Commandment 10
Exodus 20:1-20 (Phil 4:10-20)

Introduction

The movie Kung Fu Panda 2 begins with Po … now the fabled Dragon warrior … being given the next phase of his Kung Fu training by Master Shifu.  Shifu says every Kung Fu master must find their path … to inner peace.  Now SOME find that path … he says … through decades of solitary meditation and fasting … while others find it through pain and suffering.  And the rest of the movie traces out Po coming to grips with his childhood trauma … which leads him to find … inner peace.  The movie ends with Shifu declaring … in a rather annoyed tone … that Po has found inner peace in a matter of days … when it took Shifu decades.

Yet it’s not just Kung Fu masters that are looking for inner peace … is it?  Now in the movie … inner peace is a type of mystical state … that allows one to manipulate rain drops … or cannon balls in the case of Po.  But in reality … inner peace is a type of equilibrium … in which life doesn’t tend to phase us too much.  And friends … we’re ALL looking for that … are we not?  We ALL want to find contentment … happiness in life.  The only difference between us is WHERE we search for it.  OK … SOME spend tremendous amounts of money on therapy … looking for inner peace.  Others look to spirituality or religion.  Some seek it through meditation or healthy living.  While others look to things like career or family.  But we’re ALL looking for something in life … so that no matter what the universe throws at us … we can handle it with ease.

The problem is … most of us struggle in this.

1. We struggle with meeting deadlines.

2. We struggle to stay in shape.

3. We struggle to handle our calendars.

4. We struggle to balance our bank account.

5. We struggle in singleness.

6. We struggle in marriage.

7. We struggle with our kids

8. We struggle just to stop and smell the roses every so often.

Inner peace … just alludes us.  Yet in the passage we just read … the Apostle Paul says he has found the secret to facing life’s most DIFFICULT challenges … with peace and poise.  OK … WE struggle with our boss … or our parents.  Yet Paul says he can face opposition, hunger, imprisonment, torture and even death … with absolute calm.  How?  Because … he says … he’s found ‘the secret of being content in any and every situation’ (v. 12).

Now for Paul to even SAY that is amazing.  When Po saw Master Shifu’s inner peace … and what it could help him accomplish … he was amazed.  So just the MERE FACT that Paul has found inner peace is amazing.  What’s even MORE amazing … is he is OFERING this inner peace to you and me.  Paul is saying you and I can become Dragon Warrior Christians … who can attain the kind of inner peace Paul enjoyed.  But here’s the thing friends.  This contentment … this equilibrium is NOT actually an offer for the most ADVANCED Christians.  Oh no.  It’s a command for ALL Christians.  ‘Thou shall not covet’.  What we’re looking at today … in Commandment number 10 … is how God has included in his Top 10 list … the Top 10 most important commands for humans … the COMMAND to be content … to have inner peace.  OK … inner peace is not OPEN to us; it’s demanded of us.

And I’ve got 3 points today … to help us obey this command to find inner peace.  So we’re going to begin by looking at this command in the form it’s given … and see WHY we’re to avoid coveting.  So I’ve titled this point (i) The destructiveness of coveting.  I THEN want to look at the positive side of this command … which is God’s desire for his people to find contentment … which I’ve titled (ii) The secret of contentment.  We’ll then conclude with our application … which will outline the process required … or as I’ve called it (iii) The path TO contentment.  So please come with me … as we look at the secret of finding inner peace.

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The destructiveness of coveting

And I want to begin by reading out the commandment we’re looking at today.  This is:

Exodus 20:17 (NIV) “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

So … what does it mean to covet?  Well … if we look up the word ‘covet’ in the Thesaurus … we get words like want, crave or desire.  And THIS is where it gets a bit sticky … because we ALL want or desire certain things in life … don’t we?  So for example … we all desire food … right?  All things being equal … we’d rather HAVE food than not have food.  We all want a happy family … rather than a miserable family.  Hey … I’d like to have a full head of hair … like some of my blessed neighbours here.  So is Commandment 10 saying ALL wants or desires are wrong?

Well to understand this … we need to understand that in Hebrew … the word ‘covet’ is not a direct synonym with words like want, crave or desire.  Let me put it this way.  In Iceland … they have over 50 words for snow or ice.  Like when you or I see snow or ice … we say ‘oh look … snow’ … or ‘WATCH OUT for the ICE!’  But not in Iceland.  They’re such experts in snow and ice … that they have different words for black ice vs. white ice … or white snow vs. yellow snow. Don’t eat the yellow snow.  In the same way … the word covet is a little different to a simple want or desire.  To ‘covet’ is better described as an over-desire for something.  What I mean is this.

There’s a difference between wanting a new suit … or desiring a new handbag … versus craving something SO badly … that everything else falls by the wayside UNTIL I get that thing.  Covetousness is the tail wagging the dog … if you get my meaning.  It is to allow our desires to take the reins of our life … so that we’re no longer in control of our desires; they now control us.  And when we let our desires WAG us … 2 things happen.

First … our happiness starts to disappear.  The great irony of coveting is the thing we THINK will make us happy … instead makes us miserable.  And it does so on 3 levels.  Firstly … coveting tells us we cannot possibly be happy in life UNTIL we get this thing we crave.  Like we might have all the creature comforts life can offer … but we can’t enjoy them … because we don’t have that ONE THING we’re coveting.  Second … not only can we not enjoy what we’ve GOT … we start to spend all we’ve got … ALL our time … ALL our energy … ALL our money … pursuing this thing we’re coveting.  Yet THIRDLY … IF we end up ATTAINING the thing we’re coveting … we end up even more miserable … because we realise it doesn’t end up satisfying us.  Jim Carey once said:

‘I wish that EVERYONE could get rich and famous and have everything they ever dreamed of … so they would know it’s not the answer’

But coveting doesn’t just lead to a lifetime of misery for US … it also leads US to inflict misery on others.  The reason being that when our desires are in control … they demand that we do dumb, dangerous or dishonest things … in order to GET that thing.  Take the GFC for example.  For those who recall … the Global Financial Crisis was where the world economy was brought to its knees in 2007.  Now this is a bit of an oversimplification … but let me try and explain the GFC in 3 steps:

1. So the GFC started with American banks giving out home loans to millions of people they KNEW couldn’t afford the repayments.  Now the reason they DID so … was because they knew WHEN they defaulted on their loans … the banks could then sell the house for a profit.  They didn’t care that it sent people bankrupt.  They just wanted the money.

2. Yet they did this in such obscene numbers that WHEN the housing market burst … those banks found themselves with more debt on their books than assets.  They were now facing bankruptcy themselves.

3. In order to get rid of their toxic debt … the banks then bundled thousands of toxic mortgages into a financial product they call a CDO … a collateralized debt obligation.  They then took these toxic CDO’s to ratings agencies … offering them a big bag of money to give them a triple-A credit rating … which they did.  They then sold these now overrated CDOs to other financial institutions … KNOWING they would fail.  And they did … on mass … bringing the entire world economy crashing down.

Now the GFC is an extreme example.  But that’s what happens when we covet.  Our over-desire leads us to throw morality and the law out the window.  We stop caring about who might get hurt … so long as I get that which I covet.  And that’s why God included in his Top 10 list … ‘thou shall not covet’.  For coveting is destructive.

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The secret of contentment

The next obvious question then is … how can we avoid this miserable and destructive behaviour?  How can we ensure our desires are not wagging us … controlling us?  Well in Philippians chapter 4 … the Apostle Paul says he’s found the SECRET to being happy … content … in ANY situation … whether that’s:

Philippians 4:12 (NIV) … whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

So how can Paul be so relaxed … satisfied … comfortable … even in difficult situations?  Well … it’s a secret … he says in v. 12.  Now what does that mean?  Well a secret is both (i) something we WANT, yet (ii) something that is not obvious.  OK … it’s something we desire.  Like if everyone knows a secret we don’t … we want to be let in on it … don’t we.  But it’s also something that isn’t just common sense.  So common sense is ‘don’t pull your dad’s finger when he asks’ … right?  A secret is not that obvious.  So what is this secret of contentment?

The secret of contentment is realising that the thing we THINK we want … is not actually the thing we want.  OK … the thing we have an over-desire for … is NOT actually the thing that will make us happy.  The thing that will truly make us happy … lies BENEATH the thing we have an over-desire for.  Let me explain.

What each of us REALLY want in life … is a BLISS that will never fade … a JOY that will go on forever.  So whenever we’re enjoying something … whether it be sex, money or power … it could be looks, love or laughter … when we’re in that moment enjoying it … the only way for that joy to continue … is if that experience continues.  But the reality of this life is … it never does.  Like NO ONE can have sex 24/7.  WE can’t make great business deals 24/7.  We cannot eat sugary delights 24/7.  So even when we’re in the midst of enjoying some pleasure … we know deep down that pleasure isn’t going to last for long.  And when it’s over … we’ll be left with an emptiness that we will try to fill with ANOTHER perishable pleasure … and ANOTHER perishable pleasure … and ANOTHER perishable pleasure.  The secret to contentment is realising NOTHING in this world can ever give us the joy and the pleasure we seek.

C. S. Lewis puts it this way in his book Mere Christianity.  He says ‘creatures are not born with desires … unless satisfaction of those desires is possible.  A baby feels hungry.  Well there’s such a thing as food.  A duck wants to swim.  Well there’s such a thing as water.  A man feels sexual desire.  Well there’s such a thing as sex.  BUT … if I find in myself a deep desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, then the most probable explanation is … I’m made for another world.’

What Lewis is saying is … the earthly pleasures we desire … were NEVER meant to fully satisfy us.  They are only there to arouse our desire for the one bliss that is imperishable.  OK … the things we have an over-desire for … nice clothes … nice holidays … are NOT actually the thing that will make us happy.  The thing that will make us happy … lies BENEATH the thing we have an over-desire for.  And that imperishable pleasure … is a relationship with our creator … through the Lord Jesus Christ.  Paul points to this TWICE in this passage:

Philippians 4:13 (NIV) I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

Our creator.  Then v. 19:

Philippians 4:19 (NIV) And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.

• OK … underneath the LOVE we’re looking for in marriage … is God’s love.

• Underneath the success we’re striving for in work … is service to God.

• Underneath the accolades we’re looking for on social media … is God’s approval.

Friends God is the only pleasure that will never cease or perish.  The reason being (i) God is eternal … He will never die … and (ii) God is infinite.  That means that in 10 billion years’ time … just when we THINK we’ve plumbed the depths of the joys and pleasures God has to offer … there will still be an infinite number of joys and pleasures to go … because God … unlike sex, money or power … is infinite.

So the secret of contentment … is to realise that the thing we WANT … is not the thing we want.  In fact the thing we covet … is ONLY there to arouse in us a desire for an imperishable bliss.  And the sooner we realise this … the sooner we can throw off our discontent … our misery.  The sooner we realise that the right school … or the right career … or the right spouse … or the right kids WON’T ultimately fulfil us … the sooner we can start seeking contentment in the one thing that actually can.  The secret to contentment … is to find the imperishable bliss that lies beneath whatever perishable bliss we are currently chasing.

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The path to contentment

So … the final question is … how do we FIND this imperishable contentment?  Well there are 3 steps I wish to give us today by way of application.  3 things we need to do … to FIND this secret.  Because this secret is NOT a message I can just whisper in your ear.  This secret is a process.  And it’s a process we must pursue EVERY day.  John Piper says ‘our FIRST priority every day … is to get our soul happy in the Lord’.  That’s the secret.  And there are 3 steps to this process.

Step 1 is to figure out what it is we’re tempted to covet.  What is it we’re tempted to look to in life … to bring us ultimate joy and satisfaction?  And can I say … there is NOTHING more profound about self-management than finding the answer to this question.  What is it in life … that has become our identity … our definition … our preoccupation … our loyalty?  What is it that we absolutely positively must have in life … or life isn’t worth living?

One of the best ways to figure this out …is ask what it is … that most easily makes us angry in life?  OK … the thing that gives us the greatest BLISS in this life is also the thing that will make us the most furious.  Why?  Because THAT thing most arouses in us the desire for an imperishable bliss.  That’s the bliss we MOST want to go on forever … but it doesn’t.  So what is it that makes us most furious when it goes wrong?  OK … Step 1 is to determine what is it we’re most likely to covet.

Step 2 is to realise that thing is a perishable bliss.  It might give us pleasure to begin with.  But that pleasure will fade.  There’s a moment in Ted Lasso when 2 characters are boasting about all the 1-night-stands they’ve had.  And they BOTH say they feel GREAT at the start.  But the next day they feel empty.  And so they END by saying ‘so why are we boasting about this’.  Even pleasures that AREN’T sin … will fade.  So after we’ve named our weapon of choice … we need to shame our weapon of choice … and acknowledge that bliss will fade.

Step 3 is to realise where true and lasting joy is found.  And that is … in the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Did you know the word ‘gospel’ comes from 2 Old English words ‘good’ and ‘spell’.  It’s the good spell.  Now this isn’t a spell like in Harry Potter.  In Old English … to ‘cast a spell’ on someone was to tell them a good story.  Because good stories capture the heart … don’t they?  Take LOTR for example … when Sauron’s army shows up outside the White City.  And you’re sitting on the edge of your seat … waiting to see what’s going to happen.

• And our heart sinks as the orks break through the outer gate … and begin to get the upper hand.

• But then the riders of the Rohirrim show up … and you give a quiet ‘yes’.

• But then our hearts sink again when the Nazgul swoop down … and kill King Theodin.

• But then the Army of the Dead arrives … just in time … and brings victory … and our heart soars.

• But then Frodo has to somehow make it across Mordor to get the One Ring to Mt Doom.

• So the goodies have to march on Mordor to distract Sauron and his army.

• Yet when Frodo makes it to Mt Doom … our hearts sink again when he can’t bring himself to destroy the ring.

• But then Gollum shows up and wrestles the ring off Frodo … and in the process falls into the volcano … thus destroying the ring and therefore Sauron.

Now why do good stories cast such a spell over us?  Well J. R. R. Tolkien once wrote an essay called ‘On Fairy Stories’.  And he said fairy tales … or sci-fi, fantasy, Star Wars, MCU … whatever … are so popular because they’re fulfilling a series of deep longings within humans.  And those longings … according to the great Tolkien … are:

1. To get outside of time

2. To escape death

3. To commune with nonhuman beings … this is why people believe in UFOs.

4. To find perfect love

5. And to triumph over evil

And LOTR does all 5 of those things.  But the thing about LORT … or Star Wars … or Harry Potter … or the MCU … is these fairy stories all bear witness to the underlying reality of THE good spell.  The gospel.  In the gospel … we are offered:

1. To get outside of time … in heaven.

2. To escape death

3. To commune with nonhuman beings … like angels

4. To find perfect love … in the Lord Jesus

5. And for good to triumph over evil once and for all … in Jesus’ death for us

The gospel is where true and lasting joy is found.

Now … the way we access this joy in LOTR … is by sitting down and reading it … or watching it.  The way the GOSPEL casts a good spell over us … is by letting IT wash over us.  Every day we need to read God’s word … then MEDITATE on it.

• Let your heart soar in creation

• Then let your heart sink in the fall … and the fact that we need saving

• Let your heart soar when God chooses Abraham to help save the world

• Then let your heart sink as his ancestors fail repeatedly

• Then let your heart soar … as Jesus finally triumphs over the evil of sin and death on the cross.

• Then let your heart soar even more … as we realise He did that for you and me.

Conclusion

The secret of contentment … is to make our first priority each and every day … to get our soul happy in the Lord.  And we do that by allowing the gospel to fulfil our deepest longings.  For THAT is the imperishable bliss that lies beneath whatever fleeting and perishable blisses we’re tempted to covet.  So brothers and sisters … thou shall not covet.  Thou shall instead find ‘the secret of being content in any and every situation […] through Him who gives me strength’.