The Tenth Commandment
*The following post was originally written as a meditation for our Confession of Sin during Lord’s Day worship.
Confession of Sin
Confession of Sin
Acknowledging our guilt; resting in His grace.
The Tenth Commandment:
17 “You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.” (Exodus 20:17)
The sin of coveting is all about desire. In fact, “desire" is what the word “covet” means in its most basic definition.
But this commandment does not speak against “desire” itself. There is nothing unholy about desiring good things or seeking to better oneself through godly means. Rather, this commandment speaks to the sin of desires that have overstepped their proper place. It speaks to desires that have broken rank and usurped the throne of our heart by becoming too important to us.
Ultimately, coveting is when our desires become the god of our life. When we covet, we make the objects of our desire the objects of our worship.
They become the recipients of our trust and devotion.
They become what we believe will truly satisfy our heart and give us meaning, value, identity, and fulfillment.
They become the central priority of our lives and the chief consideration in our decision-making.
They become the moral compass by which we determine what we deem for ourselves to be right and wrong, acceptable and unacceptable.
Whenever anything becomes more important to our heart than God, it has become our god. This is why the Bible ultimately calls coveting idolatry.
And this is also why coveting is the climax of the Ten Commandments. It is here that God shows us most clearly the true depth of our corruption in Adam and need for salvation in Christ, (Rom. 5:12-21).
In those few words, “You shall not covet...” we learn that God’s law does not concern itself with outward actions alone. The holiness and righteousness which God requires must be the very bone and marrow of our being.
“You shall not covet…” means that all our thoughts, motives, intentions and inclinations must be pure according to God’s measure, not our own. Every desire must be righteous in his sight, and kept in its proper place.
The exterior may look polished and clean to the eyes of men, but if the heart is inwardly twisted and deformed by covetous desires, we stand guilty before the righteous Judge of the world.
What is more, coveting is the sin behind all other sins. It is the corrupt desires of our hearts that lead on to corrupt actions in our lives. Hear our brother James (Jm. 4:1-4):
1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?
It is our covetous idolatry that stands behind our greed and our devilish love of possessions, positions, power, and popularity.
It is our covetous idolatry that makes us envy the blessings of others rather than rejoice in their good. It causes us to see another’s good fortune and rather than celebrate, we burn with jealousy, rivalry, and discontentment.
It is our covetous idolatry that makes us willing to rationalize our mistreatment of others in the name of obtaining our own selfish wants.
The covetous desires of our hearts make us ready and willing to sin, to disobey God, to ignore his commandments, to reject his wisdom, and to belittle his call to obedience as our Maker.
When we covet, we trade the priceless treasure of fellowship with the God of heaven for the flimsy, fleeting, and unfulfilling idols of this sin-sick earth. Let us hear the words of John (1 Jn. 2:15-17):
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
Beloved, are the desires of your heart on the throne of your life?
Is your love for getting what you want more precious to you than doing what is right?
Are the pitiful things of this world:
Money, cars, houses, comfort, careers, vacations, human approval, new phones, computers, video games, movies, grades, sports teams, convenience, diets, exercise, relationships, sexual pleasure, etc…
Are these fleeting earthly things the true objects of your worship?
Beloved, let us dethrone our covetous desires! May God help us to see them for the wicked, havoc-wreaking idols that they are and run to the only one who can forgive and heal the waywardness of our covetous hearts.
God stands ready to forgive all who draw near to him in the true humility of repentance and faith. Let us go before our loving Father now, kneeling our hearts before the unceasing waterfall of his mercy for sinners like us.
We invite you to privately confess your sins before the Lord now. — (A TIME OF SILENT CONFESSION)
Assurance of God’s Forgiveness
24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. (I Peter 2:24-25)