Word of Salvation – March 2011
BE UNDONE! (THE TENTH COMMANDMENT) – John de Hoog, 11-03-2
(Sermon 11 in a series on the Ten Commandments)
Reading: Matthew 23:1-32
Text: Exodus 20:17; Matthew 19:16-26
I’m sure you know that when Jesus explains the law he always applies it radically to our hearts. He takes what could possibly be seen as descriptions of behaviour that we must avoid and makes it clear that God looks not just at our behaviour but also at our motives and attitudes. Jesus constantly emphasises in his teaching that God’s law never deals with just external matters, it always point to the heart, to the need for the inward attitudes of love for God and love for our neighbours. So Jesus says in Luke 6:45, “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of the heart his mouth speaks.”
The Pharisees of Jesus’ time were absolute experts in the law, experts in the keeping of the law by outward actions. But time and again, Jesus condemns them, for although their outward actions were virtually perfect, inwardly their hearts were full of pride and self-righteousness. Jesus says in Matthew 5:20 “For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus doesn’t mean that you must be even more pernickity about your outward actions than the Pharisees. He means that obedience is always a matter of the heart as well as of our actions. We must always feel the force of the commandments pressing on our hearts, on our consciences; outward conformity is never enough.
The two classic examples of Jesus’ way of explaining the force of the commandments in this way are his explanations of the sixth and seventh commandments that you find in Matthew 5. Jesus makes it clear that it is not only a physical act of murder which is wrong, even hating someone and insulting a person is just like murdering someone in your heart. And it is not only a physical act of adultery that God condemns, even looking at someone with lust in your heart is like committing adultery in your heart.
Now the question I’d like us to think about is this: Was Jesus right?
Of course I don’t mean to question Jesus, but what I’d like us to think about is what Jesus is doing when he explains the commandments in this way. There are two possibilities. Either he is introducing something brand new when he interprets the law in this way. Or otherwise, he is actually explaining the meaning the law was intended to have all along. Here’s the question. When God originally gave the Ten Commandments, did he design them, right from the beginning to press on the heart and the conscience, or is the emphasis that Jesus gives a new twist on the commandments?
What do you think: Was there a heart emphasis all along, which Jesus explains and brings out, or does Jesus give us a new twist?
I think the best answer to that question is actually the tenth commandment itself. The tenth commandment is the inside of the cup.
In Matthew 23, Jesus speaks strong words to the teachers of the law and the Pharisees, and they are typical of his approach to outward conformity. “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, then the outside also will be clean.”
The tenth commandment is the inside of the cup. The tenth commandment talks about what’s inside, where only you and God know what’s going on. You can be breaking the tenth commandment when everyone is saying what a good person you are, what a fine Christian you are. In this way, the tenth commandment explains where all sin is born and comes to life.
In theory, you could keep Commandments 1-9 of the law in an outward sense, maybe for about a day. No other god, no idol, no vain use of God’s name, keeping a Sabbath, honouring your parents, no murder, no adultery, no theft, no lying – Yes, I think that maybe for a day some time in your life, in an external sense, you could keep commandments 1-9. You could be a shiny example of a nearly perfect person, for about a day, in terms of external behaviour.
But the tenth commandment will be your undoing. The tenth commandment is the inside of the cup. Outwardly you may be wonderful, perfect in the eyes of others. But God sees your heart. God sees where you true desires are. A covetous heart, one which is not content and satisfied in God himself, but which wants something else, something more than God, that’s the target of the tenth commandment, and it will undo you. And it will undo me.
Don’t worry, you are in excellent company. The tenth commandment was the undoing of the rich young ruler in the story we have read from Matthew, and the tenth commandment was the undoing of the apostle Paul! You are in excellent company to be felled by this commandment.
Let’s see how the tenth commandment was the undoing of the rich young ruler in Matthew 19. The rich young ruler comes to Jesus, and he asks, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” He expected that in some way he could work his way to eternal life. “What good thing must I do to get eternal life?” Jesus discerns his heart. He wants to show this young man that he can never do it himself.
Jesus answers initially according to the young man’s thinking. He answers, “Obey the commandments.”
The young man answers, “Which ones?” In other words, “I’ve kept the commandments. Can you give me more insight?” In his answer, Jesus lists for him commandments 5-9, and also the second part of the summary of the law. “Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honour your father and mother, and love your neighbour as yourself.” In other words, Jesus outlines the whole law that deals with how we should treat our fellow human beings, except for the tenth commandment – “You shall not covet”.
The young man could say, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?” “Yes, I’ve kept all of these, at least in an outward way. I have stuck to the letter of the law, these commandments I have obeyed.” But Jesus’ response cuts him down. “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
Jesus goes to the heart of his problem. Idolatry! His heart is wrapped up in his possessions, not in God. He has a covetous spirit. He is breaking the tenth commandment. He loves his treasures on earth more than he loves God. He is putting his treasure before God. And so he is breaking the first commandment, and the second, and the third and the eighth and the ninth. But he only realises it when the tenth commandment is pressed against him.
The tenth commandment was also the undoing of Paul. Paul had been a Pharisee. Paul had been just like this rich young ruler. He had kept the law outwardly. He says in one place that he had made great progress in Judaism, that he was faultless when it came to legalistic righteousness. But again, for Paul, after the Holy Spirit does a bit of work on his heart, he realises that he has been felled by the tenth commandment. Listen to what he says about that in Romans 7.
“What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said ‘Do not covet’. But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire.”
See what Paul is saying! When he was given understanding of the tenth commandment, then he realised his own hopelessness. He was a sinner, he needed Jesus Christ. For a long time, Paul had been a self-righteous Pharisee, thinking himself blameless, satisfying the outward regulations, the letter of the law. But by the Spirit’s power the tenth commandment did its work.
The tenth commandment was the undoing of the rich young ruler, and it was the undoing of Paul.
Is the tenth commandment your undoing?
It certainly is mine, and I think it is yours as well. A covetous heart is the mother, the source of all sin. What does it mean to covet? It means to be dissatisfied with what God has given you. It is the opposite of contentment. A person with a covetous heart is dissatisfied with God!
Please hear this. Are you satisfied with God? Is he your chief pursuit? Or does something or someone else provide the main spring, the source of energy in your life? What do you daydream about; what do you long to achieve more than anything else? “You shall have no other gods before me.” Breaking the first commandment involves covetousness.
How can you measure this? If you are given to covetousness, then your thoughts, your energy, your dreams, will be taken up with your own desires. You can think of nothing but your business, your work, your career, your holidays. You will be always plotting and projecting about your own affairs, and think very little of God’s business.
Second, a covetous person is an idolater, he bows down to possessions or reputation or popularity or whatever his idol happens to be. “Do not bow down to idols”. Breaking the second commandment involves covetousness.
You have a covetous spirit if all your efforts are to gain the things you want. You turn over every stone, you go without sleep, you push yourself for your own agenda, and the world admires you and is amazed at how committed you are. But you take no pains for Christ and for his will. You will hunt for the world, and maybe occasionally wish for heaven.
Third, a covetous person might appear on the outside to be a Christian but his covetous heart means he is taking God’s name upon himself in vain. “Do not take God’s name in vain.” Breaking the third commandment involves covetousness.
You are given to covetousness when all your conversation is about the world. All your talk is about your possessions, your plans, your activities, your holidays, your recreation. But speaking with others about God’s word and God’s ways in your life does not interest you.
Fourth, a covetous person can usually only think of his business or his accounts or his career, even on the Lord’s Day! “Keep the Sabbath day holy”. Breaking the fourth commandment involves covetousness.
You are given to covetousness when you overload yourself with your business. You have many irons in the fire, you have your finger in many pies, you are keeping all your options open. You are so busy that you scarcely have time to eat, and certainly no time to pray or to worship or to study God’s word.
Fifth, a covetous person often has no interest in showing real honour to parents, only how he can exploit his parents. “Honour your father and mother”. Breaking the fifth commandment involves covetousness.
Breaking the sixth commandment involves covetousness. “Do not murder.” Murder is unlawfully taking something from someone else – his very life!
Breaking the seventh commandment involves covetousness. “Do not commit adultery”. “Do not covet your neighbour’s wife.”
Covetousness is the root of theft; thieving always starts with lusting after the thing stolen. “Do not steal.” Breaking the eighth commandment involves covetousness.
Ninth, you have a covetous heart when you are so set on what you want that you are willing to use unlawful or unethical means to get it. You are willing to steal and lie to get what you want. “Do not give false witness.” Breaking the ninth commandment involves covetousness.
Do you have a covetous heart? A covetous heart is the mother, the source of all sin.
Does this ring any bells with you?
Pause
So then, is Jesus right to press the law against our hearts and consciences? Of course! And he presses it so hard, doesn’t he!
Jesus is not putting a new twist on the law by applying it to the heart. The tenth commandment shows that God’s intention right from the beginning was to press on our hearts, to press on our consciences, to show us that we can’t save ourselves by obeying the law.
Jesus is loving us by pressing us so hard. He wants us to abandon all hope in ever being good enough for him. He wants us to have done with trying to justify ourselves. He wants us turn to him. He sets us free from condemnation. He saves us. We realise our own hopelessness, but he is our great hope.
Let’s not fool ourselves today. We’ve been studying the Ten Commandments over the last few months, and time and again we’ve seen that but for Jesus Christ we would be without hope. It’s immature to believe that a day is coming when you will make the grade, when at last you will be ready to give your all, to satisfy God’s demands, to finally be able to lift up your head with satisfaction in your own performance. God does not love some future version of you! He’s not waiting for you to buck up before he’s ready to talk.
May that day when you think you’re now good enough to approach God never come! True maturity comes when you can acknowledge that you have been undone by the tenth commandment.
When you realise that, you have two options. Like the rich young ruler you can go away sad, because you are unwilling to part with your idols.
Or like Paul it can be your salvation! You can say what he says in Philippians 3. “Whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.”
Amen