Be Content with You

Well, we are continuing our / / Big 10 Series: Are God’s Commandments Still Relevant for Today? And I think the more and more I read them, the more and more I see that they are unbelievably relevant today. Again, I want to encourage you, if you’ve missed weeks in this series, you want to go back and watch them on youtube, or directly on our website. And while you’re at it, subscribe to our youtube channel if you haven’t so we can hit the number we need to get our actual name.

Last week we took a turn around the corner of focus in these commandments. The first four we looked at in the first couple weeks were focused on our direct relationship and connection with God:

/ / Do not have any other gods before Me

Do not make idols

/ / Do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain

Keep the Sabbath holy

All of those deal with our connection to God, honoring Him and who He is. This is by far the most important thing we need a Christians - a right view of who God is. If you don’t see God in the correct way, you’ll think he’s different than he is, and he would do things differently than he does. And that changes our expectations and how we approach God.

Kelley and I were in target the other day and there was a man who came up to us, we got talking, exchanged names and then he told me to go to a website. I knew this was the website of a religion that believes mostly what we believe, but believes some things differently than we do. And Not knowing all of the differences or having studied them, I couldn’t say to him, “you know you’re wrong”…nor would that have helped. But in conversation he says to me, “I’m punished...” and I said, “You’re punished? Why is that?” And he said, “By God....”

That alone. That one little thing, if you think you God is looking to punish you - that will dictate how you approach Him and treat him, how you treat the bible, how you live your life in response to a God who seemingly cares more about you getting it right than He cares about YOU...

So, I said to this guy, “Well that’s not how it’s supposed to work...” And I happened to be wearing my cutler bay worship center shirt and I turned around and pointed at my back to the big “God Loves You” and I said, “This is what it’s all about...”

He didn’t seem very amused, he seemed more interested in making sure I went to his churches website. So, he kind of tried to laugh it off, and I said, “God doesn’t want to punish you. The bible actually says that if we are afraid, it is because we are afraid of punishment, but God’s perfect love casts out fear.”

Listen, if punishment invokes fear, and I’m not supposed to have fear in my life because the bible clearly says God wants to perfect his love in me and His perfect love casts out fear, I have to look at that equation and come to the conclusion that God really is not looking to punish me. I didn’t say all of that because as soon as I quoted scripture to him he responded with scripture to me.

But scripture, as I’ve said over these last few weeks, can unfortunately be used to control and manipulate.

Look at the conversation between Jesus and the devil in the wilderness after Jesus is baptized by John and receives the Holy Spirit.

The discourse is in Matthew 4, Luke 4, and it says that Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness where he was tempted by the devil for forty days. I’m not going to make a theology about this, but / / sometimes the leading of the spirit brings us to places where we have to rely on the Spirit to get us through it. You can be led by the Spirit and find yourself in a place of opposition. But, read the story, because there are four things that Jesus has that we all have as well - in every situation and in every opposition.

First, before he is even led into the wilderness, he had heard the voice of His father speak the most important words any of us can hear, “This is my son, in whom I am well pleased...” God loves us, and is pleased with us before we do anything. This was said before Jesus ministers to people. / / Before the healings, before the great words, before the revelation of scripture, before the sacrifice - God was pleased with Him.

Second, / / he was led BY the Spirit. I can only read that as understanding that the Spirit was with him through this experience.

Third, / / Jesus used scripture to inform his decisions. We have scripture.

And the fourth thing that Jesus had with him was being surrounded by the spiritual realm. Knowing what he was part of. Knowing who is for him. / / Jesus knew he was surrounded by more than He could see. Sure, the devil is part of the spiritual realm, we’ve looked at that, especially in our series on the armor of God, but Matthew 4:11 says that / / after the devil went away angels came and took care of Jesus - some translations say they ministered to him.

Through everything you go through, you have these 4 things with you. / / The love of a Heavenly Father - who cares about you beyond measure, / / the Holy Spirit who is leading you and guiding you, / / scripture which speaks of Jesus, who is the very Word of God, and / / the spiritual realm. Hebrews 1:14 says, / / Therefore, angels are only servants - spirits sent to care for people who will inherit salvation.

Are you saved by the grace of God? Do you believe in Jesus Christ as the one who redeems? Then the bible says you’ve received eternal life, we inherit salvation. That means that these spirits, servants of God, angels, are sent to you to minister and care for you.

Be ok with asking God for spiritual, supernatural help in your life!

That is the rabbit trail of the rabbit trail… the point of bringing that up is because in this discourse the devil himself uses scripture to try and convince Jesus to fail at his mission. Matthew 4:5 says, / / Then the devil took him to the holy city, Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple, and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say, ‘He will order his angels to protect you. And they will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.’”

Is he wrong? He’s not, scripture does in fact say that, it’s Psalm 91:11-12, a scripture commonly quoted during pandemic!

So, back to my conversation with my friend in Target. As soon as I quoted scripture to him about punishment, he took a scripture, which I have heard time and time again and think it is taken completely out of context. There are three scriptures that say essentially the same thing.

Proverbs 3:11-12 says, / / My child, don’t reject the Lord’s discipline, and don’t be upset when he corrects you. For the Lord corrects those he loves, just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights.

And Hebrews 12:5-6 quotes that scripture directly, and continues with, / / As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father?… God’s discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness. (vs 7, 10)

And the misinterpretation continues straight through to Revelation 3:19 which says, / / “I correct and discipline everyone I love...”

And that is what this guy quoted to me, “Jehovah disciplines those he loves...”

So I stopped him to try to explain discipline is about course correction to lead to the life God intends, not punishment for our actions… But, his interpretation of scripture was secured tightly in his mind. I hope he finds the freeing love of God and that fear is broken.

You can see how scripture can be used. Here’s the thing about Scripture. It’s a signpost. Jesus said in John 5:39, / / “You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me! Yet you refused to come to me to receive this life.”

Scripture points to Jesus. This was the whole point. Jesus is fully aware that people are and will interpret scripture wrong. There are still plenty of Jewish people who do not believe Jesus was the Messiah, so they don’t believe scripture points to him, and if it truly does, then their interpretation of it is wrong. And Jesus came up against this many times through his ministry. Last week we looked at times he directly said, “You have heard it said, but I tell you...”

Listen, you’ve heard scripture interpreted this way, but let me tell you what it truly means!

Again, we have to continually look at what Scripture says through the lens, or the revelation of Jesus as the Good Shepherd in John 10:10 - Jesus says that His purpose is to give life, he’s not changing the rules as much as he’s bringing fulfillment to what Scripture has been pointing to all along. God is the giver of life!

Anyone ever been in a situation where the name of Jesus was used to control them, or what Christianity traditionally believes?… ya, things sometimes get distorted from their intended purpose. So, bring that to today - why are we looking at the 10 commandments? Because, / / The intended purpose of the Ten Commandments is still very purposeful.

So, the law was given to lead Israel to life, but it came to a point where it was used to control and manipulate. It became a burden to the people. So Jesus comes and says, “I’ve come to fulfill it, you’re no longer under the thumb of the law, and you’ve misinterpreted how it was meant to be read, but I’m here to lead you to life. Listen to my voice, it’s the same voice that was leading you to life 1400 years ago when you came out of Egypt free for the first time!”

That’s what these first four commandments are all about, Know your God and Know HIS heart. Know that He is good.

Then, as we saw last week, there’s a turn, starting with Commandment five:

/ / 5. Honor your father and mother

And the sense of that word, honor, really begins to follow through in the remaining commandments. When you respect people and you honor life you do things differently, you make different choices.

/ / 6. Do not murder

/ / 7. Do not commit adultery

These are people centered commandments. And remember what we talked about last week. Israel is coming out of slavery in Egypt for however long that was, but potentially more than 300 years. They don’t know how to have a functioning, healthy, God centered, community. And God is telling them that if they follow his prescription for community everything they do will be covered in life, in blessing, because he’s telling them how to do it differently than the nations around them who are living for their own selfish desires, and serving these “gods” and idols who were making them do things that would just cause issues between relationships and problems in their community.

So, let’s do things differently, but it requires a willingness to honor God, and honor the people around you. But the result will be a really awesome community of God centered, family focused, healthy people.

Alright, let’s continue through the last three commandments this week, and then next week we’re going to wrap up this series. We’re reading from Exodus 20:1-17, and let’s read straight through the whole thing today. We haven’t done that for a few weeks.

/ / Then God gave the people all these instructions:

“I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery.

“You must not have any other god but me.

“You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I , the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected - even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me. But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands.

“You must not misuse the name of the Lord your God. The Lord will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name.

“Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you. For in six days the Lord made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.

“Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

“You must not murder.

“You must not commit adultery...

Ok, we’ve gone through all of that so far, and then we’ll finish up this passage of scripture today.

/ / “You must not steal.

“You must not testify falsely against your neighbor.

“You must not covet your neighbor’s house. You must not covet your neighbor’s wife, male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor.”

So, all these three today are all connected to how we treat other people, continuing that theme from last week, how we relate to others, but I think more importantly, and I really think these are about how we handle ourselves. Am I good with me? Am I content? Do I know who I am, who God created me to be, and am I comfortable in my own skin?

So, let’s get into it.

/ / 8. Do not steal

I don’t know about you, but this one struck fear in the very heart of my 8 year old self. I didn’t plan on murdering anyone, I didn’t even know what adultery meant, but stealing… that was heavy. What did it mean? Like, if I take something of my brothers? Will I go to hell?

It’s amazing the things we can think when we are given a set of rules and let our minds run wild.

We have to remember two things as we read these commandments:

/ / God is good. John 10:10 - Jesus’ purpose is to give you life.

/ / These instructions were meant to produce goodness and life. God gave these commandments to help Israel create a society and community that was healthy and thriving. Between slavery and promise God defined what would need to happen for them to be the nation of Israel, God’s chosen people.

So, do not steal, is directly related to this. And if we learn to honor other people we aren’t going to take their stuff.

First, let’s look at what this means, because it’s more than just taking someone’s sandwich from the work lunch fridge.

The word steal, / / ganab, of course means to thieve, to steal, but adds by implication, to deceive. "by implication” means “in conclusion”… so, this is saying - do not steal means, gaining something, or getting something from someone by means of deception. To secretly take something from someone. To act deceitfully to your own gain by get something from someone else.

Multiple commentaries I have read note that this is talking more of taking something by stealth and deception rather than using a word like “robbery” which would be done openly or by using violence or threat of violence. You’re not walking up to someone and demanding they give you their stuff. You’re sneaking in, taking their stuff, and they never even knew it. Or you’re deceiving them to the point where you end up with their stuff and they don’t even realize it.

The topic of stealing, or theft, occurs more than 75 times in the bible. It’s kind of a big deal to God.

And interestingly enough, this offense is actually connected to the very name of God. This will connect to the next commandment as well, but Leviticus 19:11-13, which is another book of the law, or instruction of God, says this: / / Do not steal. Do not deceive or cheat one another. Do not bring shame on the name of your God by using it to swear falsely. I am the Lord. Do not defraud or rob your neighbor.

Wrapped on either side of bringing shame to the name of God is do not take what is not yours by the way of deception.

Think of it. If we’re focusing here on John 10:10 as the reason God would give these instructions, because he’s trying to lead us to life, what does Jesus say is the opposite of his intention?

/ / The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy...

Remember I read from Deuteronomy 30:19, last week, God saying, I’ve placed before you two paths, one that leads to life and one that leads to death, / / Oh that you would choose life!

It’s not a, “See, I’ve put one path in front of you, one that leads to a lolly-pop for doing good, the other where I’m going to punish you for not listening.” No, in life, there are consequences to actions. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Oh that you would choose the path that leads to life.

Proverbs 30:8-9 also connects this to the name of God. And again, will connect this to the next commandment. It says, starting in verse 7, / / O God, I beg two favors from you; let me have them before I die. First, help me never tell a lie. Second, give me neither poverty nor riches! Give me just enough to satisfy my needs. For if I grow rich, I may deny you and say, “Who is the Lord?” And if I am poor, I may steal and thus insult God’s holy name.

Stealing connected to insulting the Lord’s name. Remember when we looked at that commandment, do not misuse the Lord’s name, or take the Lord’s name in vain. We looked at name being the character and reality of Who God is. So if we are God’s people. If I’m a Christian, or a follower of Christ, and then I go and steal, I’m showing that I’m not really following the way of Jesus. I’m not living up to His character that I claim. Saying you’re a christian and doing business deceptively…saying you’re a christian and cheating, lying…it’s deception that insults God’s holy name...

So, the writer of Proverbs 30 says, it would be better that for me, personally, I am neither poor or rich, just give me what I need so I don’t crave more… That doesn’t mean we have to pray that. It’s ok to be rich...I was mentioning scripture taken out of context earlier. Here’s another common one. 1 Timothy 6:9-10, / / …people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.

That scripture has been taken so horribly out of context to say that money IS the root of all evil. But it does not say that. First, it does not say money, it says / / “love of money”, which could be translated avarice, which means extreme greed for wealth or material gain. Second, it is not the source of all evil, it is a / / “root of all kinds of evil”. That is very different.

Greed will get you into trouble, it will cause you to do things you should not do. If you look up this verse on a translation comparison site you’ll see the majority of translations say that love of money is a root of ALL KINDS of evil. There are a few that translate it to root of all evil, and some even indicate that this verse is directly pointing to the evils that Paul is warning against earlier in the chapter.

Ok, so we have to get that right, money is not the root of all evil. Love of money, or / / intense greed, is an open door to end up doing a lot of things you don’t want to do to satisfy that greed.

He brings it around a few verses later in vs 17-19, / / Teach those who are rich…tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and generous to those in need… By doing this they will be storying up their treasure as a good foundation for the future so that they may experience true life.

This is why he also encourages the church in Ephesus, in Ephesians 4:28, / / If you are a thief, quit stealing. Instead, use your hands for good hard work, and then give generously to others in need.

Keys to life. Do not steal. Put away deception.

Greed will push you to do things you don’t want to do. To deceive people. To put your needs above the needs of others. When it comes to money and people feel backed into a corner, they tend to react and act in ways they normally wouldn’t. Lack of money or possessions can breed such discontent in people that it pushes them to do what is not their usual character. I’ve seen it so many times. Good friends or even family members at each others throats because someone took advantage or owes them something, or a deal fell through, or work was done wrong, someone feels on the hook, or feels like someone else should pay etc…

/ / We have to learn to prioritize people over profits and relationship over riches.

Especially if we want to honor the name of God. Because acting in that way, deceiving others for gain is a direct affront to the name of God. The prophet Jeremiah says to the people of Israel at one point, on behalf of God, / / Do you really think you can steal, murder, commit adultery, lie, and burn incenses to Baal and all those other new gods of yours, and then come here and stand before me in my Temple and chant, “We are safe!” - only to go right back to all those evils again? (Jeremiah 7:9-10)

There’s definitely more behind this commandment than just you stole a cookie, or even you became a career criminal. And throughout Scriptures there are really four categories that this commandment is described as.

/ / Inanimate Objects - money, property, possessions, food, water etc..

/ / Animals - the law specifically talks about not stealing animals.

/ / People - Don’t steal people. Exodus 21:16 actually says, / / If someone kidnaps a person, the penalty is death, regardless of whether the person has been sold or is still held in possession. (MSG)

The word there for kidnaps is “ganab” to steal by deception. And personally, I think that’s a direct command against slavery as well. Don’t take people, they aren’t yours to take, you can’t sell someone if they aren’t yours to own in the first place. And taking someone is considered kidnapping, and that’s stealing and stealing is dealt with in the 8th commandment.

And the last thing there’s actually a couple references in scripture to stealing / / moral or spiritual realities. 2 Samuel tells the story of Absalom, who was king David’s son that betrayed him to take the throne from him. It says that he began by meeting with people looking for judgement and would hear their case and then say, “oh man, I wish I was in charge, I would give you justice if I was in charge....” But of course he wasn’t able to do that, he wasn’t the king. Deception. Slowly he was getting between the king and the people. And it says in 2 Samuel 15:6, / / Absalom did this with everyone who came to the king for judgement, and so he stole the hearts of all the people of Israel.

And Jeremiah, a prophet, actually says God is against those who claim they are prophets but simply steal the words of other prophets and say they heard God say it themselves. That is spiritual deception.

So, don’t steal stuff, don’t steal animals, don’t steal people, don’t steal prophetic words or the hearts of people, but ultimately what it really comes down to is: / / Learn to honor and respect other people, and be content with what you have.

/ / 9. You must not testify falsely against your neighbor

Alright, first things first, / / “testify falsely”, does that mean in court? What’s it talking about specifically here?

Well, most translations actually say it this way, / / do not bear false witness. And I like the Amplified version, it says this, which really defines it, / / You shall not testify falsely [that is, lie, withhold, or manipulate the truth] against your neighbor (any person).

Pretty much sums that up, doesn’t it?

Again, manipulating, withholding, lying, it’s all about deception, isn’t it? No wonder you see lying and stealing so often connected in scripture.

Two scriptures we already read that connect this to how we honor the name of God...

Proverbs 30 which said help me not tell a lie, and then help me not steal and thus bring shame on God’s name.

And Leviticus 19:11-12, Do not steal. Do not deceive or cheat one another. Do not bring shame on the name of your God by using it to swear falsely.

I find it interesting that the amplified version also includes ‘withholding’. How many have heard the term, / / A lie of omission?

That’s the intentional failure to tell the truth in a situation that requires it.

We’ve all seen the TV show where someone finally finds out the truth and says to the other person, “I can’t believe you lied to me.” And the response is always, “I didn’t lie to you, I just didn’t tell you the truth.”

How many know that no one ever felt good by hearing that line?

Why is that? Because it speaks to the heart of the matter. We feel deceived, don’t we?

The bible talks quite a bit about lying. Especially in the book of Proverbs.

Proverbs 6:16-17, / / There are six things the Lord hates - no, seven things he detests: … a lying tongue… a false witness who pours out lies...

I wonder if that’s why he says, “six, no wait, seven…” because he realized he was about to say lying twice. But there’s two things there really. There’s lying to cover myself, and there’s lying to implicate.

I didn’t do it. Lie to cover myself.

He did it. Lie to implicate you.

The thing about lying is that one lie usually turns into two, then three, then four, then five and you eventually have to keep track of so much the burden of it will weigh you down. This is as much a commandment for your own personal mental health than it is about treating others well.

Mark Twain said, / / If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.

Proverbs 12:22 says, / / The Lord detests lying lips...

Proverbs 19:9, / / A false witness will not go unpunished, and a liar will be destroyed.

Psalm 101:7, / / I will not allow deceivers to serve in my house, and liars will not stay in my presence.

Proverbs 24:28 / / Don’t testify against your neighbors without cause; don’t lie about them.

There seems to be a special place here for lying and deception and it makes sense, doesn’t it? If we read the very beginning of the book, Genesis 1-3 tells the story of creation and of the devil deceiving Adam & Eve into sin as a direct affront to God himself.

Deception caused the fall of mankind into sin, into missing the mark for God’s life for us.

There were two trees in the center of the garden, one that produced ultimate death, one that produced eternal life. No wonder God says, pertaining to the law, Oh that you would choose life!

Again, John 10:10, it’s the thief who is behind deception. in John 8:44 Jesus says, speaking of the devil, / / ...he was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies.

And he says that to those who are choosing not to believe him, but to speak against him, he says the devil is your father because you have been deceived into believing a lie and the truth seems so foreign to you.

This is why I often bring up this idea of “my truth”, because often times it is really just deception veiled as autonomy. I’m just being authentic to myself.... Maybe that’s true, but Jesus also said we had to deny ourselves to follow him. So as long as you’re wanting to hold on to what you want the truth to be based on natural desires, you’ll have a very hard time following the truth of what God says.

This is why the Pharisees had such a problem with Jesus. They didn’t want him to be the Messiah, so they were unwilling to see that Scripture actually points to Jesus. And in the face of truth himself, they chose to stay deceived.

I think this is why Scripture speaks so heavily against lying and deception. Because it so easily creates distance between God and the people He loves.

Jesus ended that little discourse with, / / “So when I tell you the truth, you just naturally don’t believe me! Anyone who belongs to God listens gladly to the words of God. But you don’t listen because you don’t belong to God.” (John 8:45,47)

Paul warns against people who would try to bring deception, even into the church. Romans 16:17-18, / / Watch out for people who cause divisions and upset people’s faith by teaching things contrary to what you have been taught. Stay away from them. Such people are not serving Christ our Lord; they are serving their own personal interests. By smooth talk and glowing words they deceive innocent people.

And this makes that connection of why we do these things.

Deception is at the heart of both stealing and lying.

When we steal, we are deceiving someone to take what we do not have, and it’s often to feel better about ourselves.

And the other side of that coin is that we can deceive, or lie to ensure that we don’t lose what we already have. Whether we are covering our tracks, or covering who we really are, or to hide what we’ve done so we don’t have to deal with unwanted consequences. Whatever the case may be, we feel compelled to lie to cover.

And the enemy will always try to use these things to get in the way of relationship (either with God OR people) which is WHY God says up front, / / if you want a healthy, happy, thriving community, do not lie.

The heart of God is honesty, truth and trust. Hebrews 6:18 actually says, …it is impossible for God to lie… and that can give us a great confidence.

/ / 10. Do not covet

First, let’s read Exodus 20:17 again, / / You must not covet your neighbor’s house. You must not covet your neighbor’s wife, male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor.

Quite a bit there, isn’t it? And actually, if you grew up catholic the way we’ve been doing this may have thrown you off a bit, because the Catholic church defines the ten commandments a little differently.

The traditional catholic listing of the ten commandments combines commandment 1 & 2 and states, / / “I am the Lord thy God: Thou shalt not have strange gods before me. Which they define as including idols.

And as a result, 9 & 10 take Exodus 20:17 and split it into two categories

/ / Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s goods

Whereas, we read the tenth commandment simply as/ / do not [you shall not] covet.

/ / Covet means, yearn [have an intense feeling] to possess or have [something].

The hebrew word is / / hamad and means to desire, to covet, take pleasure or delight in.

We could look at these things backward.

Don’t covet…don’t allow yourself to become discontent with what you have so that you look at what others have with a longing you shouldn’t have…because that can lead to lying, stealing, deceit, adultery, murder...

I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but I think one of the big things going on in the world right now is that there is this real push to make it normalized, or acceptable for you to simply pursue your own desires, no matter what they are, and people can’t tell you it’s wrong.

So, what do we do first. We have to remove what is wrong so that whatever I want is good. And if I desire it, it must be ok. And I shouldn’t deny myself the pleasure of having what I want. Sound familiar? Sound backward?

Listen to what Paul says in Romans 7:7-9, / / …it was the law that showed me my sin. I would never have known that coveting is wrong if the law had not said, “You must not covet.” But sin used this command to arouse all kinds of covetous desires within me! If there were no law, sin would not have that power. At one time I lived without understanding the law. But when I learned the command not to covet, for instance, the power of sin came to life...

He goes on to talk about that struggle of sin vs righteousness, of being a slave to sin or committed to God. But what I find interesting is how he says this. / / If there is no law, there is no sin. If there is no understanding, there can’t be any conviction.

If you can convince a generation to believe that a biblical moral foundation is not necessary, or is old school and doesn’t matter anymore, or is outdated, or if you simply ignore it to begin with because that’s someone else’s viewpoint, not mine, then the way you act, to you, is not wrong. Because the understanding of morality, the understanding of a biblical world view does not exist for you.

Think of it this way, as our children are growing up, there are times where they do things that we have not yet taught them not to do. Would it be right or us to punish them for doing something they don’t even know is wrong? Of course not. That wouldn’t make sense. It wouldn’t be fair at all. In that same way we should probably have some grace for those who simply do not know that there is even a reason to be moral.

So, Paul says, I wouldn’t have even known that coveting wasn’t ok if it wasn’t written down and explained to me that it’s not ok.

And this is why we see people, seemingly full of confidence, walking toward destruction.

And let’s just recap, what’s the purpose of the law? Not to punish, but to lead to life! God has always been trying to put a barrier, or a structure in place for us to follow so we would experience life. Not pulling away from us joy or fun, but leading us toward life and true happiness.

So, do not covet. Not your neighbor’s house, spouse, employees, vehicle or anything else that he owns. And social media has made this 1000x more difficult by putting in front of our faces only the best of everyone’s life. And we post so we’ll get likes, so we feel better about ourselves because someone wants what we have or what we’ve done… I’m not saying that’s the reason we all post stuff, but behind all of the social posting, we see that reality ring true all the time. A need to be seen. A need to be impressive. A need to be admired.

If I were you, I’d want to be me too...

That’s why I said these three specifically, Do not steal, do not lie, do not covet, all kind of wrap up in whether or not we feel content with what we have and who we are.

I read from 1 Timothy earlier on the love of money, but listen to what Paul says is the solution to these things. 1 Timothy 6:6-7,11-12, / / Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth. After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can’t take anything with us when we leave. So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content… so run from all these evil things. Pursue righteousness and a godly life, along with faith, love perseverance, and gentleness. Fight the good fight for the truth faith. Hold tightly to the eternal life to which God has called you...

Philippians 4:6-8,11-13 says, / / Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guar your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

…for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.

/ / I have learned to be content.

The first 4 commandments direct us to God, to honor him, to give him the right place in our lives, to pursue Him, worship him… the next 6 are really warnings on how the enemy will try to trip you up on the road to the life God’s leading you to.

And the same is true today. Yes, these commandments are as relevant today as they were when Moses wrote them down in the wilderness between Egypt and the promised land. Because God today is still wanting to lead you and I to life. And when we learn to put him first, honor and worship Him, and when we choose life, Oh that you would choose life.... we walk right into that life.