You shouldn’t have been following the car so closely – not on State Street at 5:30 on Friday evening. Maybe they had a brake light out – hard to tell – it all happened so quickly. One minute you’re tooling along thinking about supper, the next you’re watching the BMW trademark race toward your windshield. CRUNCH! But no one is hurt. In fact, the guy you just hit jumps out of his car. He looks at His trunk lid, looks at you, and yells, “You hit me!” Well, no, your car hit his car. It’s probably not the right time to explain that to him. But his words do tell us something: we often treat some of our possessions as an extension of ourselves. It’s true!
If I visited your home, you would probably show me some “stuff.” What you possess is a way of sharing who you are. Also, if I were to take it away, it would injure you – not physically – but it would touch you down deep. It would hurt you as a person.
We don’t have to be consumed by materialism to be affected by possessions. That’s one of the hazards of ownership. You and I live in a country that presents that hazard more strongly than any other country.
Luke 12:15 "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."
We know all about the pitfalls of ownership – the temptation of stuff – because we live right in the middle of it.
Some have attempted to argue that the model of the early Church was that of a commune – that everyone was to have equal ownership; a kind of early form of Communism. They try to support such an idea from
Acts 2:44-45 All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.
Acts 4:34-35 There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.
But I notice in all this there still was such a thing as Ownership. And Peter even said to a couple who sold their property:
Acts 5:4 Didn't it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal?
Ownership is a bad thing. It’s also called stewardship. We can say we own things and that’s not a problem as long as we understand by that what we’re saying is we are stewards of what God entrusts to us. But understand there are 2 ways to own:
1. You own the things God grants to you. And this is OK.
We recognize that this is just a temporary grant from the Lord. Just the same, we recognize that we have a God-given privilege of calling some things “mine.”
2. Things own you.
And that’s the bigger issue you and I will be looking at today. When I steal, I don’t just possess something that should belong to someone else. Something possesses me.
That’s why God issues this 8th principle that we’re going to look into this morning:
Exodus 20:15 You shall not steal.
Once again, God isn’t out to spoil our lives. He’s giving us here a principle we need to remain free and unspoiled.
I. 100 Ways to Steal
Story - Clara Null, OK City - After some last-minute Christmas shopping with her grandchildren, her friend was rushing them into the car when 4-year-old Jason said little sister Susie had something in her pocket. He reached in and pulled out a new red barrette.
She was tired, but Grandma knew it was important for Susie to put the item back where she’d found it. They did just that. Later at the grocery store, a clerk asked, "Have you kids been good so Santa will come?" Jason said, "I've been very good, but my sister just robbed a store."
Maybe you’ve never been arrested for stealing. That’s OK. I think I can still establish relevance for all of us here today. In the 1991 book The Day America Told the Truth Americans reported that 74% of them will steal from those who won't miss it.
You’ve heard of the song “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover”? One writer said there are over 100 synonyms for the act of stealing: bag, boost, embezzle, filch, knock-off, lift, misappropriate, palm, pilfer, pinch, pocket, purloin, rob, snatch, steal, thieve, whip… (sounds more like plastic surgery!)
Point is, there are a lot of ways to steal.
There’s taking tangible things away from someone else:
Like, when you were a little kid, and you made off with a piece of candy from a store. It belonged to someone else, and you took it. It was that simple. Or, someone here locally working for a college manages to steal money that was entrusted to her care. That’s stealing. We all pretty well understand that.
Deuteronomy 25:13-16 Do not have two differing weights in your bag--one heavy, one light. Do not have two differing measures in your house--one large, one small. You must have accurate and honest weights and measures, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you. For the LORD your God detests anyone who does these things, anyone who deals dishonestly.
Anyone who used scales for trading would understand this. A more recent equivalent would be the butcher who puts his thumb on the scales when he weighs your meat. Read it again, “God detests anyone who does these things, anyone who deals dishonestly.”
Another way of stealing is withholding what is due. When a boss promises wages, or an employee promises hours, or a student promises to repay a student loan, there’s a commitment to be kept. To break it is stealing and violating this 8th command.
Beyond all these, there are all the intangible things that we can steal
• You can steal someone one else’s ideas by violating copyrights, patents, or copying their answers off a test. That’s all a form of stealing.
• You can steal a person’s opportunities by unfairly denying them a job, housing, or education.
• You can steal a person’s liberty by imposing incorrect legalistic rules on them.
• You can steal a person’s well-being by over-accumulating things for yourself rather than sharing.
Every one of these things, while you may not be able to draw a picture of it or lock it in a vault, is something that can be stolen from someone else. And it doesn’t stop there. You can rob God too. “Can a person rob God?” you ask?
Malachi 3:8-9 "Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. "But you ask, 'How do we rob you?' "In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse--the whole nation of you--because you are robbing me.
And through His prophet, God goes on to explain that the people are withholding their tithes from Him and that, according to God, is robbery.
It’s also in Malachi 1 God says He is being robbed of the honor that’s due His name because of the way the people are treating their sacrifices to Him. And in more than one place, God complains that His name is robbed of credibility in the eyes of ungodly people because His own people are living lives that are lacking character.
Like I said, there are 100 ways to steal. I don’t have the time to list every one of them, but you probably get the idea!
What we do have time for is to test whether or not this topic is relevant. Take your bulletin or a piece of paper – hopefully it won’t have to be too long, and make a list of all the things you’ve stolen: books or CD’s you never returned; copyrights you violated; money borrowed but have not returned; items you sold without letting someone know there was a problem with it; people you unfairly held back; test answers you got off of someone else’s paper; hours you were paid for but didn’t work; incorrect charges that were in your favor and you didn’t correct them.
Make the list! If you’re able to write down any of those things, then this is for you a relevant subject today. There must be 100 ways to steal, and the odds are that you and I have all managed to pull off a few of them at least. Hang onto that list.
II. 2 Ways to Look at Stuff
I want to shift now from 100 ways to steal to 2 ways to look at “stuff.” Please understand that when I say, “stuff” I’m using a highly technical term for material possessions. The things of the world. Stuff.
Why is it that people steal stuff? Some because they want the thrill of getting away with it; some because it attracts friends; some for the security; some for the instant happiness. There may be a lot of reasons we do it, but I think the reason most people steal is because they haven’t kept “stuff” in perspective.
1. Adam and Eve’s first sin really was a sin of theft – they were told to not take something, and they took it. And it involved this incorrect perspective on stuff. Eve saw that it was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and desirable for gaining wisdom. She, and presumably Adam, weighed it out and decided that the value of having those things was greater than the value of their relationship with God and not dying.
2. The first sin recorded during the conquest of the Promised Land was theft. Everything in Jericho was supposed to be destroyed. But Achan was one soldier who had a skewed perspective on stuff. He knew about the rules, but, he says, (Joshua 7:21) “When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them." Achan decided that the value of that stuff was greater than the value of obedience. As a result, several people died, including Achan and his whole family. What Achan didn’t realize was that God was going to allow the soldiers to take home all the plunder from the very next city they conquered!
3. Then there’s a rich young ruler who spoke with Jesus. He was interested in spiritual things – he wondered what it took to have eternal life. Jesus told Him, "You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." When Jesus told this man that his possessions were in the way between him and Jesus, he dropped the subject and left. For him, stuff was more important than his relationship with Jesus
Story after story shows us examples of people who have the wrong perspective on “stuff.” But when I put on Godly character, when I put on Jesus, it gives me a different perspective. It gives me 2 new ways to look at stuff:
1. I don’t want to place my desire for stuff ahead of the well-being of others. I don’t want to steal.
Quote - Lily Tomlin - The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win you’re still a rat.
When I care more about stuff, I want it at the expense of others. To me, it’s worth the trouble or hurt it will cause them. I want it more than I care about them. So, if necessary, I want even to steal.
But when Jesus enters the scene, that changes.
Ill - It changed in the life of a squirrelly little tax collector named Zacchaeus. Jesus came to His house for lunch, and in a short time that Jewish turncoat who made his living by overcharging everyone for their taxes took on this new perspective. I don’t know what Jesus said during those few hours together. I don’t know what was so convicting to Zacchaeus. But I do know that he was convinced he had stolen, and I know it because of what he did:
Luke 19:8-10 Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, "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." Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."
One of the best evidences of this change is the desire to make restitution. It was an OT idea, and it was God’s idea. He commanded, in various cases, that when something was stolen, it had to be returned… and then some.
Exodus 22:1 "If a man steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters it or sells it, he must pay back five head of cattle for the ox and four sheep for the sheep.”
When I change from being a thief to being someone who’s trying to amend for my wrongs, I demonstrate that a change has taken place in me. That’s what Zacchaeus did. And that’s how I know Jesus had impacted his life. I don’t want to steal.
The 2nd way to look at stuff has to do with the way I think of God:
2. I don’t need to place my desire for stuff ahead of my trust in God to provide. I don’t need to steal
In Heb 13:5, God gives a command and also the help we need to keep that command:
Hebrews 13:5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
God doesn’t just tell us to live without being caught up in material things. He also reassures us that He’s going to take care of us in this life. When Jesus enters the scene, and we’re counting on Him to keep His promises to us, we won’t feel the need to steal.
Mt 6:26-33 "Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
If the thing that motivates me to steal is a concern that I won’t have enough on my own, God says to me, “You can stop that worrying right now!” If I feel like I have to fudge on my income taxes or expense reports at work, God says to me, “You don’t need to do that. Focus on God’s Kingdom and God’s righteousness first. All these things will be cared for.”
Appl - Would you like to be able to tell if Jesus has really entered the scene of your perspective on stuff this morning? Would you like to put it to the test? -
Take your list of things you’ve stolen, and make restitution. Return them. Return the borrowed book, the forgotten tool, the CD. Refill the supply bin. Explain why. Apologize. Say that you’re trying to right a wrong. I dare you to make it right. We might be amazed by what will happen.
Ill – In the Belfast Revival of 1922-23, converted shipyard workers brought back tools and equipment they had stolen over time. So much came back that, in one place, they had to build another storage shed to store it.
III. 3 Self-Installed Theft-control Devices
Joke - There was a sign in a bookstore at a southern university explaining the check-cashing procedure. It said the honor system was used for checks under $35. All the cashier needed to see was the student’s “ID card, driver’s license, SS card, birth certificate, fingerprints, disclosure of identifying scars or tattoos, signature of your department head and proof of citizenship.”
There are some locks that are made to keep things secure. They’re the kind that take bolt cutters or dynamite to break. Then there are the locks that wouldn’t keep a well-seasoned thief out. They’re the kind of locks that are there to “keep honest people honest.” For many people, that makes the difference though. Sometimes just a deterrent is all we need to help us keep out of trouble.
So what I want to hand over to everyone this morning are 3 locks to help us in this area of life. These are self-installed theft control devices. They’re not fool-proof, and they’re up to you to use, but they are helps to make us people of character when it comes to the 8th commandment.
1. Practice Thankfulness
The Scriptures remind us, in the midst of asking and being concerned about God’s help, to do that with an attitude of thankfulness. The fact is, being a thankful person is something that comes with practice.
Someone has said, “Envy is when you count your neighbor’s blessings.” I would suggest, at the risk of sounding trite or cliché, that thankfulness happens when you count your own blessings. When was the last time you sat down and made list of things for which to be thankful? When was the last time you determined to pray, and in your prayer, do nothing but thank God for what you have? When was the last time you decided that you would go through an entire day without one word of complaint, but rather with words of thanks to everyone you met for everything you could think of?
Deliberately practicing the art of thankfulness will be a safeguard against the temptation to steal.
Story - I have heard this story attributed to Matthew Henry, an English writer of a well-known Bible commentary. It seems he was robbed one day on the street. That day, in his journal, he made this entry: Let me be thankful, first, because I was never robbed before. Second, because although they took my wallet, they did not take my life. Third, because, although they took my all, it was not much. And, fourth, because it was I who was robbed, and not I who robbed.
The 2nd device is to
2. Practice Sharing
It’s hard to be involved in giving to others and stealing at the same time.
The 2 don’t go together – unless you’re Robin Hood!
It’s interesting to me the motivation that Paul gives for working in
Ephesians 4:28 He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need.
This goes hand-in-hand with having the right perspective on stuff. Is it really your stuff, or is it God’s stuff that He entrusts to your care?
Proverbs 19:17 He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward him for what he has done.
Proverbs 11:25 A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.
Do you believe it? Then you believe that by practicing sharing, you’ll have a device that will help you to not be one who steals.
The 3rd device is to
3. Practice Trusting God
I have been a part of groups where they attempt to teach trust by having you turn around, close your eyes, and fall backwards, hopefully to be caught by the arms of the person or persons behind you. It’s not always the easiest thing to do. But the more you practice it, the more you realize that you can count on whoever is behind you, the easier it becomes. It takes practice. And that’s the point of doing this simple act – to teach trust.
We tried this at home when our kids were small. It’s fun to watch them as they’re not quite sure that they won’t hit the floor. They’re learning to trust Mom or Dad to catch them. You can try this at home too – just make sure you catch them or it kind of spoils the effect!
When was the last time you practiced trusting God? When was the last time you did a free-fall into His arms and expected Him to catch you? I challenge you to practice trusting God.
• Trust God to bless your acts of restitution.
• Trust God to provide for you in cases where you’re tempted to steal.
• Trust God to keep His promise to never leave or forsake you.
Conclusion:
Matthew 16:26 What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? Answer? Nothing. No good. There’s nothing in this world that a person can gain, by stealing or by honest labor, that is of greater value than his soul.
Poem - By English poet William Wordsworth:
The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers:
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
There are no funeral hearses with U-Haul trailers behind them! And yet, all around us are people who live their entire lives for the sake of things, even stealing them if necessary.
We need the perspective that comes when Jesus enters the scene. We need to have the blessing that comes from seeking first His kingdom and His righteousness.
