Get Off The Ladder - The Command
- Paul Downie
- 2 minutes ago
- 29 min read
Exodus 20:17 NIV
[17] “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/exo.20.17.NIV)
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
I pray that you and your family will have a very happy and fulfilling 2026.
Have you ever tried to carry water in a bucket that has a hole in it?
Of course, it can be a bit of a laugh if you're only doing it for fun. But if you really need that water for your family’s survival or for a construction project or even just to wash your clothes, that tiny hole can cause a bug problem.
I bet that illustration caught you completely off guard. It’s my first post of 2026. I've started by posting the Tenth Commandment and here I am discussing a leaky bucket. If you're surprised by that, I’m glad your paying attention.
There are things in life which cause our joy to drain away quicker than water through a leak in a bucket. One of them, without a doubt, is covetousness. I don’t believe there is a sin that is so widespread, so accepted but so utterly detrimental to our health and the health of those around us. Nothing harms our relationships faster. Nothing ruins our outlook on life quicker.
It is responsible for triggering some pretty horrible behaviour, both in person and online. I don’t doubt for a single second that it has been a motive for murder – likely on far more occasions than any of us will ever know.
It is a singularly dangerous and deadly sin. I fully understand why God put a prohibition against it in the Ten Commandments.
It’s such a serious and endemic sin that I thought it deserved a full twelve-study series on its own.
But what exactly is it? What causes it? What does it do to us? How can we stop it?
That is what we will explore in this series.
But we must firstly understand exactly what it is we are dealing with, and that is where this series begins. Let’s first examine The Concept.
The Concept
James 4:1-3 NIV
[1] What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? [2] You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. [3] When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/jas.4.1-3.NIV)
Imagine a ladder. A huge ladder, reaching all the way from ground level up into the clouds.
Now imagine lots of people on the rungs of that ladder: billions and billions of people. Now imagine that everyone on that ladder wants to climb up as far as they can up. Some try to do so as fairly as possible. Others help other people up and stretch out their hands to help.
But others fight and scrap and scratch and pull. They stomp on other people's hands and shoulders and heads. They push them down and do anything they can to stop them rising.
This is jealousy.
Others yank and pull at those above them, trying their best to climb above them at all costs and at any price, or they gossip about them and bad-mouth them as if they didn’t deserve to be on a rung above them.
That is covetousness.
This is how many people see the world. It is a constant and unrelenting battle to climb the ladder of souls as far as you possibly can before you lose your grip, fall off your rung and die. They are prepared to do whatever it takes, by any means, at any cost, to climb that ladder.
Now – and I cannot stress this enough – God does not see life this way. This is how He sees life:
Romans 3:23-24 NIV
[23] for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, [24] and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/rom.3.23-24.NIV)
God sees us all as sinners, all in need of grace, and therefore all equal:
Galatians 3:28 NIV
[28] There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/gal.3.28.NIV)
Colossians 3:11 NIV
[11] Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/col.3.11.NIV)
Those from an ultra-capitalist mind-set might accuse me of being a communist. But I regard that as stuff and nonsense from people who have never been to a communist country, never met a communist, never understood a thing about communism and are coming from a place of complete and utter ignorance.
These verses were written well over fifteen hundred years before Mao, Lenin, Marx or any other of the communist thinkers breathed their first breath. Communism preached equality, but it never practiced equality. Not even once. Its leaders were always ‘more equal' than everyone else.
These verses say otherwise. They say all are equal, whether we like it or not: equally sinful, equally lost, equally in need of grace. That is an indisputable fact of the Gospel.
The ladder of souls is a purely human invention. As far as God is concerned, it does not exist and aspirations to climb it purely for the sake of being higher than others are futile and empty.
What relevance does this have to covetousness?
Let’s say for a second that you feel like you are on your rung, but someone you know has something and because they have it you believe they are on a higher rung: you perceive them as being better than you.
Obedience to God is centred around two commandments and three areas:
Matthew 22:34-40 NIV
[34] Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. [35] One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: [36] “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” [37] Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ [38] This is the first and greatest commandment. [39] And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ [40] All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/mat.22.34-40.NIV)
Love for God, for our neighbours, for ourselves.
This is what Paul said about love:
1 Corinthians 13:4-5 NIV
[4] Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. [5] It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/1co.13.4-5.NIV)
So if this other person has something we do not, the reaction of love is to rejoice with them and be happy for them:
1 Corinthians 12:26 NIV
[26] If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/1co.12.26.NIV)
However, the reaction of covetousness is the opposite. It is to desire what they have, not so that you can have it too, or that you can share it, but so you can take it from them, or that you can have more of it than them. The perspective of covetousness measures people not by their closeness to God or their obedience expressed in love, but by their possessions, their power, their position or their privilege.
We don’t want them to have it if we can’t have it; if they have it, we have to have more of it than them.
Jesus is one hundred percent against that perspective on life:
Luke 12:15 NIV
[15] Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/luk.12.15.NIV)
Maybe you think that it can’t be that bad. Maybe you think that how you see other people can’t be a sin unless you actually do something about it.
That just isn’t true.
Look what Jesus said about lust, which is, after all, a form of covetousness:
Matthew 5:27-28 NIV
[27] “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ [28] But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/mat.5.27-28.NIV)
Why is it so serious?
Covetousness takes a human being made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27), His handiwork (Ephesians 2:10), and reduces them to a value, an asset, an object. It dehumanises them. It devalues them. It destroys them as a person.
God commanded us to love.
Covetousness is not an act of love. It is instead an act of hatred. It is an act of contempt: both for the person who is the object of the covetousness and for God Himself.
Think about it. Covetousness causes us to be dissatisfied with the blessings He has given us. It was covetousness that caused the Israelites to receive God’s manna from Heaven, but long for the earthly food of Egypt (Numbers 11:4-6). It causes us to be ungrateful because someone else is differently blessed than us.
It causes us to set aside grace and forgiveness and measure people on the basis of their worth to us.
It is also profoundly damaging to us. It reduces us to being nothing more than a value or an asset. It falsely compares us to other human beings when no such comparison is valid. It robs us of our dreams and aspirations. It prevents us from being who God created us to be.
It places us on a useless path to utter futility.
If that was not bad enough, it is very much a gateway sin. Look at the previous four commandments in the Ten Commandments:
Exodus 20:13-16 NIV
[13] “You shall not murder. [14] “You shall not commit adultery. [15] “You shall not steal. [16] “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/exo.20.13-16.NIV)
It is no stretch of the imagination at all to see covetousness as the motivation behind any of these.
Covetousness is far from harmless. It is far from a victimless crime. In and of itself, covetousness is evil, even if just expressed in a thought.
How are you reacting to this truth? Are you angry? Indignant? Ashamed? Apologetic?
You cannot be indifferent to this.
If you really think about it, covetousness lies at the root of modern society's many evils: gambling, porn, internet trolling, abuse, promiscuity, even battles and wars are driven by it.
I am not a gardener. If I ever thought for a second that I had green fingers, I would see a doctor. I can easily recognise and pull up weeds in our driveway: there should be no plants there, so anything green has to go.
But I struggle with our back garden because there are flowers and some weeds look like flowers.
Just as I need to recognise weeds in our back garden, it’s absolutely essential that we recognise the bitter root of covetousness and are able to yank it up and cast it aside whenever it arises.
How can we tell if we are coveting?
Really simple.
If your neighbour has something you do not have, how do you react?
Are you happy for them? That's the right reaction.
Do you strive to have what they have because it is a good thing? That’s not wrong.
Do you obsess about or because you don’t think it’s right that they have it? You're coveting.
Are you planning on getting something better or taking what they have away because you envy them? You’re coveting.
Does the fact that they have it really bother you to the point where you can tolerate it no longer? You're coveting.
Do you feel like less of a person because they have it and you don’t? You're coveting.
If your reaction to their success causes you to react in an unloving way towards God, your neighbour or yourself, then you are coveting. That is an act of disobedience. It is a sin.
Does this make you feel uncomfortable? Is it a hard message for you to hear? Are you even offended by it?
If it causes you to see how inherently wrong it is to covet, that’s not a bad thing. You have found the weed. Now uproot it and destroy it.
Covetousness is a sin that cannot ever be tolerated.
So we have seen the concept of covetousness: what it is, what it looks like and why it’s wrong. Let’s move on to look at The Command.
The Command
Exodus 20:17 NIV
[17] “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/exo.20.17.NIV)
At the bottom of our town, between our town and the next, there us a motorway exit. On the motorway, the speed limit is 70mph (100kph). In the town the speed limit is 30mph (50kph). There are signs telling you to slow down.
But what if you didn’t? What if you blasted through the town at 70mph?
Apart from being incredibly risky, you would almost certainly get caught by the police.
If you were caught, could you use the fact that your car was made to go faster than 30mph as a defence?
Of course not!
You would have broken the law. You chose to break the law. It was your choice.
This is a law. It is a dividing line in the sand. You either obey it or you don’t.
Neither context nor cause have any say in the matter. Nature and nurture are silent. This is an absolute ban on coveting. There is no excuse. There is no hiding place. No mitigation will be accepted.
We cannot blame our covetous nature on our character or upbringing or identity. Such a tactic is an attempt to pass responsibility for our sin from us to God. ‘But God, you made me this way. I am not guilty, you are!’ is what it says.
Such a move is nothing short of cowardly.
Our car may have the capacity to go faster than the speed limit, but if we got caught speeding, the car's manufacturers would not be to blame: it would be us because we were behind the wheel; we had our foot on the accelerator.
It takes a conscious decision to obey. It also takes a conscious decision to disobey. If you disobey, there are consequences.
That is how it works with the law on covetousness. There is a law. There is a line in the sand: love is that line. If we covet, we are not acting in love and are on the wrong side of the line.
Now, the existence of this law has two effects.
Firstly, we are responsible. As Paul said:
Romans 7:7-12 NIV
[7] What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” [8] But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead. [9] Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. [10] I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. [11] For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. [12] So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/rom.7.7-12.NIV)
In other words, the law against coveting is good, but Paul succumbed to temptation and coveted, so therefore Paul is bad. Paul is responsible for his decision to violate the law.
Hence the resounding verdict in Romans 3:9-18 that culminates on the uncompromising verdict of Romans 3:23:
Romans 3:23 NIV
[23] for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/rom.3.23.NIV)
The law exists. It is clear. It is unequivocal. If we decide to break it then we are responsible.
But we are not just responsible, we are also accountable:
Romans 3:19 NIV
[19] Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/rom.3.19.NIV)
If we decide to commit this sin, we are also accountable not just for the sin itself, but also its consequences.
Again, as Paul explained:
Romans 6:23 NIV
[23] For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/rom.6.23.NIV)
We live in a universe of cause and effect. If we covet and become embroiled in one of its many manifestations (lust, greed, theft, slander, gossip and the like) and things go very badly wrong as a result, then it’s our fault. We did it.
This is quite intimidating. We have to admit that. But apart from responsibility and accountability, there is also another side to the coin. This sin also becomes avoidable. If we can decide to do it, we can just as well decide to not do it.
That is why, during his farewell speech to the Israelites, Joshua gave them this challenge:
Joshua 24:14-15 NIV
[14] “Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. [15] But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/jos.24.14-15.NIV)
Do you see it? The Israelites had a choice. They were not irretrievably bound to the sins of their forefathers. They could decide to end them right there and then.
But what about those troubling verses in Romans 7:14-23? Doesn’t it mean that we are slaves to sin and bound to rebel and disobey for the rest of our lives?
Not so. Because this is what follows:
Romans 7:24-25 NIV
[24] What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? [25] Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/rom.7.24-25.NIV)
And again:
Romans 6:5-14 NIV
[5] For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. [6] For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— [7] because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. [8] Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. [9] For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. [10] The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. [11] In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. [12] Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. [13] Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. [14] For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/rom.6.5-14.NIV)
Jesus Christ has set us free from slavery to sin. Quite simple, we do not need to feel bound to covet anymore. We can choose to be free just as easily as we can choose to be its slaves.
Yes, there is a law against it. It is a law without exceptions or loopholes. It is absolutely clear as crystal. We are not permitted to covet. If we covet, we break this law, no matter what it is that we covet, or whose or is, or if we act on the desire or not. We have coveted. We have sinned. That is a simple fact.
There can be no justification or motivation. The law is black and white.
All there can be is confession and repentance. Nothing else.
So we have seen the concept and the command. Let’s now look into further detail at The Cause of this utterly heinous sin.
The Cause
Psalms 73:1-3 NIV
[1] Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. [2] But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. [3] For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/psa.73.1-3.NIV)
Searching for the root cause is sometimes a very uncomfortable thing to do. Politics, reputations and pride are always on the line.
I know. I have often read incident reports and pressed investigators to dig deeper to find a root cause that they did not want to uncover.
We have seen what it means to covet. That was uncomfortable. We have seen the clear command not to covet: how this command shows that we have a choice, and that we often choose to disobey. That was tough to hear.
But the root causes of this dreadful sin are so close to home that they almost make us feel queasy.
The first cause is a Lack of Faith.
A famous verse in Hebrews says this:
Hebrews 11:6 NIV
[6] And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/heb.11.6.NIV)
When we covet – indeed, when we commit any sin at all – we are saying to God that we don’t believe in Him. We either don’t believe that He exists at all, or that He is able to reward us according to our needs. Paul stated this:
Philippians 4:19 NIV
[19] And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/php.4.19.NIV)
David also wrote these famous words:
Psalms 23:1 NIV
[1] The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/psa.23.1.NIV)
When we covet, we tell God that we don’t believe this: we don’t believe that He is either able or willing to provide what we need.
Look at what Sarah said to Abraham after hatching her plan to have a child outside of God’s will:
Genesis 16:1-2 NIV
[1] Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; [2] so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.” Abram agreed to what Sarai said.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/gen.16.1-2.NIV)
She did not have a child. She craved a child. She coveted a child. She blamed God for not having a child. So she hatched a plot to get a child.
And it all went catastrophically wrong (Genesis 16, 21:8-21).
That is the first cause. And it is deeply troubling.
The second is also a deeply troubling cause – that of a Lack of Hope.
We see this verse in Romans:
Romans 5:5 NIV
[5] And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/rom.5.5.NIV)
But we also see this verse in Ecclesiastes:
Proverbs 13:12 NIV
[12] Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/pro.13.12.NIV)
When we see that the outcome we hoped for seems to be delayed according to our schedule, that is when we are tempted to turn aside to find out own solutions. That desire to fill the gap left by perceived delayed hope is covetousness. Look what happened with Saul:
1 Samuel 13:8-9 NIV
[8] He waited seven days, the time set by Samuel; but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and Saul’s men began to scatter. [9] So he said, “Bring me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings.” And Saul offered up the burnt offering.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/1sa.13.8-9.NIV)
Saul coveted military success. For him, that sacrifice was a means of gaining that success.
His religion was transactional: it was nothing more than a means to an end.
Saul should not offer the sacrifice. He had no right to do so. But when the outcome he hoped for seemed to be at risk and his religious transaction seemed to be the issue, he stood in and performed the sacrifice instead of Samuel.
This led to him losing the kingship (1 Samuel 13:13-14).
The issue was caused by the thing he hoped for – his military victory – being more important to him than his relationship with God. So when his military victory was at risk, he stomped all over his relationship with God.
Paul wrote these words to Titus:
Titus 2:11-14 NIV
[11] For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. [12] It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, [13] while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, [14] who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/tit.2.11-14.NIV)
If our first hope above all is for God and to please Him, then we will not compromise that hope to achieve lesser hopes. If we misplace our hope in other things, we will sacrifice our relationship with God to gain them, and the desire to do just that is covetousness.
But there is another root cause of covetousness, and one that burns more than any other: a Lack of Love.
As we have seen repeatedly, the whole of the Law and all of our obedience can be summed up on two commands and three areas:
Matthew 22:34-40 NIV
[34] Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. [35] One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: [36] “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” [37] Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ [38] This is the first and greatest commandment. [39] And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ [40] All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/mat.22.34-40.NIV)
When we covet – in fact, when we commit any sin – it is a failure to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. We allow other affections to invade our hearts. We covet other things that are not God’s will for us.
That is why the very first commandment is this:
Exodus 20:3 NIV
[3] “You shall have no other gods before me.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/exo.20.3.NIV)
The word ‘before’ can also be translated ‘beside’. God should not have any peers or superiors in our heart. He must be number one. He deserves to be number one.
But when we sin, when we covet, He is not.
We have an idol: one we have made for ourselves, which also violates the second commandment (Exodus 20:4-6).
It is also a failure to love our neighbours.
Now, that might come as a surprise. After all, when we covet things that other people have, maybe we might think that we are honouring them or celebrating their achievement in some way.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Coveting pushes us out of love for them. It drives us to objectify them: to see them as a target to be reached or surpassed, as an opponent to be beaten, as a resource to be exploited. We do not celebrate them, we compete with them, we dehumanise them. We forget they are a person, someone made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27).
And it is this that drives some of the heinous and perverse behaviours online. It is this that fuels the utterly poisonous subcultures that lurk like rotting fungi in the dank corners of the internet. It is this that drives the ‘sharp’ practices that cause irreparable harm to business and families.
We sin towards them not when we do something selfish against them, but when we cross the love line in our hearts.
It is also a failure to love ourselves. It is ultimately self-destructive – an act of wilful self-harm.
It places us on the ladder of souls, endlessly competing with those ahead of us, endlessly seeking to keep down those beneath us, desperate to get ahead, even if we have no idea where we are going.
As Solomon once wrote:
Ecclesiastes 4:4 NIV
[4] And I saw that all toil and all achievement spring from one person’s envy of another. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/ecc.4.4.NIV)
Covetousness locks us into this meaningless chasing after the wind that gets us nowhere.
What we are left with, then, is a terrifically bleak and troubling picture. We know that covetousness is a sin. We know it is a gateway sin that leads to other, equally heinous, sins.
We know that God has commanded us not to do it. We know that we do it because of a catastrophic failure in our faith, our hope and our love.
What a mess!
I am certain that once this long charge sheet has been read against us, we will probably feel like Paul:
Romans 7:24 NIV
[24] What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/rom.7.24.NIV)
But Jesus has the answer:
Romans 7:25 NIV
[25] Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/rom.7.25.NIV)
We will now explore that solution further as we examine The Cure.
The Cure
1 John 1:5-10 NIV
[5] This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. [6] If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. [7] But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. [8] If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. [9] If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. [10] If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/1jn.1.5-10.NIV)
It never feels nice to go to hospital for a scan. You go there because you know something isn’t right. The scan is to tell you what is wrong. You have it done and then you wait.
Sometimes you know soon. Other times you have to wait longer.
But in the end, someone will tell you if something is wrong and what needs to be done about it. I've been in that position twice with my wife and once with myself. It is quite a worry when the doctor tells you that a medical procedure is necessary. It can even be distressing.
But there are three positive elements to this. Firstly, you know something is wrong. Secondly, you know it can be fixed. Thirdly, you know how to fix it.
This study has been downright uncomfortable. If you have been twitching in your seat or wincing as you've read these lines, welcome to the human race. I don’t know anyone whom I am certain has never committed this sin – except for Jesus Christ Himself. It's been part of the human condition since the start of time.
But knowing it’s a common problem is one thing; knowing what to do about it is quite another.
What we need to know is that when the law was first pronounced on that fateful day on the side of Mount Horeb, the only cure available for this crime was the sin sacrifices in Jewish worship. But that only worked to expunge the guilt. And it would have to be offered again and again and again – each time the sin was committed (Hebrews 10:11). They could pay for the guilt, the sheer bloody violence might act as a deterrent, but the reality is that the same sacrifices had to be made at least every year – they were never enough.
But Christ’s sacrifice on the cross is enough:
Hebrews 10:12-14 NIV
[12] But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, [13] and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. [14] For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/heb.10.12-14.NIV)
Jesus was offered once for all, for all time.
So what do we do now? How should react to this?
Firstly, we should bring our sin from the darkness to the light.
1 John 1:6-7 NIV
[6] If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. [7] But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/1jn.1.6-7.NIV)
We used to play a very popular game with children when we would put objects, or even substances, into a box and have participants guess what they were by touch, without seeing. It can be a really fun game.
We don’t know what we are dealing with until we see it in the light and take a good look at it.
We need to know the nature of our sin – what it really is.
We need to know the nurture of our sin – what causes the temptation to rise up within us.
We need to know the future of our sin – the implications that our participation in it will have for us and the people around us.
The trapper – whether it is the world or the devil – does not want us to look too deeply at these three facets of our sin. If we do, we will see it for what it is and it will revolt us. The temptation hold it once had over us will shrivel and die if we see these three facets.
That is why pictures of cancer-ridden organs are added to cigarette packets. The ugly truth is sometimes all it needs to turn us from sin.
That is why I have explained the concept, command and cause of covetousness in detail. It is crucially important that we know the truth, because the truth will set us free (John 8:32).
We also need to bring ourselves from deception to confession:
1 John 1:8-10 NIV
[8] If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. [9] If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. [10] If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/1jn.1.8-10.NIV)
We must stop deceiving ourselves.
If we know we have a problem with covetousness – and I suggest that pretty much everyone will have had at some point – then we should confess it to God.
Why?
Because He already knows!
Psalms 139:1-4 NIV
[1] You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. [2] You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. [3] You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. [4] Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/psa.139.1-4.NIV)
There is no point in trying to hide from God what He already sees. You might as well confess it and be done with it.
We should also change our stance from resistance to repentance:
Acts 2:37-38 NIV
[37] When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” [38] Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/act.2.37-38.NIV)
Trying to turn away from covetousness can be like an addiction: as if our legs were tied to the back legs of an elephant, and every time we want to go in one direction, we just get pulled in the other. This is precisely what Paul described in Romans 7:14-24.
But we Christians are in a very privileged position: the bonds of sin have been broken. We are not bound to the elephant any longer. We are no longer slaves to sin:
Romans 6:18 NIV
[18] You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/rom.6.18.NIV)
Now we know about the nature of covetousness and the damage it causes, we have a choice. We can remain as slaves to it, letting it dominate our every waking thought, or we can walk away from it, because we are free to do so.
And how do we do that?
We confess it to God and we walk away in repentance. That is all we need to do.
So will you do it today?
Conclusion
Exodus 20:17 NIV
[17] “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/exo.20.17.NIV)
When I was a boy, growing up in the 1980s, South African apples often ended up in our supermarkets. But soon news reached us about the evils of apartheid. We saw on our TV screens the evil treatment being handed out to the black and coloured communities (as they were called then) in that nation. So we decided to do our bit. Cape apples were boycotted. People refused to buy South African products until things changed.
It was a small gesture. It may not have had any significant effect. But once we heard about what was happening, we could not remain indifferent. We had to do something.
Now that we understand the nature of covetousness – what it is and what it does – we cannot remain indifferent. We have to do something.
We saw the concept of it: what the word really means. That left us deeply challenged because we saw just how ingrained it is into our culture and behaviour considered normal in our day and age.
We saw the command: how black-and-white it is. How there is no room for nuance or exceptions or explanations. We are simply told not to do it because we have a choice. We can choose to stop.
That makes us responsible and accountable.
We saw the cause of this heinous crime. It’s a cause that shattered any remaining pretension that it isn’t that bad. We saw that it, like all sin – is caused by a lack of faith, hope and love.
That shook us to our very core.
And lastly, we saw the cure: which is to bring this sin into the light and see it for what it us, before confessing ir to God and repenting of it.
This hasn’t been a comfortable study. I am fully aware of that. It has been difficult and challenging.
But before I finish, let me take us back to the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:1-17 and Deuteronomy 5:1-22. If we believe for one second that the grace of God means that we don’t have to live by these commands, then we are completely wrong.
Allow me to explain why.
We know that Jesus told us that our obedience to these commandments is summed up in two commandments covering three areas (love for God, love for our neighbours). The Ten commandments can be split into two sets: the first four are about loving God; the second six are about loving our neighbours. These are two concepts that we find being reflected and taught widely in the teachings of Jesus and in the whole New Testament.
That should be very straightforward to see.
The set on loving God begins with the command to give God His rightful place (Exodus 20:3; Deuteronomy 5:7). The rest of these commands flow from this. It ends with a command to keep the Sabbath, which, while giving God His place, also benefits us (Exodus 20:8-11; Deuteronomy 5:12-15).
So we keep the command to love God by putting Him first in our lives. This affects our love for ourselves by allowing us to rest appropriately. So far, so straightforward.
The second set works pretty much in reverse. The command from which all others flow is the command not to covet (Exodus 20:17; Deuteronomy 5:21), which is the last one. The first one in the set is the one that shows how this affects our love for ourselves by honouring our parents, not coveting their authority over us (Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 5:16). This gives us a long life.
So we love God by giving Him His rightful place in our life, and we love our neighbours by not coveting. The end result of both of these is a situation that benefits us.
But if we choose to disobey – and disobedience is a choice – then we feel the negative effects of this.
And isn’t that what we see? Broken marriages and relationships, crime, heartless ambition, abuse, mean-spirited gossip, rapacious use of the legal system, pollution, horrific behaviour online and in person, all manner of perversions and immorality? Aren’t they all the painful yells of people who have forgotten everything that is important and are seeking a better life through covetousness? They climb the ladder. They have no clue towards what they are climbing. They just have to be higher than you.
But one day they lose their grip on the wrung and fall into the abyss, and all that merciless, heartless climbing is absolutely without meaning or purpose. And their children live out the same empty life because they too were raised to climb.
How about we end this nonsense now? Before God, this ladder we are conditioned to climb does not exist. How about we just get off the ladder before we waste one more second of our all too short mortal life?
How about we just stop coveting as of this moment? How about we stop competing with others, and instead compete with ourselves? How about we open our eyes and the first thought in our head is not how we can accumulate wealth that rusts and decays, but how we can be better than yesterday and closer to the person God made us to be: how we can love God, our neighbours and ourselves more deeply?
Wouldn’t that be a much healthier way to live?
Prayer
Lord Jesus, I confess my sin freely and openly. Coveting who other people are and what they have and do is an empty game for fools. I see that now. I repent of it. Help me this New Year to love You, my neighbours and myself more deeply. Amen.
Questions for Contemplation
What is coveting? Define it in your words.
Why is it so wrong? What makes it so dangerous?
How can you repent of this sin? Will you do it?
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