Lent Midweek 4 March 17, 2021
Exodus 20:1-2, 17a - The Ninth Commandment
Inside and Out
Exodus 20:1-2, 17a And God spoke all these words, saying, 2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery… 17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house;
LSC You shall not covet your neighbour’s house. What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not scheme to get our neighbour’s inheritance or house, or get it in a way which only appears right, but help and be of service to him in keeping it.
Dear friends in Christ, so...“What would you do for a Klondike Bar?” Though quite silly, in fact this question goes to the heart and root of the matter before us this evening—desire—coveting. This is something that most advertisements play upon in order to get people to purchase their product or service. They lead us to think and desire whatever it is that they are providing in such terms that without their product our life would not be full or complete. They urge us to give in to our desires and follow our hearts.
Of course, that is precisely the problem. Our hearts. They are by nature sinful and unclean—therefore, except by the grace of God alone—most things that we desire fall into this category. For in this commandment coveting refers to having a sinful desire for anything that belongs to our neighbour—to want something in a sinful way that God has not given us. Rather, we are to be content with what God has given us and to assist our neighbour in keeping what God has given him.
So...are you truly content with all that you have? Is there nothing else, nothing more that you desire? You see, these last two commandments are given to people to help us see how truly sinful we truly are. For in the previous eight commandments we could theoretically look upon them in only a very superficial or external manner and believe therein that we have truly kept them rightly. “I haven’t bowed down to another God; I haven’t misused God’s name; I always attend church; I honour my parents; I haven’t murdered, stolen, or spoken ill of my neighbour.” Doing pretty good so far, right? Then come these last two commandments—that deal not with external issues—but internal—they deal in matters of the heart.
As St. James writes (1:14-15), “each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” Furthermore, Paul says in Romans (7:5, 7-8a), “For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death...What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! 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.’ But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness.”
So these commandments regarding coveting are here to remind us that we are all sinners. The command against coveting puts “teeth” into the other commandments, for we recognize by our sinful desires just how truly sinful we are and how often we have broken all the commandments of our God.
What is worse, we are so very sinful that we can break this commandment even when we appear to get things in a lawful and just manner. As Dr. Luther notes in his Large Catechism, “Now, this happens most often in cases that are brought into court, where it is the purpose to get something from our neighbour and to force him from his property. For example, when people quarrel and wrangle about a large inheritance, real estate, or such they help themselves and resort to whatever appears right. They dress and adorn everything so that the law must favour their side” (LC Par. 301).
“For our natural instinct, dear friends, is that no one wants to see someone else have as much as himself. Each one acquires as much as he can” (LC Par.297). It’s all right, we think, to “keep up with the Jones’s” as long as we are the Jones’s, remembering that “whoever dies with the most toys…wins.” We crave and desire all sorts of things and will do almost anything to get them—turning these things into idols—and ourselves into false gods. For the covetous desire is nothing less than a lack of trust in God to provide and give us what we need. We often behave like little children who throw tantrums and fits because we do not get our way or what we desire—we may not show it—we may only rage and roil and crave in our hearts—but God knows—God sees—and God condemns all such desires as sinful and wrong, with no exceptions.
Thanks be to God that His desires are so much better than our own. For He desires something wonderful and good—that you be justified before Him and that your sin be wiped away. To this end the Father sent the Son so that by His perfect life, death, and resurrection your sin may be overcome—the fruit of your sin—death—might be removed and you be given life.
Indeed, God’s holy desire to call you His own and to make you His own brought Jesus to the cross of Calvary. His desire for you was such that He willingly endured shame, torture, disgrace, the full wrath of God for each and every single sin of yours—past, present, or future—and that He would die for you, in your place. Indeed, as Paul writes to Timothy (1 Timothy 2:3b-6a) “God our Saviour...desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all...”
Dear friends, the blood of Christ cleanses you from all your sin—both inside and out. For we sin far more internally than externally. The corrupt and evil thoughts and desires that reside within our sinful flesh are too many for us to count or keep track of. But God knows them all and forgives them all because of Jesus’ work on the cross for you—by His stripes you are healed.
Beloved, God’s desire for you is that you be perfect as He is perfect—that you be holy as He is holy. Because of our sin that was an impossibility for us. Thanks be to God in Christ Jesus, however, that His good desire has overcome all your sin of thought, word, and deed. In Baptism, the Lord has graciously bestowed upon you all that rightly belonged to Christ—His perfect holiness—His pure righteousness—His salvation and life. It is yours as a free gift through faith in the One whom God, “For our sake[...]made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
The Holy Spirit has come into you through the Word and the Sacraments to shape your will—your desires—according to His own. By His grace you are led to desire those things that are good, right, and salutary—orthodox preaching and teaching of God’s Word—the Holy Sacraments—the welfare of your neighbour. To be sure, this side of heaven, you are still entirely corrupted by sin, but you are also a saint—holy and righteous in His sight—washed in the blood of the Lamb—who suffered and died for you. In Him you have the fulfillment of all your greatest desires. For in Him you receive hope, peace, love, joy, forgiveness, life, and salvation. Thanks be to God in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Exodus 20:1-2, 17a - The Ninth Commandment
Inside and Out
Exodus 20:1-2, 17a And God spoke all these words, saying, 2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery… 17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house;
LSC You shall not covet your neighbour’s house. What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not scheme to get our neighbour’s inheritance or house, or get it in a way which only appears right, but help and be of service to him in keeping it.
Dear friends in Christ, so...“What would you do for a Klondike Bar?” Though quite silly, in fact this question goes to the heart and root of the matter before us this evening—desire—coveting. This is something that most advertisements play upon in order to get people to purchase their product or service. They lead us to think and desire whatever it is that they are providing in such terms that without their product our life would not be full or complete. They urge us to give in to our desires and follow our hearts.
Of course, that is precisely the problem. Our hearts. They are by nature sinful and unclean—therefore, except by the grace of God alone—most things that we desire fall into this category. For in this commandment coveting refers to having a sinful desire for anything that belongs to our neighbour—to want something in a sinful way that God has not given us. Rather, we are to be content with what God has given us and to assist our neighbour in keeping what God has given him.
So...are you truly content with all that you have? Is there nothing else, nothing more that you desire? You see, these last two commandments are given to people to help us see how truly sinful we truly are. For in the previous eight commandments we could theoretically look upon them in only a very superficial or external manner and believe therein that we have truly kept them rightly. “I haven’t bowed down to another God; I haven’t misused God’s name; I always attend church; I honour my parents; I haven’t murdered, stolen, or spoken ill of my neighbour.” Doing pretty good so far, right? Then come these last two commandments—that deal not with external issues—but internal—they deal in matters of the heart.
As St. James writes (1:14-15), “each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” Furthermore, Paul says in Romans (7:5, 7-8a), “For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death...What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! 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.’ But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness.”
So these commandments regarding coveting are here to remind us that we are all sinners. The command against coveting puts “teeth” into the other commandments, for we recognize by our sinful desires just how truly sinful we are and how often we have broken all the commandments of our God.
What is worse, we are so very sinful that we can break this commandment even when we appear to get things in a lawful and just manner. As Dr. Luther notes in his Large Catechism, “Now, this happens most often in cases that are brought into court, where it is the purpose to get something from our neighbour and to force him from his property. For example, when people quarrel and wrangle about a large inheritance, real estate, or such they help themselves and resort to whatever appears right. They dress and adorn everything so that the law must favour their side” (LC Par. 301).
“For our natural instinct, dear friends, is that no one wants to see someone else have as much as himself. Each one acquires as much as he can” (LC Par.297). It’s all right, we think, to “keep up with the Jones’s” as long as we are the Jones’s, remembering that “whoever dies with the most toys…wins.” We crave and desire all sorts of things and will do almost anything to get them—turning these things into idols—and ourselves into false gods. For the covetous desire is nothing less than a lack of trust in God to provide and give us what we need. We often behave like little children who throw tantrums and fits because we do not get our way or what we desire—we may not show it—we may only rage and roil and crave in our hearts—but God knows—God sees—and God condemns all such desires as sinful and wrong, with no exceptions.
Thanks be to God that His desires are so much better than our own. For He desires something wonderful and good—that you be justified before Him and that your sin be wiped away. To this end the Father sent the Son so that by His perfect life, death, and resurrection your sin may be overcome—the fruit of your sin—death—might be removed and you be given life.
Indeed, God’s holy desire to call you His own and to make you His own brought Jesus to the cross of Calvary. His desire for you was such that He willingly endured shame, torture, disgrace, the full wrath of God for each and every single sin of yours—past, present, or future—and that He would die for you, in your place. Indeed, as Paul writes to Timothy (1 Timothy 2:3b-6a) “God our Saviour...desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all...”
Dear friends, the blood of Christ cleanses you from all your sin—both inside and out. For we sin far more internally than externally. The corrupt and evil thoughts and desires that reside within our sinful flesh are too many for us to count or keep track of. But God knows them all and forgives them all because of Jesus’ work on the cross for you—by His stripes you are healed.
Beloved, God’s desire for you is that you be perfect as He is perfect—that you be holy as He is holy. Because of our sin that was an impossibility for us. Thanks be to God in Christ Jesus, however, that His good desire has overcome all your sin of thought, word, and deed. In Baptism, the Lord has graciously bestowed upon you all that rightly belonged to Christ—His perfect holiness—His pure righteousness—His salvation and life. It is yours as a free gift through faith in the One whom God, “For our sake[...]made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
The Holy Spirit has come into you through the Word and the Sacraments to shape your will—your desires—according to His own. By His grace you are led to desire those things that are good, right, and salutary—orthodox preaching and teaching of God’s Word—the Holy Sacraments—the welfare of your neighbour. To be sure, this side of heaven, you are still entirely corrupted by sin, but you are also a saint—holy and righteous in His sight—washed in the blood of the Lamb—who suffered and died for you. In Him you have the fulfillment of all your greatest desires. For in Him you receive hope, peace, love, joy, forgiveness, life, and salvation. Thanks be to God in Christ Jesus. Amen.