Beware of All Covetousness

Understanding Christ's Warning Against Covetousness

1. I have no doubt that you who fear God hear His word with awe and carry it out cheerfully. What He has promised, you hope for now and will receive later. We have just heard the Lord Christ Jesus, the Son of God, giving us a precept. The Truth, who neither deceives nor is deceived, has given us a command. Let us hear it, fear it, and be careful to obey it. What is this precept? "I say to you, beware of all covetousness" (Luke 12:15).

What does He mean by "all covetousness"? What does "all" signify? Why did He add "all"? He could have simply said, "Beware of covetousness." It was appropriate for Him to add "all" and to say, "Beware of all covetousness."

2. The reason He said this—the occasion that prompted these words—is shown to us in the Gospel. A certain man appealed to Him against his brother, who had taken his entire inheritance and refused to give his proper portion to his brother. You can see that this man had a righteous case. He wasn't trying to take someone else's property by force; he was only seeking what had been left to him by his parents. He was demanding this through his appeal to the Lord's judgment.

He had an unrighteous brother, but against this unrighteous brother he had found a righteous Judge. Shouldn't he have taken advantage of this opportunity in such a good cause? Who would tell his brother, "Return your brother's portion," if Christ wouldn't say it? Would an ordinary judge be likely to say this—a judge whom the richer, grasping brother might corrupt with a bribe?

Left helpless and stripped of his father's goods, when this man found such a great Judge, he approached Him, appealed to Him, begged Him, and stated his case in a few words. There was no need to explain his case at length, since he was speaking to One who could see into his heart. "Master," he said, "tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me" (Luke 12:13).

The Lord didn't say, "Let your brother come." He didn't summon the brother to be present, nor did He say to the man who had appealed to Him, "Prove what you're claiming." The man asked for half an inheritance, half an inheritance on earth; the Lord offered him a whole inheritance in heaven. The Lord gave more than what was asked.

3. "Tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me." His case was just and could be stated briefly. But let's hear the response of the One who gives both judgment and instruction. "Man," He says (Luke 12:14). "O man"—for seeing that you value this inheritance so highly, what are you but a man? He wanted to make him something more than a man. What more did He want to make him—this person from whom He wanted to remove covetousness? What more did He want to make him? I'll tell you: "I have said, 'You are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High'" (Psalm 82:6). This is what He wanted to make him—to count him among the "gods," those who have no covetousness.

"Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?" (Luke 12:14). The Apostle Paul, His servant, when he said, "I plead with you, brethren, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you" (1 Corinthians 1:10), was unwilling to be a divider. Later he warned those who were following his name and dividing Christ: "Each of you says, 'I am of Paul,' or 'I am of Apollos,' or 'I am of Cephas,' or 'I am of Christ.' Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?" (1 Corinthians 1:12-13). Consider, then, how wicked those people are who want to divide the One who refused to be a divider. "Who," He says, "made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?"

4. "You have asked for a favor; hear My advice instead. 'I say to you, beware of all covetousness'" (Luke 12:15). "Perhaps," someone would say, "you would call him covetous and greedy if he were seeking another's goods. But I say, don't seek even your own possessions greedily or covetously." This is what "all" means—"beware of all covetousness."

This is a heavy burden! If by any chance this burden is placed on those who are weak, let them seek the help of the One who imposes it, that He who commands may also give us strength. This is not a trivial matter, my brothers and sisters, when our Lord, our Redeemer, our Savior, who died for us, who gave His own blood as our ransom, our Advocate and Judge—it's no small thing when He says, "Beware." He knows well the severity of this evil; we don't know it, so let's believe Him. "Beware," He says. Of what? "Of all covetousness."

"I'm only keeping what is my own; I'm not taking what belongs to someone else." "Beware of all covetousness." Not only is the person covetous who plunders others' goods, but the one who greedily keeps their own possessions is also covetous. But if the person who greedily keeps their own possessions is criticized, how much more is the one condemned who steals what belongs to another! "Beware," He says, "of all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things which one possesses" (Luke 12:15).

The person who stores up great abundance—how much does he take from it to live on? When he has taken enough to live on and set that portion aside, let him consider for whom the rest remains. Otherwise, while you keep what you need to live, you might be gathering only what you'll leave behind when you die. Behold Christ, behold the truth, behold His severity. "Beware," says the truth. "Beware," says severity. If you don't love the truth, fear severity. "A person's life does not consist in the abundance of the things which one possesses." Believe Him; He doesn't deceive you. On the other hand, you say, "Yes, a person's life does consist in the abundance of things possessed." He isn't deceiving you; you're deceiving yourself.

5. From this incident, when that man was seeking his own portion, not trying to take what belonged to another, the Lord spoke the sentence where He didn't just say, "Beware of covetousness," but added, "of all covetousness." He followed this with a parable about a certain rich man "whose ground yielded plentifully" (Luke 12:16).

"There was," He says, "a certain rich man whose ground yielded plentifully." What does "yielded plentifully" mean? His land, which he owned, had produced an abundant harvest. So much that he couldn't find any place to store it. Suddenly, because of his abundance, he became constrained—this old covetous man. How many years had already passed, and yet those barns had been sufficient? But now the harvest was so great that the usual storage places weren't enough.

And the troubled man looked for a solution, not about how he should distribute the excess produce, but how he should store it up. In thinking, he discovered a plan. He seemed wise in his own eyes for finding this solution. He thought about it intelligently and came up with what seemed to be a wise plan. What was this plan that he cleverly devised? "I will pull down my old barns," he says, "and build larger ones, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul..." (Luke 12:18-19). What will you say to your soul? "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry" (Luke 12:19). This is what the clever discoverer of this solution said to his soul.

6. "But God," who doesn't refuse to speak even with fools, "said to him" (Luke 12:20). Some of you might ask, "How did God speak with a fool?" O my brothers and sisters, with how many fools does He speak here when the Gospel is read! When it is read, aren't those who hear and don't obey also fools? What did the Lord say? The man thought himself wise for devising his plan. "Fool!" He says. "Fool!" —you who seem wise to yourself. "Fool!" —you who have said to your soul, "You have many goods laid up for many years" — "this night your soul will be required of you" (Luke 12:20).

Your soul, to which you said, "You have many goods," is now being "required" and has no good at all. Let it therefore despise these material goods and instead be good itself, so that when it is "required," it may depart with confident hope. For what could be more perverse than someone who wants to have "many goods" but doesn't want to be good themselves? You don't deserve to have these things if you don't want to be what you want to have. Do you want a bad country house? No, but a good one. A bad wife? No, but a good one. A bad cloak? Or even bad shoes? Yet why only a bad soul?

He didn't say to this fool who was thinking about worthless things, building barns, and ignoring the needs of the poor—He didn't say to him, "Tonight your soul will be dragged away to hell." He didn't say any such thing. Instead, He said, "is required of you." "I'm not telling you where your soul will go, but it must depart from this place where you're storing up so many things, whether you're willing or not." Look, "you fool," you've planned to fill your new and larger barns, as if there were nothing better to do with what you already have.

7. But perhaps this man wasn't yet a Christian. Let's hear, then, brothers and sisters, those of us who believe and to whom the Gospel is read—those of us who worship the One who spoke these things, who bear His mark on our foreheads and hold it in our hearts. It matters greatly where a person has the mark of Christ—whether only on the forehead, or both on the forehead and in the heart.

You heard today the words of the holy prophet Ezekiel, how before God sent someone to destroy the ungodly people, He first sent someone to mark them. He said to him, "Go and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within the city" (Ezekiel 9:4). He didn't say, "which are done outside it," but "within it." Yet they "sigh and cry," and therefore they are "marked on the forehead" —on the forehead of the inner person, not the outer one.

There is a forehead on the face, and there is a forehead in the conscience. Sometimes when the inner forehead is struck, the outer one turns red—red with shame or pale with fear. So there is a forehead of the inner person. That's where these people were marked so they wouldn't be destroyed. Though they couldn't prevent the sins committed among them, they grieved over them, and through that grief they separated themselves. Though separated in God's sight, they still lived among those people in the eyes of others.

They are marked secretly and aren't harmed openly. Afterward, the Destroyer is sent, and he is told, "Go, destroy, spare neither young nor old, male nor female, but do not come near anyone on whom is the mark" (Ezekiel 9:6). How great is the security granted to you, my brothers and sisters, who are sighing and grieving for the sinful acts being committed among you, and who don't commit these acts yourselves!

8. But so that you don't commit these iniquities, "beware of all covetousness" (Luke 12:15). I'll explain to you fully what "all covetousness" means. Regarding lust, a person is covetous when their own spouse isn't enough for them. Even idolatry is called covetousness, because in matters of divine worship, the person is covetous whom the one true God doesn't satisfy. What but the covetous soul makes many gods for itself? What but the covetous soul makes false martyrs for itself? "Beware of all covetousness."

Look, you love your own possessions, and you boast that you don't seek others' possessions. But see what evil you do by not listening to Christ, who says, "Beware of all covetousness." You love your own goods; you don't take away what belongs to others. You have the fruits of your labor, and they are justly yours. You were left an inheritance by someone who favored you; you've braved the sea's dangers without committing fraud or telling lies, and you've acquired what God has allowed you to have. You're keeping it carefully with what you consider a clear conscience, because you don't possess it through evil means and don't seek what belongs to others.

Yet if you don't heed the One who said, "Beware of all covetousness," hear what great evils you might commit for the sake of your own possessions. Imagine, for instance, that you've been made a judge. You won't be corrupted because you don't seek others' possessions; no one gives you a bribe and says, "Judge against my opponent." This is far from you—a person who doesn't seek what belongs to others—how could anyone persuade you to do this?

Yet see what evil you might do for the sake of your own goods. Perhaps the person who wants you to judge unfairly and rule in his favor against his opponent is powerful and able to bring false accusations against you, so that you would lose what you have. You consider this and think about his influence, thinking about your possessions that you love—not those you've merely possessed, but those that have unhappily possessed you. This attachment, which prevents you from having the wings of virtue free, is what you focus on. And you say to yourself, "I'm offending this influential person. He has great power in the world. He'll make false accusations against me, and I'll be outlawed and lose everything I have." Thus, you'll render an unjust judgment, not when seeking another's property, but when protecting your own.

9. Show me someone who has listened to Christ, someone who has heard with fear, "Beware of all covetousness." Don't let them say to me, "I'm a poor person, an ordinary citizen, one of the common people. How could I ever hope to be a judge? I'm not afraid of this temptation, this danger you've described." Yet even to this poor person, I'll explain what they should fear.

Some rich and powerful person asks you to give false testimony for them. What will you do now? Tell me. You have a small property of your own; you've worked for it, acquired it, and kept it. That person demands, "Give false testimony for me, and I'll give you such and such." You, who don't seek what belongs to others, say, "That's out of the question. I don't seek what God hasn't chosen to give me; I won't accept it. Leave me alone."

"You don't want to receive what I'm offering? Then I'll take away what you already have." Now examine yourself, test yourself. Why look at me? Look within yourself, examine yourself, sit in judgment of yourself, put yourself on the rack of God's commandment, and torment yourself with His fear. Don't go easy on yourself; answer yourself. If someone threatened you with this, what would you do? "I'll take away what you've worked so hard to acquire if you won't give false testimony for me."

Give him Christ's warning: "Beware of all covetousness." "O My servant," Christ will say to you, "whom I have redeemed and set free, whom I have adopted from being a servant to being a sibling, whom I have placed as a member in My body, listen to Me: He may take away what you've acquired, but he can't take Me away from you. Are you keeping your possessions so you won't perish? Haven't I told you, 'Beware of all covetousness'?"

10. Look, you're in turmoil, tossed back and forth; your heart, like a ship, is shaken by storms. Christ is asleep; wake Him who sleeps, and you'll no longer be exposed to the storm's rage. Wake Him who chose to have nothing here, and you have everything. Wake Him who went to the cross for you, whose "bones," as He hung naked, "were counted" by those who mocked Him (Psalm 22:17). "Beware of all covetousness."

Covetousness for money isn't the only kind. "Beware of all covetousness" —even covetousness for life. This is a dreadful covetousness, greatly to be feared. Sometimes a person will despise their possessions and say, "I won't give false testimony. I won't. You tell me you'll take away what I have? Take what I have! You can't take away what I have inside."

For that person wasn't left poor who said, "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return" (Job 1:21). Naked outwardly, but well-clothed within. Naked regarding these rags, these corruptible outer garments, but clothed within. With what? "Let Your priests be clothed with righteousness" (Psalm 132:9).

But what if the person says to you, after you've despised your possessions, "I will kill you"? If you've listened to Christ, answer him, "Will you kill me? Better that you should kill my body than that I should kill my soul with a lying tongue! What can you do to me? You'll kill my body; my soul will depart in freedom, to receive again at the end of the world even this body it has despised. What can you do to me then? Whereas if I give false testimony for you, I kill myself with your tongue. I don't kill my body but my soul, for 'the mouth that lies kills the soul'" (Wisdom 1:11).

But perhaps you don't say this. And why not? You want to live; you want to live longer than God has appointed for you? Do you then "beware of all covetousness" ? God has determined how long you should live, until this person confronted you. It may be that he will kill you to make you a martyr.

Don't have an excessive desire for life, and you won't face an eternity of death. You see how covetousness everywhere, when we desire more than what is necessary, causes us to sin. Let us beware of all covetousness if we want to enjoy eternal wisdom.