Sermon:
Grasping for More
Exodus 20:17

http://gbcdecatur.org/sermons/GraspingForMore.html

Covetousness is the mother of all sins. All 9 of the previous commandments are rooted in it.

It is an excessive desire for something you don’t have. There’s nothing wrong w/ wanting certain things, like something better for your family, etc. But this is an excessive desire that compromises convictions to gain something you want. It is also an envious desire for what someone else has...desiring what they have to be yours.

The other commandments deal w/ actions, but this one with attitude. The others are about behavior, but this one is about our mind. “Don’t Steal” says keep your hands off. “Don’t Covet” says don’t even think about it!

It is the mother of the other 9 sins in the commandments:
No other gods = the covetous worships the gods of money and materialism
No idols = the bow before things that they possess
[man worshipped his sports car / let his wife drive it one day / that nite she told him it wouldn’t run because there was water in the carburetor / he said, you don’t know the carburetor from the tail pipe...where is the car? / in the neighbor’s swimming pool!]
God’s Name in vain = wars are waged because people coveted land or power
Sabbath Day = stores are open on Sunday because it’s one of the biggest shopping days of the week...it’s all about money.
Honor Parents = children steal from their parents, or dishonor their parents who have passed by fighting over inheritance
Don’t kill = many are killed every day by someone who wanted what they had.
Adultery = this always begins w/ covetousness, wanting the spouse of another.
Don’t Steal = this is obvious
Don’t Lie = usually this is done for personal gain of some kind. Maybe a bribe on the witness stand, or maybe to try to get out of a jam, wanting a different reality than you’ve made for yourself.

The dictionary definition of “covetousness” is “grasping for more.”
This is the sin of selfishness. You’re never content. Dr. Lee Roberson calls this, “An ancient sin dogging the steps of modern man.”

A story is told of a peasant who murmured to a giant landholder of the
unfairness of it all. Knowing the nature of men, the landholder promised to give the peasant all the land he could walk around in a whole day. The
peasant, greedily trying to take in all the area possible, overexerted himself and dropped with a heart attack and died. He ended up with nothing.

I would like for us to notice three things about covetousness:

I. THE SIN OF COVETOUSNESS
{(What Is It?)}
In the first chapter of Romans, Paul tells us that the wrath of God is
revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness. He tells us that men are filled with all manner of wickedness and corruption. Then he lists some sins. Among the many foul sins listed, covetousness is near the top.

Achan, the man who brought judgment upon Joshua’s army, committed this sin. The Lord told Joshua to destroy Jericho after the walls fell down flat.
He warned him that all the gold, all the silver and all the spoils of battle
were His. Achan saw the wedge of gold, the 200 shekels of silver and the
goodly Babylonian garments. He began to covet them, and he took them. He stole the “accursed thing” (see Josh. 7:15). Achan could not help what he saw, but he could help what he