When I was a freshman in high school, I had a football coach who was intense. Really intense. He had a mustache that resembled the look of a proverbial Viking which made him all the more intimidating. He was the kind of man who during his tour-of-duty in Vietnam spent his free time killing water buffalos with his 50 caliber machine gun.

In the strangest of contrasts, school administrators assigned him to teach driver’s education.  I will always remember how he greeted the class as he looked out at us on that first day, “Well,” he scoffed, “This isn’t the freshman class at Harvard.”

I remember his greeting every time I read the Apostle Paul’s assessment of the Corinthian church, “For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. ²⁷ But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; ²⁸ God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, ²⁹ so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.” (I Corinthians 1:26-29)

Paul was saying to the Corinthians, “Notice, your gathering is not made up of the ‘movers and shakers’ of the culture. Your curriculum vitae is not very impressive in the world’s eyes, but that’s okay. It’s okay because the church is not about you. The church is about showcasing God’s grace and glory through the redeeming grace of Jesus Christ.” (more…)

We end our journey through the Ten Commandments this week with a look at the last of these commands which forbids coveting. We might be tempted to dismiss coveting as a mild offense in light of the other commands which forbid murder, adultery, or stealing.  However, the tenth commandment addresses the desires of the heart as an important indicator of the direction of one’s life.

Interestingly, the Apostle Paul refers to this tenth commandment in his personal reference of how he came to understand the sinful dictates of his own heart.  Paul writes in Romans 7:7, “Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’” He could have referenced any of Ten Commandments to describe his discovery of his sin nature, but he mentioned covetousness because it brought him to the wayward desires of his heart.

The tenth commandment forbids the coveting of your neighbor’s house, your neighbor’s wife or anything that belongs to your neighbor. (Exodus 20:17) I believe God gave this word to keep us from many sorrows and to call us to find the satisfaction of our life in a personal relationship with Him.

Rodney Clapp some years ago wrote an essay published in Christianity Today entitled, “Why the Devil takes Visa.”  In the article Clapp addressed the universal battle with covetousness:

The consumer is schooled in insatiability. He or she is never to be satisfied—-at least not for long.  The consumer is tutored that people basically  consist of   unmet needs…..Accordingly, the consumer should think first and foremost of himself or herself and meeting his or her felt needs.  The consumer is taught to value above all else freedom, freedom defined as a vast array of choices.

These “vast array of choices” seem to describe what fuels a frenzy of consumption.  In this world’s philosophy, such a passion for things is linked to one’s happiness. However, this is a dangerous way to think and to live. This vicious cycle helps us understand why God lovingly goes on record by forbidding covetousness.  (more…)