Okay, thank you, Orchestra. Let's open our Bibles together, please, to Exodus 20, chapter and the 17th verse, as today we come to the conclusion of this series on the Ten Commandments. And we think today about the sin that nobody admits. Jean Baptiste de La Salle was a Christian leader and educational reformer of the Middle Ages.
He remarked at the end of his life, after counseling thousands of people about spiritual matters, quote, of all those people, no one ever confessed to me that he was guilty of breaking the Tenth Commandment. The Tenth Commandment deals with a sin that nobody cares to admit, and yet it is one that perhaps is the most common sins of all people. It is the one that tripped up, for example, the rich young ruler with whom Jesus spoke in Luke chapter 18.
You may recall that in reply to his question to Jesus about eternal life, our Lord reminded him of five of the six commandments, those that deal, that is, with human relationships. He left out one of the six. The self-righteous young man responded to Jesus indicating that he had no sense of guilt over those commandments that Jesus had brought to his attention.
And then it says that Jesus, when he heard this, said to him, one thing you still lack, sell all that you possess and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven, and come, follow me. Jesus did not quote to him the Tenth Commandment. He applied it to his life. And it says, when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. Greed is the sin not only of the rich, however, it is also the sin of the poor and of all people.
It is a sin that reaches all of us, whatever our socioeconomic status might be. Even the secular philosopher Seneca said, not he who has little, but he who wishes more is poor. In other words, one's real status of rich or poor depends upon the attitude of one's heart. Covetousness, referred to here in this verse, is a malignant sin of the spirit. It says in verse 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 belongs to your neighbor. God's tenth word is this, you shall not covet. There is a legend that a saint in days of old was traveling down a road when he was met by two fellow journeyers. One of the journeyers was named Greed, the other was named Envy. They came to a parting in the path.
The two men were to go another direction, and so the saint said to them, before you go let me give you a blessing. I will fulfill the wish of the one who makes the wish first, but of the one who waits to be second, I will give him a double portion of what the first one wished for. Greed and Envy both considered what the saint had said, and neither of them wanted to go first because it would mean the other one would get a double portion of what he had asked for. And so they began to struggle.
And finally Greed grabbed Envy around the throat and began to choke him to force him to make his wish first. At last Envy said, all right, I give up. I will make my wish first. I wish that I were blind in one eye. And with that he was struck blind in one eye, and Greed was struck blind in both eyes. Thus is the malignant and malicious nature of covetousness. Covetousness is a universal sin. This commandment that deals with that sin is also universal. It is universal to every age group.
It may be the first of the commandments broken by every toddler who early on learns the meaning of the word mine. But it applies as well to the child who wants the biggest donut or to the senior who demands more from Social Security than he has invested in it, even if it enslaves another generation with debt. It applies to corporations who exploit the world's resources and third world populations, just as it applies to unions whose demands drain the financial viability of companies.
It applies to those who satisfy their latest wants with foolishly used credit cards, as well as to the impoverished person who blames society for his circumstances and enviously demands a redistribution of the wealth of others into his idle hands. This is a universal commandment that cuts across the board to all of us. What does God mean when he says, you shall not covet?
The word covet comes from the Hebrew, of course, and that Hebrew word means to delight or to desire something earnestly, to delight in something or to desire it earnestly. And in a negative context, it means to wrongfully delight, so as to desire for oneself what belongs to another. In the parallel passage to this, in Deuteronomy 5 verse 21, another Hebrew word is chosen by Moses. There it means to set one's desire on something.
Although there are two words used in the Hebrew, the meaning is essentially the same. To covet means to fix one's desire on something and to long after it. LBJ summed it up pretty well in a statement that he made. For those of you who are born after the 1960s, he was a president of the United States. LBJ said, all I want is all there is. And isn't that truly the attitude of the human heart?
It is important to understand that God is not here forbidding the possession of things, or for that matter being ambitious or industrious. God is not here commanding a vow of poverty to His people. Indeed, the theology of possessions that we find in the Bible indicates these things among others, that we should view our possessions as gifts from God, that we should view them as a means for doing good, and that we are to use them for the glory of God and not merely for the glory of oneself.
The Bible does not say we should not have possessions, but what God is forbidding here is the wrongful desire of what does not belong to us, or what cannot belong to us righteously. That is what God is forbidding. And what God states here is a transcendent, objective, unchanging standard of behavior. Our world does not like to hear that, because our world has rejected any notion of transcendent commandments from God of objective standards, and yet that's what this is.
How would obedience to this standard change the world, do you suppose? Just imagine. Just imagine that if the political leaders of nations would obey this commandment, you shall not covet. Whether it be you shall not covet the natural resources of that other nation, or you shall not covet the population that is there for yourself, just imagine if political leaders would not covet. Would that make a difference in the decisions that they make?
Imagine what a difference it would make in relationships if people would obey this commandment, or for that matter in business, or in public safety. Think how it would affect insurance rates, living standards, social justice. If man would simply obey this commandment of God, you shall not covet. You shall not wrongfully desire what belongs to another.
But because of the sin that is in our hearts, the sin that is defined, the sin that is exposed by this commandment, we live in the kind of a world that we live in. Now why does God say this to us? You shall not covet. There are several reasons why God says this. In the first place, He says it because He is unalterably opposed to what breaks us, which is covetousness. He is unalterably opposed to what breaks us.
As we have studied the Ten Commandments, I have tried to point out to you week by week that the commandments that God gives us are good. They are holy, they are righteous. And if man would, indeed if man could obey them, it would be a better world. We would be happier people. These commandments are not bad. God gives them to us because He is always unalterably opposed to what breaks us, and covetousness breaks us.
The great preacher of the fifth century, Chrysostom, who was bishop of Constantinople stated, "'As a moth gnaws a garment, so does envy consume a man.'" That's the result of sin. It consumes us. It eats us away from the inside. You see what God commands us is not capricious, it is benevolent because He only wants the very best for us, His creatures. But let's look further at what God says in His Word about covetousness.
In the first place, God makes it clear that covetousness is the moral equivalent of idolatry. Already we have seen that God has commanded against the making or the worship of an idol any image that is intended to represent Him to us, anything that is supposed to be a so-called aid to worship of God. We're not to make any idol. But here, here we have an attitude which in the New Testament, God tells us is the moral equivalent of idolatry.
It is putting something before us that takes the place of God. Colossians 3.5 says, consider the members of your earthly body as dead to greed, which amounts to idolatry. Ephesians 5.5 says, "'For you know this with certainty, that no covetous man who is an idolater has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.'" You say, why does God draw the line here between idolatry and covetousness? I'll tell you why. I go back to a statement that we made when we talked about idolatry.
It is this, that we become like what we worship. What we worship twists and distorts the image of God in us to be ugly and hateful and selfish. God wants us to see that there's an equivalence between idolatry and covetousness. Secondly, in His Word, God says regarding covetousness that it is the root of all sorts of evil. I refer to 1 Timothy 6, verses 9 and 10. Listen to the words.
"'But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare, and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction.
For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and by longing for it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many a pang.'" It has been pointed out that this commandment, dealing with covetousness, perhaps is put last on the list because covetousness really becomes a major motive for breaking the other commandments, Numbers 6, 7, 8, and 9. Why do people murder? Why is there adultery, stealing, and lying?
So often it is because of the breaking of the tenth commandment, covetousness. You see, the love and the desire, the wrongful desire of something that belongs to somebody else is a root of all sorts of evil. It produces spiritual straying, says Paul. People wander away from the faith because of it. And it produces self-induced pain. He says, those who do this pierce themselves with many a pang. They are plunged, he says, into ruin and destruction.
Covetousness leads to multiplied sins which bring destruction to our lives. It breaks us, and God is opposed to anything that breaks us. But God also says in his word regarding covetousness that it is a characteristic of false teaching. From Balaam to Judas to the Judaizers who opposed the apostle Paul and who were the enemies of the cross of Christ. We observe the power of greed, its influence upon the conscience of false teachers.
The apostle Paul once again in 1 Timothy chapter 6 makes this statement, if anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words those of our Lord Jesus Christ and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, he is conceded. And he goes on to say, he supposes that godliness is a means of gain. You see the prosperity gospel was not created within the last 20 years. It has been around for 2,000 years equating godliness with material gain and prosperity.
The prosperity gospel here in Minneapolis recently made this statement, if you aren't wearing expensive shoes and an expensive suit this morning, something is wrong with your faith. That my friend is false teaching of the kind that Paul was pointing to in 1 Timothy chapter 6. Last August 21st the Wall Street Journal had an article on the front page as I recall about T.D. Jakes.
It says in part in the article, seated in the dining room of the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Cleveland wearing a custom made suit and a diamond ring the size of a nickel, T.D. Jakes looks every inch the celebrity and he is as impressed with himself as anyone else. If you go to Hollywood or to Beverly Hills, he says proudly, billion dollar actresses will know me.
Mr. Jakes is not a rock star or a politician but a country preacher from West Virginia who at 41 years old is running a multi-million dollar religious media empire. His message has struck a vein so rich that mainstream companies are courting him with big deals. Blending characteristic charm and grandiosity, Mr. Jakes beholds all of this with satisfaction. In these ventures he says, quote, I am the power and the kingdom and the glory and I think I kind of like it that way.
Friend, that is exactly what God is warning about. It is that greed and covetousness leads away from the faith. It is a major characteristic so often of false teaching. God is unalterably committed to what breaks us. But I'll tell you something else that explains why God gives this commandment. He is also unalterably committed to what will make us. And what will make us, what will build us is contentment. True gain, true gain is defined by God as godliness with contentment.
First Timothy chapter 6 again, godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment. If we have food and covering, says Paul, with these we shall be content. Contentment doesn't come naturally to our hearts. We have to learn contentment. Even Paul learned contentment. He says in Philippians 4, I have learned to be content in whatever circumstance I am. I know how to get along with humble means and I also know how to live in prosperity.
In any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. He says I have learned the secret and then he gives it. He says I can do all things through him who strengthens me. That's the secret. The indwelling Christ who strengthens us and we can learn from him and of him the power of contentment in our lives. The writer of Hebrews says, let your character be free from the love of money, being content with what you have.
For he himself has said, I will never desert you nor will I ever forsake you. You see contentment is not found in having everything you want, but in being satisfied with everything you have. To live contentedly is to live with thanksgiving in our hearts. For one who is discontent and greedy is never truly thankful. It is the contented heart that can truly celebrate thanksgiving. How can you and I learn to be content?
A bishop of the early church was remarkable in the example of contentment that he himself said. He was asked about his secret of learning contentment and this is what he said, it consists in nothing more than making a right use of my eyes. In whatever state I am, I first look up to heaven and remember that my principal business here is to get there. Then I look down upon the earth and call to mind how small a place I shall occupy when I die and am buried.
I then look around in the world and observe what multitudes there are who are in many respects more unhappy than myself. Thus I learn where true happiness is placed and where all cares must end and what little reason I have to complain. How do we learn contentment? Let me draw upon that phrase that that old bishop used. It comes from making right use of our eyes by controlling our eyes. Just think how the world might be different if Eve had done so.
You say, well what do you mean by controlling our eyes? Let me suggest putting it this way very bluntly. Look at what you have and become a godly manager of that. Don't look at what you don't have. Don't look at what your neighbor has. But look at what you have as a gift from God and then determine in your heart whether that is much or it is little to become a godly manager of that which God has given you. What are your eyes focused on this morning? Are your eyes focused on what you don't have?
Or are they focused upon what you do have by God's providence? I close with the parable of a kite. A kite that wanted to be free. One day his owner took him out to the park and let the kite out on the string and the kite rose higher and higher and higher and was elated with the experience. He looked down upon the trees and the houses and the park where the children were playing. But he realized soon that he couldn't go any further than that and he wanted to.
And he tried hard to go further than that. But his owner had quit letting out the string. And so he griped and he complained and he said, what's holding me back like this? Oh, I could go so much higher if only he would let me. If only he would let go of that stupid string. I could really fly high. And each time they went to the park the owner brought the kite back in. Then one day he went to the park and again let the kite out. And the kite returned to his former manner of thinking.
Oh, if only I could be free. If only I could have more. I could soar to the sky. And with that a gust of wind came along and snapped the string. And the kite thought for a moment, oh, finally I may rise and be free and have the more. And with that he began to pitch from side to side and he fluttered to the ground. You see, what he wanted was his ruin. And so it can be with you and me. Do not be covetous, but be content with what God has given you with a grateful heart. Let's pray.
Father, this morning there is not one of us, probably, if we are honest, who does not in some arena of life struggle with want. Thank you for the gifts of energy and vision, of ambition and industriousness. Help us to apply those in life without crossing the line into wrongful desire. Expose within us any tendency toward covetousness that we may confess that and avoid the ruin that it may bring to our lives. Give us when we gripe and complain that if only we had more we could do this or that.
Teach us to be content and to manage well what you have put within our hands. Now with our heads bowed and our eyes closed, will you allow the Spirit of God just to bring this to your own heart, to your own life, to your own home, to the business where you work? And remember that God is unalterably opposed to what breaks you, but he is unalterably in favor of anything that will make you. And what will make you is learning to be content.
Write that lesson upon our hearts, Lord, in Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Would you stand together with me, please? I read these lines before we go. Is your place a small place? Tend it with care. He set you there. Is your place a large place? Guard it with care, because he set you there. Whatever your place, it is not yours alone, but his who set you there. God bless you. We're dismissed.