You shall not covet

To covet something is to desire it; to crave it; to delight in it. It’s important to note that the prohibition is not focused on a physical attempt to acquire what is desired, but on the actual desire itself. It’s not the act but the actual desire that is prohibited; the desire itself is sinful. One of the functions of this tenth commandment is to make the internalisation of the law explicit: a person may not murder, commit adultery or steal—but they must also endeavor to rid their hearts of coveting. This command addresses the desires of the heart. It shows us that holiness consists largely in the affections, in the desires. The kind of righteousness that God is looking for is the righteousness of the heart. This is because the desires of the heart, internal desires, always precede our external behaviours; desire is the root from which the actions spring. Sin isn’t just behaviour, sin is illegitimate desire. The desire for something can be inherently sinful. And so we are commanded to not covet; to not inordinately desire.

Notice also that coveting involves attachment to specific objects. We are not to covet a house, a spouse, a servant, animal, or…anything! It may be that you are not tempted to covet an ox or a donkey—but maybe you are tempted to desire your neighbour’s smartphone, or watch, or car, or house. Notice the blanket prohibition—we are not to desire anything of our neighbours. Anything; any person, any object.

This helps us see that, although coveting happens at the level of our desires, although it’s always internal, it’s also concretely attached to specific things or people. Coveting is an idolatrous desire for, or attachment to, a person or an object. It’s the person or thing you long for; it’s the person or thing you crave; it’s the person or thing that you think will make you happy and joyful.

Gollam: you may know the LOTR character Gollam. He was originally known as Sméagol, but his life changes when his friend Deagol finds the One Ring. The ring, rich with promise, immediately attracts and corrupts Smeagol, who murders Deagol in order to obtain the ring. But Gollum’s desire for the ring, like all other inordinate sinful desires, completely corrupts and ruins him. His coveting sows the seeds for his psychological unraveling and social alienation. In the end, his coveting leads to his death.

So…what is your “precious”? {When this verb appears in noun form, one way it could be translated is as ‘precious thing’]

So… What do you treasure? What easily grabs the affections of your heart? It may change, depending on what your life situation is—but what is it at the moment? You want to identify both things—both the internal desire and the object/person to which that desire typically attaches itself.

Notice also that coveting involves attachment to specific objects. We are not to covet a house, a spouse, a servant, animal, or…anything! It may be that you are not tempted to covet an ox or a donkey—but maybe you are tempted to desire your neighbour’s smartphone, or watch, or car, or house. Notice the blanket prohibition—we are not to desire anything of our neighbours. Anything; any person, any object.

One final distinction: coveting can refer to an inordinate desire for a good thing. But it can also refer to any desire for an illegitimate thing. So—we need to be aware of what people/objects we may over-desire, and we also need to be aware of the things we illegitimately desire.

This helps us see that, although coveting happens at the level of our desires, although it’s always internal, it’s also concretely attached to specific things or people. Coveting is an idolatrous desire for, or attachment to, a person or an object. It’s the person or thing you long for; it’s the person or thing you crave; it’s the person or thing that you think will make you happy and joyful.

The Tenth is the most neighborly of the commandments, using the word “neighbor” three times, the only times the word is used in the Decalogue. Walter Brueggemann, an OT scholar, speculates that it is “as though this is the originary statement of a faith perspective that finally concerns the well-being of the neighbor.” The prohibition of covetousness is the foundation of ancient Israelite society, since “acknowledgment of the neighbor, the neighbor’s presence, and the neighbor’s property is indispensable for a viable social order.” Acknowledging the neighbour’s presence and property is indispensable to a viable social order. One of the reasons why we have such social unrest today in SA is that, both historically and on into the present, this command has been (and is being) disobeyed. The personhood and the property of our neighbour was not acknowledged; rather, it was ignored (and is still often ignored) in the pursuit of material gain.

Gollam: you may know the LOTR character Gollam. He was originally known as Sméagol, but his life changes when his friend Deagol finds the One Ring. The ring, rich with promise, immediately attracts and corrupts Smeagol, who murders Deagol in order to obtain the ring. But Gollum’s desire for the ring, like all other inordinate sinful desires, completely corrupts and ruins him. His coveting sows the seeds for his psychological unraveling and social alienation. In the end, his coveting leads to his death.

So this command prohibits inordinate desire, and the desire for something that belongs to someone else. And yet, far from us recognising the wisdom of this command, we (as a culture) enthusiastically reject this command. This sinful desire, rather than being rejected, is actually stimulated through advertising and marketing for economic purposes. The psychology of advertising and marketing understands this sinful desire; it understands the yearning to have the best persons and objects available, and uses it to goad the consumer into making purchases. This desire is not just stimulated through formal advertising but even informally, on social media platforms or even at last braai you attended. In fact, any social context provides us with an opportunity to covet.

So…what is your “precious”? {When this verb appears in noun form, one way it could be translated is as ‘precious thing’]

We have the Velcro hooks of covetousness in our hearts, our social contexts have the Velcro loops of covetousness and they naturally find one another and become entangled.

So that’s the nature of coveting…it is an internal inordinate desire for something, particularly something that belongs to your neighbour. But if you sinfully desire what your neighbour has…there are significant and devastating consequences. So let’s consider those; let’s move from the nature of coveting to the consequences of coveting.

So… What do you treasure? What easily grabs the affections of your heart? It may change, depending on what your life situation is—but what is it at the moment? You want to identify both things—both the internal desire and the object/person to which that desire typically attaches itself.

Finally—you also want to identify why you have a desire for that particular thing; what the underlying motive for that is. Unless we can begin to identify those underlying motivational desires, we’re not going to make progress in dealing with coveting.

The consequences of coveting are nothing less than disastrous. Once again in this series, we see that God’s Words are designed to protect us and promote freedom and flourishing. We ignore what He says at our own peril.

One final distinction: coveting can refer to an inordinate desire for a good thing. But it can also refer to any desire for an illegitimate thing. So—we need to be aware of what people/objects we may over-desire, and we also need to be aware of the things we illegitimately desire.

Again and again, the prophets rebuke those who covet. Amos particularly, shows us that at the root of social injustice lies the sin of covetousness.

Amos 2:6 NIV

This is what the Lord says: “For three sins of Israel, even for four, I will not relent. They sell the innocent for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals.

Amos 5:11–12 NIV

You levy a straw tax on the poor and impose a tax on their grain. Therefore, though you have built stone mansions, you will not live in them; though you have planted lush vineyards, you will not drink their wine. For I know how many are your offenses and how great your sins. There are those who oppress the innocent and take bribes and deprive the poor of justice in the courts.

Covetousness may begin in the heart, psychologically, but eventually coveting results in injustice, sociologically. When we covet something, we then use people to get what we want. We trample over them. We pervert justice. And we incur God’s wrath.

And lest we think that this is just an OT prophet thing, we find repeated warnings about the same kind of greed and covetousness in the NT.

James 5:1–5 NIV

Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter.

The problem is not wealth per se; it is the trampling over others in order to accumulate and hoard wealth. When money and wealth become more important than people, then people become expendable in order to grow your wealth. When we covet, we trample over our neighbour. In our lust for more, we exploit our neighbour. In fact, the breaking of this command preceds the breaking of the other commands before it: We don’t steal, unless we first covet. We don’t commit adultery, unless we first covet. We don’t lie, unless we first covet. Again and again and again, in the Bible, we see that a variety of sinful behaviours are rooted in covetousness.

Gollam: willing to hurt others in order to get his precious. Gollam, when still Smeagle, murders is best friend because he coveted the ring. And Gollam continues to hurt others in order to satisfy his unquenchable idolatrous desire for the ring. Tolkien understood covetousness: I am coveting something when I am willing to sin in order to get it.

Greed and covetousness are at the root of all social injustice.

Well, humanity hasn’t changed much, has it? Over the past couple thousand years, after experiencing all the terrible social consequences of coveting, have we learnt the lesson? Unfortunately not. Our coveting, our sinful desire for the things of our neighbours, is a desire that remains firmly rooted in our hearts and society.

However, as terrible as that is, we see that coveting doesn’t just have terrible social consequences but also terrible eternal consequences.

The terrible consequences of coveting don’t only affect others, though: they also affect us… Unless we deal with this sin in our own lives, we will experience terrible eternal consequences. Firstly, let’s quickly review the passages we’ve just considered and notice the connection between injustice and judgement.

The Tenth is the most neighborly of the commandments, using the word “neighbor” three times, the only times the word is used in the Decalogue. Walter Brueggemann, an OT scholar, speculates that it is “as though this is the originary statement of a faith perspective that finally concerns the well-being of the neighbor.” The prohibition of covetousness is the foundation of ancient Israelite society, since “acknowledgment of the neighbor, the neighbor’s presence, and the neighbor’s property is indispensable for a viable social order.” Acknowledging the neighbour’s presence and property is indispensable to a viable social order. One of the reasons why we have such social injustice and unrest today in SA is that, both historically and on into the present, this command has been (and is being) disobeyed. The personhood and the property of our neighbour was not acknowledged; rather, it was ignored (and is still often ignored) in the pursuit of material gain.

Secondly, let’s consider a few more—because, you may think: Well, I covet in a socially responsible way. I only buy fair trade coffee, I only use locally sourced produce, and I only buy ethically approved products. Well, that’s better, but the sin of covetousness is still serious enough to shipwreck your relationship with God.

Ephesians 5:5 NIV

For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

Coveting will keep you out of God’s kingdom. Even if your coveting has not resulted in unjust practices, even if you practice in a socially responsible way, coveting is nevertheless a sign of a heart that does not love God. It’s a heart that has not tasted the grace of the Gospel. I find this warning so strong that I’m tempted to say that Paul must be overreacting but he actually tells us in this passage not to confused but rather to be sure. I think it’s because these sinful desires and behaviours can be seen as socially acceptable. And if they are socially acceptable, then surely they are spiritually acceptable? No says Paul.

1 Corinthians 6:9–10 NIV

Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

Coveting will keep you out of God’s kingdom. It is a sign of a heart that has not tasted the grace of the Gospel. I find this warning so strong that I’m tempted to say that Paul must be overreacting but he actually tells us in this passage not to be deceived. I think it’s because these sinful desires and behaviours can be seen as socially acceptable. And if they are socially acceptable, then surely they are spiritually acceptable? No says Paul.

Going back to the text in Exodus, did you notice that the command is repeated? I think it’s repeated because of the deceitfulness of this particular desire. Coveting things, coveting people, comes so naturally and feels so normal. It even feels good. And that is precisely why it is so dangerous to us. It is a sinful desire that resides in our hearts that keeps us away from God; from God’s kingdom.

It is no surprise, therefore, that Jesus also warns us of these things.

Luke 12:15–21 NIV

Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” ’ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

When we covet, we are rich towards ourselves—but not towards God or our neighbour. And so when we covet, we break God’s law, and we stand under His judgement. When we are rich towards ourselves, but not God and others, we are excluded from His kingdom. If we are honest, we all stand guilty of coveting. We’re all guilty of materialism. We’ve desired things that we should not have desired. We’ve all broken God’s law.

I think it is important to log this as we wrap up the series: God has given us his wonderful law, a law that guides into freedom and wholeness, and yet it is a law that we have broken. We stand guilty of breaking the law.

Apologetic sidebar: I’ve only broken some of the law. Breaking some of the law=breaking all of the law. It’s like breaking a window: you don’t just break part of the window but the whole thing. Similarly, when we break God’s law, we don’t just break one command, we’ve broken the whole thing—we’re lawbreakers.

Breaking a window: you don’t just break part of the window but the whole thing. Similarly, when we break God’s law, we don’t just break one command, we’ve broken the whole thing—we’re lawbreakers.

So isn’t it good news to hear that Jesus came to take our punishment. Jesus experienced the consequences of our coveting—He was punished by God. Though Jesus was perfectly innocent, never guilty of coveting—he became our substitute and bore the wrath of God on our behalf. And now, because of that, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. We are forgiven; cleansed; renewed.

And as forgiven people, we have the ability to change. To grow. To longer be enslaved to sinful desires, but to actually make progress in holiness. So what does that mean as it relates to this command? What is the converse of coveting?

Philippians 3:9 NIV

and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.

Although by nature and choice we are idolaters, although we’re naturally guilty of coveting, in Jesus we can be forgiven and cleansed. We can be given the gift of righteousness. And more than this, God doesn’t just forgive our coveting, but he also starts to reverse it. He trains us in the converse of coveting.

So this command prohibits inordinate desire, and the desire for something that belongs to someone else. And yet, far from us recognising the wisdom of this command, we (as a culture) enthusiastically reject this command. This sinful desire, rather than being rejected, is actually stimulated through advertising and marketing for economic purposes. The psychology of advertising and marketing understands this sinful desire; it understands the yearning to have the best persons and objects available, and uses it to goad the consumer into making purchases. This desire is not just stimulated through formal advertising but even informally, on social comparison websites, media platforms or even at last braai you attended. In fact, any social context (even church!) provides us with an opportunity to covet.

Remember how the 10 commandments work: each prohibition also points us to its opposite ideal. Here, like the others, we must try to discern what positive value God is seeking to guard and cultivate.

We have the Velcro hooks of covetousness in our hearts, our social contexts have the Velcro loops of covetousness and they naturally find one another and become entangled.

1 Timothy 6:6–8 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.

So we are to seek godliness with contentment. We’re given a similar injunction in

Hebrews 13:5 NIV

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

Notice the logic of this: we are to be free from the desire for money, we are to be content with our situation, because we have God. As God’s children, we have the most precious thing in all the universe: a relationship with our Heavenly Father. Because we delight in Him, we no longer delight in money. Because he has become our treasure, our precious, money loses its grip on our hearts. So that’s the ideal that this command points us to: contentment.

Notice, if you will, that, like coveting, contentment exists at the level of desire. Contentment refers to a release of desire; a state in which your desires are confined to what you have.

1 Timothy 6:17–19 NIV

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

1 Timothy 6:

One of the ways I think we can protect ourselves against greed and coveting is by cultivating generosity and sharing. If we can incorporate that into our lifestyle, then we will, according to verse 19, take hold of the life that is truly life. Not the fake life, the pseudo-life that merely consists in your possessions, but the true life.

Rather than coveting our neighbours things, we are to pursue contentment and seek to do good and be generous. This is because we are to love our neighbour.

So that’s the nature of coveting…it is an internal inordinate desire for something, particularly something that belongs to your neighbour. But if you sinfully desire what your neighbour has…there are significant and devastating consequences. So let’s consider those; let’s move from the nature of coveting to the consequences of coveting.

But let’s end off by thinking through not just the personal implications, but also the social. As we’ve seen, we cannot separate these dimensions when it comes to coveting, and we can’t separate them when it comes to godliness. Because when we go back to and learn from Paul’s financial counsel, we see that he gives us the following command:

1 Timothy 6:17–19 NIV

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

One of the ways I think we can protect ourselves against greed and coveting is by cultivating generosity and sharing. If we can incorporate that into our lifestyle, then we will, according to verse 19, take hold of the life that is truly life. Not the fake life, the pseudo-life that merely consists in your possessions, but the true life.

Rather than coveting our neighbours things, we are to pursue contentment and seek to do good and be generous. This is because we are to love our neighbour.

Romans 13:9–10 NIV

The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

The consequences of coveting are nothing less than disastrous. Once again in this series, we see that God’s Words are designed to protect us and promote freedom and flourishing. We ignore what He says at our own peril.

We fulfill the law by loving our neighbours. We obey the 10 commandments by loving our neighbours. And we are motivated to love others because we have been loved. We have been on the reciving end of God’s love and generosity, therefore, we seek to show love and generosity to others.

Again and again, the prophets rebuke those who covet. Amos particularly, shows us that at the root of social injustice lies the sin of covetousness.

Gospel link: Jesus takes the consequences of our sin upon himself, and credits to us his very own righteousness. And so we rejoice in that gift of righteousness, grateful that

NIV

Philippians 3:9 NIV

and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.

This is what the Lord says: “For three sins of Israel, even for four, I will not relent. They sell the innocent for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals.

Although by nature and choice we are idolaters, although we’re naturally guilty of coveting, in Jesus we can be forgiven and cleansed. Jesus responded to our selfishness with sacrifice; he responded to our greed with generous love. Because Jesus was so willing to give and to share, we are motivated to give and to share with others.

NIV

You levy a straw tax on the poor and impose a tax on their grain. Therefore, though you have built stone mansions, you will not live in them; though you have planted lush vineyards, you will not drink their wine. For I know how many are your offenses and how great your sins. There are those who oppress the innocent and take bribes and deprive the poor of justice in the courts.

Covetousness may begin in the heart, psychologically, but eventually coveting results in injustice, sociologically. When we covet something, we then use people to get what we want. We trample over them. We pervert justice. And we incur God’s wrath.

And lest we think that this is just an OT prophet thing, we find repeated warnings about the same kind of greed and covetousness in the NT.

NIV

Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter.

The problem is not wealth per se; it is the trampling over others in order to accumulate wealth. When money and wealth become more important than people, then people become expendable in order to grow your wealth. When we covet, we trample over our neighbour. In our lust for more, we exploit our neighbour. In fact, the breaking of this command precedes the breaking of the other commands before it: We don’t steal, unless we first covet. We don’t commit adultery, unless we first covet. We don’t lie, unless we first covet. Again and again and again, in the Bible, we see that a variety of sinful behaviours are rooted in covetousness.

Gollam: willing to hurt others in order to get his precious. Gollam, when still Smeagle, murders is best friend because he coveted the ring. And Gollam continues to hurt others in order to satisfy his unquenchable idolatrous desire for the ring. Tolkien understood covetousness: I am coveting something when I am willing to sin in order to get it.

Well, humanity hasn’t changed much, has it? Over the past couple thousand years, after experiencing all the terrible social consequences of coveting, have we learnt the lesson? Unfortunately not. Our coveting, our sinful desire for the things of our neighbours, is a desire that remains firmly rooted in our hearts and society.

However, as terrible as that is, we see that coveting doesn’t just have terrible social consequences but also terrible eternal consequences.

The terrible consequences of coveting don’t only affect others, though: they also affect us… Unless we deal with this sin in our own lives, we will experience terrible eternal consequences. Firstly, let’s quickly review the passages we’ve just considered and notice the connection between injustice and judgement.

Secondly, let’s consider a few more—because, you may think: Well, I covet in a socially responsible way. I only buy fair trade coffee, I only use locally sourced produce, and I only buy ethically approved products. Well, that’s better, but the sin of covetousness is still serious enough to shipwreck your relationship with God.

NIV

For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

Coveting will keep you out of God’s kingdom. Even if your coveting has not resulted in unjust practices, even if you practice in a socially responsible way, coveting is nevertheless a sign of a heart that does not love God. It’s a heart that has not tasted the grace of the Gospel. I find this warning so strong that I’m tempted to say that Paul must be overreacting but he actually tells us in this passage to be sure. I think it’s because these sinful desires and behaviours can be seen as socially acceptable. And if they are socially acceptable, then surely they are spiritually acceptable? No says Paul.

Going back to the text in Exodus, did you notice that the command is repeated? I think it’s repeated because of the deceitfulness of this particular desire. Coveting things, coveting people, comes so naturally and feels so normal. It even feels good. And that is precisely why it is so dangerous to us. It is a sinful desire that resides in our hearts that keeps us away from God; from God’s kingdom.

It is no surprise, therefore, that Jesus also warns us of these things.

NIV

Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” ’ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

When we covet, we are rich towards ourselves—but not towards God or our neighbour. And so when we covet, we break God’s law, and we stand under His judgement. When we are rich towards ourselves, but not God and others, we are excluded from His kingdom. If we are honest, we all stand guilty of coveting. We’re all guilty of materialism. We’ve desired things that we should not have desired. We’ve all broken God’s law.

I think it is important to log this as we wrap up the series: God has given us his wonderful law, a law that guides into freedom and wholeness, and yet it is a law that we don’t keep; we have broken it.

› Apologetic sidebar: I’ve only broken some of the law. Breaking some of the law=breaking all of the law. It’s like breaking a window: you don’t just break part of the window but the whole thing. Similarly, when we break God’s law, we don’t just break one command, we’ve broken the whole thing—we’re lawbreakers.

So isn’t it good news to hear that Jesus came to take our punishment. Jesus experienced the consequences of our coveting—He was punished by God. Though Jesus was perfectly innocent, never guilty of coveting—he became our substitute and bore the wrath of God on our behalf. And now, because of that, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. We are forgiven; cleansed. And as forgiven people, we have the ability to change. To grow. To longer be enslaved to sinful desires, but to actually make progress in holiness.

One of the primary ways this happens is that our motivational desires get rewired: we’re now motivated by a love for Christ, gratitude to Him for his sacrificial love. This gets at the root of our sinful motives that fuel coveting.

So what does that mean as it relates to this command? What is the converse of coveting?

Remember how the 10 commandments work: each prohibition also points us to its opposite ideal. Here, like the others, we must try to discern what positive value God is seeking to guard and cultivate.

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.

So we are to seek godliness with contentment. We’re given a similar injunction in

NIV

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

Notice the logic of this: we are to be free from the desire for money, we are to be content with our situation, because we have God. As God’s children, we have the most precious thing in all the universe: a relationship with our Heavenly Father. Because we delight in Him, we no longer delight in money. Because he has become our treasure, our precious, money loses its grip on our hearts. Our desires and motives are being rewired. So that’s the ideal that this command points us to: contentment.

But let’s end off by thinking through not just the personal implications, but also the social. As we’ve seen, we cannot separate these dimensions when it comes to coveting, and we can’t separate them when it comes to godliness. Because when we go back to and learn from Paul’s financial counsel, we see that he gives us the following command:

NIV

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

One of the ways I think we can protect ourselves against greed and coveting is by cultivating generosity and sharing. If we can incorporate that into our lifestyle, then we will, according to verse 19, take hold of the life that is truly life. Not the fake life, the pseudo-life that merely consists in your possessions, but the true life.

Rather than coveting our neighbours things, we are to pursue contentment and seek to do good and be generous. This is because we are to love our neighbour.

NIV

The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

We fulfil the law by loving our neighbours. We obey the 10 commandments by loving our neighbours. And we are motivated to love others because we have been loved. We have been on the receiving end of God’s love and generosity, therefore, we seek to show love and generosity to others.

Although by nature and choice we are idolaters, although we’re naturally guilty of coveting, in Jesus we can be forgiven and cleansed. Jesus responded to our selfishness with sacrifice; he responded to our greed with generous love. This kind of love changes us at the level of our motives and desires. Because Jesus was so willing to give and to share, we are motivated to give and to share with others.

Let’s pray.

You shall not covet

The Nature of Coveting

Coveting is internal (psycho-spiritual).

Coveting is internal (psycho-spiritual).

Coveting occurs in a social context (sociological).

The Consequences of Coveting

Temporal Social Consequences

Eternal Personal Consequences

Coveting occurs in a social context (sociological).

The Converse of Coveting

Personally: Contentment

Socially: Doing Good and Being Generous

Socially: Doing Good and Being Generous

The Consequences of Coveting

Temporal Social Consequences

Eternal Personal Consequences

The Converse of Coveting

Personally: Contentment

Socially: Doing Good and Being Generous