You
may remember the story of a rich young guy who ran up to Jesus and asked him
what he had to do to get eternal life. Jesus replied that he knew the
commandments: “You shall not murder, You shall
not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false
witness, Honour your father and mother, and, You shall love your
neighbour as yourself.…” (Matt. 19:18-19). You probably know them too, and like
the fellow who asked the question, may think you have done a good job of
keeping them. Whatever could you do to be any more perfect than you are now?
In
order to test the man’s resolve to be one of his disciples, Jesus seems to have
left off the commandment most applicable to this man’s situation in life – a
commandment that was already missing from the rich young ruler’s tick-list, and
incidentally one that people to this day tend to forget most: You shall not
covet. This yearning to possess was so dominant in the young man, that when
Jesus told him to “go, sell what you possess and give to the
poor, and you will have treasure
in heaven; and come, follow me”, he sorrowfully slunk off “for he had great
possessions” (Matt. 19:21-22).
The tenth commandment does not apply only to
those who are possessed by their possessions. In fact, the examples initially
given in the Law as to how this commandment was to be applied indicate more an
inappropriate desire to have what someone else has of which you are for some
reason bereft: your neighbour's house, field, wife, male servant, female
servant, ox, donkey, “or anything that is your neighbour's” (Ex. 20:17; Deut.
5:21).
Perhaps some seem to rank coveting as a lesser
category of sin because they don’t really see where it leads. When entering the
Promised Land the flashy trappings of Canaanite paganism were to be “devoted to
destruction”, particularly their idols, of which it was said “You shall not
covet the silver or the gold that is on them or take it for yourselves, lest
you be ensnared by it, for it is an abomination to the Lord your God” (Deut.
7:25). Those who broke this command and others like it would likewise be devoted to destruction
(Deut. 7:26). A Hebrew named Achan learned this the hard way: in the ruins of
Jericho he saw a beautiful cloak, 200 shekels of silver, and a bar of gold,
coveted them, and stole them from those things devoted to the Lord. He and all
that he had was destroyed because of his sin (Joshua 7). The prophet Micah spoke
against those who “covet fields and seize them, and houses, and take them away;
they oppress a man and his house, a man and his inheritance” (Micah 2:2). So the prophetic declaration - “thus says the LORD: behold, against this family I am devising
disaster, from which you cannot remove your necks, and you shall not walk
haughtily, for it will be a time of disaster” (Mic. 2:3). In the New Testament, James writes of the
painful affect coveting has on human behaviour: “You desire and
do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and
quarrel” (James 4:2).
Coveting is a lust that corrupts hearts and minds
and creates divisions between people. It is a form of idolatry that if acted
upon leads to murder, theft, sexual immorality, deceit, and dishonour to
parents. It is for the man of God to “flee these things. Pursue righteousness,
godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, and gentleness” (1 Tim. 6:11) knowing
that “there is great gain in godliness with contentment” (1 Tim 6:6).
This was printed in the worship bulletin of Grace Baptist Church (Wood Green) on 15/09/2013.
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