Coveting or Contentment?

In the middle of New York City there is a street called Madison Ave. Clustered along that street are some companies with names like: McCann Erickson; Saatchi & Saatchi; Young & Rubicam; the J.Walter Thompson Agency. Each of these companies does over 5 billion dollars worth of business per year, and has a tremendous impact on you and your family. Yet most of us have never heard of them.

These companies are just some of the many agencies that make up the multi-billion dollar advertising industry; an industry whose mission in life is to make you and me discontent.

Research has shown that, in the course of one day, the average American is exposed to more than 300 ads. They assault us wherever we go - riding in our car listening to the radio; sitting in our living room reading the newspaper; walking through the mall; watching TV. They are everywhere.

The main purpose of advertising is to awaken a need. An effective ad tries to make you feel as though what you’ve got isn’t good enough; that if you only had a certain product, then you’d be happy.

You need to buy a Pontiac. It’ll give you a new kind of excitement.

You need to fly American Airlines, to experience something special in the air.

You need a John Deere lawnmower, because nothing runs like a Deere.

You need to go to McDonalds, because you deserve a break today.

All day long, these messages bombard our brains. They make us begin to believe that things can satisfy us. Madonna captured the theme of our culture when she sang, back in the 1980’s “We live in a material world and I am a material girl.”

Most of us believe that if we only had just a little bit more than what we’ve got, we’d be satisfied, we’d be happy. So deep down inside, we’re discontent. We have a disease called “affluenza”. We think that in affluence we will find true satisfaction. As author Gordon McDonald puts it, we’re “caught in a golden cage.”

We come today to Commandment #10. It is found in Exodus 20:17.

Exodus 20:17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

Coveting is the opposite of contentment. Contentment is when you rejoice in what you have. Coveting is when you become preoccupied with what you don’t have.

Now you might think that the cure for coveting would simply be to accumulate more things. But that is not true. Because coveting, like contentment, is not a function of what you have or what you don’t have. It is a function of your heart attitude toward what you have or what you don’t have.

In the early part of this century, John D. Rockefeller built the Standard Oil Company into a giant corporation. In the process, he became one of the richest men in the world. Someone asked John D. Rockefeller how much money it took to make a man happy. His answer: “Just a little bit more.”

You look at today’s professional athletes. A couple of years ago, Jose Canseco signed a contract that made him the richest player in the history of major league baseball. But then a few weeks later, Roger Clemens signed a better contract. And then Bobby Bonilla signed a better one than that. And then Ryne Sandberg signed an even better one. And so it went.

And when all was said and done, poor Jose Canseco went around crying about the lousy 4 million dollar a year contract he had. You’d think he was ready to go on food-stamps.

You can be dirt poor and content. And you can be fabulously wealthy but have a heart full of coveting. Because contentment and coveting have nothing to do with what you have, they have everything to do with your heart. Contentment is a function of what is in your heart, not in your pocketbook or in your bank account.

Commandment #10 is different from the other commandments. It’s unique for two reasons.

1. We found, with the other commandments, that they had both a surface level and a deeper level of fulfilment. For example, the sixth commandment said “You shall not murder.” It’s possible to say “Well, I’ve never broken the sixth commandment. I’ve never physically murdered anyone.” That’s the surface level of fulfilment. On that level, you may be doing great.

But we found that the sixth commandment goes much deeper than that. Jesus said that it’s possible to commit mental murder against someone; to harbor thoughts of hatred and resentment against your brother in your heart. If you do, you’re just as guilty in God’s eyes as if you had actually murdered him physically. That’s the underlying level. On that level, you’re not doing so great.

God desires righteousness that is more than skin deep. He wants his righteousness to penetrate into our very hearts. So each of these commandments has a surface level and a deeper level. Except for the Tenth Commandment.

Commandment #10 is different. It doesn’t have a surface level. It’s talking about the heart all the way. That’s why you’ll never find C10 written into any human law code. Coveting is not something that is visibly enforceable. Coveting is invisible. It’s a heart attitude. So Commandment #10, of all the Ten Commandments, reveals to us that God is really concerned about our hearts.

C10 is the commandment that convicted Paul. At one point in his life, before he met Christ, Paul was a Pharisee. He made it his business to keep the law of God. And when it came to the Ten Commandments, he had a mental checklist. - He had honored his parents. Check

- He had not murdered anybody. Check.

- He had not committed adultery. Check.

- He had not stolen anything. Check.

- He didn’t go around telling lies. Check.

All these check marks dealt with his outward behavior.

But then he came to C10, and he began to realize that God wasn’t talking about outward actions, he was talking about his inner heart attitude. And Paul had to admit that he had failed miserably to keep C10. It was then that he began to realize that he was a sinner in the sight of God.

Romans 7:7 …I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “Do not covet.”

Commandment #10, at the very end of the list, tells us that when God talks about righteousness, he is talking about our hearts.

2. There’s another reason why C10 is unique. Coveting is an invisible sin. But it leads to the other more visible sins. Did you know that the sins of murder, adultery, stealing, and lying really start with coveting? Coveting is like the “mother sin” that bears evil children.

Go back to the Garden of Eden. What was the first sin that Eve committed? Well, she took the forbidden fruit. But before she actually reached out and plucked that fruit in disobedience to God’s command, she coveted it in her heart. Coveting was the springboard to further sin.

Go back even further to before the creation. There were many angels in heaven serving God. One of them was named Lucifer. Lucifer had a position of tremendous power and influence. He was one of the chief angels.

But he began to desire more. He wanted to be equal with God. He began to covet a position that was not his. And that led him to rebel against God. He was expelled from heaven. He became the devil. All because of coveting.

Ever since that time, Satan has been using coveting as the number one weapon in his arsenal. You look at the casualty list in the pages of Scripture.

King David coveted another man’s wife, and it turned him into a murderer and a liar.

Lot coveted the rich land down on the plain by Sodom, and it cost him his family.

Ananias and Sapphira coveted spiritual recognition in the church without making a genuine spiritual sacrifice, and it cost them their lives.

Achan coveted the spoils of Jericho, and his whole family was wiped out.

Demas, the servant of Paul, coveted the good things of this world, and it cost him a place of honor in God’s kingdom.

The list goes on and on. People who forfeited the blessing of God on their lives because they had a coveting heart.

People like the rich young ruler, who wouldn’t follow Jesus because he couldn’t bear to give up his wealth.

King Ahab, who sulked and pouted, and then murdered Naboth because he wanted his vineyard.

The Israelites in the wilderness, who wandered for forty years because they grumbled and complained about God’s provision for them. They coveted the food they once ate in Egypt.

Every one of these people were brought down by a coveting heart. Coveting is when you begin to doubt the goodness of God. Coveting is when you begin to believe that there is something good out there that God is withholding from you.

You begin to say things like “Oh, if only I had a better house. If only I had a better job. If only I had a better wife. If only I had better kids. If only I had a prettier face. If only I had a smarter brain. If only I had more talent. If only…”

And what you’re really doing is blaming God for not giving you those things. You sing in church “God is so good, he’s so good to me” but your heart isn’t in it. You don’t believe it anymore.

You begin to doubt the love of God. You begin to doubt the wisdom and the provision of God. And when you get to that point, you are like putty in Satan’s hands. Just like a man named Gehazi. We read about him in 2 Kings 5.

Gehazi was the servant of Elisha. Naaman, the commander of the Syrian army, came to Elisha’s house seeking a cure for his leprosy. Elisha told him to go wash in the Jordan river. After some hesitation, Naaman went. He dipped seven times in the river, and he was healed. He was so grateful that he offered Elisha much gold and silver and fine clothing. But Elisha refused it all. So Naaman went his way.

But Gehazi couldn’t stand it. He had been watching all this unfold. Here was all that gold and silver and clothing his for the taking. He coveted it. So he took it upon himself to run after Naaman, and caught up to him.

He said to Naaman “Excuse me sir, but we have some Bible college students who could really use some of that money to continue their education. And they could sure use some of that clothing you offered us back there.” So Naaman gave him what he asked for. (2KI 5:22)

And when Gehazi came back, he stashed the loot in his house. Then he went and stood before Elisha. Elisha asked him “Where have you been?”

Gehazi stammered… “Been? Me? You mean just now?”

Then Elishah said “Was not my spirit with you when the man got down from his chariot to meet you? Is this the time to take money, or to accept clothes, olive groves, vineyards, flocks, herds, or menservants and maidservants? Naaman’s leprosy will cling to you and to your descendants forever.” Then Gehazi went from Elisha’s presence and he was leprous, as white as snow.

Gehazi thought that he knew what he needed. He coveted it. And he got what he wanted. But it ruined him.

So often, we think we know what’s best for us. But we don’t.

There were two little teardrops floating down the river of life. One teardrop asked the other “Who are you?”

“I am a teardrop from a girl who loved a man and lost him. Who are you?”

The first teardrop answered “I am a teardrop from the girl who got him.”

Coveting makes us cry over the things that we don’t have that we think we need. But God knows what we need better than we do.

Philippians 4:19 And my God will supply all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

That means that if there is something out there that you need, God will give it to you. He is the divine supplier.

But we so often confuse our wants with our needs.

When Jesus was in the wilderness, the devil came to him to tempt him. He said to Jesus “Jesus, you’ve been fasting now for forty days. That is really wonderful! Let me congratulate you on how spiritual you are. “

“But all that praying sure builds up an appetite. You must be starving. Jesus, you deserve a break today. See all these stones lying around here? They kind of look like loaves of bread, don’t they? Wouldn’t a loaf of bread taste great right now?”

Satan was trying to awaken coveting in Jesus’ heart. He was trying to persuade Jesus that what he wanted was what he needed.

But Jesus refused. Because Jesus knew that if God had wanted him to have bread at that moment, he would have provided it. He knew that there was something even more important than bread, and that was to know God and his word.

Satan got nowhere with Jesus because he was dealing with someone whose heart was content. Jesus knew who he was, he knew his role in God’s program, and he was content with the circumstances into which God had placed him.

That’s why it is so important for us to cultivate a heart that is content.

1 Timothy 6:6 Godliness with contentment is great gain.

Psalm 16:5 Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.

The man who wrote that did not have an easy life. David knew what it was to be a fugitive. He had had his share of problems. He certainly had enemies. His family life was less than ideal. Yet when he wrote this, he was content.

He said “The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places.” In ancient times, you would survey a field and set up boundary markers. What David is saying here is “God, you have surveyed my life, my little plot of ground. And the boundary lines you have set up for me have fallen in the right places. You have done it right.”

Can you say that of your life? Can you look at your circumstances, and your station in life, and say “God, you have put my boundary lines in pleasant places? God, in your sovereign wisdom, you have made me what I am, and I will serve you and worship you in the midst of my circumstances.” Can you say that today?

Elisha said to Gehazi “Is this the time to take money, or to accept clothes, olive groves, vineyards, flocks, herds, or menservants and maidservants? Is this what God has put us here to do? To strive for these things? To accumulate possessions and privileges? To covet after these material things? Is that why we’re here?”

In 79 AD, Mount Vesuvius erupted and buried the city of Pompeii under a white- hot blanket of volcanic ash. Some 2,000 people were buried alive. Among them was a rich and beautiful young lady who died clutching her jewelry.

Apparently, when the volcano erupted, this woman decided to run to the harbor to escape by ship. That was a wise decision. What wasn’t so wise was her impulse to first go back into her house and collect up as much of her jewelry as she could carry. She snatched up her rings and thrust them on her fingers. Then she hastily grabbed her ornaments and necklaces, her brooches and earrings and rushed into the street.

But by then it was too late; she had taken too much time. The poisonous fumes from the volcano choked her and she stumbled, still clutching her diamonds and pearls to her breast. She fell to the pavement unconscious, and the ash covered her, entombing her body and her jewelry together. She lays there still, like a tragic monument to the folly of living life for things.

About fifteen years before Mount Vesuvius erupted, a man sat under house arrest in Rome. He had had a rough life. He was a learned scholar, with a brilliant intellect. He ought to have been teaching in a university somewhere.

But instead, he was a street preacher, and as such, he had been treated like a common criminal. He had been arrested and jailed several times. He had been stoned and left for dead.

Every time he leaned back on his chair, he winced with pain. His back was a mass of scar tissue from the not-so-gentle caress of the Roman lash that he had felt more than once.

This man had a painful disease that was made worse by the harsh treatment he had received. He was partially blind. You might think that a man like this would resent his circumstances. But he didn’t. The Apostle Paul had a different outlook. He wrote, in Philippians 4:

I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

He was content because he knew who was in control. He was content because his heart was centered on Jesus Christ.

Where is your heart this morning? Is it focused on things? Things that you don’t have that you think you need? Are you trusting God to be your divine supplier?

Or is your heart focused on your circumstances? Are you saying to yourself: “If only my circumstances would change, then I would be happy.”

Can you say “Thank you, God, for who I am, for how you made me, and for what you have given me.” When you thank God from the bottom of your heart, you will find a peace and contentment that will flood your soul.