Exodus 20:15
June 14, 2009
What’s Yours is Mine
YOU SHALL NOT STEAL
In his book on the Ten Commandments, Cecil Myers, described a painting by Norman Rockwell showing a woman buying her Thanksgiving turkey. The turkey is lying on the scale and the butcher is standing in back of the counter, apron pulled tight over his stomach, a pencil tucked behind his ear. The customer, is a well dressed lady about sixty, watching the weigh-in. Each of them has a pleased look on their face as though each knows a secret joke. Rockwell lets us in on the joke by showing us their hands. The butcher is pushing down on the scale with his big thumb. The woman is pushing up on the scale with her dainty finger. Neither is aware what the other is doing.
Cecil Meyers wrote about that painting saying, "Both the butcher and the lovely lady would resent being called thieves. The lovely lady would never rob a bank or steal a car. The butcher would be indignant if anyone accused him of stealing; and if a customer gave him a bad check, he would call the police. But neither saw anything wrong with a little deception that would make a few cents for one or save a few cents for the other."
Rockwell gives us a picture of how we seek to live, trying to manipulate life for our advantage. The Ten Commandments remind us that there are eternal laws which we must live by.
What if you receive too much change from the cashier and you know it. Or you weren’t charged a lesser amount for an item. What do you do? Do you say nothing and walk away, assuming they probably overcharged you for something else? Or do you tell the cashier? Because you know if they overcharge you, you will certainly let them know. So if we tell them when they overcharge us, would it make sense to tell them if they undercharge us? If we know about it and don’t tell the cashier, are we stealing?
You see, when we think of stealing, we think of people like Bernie Madoff who defrauded people of over $65 billion, or Charles Keating in the late 1980’s of about $285 million. We think about people who have lied and cheated so that they could swindle, embezzle and defraud. We don’t include ourselves in that definition of a thief. Yet, stealing can take many shapes, sizes and amounts. Ranging from $1 to millions. Does our Lord condemn the one and turn His cheek at the other?
When Charles Keating was convicted, his defense team brought out his children and grandchildren; and they wept before the judge, saying, “We love our grandpa. He’s a good man. If he goes to prison he’ll die there. We won’t get to grow up with him or spend time with him. Please don’t do this to him.” Those are heart wrenching words, but do you think Charles Keating ever thought about the consequences of his actions? Do you think he ever imagined a tearful court room scene like that? Or Bernie Madoff’s ponzi scheme forcing 90 year old people to return to work? Obviously not.
Stealing occurs when we take something from someone else without his or her permission with the intent of keeping that item, knowing we should have asked in the first place. Simple stealing is easy for us to understand, and for most of us it isn’t something we engage in on a regular basis. Children have a simple philosophy of life. The way they look at the world, and proclaim, what’s mine is mine, and what’s yours is mine, if I can get to it. Watching children play by themselves or with another child can be pretty entertaining and educational. When children say “mine” we smile and giggle at them, it’s kind of amusing, especially when it’s not your child. Yet, when an adult exhibits this sort of behavior, we shake our heads in disgust. We view this sort of behavior as criminal and sinful.
We are supposed to learn as we grow older, that some things belong to other people and we simply cannot have them. They are not ours to have. If you walk into a bank and demand money, you are a thief. If you stick a candy bar in your pocket and walk out of the store you are a thief. It seems simple doesn’t it? In a way it is just this simple on the surface, but underneath it becomes more complicated. You see, you don’t have to pull a knife or a gun to steal. The eighth commandment applies equally to knowingly taking that extra $1, as well as those assets from a savings and loan.
I wondered why would the Lord make this one of the ten commandments? Why does God not want you to take something that isn’t yours. Obviously, we can say this is wrong. But why include it in a list of restrictions against murder, adultery, and worshiping false gods?
The answer comes in two ways. First, these commandments were given to us by God because He loves us and does not want us to harm ourselves or do anything that would hinder our relationship with Him. Second, and directly related to stealing, God does not want us to do this, because God is our provider. It’s as if God was saying, ‘I want you to believe that I am the One who will supply all of your needs. I don’t want you to scheme, manipulate and deceive to obtain things. I don’t want you to feel responsible for securing your own future. I will provide for you. Will you trust me?’
The truth is, every time we steal something, whether it’s large or small, we’re saying, “I will be my own provider. I can do better than God. If I don’t do it now, I will lose out.” But God wants us to understand that when we fully place our trust in Him, we’re never the loser. Through this commandment God wanted to say to you and I, “Let Me provide for you. Trust Me, test me, rest in Me and be content with what you have.”
So, if God wants to provide for us, and we can admit that, then why steal?
We want instant gratification and happiness. We think taking something that isn’t ours is going to solve all of our problems. Yet, it just creates more problems. Unfortunately, we are so self-absorbed at the present time that we can’t look forward to see if there are any consequences or if we may hurt other people.
A man walked into a branch of a Bank of America with the intent of robbing the bank, and in very poor English wrote "this iz a stikkup. put all your muny in this bag." While standing in line, waiting to give his note to the teller, he began to worry that someone had seen him write the note and might call the police. So he left the Bank of America and crossed the street to Wells Fargo. After waiting a few minutes in line, he handed his note to the Wells Fargo teller. She read it and, assumed from his spelling that he wasn’t too bright, she told him she could not accept his stickup note because it was written on a Bank of America deposit slip and that he would either have to fill out a Wells Fargo deposit slip or go back to Bank of America. The man said "OK" and left. The Wells Fargo teller called the police who arrested the man a few minutes later, as he was waiting in line at the Bank of America.
It doesn’t take the brightest bulb in the chandelier to be a thief. In fact, it seem that stupidity is a requirement. Because we’re going to get caught. Consider another man who walked into a bank, and handed the teller a note demanding money. When he arrived home, he found the police waiting for him. It seems that this bank robber had written the robbery note on his own deposit slip. The police simply went to his house and waited for him.
God knows very well that money will not buy happiness. We think it might, but it won’t. Nor can taking someone else’s possessions bring peace and joy into your life. They never have and never will. Yet, satan continues to deceive us and encourages us to fill our pockets until they are full. He tells us, ‘take what you can get, because if you don’t do it now, you may lose out forever.’
We steal because we think somebody owes us something. Whether it’s a friend, spouse, store, or employer we just aren’t satisfied with what we have. How many of you would say that you are being overpaid? Most of us believe we are underpaid, so in order to bring us up to speed, we justify taking things from work. Who is going to miss that stapler, and these pens work great, and, O yea, it’s much cheaper to call my family and friends from work since they live out of state. Maybe we come late and leave early, we take excessively long breaks when at work, thinking nobody knows, and who cares. But, aren’t we stealing?
A study by the University of Florida says that 1 out of 12 customers in a store could be a shoplifter. The latest estimate is that each American consumer pays around $400 a year to cover the cost of those losses.
Insurance companies say 30% of all business failures each year are a direct result of internal theft. Hotel managers say that 30% of their guests steals something.
There’s the story about someone who sent a family 4 tickets to a football game, but they didn’t know who sent them. They tried to figure it out, but they thought, “It’s probably someone we know who wanted to surprise us.” They went to the game thinking maybe the people who sent the tickets would be sitting next to them, but they weren’t. So they enjoyed the game and still couldn’t figure it out. But when they got home, their house was ransacked. It was a thief who had sent those tickets. So, if you get anonymous tickets to a game in the mail, beware.
I want to look at some other types of stealing, as well as what we consider is the normal stealing.
You also steal when you cheat. In a recent poll 35% of executives overstate tax deductions, 75% take work supplies home for personal use, and 78% use the business phone for long distance personal calls. We also have cheating that occurs in our schools; cheating on tests, copying someone else’s work because of laziness. We even cheat at work when we steal somebody else’s ideas, and then take credit for them.
There is also borrowing theft. If you permanently borrow things, it’s stealing. Ever loan a book to someone and never got it back, or a piece of equipment, cooking utensils or bakeware. Maybe you know you have someone else’s belongings, but you justify keeping them because you might use that item again, so why return it, when you might have to borrow it again. And besides, they haven’t asked for it back, and hopefully they forgot about it.
Then there is something I will call reputation theft. Someone’s reputation can be demolished by devilish jealousy and gossip. It is so hard to get a good reputation, and almost impossible to regain it. Someone’s name means a lot. We should be careful to not steal what they’ve accomplished all their life. Five minutes of gossip can destroy what someone’s worked on for years. Some people do not come to church because of gossip that has been spread. We need to be careful of damaging reputations.
We have even made the distinction between blue collar and white collar crime. If a person embezzles money from a business we call it a white collar crime, but it is blue collar if he breaks into someone’s home, yet, he is just as guilty. When a government official misuses public money, he or she has stolen and is a criminal. Call it whatever you want, paint a nice white face on it, but it is still stealing and God has forbidden us to participate in it.
But we have been talking about things. About belongings and money. We may also steal spirituality from people. When we fail to proclaim Christ, we have stolen a chance for salvation. When we degrade another person we steal their joy.
Finally, think about the words of Malachi 3, when God tells us we are robbing Him. Listen to these words ~
8 "Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. "But you ask, ’How do we rob you?’
"In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.
Think about what it means to steal from God who is our provider. God tells us that when it comes to our giving back to Him, we cheat and rob Him. He says give me your tithe, which means give me 10% of your money and wait and see what I do for you. God says when we trust Him like that He will open up the floodgates of blessings in our lives. But remember, the way God blesses you may not look like you want it to look.
We also steal from God when we refuse to serve God. We do it by thinking others will do it, I don’t need to. So we rob the church and others who would benefit from our gifts, talents and skills that God has blessed us with.
We steal from God’s kingdom when we do not give Him our time. We claim our lives get so cluttered and busy that we cannot find time for God. When that happens we not only steal from God and others, but we end up hurting ourselves and the plan God has for us. So in the end, we end up stealing from ourselves.
So, what’s the Prescription?
If we find ourselves stuck in this type of deception, how do we go about repairing our lives? Indeed, why would we want to make the effort? Putting it simply we have an obligation to live a life filled with integrity. The world is looking at us to be a moral beacon, a shining light, a ray of hope, so we can guide those around us.
The first step in this restoration process is to admit our sins. To realize that we’ve made mistakes and actively set out to right the wrongs. God knows our hearts, and what we’ve done in our lives, so we need to examine ourselves and agree with Him. Then we must repent for our actions. Sometimes we need to shock the world with our changes.
Think about the story in Luke 19 of that short little guy, Zacchaeus. After meeting Jesus, Zacchaeus’ life was forever changed. This dishonest tax collector, who stole from people, had his life transformed; and he told Jesus, 8 “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount."
Zacchaeus gave back four times more than he actually took. Changing like that would have been a shock to all those around him.
After repentance, we must also make restitution. We must repay the things that we have stolen. That is often easier said than done, but the effort must be made if we are to restore our relationship with God. And stealing is one way to ruin that relationship.
To protect our relationship with God, we must live a life of integrity. Ephesians 4:28 says: Let him that stole, steal no more: But rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that has a need.
This means that we profit by a fair day of work, and when we do that we can also begin to help others who are less fortunate and have a need.
Stealing seems to be a common thing, almost a natural occurrence in our society. We are shocked when someone doesn’t steal. They are looked at as different and weird. Yet, God calls us to be different, so that we stand out to the world, not with pride and ego, but in joy at our obedience to God, honoring Him with our actions. We become that beacon of light, the shining light, who adds flavor to the world desperately searching for real life. Let us be that great witness in the world around us who believe we are to give to the Lord, as He has given to us, and we give to one another, simply and wonderfully, because of His love for us. Always remembering that whether we have much or little, God is our provider.
