Live by the Spirit: The Tenth Commandment

Bible Text: Matthew 6:24-34Series: Live By The Spirit | Today we conclude this series of sermons on the Ten Commandments and our lesson and Scripture reading are also a fitting conclusion for our ministry together. This will be my final sermon as minister at Living Hope Church in Sarnia, Ontario. The Tenth Commandment comes to us from Exodus 20:17 saying, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” To “covet” something is to “desire” something – only with a malicious intent. According to the dictionary definition, to “covet” means “To desire ardently something someone else has.” A spirit of covetousness is a restless spirit because it wants what it cannot or should not have. In his retelling of the Law in the “Sermon on the Mount”, the Tenth Commandment is summarized by Jesus positively in Matthew 6:33 where he says, “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” In other words, to “covet” God is a good thing and it means to seek first his Kingdom in your life. Stated negatively, the Tenth Commandment says we are not to covet the wrong things. Stated positively we are to seek first the Kingdom of God.