12th December 2025

12th December 2025


Pray (ACts)


Read (Exodus 20:17)


Message (Alan Burke)


Now if you’re anything like me you’ll not have a great deal of memory from the time that you were a wee ba. But if you have ever watched children especially whenever they are young, the concept sharing and having to learn to share is really difficult for them, often they are told to share ends in tears. Other times when they see what the other child has they often take it. Sharing is a really difficult thing to learn and whenever we get older we still find difficult. This is part of our fallen sinful nature, we want what other people have and this is what our economy is built on. 


For the UK economy like many in the developed world is what is known as a market economy, in effect it is one that is based on consumption. A consumption that cultivates a constant disaffection with what one has. Think about it, we were simply content with what we had, if we never wanting a new outfit or a new mobile device our economy would soon be in disarray. For our economy depends on our cultural and personal coveting, as we desire more, longing for what we don’t have. 


That’s why we are bombarded with advertisements every day, why Facebook is able to remain a “free” service for its uses because it harvests your data so that it can sell advertisers information about you so that you covet, you desire more and more things. If it didn’t work Facebook wouldn’t exist. That’s why when you searched for a pink coat that all of a sudden everywhere you go online there are adverts for pink coats, it’s because they try to make you buy them, they know that we as people are by our nature covetous, we are those who covet, desire things! The only reason why advertising is successful is because we have covetous hearts. 


I’ll summaries rest of this commandment by summarising it this way, you shall not covet or desire anything that is your neighbours. So have you ever thought to yourself, they get better holidays than us I wish we went on holidays like them, they always get toys that are better than me, I wish I’d their parents, if only I had curly blond hair instead of the hair that I have, if only I was as good looking as they are, what I would give to be as young as her again? 


There could be many, many more things that we could add to that. Here we have a commandant that none of us can claim deals with only external actions, instead it deals with the heart, it deals with that which we may keep hidden from other peoples view, it deals with the inward condition of our hearts. This commandment reveals our sinful heart, every time we have coveted, felt jealous because of someone else has had or has been allowed or able to do, then we have broken this commandment this law. I


This last commandment reveals that we  have all sinned and have all fallen short of the Glory of God (Rom 3:23). That is why we need a saviour, that is why we need Jesus, for he kept all the of the righteous demands of the law on our behalf, he obeyed it perfectly for us so that as we repent and believe there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:1). This is the good news of the gospel that we have.


Finally, although we are commanded not to covet or desire that which is not ours we are told in the book of 1 Corinthians 12 to covet our desire something else. You may be wondering how does that work, but we are told in v31, to covet or desire the gifts, here speaking of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The point being made is that we ought to be desiring for God to work in our and that we see the Spirit working in us as we have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control. That is what we should be coveting, desiring, that God would work in us and that it should be seen.


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC
Q43 What is the preface to the ten commandments?
A. The preface to the ten commandments is in these words, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
​