At church this fall, the sermon series is on the Ten Commandments, specifically breaking down each commandment for a close look. Also, in one of the small groups I am in, we’re reading through Francis Schaeffer’s book “True Spirituality” this month. Thus, it seems very fitting that one of the main themes of the book ties right in to the Ten Commandments.

Specifically, in the opening chapter, Schaeffer points out that “[t]he climax of the Ten Commandments is the tenth commandment in Exodus 20:17… [t]he commandment not to covet is an entirely inward thing. Coveting is never an outward thing, from the very nature of the case. It is an intriguing factor that this is the last command that God gives us in the Ten Commandments and thus the hub of the whole matter… [W]e break this last commandment…before we break any of the others. Any time that we break one of the other commandments of God, it means that we have already broken this commandment in coveting.”

Why is this commandment so pivotal? Schaeffer wrote that “Coveting is the negative side of the positive commands, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind… and love your neighbor as yourself.” The only way to not break this commandment is to find in Christ all that one needs. Anytime there’s something more that we think we need than what we already have – which then forms the impetus for breaking the other commandments – so that we turn to other “gods”, find satisfaction in things, take God’s name in vain, disregard the Lord’s day by justifying the “need” to work on that day, dishonor those in authority, boil in anger to the point of murdering in one’s heart or beyond, desire sexual relations outside the God-ordained design, take what belongs to another, tell lies, etc. – at the root is a covetous desire for something we believed we should have that we were not given.

The apostle James wrote, “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

But what about legitimate desires? God does place within us desires for good things. How are we to know what is legitimate and what is covetous? Schaeffer describes two tests. The first is to ensure we love God enough to be contented. Another way to look at this is to consider John Piper’s statement that “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.”

Schaeffer wrote, “When I lack proper contentment, either I have forgotten that God is God, or I have ceased to be submissive to him. We are now speaking about a practical test to judge if we are coveting against God. A quiet disposition and a heart giving thanks at any given moment is the real test of the extent to which we love God at that moment. I would like to give some strong words to you from the Bible to remind us that this is God’s own standard for Christians: “But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.”

In Ephesians 5:20, we are commanded to “be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ…”

Notice the word “everything.” It leaves no wiggle room for some things to not be thankful for. Whatever it is, the command is to be thankful. The alternative is the core of man’s rebellion against God: a lack of thankfulness and a desire for something that God didn’t provide. This was at core of the temptation in the Garden of Eden. And it’s at the core of the battles and struggles we face daily. How often do we effectively deny what we tell others we believe, by virtue of being Christians, when we don’t live with a thankful spirit. When instead of being grateful for what we have, we have to fight for something more, we are in effect denying Christ. We are making ourselves to be as gods. And then in that new I-centric paradigm, it’s not long until the other commandments become irrelevant too. In fact, Schaeffer points out the contrast to being thankful always and for everything, from Romans 1:21 – a passage describing the reprobate. “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.” This is how serious it is to not be fully satisfied in God!

Schaeffer’s second test as to when proper desire becomes coveting is “that we should love men enough not to envy.” This envy isn’t just material possessions. It can even be spiritual gifts, Schaeffer points out. Any time any of us sees a gift, a talent, a station in life, etc. that another person has and then desires it to the point where we wouldn’t mind seeing that person slide a bit so that we can have some or all of what they have, the desire has become coveting. From this point, violation of the rest of the Ten Commandments is also near. Yet how pervasive this is! Schaeffer points out how even in areas where we are going toward a common goal, such as in the Kingdom of Christ, we often find some satisfaction in seeing “rivals” (such as in other denominations) taking a fall. When we see another person’s righteous works, we often try to then use our ability and will to try to get this righteous too (or else just shun that person as being “too good”). Even this is a form of coveting! And ultimately this inward coveting, as it is allowed to grow, manifests itself outwardly. Schaeffer notes, “If I were to be happy if he were to lose something, the next step in the external world is moving either subtly or more openly to cause him to have the loss.” Anytime we act in any other way than in love, it’s a sign of coveting.

If the commandment is this far-reaching, who can keep it?! No one. That is precisely how Paul discovered first-hand that no man can keep the Law. (Romans 7:7-8 – “For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead.”) The only one who can keep the law fully is Christ. May we find all we need – for satisfaction, for completion, for righteousness — in Him this Thanksgiving season!