It came to guitarist, Keith Richards, literally in the middle of the night. He woke up, recorded the lyrics on a cassette tape player and went back to sleep. Three weeks later, the Rolling Stones recorded that song and it became their first number one hit, both in the United Kingdom and in the United States and it became their launching pad to fame. Mick Jagger, who wrote the lyrics to the song, said at the time it simply expressed his frustration with the consumerism and commercialism he found in the United States.
In forty years, nothing has changed. You could almost make this song the national anthem of our nation. In the last twenty years, the quote, "jet-set" has become the "debt-set." The new slogan seemingly has become "buy now, pay maybe." Newsweek Magazine once said that people today can be divided into three classes:
The Haves
The Have-Nots
The Have-Nots-Paid-For-What-They-Haves [[1]]
Will Rogers was the one who famously said, "We spend money we don't have, to buy things we don't need, to impress people we don't even like." Why do we do that? Why is it that most of us, no matter how much we have can't seem to get no satisfaction? There are people living on Madison Avenue in New York City, who make six figures, trying to figure out how they can make us want more and more and more. The problem comes in one word that is seldom used, but much abused and it is the word "covetousness". The famous slogan of American Express is "Don't live home without it." The problem is if some people don't live home without it, they are going to be without a home. I read where one man once said, "If my wife doesn't go shopping at least three times a week I send her a get well card."
Over the next two months, you are going to be bombarded with Christmas advertising and Christmas catalogs. Though you won't hear the word "covet" used even one time, you will see plenty of examples of it. Someone has defined coveting as "the uncontrolled desire to acquire." We are paying a high price, both socially and economically, for that desire. More and more young families are two income families and though many are out of necessity, many are also out of desire. Mothers feel they have to go back to work to support the lifestyle they have grown accustomed to so their children are raised in day-care centers by under paid, under trained workers that are stressed out and really don't care about kids at all. Children who are old enough to come home from school come home to empty houses and spend their hours relating, not to a stay at home mom, but to television sets, computer screens, videogames and iPods.
God foresaw all of this which is why He gave this commandment. "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor." (Exodus 20:17, NASB)
If any commandment should be able to convince you that they came from God Himself, it ought to be this one, because who else would have thought this one up? Somebody has called the tenth commandment "the unenforceable commandment." Think about it. You could be breaking this commandment right now and nobody would ever know it. You could make coveting a felony and nobody would ever be arrested, because how could you prove it?
This is why this is the most unusual of all the commandments. The other nine commandments deal with actions. This one deals with attitude. The others deal with a deed. This deals with a desire. You can see the sins of the other commandment on the outside. This sin can only be seen on the inside.
What is so unusual about this commandment that makes it different from all the others is that it goes straight to the heart. God gave this commandment to let us know that He requires not only outward obedience, but inward obedience.
The Hebrew word for covet means "desire" or "to pant after." There is nothing wrong in and of itself with desire and I want to make that very plain. There is nothing wrong with ambition. There is nothing wrong with wanting to be successful; with wanting to have nice things, with wanting to provide for your family, with wanting to be your very best. The problem with coveting, however, is when you become dissatisfied with what you have and you become jealous of what others have and you want what they have whether God wants you to have it or not. Quite frankly, it is a disease that affects not only our finances, but it affects our families. I want to share with you today three cures to covetousness.
I. Be Glad For What Others Have
Before I really expand on this, let me make an observation. Covetousness is one of the most deceptive sins people commit. In all my years as a pastor, I've never had anyone come to my office and sit down and say, "Pastor, I've got a problem. I am a very covetous person." Francis Xavier, the famous Roman Catholic priest and missionary, who heard many confessions in his lifetime said, "As an older man, I have listened to thousands of confessions and I have yet to hear one person confess to the sin of covetousness. I call it the "stealth sin." This is a sin that flies under the radar. It doesn't' leave any fingerprints. It doesn't trigger any alarms. It doesn't set off any warnings. It is a sin that can be eating you up and you don't even realize it.
When you look at what other people have you can respond in one of two ways. You can either be jealous of what they have or be glad for what they have. Normally when we covet what someone else wants it is because we think for some reason, in some way, they are richer than we are and that is where the problem lies. I Timothy 6:9 says this," "But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction." (I Timothy 6:9, NASB)
Understand something. There is nothing wrong with being rich, but there is something wrong with desiring to be rich. The word desire there literally means "covet." It is wrong to covet to be rich and therefore it is wrong to covet what rich people have.
That is why we go on to read in verse 10, "For the love of money is at the root of all kinds of evil." (I Corinthians 6:10, NLT) There is nothing wrong with money. Money in and of itself is neutral, but it is the love of money which is simply a by-product of covetousness which will cause you all kinds of problems.
Incidentally, did you know it is dangerous to be rich? It is not wrong to be rich, but it is dangerous to be rich. Do you know why? The problem I've discovered with most rich people is this - they don't own their money; their money owns them. Money is their life. Money is their love. Money is their lord. They eat it, sleep it, breathe it and live it. The desire for money and wealth afflicts not only the rich; it afflicts the poor. If you can't get what you want then you will want what others have. Instead of wanting what others have why don't you be glad for what others have realizing it was God that gave it to them?
I read a story one time about a man who was a good man, but he owned a very valuable piece of property. All of his neighbors were very envious of his property and they wanted it. Because they coveted it so much and couldn't have it, they grew to dislike this man intensely even though he had done nothing to them. He decided to teach them a lesson. He put up a sign on this beautiful piece of property that he owned that gave an amazing message. It said this, "I will give my property to anyone in my neighborhood who is totally and really satisfied."
One of his wealthy neighbors, who lived up the street, who had a beautiful place himself and all the money he could ever hope to spend, but had coveted this property for many years thought to himself, "Since this man is going to give this property to somebody, he may as well give it to me. I am rich. I've got all that I need and I should qualify because I am totally satisfied."
He went up to this man's door and knocked on it. The man opened the door and said, "Mr. Smith, you have never darkened the door of my home before. Is this a social visit?" The man said, "No. I've come to claim your property." The man said, "Wait a minute. Are you really satisfied?" The man said, "I am absolutely satisfied. I've got plenty of money. I've got all that I need and I am totally satisfied." The man said, "Are you telling me that you are absolutely, completely, truthfully and totally satisfied?" The man said, "Totally and completely."
The man said, "Let me ask you a question. If you are truly and totally satisfied with what you have, then what do you want with my property?" The man was dumbfounded. Then this man said, "Mr. Smith, I am so glad that you have what you have. Why can't you be glad that I have what I have?"
Let me tell you the problem with covetousness. If you are a coveter, it means you love things, but you don't love people. You cannot covet what someone else has and love them at the same time. If you love them you would be glad for what they have. I try to make it a practice when I go into a beautiful home or I see someone who is driving a much nicer car to thank God that He has blessed them with what they have. If you love other people the way you should and you love God the way you should you ought to live in celebration of God's grace and God's goodness to other people. One of the things we ought to be teaching our children is that somebody else's blessing is not our loss. Rather than wanting what someone else has or wanting more than someone else has, we ought to be thankful for what other people have knowing that God gave it to them.
II. Be Grateful For What You Have
Jesus gave this stern warning about covetousness when He said, "Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions." (Luke 12:15, NASB)
Greed is a synonym for coveting. Listen carefully to why Jesus said coveting was so dangerous and so foolish. He said, in effect, "The quality of life has nothing to do with the quantity of life."
When you covet what other people have you fail to understand two things:
The material can never fully and finally satisfy the physical. The wisest man who ever lived, King Solomon, said in Ecclesiastes 5:10, "He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves abundance with its income. This too is vanity." (Ecclesiastes 5:10)
John D. Rockefeller in his day was literally head and shoulders above everyone else - the single richest man in the entire universe. Nobody had more money, more wealth, and more assets than he did. At the height of his wealth and power, he had no idea how much he was worth. When someone said to him, "Mr. Rockefeller, how much money is enough?" John D. Rockefeller famously replied, "Just a little bit more." It is impossible for a covetous person ever to be truly and totally satisfied.
Let me ask you a question. Who has greater contentment and satisfaction the man with seven children or the man with seven million dollars? The man that is totally satisfied is the man with seven children, because he doesn't want any more.
There is another flaw in the thinking of a covetous person and it is this - The material can never fully and finally satisfy the spiritual. Honestly, this is something that ministers need to remember. I read about a pastor who went to visit the mental institution one time and there was a man who banging his head against the wall. He said, "What's wrong with that guy?" One of the trustees said, "Oh, he is a Baptist preacher who wanted to go to this particular church, but he didn't get to go there, because another man got to go." He then went to the next door and there was a man in there in a straight jacket beating his head against the wall. He said, "Who's that?" He said, "Oh that's the pastor that got the church."
Let me tell you what covetousness really is. It is simply the evidence of an ungrateful heart. Instead of coveting someone else's house, be grateful for your house. Instead of coveting another man's wife, be grateful for your wife. Instead of coveting another person's car, be grateful for the car you have to drive. When you covet what someone else has, you are really telling God that you are displeased with what He has given you. What we all need to learn to do is this – We need to learn to admire without having to acquire.
We don't have to own everything to enjoy it. If the only things we ever enjoy are the things we own we are going to be miserable, because we can't own everything. Ecclesiastes 5:19 says, "And it is a good thing to receive wealth from God and the good health to enjoy it. To enjoy your work and accept your lot in life that is indeed a gift from God."(Ecclesiastes 5:19, NLT)
We need to learn to be grateful for what we have and enjoy it and not want what others have.
Think about it. God gives us daily bread and we complain because we don't have daily steak. We have bread and we covet another man's steak when much of the world today doesn't' have any bread. It is like one man who said, "I cried because I had no shoes until I saw another man who had no feet."
I want to go further. Don't just be grateful for what you have. Be satisfied with what you have. Hebrews 13:5 says, "For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant." (Hebrews 13:5, NASB)
Think about this. If you have God what else should you want? When you covet what you are really saying is "God you are not enough. You really don't satisfy me." The Apostle Paul made an amazing statement. In Philippians 4:11 he said, "I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am." (Philippians 4:11, NASB)
Do you know why he was content in every circumstance? He had God and he knew that God was really all that he needed.
I read an amazing story recently about a man named Danny Simpson. In 1990, in Ottawa, Canada, twenty-four year old, Danny Simpson, robbed a bank of $6,000. After getting caught and going to trail, he received a six year prison sentence for his crime.
What fascinated me about this wasn't the crime. Robbery by small time crooks like Danny Simpson happen every day all around the world. What is fascinating about the crime is to rob the bank, Simpson used a .45 caliber Colt semi-automatic pistol made by the Ross Rifle Company in Quebec, Canada in 1918. That gun, an antique, was worth at the time $100,000, over 16 times more than what Simpson stole when he used it. Think about it. If this man has just paid attention to what he already had, he would have never wanted what belonged to somebody else. When you realize you have God and you understand that God is all you need you won't have any problem wanting what someone else has.
III. Be Gracious With Others Who Don't Have
Proverbs 11:25 says, "The generous prosper and are satisfied; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed." (Proverbs 11:25, NLT)
I think we would all agree that when we are really satisfied, we won't want what others have. This verse tells us the greatest antidote for the disease of covetousness and the way to be satisfied is to give. Let's be honest - the bottom line, the reason why most people don't give to the church, don't give to charity and don't give to others is because of covetousness.
There are people who won't come to church, because they are afraid the church will ask for some of their money. I want you remember something. You show me a person who complains when a church asks for money and I will show you a person who is covetous.
The same person that will pay $1,000 for a ticket to go to the Super Bowl will complain about a church asking for money. The same person that will give $2,000 to a political candidate hoping he will have some influence will complain because the church asked for money. Remember - whenever a person complains about a church asking for money, most of the time his problem is not the church, his problem is his money.
God has blessed every one of us, but here is where a lot of us miss the boat on blessings. God doesn't bless us for our benefit; He blesses us for the benefit of others. I Timothy 6:17-19 says this, "Tell those who are rich not to be proud and not to trust in their money which will soon be gone. Tell them to use their money to do good, to give happily to those in need always with others whatever God has given them. By doing this they will be storing up real treasure for themselves in heaven - it is the only safe investment for eternity." (I Timothy 6:17-19, LB)
You may be sitting there saying, "He is talking to rich people." I've got news for you. If you are an American you are rich. When you compare yourself to the rest of the world, the people in this room are in the top 2% of income of everybody on this planet.
Think about two words "get" and "give." The root problem of covetousness is found in the word "get". The opposite of getting is giving. You see every time I give to somebody else, give a tithe of my income, every time I give an offering, every time I give to someone in need I am breaking the grip of covetousness in my life. I am saying to that particular dollar bill, "I can get along without this. Somebody else needs it more than I do and I don't have to have it." I read an incredible story about a congressman who took his son to McDonalds. The son wanted some French fries, so he bought him a super-sized order and they sat down to eat. As that congressman sat there he began smelling those fries and he thought he would have a couple of them, so he reached over and started to take some. His son looked at him and said, "Hey, Dad! Those are my French fries!" The congressman said, "That went through me like a dart and I thought, 'What a bad attitude my son has'".
In that very moment, that Congressman said God spoke to his very heart and taught him one of the greatest lessons he ever learned. He said, "I thought three things about my son. First of all, he had forgotten where the French fries came from, because I'm the one that bought them. Secondly, he doesn't understand I have the power to take them all away from him. Third, he doesn't realize I've got the money to go buy forty orders of French fries and bury him in them. I could just go by my own fries and sit at a table and eat by myself."
That congressman said that God then spoke to him and said, "That is exactly the attitude you have towards Me sometimes. You need to remember where your blessings come from. I am the One that gave you everything you have. I can take them away from you anytime I want and I don't need what you have, because I own everything.
When we understand that all that we have or all that anyone else has comes from God and He owns it all anyway it can free us up to be glad for what others have, grateful for what we have and gracious to others who don't have. When you teach your children the joy of giving rather than getting, you are just solidifying the foundation of a great family.
Do you know how to be satisfied? You want what God wants for you rather than what you want for you. When you truly become satisfied with God, then you can not only praise Him for what He has given you, you can rejoice in what He has given others.
This commandment teaches us what all these commandments were intended to teach us. God is not about rules; He is about a relationship. When we establish that relationship and out of love for Him keep the rules He has given for His family, we will have Homeland Security.
An unknown monk wrote these words almost 1000 years ago. "When I was a young man, I wanted to change the world. I found it was difficult to change the world, so I tried to change my nation. When I found I couldn't change the nation I began to focus on my town. I couldn't change the town and as an older man I tried to change my family. Now as an old man, I realize the only thing I can change is myself and suddenly I realize that if long ago I had changed myself I could have made an impact on my family. My family and I could have made an impact on our town. Their impact could have changed the nation and I could indeed have changed the world."
That is what Homeland Security is all about. That is why God gave these Ten Commandments. As we love Him, we will live them and we will secure the homes in our land and give our land the security that it needs.
[1] Newsweek, October 30, 1989