Sermon (9/16/07)

Some of you may have heard of this story about the stone cutter. Everyday, it was his work to climb up mountains to look for beautiful stones. He would fashion them into sculptures and sell them and he was happy.
But one day, as he was going about his daily work, he grew bored of his job and his life and thought, if only I can be big and strong like this mountain, then I’ll be happy. And the next day he was this huge mountain and said; now I’m really happy.

Exodus 20:17 “Jesus and the Ten Commandments: Making the King Our Primary Concern” #11

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”

Some of you may have heard of this story about the stone cutter. Everyday, it was his work to climb up mountains to look for beautiful stones. He would fashion them into sculptures and sell them and he was happy.

But one day, as he was going about his daily work, he grew bored of his job and his life and thought, if only I can be big and strong like this mountain, then I’ll be happy. And the next day he was this huge mountain and said; now I’m really happy.

But the sun began to beat down on him with rays and he was getting too hot. So he thought, man, if I could only become this high and mighty sun, then I’ll truly be happy. He was for a fleeting moment because a small cloud just came in front of him blocking all the rays that he was beaming down on humankind. And he was sad and thought, though I am this big sun, this little cloud has the power to block my rays. If only I can be this cloud then I’ll be happy.

So he became the cloud and thought he was strong and mighty because he was able to stop the sun. However his happiness was again very fleeting because the wind began to blow and he quickly moved on without having any control. So again he thought, okay, if I can finally just be the wind, then I’ll be truly happy.

He became the wind and he was having a great time blowing people’s hats off and causing trees to topple over in the forest. But there was one thing he couldn’t blow away. It was the mountain. Though he blew and blew, the mountain was immovable.

And he suddenly realized that he had been given a great gift to experience becoming and having different things like power and pleasure but realizing that they were all fleeting. And he made one last wish and said: If only I can become the stone cutter again who will worship the Creator as the ultimate thing in life rather than desiring these created things, then I will truly, truly be happy. And he was.

Happiness, which is really a byproduct of holiness or a life that is wholly surrendered to God, does not come from becoming or acquiring power or fame or wealth but by worshipping the God revealed on Mt. Sinai to Israel. And for each of the 10 commandments we are to remember three things about this God: 1) Verse 2 says:

“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. (Gracious Redeemer)

2) Verse 5-6 also reveals another aspect of who God is:

5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands [2] of those who love me and keep my commandments. (Jealous Husband in the healthy sense of the word, jealous)

3) Verse 11a says:
For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them,…
(Sovereign Creator)

I’m reminding you of this God-centered context where God revealed Himself as the Gracious Redeemer, becoming our Jealous Husband in a covenant relationship, and nurturing this relationship as our Sovereign Creator.

This is critical to remember because as we come to our final 10th commandment and in this sermon series, we are really coming in full circle to re-emphasize the primacy of the first commandment: you shall have no other gods before or besides me. Why? Because God is both jealous for our undivided loyalty and zealous for our maximum happiness that can only be found in worship of Him alone.

I’ve been repeating the fact that the first commandment rightly assumes that all human beings are worshippers. Whether you are religious or secular or agnostic or atheists, you are all seeking for that ultimate thing in life that will satisfy you and give you a sense of significance and identity. In some cultures this yearning to worship is expressed by bowing down to an old bonsai tree and in America, the pursuit of the American Dream is primary.

So the first commandment assumes that human beings have this intense desire to adore and worship something or someone. Put it in another way, the first commandment gives us no third option: we either worship the true God or we worship a false god or an idol.

When seen in this light, the 10th commandment not to covet your neighbor’s Ferrari or bling bling doesn’t sound odd at all because to worship only the true God has everything to do with not coveting your neighbor’s belongings. Why? Covetousness which means to “desire obsessively” is called idolatry in the New Testament. Paul in Colossians 3:5 makes this direct link between covetousness and idolatry, which to him is an evil desire simply because the coveter’s goal is to make something or someone either than Christ our ultimate thing in life.

In summary, the relationship between the first and the tenth commandment is this: the 10th commandment not to covet anyone or anything that belongs to your neighbor is really synonymous with the first commandment not to have other gods. Just as the keeping of the 1st commandment will mean the keeping of the rest of the 9 commandments, obedience to the 10th commandment will also mean the keeping of each and all the previous 9 commandments because as one commentary puts it, it functions as a summary commandment, which addresses the heart attitude and motivation because it all begins there. This is one reason why most homicide cases are called pre-meditated or we ask what was the motive?

Now, with this background in mind, I want to suggest two things we can do to make sure each day that Christ, our King, is our primary concern and object of worship rather than the belongings of Mr. and Mrs. Jones next door.

First, probe your heart and secondly, prize Christ above all.

First, probe your heart.

I don’t think we take the inner workings of our hearts or how we’re wired seriously enough to take time to examine what’s happening deep down there. Instead, we’re more focused on the tip of the ice-berg, behavior problems and patterns and try to modify them.

One quote I heard Pastor Keller read probes and explains the heart best so let me read the original quote which comes from Thomas Chalmers’ sermon entitled, “The Expulsive Power of New Affections”. He writes:

“It is seldom that any of our bad habits or flaws disappears by mere process of natural extinction. At least it is very seldom that this is done by the instrumentality of reasoning or by the force of mental determination. What cannot be destroyed however may be dispossessed. One taste may be made to give away to another and to lose its power entirely as the reigning affection in the mind.

A youth may cease to idolize sensual pleasure but it’s because the idol of wealth, the desire to make money has gotten the ascendancy so he becomes disciplined. But the love of money might actually cease to have mastery over his heart if it is drawn more to ideology and politics. Now he’s lorded over by the love of power and of moral superiority instead of wealth. But there is not one of these transformations in which the heart is left without an object. The human hearts’ desire for one particular object is conquered but its desire to have some ultimate object of adoration is unconquerable.

The only way to dispossess the heart of an old affection is by the expulsive power of a new one.”

This is a great food for thought but let’s focus on the last two lines so that we understand our hearts:

The human hearts’ desire for one particular object is conquered but its desire to have some ultimate object of adoration is unconquerable. The only way to dispossess the heart of an old affection is by the expulsive power of a new one.

You see, everyone - whether you are a self-declared atheist or agnostic or secular humanist or a very religious or spiritual person - everyone worships something or someone. Everyone has a heart that desires some ultimate object of adoration and joy that gives you meaning and purpose.

Let me share one true story I heard that demonstrates the inner workings of the heart and the deceitfulness of the heart. At one college, there was a popular guy who was good looking, played college ball and he was notorious for sleeping around and getting the prettiest ladies on campus to sleep with him but he was also known for being quickly disinterested in them once he got them to bed. To him it wasn’t about sex but power and control.

And one day, he was invited to a Christian gathering, where he publicly confessed his immoral lifestyle and he really cleaned up his act afterwards by not sleeping around. People were shocked at first but gave him the benefit of the doubt and accepted him into church meetings and Bible studies. However, as time went on, other Christians began to observe a consistent pattern in his behaviors. Whenever he was in a Bible study or some small group discussion, he had to always have the last word. Even when he wasn’t the leader of the group, he would be subversive and challenge other’s views by claiming that his thoughts were the only correct view. So he would dominate every conversation and seek to win arguments. Finally others realized that this individual really did not convert to Christ. He had simply exchanged one idol called power in influencing the opposite sex to having religious power in the Christian circle.

So the question we need to ask our own hearts is this: My soul, what is it that you long for and eagerly desire and hope for? Have you been and continue to be converted to Christ or am I deceiving myself by merely exchanging one idol for another?

Proverbs 4:23 says: Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.

Probe your heart and guard it with all vigilance because if something or someone else is on the throne, then from it will flow the springs of misery and death rather than the full life Christ promised to bring in John 10:10.

How do we obey the 10th commandment in such a way that Christ our King becomes our primary concern? First, probe the heart. Understand and identify the obsessive desires waging war inside you and how one over-desire seeks to gain ascendancy above them all. And when you recognize that your over-desire is not Christ, we must confess and repent right then and there instead of waiting for another time.

Secondly, prize Christ above all.

If according to the earlier quote from Thomas Chalmer is right on and I believe he’s right on when he says:

The human hearts’ desire for one particular object is conquered but its desire to have some ultimate object of adoration is unconquerable.

If that is true, then you and I must make sure that this particular “ultimate object of adoration” is Christ our King who came, according to Mark 10:45, not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.

His service to you cost him his very life for Christ went to the cross to die for your sins so that you won’t have to bear sins’ judgment.

When this realization hits you and grips your heart to the point that you can say with Paul in Galatians 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” This is when the light goes on and the lightening bolt strikes your heart and changes you!

So when you and I are not living by faith and trust in Christ but obsessively pursuing what the Jones have, and when we do eventually get what they have, we’ll always want more and more till we’re restless.

In the classic book called “The Confessions of St. Augustine” written in the 4th century, Augustine really probed his heart by saying things like: Lord, please make me pure but not now. He was being honest with God during his heart examination but he didn’t end there. He new that without Christ, he would be restless so one of his most famous sayings goes like this:

Our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.

To prize Christ above all is an all out fight. This conviction and realization does not come easy. It won’t come to those who are too busy. It won’t come to those who have settled for mud pies of this world instead of a heavenly banquet in God’s presence.

It only comes to those who believe in the Gospel and who will learn to be still before God. The famous Psalm 46:10: Be still and know that I am God is not just an inspiring devotional verse to memorize but an amazing invitation by our Gracious Redeemer, Jealous Husband, and Sovereign Creator to know Him in all of His fullness - that fullness now revealed in Christ to us.

It is this divine encounter and intimate relationship with God that Thomas Chalmers is referring to when he says, “The Expulsive Power of New Affections” - this new affection is Christ Jesus who is the Gospel can replace other desires and deeply satisfy you.

And when you make Christ the King your primary concern, all that we need will also be provided. Matthew 6:33 in the NLT version says this:

and he will give you all you need from day to day if you live for him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern.

Just as the stone cutter in my earlier story was given a gift to experience becoming and acquiring other things which left him wanting, you and I have been given a greater gift of having tasted the goodness of Christ, the Son of God, who loved you and gave himself for you. Let’s not settle for anything less than God’s best in his Son. Let’s worship and adore Christ alone and everyday by probing our hearts and by prizing Christ above all.