IDEA: We can covet spiritual gifts in a good way or in a sinful way.

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 see how easily wanting something very good can cause us to do something very bad.

The tenth commandment spells out in some detail the objects of coveting. No other commandment has those details. Why do you think God spoke those details to Moses?

The danger of spelling it out is that if something isn’t in the list, you think it doesn’t matter.

If the verse doesn’t mention your neighbor’s barns or automobile, you think they aren’t included in the commandment.

The tendency is to feel that it doesn’t have a sharp cutting edge.

Yet there is this catch-all phrase: "anything that is your neighbor’s."

I. It is impossible to covet something that belongs to your neighbor if you really want what is best for your neighbor because you love him or her.

One translation of 1 Corinthians 12:31 says, "Covet the best gifts." Here is a negative word used in a positive way.

Would it be possible to covet gifts and do so in a sinful way?

II. We can covet someone else’s reputation for being a spiritual person.

We would like to have that reputation ourselves, and we can ask God to cultivate that grace in our lives.

We can want that reputation, but because we don’t have it, we will cut down those who do.

We can become cynics and question a person’s motivation or sincerity, and delight when we find a chink in the armor.

We can invent theological reasons for negating what seems to be a work of God in other people’s lives.