Exodus 20:17

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(Graf p.151-2 re. Grandpa Willie)

Let’s read together the words of the 9^th and 10^th Commandments from the back of the bulletin. 9^th: You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not scheme to get our neighbor’s inheritance or house, or get it in a way which only appears right, but help and be of service to him in keeping it.

Just a reminder about numbers. Other Protestant churches combine these as Commandment 10, because they separate what we number as Commandment 1 into Commandment 1 and 2 – no other gods (1) and no graven images (2).

We separate the commands about coveting into two commandments – the 9^th about non-living possessions, the 10^th about living beings. The reason we separate this way is because we see a difference in the actions that may result from breaking these commands. If we covet our neighbor’s possessions (9^th), we will have to take some outward action to get them. It may be theft or fraud, but we must act to take them away from him.

But if we covet our neighbor’s spouse, workers or animals, we can ruin their relationship with our neighbor – whether we take them away physically or not. We can entice them away without ever touching them. You can’t entice away a car or house or jewelry, but you can entice living beings. Or we can spoil their attitude – even if they stay with our neighbor – by saying things that cause them to think badly about their spouse or employer. Such is the difference between coveting non-living things and coveting living beings.

To covet means to have an unholy desire for something. God wants holy actions and holy desires in our life. After all, it is the attitudes and desires of our heart that is the root of all we do.

Dr. Luther says: This last commandment, therefore, is not addressed to those whom the world considers wicked rogues, but precisely to the most upright—to people who wish to be commended as honest and virtuous because they have not offended against the preceding commandments. I assume when Luther writes about people who "have not offended against the preceding commandments" he writes as we say "with tongue in check", since his explanations of the other commandments show how we all have broken them repeatedly, at least in our attitudes.

Let’s look at these two commandments through our model of CURB, MIRROR, and GUIDE.

CURB – God put these two commandments in our hearts as a CURB – to protect us from sinful desires, because sinful desires easily lead to sinful actions. These two commandments are intended to protect our property and our relationships. These commandments – in our heart – lead us to desire to treat other people’s property and relationships the way we want to be treated: with respect.

MIRROR – Pastor Arthur Graf says it well: "One of the purposes of these commandments is to show us how sinful we really are and to fill us with guilt, so that in humility and sorrow we run to Christ Jesus who is the Savior of us all." {Graf, No Other Name}

Pastor Graf gives a number of examples of breaking these commandments. "It isn’t wrong for a man to desire a certain woman as his wife. It becomes sinful when he knows she is already married, or when he wants to possess her out of wedlock. It isn’t wrong for a man to desire a certain car or business. It becomes wrong when he wants to get it through trickery or shady business."

Greed is an attitude of the heart – an unholy desire that breaks these commandments. The dictionary defines greed as: "excessive or reprehensible acquisitiveness: avarice," in other words – a continual desire for more and more.

Pastor Graf lists selfishness as another form of this sin. Selfishness is a concern only for me. Selfishness has no care about how my desires or my actions might affect someone else. Selfishness can be about getting things or even about the use of our time. It shows us in our life when we think, "I just want to be left alone – I don’t want to get involved." Instead of wanting to isolate ourselves, the Bible tells us: Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." Galatians 6:2.

Coveting is sin. And coveting is epidemic in our lives, whether we are rich or poor. Our nation’s courts are overburdened with lawsuits – both civil and criminal – many of which are the results of coveting: Inheritance battles, theft and fraud, divorce cases – many of which are caused by a spouse desiring some other person.

Luther talks about the coveting of another’s spouse going back in history.

This was also the case in ancient days in respect to wives. They knew tricks like these: If a man took a fancy to another woman, he managed, either personally or through others, by any number of ways to make her husband displeased with her, or she became so disobedient and hard to live with that her husband had to dismiss her and leave her to the other man. And Luther speaks of similar efforts to lure away another person’s workers.

Our world – our own hearts – make a sad picture of sinful desires and sinful actions. Yet there is Good News. For these sins, too – for our coveting of all kinds – God sent His Son. Our Lord Jesus fought successfully against all temptations, including all kinds of coveting. Although He was the Owner of all things, He humbled Himself to travel virtually without a home. Although He desired time alone to commune with His Father in prayer, often the crowds pressed in and He saw the greater need of their helplessness – like sheep without a shepherd. For all our sins of coveting He suffered and died. To set us free, He rose from the dead, so we could live a new life – here now and forever with Him. Because of His victory for us, the 9^th and 10^th Commandments now become GUIDES for our life.

In our new life in Christ we can fight against the temptation to covet. Pastor Graf gives an outline for this new life.

Recognize the seriousness of this sin. In 1 Corinthians 6:10 St. Paul writes No covetous man … shall inherit the kingdom of God. The only other option left is condemnation – an eternity separated from God. Coveting is a serious sin.

Recognize the Deliverer. In Colossians 1:13-14 St. Paul proclaims God and the Son of God as our Rescuer: For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Pray - as Pastor Graf says on our knees at the foot of Christ’s cross. We need to come daily to the cross – here in church and in our homes – to:
-pray for forgiveness for our sinful desires of coveting.
-pray for contentment – a new life of holy desires, connected always with trust in God, a confidence that He will supply our needs. With such contentment in this life, we can live with our eyes fixed on Jesus, eyes looking to help others, eyes fixed on eternity.

St. Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 6:11-12: But you, man of God, flee from all this (meaning the love of money) and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called…

We are able to live this way because our Lord Jesus already did it for us. The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for the many. {Matthew 20:28}

Holy Desires – instead of coveting, God wants us to trust in His enduring love that always provides our needs. Instead of coveting, God wants us to share His blessings with others.

The Land of Palestine – ancient and modern Israel – has an enduring example in its geography. There are two inland seas. The Sea of Galilee takes in water from the Jordan River at its north end. It is a rich sea – abundant fish - providing life for fishermen and many others. The Sea of Galilee receives the Jordan River, but it also lets it flow out on the south end, to provide its blessings to many others.

The other sea is the Salt Sea – the Dead Sea. It too receives the waters of the Jordan. But it has no outlet. Like a miser, it seems to try to hoard all it gets. Its waters can only evaporate in the scorching heat, leaving behind all the salts and minerals. Fish are virtually unknown in its waters. They can’t survive its harsh environment – the salt and mineral content is many times higher than ocean salt water.

Two seas – pictures of people. One receives blessings and passes them on, the other receives and seeks to keep all to itself. One filled with life, the other an image of desolation.

Let’s read the Commandments again. 9^th: You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not scheme to get our neighbor’s inheritance or house, or get it in a way which only appears right, but help and be of service to him in keeping it.

By God’s grace we are brought from death to new life in Christ. May His grace enable us to live like the Sea of Galilee, receiving God’s blessings in Christ, not coveting them – whether they be possessions or living beings, whether they be physical blessings or spiritual blessings – but joyfully sharing them with other people around us. Amen.