Sept 24, 2000 Exodus 20:17
“Going for the Gold!”
INTRODUCTION
This week, I’ve had a little bit of time to watch some of the Olympics in Sydney, Australia. The series of events that I got to watch the most was the swimmers and their races. In each of the water events, there were preliminary races to eliminate those racers who were not the best with the result that only the greatest swimmers in the world were in the final race for the medals. I saw the highlights of one such preliminary race in which only one swimmer was swimming. Apparently, the two other persons who were supposed to be swimming against him had already fouled out, so he swam alone. You might think that a pretty boring thing to watch, but the crowd cheered almost as loudly as they did in the race that determined the medal winners. They cheered so loudly for this lone swimmer that when he got done, he thought he had won a medal. The reason that they cheered was because this particular man had just learned to swim only a week previous to the Olympics! He finished a whole minute behind the worst time of any of the other contestants, but he finished. For that, the crowd was proud of him, and for that, his nation could be proud of him.
In another race, there were 8 preliminary heats that qualified swimmers for the semifinals which then qualified them for the medal race. In each of these heats, there were 8 swimmers. 8 races with 8 swimmers makes for 64 contestants. They were all shooting for the same goal – to win the race and have that gold medal placed around their neck. But when the contestants got out of the water and stood on that 3-tiered platform, there could be only one standing on the top and only one wearing gold. I wonder what was going through the minds of the other olympians who had worked so hard for so long to stand on that platform. I wonder if there was any coveting going on.
Some people and some nations will do anything to win gold. When the team competition in the men’s gymnastics was going on, the commentators began talking about the gymnastics program in China. Little five-year-old children are tested to see if they have the skills which coaches believe will make them great gymnasts eventually. If they find potential in one of these children, they separate them from their parents and train them with one goal in mind – winning a gold medal for China. And then there are Olympic stories from the past. Do you remember Mary Decker and Zola Budd in the ’84 Olympics? They were in a foot race to the finish line. Mary Decker was in the lead, and Zola Budd cut in on her which caused Decker to trip and pull a muscle in her leg. And then there was the incident with Nancy Kerrigan, the ice-skater, who was attacked because one of her lesser opponents wanted the glory and the gold for herself.
This morning, we come to the last of the 10 commandments – “Thou shalt not covet.” Being that we don’t use the word “covet” very much in our every day language, we need to figure out exactly what it means to covet something. Some words that are very close in meaning and some attitudes that may come along with coveting are jealousy and envy. Jealousy is that feeling that I feel when something that belongs to me or at least I think it belongs to me is in the control of someone else. Probably many of us have experienced jealousy when we see the guy or girl that we were dating on a date with someone else. We thought that they belonged to us, so we get jealous of the person that they are now with. Envy and coveting are different from jealousy in that they focus on things that I know do not belong to me, but I would really like them to belong to me. Envy is the feeling that I feel toward you when you possess something that I would really like to have. And coveting is the feeling that I feel toward the item that I really, really want – that thing that I feel that would really make my life worth living, that thing that I think would finally satisfy me, that think that I just can’t live without. On a real hot summer day, I might covet my neighbor’s in-ground, 8 ft. deep pool since all that I have is a kiddie pool that is 20 inches deep. And as I look over the fence into my neighbor’s yard and see him floating on top of that 8 ft. of water sipping his lemonade and deepening his tan, I start to feel this strange sensation within me that breeds thoughts that go something like this – “What makes him so good that he gets to enjoy a real pool when all I can do is cool off my feet?” Envy focuses on the person that owns what you want; covetousness focuses on the thing that you want.
I’ve already begun to hint at some of what can happen when we allow coveting to become a part of our lives and some of the reasons why God forbids coveting for you and for me. That’s what I want us to do this morning. I want us to look at 4 reasons God forbids coveting, and then once we’ve looked at the principles that God lays down in the Bible, I want us to see what coveting did in the lives of some individuals of history.
1. God forbids coveting because it sets my heart on things of earth rather than on things of heaven.
The last few commands that we have looked at have been kind of short on details or further elaboration, but this command goes into a little more detail. It talks about different categories of things that we might be tempted to covet
House – A big part of my responsibilities as your pastor requires that I visit a lot of people at or in their homes. In the process of doing this, I have come upon some REALLY nice homes. They may have big wrap-around porches like I would like to have some day. They may have a large modern kitchen like Tammy would like to have. They may be on a really well maintained lot with a great view. They may be really well landscaped. Some of them have a large study with a top-of-the-line computer and a wrap-around desk and walls lined with bookshelves and books. To some people, having a nice house is not a very important thing. But to others, having the right house in the right neighborhood is the ultimate in satisfaction.
Wife – This may seem kind of redundant to you because the commands have already dealt with the adultery. But there is far more that a wife can do for her husband than give him sex. I saw a commercial a while back that illustrates this. The whole family is in the kitchen for breakfast. The husband sits down and says something like this: “Mike next door gets to eat apple tarts every morning. His wife gets up at 5:00, makes the dough from scratch, peels and cuts the apples that she picked that morning fresh off their apple tree, cooks them, and has them ready by the time Mike gets up. All that I get for breakfast is cold cereal, and I have to fix that myself.” His wife gives him a disgusted look and says, “If you want a home-cooked breakfast, then maybe you should go next door.” The husband was implying that his wife should be more like Mike’s wife. He wasn’t coveting Mike’s wife; he was coveting what Mike’s wife did. Just to be fair, let’s turn this around for a minute. Maybe some of you men have heard your wife say something like this: “Her husband takes out the trash, fixes dinner every night, does the dishes, feeds the baby in the middle of the night, and gives her beautiful jewelry for no reason at all! Why can’t you be more like that!?” Or maybe some of you parents have heard your children and teens say words that sound something like this: “How come I only get $5 when I go to the mall? My friends all seem to be loaded! Their parents give them money whenever they ask for it. And how come I have to have such an early curfew to be home or be in bed? I wish that I had my friend’s parents instead of you guys!”
Manservant – A servant in the home would make dealing with the daily issues of life so much easier. You wouldn’t have to fix meals anymore, you’d have someone to do all your laundry, you might not even have to care for the children anymore depending on what kind of servant you hired. Having a manservant would increase the ease and the prestige of life. “I’ve just got to have that top of the line dishwasher like the Morris family has. And I really need to get gas logs like I saw at the Cooley home. No more newspaper and matches for me to start a fire. And I need one of those automatic car starters like I saw in the Everett’s car. It would make it so much easier to get the frost off the windshields this winter and so much more comfortable for me to sit down in a warm, cozy car instead of a freezing one.” I want things that other people have that make their life easier.
Ox, donkey – To the people of Moses’ day, an ox, donkey or some other beast of burden was essential if one was going to make a living. They were his source of income. Without them, he could not bring in his crop. It’s very easy to covet another man’s job – another man’s source of income. Thursday afternoon, I watched some as workmen came and cut down the line of trees that was on this end of the parking lot. I watched them throw those branches and trunks into their dump truck. In the midst of all those trees, there was a lot of poison ivy. Right about now, I bet those guys are really wishing that they had a different kind of work that paid more with less work and didn’t mean that they were going to be scratching all weekend. “My next door neighbor makes twice as much as I do, and he spends most of his time out on the golf course with his clients. And I have to put up with a supervisor who cusses all day long and criticizes me even when I am not at fault!”
Anything – So far, we’ve seen that you can covet a house, personal relationships, possessions that make life easier and more prestigious, and a different kind of job. But there are a lot more things that you can covet, and rather than try and list them all out, God closes the verses with the catch-all of “anything”. That just about covers it all. It leaves you to investigate yourself and your own desires. Let’s see if we can’t come up with some other things that we might have a problem with. How about these; do you covet someone else’s sports ability, their marriage, their clothes, their bank account, their figure, their kids – “Why can’t you kids be more like the neighbor’s kids!?” Do you covet someone else’s teaching ability, or their singing ability or anything that you feel like they can do better than you can do?
All of the things that we have talked about so far have at least one thing in common. Each and every one of them is a part of this life. They are a part of the world that I will leave behind when I die. What is my attitude supposed to be toward the things of this world? (1 John 2:15 NIV) Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. As a Christian, my focus is not supposed to be me – it is supposed to be Jesus and other people, and I am not supposed to be focused on the things of this life. When I accepted Christ as my Savior, I died to myself and my own personal pleasures, or at least I was supposed to. It has been said that dead men tell no tales. Well it is also true that dead men do not desire their neighbor’s swimming pool. Instead of worrying about the things of this life that is going to only last a short time anyway, I must focus on what I’m sending on ahead of me into eternity. (Col 3:1-6 NIV) Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died [dead people don’t really care who has what – they don’t care who’s got the better looking coffin or the plot underneath the shade tree] , and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. [an award waiting for us in heaven] Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. [ breaking the 1st and 2nd commandments] Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. When I see what my neighbor has, I should not be asking myself, “I wonder what his car would look like in my driveway.” -or- “I wonder what it would be like to wear the kind of clothes that she puts on” -or- “I wonder what it would be like to wake up to him every morning.” The question should be, “How can I use what God has already given me to build up His kingdom on earth and my reward in heaven? Would the things that I desire help me grow to be more like Jesus or make it possible for me to minister to someone in a way that I cannot right now?” Jesus said, (Mat 6:19-21 NIV) "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. God wants our heart set where He is. When he sends Jesus down to get us, He doesn’t want to have to drag us to heaven. He doesn’t want us to hesitate when we hear the trumpet blow. He wants us to be in such an attitude that we are looking forward to His coming and that we anticipate it every day. (Luke 12:15 NIV) Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."
2. God forbids coveting because it puts a barrier between me and my neighbor.
There’s another fact that all these items listed in vs. 17 have in common – they all belong to my neighbor. “My neighbor’s house, my neighbor’s wife, my neighbor’s manservant . . .” Since my neighbor has something that I want, that puts a spirit of competition between me and my neighbor. To a certain extent, my neighbor becomes my enemy because he is standing in the way of me getting what I want. What is my attitude supposed to be toward my neighbor? (Rom 13:9 NIV) 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 neighbor as yourself." My attitude toward my neighbor is supposed to be love. It’s kind of hard to love someone who is standing in the way of me getting what I think I really need in order for me to be happy and satisfied in life. Love is characterized by self-sacrifice not by self-gratification. Love rejoices with those who rejoice and weeps with those who weep. A covetous spirit causes me to get envious when my neighbor gets a new car or new furniture or when he gets a raise at work. A covetous spirit causes me to laugh inside and secretly rejoice when that new car that he just bought gets banged up in a fender-bender. It puts within me a spirit of competition and comparison instead of cooperation. But a loving spirit allows me to be glad when someone else is able to purchase a BMW when I’m still driving a Chevette. (Titus 3:3-8 NIV) At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone.
Did you know that churches can become covetous? It’s very easy when things are not exactly what you would like them to be in your church to look at the church down the street and say, “Boy, I wish that we had what they have. I wish that we had their choir or their piano player or their building or their van or their givers” or whatever else it may be that you want that we don’t have. And the more you think like that, the more the other church becomes the enemy. “They must be doing something wrong in order to have all those things. They must be watering down the gospel” or “The only reason people go there is because they want to be seen. It’s the church to be a part of.” The first concern of the leadership of the church should be for the filled seats, not the empty ones. When a young preacher complained to Charles Spurgeon that his own congregation was too small, Spurgeon replied, "Well, maybe it is as large as you’d like to give account for in the day of judgment." Other churches that teach the Gospel are not our enemy whether they be big or small. We are all in the fight together – the fight against Satan not against one another. (James 4:1-2 NIV) What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. If you see something on the other side of the fence that you want, you don’t get mad at your neighbor for having it before you did. You pray, and ask God if He wants you to have something similar, and if you feel that He does, then you go out and work to make it happen. Whatever it is that you want for this church, you won’t get it by bashing the church that already has it. You ask God for it, and then you go out and get people who aren’t a part of His kingdom yet to come in and help you to achieve God’s goals for this church.
In one of the swimming races that I got to see, I witnessed a very loving action. The race was won by a 16-year old girl, Mary Hyman. She wasn’t expected to win. She swam that particular race 3 seconds faster than she had ever swum it. When you’re talking about Olympics, 3 seconds is an eternity. The expression that she had on her face when she realized that she had won and then that she had set a new Olympic record was amazing. But that wasn’t what caught my eye. In the lane swimming next to her was another American swimmer who didn’t place in the top three spots. As soon as everyone realized that Mary had won, this other swimmer crossed the lanes, came over and wrapped her arms around Mary, and started screaming for joy right along with her. It wasn’t just a matter of that half-hearted congratulation that comes because of good sportsmanship. She was truly overjoyed at the accomplishment of her teammate.
When Jesus began His public ministry on earth, the crowds that had been following John the Baptist left him and began to follow Jesus. One of John’s disciples came to him and basically said to him, “What are we going to do about this? Aren’t you upset that this is happening?” John’s response was, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:30)
What attitude do you have toward the people that are around you? Are they just standing in the way of you getting what you think you really need? Or are they people that you love so much that even if they’re laughing when you feel like crying, you can still laugh with them?
3. God forbids coveting because it provides motivation for me to break all of God’s commands.
Most of the commandments, at least on the surface, have to do with actions – lying, murder, using God’s name inappropriately, adultery – but this command focuses on the attitude in our hearts. It provides the motivation for me to break all nine of the other commands. If I’m not satisfied with the requirements that God places on me or the blessings that He gives, then I’ll just put another God before Him. If I covet my neighbors style of living but know that I can’t get there just working 5 days a week, I’ll get a 2nd job and work 7 days a week. And if I’m not willing to get what he has through honest means, then I’ll just steal it from him. Of course, he might stand in the way of me doing that, so my getting what he has might require me to kill him. (James 1:14-15 NIV) but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
Do you know where a covetous spirit comes from? It comes from two things – a lack of satisfaction with what God has given you or a dissatisfaction over the way God hands out His blessings. We figure that God is under obligation to hand out His blessings equally to those who follow Him. We judge fairness by our standards rather than by God’s standards. We are not the judge of the way God thinks or acts. God gives us what we need and what we are ready for at each individual moment.
I read a story about a dog who was given a special treat for his evening meal. His master gave him an exceptionally good cut of meat. The dog carried away his meal hanging onto it with his mouth. On the way to the place where this wonderful meal was to be consumed, he crossed a low bridge over a lake. He happened to look down over the bridge onto the glassy water beneath him. There he saw another dog who was holding a piece of meat much like his own. Then he got an idea. If he could get that other piece of meat, then he would have twice the meat for the wonderful meal he was getting ready to enjoy. The other dog looked smaller than he was. He knew he could take him without any trouble. And the piece of meat looked much bigger than his own. By the way, that’s what coveting does. It makes the legitimate owner seem smaller than they are, and it makes the prize look much bigger than it actually is. So without giving it another thought, he opened his mouth to reach for the 2nd piece of meat that he saw. But as he did so, the piece of meat that was in his own mouth dropped into the water. The dog walked away sad for in trying to get what someone else had – which was only an illusion anyway – he had lost what he had to begin with.
Not only are we not satisfied with what God has given us, but we are not thankful for what He has given us. The Bible tells us to give thanks in all things. Question for you: Why should God give you more or change your lot in life if you are not thankful for what He has given you up to this point? I, as a parent, like to give my kids things that I believe they will enjoy. But do you know the one thing that turns off my motivation to give faster than anything else? – when they forget to say thank you or complain about the smallness of whatever it is I have given them. You want God to give you more, to change your lot in life? Then be thankful for what you have right now. Hear me now though. You can’t manipulate God. Just being thankful may not open the windows of heaven. But being unthankful surely will close those windows.
Those Olympic athletes in Sydney, they’re exercising one of the rights guaranteed us by the pre-amble of the constitution – the right to the pursuit of happiness. They’re trying to increase their level of happiness by earning medals for themselves and for their country. You and I don’t have the opportunity to achieve happiness by competing in the games, but we can be happy. How many of you want to be happy? Do you know that you can leave this place happy this morning? Here’s the key. Happiness doesn’t come by getting what you want; happiness comes by wanting what you get. When you refuse to be satisfied with what God has given you, refuse to thank Him for it, but covet what your neighbor has instead, then you set yourself up to falling into temptation to break the other nine commandments as well. (James 2:10 NIV) For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.
4. God forbids coveting because it will destroy me.
There are two ways that coveting can destroy you. The first is by causing you to so focus on what someone else has that you fail to see and take advantage of what God has given you. You spend all your time envying what others have -–either in possessions or in skills – that there is no time left for you to develop and enjoy the gifts that God has given you. In I Cor. 12, Paul talked about persons who thought that they were of no value to the body of Christ because they didn’t have the gift or ability that someone else had. And since they were so worried about what someone else could do, they weren’t able to do their part, and they ended up harming the body. Stop downing the worth of what you can do and always trying to reach for the skill or gift that the other guy has. You’ll end up ruining your life and stealing the joy that God intended for you to have and the joy that God intended you to give.
For weeks before the Olympics began, VISA ran ads talking about the fact that they were the card that would be accepted at the games and not American Express. In one of those ads, there was an athlete who talked about this dream that she had. In the dream, she performed a perfect dive off the high-dive and earned a score of a perfect ten for which she earned the gold medal. Then she asks the question: “Will my dream come true in Sydney?” to which she responds, “Naw, I’m a pole-vaulter.” In the last line of the ad, she says, “I can’t even swim!” Funny thing is that she doesn’t seem too upset over the fact that she won’t earn the gold medal for the high-dive, and she didn’t even seem upset that she couldn’t swim. She was perfectly content to be the best at what she could do and wasn’t worried about what someone else could do. Bloom where you are planted.
There’s another way that coveting can destroy you. Jesus told the parable of the seeds and the soils. Some of the seeds fell on thorny ground. (Mark 4:18-19 NIV) Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. [quickly tell the story of Lot and Lot’s wife, making sure to emphasize the eventual destruction of both] (1 Tim 6:6-11 NIV) 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. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men 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. But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.
CONCLUSION
Is it wrong to desire things or abilities? No. But it becomes wrong when our desires for other things cause us to lose our satisfaction for what we have, cause us to love our neighbor less because they have what we want, and when they become the focus of our lives rather than Jesus being the focus of our lives. Paul had some definite desires in his own life. (1 Cor 9:24-27 NIV) Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
(Phil 3:8,10 NIV) What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ . . . I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
Paul was going for the gold, but it wasn’t some cheap imitation that would only last for a short time and would never bring him the satisfaction and joy that he really wanted. The gold that he wanted was to be able to stand before Jesus, the ultimate judge of the greatest race of all, have him place a crown on his head and hear him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
INVITATION
Are you going for the gold, or are you going for some cheap imitation?
