The Big Ten: What Do You Need?
Well we have made it to the last of
our ten commandments in the Big Ten: Do not covet. But the actual verse is a
little bit more than just “Do not Covet.” It says, “You shall not covet your
neighbor’s house, you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female
slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” Basically,
coveting is a wrongful desire for what belongs to someone else. Now, you may
remember way back when in August or September, somewhere in there, we had a
sermon series on the Bible’s Biggest Losers. And one of them was David, and we
said that David was one of the Bible’s biggest losers because he committed
adultery, which was a direct result of coveting his neighbor’s wife, Bathsheba.
He saw her, he had an unjust desire for her, and he took her.
And I think that is a perfect
illustration of why God made coveting one of the top ten biggest sins: because
the sin of coveting can lead to so many other sins. Because of David’s
covetousness, he also ended up committing adultery, lying, and murdering. And
we see examples of this in the news all the time. People who have coveted
something maybe end up stealing, or committing adultery, or whatever. It’s very
common. We are a covetous society. We are bent on keeping up with the Jones’.
We want what others have.
Right? I think we’ve all faced this to
some degree. We’ve all seen our neighbor’s stuff and thought man, wouldn’t it
be nice? Wouldn’t it be nice to have that? That’s a sweet car. I like that car.
I wish I had that car. That guy doesn’t deserve a car like that.
Or you go to a friend’s house for a
cookout or something, and on the way home you and your spouse start talking:
Wow, they have a beautiful home, don’t they? Yeah, good for them…I mean, I’m
not sure how they can afford it on HIS salary…but I’m REALLY happy for them.
It’s a…a nice place…not that our house isn’t nice, but…yeah.
I think we’ve all been there before,
right? Now, generally there are three reactions to this type of thinking. The
first is the kind of reaction David had. He was so overcome with covetousness,
that he just had to have his neighbor’s wife. His desire for her was stronger
than his conscious. So he took her, lied to her husband, and had him killed.
Generally, this reaction is seen as pretty harsh. This isn’t the kind of
reaction we normally have when we covet something. Like I didn’t just kill Joe
and take his stuff, right? That would OBVIOUSLY be wrong. We KNOW that that
type of reaction to coveting our neighbor’s stuff is wrong.
The second type of reaction is much
more common. We see what our neighbor has and we really want it. We will not be
satisfied until we have it. So we work overtime or go into debt or whatever we
have to do to gain what our neighbor has by honest means. Actually, maybe we
buy it a little bigger and a little better. With more bells and more whistles.
The third type of reaction is just as
common as the second type. We see what our neighbor has and we really want it, but
we know that we can’t afford it. So instead of taking it, and instead of
figuring out a way to buy it, we just sit there and let our jealousy grow, or
maybe we find ways to convince ourselves that our neighbor really doesn’t have
it as good as they think they do. So we say things like, “Sure, their new
Hummer is nice. But the gas mileage is terrible.” Or, “With a house that big, I
bet their heating bill is awful in the winter. Who would want to live in a
house that big? Too much to clean.” And we start convincing ourselves that they
are just spoiled snobs who think they’re better than everyone else.
May I be so bold as to suggest to you
that all three reactions are equally wrong? The first reaction is obviously
wrong, right? Because covetousness led to other obvious sins like adultery and
stealing and lying. That’s obviously wrong. We know that. But I think we tend
to forget that covetousness itself is a sin. Not just the sins that follow
covetousness, but covetousness itself is a sin. Wrongfully desiring someone
else’s stuff – even if we don’t act on it – is a sin.
Like the second response, where you go
out and buy what someone else has or maybe upgrade it. We do that all the time,
right? Our economy is built on this reaction to covetousness. See what someone
has, covet it, go out and figure out how to buy it. Now let me be very clear
here. It isn’t wrong to like what someone has and buy one for yourself. Where
it becomes an issue is in the attitude of the heart. What is the purpose for
buying it? For practicality? Or for social status? For usefulness? Or to one-up
someone? And what do you have to do to get it? Go into a ridiculous amount of
debt? Work extra hours away from your family? Or maybe cut back on your tithe
so you can buy whatever it is? When a thing consumes you to that extent, that
is covetousness.
The third response isn’t much better.
The one where you just let your jealousy and envy grow, and to make yourself
feel better, you start to bash your neighbor. “They think they’re so great. Driving
around the neighborhood with the top down on their convertible. They drove by
here on purpose. They knew I’d be outside. They just wanted me to see that they
have a convertible and I don’t.” It’s this type of thinking that is the reason
that everyone hates the prom queen. Remember? For those of you – like myself –
who were never a part of the “in” crowd in high school (which I know is hard to
believe considering how cool I am now), I think you know what I’m talking
about. The only people who like the popular kids are themselves. Everyone else
is jealous, so they hate them. And they say things like, “I’m not jealous. Why
would I want to be like them? He thinks he’s so cool just because he scored 35
points in the basketball game. I don’t even like basketball. It’s dumb.” Truth
is, I coveted those athletic abilities! But I couldn’t steal them, I couldn’t
buy them, so the only thing left to do is convince myself and others that being
that athletic is stupid. Which everyone knows isn’t true.
Remember what we read in Romans 13?
“The commandments “You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you
shall not steal, you shall not covet” and any other commandment, are summed up
in this word, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor;
therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.
So if love is fulfilling the law, then
coveting, no matter how you act on it, is wrong. Sin. Wrongfully desiring
someone else’s stuff, or someone else’s life, is sin.
Now the way we’ve been talking about coveting
as a sin has been as a sin against man. It’s a sin against our neighbor. But
coveting, I believe, is also a sin against God. We talked about this a little
bit when we talked about stealing. When we covet, like when we steal, what are
we saying to God? We are saying, what you have given me, God, isn’t good
enough. I need more. I want more. I’m not content.
Some of you may have heard this
illustration before, but I think it really hits the nail on the head when it
comes to coveting. It’s called the village. We have roughly 7 billion people
living in this world. But let’s imagine that we shrank that number down to 100.
What if we took all the averages and placed them in a village of 100 people,
what would that village look like? If the world were a village of 100 people, 51
would be men, 49 would be women. 30 would be children, 70 would be adults. 7
would be older adults. 33 would be Christians.
17 would speak Chinese, 9 would speak English. Of the 100 people, 20
would be undernourished, 1 would be dying of starvation. 15 would be
overweight. 6 people own 59% of the wealth. 74 would share 39% of the wealth,
while 20 would share the remaining 2%. 20 people would consume 80% of the
energy. If you have money in the bank, money in your wallet, and spare change
around the house, you are among the richest 8. If you have a car, you are among
the richest 7. 1 Person has a college education. 2 people have computers. 14
can’t read. 48 of the 100 may face consequences of imprisonment, torture, or
death if the speak out for their religion. 20 people live in constant fear of
surrounding war.
To me that illustration really brings
to light how ridiculously blessed we are. Now don’t get me wrong. I think God
is happy that we are blessed. I think God likes to bless us. But we are blessed
so that we may become a blessing to others. Not so we can sit back and revel in
how great our stuff is. And certainly not so we can complain that someone
else’s blessing is greater than ours.
Can I give you a great example from
our own annual conference?I just got back this week from conference up at
Doesn’t this seem out of whack?
Fortunately, we lowered the cost of the bishop’s house to $450,000 and
increased our gift to the retirement plan in
So he provides us with another reaction
when the sin of coveting begins to creep upon us. Instead of acting on it, and
instead of growing jealous, and instead of setting all your energies on
obtaining whatever it is you are coveting, there is a possible 4th
reaction. And that is to pause, to say, “Good for them,” and thank God that he
has blessed others as well. To be content with yourself, content with what God
has blessed you with. If you woke up today, you are blessed. If you are a
father, or are a father figure, you are blessed. If you had a father, or a
father figure, you are blessed. We remember those blessings especially today.
But my guess is that most of us are blessed way beyond that. We’ve been blessed
with riches beyond those of many others.
And yet we covet. I want to issue a
challenge to you this week, as Joe and Angie come to help lead us in our
closing song. I have a simple, 4 word prayer that I want you to keep at the
front of your mind this week, asyou begin to feel those thoughts of coveting
creep upon you. And the prayer is this: “Lord, I am satisfied.” I am satisfied.
What you have given me, is enough. You…are enough. I have only one desire, only
one need. You, God. You are all that I want. You are all that I’ve ever needed.
Just bring me nearer to you.
Pastor
Dan Metzger
Van
Buren United