Sermon - Deuteronomy 5:1-3, 21, 32 “Don't Desire Your Neighbors Stuff”
New Covenant Church
May 13, 2018
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During the Protestant Reformation, all statues, painting, and windows portraying God were removed so as to not violate the second commandment concerning idolatry. In many cases, objectionable art was replaced by renderings of the ten commandments. In England, the King wanted to show the close relationship between royal law and divine law and so he had renderings of the ten commandments place in every church and public building. This tradition continued as the church spread over the frontier of America. And a rendering of the ten commandments was placed in the Supreme Court of the United States.
In the 1950s and 60s, the Fraternal Order of Eagles placed renderings of the commandments in schools and on public property all over America. This concerned the American Civil Liberties Union. They worried that these renderings were in violation of the First Amendment to the Constitution prohibiting the establishment of an official religion.
Courts ruled that the 10 commandments could be displayed on public property only if other religions were able to display their laws too. So many jurisdictions have taken down displays of the ten commandments. That makes it even more important for churches to teach about the ten commandments and enter into a covenant with God to obey them. That is what we are doing here at New Covenant Church. We will get to this, but first, let’s pray.
“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)
Deuteronomy 5:1 Moses summoned all Israel and said: Hear, Israel, the decrees and laws I declare in your hearing today. Learn them and be sure to follow them. 2 The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. 3 It was not with our ancestors that the Lord made this covenant, but with us, with all of us who are alive here today.
21 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. You shall not set your desire on your neighbor’s house or land, his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
The tenth commandment prohibits desiring your neighbor’s wife and your neighbor’s stuff. Desire is not in itself a sin. Desire is ethically neutral. You can desire something good. Or you can desire something bad. Ethics is concerned by what you desire rather than the desire itself. And you are prohibited from desiring something or someone owned by another person.
The first nine commandments all deal with actions, something you do. You steal, or bear false witness, or murder, or commit adultery - all actions. But in the tenth commandment there is no action, only thoughts. Your desire to have something that someone else owns is in your mind. You can desire the wrong things without ever doing anything about it. This means that thoughts, independent of action, can be wrong and a sin against God. For example, we know that adultery with another man’s wife is wrong. But with the tenth commandment, we learn that lusting after another’s wife in our minds is also a sin.
This is unique in the ancient law codes. In these laws, only actions are prohibited. What you think is up to you. But in the Bible what you think can be a sin. You can have wrong thoughts which are an offense against God’s law.
There is no biblical punishment for coveting your neighbor’s wife or stuff. A witness can only testify to what you do. No witness can know what you think. No judge can know what you think. No trial can determine what you think. What you think is between you and God. Only God knows if you covet your neighbor’s stuff.
In the story you heard earlier, the Hebrews had crossed the Jordan into the Promised Land. The army under Joshua was ordered by God to defeat kingdoms and take the land. The land was the object. But in the ancient world armies usually fought for loot. They wanted treasure and slaves. But God did not permit looting for the Hebrews.
Achan was a soldier in Joshua’s army. He coveted the treasure of the kingdoms he fought against. And he took the loot for himself. When the stolen treasure was discovered Achan was convicted of disobeying God and was stoned to death. We see from this that bad thoughts often lead us to do bad things.
The problem with bad thoughts is that they can lead to violations of the other commandment. Your desire of your neighbor’s wife can lead to adultery. You desire of your neighbor’s grill can lead to stealing it. Coveting can grow into anger leading to murder. So prohibiting desire of stuff someone else owns can prevent other violations of the law.
In America today we completely ignore the tenth commandment. The motto of our consumer culture is “Keeping Up With the Jones.” If our neighbor has a better grill than our’s we go straight down to Home Depot and buy an even better one. We want our lawns to be better than our neighbors. We want our kids to do better in school than our neighbor’s kids. We want our kids to excel in sports over the other kids. If our neighbors have better homes than us and go on better vacations that we do then we sacrifice to keep up with them. Coveting our neighbor’s stuff is a virtue in America today. And all of this is a clear violation of the tenth commandment.
But, Jesus wants us to know why coveting is a sin. And so Jesus had a conversation with an ordinary person, just like us. Let’s hear what he said.
Matthew 19:16 Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”
17 “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”
18 “Which ones?” he inquired.
Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, 19 honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”
20 “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”
21 Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
22 When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
When Jesus was talking with the man he listed five of the ten commandments, 5 through 9. All of these are about actions. Like us, this man honored his parents, didn’t murder anyone, didn’t commit adultery, didn’t steal anything, and didn’t lie about others. His actions were perfect. But what about his thoughts. Notice that nothing was said about the tenth commandment. Maybe this man is coveting something his neighbor owns.
Then Jesus tells the man to sell what he has and give it to his poor neighbors. This is a radically new way of thinking. Rather than desiring your neighbor’s stuff, you give your neighbor what the neighbor needs. Jesus’ understanding of the tenth commandment is that we are not to covet what our neighbor has, rather we must help our neighbor get what is needed. In other words, Jesus expanded the tenth commandment to include loving your neighbor as you love yourself. Maybe this is something we should try. Rather than “Keeping Up with the Joneses” we should get the know the Joneses better and out of love help them with what they need.
This is Mother’s day and I want you to think back about your mother. Your mother loved you and took care of you. She made sure you had food, a safe place to sleep, and clothing to keep you warm. She loved you and wanted the best for you. What if this is the way Christians treated all their neighbors? What if we cared about our neighbors the way a mother thinks about her baby? We if we loved our neighbors the way our mothers loved us? What if, in the words of an old song, “They will know we are Christians by our love.”?
So bad thoughts can be evil in themselves, and thoughts can lead to bad actions. Coveting your neighbor’s stuff is bad thinking which can lead to bad actions. Loving your neighbor is good thinking and leads to good actions.
Let’s hear again from Moses.
Deuteronomy 5:22 These are the commandments the Lord proclaimed in a loud voice to your whole assembly there on the mountain from out of the fire, the cloud and the deep darkness; and he added nothing more. Then he wrote them on two stone tablets and gave them to me.
32 So be careful to do what the Lord your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left. 33 Walk in obedience to all that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess.
The ten commandments are not onerous laws that we must live by or be punished. Rather they are principles for living a good life. Do what your creator tells you to do and you will benefit from it. Ignore what God says and suffer the consequences. Your God loves you so much that he blessed you with these instructions. So follow them so that you may prosper and have a long life. Let’s pray.
Father in heaven, we thank you for blessing us with the ten commandments. These bless us more than silver and gold ever could. Sometimes we covet our neighbor’s stuff. Sometimes we forget that our neighbor is going through the same things that are happening to us. So just as we hope that others will help us when we need help, help us to love our neighbor. All this we pray in your son’s glorious name. Amen.
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