousand amateur storm chasers in Peoria to hear from the O.G. himself, the man, the myth, the legend, Dr. Reed Timmer. (If you have seen the new Twisters movie, the main character was based on him and he was the technical advisor).
Reed has been chasing tornadoes for over 30 years and has intercepted over 1,000 of them in his vehicle called, “The Dominator.” This is basically a tank designed to withstand a direct hit from a tornado.
Reed does love the thrill but he is also a scientist on the cutting edge of tornado science. He chases full-time and he showed video after video of tornado intercepts.
I would love to win the lottery and trick my Toyota Corolla out with the latest radar and instruments and travel the country chasing tornadoes.
Is that desire “coveting?” Do I covet Reed’s life, Reed’s experiences, Reed’s dominator? Is that what coveting is?
Review
This morning we come to the end of our series called, “Ten Words to Live By.” We know them as the “The Ten Commandments” although that name is never used in the Bible.
In Hebrew, this top ten list is known as the “Ten Words,” or Decalogue, and we find them in Exodus 20.
Pastor John Miller reminds us of three reasons the ten words were given:
* God is holy
* Man is sinful and we need a Savior
* Shows us how to live
They are less rules about what to do and tell us more about who God is to us:
1. One God - God is God.
2. No idols - God is Creator.
3. Revere His Name - God is holy
4. Remember to Rest - God is Rest
5. Honor Parents - God is Father
6. No murder - God is Life
7. No adultery - God is Faithful
8. No stealing - God is a Provider
9. No lying - God is Truth
10. No coveting - God is Sufficient
The ten words are divided into two groups. The first four cover our relationship with God. The last six detail our relationship with others.
Jesus was asked by a teacher of the Law what the greatest commandment was and He responded:
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-40)
The four commandments are how we love God with all that we are.
The second six commandments are how we love our neighbor.
There is another pattern to the Ten Words. They move from “don’t do it” to “don’t say it” to “don’t think about it.”
J.I. Packer writes that they move from “actions to attitudes, from motion to motives, from forbidden deeds to forbidden desires.”
Coveting hides in the heart.
This morning, we will look at the last of the ten words. Turn with me to Exodus 20:17. ?
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
Prayer.
Why give this Word to Israel?
Remember, that God brought the Israelites out of Egypt and is given them rules to live by, to make a just and holy society.
This group of former slaves had nothing so isn’t strange that God would give this commandment? He is anticipating that, eventually, they would have wealth like servants and animals. He was proactively establishing boundaries for them before they even knew they needed it.
There would come a time when they wouldn’t be content with what they had and look across the fence and spy out that amazing donkey that their neighbor had and want it for themselves.
What is Coveting?
Out of all the ten commandments, this one may be the most confusing. Coveting is a vague concept.
I’ve never actually had someone admit to me that they have a problem with coveting.
For the past two weeks, I’ve been asking people, “what do you covet?” Many of them said things like
being able to give your children things that others do
Being able to travel
Wishing they had a talent or skill like someone else does.
Here’s mine. (Picture of a guy with abs). It isn’t the abs that I necessarily covet, but the self-discipline that that guy had to achieve that goal.
But is this coveting?
The word literally means “to desire, to crave, to yearn for.”
Not all desire is bad. We all have desires that are good and healthy. How does desire turn to coveting?
Philip Ryken states that “desires are corrupted by sin when we want the wrong thing, in the wrong way, at the wrong time, for the wrong reasons.”
James writes:
“What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. (James 4:1-2)
Coveting goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden. Eve’s desire to be like God knowing good and evil overwhelmed her desire to obey God’s directives.
Some think that the way to solve this dilemma is to deny our desires.
Tiger Woods was on top of the world when, due to his sinful, selfish actions, everything came crashing down.
He told reporters that he needed to get back to the basics of Buddhism. According to Buddhism, life is suffering, suffering is caused by craving, and you reach Nirvana then you stop craving.
(Tiger doesn’t need to find Nirvana, he needs to bow the knee to King Jesus.)
This is an untenable position. We cannot, and should not, try to rid our lives of all desires. It’s not possible.
It’s what we do with those desires that make all the difference. Others can see when we steal or lie or murder. But only God knows the inside of your heart.
So here’s the definition of coveting - a sinful desire to have something that God had chosen to given to someone else and not you.
It’s not jealousy or envy. It goes deeper than that.
Jen Wilken writes, “Covetousness and contempt hold hands, for no one ever sought to take from God or neighbor without first desiring to diminish them.”
My friends Geoff and Jen Trembly just got back from Rome for the fourth time in the last two years. They had a list of things to see and they are going to keep going back until they see it all.
Am I jealous of them? Yes. I love to travel with my little red-headed girl all over the world.
But do I covet their life? No. Geoff is one of my best friends. He’s worked very hard for his money and is super generous. I’m excited when he goes and he knows I love history so he sends me a lot of pictures along the way.
But what if I thought in my heart, “Why does he get to do things like that? How does he have all this time off? He probably doesn’t work very hard. He really doesn’t deserve it.”
Or the abs guy I put up. I actually had this happen to me. At a pool party, one of my friends that I had known for over a year, took his shirt off to reveal incredibly defined abs. What?! Every female head automatically turned. And I remember thinking, “He’s never mentioned working out to me ever. He probably does steroids.”
That’s coveting at its rawest.
Coveting is at the heart of the other commands.
David saw Bathsheba and coveted her, so he had her brought to the palace, (stealing), and committed adultery with her. When he found out she was pregnant, he arranged for her husband to be killed (murder). And all of this was due to idolatry - David’s thoughts were not of God but “it’s good to be the king.”
Thomas Watson’s definition of coveting fits David perfectly - “an insatiable, ungoverned, selfish desire for something that is not yours.”
In I Kings 21, King Ahab approaches a local farmer and asks to buy his vineyard. Naboth reminds the king that he cannot sell it because it is his inheritance from his family.
Naboth went home “angry and sullen” and “he lay on his bed sulking and refused to eat.”
His wife, the wicked Queen Jezebel, mocked him and said, “I’ll get the vineyard for you.” She sent a letter to Naboth’s village commanding the leaders to proclaim a day to honor Naboth.
When they were celebrating, two scoundrels accused (falsely) Naboth of cursing God and the king. Then they went outside and stoned him.”
Problem solved. Ahab, happy as a clam, went and took possession of the vineyard.
Naboth was like a toddler. You don’t have to teach a toddler to covet, it comes naturally to them.
Thus, the toddler’s creed:
If I want it, it’s mine.
If I give it to you and change my mind later, it’s mine.
If I can take it away from you, it’s mine.
If I had it a little while ago, it’s mine.
If it’s mine it will never belong to anyone else no matter what.
If we are building something together, all the pieces are mine.
If it looks like mine, it’s mine.
That’s funny but God takes this very seriously:
Paul wrote to the Roman Christians:
“Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed (coveting) and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy.” (Romans 1:28-31)
God makes clear that coveting is not a mind set on things above.
Paul wrote to the Colossians:
?“Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, lust, evil desires, and greed (coveting), which is idolatry, because of these, the wrath of God is coming.” (Colossians 3:5-6)
God makes clear that coveting is actually idolatry, worshipping the gifts instead of the Giver.
Paul wrote the Ephesian Christians:
“For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient.” (Ephesians 5:5-6)
God makes clear that a heart that is continually, habitually coveting is a heart that does not have the light of Jesus in it.
Ken Trivette shares about a Philadelphia woman who died in 1930 without a will, leaving an estate worth $17 million.
Even though she had only one known relative and less than a dozen friends, more than 26,000 people from 47 states and 29 foreign countries tried to claim her estate!
In their fight for money, these coveting imposters committed perjury, faked family records, changed their own names, and altered data in family Bibles.
As a result, 12 were arrested, 10 received jail sentences, two committed suicide, and three were murdered. Coveting can quickly consume us.
Specifics
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
Moses specially prohibits coveting other people’s stuff, their relationships, and their circumstances.
Remember that, at the time, they had no houses. But they would eventually live in houses (some bigger and some smaller) and they are not to sinfully desire their house.
Coveting wives (and husbands) have continued to this day, just watch Dateline and see people that are willing to kill to have another’s spouse.
Having servants and a good-looking donkey means that person had wealth. They were not to covet their circumstances.
By the way, in my research for this sermon I found out that you used to be able to order donkeys from the Sears catalog and they would ship them straight to your house by train!
Then he closed the loophole with “and anything else that belongs to your neighbor.”
If coveting is poison to our souls, what’s the antidote? It’s one word - contentment.
Contentment
“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.” (Philippians 4:11-13)
Paul writes that he has learned to be content whatever the circumstances.
The word content literally means “self-sufficient.” It’s a word picture of a country that has all the natural resources that it will ever need and doesn’t need to import anything from the outside.
What does Paul mean? To Paul, contentment meant being completely reliant on God and seeing everything else as “rubbish.” (See Phil 3:8)
Paul has learned to be content. This means several things.
It is not natural. Contentment is not something automatically downloaded into our hearts at salvation.
* It is learned over time. The word means that we learn from past experiences that still have benefits in the present.
* Not everyone has learned it, yet. It is a product of sanctification, becoming more and more like Jesus. We are all in process but some people don’t learn the lessons quickly so God has to repeat them again.
There is a sense in which we should have a holy discontentment in relation to our spiritual growth.
“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” (Phil 3:12)
Contentment can be learned. It is possible, if you are weak in this area, to grow in your contentment.
It doesn’t depend on external circumstances.
Let me start out our discussion of contentment with a question - how content are you?
Very content
Somewhat content
Content
Somewhat discontent
Very discontent
Let me ask you a few more questions.
Do you ever wish you had her hair, his smarts, her looks, his wife, her job, his house/car?
Do you ever grumble? Have you ever “vented” on social media?
Are you always thinking about moving on to the next thing?
Are you quick to judge and critical of others motives?
Are you impatient in traffic?
If you answered yes to any of these, you might need to grow in contentment. If you answered yes to all of these, you might need a nap!
One hundred years ago, people were asked what things they needed to survive. They listed a total of 70 things. They redid the survey recently, and the respondents listed 500 things!
Advertising is designed to make us discontent. Here’s an example. I don’t know why, but I keep getting ads on FaceBook for silk underwear. When I first saw them, I laughed and said, “Nope. That’s not something a guy would be interested in wearing.”
But I’ve now seen this ad again and again and I told Maxine that I might actually buy some to see what they are like. What?! How did that happen?
By the way, this is actually how the Ten Commandments work.
“What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting.” (Romans 7:7-8)
We are bombarded constantly by messages that tell us we need a bigger house, nicer car, or thinner/more muscular body. And all of us are susceptible to feeling like we “need” these things to keep up with the culture.
I remember vividly one of the first times that my jealousy meter went off the chart.
My senior class party was held at Helen Sheit’s estate. Notice I didn’t say house. It’s an estate that covers an entire city block.
I drove up to the gate and I was buzzed in. I drove a long, winding drive to a huge beautiful house. I knocked on the door and a maid, in a uniform, answered and said, “Miss Helen is in the back.”
I walked around the house and the first thing I saw was one of the most beautiful pools I’ve ever seen. It had stone lions pouring water out of their mouths into the pool. There were classmates playing on the basketball court and tennis courts.
There was a tree line and beyond that another house, just as big, where her sister and brother-in-law lived.
You could have fit my house in their living room. I wasn’t mad at Helen. I just felt poor and not enough and those feelings have haunted me most of my life.
In all vulnerability, I’m not very good at the contentment thing.
I wish I was taller. My father taught me from a very little boy that “tall people rule the world.”
The opening speaker at the conference I was at last week was Dr. Jason K. Allen, president of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is 6 foot six inches and is a commanding presence when he walks into a room.
I want abs, but not enough to starve myself to get them.
I feel “not enough” when I’m in environments like the conference because almost everyone has much bigger churches than I serve at or when I eat breakfast with my friend that has a Ph.D. behind his name.
There are times I’ve been jealous of my son’s Tesla, my friend’s house, or an artist’s talent.
My theme song could be U2’s song, based on Ecclesiastes, “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.”
I’m not where I want to be in the area of contentment so this sermon has been as much for me, or more, than for you.
So what can we learn this morning together that will help us grow in this area?
Let’s start here.
* Christian contentment is not optional. It is commanded of us.
At the end of the book of Hebrews, the writer gives this command:
“Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” (Heb 13:5)
What is it?
Jeremiah Burroughs defines Christian contentment as “that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit which freely submits to and delights in God’s wise and Fatherly disposal in every condition.”
Sweet as opposed to bitter
Inward as opposed to outward acting
Quiet as opposed to someone who has to have the limelight
Gracious as opposed to having to try to muster up contentment in our own strength.
This person understands that God is a wise Father and everything that comes to us comes through his loving hand first.
They delight in God’s providence and submit to his plan and purposes for their lives, no matter what that may bring.
David Platt updated the language of this definition:
“Contentment is the sweet, inward state of perpetual joy, peace, gentleness, and strength in every moment regardless of circumstances.”
Let’s be honest, It’s hard to be content and joyful when
others mock us
- when we are lied about
- when the medical tests come back and there is an issue
- when a situation doesn’t turn out like we had prayed
- When the bill collectors come calling
- When the investment turns out to be a dud
- When a spouse says I don’t love you anymore
So how do we learn it? The same way Paul learned it, through the ups and downs of life.
Paul writes that he knows what is like to be in need and to have plenty, well-fed or hungry, living in plenty or want.
Paul knew what it was to live in misery:
"I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.” (2 Cor 11:23-27)
Corrie Ten Boom wrote, “You will never know Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you have.”
How do we grow in our contentment in times of great need?
“For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” (Phil 1:21)
I heard a story this week about a pastor who was voted out because the church thought he was too old.
One of the young men he had mentored walked him to the car and asked him in tears, “What are going to do now?”
He answered, “I’m going to heaven.”
This answer worried the young man and he said, “I don’t mean later. What are you going to do now?”
The older pastor smiled and repeated, “I’m going to heaven.”
Seeing that the young man didn’t understand, he stopped, put his hand on his shoulder, and said, “I am sad that the vote turned out the way it did. Do I know what’s next for me? No. But listen to me well. All of this is trivial. I’m going to heaven!”
As we used to say in student ministry, that’s the mashed potatoes and everything else is just gravy.
Paul also knew what it was like to abound, to have plenty, to be well-fed. He grew up like Helen, with a prosperous family and the best schools. There were times when he enjoyed the fellowship of wealthy Christians who fed him and gave him an honored place at the table.
It may be as hard, or even harder, to experience contentment in abundance.
Charles Spurgeon wrote:
“There are a great many men that know a little how to be abased, that do not know at all how to abound. When they are put down into the pit with Joseph, they look up and see the starry promise, and they hope for an escape. But when they are put on the top of a pinnacle, their heads grow dizzy, and they are ready to fall.”
Alexander the Great, who conquered the known world, wept when he discovered there were no more worlds to conquer.
John Rockefeller may have been one of the richest men in the history of the world. In 2023 dollars, he was worth over 300 billion dollars. He was asked by a reporter how much was enough to which he famously said, “Just a little more.”
We have watched very wealthy people end up in prison because they weren’t content with riches that the normal person couldn’t even imagine.
“But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” (I Tim 6:6-10)
How do you stay content when in a season of abundance?
Piper gives three steps:
- Freely admit to God that you don’t deserve this abundance and realize it is all by grace.
- Call to mind the supreme, all-satisfying value of Jesus
- Constantly count your abundance as rubbish compared to Christ.
This is why the prosperity gospel is so dangerous. God can give abundance but He gives it out of grace so you can be hilariously generous not because you deserve it. And He can just as quickly take it away.
“Do not wear yourself out to get rich; do not trust your own cleverness. Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle.” (Proverbs 23:4-5)
Research tells us that the vast majority of lottery winners are bankrupt within five years.
Paul writes that he has learned the secret of content. This is a strange word from Paul’s culture that meant an initiation into a secret society. It’s the secret handshake. It’s the secret sauce.
What is the secret of contentment?
He answers this question with one of the most famous and taken-out-of-context, verses in all of the Bible.
“I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”
When the boys were younger, we took them to see the Power Team. This was a troupe of ridiculously muscular men who would do amazing acts of strength and then share the Gospel.
Their theme verse was…yep, Philippians 4:13.
So, “all things” means that you can rip phone books in half and bend crowbars with your bare hands? Nope.
When I ran my marathon in Champaign, I noticed several signs that had this verse on it to encourage the runners.
So, “all things” means that we can all go out this afternoon and run 26 miles? Nope.
No matter how many times I’ve quoted this verse, I still can’t dunk a basketball.
What does Paul mean by “all this?”
Remember that to take a text out of its content turns it into a pretext. In other words, people take verses out of context and make it say whatever they want it to say.
In this context, Paul is saying that he can be content in every circumstance - whether well-fed or hungry, whether in need or in plenty.
The word “through” really should be translated “in.” I can do all this in Christ.
If you haven’t put your faith in Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, you have no possibility of knowing this kind of contentment because it is only found through treasuring, loving, and serving the Lord Jesus Christ.
And, unlike the Stoics, we don’t have to try and pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and look within to find the strength to be content in Christ.
I can do all this in Christ who strengthens me. It is not our strength. In fact, our weakness is what gives us access to Christ’s strength.
Paul asked God to take away his thorn in the flesh and God answered:
“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Cor 12:9-10)
Jason Lehman wrote a poem that sums up life without contentment:
Present Tense ~ by Jason Lehman
It was spring, but it was summer I wanted, the warm days, and the great outdoors.
It was summer, but it was fall I wanted, the colorful leaves, and the cool, dry air.
It was autumn, but it was winter I wanted, the beautiful snow, and the joy of the holiday season.
I was a child, but it was adulthood I wanted, the freedom, and the respect.
I was twenty, but it was thirty I wanted to be mature, and sophisticated.
I was middle-aged, but it was thirty I wanted, the youth, and the free spirit.
I was retired, but it was middle-age, that I wanted, the presence of mind, without limitations.
My life was over, but I never got what I wanted.
By the way, Jason wrote this at 14 years old and it was printed in Dear Abbey in 1989.
Do you want to be content? How can we sum this up?
1. True contentment comes through trusting God’s sovereign plan.
Charles Spurgeon wrote:
“God is too good to be unkind and He is too wise to be mistaken. And when we cannot trace His hand, we must trust His heart.”
2. True contentment comes when we see Jesus as a far greater treasure than anything else.
3. True contentment is not something we achieve by our own strength but comes through surrender to the Savior who gives us supernatural strength.
It is Well
Horatio Spafford’s three daughters drowned after the ship they were on heading to America sank in the Atlantic Ocean.
His wife telegraphed, “Saved alone.”
He boarded a ship to go meet his wife. When they came to the place where his daughters died, he asked the ship captain to stop and he wrote these words:
When peace like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to know
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
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