IDEA: Covetousness is unbridled desire that has evolved into a plan to get what we want.
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).
PURPOSE: To help listeners understand where covetousness kicks in.
We’ve been talking about the stages of desire, starting with impulse and ending with action.
We’re caught off-guard by an immoral desire.
We nurse that immoral desire.
We set our will on that desire and develop a plan to satisfy that desire.
We translate that desire into a deed.
Where do you think you would land in determining when desire becomes covetousness in that list?
We have reason to believe that to covet means to set our wills on that desire to the point that we develop a plan to get what we want. Is that true?
I. The word itself more accurately means "You shall not set your desire on your neighbor’s house, neighbor’s wife, neighbor’s servants or animals, etc."
When we "set our desire" on something, we’re out to get it. It already involves forming a plan ready to be put into motion as soon as the opportunity arises.
II. There are biblical examples of setting our wills on something and developing a plan to get it.
After the fall of Jericho, Aachan set his desire on a maginificant Babylonian robe, on gold and silver (Joshua 7:21). Concretely, he couldn’t keep is hands off all that nice stuff.
The Good News Bible translates his saying, "I wanted them so much that I took them."
The second biblical example comes from Micah 2:2 where the prophet describes people who "covet fields and take them by violence, also houses, and seize them; so they oppress a man and his house, a man and his inheritance."
Deuteronomy 7:25 forbids coveting the gold and silver of the graven images which the Israelites would find in the land of Canaan. Moses tells them not to appropriate the gold and silver to themselves.
In Exodus 34:24, God promises Israel that if she remains faithful to Him, no one else would "covet" the land, i.e., no other people would set their desire on the land and attempt to get their hands on it.
III. Thus the primary meaning of the tenth commandment is that anyone who sets his desire on a neighbor’s house, spouse, employees, or animals won’t be able to keep his hands off.
With premeditation, he intends to strike when the opportunity is there.
Therefore coveting in the tenth commandment lies somewhere between the disposition and the deed. The preceding commandments condemned the deeds, and this commandment moves behind the deeds to the passionate heart and to the steps we take to implement the plans we have forged in our hearts.
Because covetousness is the desire to acquire and leads ultimately to plans and deeds, we need to deal with it as early as possible.