IDEA: Clarity about covetousness comes when we wrestle with the paradox about possessions.

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 appreciate the complexity of simple thought.

What do we mean when we talk about a paradox?

The word paradox comes from two Greek words: para meaning "against" and dokein meaning "to think." It means "to think against."

Joy Davidman wrote that "Christianity is everywhere paradoxical . . . but no more so than in its doctrine of worldly goods."

Think about some of the paradoxes.

I. Worldly goods are good, but they become bad when we long inappropriately for them.

How would you put those two ideas together?

II. Worldly goods are to be enjoyed, but when we make it our goal to enjoy them, they can destroy us.

III. God gives us worldly goods, but we cannot devote our lives to acquiring them.

IV. If we have worldly goods, the best thing we can do is to give them to others.

V. If we don’t have worldly goods, we may expect to get them, but we must not worry about it.

It almost seems that we’re told not to desire what by our very natures we cannot live without.