Coveting

Introduction

A man once laid a small circle of poison around a hill of stinging ants. Thinking the tiny granules of poison were food, the ants began to pick them up and carry them throughout the colony. He returned later to see how well the poison was working. Hundreds of the stinging ants were carrying the poison down into their hill.

Then he noticed a hole in the circle of poison. Some of the poison was moving the opposite way—away from the hill. Some smaller, non-stinging ants had found this “food” and were stealing it from their ant neighbors. Thinking they were getting the other ants’ treasure, they unwittingly poisoned themselves.

What a great illustration of the dangers of the sin of coveting!

We are at the end of our study on the Ten Commandments this morning.

This final command is a vital one for us to grab a hold of this morning, because coveting is at the root of many of the other commands.

The truth is, in many cases at the heart the motivations behind killing, adultery, stealing and lying is covetousness.

And the tragedy is, that something like coveting, which drives so many to sin, is actually often celebrated in our society.

As I read this week: “If a man breaks the sixth or eighth commandment, he is branded as a criminal and covered with shame; but he may break the tenth, and he is only enterprising.”

Many marketing schemes depend on people coveting, convincing people that successful, happy, normal people wear certain clothes, drive certain cars, drink certain drinks, shop at certain stores, and wear certain shoes.

Shoes was a big one when I was a kid…Air Jordan shoes…jumping higher…

A pair of these recently sold on ebay for $2300!

This morning let’s open God’s Word and consider that instead of coveting, God wants us to learn to walk in the Spirit and be content in His provision.

Turn to Deut. 5:21

Body

First thing, just what is coveting?

Not a term we use very much.

In fact, we call it desire, passion, wanting, craving, and so on.

And hey, what’s wrong with wanting things anyway?

Staying within the context of this passage, coveting isn’t simply wanting or desiring something, but means an unmanaged and selfish desire for what someone else has.

At the heart of coveting is greed.

Interesting point about coveting is that the other commands dealing with people’s relationships to other people have all be about actions.

But here God deals with our heart condition, which drives us towards actions.

It is sinful to lust after anything that God never intended one to have.

Unfortunately, the insatiable lust for material possessions is one of the strongest drives in all of life.

And we are all susceptible to this desire.

So in Deut. 5:21 we see that there is a list of examples of things people are not to covet…(obviously not exhaustive, but examples of things that people desire…)

Wife…dealing with lust…

Obviously lusting for a neighbor’s spouse is wrong…(though, it is celebrated today!)

But, singles must also not lust after the married life…(marriage is great, but in God’s time…)

House & land…major material possessions…

The grass is greener mentality…keeping up with the Joneses…credit scam…

Servants & animals…wealth…

If God would just give me, I would…

Anything…the heart of the matter…

This is the real point here, that we are not to desire to have what belongs to our neighbors.

Now, remember that question I told you to always ask? (What did Jesus say about this?) Turn to Luke 12:13-21.

Verses 13-15: This man wants Jesus to acts as a rabbi to settle a dispute.

In Israel, inheritance disputes were settled by the rabbi.

However, here this man obviously isn’t looking for arbitration, but is looking for Jesus to make a decision in his favor.

Instead, Jesus points out that life isn’t about amassing possessions.

So he tells the following parable:

Verses 16-21

The issue wasn’t that this man built a bigger barn, but two-fold:

He didn’t need the abundance.

Instead of doing good with his possessions, he decided to live selfishly.

But hey, there is nothing wrong with wealth! And shouldn’t someone enjoy the fruits of their labor?

That’s not the issue.

Look at the parabolic punch-line in verse 21:

He laid up treasures for himself on earth and lived the “good life,” but did nothing to deal with his soul.

Some describe a fool as one whose plans end at the grave, and that would rightly define this man!

This man had all the trappings of success, but his soul was lost. He had no relationship with God and did nothing to bless others.

The very definition of a wasted life!

In the end, this man and many people today find their contentment in material possessions.

For many, happiness is directly linked to what have or don’t have.

They are jealous of what others have and even angry at people and God about it.

And that heart condition leads to bitterness, anger, hatred, and often times to evil deeds.

And the ugly fact is that this isn’t simply what the world does, but it’s true in the church also.

Christians get upset at their neighbors because they have “nicer stuff.”

Christians dispute with their neighbors over property…

We see someone pull into the parking lot in a new car, and need one too…

Church leaders see other churches growing and try to copy their methods…

And so on…

Challenge

Our challenges this morning come from Paul:

In Philippians 4:10-13 we read…(talk about the importance of contentment...)

How can we do this?

In Galatians 5:16-24 we read…(talk about walking in the Spirit)

Walking in the Spirit requires belonging to Christ Jesus...

The Holy Spirit enables us to walk in Him, through conviction of sin, guiding us by illuminating the truth of the Scriptures, and continually drawing our minds and hearts back to the finished work of Christ Jesus on the cross.

Have you, like Paul, learned that our contentment must come from Christ and his provision for our lives? Are you walking in the Spirit daily?

If we want to win the victory over coveting, we must walk in the Spirit and learn to be content in Christ.