Decades ago the famed poet Mick Jagger described our plight with these words:
I can’t get no satisfaction, I can’t get no satisfaction
’Cause I try and I try and I try and I try...
When I’m drivin’ in my car, and the man come on the radio
He’s tellin’ me more and more about some useless information
Supposed to fire my imagination...
When I’m watchin’ my TV and a man comes on and tells me
How white my shirts can be
But, he can’t be a man ’cause he doesn’t smoke
The same cigarettes as me
I can’t get no satisfaction, no satisfaction...
Just as Mister Jagger recognized, we must come to understand that very few things in this life have a lasting ability to satisfy us.
Do not covet your neighbor’s house. Do not covet your neighbor’s wife, male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything that your neighbor owns. Exodus 20:17 (NLT)
In the Laws of God governing life on earth we have seen that God has a high standard of holiness that He expects His people to strive for. I trust that as we have moved along through these commandments, you have seen some area in your life where you recognized the need for some correction and have made the efforts necessary to change to come in line with God’s Word. As we look at this 10th Commandment, the first characteristic I notice is that this Commandment represents a move away from actions into the realm of attitude.
While breaking all the rest of the Commandments has its origin in the heart and mind of man, they all find their ultimate expression in some type of physical activity. This Commandment is different! While there is evidence of lying, stealing, adultery, murder, disobedience to parents, taking God’s Name in vain, making idols and having other gods before God, there is usually little or no evidence of covetousness. As a result, this is a sin that is rarely, if ever confessed and owned up to. Of all the Commandments listed, this is probably the one most often broken and the one that will most readily cause you to break the other nine.
The Tenth Commandment deals with this attitude of the heart. All that we have and all that we are come from the hand of God. As such, he calls us to contentment.
Coveting is defective desiring. Desiring things is not necessarily bad. But when our wants arise purely from a dissatisfaction with what God has given us and envy of the way he’s blessed others it is a violation of the Tenth Commandment.
A. The Consequences of Coveting
Covetousness is the first step to sin. (it is at the heart of most sin)
Think abut it this way: Why do people steal? We steal when we want something that someone else has. Adultery has its roots in coveting. You want someone that is not yours to have.
Covetousness is a matter of the heart. It is at the heart of many sins. Another consequence of coveting is …
Covetousness cheapens life.
Covetous individuals place a higher value on things than people. They begin to view others as a means to an end, whether it’s the accumulation of more stuff or the fulfilling of some desire. In the mind of the covetous person people are regarded as things. Human life loses its value.
Notice how James addresses this issue to members of his own church:
What is causing quarrels and fights among you? Isn’t it the whole army of evil desires at war within you? You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous for what others have, and you can’t possess it, so you fight and quarrel to take it away from them. James 4:1-2a (NLT)
These were church members who let their desires get the best of them. They would say anything, step on anybody to get what they wanted. Covetousness cheapens life.
It also cheapens the life of the coveting individual. Don’t you think that God put you here for far more than accumulating more stuff? Weren’t you created for a nobler purpose that to run from pleasure to pleasure? Of course you were. The covetous person, however, can never get past cheap living.
Covetousness fails to bring contentment.
Like all sin, defective desire just doesn’t deliver. Instead we get caught up in the endless cycle of craving bigger and better things. The author of Ecclesiastes hit the nail on the head. In one verse he literally describes the people of our culture:
All the labor of man is for his mouth, and yet the soul is not satisfied. Ecclesiastes 6:7
A 1992 U.S. News and World Report article made this observation: Postwar Americans always cherished the expectation that their standard of living would improve with each generation. In polls at the onset of the Reagan era, 2 of every 3 respondents said they expected to be better off than their parents. Now, that figure is being reversed. Almost three fourths of the 1,000 people who answered a Roper poll for Shearson Lehman Brothers say the American Dream is “harder to attain” than a generation ago. And 60 percent say achieving the dream requires more financial risk than it did for their parents. The poll also finds that some of the values held most dear during the 1980s—like wealth, power and fame—are those that Americans are now most likely to deem “unimportant.” The most important elements of today’s American Dream center on family and friends. But money remains something to dream about. For Americans with household incomes under $25,000, it would take $54,000 a year to fulfill the American dream. Those who make $100,000 plus crave an average of $192,000. In other words, the American Dream usually lies nearly twice the distance away. Amy Bernstein, U.S. News & World Report, July 27, 1992, p. 11
Author Michael Moriarity eloquently writes:
“Never has a culture experienced such physical comfort combined with such psychological misery. Never have we felt so free or had our prisons so overstuffed. Never have we been so sophisticated above pleasure or so likely to suffer broken relationships.”
Michael G. Moriarty, The Perfect 10: The Blessings of Following God’s Commandments in a Post Modern World (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Pub. House, 1999), 210
Our covetousness is causing us to look for life in all the wrong places. We fill ourselves us with more and more stuff only to find that it leaves us empty. We erroneously think that accumulation is the solution to our misery, but we become more dissatisfied. In the most counter-cultural statement of all time Jesus said:
“Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.” Luke 12:15
That verse alone would totally alter the way we think and live if we truly believed it. If getting is not the way to experience real life what is?
A final consequence of coveting is that …
Covetousness dethrones God’s leadership.
Coveting leads to idolatry. God is replaced by the acquisition of stuff. Who or what leads you life? If God told you to sell your dream home, pack up your family and move to Kenya Africa into the one-room hut he’d reserved for you would you do it? But let’s not be so drastic. What if he simply placed a burden on you to sell something you own and give the proceeds to a ministry in need? Would you do it? What if he prompted you to change your schedule to spend more time with your family? Would you give up TV time or a hobby or a sport or some other activity to serve God in His church?
Jesus encountered a young man who wanted to know how to have eternal life. Jesus said, “You know the commandments don’t you?” Then he named them all off, except for the prohibition against coveting. The guys said, “I’ve followed God’s commandments since my youth.
Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.” But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Mark 10:21-22
His heart wasn’t right. He couldn’t follow Jesus because of his covetousness. Neither can you.
Fortunately, we can learn to be content.
B. How to Control Your Craving
1. Go after gratitude.
“Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” 1 Timothy 6:6-10
Economist Robert Heilbroner wrote a description of what it would take to transform the average American home into the typical dwelling of the majority of the world’s inhabitants.
“We would have to begin by invading the house of our imaginary American family to strip it of its furniture. Everything goes: beds, chairs, tables, TV, lamps. All that can be left for the family is a few old blankets, a kitchen table, and a wooden chair. When it comes to clothing, each member of the family may keep his oldest suit or dress and one shirt or blouse. The head of the family gets a pair of shoes, but not the wife or children. Then comes the kitchen.
All the appliances would have to come out, and the cabinets would have to be emptied. All that can stay is a box of matches, a small bag of flour, and some sugar and salt. A few moldy potatoes, already in the garbage can, have to be taken back out, for they will provide much of that night’s meal. We can add a handful of onions and a dish of dried beans, but that’s all. Everything else goes: meat, fresh vegetables, canned goods, any crackers or candy. All gone.
But not only do we have to strip the house this way, but we also have to dismantle the bathroom, shut off the running water, and take out all electric wires. Next, we take away the house itself. The family must move into the tool shed. Everything related to communication goes too. No more newspapers, magazines, books – not that they are missed, since we must also take away the family’s literacy. Instead, all that can be left is one small radio. Then government services are removed. No more mail delivery, no more fire department. There is a school, but it is three miles away and consists of only two classrooms. There can’t be any hospitals or doctors nearby. The nearest clinic will be ten miles away and tended by no more than a midwife. It can be reached by bicycle, provided that the family has a bicycle, which is unlikely. Finally, we come to money.
The family can only be allowed a cash hoard of five dollars. That is only allowed to prevent the main breadwinner of the family from experiencing the tragedy that came upon one poor laborer who went blind because he could not raise the $3.94 that he mistakenly thought he needed to receive admission to a hospital where he could have been cured. James Emery White, You Can Experience an Authentic Life (Nashville: Word Publishing, 2000), 150-152
Step number two is a spiritual discipline. This is going to seem very strange because most of us have not been trained to think in these terms.
2. Go after simplicity.
“Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!” wrote Henry David Thoreau in his classic Walden, “I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million, count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on a thumb-nail … Simplify, Simplify.” Michael G. Moriarty, The Perfect 10: The Blessings of Following God’s Commandments in a Post Modern World (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Pub. House, 1999), 215
Simplicity is the answer for people tired and weary. Simplicity is marked by a contented lifestyle that rests in God’s grace. It is the commitment to clear out, scale down, and realize the essentials of what we truly need to live well. The intimate search for wholeness is not found by accumulating more things, but by entering into God’s presence every single day.
Here are some practical ways to go after simplicity. These points were taken from Richard Foster’s book, Celebration of Discipline:
Purchase for usefulness, not status.
I’m not going to suggest you always go to the Thrift Store for clothes or Dollar General for your groceries (Although you would find great deals there). Just ask yourself some questions before you make your purchases. Do I really like the taste of this product better or will a lower cost brand do just as well? Am I buying these clothes for their durability or for the company logo? Am I buying this because it’s a legitimate need or because I want to impress my friends and neighbors? Purchase for usefulness, not status.
Reject anything that incites addictive behavior.
Spending money on things that are bad for you is just bad stewardship. If it’s not contributing to the nourishment and health of your body it’s an addiction and a waste of the money God has entrusted you with. This is why I often talk about addictions and encourage people to not let anything control their lives except Jesus Christ.
We spend a lot of money on useless gadgets and products. What’s the point in buying more and more? Some folks get on collecting kicks. They like to buy certain things or objects and it becomes a habit. Take that to God and ask Him if it’s appropriate.
We must also seriously consider the things that we take into our eyes and ears that cause us to crave.
To avoid the temptation to covet we’ve got to monitor what we’re taking in, whether it’s TV, internet, radio or magazines. If you notice your desires being stirred up, find the area of contamination. Follow the Bible’s advice:
“Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.” Colossians 3:2
De-accumulate.
Rather than accumulate, give stuff away. Don’t just give away broken appliances and toys or the old blue polyester dress hanging in your attic. Give away valuable stuff to worthwhile causes.
Learn to enjoy things without owning them.
Simplicity does not equate with boring. The Bible tells us that God gave us all things for our enjoyment. We can enjoy them without owning them. There’s almost nothing that you can’t borrow or rent these days. Why buy something expensive that needs to be maintained when someone else can do it for you and you can simply enjoy it and then go home?
Rather than buy books, go to the library. You can even get free videos and internet use there. Enjoy parks and all the other natural wonders that are free. Go after simplicity and find the freedom God wants you to have.
3. Go after God.
The writer of most of the New Testament was a man named Paul. At one period in his life his was under arrest on some trumped up charges in the city of Roman. He sat under house arrest, chained to a Roman centurion for 24/7. He could do nothing, but think and write. He certainly must have thought about the possibility of his own impending death. You see in those days you were put in jail either to be freed or executed later. What do you think he wrote about? We get a glimpse of his attitude in the book of Philippians:
“...I have learned how to get along happily whether I have much or little. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything with the help of Christ who gives me the strength I need.” Philippians 4:11-13 (NLT) Some people misquote this verse. Paul doesn’t say he can do all things through Christ. You can’t pray and then rush out and do brain surgery. His point was that he could experience any situation and still be content. Neither abundance nor lack placed him in a state of dissatisfaction. He was able to do it by finding his contentment in Christ.
Pascal said that there’s a God-shaped hole in the heart of each human being. We crave and desire trying to fill that hole. Nothing will satisfy except for God. His presence in our lives is the primary key to attaining contentment. Then Psalmist put it this way:
You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever. Psalm 16:11 (NLT)
Many of you have probably heard of Joni Eareckson Tada. She is a quadriplegic from a tragic diving accident that occurred when she was a teenager. Despite her handicap Joni is internationally renowned as a mouth-artist, a vocalist, a radio host, author of more than seventeen books and an advocate for disabled persons around the world. People who meet her describe her as “bright, cheerful, happy, joyful, bubbly, funny – and most importantly, content.”
She wasn’t always that way. When her accident happened, she could not understand why God would allow such a thing to happen to her. She grew angry, bitter, and she even contemplated suicide. She couldn’t face the prospect of sitting down for the rest of her life without the use of her hands, or the use of her legs. All of her hopes seemed dashed, her dreams gone. But over time, Joni began to develop a deeply personal relationship with God as a Christian.
One that surprised her with its depth, meaning, and fulfillment. She began to discover what she never knew before – joy. And the joy came from discovering that she was a child of God, and that being in a relationship with her heavenly Father through Christ was all that she needed to be fulfilled.
Joni will tell you that life is good, that God has been good to her, and that she is very content. Does she want to be healed? Of course. Does she enjoy being in a wheelchair? No! but does she think that walking is what would bring ultimate happiness? Not on your life. James Emery White, You Can Experience an Authentic Life (Nashville: Word Publishing, 2000), 155-156
She learned to be content. The lesson that we need to learn is that God did give us all things for our enjoyment, but the things of this world weren’t given for our satisfaction and fulfillment.
All of us are searching for contentment and fulfillment. We spend lots of time searching to make this life meaningful. The truth is, only God can truly satisfy and meet our every need.
After their team won the 2004 World Series of baseball, fans of the Boston Red Sox are struggling to adjust. A New York Times article chronicled their confusion:
Having waited 86 years for a World Series Championship, Bostonians found themselves. . .swirling with elation but also scratching their heads. What are Red Sox fans to do when the angst of being one of the world’s greatest underdogs is gone?
"I’m having trouble dealing with it." said Mike Andrew who played second base for the Red Sox in 1967, when they lost to the Cardinals when they lost one of their many "close but no cigar face-offs." "Your just kind of caught saying, What’s next? I don’t want to say it’s a let down. But it’s certainly something you let become part of your life and it’s gone now, and we need to come up with something new."
