Thou Shalt Not Covet
I teach Children’s Church once or twice a month. We’re just finishing up our unit on the ten commandments and tomorrow I’ll be teaching number 10: Thou Shalt Not Covet.
Exodus 20:17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house; neither shall thou desire his wife, nor his servant, nor his handmaid, nor his ox nor his ass, nor any thing that is his. And again, in Deuteronomy 5:21 Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbor’s wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbor’s house, his field, or his manservant or his maidservant, his ox, his ass or any thing that is thy neighbor’s.
Thou shalt not covet…Thou shalt be content.
How do the more modern translations put it?
You must not be envious of your neighbor’s house or want to sleep with his wife, or want to own his slaves, oxen, donkeys, or any thing else.
No lusting after your neighbor’s house, or wife or servant or maid or ox or donkey. Don’t set your heart on any thing that is your neighbors.
The message is pretty clear. Yet, as I think about, and confess that I’ve broken that one on several occasions, I wonder if it’s actually the tenth commandment, or kind of a Post Script. Coveting is a sin that can remain hidden for a long time. It is a sin of the heart. But it can lead to the breaking of most of the other commandments. David coveted his neighbor’s wife, and it lead to adultery, lies, even murder.
As I present it to the kids, I’ll explain how coveting can lead to stealing and dishonoring your mother and father (whining, yelling, throwing an “I want it!” tantrum).
What about how coveting leads to breaking those first 4 commandments? It occurs to me that the thing you covet could become an idol, draining your attention, changing your focus. And what about working Sundays so that you can get the stuff you think you need? And should the person or thing that you covet come into church, then your worship would be perverted. And maybe those faith preachers, who talk about planting seeds into their ministry so that you can reap abundantly, who get rich off the offerings of widows and feed off the coveting of people who think that they can manipulate the blessings of God by how much they give. Isn’t that in a way, using the name of the LORD, in vain.
So instead of saying, “and the tenth commandment is “Thou Shalt Not Covet” , one could say…
In conclusion, Do not Covet.
I think it is pretty easy to at least look like you are keeping commandments 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9.
Don’t bad mouth your parents, don’t murder, don’t commit adultery, don’t lie, don’t steal. Of course in Matthew 5 Jesus clarified things and showed that it is much harder to obey the law than even the Pharisees thought. If you are even angry, it’s murder in God’s eyes. If you even entertain the idea of an affaire, you’ve committed adultery. And what about coveting? Matthew 6 teachings, about treasures in heaven, and anxiety over things, and the God and Mammon discourse.
Like I said, Coveting is a sin that can be remain hidden for a long time. It is a sin of the heart. But God knows our hearts. Next week the Children’s Church lesson is on the two greatest commandments.
Matthew 22:37-39. A lot of people, who don’t want to deal with the law at all, and who use terms like ‘under grace’ or ‘under the blood’, like to stick with the concept that God is Love and the only commandments that Jesus gave us were to Love God and Love Your Neighbor. Love, Love, Love.
But what is Love? Can you hear the early Christians asking Paul that question?
Too bad that most Christians relegate I Corinthians 13 to weddings, sort of like how Psalm 23 has been relegated to Funerals. Anyway, this is what Paul had to say on the subject.
Tongues, prophecies, knowledge, even faith is nothing without love. Taking care of the needy, or dying a martyr’s death without love, nothing. And love does not covet. It is not jealous, not self seeking, It is kind, it is forgiving, Thou shalt not covet. Be content! The word content just led me to Hebrews 13, I think I’ll feed on that one for a while. So far, it’s been a beautiful day. Blessed be the name of the LORD!
19 comments:
Powerful post! Will be taking that one for a while. Thanks for sharing....please, if you have time, share the kids response to yoru teaching. I'd love to hear about it. Thanks!!
I fully understand the debate about the numbering of the 10 commandments. Since they are not numbered in scripture, one would have to depend on tradition to decide the right way. I was confused the first time I taught the 10 commandments from non-catholic curriculum, because as I was growing up, the 5th commandment was thou shalt not kill. In Exodus 20 the commandments are presented for the first time, verse one seems to be an introduction, then verses 3, 4, 5, 7, 13,14,15,16 and 17 all begin with the words thou shalt not. That makes 9 thou shalt nots. Honoring your Father and Mother and Keeping Holy the Sabbath would actually give us 11. In Deut 10:4 Moses uses the words "ten commandments" So it must have been understood that there were actually 10 distinct laws. I think I'll assign my husband with the task of researching how the jews numbered them.In Deut.5 the Thou Shalt Not verses are 7,8,9,11,17,18,19,20,21
I see where onesharbroadhead is getting at about the graven images. Infact, I sort of paused today in class when I discribed the ark of the covenant remebering the angels of gold that adorned it. I think the idol and graven image go together as one and the command seems to be Don't Worship any false gods, don't create anything to worship. And at the defense of the Roman Catholics, the statues are not worshiped, it is who they represented that are worshiped. I do not love the picture of my grandson. (But crazy as it sound, I have been know to give it a kiss)As far as the coveting, Verse 21, as I quoted in this post from the Catholic Bible, is one sentence.
Therefore it would be safe to assume that it was one commandment.
As far as the children were concerned. They understood wanting something so much that they might lie and steal to get it. I used back to school backpacks and shoes to emphasis how we may not be content with what we have when someone else seems to have better.
The curriculum suggested a rather disgusting object lesson using a box of cereal and a cup of mud, to illustrate that coveting is a sin that we might be able to hide in our hearts for a while. They loved that...anyting gooey. Not very theological, but we are talking kids here.
Yeah I'd be interested in the response you get from the kids.
Great post!
So, Onesharpbroadhead
When is the RC going to start worshipping the God of the Bible?
Where did the early church create images? The Jews may have had God ordained images and carvings, but they did not represent anything to be worshipped. IOW, you may not worship the statue of Mary but you do "worship" her. Nowhere are we told to worship and /or venerate anyone but Yahweh. Anyone who dies outside of Christ will not see the New Jerusalem. The RC is not Christ.
the jews, according to Pastor Art's quick research counted the coveting commandment as one, the tenth. It seems to me the Catholics did sort of rework the set so that they could brush over the graven image one.
on a lighter, almost an "oh brother" note, when I was attending my free methodist college, one of my neighbors in married student housing, who was actually a charasmatic legalist, was appalled that some of the parents allowed their children to carve pumpkins on halloween, sighting the graven image commandment. She on the other hand allowed her children to paint demons on their pumpkins, which were more acceptable than the triangle smiley face graven ones.
The college kids went Halloween Caroling, knocking on doors in the neighborhood and singing old wesleyan hymns in exchange for enough candy to get them through til Christmas...but I digress.
Oh Chris- here we go again!! We do not worship Mary - we venerate her. No matter how many times we tell you that you will never believe us. Just what is it that made you so bitter and hateful toward the true Church? How do your parents feel about your apostasy or are they "ecumenical" and with it? If I were an outsider looking in, I'd say that your hateful attitude would not be a very good Christian witness. You never miss an opportunity to slam the true Church - even when its not the subject .
hey, perhaps Jesus carved the statue for his mom, sort of self protrait, just kidding, i think...
Chris, help me to understand the words here (my lesson was on the tenth but it seems the comments have taken us back to the first two) Worship - God alone - got that. Honor? Bless? Venerate?
The word of God says, in Luke 1:48 that all generations will call Mary blessed.
IMO the Catholics have elevated her to goddess status and that is unexceptable because of the first 2 commandments, but the protestants have failed to give her any honor at all. Time magazine did an article on the subject sometime last spring i think. A protestant woman had put together a study on Mary, and wrote a book about her, but when she tried to present her talk in churches (she was a professional speaker) all the protestant churches were telling her they didn't address the subject of Mary because they weren't catholic.
I think except for Ruth and Esther who have their own books, and perhaps Sarah - no other woman is more visable, or more honored in the word of God than Mary, the blessed mother. The protestants ignor her and jump all over the Catholics for honoring her. Thats all the time I have this morinng.
Blessings
Bridget and broadhead,
Ah here we go again. I quit visiting your blogs because it is a waste of time. You know niether the Scriptures, nor the power of God.You have refutted nothing. A person could hit you over the head with a 2x4 and you would keep coming back in your strange masochistic way. You present no argument from Scripture at all. You simply regurgitate RC doctrine, which for the most part is horribly skewed, and I am being nice. I did not bring up the RC first, broadhead did with her nonsensical comment that all who are not pre-vatican 2 rc are damned. So the Church determines salvation eh? Is the Lord sleeping while the rc and mother Mary run the show?
We are not to "venerate" any human. She is worthy of no more honor than any other saint who has ever lived, or is alive now. She is not my mother, but God is indeed my Father and Father to all who come to Him thorugh Christ alone.
As for Augustine, what is Mary's role? She was chosen by God, in all her sinful imperfection, to be the human vessel for the birth of Jesus. God is sovereign, (something the popes forgot long ago) and chose her for His own reasons, not because she was more worthy than anyone else. So all will call her blessed, and I do. She was blessed, no more no less. She still needed salvation by grace and faith in her own Son. Her role was to carry the human Jesus in her womb. That is all. She is no factor in the saving of souls, only God has that abiity.
It is funny that in all of Scripture Mary makes no such claims about herself. Nor do the Gospel writers. The RC long forssok the Word in favor of unbiblical traditions and fairy tales.
The scary thought is that without God raising up the Reformation, we would all think like you. Thank you Lord for your great mercy!
BTW I do not "hate" catholics, but I will reject and fight the doctrines of popes and demons.
Stick to what is in the Scripture, i.e. what it says about Mary and all the other RC doggerel. You may notice that nothing from the Word supports any of the major Roman doctrines.
One more thought. The true church has nothing to with the RC or the protestant denominations (which I do not belong to.)The true Church exists in Christ alone, independent of the ecclesiastical lunacy we are enduring in these times.
Chris: BTW broadhead is a man. Next, when we give you scripture you don't answer - because you can't refute it. My blog is full of scripture today - It's the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Mother - August 15- Remember?? Oh, tell me you don't believe that Jesus' Mother is in heaven because the Bible doesn't say that!! Surely you can't believe that His Mother wouldn't be in heaven??
We don't regurgitate RC doctrine either - we believe it with our whole hearts and would be willing to die for it - for Our Lord and His Church.
Take this discussion to my blog
Bridget
Of course she is in Heaven,that is, if she was a born again believer, and I will assume she was. However she died and was buried like any mere mortal. She was not "assumed" bodily into Heaven.
What purpose would it serve to continue a discussion here or anywhere. I understand the Holy quest to bring back the liberated sheep to the fold all too well.
I would die for the Lord and for the brothers and sisters, but most certainly not for apostate Romanism.
As for Scripture, I won't waste time to lay out the apologetics.
broadhead,
Thank you! This is a compliment coming from you. I have encountered your kind before even when I was still in the Roman church. I knew it wouldn't be long until you revealed the loons that you are.
I pray the prayer of Paul for you and Bridget. Ephesians 1:16-23
My apologies to Maryellen for this row.
Oh my goodness...
i get home, stuck in the midst of another crisis, and Oh my goodness, what a hornets nest i open up to.
Oneharpbroadhead...I know Chris can be irritating, and I agree that you did respond with some good solid scripture on yours and Bridget's blog, which he seemed to ignor. However, while commenting on the Slice blog, i was accused of being evil, and i didn't like it. Chris isn't as sensitive as I am, but i don't like that kind of talk on my blog.
Chris, some of what you said about Mary and the Bible was not exactly true. She is blessed above all women...the angel said so, she is not just like all the other saints...she is more.
What does venerate mean?
What is the difference between honoring and blessing and worshiping???? Never mind answering that one, we should give it a rest.
I ignored their Scripture references as they do not mean what the RC says they mean. For example, how do you make the stretch to prove the existence of purgatory from 1 Cor 3:12-15?
Paul is talking about the return of Christ and the testing of our work. There would be at least one mention of such a place somewhere else in the Scripture. You cannot debate soundly with people who preach Romanism and will not get off the papal decrees which do not override the Scripture. They come from the perspective that became the "cause" of the Reformation. The magesterium does not overrule the Word of God. The papacy created doctrine, and then took any Scripture they chose out of context, and twisted it to fit their doctrine. Thank the Lord for Luther as it was Yahweh who raised him up at the appointed time.
One more attempt at mariology and then I am done.
Of course she is blessed among all WOMEN as she was chosen to carry the Messiah in her womb. Child bearing can only be carried out by women. This is not a directive to give Mary any higher honor than anyone else. She is not any better or worse than any other woman (or man) If being blessed by the Father gives us a special status then what do you do with Matthew 16:17 or Matthew 25:34? Do we "venerate" Peter or the nations that the Lord is talking to also?
I do not believe that Mary would have herself to be exalted.
Matthew 20:25-28
ok Chris, I'll take that as the final word on this debate, and regardless of what onesharpetc says, I do sincerely respect and value your opinions. please keep them coming, when you feel they are appropriate!
Wow, just...wow.
I don't know if I should laugh or cry.
Anyway...
Chris P. said:
"One more thought. The true church has nothing to with the RC or the protestant denominations (which I do not belong to.)The true Church exists in Christ alone..."
Nail.
Head.
You hit it.
OneSharpBroadHead says, "He who has not Mary for a Mother, has not God for a Father."
Worship of a Mother and a Father? Sounds less Catholic and more like one of my fold. Just a thought.
wanderer puts it so well. ofcourse onesharpbroadhead won't be visiting me anymore, i deleted the curse he left me...
but boy would his blood boil if he got the message that he beliefs were more like those of a pagan, than of a Christian, at least a reformed Christian.
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