We make mistakes when trying to apply the Ten Commandments to our lives.
Up to now, there are probably a few of you who have been patting yourselves on the back. This rehearsal of the Ten Commandments has perhaps been nothing more than a stroke of your self-righteous ego. This is because we typically make one of two mistakes when it comes to applying the Ten Commandments.
One mistake is that we apply them too superficially. We take them at face value instead of probing the spirit andthe substance behind the commandments. The commandments aren’t just about ultimate outcomes like murder, adultery, or lying. The commandments are about our character and about the seemingly harmless acts that culminate in murder or adultery or lying.
So Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, warns us to pay very close attention to what we think, what we say, what we do with our hands, where we go with our feet, how we think about others, how we respond to personal offenses, and what motivates us. We all violate the spirit of the Ten Commandments daily. We are all sinners who, were it not for Christ’s death on a cross for our sins, would have to pay the penalty for our sins.
The second mistake we make in regard to the Ten Commandments is that we sit in judgment on them. In rebellion we thumb our nose at God’s authority and judge one or more of the commandments irrelevant. I hear Christians say things like, "It doesn’t matter whether or not I keep the Sabbath—what matters is the heart." Or, "I know I shouldn’t commit sexual sin, but I cannot afford to live on my own. We love each other. I can’t help these feelings." Or, " A little pornography isn’t going to hurt anything." Or, "It was just a little lie."
In the gospels there is the story of the pretentious young rulerwho came to Jesus patting himself on the back for all the commandments he had kept perfectly since childhood. Jesus cycled through all the commandments and to each onethe young rulersaid in Mark 10:20 (NIV), "...allthese I have kept since I was a boy."
But Jesus wasn’t about to stroke this man’s self-righteous ego. Come on now, you know the story. What did Jesus say to him? Mark 10:21-22 (NIV) tells us, "Jesus looked at him and loved him. 'One thing you lack,' he said. 'Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.' At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth."
For this young man there was one remaining stronghold on his spirit. It was his great wealth, his possessions, his inability to trust God, his inability to let go, to detach from wealth, to desire God in order to receive everlasting treasure in heaven. Like many of us, the rich young ruler was wrestling with the tenth commandment. There is a reason that this commandment was saved for last. It'shard to imagine a single person it does not apply to. It’s the trump card. It’s the ace of spades.
The tenth commandment: You shall not covet.
Exodus 20:17 (NIV) says,"You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor." Do you know what the word covet really means? It means "to lift the eyes." Instead of lifting our eyes to heaven and beholdingthe majesty and abundance of God, we perpetually shift our eyes toward the world. If you want to know a person’s character, studyhis eyes. What does he lifthis eyes toward?
We spend most of our time eyeing the neighbor’s house, the neighbor’s wife, his manservant, maidservant, his ox, his donkey, and his belongings. A while back I was having lunch with a friend and I kept noticing his eyes. Whenever the waitress would walk by our table,his eyes would follow her around the room. When she came to the table he would look at her face and then his eyes would travel down her body. When she walked away, his eyes would chase after her.
Men, your wife only has to look at your eyes to know where your heart is. To covet is, "to lift the eyes." Your wife knows where your heart is but doesn't have the courage to tell you what she sees or how she feels. What do the eyes really tell us about a man or woman? Well I’ll tell you because that’s the kind of preacher that I am. I am concerned for your soul and for my soul. We need to speak the truth in love here. This Christianity stuff isn’t a charade! The eyes are the revealer of character.
In Matthew 6:22-23 (NIV) Jesus warns, "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light.But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!"
To covet is to "lift your eyes" to something.
So let’s get back to the tenth commandment. "You shall not lift your eyes to your neighbor’s house." The other day I was driving down Old Jacksonville Road and noticed that some guy had turned an old cow pasture into a palace.There is this enormous brick home overlooking a picturesque pond and tree line. It seemed like he had an indoor swimming pool. There was a detached multicar garage with doors large enough to house a full size RV.And I thought to myself, "Who built that? What does he do for a living? Would he like to join Lakeside? Nah!"And for next ten to fifteen minutes, I could not think of anything besides that house.
"You shall not lift your eyes to your neighbor’s wife." Let’s go over the basics again. God created us to be male and female. God has hard-wired us to be attracted to one another. Attraction is physiological, emotional, and sexual. Our eyes are inclined to wander. So should that become an excuse to sin?
Take a lesson from Job, one of the most righteous men in all of scripture. Job 31:1 (NIV) says, "I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl." Men, are you willing to make a covenant before God to guard your eyes? It’s disgusting how we objectify women with lust, pornography, and adulterous thoughts. We ought to be ashamed of ourselves,but instead we keep lifting our eyes. Are you willing to guard your eyes? Are you willing to train them on holy things, on the wife of your youth, on covenant love?
J. Oswald Sandres writes how the covetousness of David caused him to break all the other commandments. "David broke thetenth commandment by coveting his neighbor’s wife. That led to adultery, which broke the seventh commandment. Then, in order to steal Bathsheba (breaking the eighth commandment) he committed murder and broke the sixth commandment. He broke the ninth commandment by lying about it. This brought dishonor to his parents, breaking thefifth commandment. He didn’t put God first, breaking thefirst andsecond commandments. This dishonored God’s name, breaking the third commandment. [Source: J. Oswald Sanders, Bible Men of Faith (Chicago: Moody Press, 1974), 13]
The Bible says to treat older men as your father. That applies to women too. Treat older women as if they were your mother. The Bible says to treat younger women as if they were your sister or daughter. That is the best advice you will find anywhere. You wouldn’t lust after your sister. You wouldn’t look at pictures of your daughter or your mom on the internet. You would be repulsed. You would be outraged. You would be disgusted. Men, where is that same repulsion, that same outrage, and that same disgust? As it is, there you are with your calendars, magazines, websites, movies, and roaming eyes.
And women, what is your responsibility? You ought not cause men to stumble with your short skirts and low cut tops and provocative dress. If you want men to respect you, then show respect for yourself. There is nothing more beautiful than a modest woman. Why not help your son or your brother or your father in Christ rather than causing them to stumble? Would you not rather fortify your marriage and fortify the marriage of others? Would you not rather demonstrate that you are worthy of respect?
Envy, greed, jealousy, and materialism aremanifestations of coveting.
"You shall not lift your eyes to your neighbor’s manservant or maidservant,his ox or donkey, or covet anything that belongs to your neighbor."Envy, jealousy, greed, and materialism. This is what is in view here. God is redressing our lust for things. God is rebuking our obsession over things that we hope will bring us gratification. "If only I had my neighbor's wealth, career, connections, business opportunities, employees, vehicles, tools, toys, clothing, and lifestyle."
Our credit cards are a testimony to our lust for things. Our overflowing garages, closets, and storage units are an abomination. Our eyes are so weighed down with material lust that we'reunable to raise them to the heavens, to see Christ who is seated at the right hand of God. We're like the rich young ruler who walked away sad, with his head hanging down.
James 4:1-4 (NIV) says, "What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God.When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures."
Proverbs 23:4-5 (NIV) says, "Do not wear yourself out to get rich; have the wisdom to show restraint. Cast only a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle."
Romans 13:8-10 (NIV) says,"Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. The commandments, 'Do not commit adultery,''Do not murder,' 'Do not steal,' 'Do not covet,' and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law."
It’s awfully hard to love someone who you feel you are competing against, comparing yourself against, or wanting to exploit to satisfy your sexual desires. It’s awfully hard to love when all you can see is dollar signs and self-advancement.
The Ten Commandments are a reminder to us to lift our eyes to God.
The Ten Commandments are a reminder for us to lift our eyes to God. To hunger and thirst for righteousness. To drink the living water. To partake of the bread of life.
In John 4:13-14 (NIV) Jesus says, "Everyone who drinks this waterwill bethirsty again, but whoever drinksthe waterIgive himwill never thirst. Indeed, thewater I give himwill become in him aspring of water welling uptoeternal life."
We don’t exist to accumulate."More" is not our personal mission statement unless it's, "More of God." Our eyes were not made to be lifted to the things of this world. Acquisition of things never leads to satisfaction.
1 John 2:15-17 (NIV) says, "Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world.The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever."
What can I live without?
What can I live without? Economist Robert Heilbroner wrote a description of what it would take to transform the average American home into the typical dwelling of the majority of the world’s inhabitants.
"We would have to begin by invading the house of our imaginary American family to strip it of its furniture. Everything goes: beds, chairs, tables, television, and lamps. All that can be left for the family is a few old blankets, a kitchen table, and a wooden chair. When it comes to clothing, each member of the family may keep his oldest suit or dress and one shirt or blouse. The head of the family gets a pair of shoes, but not the wife or children. Then comes the kitchen."
"All the appliances would have to come out, and the cabinets would have to be emptied. All that can stay is a box of matches, a small bag of flour, and some sugar and salt. A few moldy potatoes, already in the garbage can, have to be taken back out, for they will provide much of that night’s meal. We can add a handful of onions and a dish of dried beans, but that’s all. Everything else goes: meat, fresh vegetables, canned goods, any crackers or candy. All gone."
"But not only do we have to strip the house this way, but we also have to dismantle the bathroom, shut off the running water, and take out all electric wires. Next, we take away the house itself. The family must move into the tool shed. Everything related to communication goes too. No more newspapers, magazines, books – not that they are missed, since we must also take away the family’s literacy. Instead, all that can be left is one small radio. Then government services are removed. No more mail delivery, no more fire department. There is a school, but it is three miles away and consists of only two classrooms. There can’t be any hospitals or doctors nearby. The nearest clinic will be ten miles away and tended by no more than a midwife. It can be reached by bicycle, provided that the family has a bicycle, which is unlikely. Finally, we come to money."
"The family can only be allowed a cash hoard of five dollars. That is only allowed to prevent the main breadwinner of the family from experiencing the tragedy that came upon one poor laborer who went blind because he could not raise the $3.94 that he mistakenly thought he needed to receive admission to a hospital where he could have been cured." [Source: James Emery White, You Can Experience an Authentic Life (Nashville: Word Publishing, 2000), 150-152]
We can live without a lot of things. However, one thing you cannot live withoutis Jesus Christ.