“What is Your Coveting Quotient?”

     Dear Friends in Christ,  

A few weeks ago I came home one evening looking forward to snuggling up with my wife on the couch and enjoying one of our favorite shows that we had recorded on our DVR. But before we could get to it, Marilyn asked if she could finish watching an episode of one of her favorite shows which is called “House Hunters.” On this show, couples who are in the market for a home are shown 3 different houses, each one unique in its own right, and then they choose which one they will buy. So I watched the remainder of it with her and as I did, Marilyn added her own commentary. She said that when you watch these shows, you quickly discover what’s in and what’s out when it comes to home decor these days. For example, you learn that hardwood floors are in, as are stainless steel appliances, dark paint colors, and granite counter tops. And what’s out? Well, carpeting is out, as are laminate counter tops, white trim around doors and windows, and pastel paint colors. And when you watch these shows and you see these rather well-to-do couples turn up their noses at such things, you get the feeling that if you have a home with carpeting, laminate counter tops, and white trim around the windows and doors, as we do, then you might as well burn it to the ground and start all over again because who could ever live in such a dump. Of course, you might want to think twice about burning it down because 5 years from now all of those things will probably be back in style again.

I say that because that’s how the whole advertising industry works, from the clothes we wear to the vehicles we drive to the appliances we use to the way we decorate and furnish our homes. It’s an industry that feeds off of the coveting nature that is a part of every human being. And that’s what we spent our time talking about last Sunday when we began our look at the final 2 of the 10 Commandments, both of which deal with the sin of coveting. In that sermon we talked about common thoughts that lead to consuming passions. Those thoughts included the “more will be enough” mentality, “when/then thinking,” and lastly, the “success is how I’m doing compared to others” way of looking at life. And just for the fun of it, I want to get things underway today by giving you a little pop quiz to help you discover what I’m going to call your “coveting quotient.” In other words, do you have any of the following symptoms that make it very clear that you have a problem with coveting? So here we go.

Symptom #1 is fatigue. This fatigue comes from the non-stop, fast paced, long hours, high stress lives that many people live these days. Work, work, work. Push, push, push. Go, go, go. “If I’m going to keep up with everyone else, then I’ve got to have this much income by this age and this much in savings by that age and this much put away in my 401K by the time I retire.” And, and, and. That’s the word that characterizes so many peoples’ lives these days. We’re always doing, doing, doing, and if we ever reach a point in our day when we’re not doing something, we panic and this wave of guilt washes over us and we start looking for something to do. Many people today have no idea how to relax. And because of that hounding desire to do, to work, to earn more money and get ahead so that we can have more stuff, we have a lot of people in our culture who are running on empty. They’re exhausted. They’re fatigued. They get out of bed in the morning, they hit the floor running, and they can’t wait to crawl back into bed where they can get a bit of a reprieve from the rat race they’re in. And yet what does the Bible have to say about this? Proverbs 23:4 says: “Do not wear yourself out to get rich; have the wisdom to show restraint.”

Then a 2^nd symptom that coveting just might be a major issue in your life is debt. I’m not talking here about debt on long-term appreciable items like a house, but rather the debt that so many families rack up these days because of their desire to have more. More clothes, more TV’s, more CD’s, more electronic gadgets, more 4-wheelers, more furniture, more, more, more! Ecclesiastes 5:11 says: “The more you have, the more people come to help you spend it. So what is the advantage of wealth – except perhaps to watch it run through your fingers!” And what’s so sad about all this is that the more we adults chase after all these things and go into debt over them, the more our children pick up on it. According to one survey I came across, guess what is the #1 preoccupation of high school girls in America? It’s recreational shopping. It’s even more important to them than being with their boyfriends. 93% of teenage girls in America said that of all the things they like to do, what they like to do most is go to the mall.

A 3^rd symptom of a covetous heart is worry. Ecclesiastes 5:12 says: “People who work hard sleep well, whether they eat little or much. But the rich are always worrying and seldom get a good night’s sleep.” It’s an obvious fact of life that the more you have, the more you have to take care of, and the more you have to worry about. I remember hearing Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family talk about this years ago in one of his video series. He was describing all the gadgets he had to help him keep up the house and the lawn and the cars. And he said that anytime he had a day off, he was either mowing the lawn or tilling the garden or washing the car or changing the oil or painting the house. And then he made a comment I have never forgotten. He said, “I soon discovered that all these things that I thought I owned actually owned me.”

The 4^th symptom of covetousness is conflict. James 4:1 says: “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you?” Jealousy, greed, envy, the desire to move up the corporate ladder – all of these things can create all kinds of conflict between people. And we see this not only in the corporate world but even in the American home. What is the #1 source of conflict in marriages these days? Money. He wants this; she wants that. He’s a saver; she’s a spender. He wants to skimp when it comes to giving to the church and she wants to tithe. So you have conflict.

If you want to do a simple test to see how covetousness causes conflict, just get 2 toddlers together and place 3 cookies in front of them. Sooner or later there is going to be conflict over who is going to get that third cookie, right? And that simple illustration plays out everyday in the classroom, in the work place, in the business world, on Wall Street, and even among nations.

You want to know what one of the greatest marks of spiritual maturity is? It’s being able to genuinely rejoice with someone when they prosper or they succeed or they get ahead and you don’t. That’s one thing that I love about bowling in the church league on Thursday nights. Guys can be having an absolutely horrendous night, but if you’re having a good night – even if you’re on the opposing team – they still cheer you on. They still give you high 5’s. And they still commiserate with you if you miss a spare or get robbed of a strike.

So, fatigue, debt, worry, conflict – how did you do on our little pop quiz? What is your coveting quotient? I suspect most of us here today failed miserably. And if you did, you can at least count yourself in good company for some of the greatest personalities in the Bible did the same, including perhaps the most famous of them who at one point in his life was described as a man after God’s own heart. His name was David. And from the story of David we see so clearly why God included these 2 commandments on coveting. For when we covet what other people have, we often times use sinful means to attain those things which in turn produces what I call “the snowball effect of sin.” Let me explain using David as an example.

In 2 Samuel 11 we’re told of a time when David had stayed behind in Jerusalem while his army was out fighting his battles…(tell story).

Do you see the snowball effect of sin that David’s coveting led to? First, he lusted. Then he committed adultery. Then he told one lie after another to cover up what he had done. Then he arranged for Uriah to be killed. Then he took Bathsheba as his wife, as though he was this kind, compassionate king who was showing extraordinary care for this poor widow of one of his finest soldiers – and he lived that lie until Nathan finally showed up. And he certainly wasn’t putting God first in any of this, was he? So according to my scorecard, David broke the 1st, the 5^th, the 6^th, the 7^th, the 8^th, and the 10^th Commandments. No wonder God warns us so much against the sin of coveting!

And no wonder each one of us has such a desperate need for a Savior, for we have all faltered, we have all failed, we have all fallen short in not only keeping the 9^th and 10^th Commandments but all of God’s holy laws. So aren’t you glad, as we draw this series on the 10 Commandments to a close today, that God has provided us precisely what we needed in Jesus? You know, he didn’t have to. He could have very easily left us alone to carry on in our sins and to ultimately spend an eternity of separation from him when death snatches us from this world. And he would have been perfectly justified in doing so. But he didn’t. Instead, his love won out and through Jesus every one of our sins was paid for on an old rugged Roman cross 2000 years ago and our eternal destinies were secured. And because of what our King Jesus did for us then – the same King whom we honor on this Christ the King Sunday – because of what he did for us then, we can be sure that whatever he chooses to give us now is always what is best for us. So there’s no need to desire more. There’s no need to covet what others have. There’s no need to live each day with a spirit of discontent and dissatisfaction. For in Jesus we already have all that we need for time and for eternity and through Jesus we can be sure that the best is yet to come. So even though it’s not easy to do in a materialistic, gotta-get-ahead culture like the one we find ourselves living in right now, may the Holy Spirit bring each one of us to the point where we are able to say with the Apostle Paul in our text for today: “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.”

      Amen.