Coveting Contentment
The Ten Words Part 11 • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Please turn in your Bible to Exodus 20:17 as we look at Coveting Contentment.
We, as human beings, are created with desires. Desires, in and of themselves are not evil. Without desires nothing would be accomplished. It is the desire for food to eat which caused the ancient peoples to cultivate the land to grow crops to eat. That is a good thing. It is a good desire. In our day and age it is the desire to provide for our families which cause us to take up employment so that we can provide food, clothing, and shelter for our family. Again, that is a good thing.
It is the desire that exists between husband and wife which brings them together in an intimate way to reproduce offspring in their own image. Again, this is a good desire — it is a desire that God placed within the hearts of mankind.
It was God’s desire that all people groups come to repentance which caused Him to send His Only Begotten Son into the world as a man, to be the sin-bearer for His people. Again, this is an extremely good thing!
There was a time in which all desires were holy, just and good. At that time all of mankind knew what true contentment was. They did not need to covet contentment because they were experiencing it with every breath they took. That time may have only lasted for a few brief days, or it may have gone on for a much longer period. But that time came to an abrupt halt in the Garden of Eden when Eve, the mother of all the living, was tempted by Satan, that serpent of old!
Satan may be a lot of things, but one thing he is not is unintelligent. He is the most intelligent of all created beings. And he was the most beautiful of all created beings as well. I don’t fully comprehend how an angelic being could rebel against God, but the Bible is clear in its teaching that he did rebel against God. He wanted to exalt himself above the Most High. And he led one third of the angel population with him in his rebellion. Unable to fulfill his own ungodly desire, he targeted those who were the image bearers of God.
Understanding that man was created with desire, Satan chose to use that knowledge to his advantage. He played on Eve’s desires. He tempted her with a see-food diet, and she fell for it.
Since that fateful day, mankind has had difficulty keeping a lid on his desires. Instead of being content with what we have, we always find ourselves wanting more.
In 1989 Dear Abby published a poem which was written by a very insightful 14 year old boy. It is titled:
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.
This morning we will be considering the final commandment among the Ten Commandments otherwise known as the Ten Words. As we do so we will seek to define covetousness, consider what is prohibited and what is not prohibited by this commandment, and we will look at the positive side of this commandment which is contentment.
First, let’s read the entire Ten Commandments passage together.
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
“You shall have no other gods before Me.
“You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.
You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me,
but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.
“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you.
For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.
“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you.
“You shall not murder.
“You shall not commit adultery.
“You shall not steal.
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
“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 belongs to your neighbor.”
Let’s begin by
Defining Covetousness
Defining Covetousness
What does it mean to covet something? Sometimes the term covet is used interchangeably with the word desire. I’m pretty sure that there have been times when I have said to you that “I would covet your prayers about such and such.” In that sense of the word, coveting is not a sin. But that is not the sense in which the word is being used in our text.
Philip Ryken asked: “What does it mean to covet?” Then he went on to write, “To covet is to crave, to yearn for, to hanker after something that belongs to someone else.” (Philip Graham Ryken and R. Kent Hughes, Exodus: Saved for God’s Glory (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2005), 666.)
Note that,
We Covet Whenever We Set Our Hearts on Anything That is not Rightfully Ours
We are fully capable of coveting material things as well as immaterial things. We see our friends get a new car, and suddenly we want a new car. We see our friends go on vacation to Hawaii, and all of the sudden we want to go on vacation to Hawaii. We see our friends move from a small starter home in a subdivision filled with other small starter homes, to a large two-story home in a really nice subdivision. And suddenly we want a bigger home in a nicer subdivision. There’s phrase for this kind of coveting — “Keeping up with the Jones’”
Other things which we may covet are immaterial. Things such as prestige, success, fame, recognition, and position.
Uncontrolled lust turns into sin. James wrote about this in his epistle.
But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.
Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.
Later on in the same epistle James wrote,
What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members?
You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask.
You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.
Over the past decade we’ve seen Vladimir Putin lusting over territory which does not belong to his nation Russia. And he has waged military conquests to retake places which once belonged to the former Soviet Union. He began, to the best of my knowledge with Crimea. And now he has been engaged in a war with the Ukraine for nearly two years. What is the sourse of this conflict? The source is his uncontrolled lust — the source is greed — the source is covetousness, pure and simple!
How can we identify covetousness as being a sin which we personally struggle with? There is a real sense in which covetousness is involved with all forms of sin. Thomas Watson identified how each of the Ten Commandments relates to covetousness.
As it relates to the first commandment, Watson wrote that, “The covetous person has more than one god. Wealth is his god. He has a god of gold, and therefore is called an idolater.”
Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
As it relates to the second commandment, Watson wrote that , “A covetous person bows down, not to the graven image in the church, but to the graven image on his coin.”
As it relates to the third commandment, Watson explained that, Absalom took God’s name in vain when he lied about going to Hebron to pay a vow — since he was actually going to commit treason against his father, King David.
As it relates to the fourth commandment, Watson wrote that, “A covetous person does not keep the Lord’s Day holy..”
As it relates to the fifth commandment, Watson wrote that, “A covetous person does not honor his father if he does not help him with his necessities.” This is a charge which Jesus laid at the feet of the Pharisees!
As it relates to the sixth commandment, Watson wrote, “Covetous Ahab killed Naboth to get his vineyard.”
As it relates to the seventh commandment, Watson wrote, “Covetousness causes immorality.” It was covetousness which caused David to break the seventh commandment, and then he broke the sixth commandment to cover up his sin.
As it relates to the eighth commandment, Watson wrote, “Covetousness is the root of theft.” This was Achan’s sin during the conquest of Canaan. He saw things which were to be dedicated to the Lord, he coveted them, and then stole them.
As it relates to the ninth commandment, Watson wrote, “Covetousness causes the perjurer to lie and take a false oath.” That certainly was the case when Ahab coveted the vineyard of a man named Naboth. His wife found some men who were willing to lie under oath, and they brought an accusation which called for stoning Naboth to death. Thus, by lying, Ahab received his vineyard.
And, of course, covetousness clearly breaks the tenth commandment since we are prohibited by this commandment from coveting that which does not belong to us.
This brings us to consider
The Negative Prohibitions
The Negative Prohibitions
of the tenth commandment. Remember we have stated that each commandment has both a negative and a positive side.
Note that,
What is Prohibited is Coveting Something Which Does Not Belong to You
Remember that Christ Himself stated that all of the law and the prophets hang on two commands. The first command is found in
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
And the first four of the ten commandments fall under this command. The second command is found in
You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord.
And the last six commandments all fall under this command. That being said, our present commandment is the first time in which our neighbor is actually mentioned. Look at our text again.
“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 belongs to your neighbor.”
There are things which we can and probably should covet which are not prohibited. Hopefully we will circle back to that later. For now let’s look at the list which God gave to the people of Israel.
The first item mentioned is your neighbor's house. Unless I understand things incorrectly, which is always a possibility, this command is more futuristic in nature. At the time of the giving of the law the people of Israel were living as nomads in the wilderness. Most likely each family had some sort of tent in which they lived. Maybe I’m not imaginative enough, but I just can’t see them lusting after someone else’s worn out tent! But I sure can picture other scenarios in which they could and did lust over a house or piece of property that wasn’t theirs to possess.
Of course, we must understand that our neighbor is not limited to the people who live in the same neighborhood as we. In truth, all of mankind in our neighbor! What is the difference between admiring another person’s home and coveting it? Gail, Luke, and I love to drive into Tecumseh, park on Union Street, and walk around looking at the beautiful, old homes in that area. Are we coveting them or simply admiring them? I would say that we are simply admiring them. Now, if we started scheming as to how we might steal the house from the owner, then that is a different story altogether!
The next thing which is prohibited in our text is to covet our neighbor’s wife. And by extension, it applies to ladies coveting their neighbor’s husbands as well. This is the sin which got David into all sorts of trouble. Again, I believe that a person can look at another person of the opposite sex and admire their attractive qualities without actually coveting a relationship with them.
These first two prohibitions are things which are present day realities for many. But we may scratch our heads regarding the next few prohibitions. The next is coveting your neighbor’s servants.
Personally, I’ve never had a servant, nor have I ever wanted to have a servant. But in our society, business owners do have employees which other employers may covet. When I originally wrote this there were a lot of NFL teams coveting Jim Harbaugh, the coach of the Michigan Wolverines football team. Since I am a fan of Michigan football I have been keeping my eyes on the news. By now you probably know that Jim was hired by the Los Angeles Chargers to be their new head coach. And I really want to charge them with the sin of coveting. But in truth, I cannot in this case. I wish him well, and hope he leads the Chargers to beat everyone but the Detroit Lions! Since the NFL is a part of the free market system I can’t say that his leaving Michigan for Los Angeles is wrong. But when you get down to it, a football coach is an employee (one who is apparently paid better than the university president!).
Our text goes on to prohibit the coveting of our neighbor’s ox or donkey. Honestly, I’m thankful that my neighbors don’t have either of these critters. But they would be the ancient equivalent to the modern John Deer or Kubota tractors! And I could see myself coveting one of those babies!
The prohibition goes on to include anything that belongs to your neighbor! And for most of us that is the part that gets us into trouble.
J. I. Packer wrote, “In the tenth commandment, ‘you shall not covet,’ God’s searchlight moves from actions to attitudes, from motions to motives, from forbidden deeds to forbidden desire.” (J. I. Packer, Keeping the Ten Commandments (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2007), 101.)
The majority of the commandments refer to outward actions which can extend inwardly. But this commandment is all about inward desires which lead to outward actions.
Is there a remedy for covetousness? There most certainly is. Thomas Watson put forward several ways in which we can combat our propensity to covet what does not belong to us.
The First Remedy is Faith
For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.
The root of covetousness is distrust of God’s providence. Faith believes that God will provide, that He who feeds the birds will feed His children. It overcomes not only the fear of the world, but it also overcomes love for the world.
The Second Remedy is Wise and Thoughtful Consideration
Give thought to why it is that you desire something so strongly. Is it something you truly need, or is it merely something you want.
The Third Remedy for Covetousness is to Covet Spiritual Things More
You see, this is the part which is not forbidden by the tenth commandment. In truth, Scripture affirms on many occasions that we should covet spiritual things.
Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart.
As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for You, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; When shall I come and appear before God?
If you want to read an excellent book about coveting spiritual things, I encourage to read Desiring God by John Piper.
The Fourth Remedy is to Pray for a Heavenly Mindset
I find myself frequently praying that the Lord would help me put something out of my mind. But I also need to pray that He would help me develop a heavenly mindset. This heavenly mindset is in keeping with what Paul wrote to the Colossians.
Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.
Paul also wrote this to the Philippians.
Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.
The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
We will look at the fifth remedy under the next point, which is
The Positive Side of the Commandment
The Positive Side of the Commandment
Note that
The Fifth Remedy is Contentment
Hence, the title for today’s message — Coveting Contentment.
Contentment Means Wanting What God Wants For Us Rather Than What We Want for Us
While covetousness is such a great sin that Paul equates it with idolatry, contentment is a great positive trait to attain.
But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world.
I love what J. I. Packer wrote, “Knowing the love of Christ is the one and only source from which true contentment ever flows.”(J. I. Packer, Keeping the Ten Commandments (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2007), 103.)
Here’s where I challenge you to covet contentment.
Philip Ryken wrote, “The truth is that if God wanted us to have more right now, we would have it. If we needed different gifts to enable us to glorify him, he would provide them. If we were ready for the job or the ministry we want, he would put us into it. If we were supposed to be in a different situation in life, we would be in it. Instead of always saying, “If only this” and “If only that,” God calls us to glorify him to the fullest right now, whatever situation we are in.” (Philip Graham Ryken and R. Kent Hughes, Exodus: Saved for God’s Glory (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2005), 674.)
Perhaps this relates to us as a church as much as it does as individuals. It is easy for us to focus on what we don’t have as a church. We don’t have a children’s program since we only have one child. We don’t have young adults — the whole reason why we don’t have children. We don’t have an updated facility. We don’t have a big budget or a lot of surplus to fall back on. According to what Ryken just wrote, if God wanted us to have these things right now, then we would have them. What God wants is for us to be faithful with the things which we do have.
Perhaps you lack contentment because you lack a true relationship with Jesus Christ. If that is the case you will never find the remedy for covetousness, because it is only through having a right relationship with Christ that you can find true contentment. If this describes you I pray that you will seek Christ while He may be found, and call upon while He is near. I pray that you will be made alive in Christ and dead to sin.
Let’s pray.
Father,
I come before confessing that I don’t always practice what I preach. I am not always content. I often covet things which are not mine to have. May Your Spirit lead me to covet contentment.
I pray for any hearing this message who are not content due to not being in a right relationship with Jesus Christ. I pray that You would send them conviction and enlightenment. I pray that You would call and draw them to Jesus Christ. I pray that You would destroy any mental strongholds and remove any obstacle which keep them from embracing Your Beloved Son. I pray that their spirit would not be at rest until they embrace Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
I pray this in Jesus name, Amen.
Closing Song: #518
Satisfied
Verses 1 & 4
All my life-long I had panted for a drink from some cool spring that I hoped would quench the burning of the thirst I felt within.
Hallelujah! I have found Him Whom my soul so long has craved! Jesus satisfies my longings; thro’ His blood I now am saved.
Well of water, ever springing, Bread of Life, so rich and free; untold wealth that never faileth, my Redeemer is to me.
Hallelujah! I have found Him Whom my soul so long has craved! Jesus satisfies my longings; thro’ His blood I now am saved.