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The First Commandment III
The New Testament on the First Commandment
We are now into the third week of our exposition of the First Commandment, a commandment which thunders forth out of the voice of God from Mt. Sinai, uncompromising and exclusive in its demand.
You shall have no other gods before me.
As we have said, many of the commandments are framed in the negative, “thou shalt not.” But just what is prohibited here? We have spent the last two weeks looking in some detail at just what the Old Testament says that this “thou shalt not” means. This week we will look at what the New Testament says that this “thou shalt not” means.
Jesus speaks directly to the positive aspect of this commandment when he tells the Pharisees that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord their God with all of their heart, soul, and mind. Jesus calls us to a positive and exclusive heart loyalty to His Father in heaven, and to Himself as the one and only Son of the Father. But Jesus also speaks to the “shall not” or to the prohibitive aspect of the First Commandment. In fact, He gets right to the point of true heart loyalty in one passage in particular in the Sermon on the Mount, a passage which I think has great significance for us who live in the present get-it-while-you-can-in-this-life culture. That passage is Matthew 6:19-24.
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. "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! "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.
Jesus doesn’t refer here directly to the First Commandment. Nor does he use the word idol. But in fact he is speaking directly to the same issue as does the First Commandment. Remember yet again that I have been saying. The First Commandment has to do with monolatry, the exclusive service of YHWH, Israel’s God, the maker of heaven and earth, the one true God.
God is our Sovereign King and we are to serve him only. We are not to have divided loyalties. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is speaking to people who would likely never have dreamed of bowing down to a physical idol, but, as always he wants to get down to nitty gritty of what’s going on in the heart. We may feel proud that we haven’t bowed down to any external gods or idols. We haven’t called upon other gods in worship. We don’t even believe other gods exist.
But who and what are we serving in our lives? What drives us? What are we after? What is our ambition? On what do we base our hopes and dreams? This is the real question, and this is core issue for Jesus. He knows we can really only serve one god. But he knows that the heart goes after many things. What does the heart go after? What is the operative internal ambition or drive? This is what Jesus wants to know.
In the parable of the sower as given in Mark 4:18-19 Jesus speaks of the destructive force of desires, of “covetousnesses,” which render the word of God ineffective.
Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.
For Jesus, the deceitfulness of wealth and desires for other things betray a divided loyalty. But they also destroy the work of God in us. There is a certain condition of heart associated with the desires we have “for other things.” This heart-condition runs counter to the condition of heart that receives and welcomes and provides good soil for the seed of the Word. And as always Jesus cuts to the core. He knows we cannot at the same time be invoking, praying to, serving, resting in, and loving the true God and also be desiring, longing for, and chasing after the things we covet.
He knows that the things we covet do not last anyway. They do not deliver on what they promise. That which truly lasts and which results in eternal joy and eternal reward is that done out of obedience to and out of love for God.
Other places in the NT speak to this issue of heart desire and ambition as well. Ephesians 5: 3-5 lays out the two ways open to us as to how we should live.
But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of covetousness, because these are improper for God's holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or covetous person--such a man is an idolater--has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
Or we may think of Colossians 3:5-6
Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.
Covetousness, then, is called idolatry. In Romans 1:28-29, covetousness is listed also in that list of sins to which God gives over unbelievers in their depravity of mind.
Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, covetousness, and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice.
Obviously this covetousness is not a good thing. It is called idolatry. It is a snare for the heart. It creates conflict, wars, relationship stresses. It is tantamount to idolatry. People whose lives are marked by coveting do not inherit the kingdom of God.
The Greek word translated as covetousness is also translated in our English Bibles as desire or lust or greed.
Covetousness is a matter of the heart. In its simplest form it is desiring to have something or someone that I don’t presently have. This may involve desiring the very thing which physically and legally belongs to my neighbor, or it may involve desiring the same type of thing for me which he has for him. It may involve a desire for actual physical stuff or physical people, or it may involve a more general desire for a way of life, a level of influence, power, affluence, or security. I can covet after experiences as well as objects or people. I can long to have a certain degree, a certain marital status, a certain position in the company, a certain vacation experience, a certain reputation amongst the important people of my community.
Covetousness arises out of an unhappiness with what belongs or doesn’t belong to me by way or possession or experience. Covetousness may be a blatant lust to have or possess, or it may be more subtle. Covetousness is that longing for greener pastures. The covetousness person fixes his happiness on the object of his desire.
Covetousness is the opposite of thankfulness. The thankful heart has gratitude for the bounty already bestowed by God. Thankfulness recognizes God’s generosity. The covetous person always thinks God could be a little more generous. The covetous person says that God is not quite good or wise enough, or He would have done better things for me. The thankful person rejoices in God’s wisdom, His goodness, and His bounty.
The thankful person knows that he deserves even less than he has. He is taken by God’s great mercy and grace. He is infinitely grateful that he has been rescued from hell. He knows and acts upon the truth that God has set apart for him an inheritance that will never spoil or fade. This allows him to rest and to hold lightly to things in this life.
The covetousness heart cannot rest. It can’t rest inside until it has the things it wants. It is sad about its lot in life.
Internally, covetousness has to do with that inner striving of the heart for an objective. It really amounts to calling upon or invoking created things to deliver happiness and fulfillment. It sets in motion a whole series of thoughts, plans, and actions. The will and mind and heart become the servants of the goal of striving after the object. The heart closes off to other voices, such as the voice of the Spirit. The word of God is muted and silenced. It is like there is this string attached between my heart and the object, and the energy of my heart and mind flow along this string, and closes off to the voice of God.
This kind of desire can be very subtle and find rest under the radar screen of the conscience. A person driven by covetousness and acquisitiveness can rejoice in his business successes and praise God for providing for his needs while at the same time having pushed aside, hurt, or ignored the needs of real human beings. A covetous person can even feel thankful for all that he has obtained while at the very same time be setting in motion plans for more and more. This can be particularly true for Christians addicted together to affluence as a way of life. This value may have the blessing of the corporate conscience.
I remember a former church situation where certain members of the flock would gather, and they would ooh and ahh over so and so’s new car, so and so’s curtains, so and so’s house, so and so’s new dress, so and so’s carpet. They would seek prayer for wise purchasing decisions, and seek Christian counsel for which color furniture would go best with the new carpet. Then they would discuss the missionaries and their needs, pray for them, and then, thankfully, send them some money. My point is that the corporate culture of affluence allowed coveting simply to go on under the radar screen of the conscience. Which reminds me of how important it is that we build each other up in the right things of God.
And as a side note, sometimes I see churches and church planting measures catering to this mindset, too afraid to challenge the culture of affluence lest the work not succeed, too afraid to issue forth the real gospel invitation which is to repent and believe, and it makes me very very sad.
The antidote to covetousness is not sitting back and closing our eyes off to the world. Rather, the antidote is hard work grounded in thankfulness and motivated by love and service to God and neighbor. We are to be industrious, hard working, and goal oriented. We are to have aspirations and proper ambitions. We are made in God’s image, and we like Him delight to bring order out of chaos. It is our nature to improve things, to seek better ways to do things, to strive for excellence. We are to use our rationality and creativity to make things better, to draw out the beauty of the world, to bring good to others.
Underneath the command to love God and serve Him alone we are to strive and to have good and godly goals and ambitions in this life. But our human aspirations should not be driven by a desire to possess, to have a fancy car, to live in a big house in a affluent neighborhood, to schmooze with the rich and famous, or to be able to wield power and control. The Bible teaches clearly that this is a snare. As Paul puts it in 1 Timothy 6:9-10.
People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
Heart striving is good if we are striving within the framework of love and service of the one true God, to know and love Him, to seek His kingdom, to have our needs met in Him, to fellowship with Him, and to love and serve those made in His image.
But we have to be diligent in self examination. Our desires can be a snare, and can lead to a world of grief. Covetousness is often the root cause of our breaking many of the rest of the commandments. I think first of David, who saw something he wanted, became obsessed with getting it, hatched a plan, shut off the voice of conscience, had a man murdered, and then committed adultery. James describes this sort of process well in James 4: 1-5:
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.
If we think of the Ten Commandments as a whole, we find the command not to covet at the end of the other nine commandments, reminding us that it is heart desires and heart attitudes that are in question in all of the commandments. Covetousness is often, maybe even usually, the root cause of thefts, of murder, of bribery, of sabbath breaking, of lying, and certainly of adultery. Covetousness results in lawsuits after lawsuit, in addiction to gambling, to rotten business deals, to ladder climbing and manipulating pastors, to a lack of community concern. Covetousness is even behind pagan idolatry. Idolatries are always centered around getting from the gods the things we want for ourselves.
Covetousness and acquisitiveness are behind many of the ongoing financial stresses and related structural problems faced by families. It is at the root of many relationship stresses. We desire so and so, which means we have to work such and such hours, which means we pass like ships in the night, tossing stuff to one another instead of being there for one another. There is a price to pay to get what we want.
I don’t want to harp on this, but as has been the case at many time in human history, it is acquisitiveness and covetousness that drives much of our economic system, and creates much of our economic wealth. Almost all advertising is meant to entice you to want what you do not have. Covetousness drives acquisitiveness which keeps the cash registers humming. Can you imagine what would happen to our economic growth if we all stopped coveting!
Now, is there such thing as a rightful desire, even for created objects? Yes, there can be. Scripture does tell us that we are to be content with food and shelter. This means that there is to a point a certain legitimate discontent without these. We need some shelter to protect us from the elements, a kitchen of some kind in order to prepare our meals, and a warm bed in order to sleep It s not wrong then to desire a place to live It is not wrong, within bounds, to desire and seek after basic needs.
We are commanded to provide for our own needs for food and shelter, which means that we are to work diligently, that we are to be employed in some way. But to obey this commandment we may well need to have certain things beyond food and shelter. We may need transportation so that we can hold down a job. Thus it may well be legitimate to desire to have a car. It would thus be prudent and wise to set aside money in order to have transportation. We may need tools in order to work and provide for our needs. So God gives us permission to work, not only for our needs, but for the things we need to work for our needs. This is so that we will not have to depend upon others to provide for us.
But what about desiring things we don’t actually need in order to live? Indeed, God has given a bounty of joys and pleasures in the things of this life. We are more than animals that just eat and sleep. It is not wrong to desire to have beautiful artwork adorning our homes or music filling up the air with its sounds. It is not wrong to desire beautiful flowers to adorn our yards and gardens. Part of the purpose for our existing is to draw out all of the beauty that can be expressed in God’s creation, in order that He would be glorified by it. Yes, we have to watch ourselves. Desire is subtle. But there are genuine pleasures and joys that come with living in God’s world, and enjoying then can be totally legitimate.
I would offer this practical guide as to desiring to have or to own things beyond the level of need.
First of all will the thing you desire contribute to your love of God and love of neighbor? Will it cause your heart to be magnified in love or will it simply gratify your flesh in some way? Will it expand your love horizon or lock you up in your own world of private gratification.
Second, is having or owning the thing you want within your financial means? Do you have to borrow to have this thing you don’t even need? What will be the real life impact of the financial consequences of acquiring the thing you want ? Is having or owning the thing you want within your financial means after you have given generously to others in need, and after you have given generously to the work of the kingdom in missions and in the local church? Or, are you merely spending the great bulk of your resources on your desires, while others have basic needs unmet. Your lifestyle should, if possible, give you the financial margin to be generous to others.
Third, does attaining the thing you desire involve you in breaking any of the other commandments? For example, do you have to steal, or bend the rules, or play the lottery, or harm another person in any way? Does imagining having the thing you want feed your ego, make you feel big or cool or better than others? Does imagining having the thing you want make you feel secure in who you are and have become?
Fourth, does the striving after the thing you want to enjoy – even if it is an OK thing in itself to have the thing-- come to possess a great deal of your heart energy? Can you be satisfied, thankful, and content without it? If you feel you simply just must have such and such, you should probably wait until you don’t feel that way, and then evaluate the matter.
Fifth, can you delight in the fine things of your neighbor without feeling empty inside? Can you thank God for the blessing He has given to your neighbor, enjoying your neighbor’s bounty with him, without coveting the same for yourself?
There is such a thing as a rightful appreciation of the fine and well-made and beautiful things of this life. It is OK to rub our hand approvingly over the fine grain of a beautiful piece of furniture, or to admire a beautiful new car, to notice a beautiful person, to delight in a work of art, to be awed by a mega computer system. Yes, there is much beauty in this world to be to be admired, not only beauty in the natural created order, but also beauty in the man-made stuff of this life.
But desire is subtle. It is primitive and instinctive. It shouldn’t be trusted, and it should be checked, questioned, and cross examined. We easily rationalize our desires. Yea, I could serve God better in that three hundred thousand dollar house. Yes, if I had that Porsche I could start a Porsche driver’s Bible study. If only I had all new furniture then I would be more hospitable. Yes, if only I had a new computer I could spend time with my kids.
But the God who authored the First Commandment will not share His place with any other. And this gets us back to the positive aspect of desire.
There is a delightful passage in First Peter that I love to read to parents of newborn babies. It shows one way our littlest children can be an object lesson even for us as adults.
Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good (1 Peter 2:2-3).
Babies get hungry and they are not ashamed to let you know when they want to be fed. Their unrestrained hunger for milk is a positive illustration of the unrestrained hunger we are to have for the word of God. We are told to hunger and thirst for righteousness. Jesus said that His food was to do the will of the Father. We are told to set our hearts upon -- to desire—the things above, where Christ is. We are told to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. This is why, in the Lord’s prayer, we ask first for God’s name to be honored, for His kingdom to come and will to be done, and only after than for our daily needs to be met. Paul speaks of his striving to know Christ and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings. We are to set our hopes and dreams fully on the grace to be given when Jesus is revealed.
As we do this, our desires take care of themselves. They fall into place. As it says in Psalm 37:4:
Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Our delight in the Lord will change the desires and ambitions of our heart into godly desires and ambitions. So rather than spend all of our energy examining our every fleeting desire and motive and getting caught up in an unending introspection and focus inward, let us join in fixing our eyes upon Jesus.
He is the one we are to love, to seek with all of our hearts, to follow, to invoke, to present ourselves as sacrifices to, to worship, praise, trust, and seek guidance from. He is there. He is real. He demands to be wholly and truly God.
He alone delivers the goods anyway.
As Jeremiah surveyed the catastrophic destruction of Jerusalem, he realized that nothing Israel had depended upon had delivered what it had promised. He likened these other sources of hope and protection and meeting of need to lovers who had abandoned Israel in her time of need. He likened Israel’s dependence upon these other things to the building of cisterns which really held no water at all.
Likewise, when we follow after the covetous desires of our hearts, there is the thrill and hope of getting something that will fill us up inside. But it doesn’t work. And in the end we only miss what our heart’s have craved all along, which is to know God.
He is faithful and good. He is holy and kind. Let us worship and serve Him, and Him alone.
Amen
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