Peace Lutheran Church Sussex, Wisconsin

Congregation at Prayer: September 21, 2025

Ten Commandments — Ninth and Tenth Commandments

Download (Adobe PDF)
Catechesis Notes for Week — The Ninth and Tenth Commandments—This week’s Bible Passage is the Lord’s call to: “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness…”  As we meditate upon the Ninth and Tenth Commandments this week, which forbid covetousness (the idolatrous desire of the heart), we are called to DESIRE and YEARN for Christ and His righteousness above all things.  Jesus’ words are a call to faith in Him.  It is as if He were saying, “I am your God and Savior!  I have taken your sin and punishment upon Myself.  I have died for you upon the cross.  My blood cleanses you from all sin. I forgive you all your sin on account of My death for you.  My righteousness covers you.  I am the source of your life and salvation.  If you have Me by faith, then you will have all things that you need because I have redeemed and saved you and I will never abandon you.  All that you need I will surely give you.”  “Therefore,” as Jesus’ words go on to say, “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.  Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”  The sin of covetousness arises out of the rebellious, unbelieving heart that does not believe that Jesus and His righteousness are sufficient to supply us with all that we need and that He, Himself, is the greatest joy and delight of our hearts.  Therefore, covetousness is not merely the desiring of wrong things or good things that we shouldn’t have, but more importantly, it is the belief that Christ is not enough for us.  This week’s Bible Stories highlight the themes of covetousness from the Ninth and Tenth Commandments.  Covetousness is always selfish and mean-spirited.  We see the devastating results of this idolatrous desire in Ahab who Covets Naboth’s Vineyard.  The Fall of Man into Sin began with the covetous desire planted in our first parents by the Serpent who accused God of not loving us and of withholding good gifts from us.  When Jesus calls us to confess Him and “Take Up Our Cross and Follow Him,” He is calling us to a life of repentance in which the covetous desires of the Old Adam are continually put to death through contrition, confession, and absolution, along with a life of prayer that clings to Christ and His grace for help.  The Rich Young Ruler turns away from the only one who is really good, God’s only Son, in favor of clinging to the wealth and works of his own hands that can never really satisfy. The only thing any of us really lack is Christ and His righteousness, but the wonder of the Gospel is that the One whom we lack—the only Good One—actually gives Himself to us as a free gift of His grace that we might live in Him.

CP250921