From Sampler to Sower

Write Them On My Heart

Weekend Teaching Series: Write them On My Heart (A series on the 10 Commandments)

Message Title: Word Ten: No Coveting What Belongs to Another

Sermon in a Sentence: In a world filled with greedy actions motivated by self-interest, God calls his people to serve others from a heart of love.

Text(s): Genesis 2:9, 3:6; Deuteronomy 5:21, Psalm 19:9-10, 68:19, Song of Songs 2:3, Romans 7:7-8

Weekend Scale of Difficulty: 6 of 10, Pretty straightfoward service, only video was a pre-service countdown.  The only hard part was doing Chrsitmas songs for worship because we don’t play those a lot.  (That and the sleet storm that kept more than half our crowd away.)

Message Summary:

We wrapped up our 10 Commandments series with a review of the commandments so far.

We noted:

• They aren’t really commandments — with the exception of #5, none are in the imperative case and the Bible calls them the 10 “Words” or “decalogue”.
• They aren’t commandments because commandments are essentially options.  Rules provide ultimatums – either do this or if not, the consequence will be . . .  – and then leave the choice to obey with the hearer.
• The 10 Words are statements of fact.  They are not optional.  If we are God’s people, this is how we will live.  God does not say “Don’t murder or else. . . “  He simply states “You will not murder.”
• The first “half” (1-4) deal with our relationship with God the second half (5-9) deal with our relationship with others.
• And while the common approach to the Ten Words is to reduce them to a list of rules to hang on the wall and force others to abide by them, God actually desires to write these qualities on our heart, making us into the type of people he describes.

Having reviewed, we noted that the 10th Word is very different than those that come before it:

• The first 9 deal with actions
• The first 9 do harm to a victim (either God’s honor or others in our community.)
• The first 9 are acts which according to Isrealite law have punishments prescribed.
• The first 9 are commandments that can actually be kept.  We can obey them, even if we don’t always succeed.

However Word 10 is different:

• It deals with an attitude rather than an action,
• It harms no one other than perhaps the perpetrator him or herself.
• It is unenforcable – you can prove someone committed murder, there is no proof of coveting, unless it becomes one of the other crimes listed.
• It’s not something we have a whole lot of control over.  Coveting is an impulse, a reaction, and while we can train ourselves to not dwell on coveting, or gradually to respond differently, we have no real control ourselves over that initial impulse.  (If you doubt that, read what Paul says about coveting in Romans 7:7-8.)

And because of these differences, a lot of smart people have put a lot of thought into what this commandment means.  Many of them seek to reduce the differences by redefining coveting.  Some argue that since all the others are punishable offences, this command must refer to an action, not a desire.  Others go so far as to suggest that the “stealing” of word eight is not theft, but kidnapping and word 10 prohibits the act of theft.  However, to redefine it in this way is to fail to take God at his word.  The Hebrew word for coveting (hamad), while often coupled with action, refers to the desire that gives rise to the action, not to the action itself.  And if there was any doubt, the tenth word uses a synonym in the second half  ‘avah – translated desire – which cannot be mistaken for action rather than attitude.

So what exactly is coveting?  Hamad refers to desiring or taking delight in something.

So is God forbiding desire? (That would be very Buddah-like of him, after all.)

Not really.  Look at the other times in the Old Testament that hamad is used:

• Genesis 2:9 says that God created the trees in the garden to be desireable.
• Psalm 19:9-10 says that God wants us to desire his ordinances
• Song of Songs 2:3 says that God wants us to desire and take delight in our spouse.
• Psalm 68:19 says that God himself desired Mount Zion for his dwelling.

So if God created desire, commands desire, and himself desires, certainly this commandment cannot be simply prohibiting desire.

Instead it makes it clear that it is not the desire itself that is wrong, but rather the object of our desire.  It is legitimate to desire what belongs to us, but it is wrong to desire what belongs to another.  Among the things this commandment says that we are not to covet are:

• someone else’s spouse
• someone else’s property
• someone else’s possessions
• someone else’s position.  (Some suggest that to “covet one’s house” is to desire to take their position as head of the household.)

What’s so wrong with coveting?  It is the root of sin.

It was the root of sin in the beginning.  Genesis 3:6 says that Eve at the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil because she found it desireable (hamad) for gaining wisdom.

It was also the root of sin in the story of Achan’s sin that we talked about in the sermon on stealing.  In Joshua 7:21, Achan confesses that he saw the silver and gold and coveted (hamad) it.

So far from going from the most serious crime (murder) to the least serious pseudo-crime (coveting), the commandments go from the most visible crime we commit against another to the hidden root behind all our sins.

The alternative to covetousness is love.  At the heart of coveting is unbridled self-interest.  The antidote is to put the needs of the other before our own, or in other words, to love.  In a world filled with greedy actions motivated by self-interest, God calls his people to serve others out of a heart of love.

But the transformation from greedy self-interest to unselfish love is not one we can work ourselves.  It is a transformation that only God can do.  The commandment drives to to God’s grace and calls us to ask him to transform us from the inside out.

Volunteer/Student Involvement: Same as usual here.  Had some extra adult help in the youth center which was a HUGE help.  And the students continued to serve in every aspect of our service.

Element of Fun/Positive Environment: We opened with a game of Christmas-themed charades, acting out clues in the categories of Christmas song, Christmas movie, or Christmas character.  Clues ranged from easy (Away in a manger and Frosty the Snowman) to incredibly difficult (Yukon Cornelius and Good King Winceslas).

Worship Set: A Christmas theme for our last service before winter break: Go Tell it on the Mountain, Joy to the World, Offering (Christmas Version) and O Come All Ye Faithful.

Favorite Moment: When Leif, one of our Junior High students raised his hand to make a connection.  They’ve been reading L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time at school and when we talked about how coveting is a the root of all sin, he remembered L’Engle’s IT, a supremely evil being who possesses one of the characters.  Meg eventually realizes that the only way to overcome the evil of IT is to love her possessed brother, because love is the one thing that IT can’t overcome.  “What you’re saying about love being the antidote to coveting is kinda like that, right?”  Absolutely right, Leif.