FIRST QUARTER 2023
SABBATH SCHOOL INSIGHT #9
MARCH 4, 2023
“BEWARE OF COVETOUSNESS”

 

 

“‘Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses’” (Luke 12:15, NKJV).

In the Bible we read of many who failed to “take heed” and were overcome by covetousness. This week’s lesson references Achan, Judas, Ananias and Sapphira. As we study their narratives we are reminded anew of the tragic results of their choices. Each listened to the enemy, the father of lies, with whom the sin of covetousness originated. As Sunday’s lesson notes, Lucifer, the covering cherub, was the first to nurture and cherish envy within his heart.

“Not content with his position, though honored above the heavenly host, he ventured to covet homage due alone to the Creator. Instead of seeking to make God supreme in the affections and allegiance of all created beings, it was his endeavor to secure their service and loyalty to himself. And coveting the glory with which the infinite Father had invested His Son, this prince of angels aspired to power that was the prerogative of Christ alone.” —Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 35.

Satan and his sympathizers forfeited their heavenly home.

“No longer free to stir up rebellion in heaven, Satan’s enmity against God found a new field in plotting the ruin of the human race. In the happiness and peace of the holy pair in Eden he beheld a vision of the bliss that to him was forever lost. Moved by envy, he determined to incite them to disobedience, and bring upon them the guilt and penalty of sin.” —Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 52.

When he tempted Eve to disobey God, the serpent insinuated, "You are being denied something that will make your life richer and more enjoyable. You are missing out.” Eve yielded and influenced Adam to also partake of the forbidden fruit. Ever since, humanity has struggled with unholy desire and greed.

Regrettably, we often fail to discern the varied manifestations of covetousness and its hold upon our hearts. Oh, strange infatuation! We do not perceive our wretchedness. (Note: An in-depth study of Romans 7 and 8 is most helpful in seeing both the problem and the solution).

God’s law embodies love and liberty. God’s law is an expression of His character, and the happiness of His creatures is bound up in obeying it. E. J. Waggoner wrote a series of articles on the commandments, and the following is taken from his two articles that address the tenth commandment. His inspired insights are a helpful resource in understanding our topic.

 

The Present Truth, July 25, 1901, and August 1, 1901

 

“The 10^th Law of Life”

 

E. J. Waggoner

 

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s” (Exodus 20:17).

 

We come now to the last of the series. We have completed the circle, and end just where we began. We say that we end just where we began; for the first commandment says, “You shall have no other gods before Me,” and in Colossians 3:5 we read that covetousness is idolatry.

 

The Infinite Circle of the Law

The law of God is a complete circle, beginning and ending in God; or, rather, having neither beginning nor end. God inhabits eternity, and the circle of His law encompasses the universe. There is nothing in heaven or earth that does not come within the circle. Its range is unlimited. “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law [literally, “in the law,” that is, “within the range, sphere or jurisdiction of the law”]: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God” (Romans 3:19).

 

Going Outside the Law

What is sin? — “Sin is the transgression of the law.”

 

What does “transgression” mean? — It means “a going across.” Sin, therefore is the act of going across God’s law.

 

But when one transgresses, — goes outside the bounds — God’s law, where can he go? Ah, that is a pertinent question. There is no [place] for one to go outside of God’s law, except to go out of the universe, that is, to cease to be. “The wages of sin is death.” “Sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”

 

This can be made apparent in another manner. The law of God is His life, flowing in an endless stream from His throne. Now wherever the word of God has free course, there is perfect life. If we allow ourselves to be simply channels for the river of life, as we are designed to be, the life flowing through us will hold us in life. But what will take place if we put ourselves squarely across the stream? Everybody knows the result of placing any obstacle in the way of a stream of water. The first thing is a damming up of the stream, and when water is dammed up, and becomes stagnant, it breeds death, until the force of the oncoming stream breaks away all the barriers, and the waters flow on again unhindered. But that is the destruction of the thing that placed itself across the current. It is infinitely better to be in the line of life, in harmony with it,—channels for the stream of life,—than to be obstacles to be swept away.

 

God’s Mercy to Transgressors

You say that there are many people who transgress God’s law, and yet live. Yes there are, and that is one of the greatest marvels of the grace of God. Unbelievers rail against God, charging Him with injustice, because sentence of death is pronounced upon the ungodly; but they forget that the infinite mercy of God is manifested every moment in keeping them in life, to allow them opportunity to come into harmony with it, so that they need not die.

 

This life is but a span, a moment long as it seems to short-sighted men, it is but the twinkling of an eye to God. We do not at once see the results of the transgression of God’s law, and men fancy that because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, as they reckon time, they can sin with impunity. “He who is often rebuked, and hardens his neck, will suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy” (Proverbs 29:1).

 

Not Imputing Their Trespasses to Them

The reason why men who transgress the law do not instantly die, is that God is still in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, “not imputing their trespasses to them” (2 Corinthians 5:19). “If You, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared” (Psalms 130:3, 4). God does not now impute sin to men; but takes it all on Himself. He knows that men are foolish and ignorant, and He has “compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray” (Hebrews 5:2). Knowing their ignorance, He does not take them at their word, when they say that they do not wish to be kept within the bounds of His life,—that they wish to be free from its “restraints,” as they call it, and to live their own lives independently of Him. His long-suffering still waits as in the days of Noah; but by and by there will come a day when sufficient light will have shone to enable everyone to make a final choice; and then those who deliberately choose to go outside of God’s law, will be taken at their word and allowed to go—where? Where can they go, when God’s law fills the universe, and they go outside? For them there will be no future; they will “be as though they had never been.”

 

In the tenth commandment, more than in any other, the unity of the entire law is seen. It summarizes all the commandments, even as the first of them does. It takes in the whole duty of man. “You shall not covet.” This precept underlies and is the heart of every commandment. In Romans 7:7 we read: “I would not have known covetousness (lust) unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.”

 

Someone says, “I thought lust had to do with the seventh commandment.” So it has, and with every other one as well. Lust simply means desire; and since in the fall the desire of mankind is only to evil, lust has degenerated into evil desire, it makes no difference for what. A desire for anything that is forbidden is lust, and is contrary to the whole law of God. “Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death” (James 1:15).

 

So we see that the tenth commandment strikes at the root of all sin. The Apostle Paul takes it and, makes it the summing up of the whole law. He who keeps the tenth commandment, cannot so much as think of breaking any other; he cannot have the slightest idea to sin.

 

The Spirituality of the Law

“For we know that the law is spiritual” (Romans 7:14), and this commandment reveals its spirituality more clearly than any other. Men talk about enforcing the law of God,—about incorporating the divine law into human laws. They fancy that because human laws punish the person who kills another, that they are putting the sixth commandment into effect. They imagine that they are safeguarding the seventh commandment, because there are laws against adultery. It is a very common thing for people to think that they can enforce the fourth commandment. But let them try it with the tenth. How will they succeed?

 

…Nobody but God can find out the secrets of men’s hearts, and He does not have to find them out, because “all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to Whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:13). So no human power or wisdom can ever determine when the tenth commandment has been broken. When the thought of sin, which is forbidden by the tenth commandment, goes so far as to manifest itself, it comes under the head of some of the other commandments. To take your neighbor’s wife is a violation of the seventh commandment; to seize upon his house or goods, is a violation of the eighth.

 

So we see that this tenth commandment deals with that which is all within one’s own mind, and is simply the drawing out and summing up of the entire ten. It shows the breadth and spirituality of the whole law of God…

 

The tenth commandment is no more spiritual than any other; but it makes the spirituality of the law more apparent than the others do, in that the violation of it is wholly within one’s heart, out of sight from all human eyes; yet one cannot break any one of the first nine commandments without first breaking the tenth; and as soon as one has broken the tenth, all the rest are broken…

 

The tenth commandment, therefore, closes up the circle of the law, and unites the two ends, and then surrounds the circle itself, bidding everybody to keep his hands off from it, and leave God to conduct the affairs of every portion of His universal kingdom, even to putting into us the desires that we ought to cherish.  -  E. J. Waggoner, The Present Truth 17, 30 (July 25, 1901).

 

The Sum of the Matter

The sum of the whole matter is to trust God, and be satisfied with the fatness of His house, even though to the man, who blindly burrows in the earth like a mole, it may seem leanness. This absolute trust in the Lord is absolute righteousness, the very opposite of heathenism.

 

“Incline my heart to Your testimonies, and not to covetousness” (Psalms 119:36). Covetousness, therefore, is the desire for anything contrary to the commandments, anything except God’s life that we may desire with our whole soul. The man who can say to the Lord, “Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You” (Psalms 73:25), is safe from the transgression of the tenth commandment, and so from the commission of any sin.

 

Satisfaction in Service

The commandments of the Lord are life everlasting, “and in keeping them there is great reward.” Not for keeping them, mind you, but in keeping them. The reward is the pure, perfect, simple life that they bring. Take heed, beware of covetousness even in the service of God. Beware of thinking that you would serve God, keep His Sabbath, for instance, if you were situated financially so that you could. There would be no virtue in your service even if you did keep it under such conditions. What kind of god is it that you propose to serve? Is it one who needs your service? Or one whom you need to serve whom is rich reward? The answer to this marks the difference between heathenism and Christianity.

 

The satisfaction of serving Christ indeed, of knowing Him, and feeling His life in us, impelling us to action, is so great that with it one cares for nothing else. The deliciousness of perfect trust, of resting in the everlasting arms, and by that very resting partaking of their intense activity, is greater than the possession of all riches. He who has, and appropriates, the fulness of God’s life is so far from desiring anything else, that he would spurn the offer of anything that would rob him of any of that which is his by faith. “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32) and he who has all things, and knows that he has them, is absolutely shut off from the possibility of covetousness. - E. J. Waggoner, The Present Truth 17, 31 (August 1, 1901).

 

May we not resist our Savior’s wooing love.  Surely, we want all coveted idols removed from our hearts so that we may be filled with the fullness of His life! Then we will truly experience new covenant living.

 

~Martha Ruggles