<p>5:5 <i>For this you know for sure, that no fornicator, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God</i>- Eph. 5:3-5 has some surprises for the attentive reader; the black words on white paper have an uncanny power: &quot;This ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, <i>nor covetous man</i>, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ&quot;. It's easy to assume that the coveting is of a sexual nature. But frequently Paul reels off a list of spectacular sins and inserts in the list one or two issues we would consider rather common to all men and of a different order of failure. He does this to highlight the seriousness of those apparently lesser sins. The list of sexual perversions here are the sort of words we whisk past, in the relieved confidence that <i>they</i> don't apply to us. But covetousness is there listed as a carnal sin, along with sexual perversions. That's how bad it is. No one who is covetous will be in the Kingdom. And therefore it's hard for a rich man to be in the Kingdom. In fact, the Lord says, it's humanly impossible for a rich man to get there; it's only through God's gracious working to make it possible that it can happen, that a rich man will scrape into the Kingdom (Mt. 19:23-26). <i>Every one of us has the elements of covetousness very close to the surface. </i>Materialism is perhaps the direct equivalent of idol worship under the old covenant. They were to not even desire &ldquo;the silver and gold that is on them&hellip; for it is an abomination to the Lord thy God&hellip; thou shalt utterly detest it; and <i>thou</i> like God shalt utterly abhor it&rdquo; (Dt. 7:25,26). God despises idolatry; and we also must go a step beyond merely avoiding materialism; we must despise it.</p><p>&quot;This you know for sure&quot; suggests that this hard line against covetousness and idolatry was known by all Christian converts as part of their instruction in the Gospel. &quot;The Kingdom of Christ and God&quot; is an unusual phrase, as usually &quot;the Kingdom of God&quot; is spoken about. Perhaps the idea is that God's Kingdom is also going to be that of Christ, and He should therefore reign as King over His people, who should be devoted to being Christ-like.</p>