The Tenth Commandment
Ten Commandments • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Transcript
Outline:
Introduction
What does the tenth commandment forbid?
How can we know if we’ve covetted?
How can we fulfill the tenth commandment?
Conclusion
Scripture reading: Exod. 20:17
Scripture reading: Exod. 20:17
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”
Introduction
This week we’re looking at the tenth commandment. It is the last commandment that God gives the Israelites, but it is by no means the least. Some people say that the tenth commandment is the hardest to keep out of all the commandments simply because it’s talking about a deeper level of being. If you recall, the first to fourth commandments are about our relationship with God. The fifth to ninth commandments are about our relationship with other people. The tenth commandment is about your relationship with yourself. What does that mean? That means that the fifth to ninth commandments are doing commandments. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. But the tenth commandment is a being commandment. You shall not covet. It’s not a physical act, but a spiritual act. It’s not about your hands, but about your heart. So we’re going to get really specific about what this tenth commandment forbids, and then we’re going to look at what this command requires of us.
What does the tenth commandment forbid?
What does the tenth commandment forbid?
We need to first define what it means to covet, since it’s not a word that we use in our daily lives. Let’s start by stating what it’s not. Covetting is not admiring. It’s not sin to admire the Mona Lisa. It’s not sin to go to your friend’s house and admire their swimming pool.
So what’s the difference between covetting and admiring? The difference is that when you covet something, you desire to make it yours in a way that God wouldn’t approve. If you could somehow afford to buy the Mona Lisa for yourself, then sure, that’s a fair trade. But we all have boundaries that we cannot cross.
I earn a certain amount of money each month, and that amount isn’t enough for me to eat Haidilao every day. That’s my financial boundary.
I’m married to Hyeji, so I can’t have wishful thinking about other women. That’s my sexual boundary.
I’m a Christian, so I need to be in church on Sundays and give a tenth of my salary as offering each month. That’s my religious boundary.
All of us have boundaries, and those boundaries are given to us by God.
Now, the eighth commandment says that you shall not steal. It’s talking about the physical act of stealing, which is you taking something that doesn’t belong to you. By stealing, you are stepping beyond your boundary, stepping over the line, into your neighbor’s boundary.
However, what God is saying with this tenth commandment is that when we even think about stealing, when we even think of crossing beyond our boundary, we’re guilty of covetting and we’ve sinned against God.
The sin lies in how you desire to get it. No one sins by thinking, ‘That’s a nice house, I’m going to work hard, earn enough money, and buy a nice house too.’ It is sin when you desire for something in a way that goes against God’s law.
How can we know if we’ve covetted?
How can we know if we’ve covetted?
How can we know if we’ve covetted? You can ask yourself this question: does this desire stop me from being thankful to God for what I have? Being thankful to God means that you’re satisfied with what He’s given you. You’re satisfied with the boundary He has set for you. But if you’ve stopped being thankful, then that means your heart is always coveting.
So let’s do a quick quiz. I’m going to state four examples, and I want you to raise your hand if you think it is covetting.
John sees that Mary has got the latest iPhone. He wishes he could have one too, but he’s content with his current phone.
John sees that Mary has got the latest iPhone. He wishes he could have one too, and now his own phone feels not good enough.
John sees that Sophie gets married with Harry. He wishes he could marry someone as beautiful as Sophie.
John sees that Sophie gets married with Harry. He wishes he could marry someone as beautiful as Sophie, and starts to imagine what it would be like if he had been the one to marry Sophie instead.
This is the difference between a person who covets and a person who admires. But most of the time we fall into the first category. When our friends get nice things, we tend to compare ourselves to them, and then the things we have don’t seem to be enough.
But here’s an easy way to avoid a covetting mindset. Guys and girls have different styles for watches right? You will rarely find a guy who covets a lady’s watch, and you won’t really find women who covets a man’s watch. Why? Because men take one look at a lady’s watch and they think, ‘That’s for them, not for me.’
The Bible tells us that God gives us everything we need, for the things we need.
His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,
And so when we see something that looks good but isn’t ours, we must think of it as if it’s like a watch made for the opposite gender. That’s for them, and not for me. If God wants me to have it, then nothing’s going to stop Him from giving it to me.
Have you considered by God doesn’t give us things that we want?
If a father gives his son whatever he asks for, is that what we would call a good father?
There are so many stories of people who win the lottery, but their lives go downhill from that point onwards, and many of them lose everything or die.
We need to trust that God knows what we need, and He has given us exactly what we need in order for us to live on this earth.
How can we fulfill the tenth commandment?
How can we fulfill the tenth commandment?
There once was a rich young man who came to Jesus, and he says to Jesus ‘Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?’
And behold, a man came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?”
How does Jesus respond? He lists the fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth commandments. But just as He’s about the state the tenth commandment, He pauses, and chooses to say something else.
He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
So where we expect Jesus to say the tenth commandment, ‘You shall not covet,’ He instead quotes Lev. 19:18: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Why does He do this? He’s showing us how to fulfill the tenth commandment.
See, you can sort of do all the other commandments without love. I don’t need love to not kill someone. I just need to think of the consequences. If you murder someone in Singapore, you will either get sentenced to death or life imprisonment. Back then in ancient Israel it was only the death penalty.
So the point is that you could fulfill the commandments just by loving yourself enough to be scared of the consequences. But Jesus here is saying something profound. He’s saying that in order to fulfill the tenth commandment, it’s not enough to love yourself only.
Why? Because if you only love yourself, you’re going to want the best for yourself. And that means when someone else has better things than you, you’re going to start comparing yourself to them, and you’re going to covet.
The tenth commandment focuses not on the thing, but the thought. It’s not about the doing, but the being. It’s not about the hands, but the heart.
Jesus talks about this in a very scary way.
If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.
What’s Jesus saying? He’s saying that you need to get rid of the source of your sin. If it’s your eye, then get rid of it. If it’s your hand, then get rid of it. But is it your eye or your hand that causes you to sin? Shall we all go and get the knife and chopping board? It’s your heart. Jesus is talking about the heart.
And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
So what’s Jesus doing here? He’s talking about the tenth commandment, and showing how the tenth commandment actually summarizes all the ten commandments. It’s not about the doing, it’s about the being. And while we can chop off our hands and feet, we cannot cut out our heart. But that’s the source of our sin. Can you see how desperate our situation is?
“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
So in order for us to fulfill the tenth commandment, we need to wage war on our sinful thoughts. That is because the tenth commandment addresses what we call ‘thought sins,’ or ‘sins of the head.’
But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
What this passages is saying is that sin originates from the wrongful desires within us.
Sins of the head are any desires in our minds that go against God’s law.
The sins of the feet are us going to or refusing the leave the place where we can accomplish that sin.
The sins of the hands are us actually performing the physical sin.
This is what the process of sin looks like: Heart —> Mind —> Feet —> Hands.
Obviously the heart includes the mind. We’re not talking about the physical heart, but the control center of our emotions. It is our heart that’s the source of sin.
So we need to monitor our thought life. It seems impossible, but we can gain mastery over our thoughts. It’s the hardest battle, but the Bible commands it.
We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,
We need to take every thought captive to obey Christ. This means that we need to accept responsibility for our thoughts, and focus on the right things.
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
Conclusion
Conclusion
There is a saying, ‘Comparison is the thief of joy.’ But It’s impossible to stop comparing ourselves to others unless we realize how extremely personal God is with us. God cares so much for you that every single thing you have, everything that happens to you, puts you on a path to Him and to heaven.
But the magic happens when we apply this mindset to those around us. What’s the mindset? It’s the mindset of ‘That for you, not for me.’ God is blessing that person with a nice things knowing that it’s for that person’s good. And when we have this mindset, then we can rejoice in the boundary that God has set for us, and we can also truly be happy for others when they get nice things. We won’t feel the need to compare.
Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.