Beware of Covetousness

A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver

"Take heed, and beware of covetousness; for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth" (Luke 12:15)

There is a “Jesus” being preached today that solves all of man’s problems. He is portrayed as one to is very concerned about your career, your household, your finances, your goals, etc. But the question must be asked, “Is this the real Jesus?” Is Jesus really as concerned about your career as you are? Is financial stability and prosperity of any worth in the kingdom of God? Or maybe more appropriately, Are those who live in poverty, with an unsteady career, or from a broken household at a disadvantage in following the Lord? And after we consider these questions let us consider the apostles, who left jobs, forsook their goals, took no money with them and followed the Lord. Did they suffer loss because of this? The testimony of His disciples was this, “Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed Thee”

And Jesus answered and said, “Verily I say unto you, there is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for My sake, and the gospel’s, but he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life” (Mk 10:29-30).

What is forsaken individually is possessed collectively in the church, who have all things in common. But this life in the earth will also possess persecutions and afflictions. The focus Jesus’ ministry is found in the world to come. It is there that the saints will have eternal life and will receive their inheritance. Those who seek the abundance of possessions here will, no doubt, be fatally distracted.

Following Jesus for Your Best Life Now. Let us be clear. We are not following Jesus in order to improve our conditions while in the earth. In fact, often the opposite takes place. We follow Jesus in order to be saved from the wrath to come (1 Th 1:10). We follow Him in order to escape the “damnation of hell” (Mt 23:33). We have “kissed the Son” lest He be angry with us (Ps 2:12). We have joined ourselves to the One who has satisfied the Father and consecrated a new and living way to Him; Who bore our sins in His own body on the tree; Who died for us and now makes intercession for us. Brethren, our hope in is heaven, where Jesus has entered in as a forerunner. For, “if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable” (1 Cor 15:19). We do not follow the Lord to prosper ourselves. We follow the Lord because it is right to do so. For “He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again’ (2 Cor 5:15).

Paul warned Timothy of keeping company with those “who suppose that godliness is a means of gain” (1 Tim 6:5, NKJV) and then clarified, “Now godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Tim 6:6, NKJV). Those who propagate a “prosperity gospel” or a “health and wealth gospel” are not speaking from God. They are those who suppose that following the Lord and “going to church” is a means of earthly gain and their churches are filled with professed believers who are really only in it to make connections and get ahead. And I am not exaggerating at all. Churches in America are filled with such people. These churches have made the Father’s house into a den of thieves and it is high time for the money-changers table’s to be turned over. All of this simply amounts to covetousness and God is not mocked.

Jesus once had one of His hearers approach Him seeking a Jesus who would solve his problem. He said, “Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me” (Lk 12:13). This man came to Jesus so that Jesus would set his brother straight; so that he would have what he perceived to be his. But Jesus “knew what was in man” (Jn 2:25) and responded with these words: “Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you?” (Lk 12:14). This was not Jesus’ business and He would not engage in it. Instead He spoke to the real issue saying, “Take heed, and beware of covetousness; for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth” (Lk 12:15).

Covetousness. To covet is to strongly desire that which is not yours. The psalmist once said, “The wicked boasteth of his heart’s desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the Lord abhorreth” (Ps 10:3). The Lord abhors the covetous! Blessed is the man who can say the same. For, not only are we clearly told in the Law, “Thou shalt not covet...anything that is thy neighbor’s” (Exod 20:17), but when Moses was to select 70 men to help him in his ministry he was to look for able men who “fear God, men of truth, HATING covetousness” (Exod 18:21). 

While coveting may seem to be small to the fleshly mind, it is something Jesus says, to beware of. Coveting is what led to the stoning of Achan and the stoning of all his family and livestock. “Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done;” he said, “when I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them” (Josh 7:20-21). It was covetousness that Paul spoke of in his letter to the church in Rome as the cause for death in him (Rom 7:7-11). Yet it is also something that he dealt with (Acts 20:33). Coveting is a sin. It occurs when men are drawn away by their own lusts and enticed (Jas 1:14).

A Matter of the Heart.  Coveting is something done in the heart. Jesus said, “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness; all these things come from within, and defile the man” (Mk 7:21-23). Covetousness is a lust of the flesh that proceeds out of the heart. It is a corrupt and ungodly desire that must be suppressed.

Covetousness seems to be a common sin that has entangled many a wanderer on the earth as the prophet has said, “For every one from the least even unto the greatest is given to covetousness” (Jer 8:10). And this is also true of religious people who demand that the church provide for their specific desires. They shop around for the right church to meet their needs but give no heed to word that is preached. Concerning people like this the prophet Ezekiel was warned, “For with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness” (Ezek 33:31). He experienced an audience that would listen to him day and night but never do what he said. He was as one who had “a very lovely song” and “a pleasant voice” (Ezek 33:32). 

False preachers and religious profiteers are driven by lust and covetousness. They seek to please men and use flattering words as a “cloak of covetousness” (1 Th 2:5) covering their greed for obtaining a following and riches. Of them Peter spoke, “Through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you; whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not” (2 Pet 2:3). They are “lovers of their own selves” (2 Tim 3:2) and they are enslaved by “the love of money” which “is the root of all evil” causing them to err from the faith and to be pierced through with many sorrows (1 Tim 6:10). Covetousness is destructive - beware of it!

Do Not Covet, Be Content and Give. The children of God must not be given to covetousness. They are called to trust in the Lord and not in riches. “Let your conversation” or manner of living “be without covetousness, and be content with such things as ye have; for He hath said, ‘I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee’” (Heb 13:5). We do not need to covet because God will richly supply all of our needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. We are to put off the old man with his deceitful lusts. Do not covet; do not steal but labor, work with your hands the thing which is good and give to them that have need (Eph 4:28).

“The desire of the slothful killeth him; for his hands refuse to labor. He coveteth greedily all the day long; but the righteous giveth and spareth not” (Prov 21:25-26). When Paul said to Ephesian elders in his farewell address, “I have coveted no man’s silver, or gold, or apparel,” he pointed out that his own hands ministered unto his necessities and those of his companions (Acts 20:33-34). He was not slothful but labored night and day so as to not be a burden to anyone. He did not covet their possessions. He said, “I have shewed you all things, how that so laboring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’” (Acts 20:35). 

Believers are to replace coveting with giving. In demonstration and obedience of the second great commandment, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Rom 13:9) men will cease from coveting by seeking to minister to their brethren. Where a so-called brother fails to do this we are instructed “not to keep company” with him (1 Cor 5:11). “Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolators, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor 6:9-10).

A Godly Coveting. A strong desire for godly things is a “good” form of coveting. It is a demonstration of “not seeking the things of the earth” but “seeking the things which are above.” Paul instructed the Corinthian church to “covet earnestly the best gifts” - love being the greatest. And again “covet to prophesy” (1 Cor 12:31; 14:39). If you must covet, covet spiritual things. If you must lust, lust after God. Let your heart be dominated by the desire for heavenly things. “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled” (Mt 5:6).