We've come to the end of this series on the Ten Commandments. And I get to be the preacher. "Last but not __________________?"

Last but not least is a good way to think about the last two commandments. As it turns out, they are extremely important.

Breaking them is equated with IDOLATRY! — explicitly in both Ephesians and Colossians.

Jesus Himself warns,

"Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life does not consist in the abundance of the things which he possesses." - Luke 12:15

What does it mean to covet?

It's that feeling that leaves us very uncomfortable with what we have because we want what someone else has. And it eats away at our contentment and joy like a cancer.

Coveting is the exact opposite of contentment — having a happy, satisfied existence.

Coveting murders a thankful spirit. And for a Christian thanksgiving is the fountain of all truly good works — the source of our sanctification — our whole Christian lifestyle .

Put another way, it is not possible to lead a Christ-like life and at the same time be UNthankful. It is not possible to be truly thankful and to covet at the same time. They are contradictory.

Last but not least... The topic was even worth an article with a cover page in a recent copy of our official church magazine, the Lutheran Witness. "On Contentment" it was called.

One major insightful point from that article was this:

"Sometime, in pursuit of the things of this world, we risk sacrificing the good gifts our heavenly Father has already given."

Let me read just a few sentences:

"... We get so focused, so obsessed, so target-locked on stuff, that it hardly occurs to us that the good life God wants for us may be passing us by. For example, the joy of being a son or a daughter the joy of being a husband or a wife, the joy of being a mother or a father, the joy of being a friend and colleague, the joy of being part of a Christian church that changes hearts and changes lives for eternity, the joy of being a child of God. Are you missing out on the joy of life — on the joy of all your God-given vocations — because you want more stuff?

The author gives the example of his family dog, Lucky, an English setter, and a hunting dog. He writes that a beaver moved into the manhole of the storm sewer in his backyard. And that beaver's presence became addictive for Lucky — a "sort of doggy crack cocaine".

"That beaver is on Lucky's mind all the time! She doesn't want to eat. She doesn't want to sleep. She doesn't even want to come inside where she can hang out with her family. She just wants to sit next to that manhole and smell that beaver and think about that beaver and dream about getting that beaver.

- Never mind that the beaver is living in an impregnable concrete pillbox.

- Never mind that it is always just out of her reach.

She is focused on it. She is obsessed with it. She is target-locked on it, and life is passing her by..... Sound familiar?"

We are of course in danger of being beguiled by advertising campaigns into thinking that if we just have this or that THING we will have happiness. Like the gray-haired guy with a shiny new sports car surrounded by models in bikinis.

To put the best construction on the advertising industry, some ads are more honest — those ads for medications which we are told "may not be for everyone". "There have been rare instances of people swallowing their tongues, loss of hair, dizziness, cancers of liver and brain, bleeding from the ears, skin eruptions, and slurred speech that may be permanent — but try "SleepRight" — you will never have a better night's sleep."

Besides the problem of our coveting causing us to miss out on the blessings our heavenly Father has already provided us, and besides it causing us to be unthankful, there is another problem. We are often tragically mistaken about what we need for happiness. All that glitters is not gold, but we discover that fact too late.

How often haven't we seen people destroyed by the very traits we admire and perhaps covet?

- Maybe people too attractive for their own good.

- Or people destroyed by the very fame and riches that made them the envy of others?

Remember Richard Cory — that poem by Edwin Arlington Robinson, and some years back put to song by Simon and Garfunkel?

Whenever Richard Cory went down town,

We people on the pavement looked at him;

He was a gentleman from sole to crown,

Clean favored, and imperially slim.

And he was always quietly arrayed,

And he was always human when he talked;

But still he fluttered pulses when he said,

"Good morning," and he glittered when he walked.

And he was rich-- yes, richer than a king--

And admirably schooled in every grace;

In fine, we thought that he was everything

To make us wish that we were in his place.

So on we worked, and waited for the light,

And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;

And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,

Went home and put a bullet through his head....

But let's be clear. Coveting is not just a problem for people who may be poor or struggling financially. It can just as easily affect someone who is very rich. It sort of functions like sexual lust.

Once a person falls into the temptation of engaging in what is forbidden, it does not satisfy at all. There is always a need for more. And that person is drawn into the devil's kingdom of darkness and chains.

So it is with coveting. There is never such a thing as "having enough" — never contentment.

Often the possessions themselves begin to possess a person — spending all his or her time to protect and care for them.... Often at the sacrifice of important relationships. Think about a parent who has no time for a child because of "business pressures".

I mentioned that Holy Scripture calls coveting idolatry — a breaking of the first and greatest commandment to love God with all our heart. It is allowing something or someone else to edge out God as number one in our heart.

But as a consequence, coveting easily leads to the breaking of all the other commandments.

- The Second — honoring God's holy name, for example. The book of Acts reports that Ananias and Sapphira kept part of something they pretended to offer to God, part of the price of their land. It is said that they "let Satan take control" and "lied to the Holy Spirit" Both fell dead at the Apostle Peter's feet.

- How easily coveting leads to breaking the Third Commandment — neglecting and despising God's Word — because earning money has become more important. I'm not talking about those whose schedules are beyond their control — but about those whose priorities are just plain different from God's.

And on and on...

- The Fourth Commandment — honoring authority. Absalom, son of King David, became a rebel because he coveted the kingship — and ended up hanging from a tree that had caught his long hair as he rode by on his horse.

- The Fifth Commandment — against murder. How often aren't murders connected with someone coveting what is another's property. Or just think of Judas and the thirty pieces of silver.

- The Sixth Commandment — against adultery. Think of David and Bathsheba — and then the accompanying crime of doing away with her brave and unsuspecting husband Uriah.

- The Seventh Commandment — against stealing. That Old Testament story of Achan, who took silver and gold and a beautiful cloak from the spoils of Jericho against the Lord's command — and the army of Israel was then repulsed. Achan was discovered, and stoned: "I coveted them and took them," he said.

- The Eighth Commandment — against bearing false witness. How common in a society of frivolous lawsuits! Again, it happened already in Bible many times. Covetous King Ahab's covetous wife Jezebel arranged for false testimony to be arranged against Naboth in order to take his family's ancestral vineyard.

In the words of one Lutheran author in the early 1900's, "Let us, then, be warned of God and FLING COVETING FROM OUR HEART AS WE WOULD A RATTLESNAKE!" [The Ten Commandments - William Dallman]

"Our souls were created by God, and they will not be at rest until they rest in Him," taught St. Augustine.

But how do we rid our stubborn, fallen, restless sinful natures of the unrest caused by coveting?

In the first place, we need to recognize its rattlesnake-like seriousness and confess it to be the destructive sin it is.

Secondly, we need to look to Jesus Christ and His Word of forgiveness for us — forgiveness that flows from the blood of His Cross to us.

"The words I give you are Spirit and life,"

He taught us.

And as we receive that great, costly gift from the Cross — the gift which no amount of gold could ever buy — another truth will slowly but surely sink into our covetous hearts. Paul said it like this:

"(God) gave us His son-- WILL HE NOT ALSO FREELY GIVE US ALL THINGS?" - Romans 8:32

Looking with eyes of faith at Jesus Christ and His love for us — letting Him be for us all that He came into this world to be — results in new hearts to replace our old covetous ones, a whole new creation.

And that is to know that our Heavenly Father cares for us and all our needs — ALL of them, ALL THINGS.

And that is to know rest for our souls — and release from the curse of coveting.

Then that peace of God which far surpasses our human understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus for life abundant and everlasting.