Grace
and Peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
God’s
design for life begins with perfect fear, love and trust in Him. This perfect fear, love, and trust in Him
function like a foundation to a perfectly built house. Everything else rests upon this sure
foundation.
Then
comes the use of God’s Name, followed by gladly hearing and learning His
Word. The themes in the Second and Third
Commandments function like the structure of the house, the framework if you
will.
Our house
metaphor needs walls, windows, doors and some decorations too. This is where the gifts of: authority, life, a
good reputation, marriage, contentment, and possessions come into play. These gifts become the walls, windows, doors,
and decorations of our foundation and structure, thus completing our house. Indeed, the gifts of authority, life,
marriage, a good reputation, and so forth flow out of fear, love, and trust in
the Lord.
As
mentioned in previous sermons, the commandments are the Lord’s protection of
His gifts; they function like protective fences for God’s gifts. The First, Second, and Third Commandments
seek to protect the foundation and structure, whereas commandments Four through
Ten function to protect the walls, doors, windows, and decorations. Together all Ten Commandments guard the
Lord’s good and perfect gifts ‘to’ and ‘for’ us; the commandments guard God’s
house, this design of how life ought to be.
Tonight
though, we will be focusing on the remaining three commandments of our six part
series: the Seventh, Ninth, and Tenth Commandments. In other words, we are going to focus on the
gift of possessions and the gift of contentment. Indeed, returning to our house metaphor, we
will be looking at the remaining doors and windows of our house, the house that
represents God’s perfect design for life.
Like
the Fifth and Eighth Commandments, the Seventh, Ninth, and Tenth Commandments
have a bit of overlap as well. The Ninth
and Tenth Commandments state,
Thou shalt not covet thy
neighbor's house. Thou
shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant,
nor his cattle, nor anything that is his.
The
Seventh Commandment states,
“Thou
shalt not steal.”
In
other words, coveting happens when the gift of contentment is attacked by our
sinful nature and this coveting can fuel and lead to the breaking of the
Seventh Commandment, stealing. That is
to say, coveting is having sinful desire for anyone or anything that belongs to
our neighbor. If left unchecked however,
this coveting will lead to robbery, theft, or dishonest ways of getting that
which we covet, thus breaking the Seventh Commandment of stealing as well.
Truly,
the Lord is all about protecting the gifts of material possessions and the gift
of contentment. They need protection
because of our hearts and because of the tactics of the Evil One. Yes, from our hearts proceed all evil
thoughts, such as coveting.
This
covetous heart is really exposed and ensnared by the Ninth and Tenth
Commandments though. These two
commandments on coveting will catch us every time. These commandments are directed precisely at
the most upright, good and religious people.
Because just when you think you’ve kept all the other commandments,
along comes the command “Don’t covet.”
In
the other commandments, God dealt with actions.
In the ninth and tenth He zeros in on your heart and your desires. With these two as with the others, God is
protecting our neighbors from ourselves.
Coveting
is looking to get what God did not give you.
In other words, don’t let your eyes grow hands. That’s what we do when we covet. We are saying that we are not content with
what God has given us, so we look to our neighbor’s things, or blessings, or
reputation… “if only I could get my hands on some of that.”
Coveting
happens. But no matter where or when it
happens, the sin is the same. We have a
problem being content with what God has given us, whether it’s house or spouse,
goods or kids.
Simply
put, when we long for the honor, wealth, happy life, or what seems to be the
ease of the lives of others, we are coveting.
When
we become stingy and self-indulgent with our money so that we can try to keep
up with the Jones, we are coveting.
When
we live with grudges and a fist full of discontentment about what we should’ve
got and what we supposedly deserve and how others shouldn’t deserve their
gifts, we are coveting.
When
we have wanted our neighbor’s spouse, property and possessions or if we attempt
to win the affections of our neighbor’s spouse or children away from our
neighbor, we are coveting.
There
is no doubt about it that the Ninth and Tenth Commandments shine the light of
truth on us good and religious people.
God’s Law shows us as the malcontents we really are. And amazingly it all goes back to the First Commandment;
we really don’t trust God and how He chooses to take care of us.
As
you can see, these evil covetous thoughts not only erode contentment, but these
covetous thoughts are like hot embers.
They are hot embers that are fanned by the Evil One in order that they
catch fire. When they catch fire, the
flame attacks other people through robbery, theft, and getting things in
dishonest ways, thus leading us to the Seventh Commandment.
This
commandment has to do with taking advantage of our neighbor in any way that
makes them lose something. As with the
other commandments, with this one God is protecting your neighbor from you
because He knows how we can be tempted to look at what our neighbor has and
make plans to take it.
Granted,
you probably wouldn’t do it outright like a common thief. But stealing happens more commonly and more
innocently than you might think. God
counts it as stealing when we are lazy in our work or at school.
He
considers it stealing because we are taking time and materials from our
employer or teacher. God also counts it
as stealing when we over charge someone for something or try to get something
for far less than what it’s worth. We
steal when we fail to care for the property in the neighborhood, school, or
church so that it is improved. We steal
when we do not help our neighbor in his needs.
We steal when we work for ourselves rather than for Christ and the
benefit of our neighbor. And yes, it is
also stealing when we hold tightfisted to our finances becoming stingy in our
giving back to the Lord, when we withhold our thank offerings from the offering
plate.
Dr.
Luther said in the Large Catechism that “thievery is the most common craft and
largest guild on the earth.” And we have
all practiced that craft one time or another.
Instead
of stealing, God’s design is to help your neighbor improve and protect their
possessions and income. Love looks out
for its neighbor’s benefit, not its own.
Truly, God is gracious enough to give each of you exactly what you
need. With your needs, not necessarily
your wants met, you are freed up to help and serve your neighbor.
God
always gives us the money and possessions we need, especially in America, so we
don’t have to worry about taking what belongs to our neighbor. In fact the wealth and possessions, whether
great or little are gifts from God so that you may bless others with what you
have been given.
With
all of this stated in regard to the Seventh, Ninth, and Tenth Commandants, we
find ourselves again at the end of our rope like last week, and the week before
that and the week before that. Convicted
of sin, no way out, mouths shut, at wits end, and spiritually bankrupt.
It
is most definitely true that the Holy and Divine and Good and Salutary Law of
God not only protects His gifts and reveals sin, but when it is proclaimed, it
also has a way of stopping us dead in our tracks. It catches us red handed and points a finger
at us saying, “Guilty!”
This
is all much needed and is very good.
Otherwise stated, it is good when we are stripped down and shown for
what we are: naked, frantically grasping
for fig leaves; poor damned miserable sinners.
This
is healthy and a good place to be.
Otherwise stated, this is right where we need to be, especially the week
before Holy Week. Yes, when the Law
shows us that there is no way out by our own reason or strength, we are
actually being prepared to hear about the only way out. We are being prepared to hear about what the
Lord thinks, says, and does ‘to’ and ‘for’ us.
Truly, the only way out of this is by God’s giving and forgiving, namely
in His Word and Sacraments delivering the benefits of Holy Week to us.
Dear
baptized Saints, you, who have ears, hear…. in Jesus, you have a gracious God
who provides for you in His death and resurrection. In Jesus you have forgiveness; you are
forgiven, the debt has been canceled, and you have been gifted every spiritual
blessing in the heavenly places. Indeed, in the Holy Week gift, the Lord has
met your greatest need and desire, as well as giving you the proof and promise
that He will always see to your needs of both body and soul.
Believe
it or not, that’s it! We have finished
six weeks of rehearsing and relearning God’s design for life in the Ten
Commandments, though somewhat abbreviated at times.
It
hasn’t been anything flashy or entertaining and it wasn’t supposed to be. Because the Ten Commandments themselves are
not flashy. They are rooted in the
simple everyday actions of faith in God and love toward our neighbor. They are there as protective fences to
protect God’s gifts. They come from God
Himself and reveal to us His perfect will for our lives. They show us where fall short and sin against
God and neighbor and they lead us to see our need for Holy Week and our need
for the God-Man Jesus Christ dying and
rising for us. Undeniably, they prepare
us to hear about the all availing sacrifice for sinners, Jesus Christ, who not
only takes away the sins of the world, but also fulfilled the Law perfectly for
you and in your place.
The
peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in
Christ Jesus. Amen.
