Thou Shalt Not Covet

Introduction

English Standard Version Chapter 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.”

Today is December 26th, and we have officially 364 more days until Christmas next year. For some of us, this fact brings about a sense of relief - for others, it brings feelings of melancholy, or a feeling that something isn’t quite right.

That melancholy is what people call the post-Christmas blues. It is an actual phenomenon - not just for Christmas, but for people who experience melancholy after a holiday.

Why do we experience it? There are many causes and it often comes from a combination of several things:

a. The holidays weren’t as festive as usual.

b. Your plans fell through.

c. Your expectations weren’t met.

d. You might feel guilty for spending too much money, eating too much food, etc.

or

e. The holidays were as festive as they have ever been

f. Your plans fit perfectly.

g. You got every gift you asked for.

h. You ate just the right amount, or you you don’t care about all that you have eaten.

However, you still feel the “post-Christmas blues.”

So many self-help articles and resources will tell you to minimize your expectations or try to limit your spending. In other words, the problem lies in what did or didn’t happen over the holidays.

I appreciate those helps - but I don’t think that they get to the root of the problem.

The best way to describe is my own experience: As a child, I would always open my presents - surrounded by parents, great food, love, and festivities - and I remember keeping my horde of presents on the couch in our living room much like Smaug the dragon in LOTR. I remember looking at those presents and just thinking to myself, “What now?”

The joy of this morning is that Jesus is the “What now?” The best that Christmas had to offer wasn’t ever the presents, the festivities, or even your family. The best Christmas had to offer was Jesus.

The root of the problem is that there is only one think that will ever fully satisfy the depths of your soul. That thing is a person, and that person is Jesus Christ.

I hope that you had good food, great conversations with your family, wonderful presents, new and old traditions, and everything in between. BUT, I want to simply points our hearts this morning to the source of all satisfaction.

CIT: Covetousness of another’s possessions is sinful and shows a discontentment with God.

Explanation

This brings us to Exodus 20:17 // We shall not covet anything of our neighbors. His house, his wife, his servants, or his animals…ANYTHING that belongs to him is off limits. But before we go any further, we have to ask the question… what is covetousness?

1. What is covetousness?

Covetousness is desiring - wanting or craving something. When someone says that they “covet” your prayers, it means that they desire it.

Desire (by itself) is a neutral word in the Old Testament.

The object of that desire is when something becomes sinful.

Coveting what someone else has is when desire becomes sinful.

c. Covetousness ultimately is a lack of desire for God and His Glory that manifests as a driving desire to accumulate more of the world.

d. When does a good, godly desire become a sinful, warped desire?

2. Where do we find it? We find it in our hearts. This command is the only one that Moses pronounces that goes directly to the heart.

a. You may never visibly show covetousness to someone else around it, all the while being eaten up with it.

b. It manifests itself in a desire for the blessings that God has given to others.

i. It can manifest as a toddler’s anger over another playing with her toy.

ii. It can be a teenager who is bitter over another’s starting role in the football team.

iii. It can be discontentedness at one’s job while others are getting promotions.

iv. It can be the jostling for material dominance seen in buying a car or a boat or a gun or a house that is bigger and better.

c. We find it when we are bitter against others for the things that God has given to them.

d. We find it when we live in a fever pitch to accumulate the “next big thing.”

e. We can often follow the emotions of anger, bitterness, and disdain for others.

3. Jesus speaks about it as well. He addresses the draw of material things and how they can damage one’s heart.

Luke 12:13-21 “Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” ’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.””

We don’t know if this man is in the right or wrong. We only know that his request is brazen and cringy, because of all the things he could have brought to Jesus, he brought a land dispute.

Jesus notices this: He asks, “Who has made me arbitrator over you?” then shares the parable of the rich fool. The point of the parable is to show that some things, especially one’s eternal life, are more important than one’s possessions.

We don’t know whether this man ever got saved or not, but for eternity, he will go down as the man who sat stood before the “Word made flesh” and asked Him to settle a land dispute.

3. Francis Schaeffer states that all of the Ten Commandments most fundamentally boil down to covetousness. (I don’t necessarily agree with him, because I believe that pride is more fundamental to sin than covetousness). However, his point is worth taking.

a. He states that we are to love God enough to be contented, and we are to love men enough not to envy.

b. When we lose our contentment, we covet against God. We covet his position to place us where we want to go, and we covet his sovereignty to do whatever we think will satisfy us.

c. “Envy of man” or coveting against man will always spill out into the external world around us.

Application

Firstly, Our lives must be fully satisfied in Jesus.

Parents, if you took the amount of love, money, care, planning, work, and effort that you put forth for your children the past month for them to have a wonderful Christmas and you multiplied it times ONE BILLION, it wouldn’t scratch the love of your Heavenly Father for you.

When we see Jesus for who he truly is, we understand that he is the greatest treasure.

Secondly, When we are satisfied in Jesus, we will be satisfied with what He gives us.

Some of us would be angry and frustrated with our Heavenly Father if He only gave you what Jesus asked in the Lord’s prayer.

The problem with your covetousness is not how little you have or how much someone else has. It is a disconnect between your heart and the goodness of God.

Thirdly, We follow our emotions as they pertain to other people.

When we feel anger or bitterness, we have to ask, “why?”

Often, that emotion comes from envy.

Fourthly, we practice contentment. Andy Davis, pastor of FBC Raleigh, NC gives us some tangibles to fight against discontentment.

Practice the presence of Christ

Give thanks in all circumstances

Pray continually

Starve sin to death and kill specific temptations

Set a guard over the door of your mouth.

Complaining is a key indicator of discontentment.

Follow what comes out of your mouth back to your heart.

Be quite and slow down your life to concentrate on Jesus.

Invitation

The invitation is to give your life to Jesus. All of the pleasures of the world will never satisfy the way the love of God does. Trust in Jesus work on the cross to save you and repent of your sins and be saved today.

Walk in contentment towards God and others today.