Community Relations 7th – 10th Commandments
Please join me again this week in the back of the Evangelical Lutheran Worship hymnal, page 1161, where we will begin finishing our reading and review of the Ten Commandments. This week our reading is the final four commandments of God which are part of the Second Table of the Law – Loving Neighbor as Ourselves.
The Seventh Commandment
You shall not steal.
What does this mean?
We are to fear and love God so that we neither take our neighbors’ money or property, nor acquire them by shoddy merchandise or crooked deals, but instead help them to improve and protect their property and income.
The Eighth Commandment
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
What does this mean?
We are to fear and love God so that we do not tell lies about our neighbors, betray or slander them, or destroy their reputations. Instead we are to come to their defense, speak well of them, and interpret everything they do in the best possible light.
The Ninth Commandment
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house.
What does this mean?
We are to fear and love God so that we do not try to trick our neighbors out of their inheritance or property, or try to get it for ourselves by claiming to have a legal right to it and the like, but instead be of help and service to them in keeping what is theirs.
The Tenth Commandment
You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or man or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
What does this mean?
We are to fear and love God so that we do not entice, force, or steal away from our neighbors their spouses, household workers, or livestock, but instead urge them to stay and fulfill their responsibilities to our neighbors.
While our reading is of the 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th Commandments, we end this sermon series on the Ten Commandments with an entire week devoted to the last two commandments – the coveting commandments, or commandment, depending on you break up the Ten Commandments. In any case, we focus on COVETING.
The Hebrew word, chamad, used in the passages, of Exodus 20:17 andDeuteronomy 5:21), mean “to desire after or to envy for with great desire.” The desire in this case is for something that is not the property of the desirer and not rightfully his to long after. In this commandment, the Israelites, God’s people are not to desire, long for, or set their hearts on anything that belonged to anyone else.
Whereas several of the commandments prohibit certain actions, such as murder and theft, this is one of the commandments that addressesthe inner person, the heart and mind. In the first chapter of James’ letter, verse 15, we are toldthe inner person is where sin originates, and in this case, covetousness is the forerunner of all manner of sin, among them murder, theft, dishonor, and falsehood, At its root, coveting is the result of envy, a sin which, once it takes root in the heart, leads to worse sins. And this envy reaches far back to the 1st Commandment.
Last week we heard Jesus’ reiteration of this very thought in the Sermon on the Mount when He said that lust in the heart is every bit as sinful as committing adultery (Matthew 5:28). Envy goes beyond casting a longing glance at the neighbor’s new car, you’ve seen the TV commercial, “Oh, it’s a Pontiac.” Once dwelled upon, envy of the neighbor’s possessions can turn to feelings of resentment and hatred for the neighbor himself. This resentment can turn into resentment against God. It will question God: “Why can’t I have what he has, Lord? Don’t you love me enough to give me what I want?”
The importance of this coveting command is signaled by the fact that it is the only one of the Ten Commandments that is repeated. God’s point is a matter of emphasizing that many (perhaps most) big sins start when we set our gaze on something that belongs to another.
Two biblical examples: First, 2 Samuel 11-12. King David was hanging out on the roof, when his eyes fell upon Bathsheba, Uriah’s wife. Boom! He wanted her! So he took her. As the king, he was already married and had plenty of access to women in the palace. But he wanted Bathsheba, too. Se he took her. And then, when she turned up pregnant, he arranged for Uriah -- and the entire military company he was leading into war! -- to be abandoned in the midst of the battle. They all were killed. And it all started with a little coveting.
Second, 1 Kings 21. King Ahab and Queen Jezebel liked to garden. Right near their palace, a faithful fellow named Naboth owned a vineyard. The king offered to buy the vineyard or swap the land for a better stretch of land. Naboth refused. So Jezebel arranged for false charges brought against Naboth and brought in two paid liars to testify falsely against Naboth. In the end, Ahab and Jezebel got what they wanted. Naboth dead and the vineyard a royal property. And it all started with a little coveting.
How about Judas and his self-interest that betrayed Jesus. A little coveting?
Think you are above a little coveting…destructive coveting? I’m sure King David never saw himself getting caught up in such a destructive behavior.
We are to fear, love and trust in God above all things…with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our mind.We are to love our neighbor as ourselves. However, the desires of our hearts can and will lead us astray.
That does not leave us abandoned to our whims. There is an incredible truth at work in spite of this first fact, of which we need to be aware. While we are often slaves to our ambitions and desires, there is a greater power in whom we may fear, love and trust. Paul writes to us, in Romans 3:23-28:
“All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift. ... For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works of the law”.
In Christ, through Jesus’ fulfillment of the law, God has justified us, forgiven us, and redeemed us from our sin. At the altar today, at the Lord’s Table is the invitation to receive that forgiveness anew, to be strengthen against the destructive desires of our hearts, so that, instead, we might fear, love and trust in God above all things…with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our mind and to love our neighbor as ourselves. This is God’s promise to us. Come and be strengthened for holy living. Amen.
