Sunday, July 12th, 2026
'Enough?'
Philippians 4:10-13
10 I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. 11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned, in whatever situation I am, to be content. 12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. 13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
Exodus 20:17, “You shall not covet your neighbour's house; you shall not covet your neighbour's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbour’s.”
Achan's confession to Joshua, ‘I saw among the spoil ……then I coveted them and took them.’ - Joshua 7:21
Coveting …… and the cure of contentment
1. Coveting
What it is - how it operates - where it leads to
What it is
The Hebrew word for covet is a neutral word that can mean desire.
‘An inordinate, ungoverned, selfish desire for something.’
Its a comprehensive list - ‘Anything that is your neighbour’s.’
How it operates
This commandment takes us all the way back to the Garden of Eden....
“So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to her eyes, and that the tree was desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate” - Genesis 3:6
Luke 12:15 - “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions”
Coveting that is so often tied up in our wealth.....
Ecclesiastes 5:10, ‘He who loves money will not be satisfied with money nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity’
James 1:14-15, ‘But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.’
Where it leads to
Sinclair Ferguson, “We covet when we're not content with what we have and want to have what belongs to someone else.”
King Ahab coveted a vineyard that belonged to Naboth ......and took it!
The prophet Elijah confronted Ahab with his sin, 1 Kings 21:20
‘You have sold yourself to do what is evil in the sight of the Lord’
William Gurnall - “Consider what tragic effects this temptation was on Ahab when he covets Naboth’s vineyard. To gain only a few acres which do not add much to a King’s revenues, he swims in the owners blood. Only faith can permanently blind lusting eyes and give clear insight into the sufficiency of God’s grace”
Ultimately our coveting leads us to idolatry as we see how both the 10th and 1st commandments are linked
Colossians 3:5, ‘Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire and covetousness, which is idolatry.’
The Apostle Paul needed God’s Law to expose his sinful heart .....
Romans 7:7-8a, ‘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.’
God’s Law again reveals to us that we’re sinners in need of a saviour!
2. Contentment
From the negative to the positive teaching of the 10th commandment
Westmister Shorter Catechsm - Q 80 - “The tenth commandment requires full contentment with our own condition, and a right and charitable attitude toward our neighbour and all that is his”
‘Full contentment with our own condition’
Join the Apostle Paul at the school of contentment as he writes…..
‘For I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.’ - Philippians 4:11-12
‘I have learned’ x2 …….Paul didn’t always know contentment!
Like Paul …….you must learn to fix our eyes upon Jesus and turn a blind eye to those things you’ve coveted so much
Phillip Ryken, ‘Contentment means wanting what God wants for us rather than what we want for us.’
‘A right and charitable attitude toward our neighbour and all that is his’
‘Rejoice with those who rejoice.’ - Romans 12:15
Jeremiah Burroughs, ‘The rare jewel of Christian contentment.’
Jesus knew that freedom from “all covetousness” is possible only if we value a superior treasure.
A treasure greater than ….Jericho’s spoils of war, Naboth’s vineyard, Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba or an inheritance fought over by brothers
Luke 12:31-34, ‘Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.’