TEXT: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s” (Exodus 20:17).

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, and you shall not desire your neighbor’s house, his field, his male servant, his female servant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s” (Deuteronomy 5:21).

IDEA: Warning people about covetousness becomes difficult in a covetous society.

PURPOSE: To help listeners feel the discomfort that comes from the tenth commandment.

Do you hear many sermons today about the tenth commandment about covetousness?

How did we ever get onto this subject of covetousness?

I. When we talk about coveting, we really feel that we’re going against the stream of our culture, and talking about it makes us feel uncomfortable.

Over twenty years ago, President Reagan told us, “I don’t look for a business that’s going to render a service to mankind . . . Greed is involved with everything we do. I find no fault with that” (Quoted in the Los Angeles Times, 2/1/84).

President Bush, after 9/11, urged us to go out and buy.

Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas’s character in the movie Wall Street) declared, “Greed is good!”

Greed sounds like a harsh word, but covetousness sounds like a softer word. But the Bible says that greed and covetousness are evil.

II. We’re tempted to go with the stream in order to get people to accept the gospel.

After all, who would accept a gospel that calls on us to buy less and be content with whatever we have?

We often present the gospel as a way to get what we covet. With all the health and wealth emphasis, beauty queens and born-again athletes sometimes imply that Christ makes them “winners.” And winners in our culture make big salaries.

III. If we take God seriously, we really need to consider how coveting and greed replace God at the center of our lives.

If you have everything else in the world but don’t have God, you have nothing.

If you have nothing else in the world but you are really linked to Jesus Christ, you are eternally rich. Believing that and acting on it may be the greatest challenge we as Christians face today.