Killing Covetousness
Ten Commandments • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Be Conscious of it’s Danger
Be Conscious of it’s Danger
Before we see how dangerous covetousness is, we need to know what it is exactly. We often times use it as a synonym to envy, but they aren’t actually the same thing. John Bloom put it this way,
“Envy is an evil, perverse, twisted kind of valuing of our neighbor (we wish we were him). Coveting is an evil, perverse, twisted kind of devaluing of our neighbor (we care more for his stuff than for him).”
So, what it covetousness? Covetousness is the cancerous desire for something that is not yours at the expense of someone else. So, as we look at this commandment, we need to see that God is commanding us to fight back against the temptation to value things for than others. Isn’t this what Adam and Eve fell to in the Garden where they valued being their own gods over the God who made them and loved them? If we are going to fight back against this sin, we need to be conscious of how dangerous it is and I want to explore that in three ways. First, we need to be conscious of the fact that:
It never gives contentment
It never gives contentment
Would you describe yourself as content? As someone who is happy with what the Lord has provided you and full of thankfulness? Or are you never satisfied? Now, I’m not saying you should develop a personality that never wants to work hard or grow as a person, but the Bible does warn us of the danger of covetousness as it never gives us satisfaction. Eccl. 5:10
10 Those who love money will never have enough. How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness!
Solomon, a man who had more money than we could ever fathom is writing to warn us that it doesn’t matter how much you have, it will never bring satisfaction. But that’s not what covetousness tells you is it? It looks at the wealthy people around you and says, “I don’t know why they seem so sad, I’d finally be happy if I had what they had.” And this is exactly what Jesus tells us about in Luke 12:13-21
13 Then one from the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” 14 But He said to him, “Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?” 15 And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.” 16 Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. 17 And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ 18 So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” ’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ 21 “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
Notice that what Jesus is emphasizing through this story is that this man who has spent his whole life chasing all of this wealth died before he ever got to enjoy any of it and what Jesus is teaching us here is that covetousness will never grant us contentment. Why? Because, second:
It is a spiritual cancer
It is a spiritual cancer
In 1 Timothy 6:10
10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
Notice how serious Paul writes here. He says that the LOVE of money, so covetousness, is like a root and it blossoms into all kinds of wickedness. What is the first one he lists? That it has caused some who once said they loved Jesus to forsake Him. Perhaps this was a reference to Judas Iscariot who sold Jesus for silver. Regardless, Paul cries out with a serious warning, “Do not let your heart be focused on the wrong riches!” And do you know that Jesus speaks about this to? Maybe you remember the story of the seed being sown in the gospels as Jesus talks about how some seed is scattered on the wayside and is taken away by Satan, and some is sown on stony ground and these people believe it immediately but when hard times come, they fizzle out. But then Jesus says in Mark 4:18-19
18 Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, 19 and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
Notice what He said chokes it out! The deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things. So, as believers, we have to be careful because as fallen sinners, we look at things that may be good and we develop an evil longing for them that can pull us away from what we were made to long for, the Lord. And once this takes a hold of us, it:
It corrupts who we thought we were
It corrupts who we thought we were
If you’ve been around Christianity for very long, you may have heard about a person named King David in the Old Testament. He is known as the man after God’s own heart, he was a great king and a brilliant psalm writer. However, he was also a man that fell into serious sin. 2 Samuel 11:2
2 Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king’s house. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold.
You may know how it goes from here. David sees Bathsheba bathing, he calls her to his room and sleeps with her and she becomes pregnant. Now, Bathsheba was the wife of one of David’s most loyal men, Uriah. So, in an attempt to cover up his sin, he calls Uriah home from the war hoping that maybe Uriah would think that he got his own wife pregnant. But Uriah told the king he couldn’t enjoy comfort while his fellow soldiers were fighting, so David writes a secret letter and commands Uriah to take it to his commanding officer without reading it. Well, the letter tells the commander to send Uriah out to fight the enemies all alone and, as you might guess, Uriah is killed. But this is David! This is the godly king of Israel! Yep, and he was also a man who fell into serious sin because he coveted his neighbors wife. If you get to know David, this sin scares you a little because it’s nothing like the David we grow to love and that’s exactly the point. Sin corrupts us and destroys who we thought we were.
In 2 Tim 4:10 we read of another man, who was once a partner of this apostle Paul who fell to covetousness. Paul says:
10 for Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world, and has departed for Thessalonica—Crescens for Galatia, Titus for Dalmatia.
So, what we learn here is that covetousness is a serious sin that we must combat as believers because it comes with serious consequences. So, what can we do? First, we should:
Call on God in Prayer
Call on God in Prayer
Pray for God to Cause You to Crave His Word.
Pray for God to Cause You to Crave His Word.
36 Incline my heart to Your testimonies, And not to covetousness.
Pray for God to Cultivate Contentment in You.
Pray for God to Cultivate Contentment in You.
6 Now godliness with contentment is great gain.
Contemplate God’s Faithfulness
Contemplate God’s Faithfulness
He has conquered this Himself
He has conquered this Himself
Remember Jesus’s wilderness temptation where Satan takes Him to overlook the world and says, “If you’ll worship me, I’ll give you the whole world.” and Jesus responds by saying, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.’”
Jesus knows what it’s like to be tempted, but He didn’t fall to covetousnesses false promises. So, because Jesus endured this, He can sympathize with you and help you whenever you’re struggling.
He sees where you are and what you need
He sees where you are and what you need
22 Then He said to His disciples, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on. 23 Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing. 24 Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds? 25 And which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? 26 If you then are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest? 27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 28 If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith? 29 “And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind. 30 For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things.
He promises to never leave you
He promises to never leave you
5 Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 6 So we may boldly say: “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”
Notice, that the Lord’s promise to be present with us helps us not only to overcome material coveting, because He is our reward! But He also strengthens us to fight another kind of coveting, which is coveting popularity. If Jesus loves us, if Jesus is my helper, if Jesus is my all in all, it doesn’t matter whatever others think or say or do, I have Him and so I don’t have to be afraid!