Grosey's Messages

At first glance, the tenth commandment seems anticlimactic. The Decalogue begins with commands about how to love the Lord God. No other gods. No carved images. Reverence God's name. Remember the Sabbath. The Decalogue ends with commands about how to love our neighbor. Honor your parents. No murder. No adultery. No stealing. No bearing false witness. Then the Decalogue ends in Exodus 20:17: "You shall not covet."

 It may feel like this tenth commandment does not have the same gravity as the previous commandments. One may be tempted to think this Tenth Word should have been tucked earlier in the Ten Commandments to conceal its obscurity. Or maybe a more critical subject should have been the tenth commandment and covetousness be addressed somewhere else. Any such notions only confirm the Lord's thoughts and ways are infinitely higher than ours. 

The tenth commandment is no less significant than the previous nine commandments. This summary commandment makes the Ten Commandments a divine covenant, not a random list of moral laws. The first commandment and the tenth commandment are bookends that hold the Decalogue together. This tenth commandment is organically linked to commandments one through nine. Charles Spurgeon said it well: "When people break the other commandments, they often break this one first."  

The Tenth Word is unique. It is the only commandment stated twice. Exodus 20:17 says, "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife." God emphatically forbids coveting. The Tenth Word is also the only commandment that is inwardly focused. The Ten Commandments primarily address our deeds and speech. This commandment addresses the motivating factors behind our deeds and speech. This is the only commandment with no punishment. There are stated consequences for disobeying the other commandments. But there is no legislated punishment for coveting. Yet God placed this command against coveting alongside murder, adultery, stealing, and bearing false witness. 

An Aesop Fable tells of a dog that was given a bone by the butcher. Trotting home with the bone in his mouth, the dog crossed over a small lake. The dog saw his reflection in the water. The dog thought he saw a dog with a bigger bone and snapped at it. Of course, he did not get the imaginary bone. In the process, he lost the bone that he had. 

This children's fable is the main idea of the tenth commandment: Watch what you want. We live in a society in which coveting is a way of life. We are a culture of coveters who live by two unrealistic principles: I want it all! I want it all now! This is not the way of God. The Lord commands us not to let our wants become greed or envy. Ephesians 5:3 says, "But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints." There should not be even a hint of covetousness in the church of Jesus Christ. 

Why should you watch what you want?

The Nature of Obedience 

The Old Testament prophets condemned the Israelites for the stubborn sins of idolatry and immorality. John the Baptist and Jesus were also prophets who condemned Israel, but not for idolatry or immorality. By the time of Jesus, Israel no longer chased whatever idol god came along. And the religious leaders had taught them to live with strict morality. Yet John and Jesus still condemned the sinfulness of Israel, especially the religious leaders. The problem was that they did not understand the nature of obedience to God is internal before it is external.

In Matthew 5:20, Jesus declares, "For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." This was radical talk. Irreligious people in our culture know the scribes and Pharisees were the "bad guys" in the story of Jesus. In New Testament times, however, they were as high as you could be spiritually and socially. No one was more righteous than the scribes and Pharisees. Yet Jesus said you had to be more righteous to enter the kingdom of heaven. This was radical because they confused being religious with being righteous. It is one thing to practice the works of obedience; it is another thing to possess a heart of obedience. True obedience is internal before it is external. This is the first lesson of the tenth commandment. The prohibition against coveting is a call to inward obedience. It is also a powerful statement of exhaustive sovereignty. 

• The Lord commands our words and deeds. 
• The Lord also commands our thoughts, feelings, and decisions. 

The Rich Young Ruler asked Jesus what to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus points him to the Ten Commandments, particularly the commandments about loving your neighbor. Jesus was not teaching salvation by works. He was exposing who this man was underneath the skin. 

The Rich Young Ruler claimed he had obeyed the Ten Commandments all his life. In Matthew 16:21, Jesus said to him, "If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasures in heaven; and come, follow me." Again, Jesus was not teaching a person must give up all of their worldly possession to follow him. He was exposing who this man was underneath the skin. The young man claimed to be perfect. Jesus confronted him with his covetousness and forced him to see he was not obedient where it mattered the most. Righteousness requires clean hands and a pure heart. 

Romans 7:7-8 says, "What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, 'You shall not covet.' But sin seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead." Paul examined his life by the first nine commandments and concluded he was righteous. The tenth commandment tripped him up. The command against coveting convinced him that he was a sinner. And it showed him how he was guilty of the other commandments. 

Being right with God is not about keeping rules, rituals, and regulations. It is a spiritual matter of inward obedience. The Tenth Word proves we have broken the law of God and need a Savior. Sinners are chronic coveters who cannot please God. Only Jesus can clear your past, conquer your problems, and change your personality. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come."

The Sinfulness of Covetousness 

What is covetousness? The Hebrew word "covet" simply means "desire." It is a neutral term that can be positive or negative, depending on the context. In Exodus 20:17, the word is used in a negative sense. It is something the Lord commands us not to do. Yet this commandment is not a prohibition of desire. The Bible does not affirm Stoicism or Buddhism, which seek to eradicate desire. Desire is not sinful. 

It is not wrong to desire blessings. Psalm 37:4 says, "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." It is not wrong to desire marriage. Proverbs 18:22 says, "He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord." It is not wrong to desire spiritual gifts. 1 Corinthians 12:31 says, "But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way." It is not wrong to desire church leadership. 1 Timothy 3:1 says, "The saying is trustworthy: if anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task." There is such a thing as holy ambition. Yet holy ambition assumes unholy ambition. Covetousness is excessive and envious desire. 

Covetousness is excessive desire. An old country preacher visited New York City for the first time. When he returned home, he testified, "I'm glad I did not see anything I wanted." This is the sinfulness of covetousness. The stumbling block is not in what we see. It is what we want. This is the original sin which caused Adam and Eve to fall. Genesis 3:6 says, "So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate." Eve lived in Paradise. Yet she became fixated on what she did not and could not have. 

Colossians 3:5 says, "Put to death therefore what is earthly in you; sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry." Covetousness is not just excessive desire; it is idolatrous desire. It is thing worship. To break the tenth commandment is to break the first commandment. The coveter worships things before God. Interestingly, covetous begins close to home. Exodus 20:17 says, "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." Covetousness is contagious. We see what our neighbor has, and desire it. The Lord commanded Israel not to covet anything that belonged to their neighbor. Advertisement, the internet, and social media seduce us to covet what belongs to people we will never meet. We spend money we do not have to buy things we do not need to impress people we do not even like. 

A man asked Jesus to make his brother share their father's estate with him. In Luke 12:15, Jesus said, "Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." Jesus warned to watch what he wanted. And he commanded him to be on guard against all covetousness. Coveting should be viewed as spiritual warfare against which we must always be ready to do battle. Life should not be about what you want because life is about more than what you have.

Covetousness is envious desire. Coveting is excessive desire for something. It is also excessive desire against someone: your neighbor. Exodus 20:13-16 records terse commands: "You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor." In verse 17, The Lord does not say, "You shall not covet." God forbids coveting your neighbor's house. Household is implied – the house and everything in it. This applies to people, as well as property. In parallel language, God says do not covet your neighbor's wife. 

The Seventh Word commands us not to commit adultery with our neighbor's wife. The Tenth Word commands us not to covet our neighbor's wife. But this prohibition is not limited to your neighbor's spouse. It includes "his male servant, or his female servant" – the people that work for him. Yet the prohibition does not end there. You are not to covet your neighbor's human resources or financial resources: "his ox, or his donkey." Verse 17 ends by telling us this list is suggestive, not exhaustive. Do not covet "anything that is your neighbor's."

Both excessive desire and envious desire are sinful. But envy is worse than greed. Greed sees what your neighbor has and sparks a desire for it. Envy is personal. It sees what your neighbor has and sparks a desire for it. It also sparks a desire for your neighbor not to have it. Greed wants a house like your neighbor's. Envy wants your neighbor's house.

• Coveting caused Adam and Eve to eat of the forbidden tree to be like God. 
• Coveting caused Achan to steal things devoted to the Lord from Jericho. 
• Coveting caused David to sleep with Bathsheba and kill her husband Uriah. 
• Coveting caused Ahab and Jezebel to lie on Naboth, stone him, and take his vineyard. 
• Coveting caused Judas to steal money and betray Jesus. 

The sixth, seventh, and eighth words forbid sinning against our neighbor by our deeds. The ninth word forbids sinning against our neighbor with our speech. The tenth word forbids sinning against our neighbor in our thoughts. Romans 10:8-10 says, "Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For 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: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no wrong to a neighbor, therefore love is the fulfilling of the law."

The Wellspring of the Heart 

Proverbs 4:23 says, "Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life." A wellspring is an underground source from which waters flow. The heart is the wellspring from which flow our thoughts, words, desires, choices, and behavior. It is hard to change live downstream instead of upstream. You work to remove pollution in the water. But the pollution remains. If you go upstream and remove the source of the pollution, the water will naturally become purer downstream. A.W. Pink wrote, "The best way to keep men from committing sin in act is to keep them from desiring it in heart." Here are three ways to guard your heart against coveting. 

Generosity. The renowned psychiatrist, Dr. Karl Menninger, was asked, "What would you advise a person to do if he felt a nervous breakdown coming on?" His answer was surprising. He did not say to consult a mental-health professional. Instead, Menninger replied, "Look up your house, go across the railway tracks, find someone in need, and do something to help that person." 

This is also good advice for guarding your heart against covetousness. Coveting is an internal problem. There is no internal solution for this internal problem. You will be defeated if you allow covetousness to have free reign within. You experience victory when you drag the darkness of covetousness into the light of generosity. A baby is born with clenched fists. A man dies with open hands. Live and death teach us the things of this world do not last. Jim Elliot was right: "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."

 In Matthew 6:19-21, Jesus says, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is there your heart will be also." This is a supracultural principle. We think our treasure follows our hearts. Jesus our hearts follow our treasure. It is not wrong to lay up treasures for yourself. But do not spend your life investing in that which will not last. 

1 Timothy 6:17-19 says, "As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set your hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasures for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they make take hold of that which is truly live."

Thanksgiving. It is understood that the Lord commands Israel not to covet their neighbor's wife, house, or servants. It is odd that the Lord also commands them not to covet their neighbor's ox or donkey. This command was given to people who lived in an agricultural society. Outside of priests and Levites, the people made a living by working the land. An ox and donkey were standard equipment the farmer needed to do his work. They were essential resources, not extravagant resources. No one had a name-brand ox. No one had a designer donkey. An ox was an ox, and a donkey was a donkey. The typical person had one. Everyone who had one had the same thing the typical person had. Yet the Lord needed it necessary to command his people not to covet their neighbor's ox or donkey. John J. David observed: "Covetousness has a psychologically degrading effect upon an individual." Covetousness is spiritual paranoia. 

• Covetousness is convinced that something good is being withheld from you. 
• Covetousness is convinced that others unfairly have it better than you. 
• Covetousness is convinced that person, place, or thing is key to their happiness.

The way to rid your heart of the paranoia of covetousness is to drown it in the floodwaters of grateful praise. Give thanks for life, health, and strength. Give thanks for family, friends, and loved ones. Give thanks for food, clothing, and shelter. Give thanks for mercy, grace, and kindness. Above all, give thanks for the Lord Jesus Christ! A stubborn unbeliever told Charles Spurgeon, "If the Lord ever saves someone like me, he'll never hear the end of it!" May that be your testimony! Psalm 103:1-2 says, "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits."

Contentment. To covet is to have a high view of material things. To covet is to have a low view of your neighbor. To covet is to have a wrong view of God. James 4:2-3 says, "You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions." This is the most serious problem of coveting. Beyond a wrong attitude toward things and people, to covet is to have the wrong attitude toward God. Psalm 84:11 says, "For the Lord God is a sun and a shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly." The covetous heart disbelieves this promise. 

• It thinks God is against you. 
• It feels God is holding out on you. 
• It acts as if God cannot be trusted. 

The cure for covetousness is contentment. 1 Timothy 6:6-8 says, "But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into this world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content." Contentment is not settling for less. It is trusting God for the rest. It is the picture of a city that has enough internal resources that they do not need to export anything to survive. Contentment is not a life without needs, wants, or goals. It is to live in the joy of internal resources without worrying about external circumstances. 

In Philippians 4:11-13, Paul wrote, "Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me."