Don't Take My Towels!!
Exodus 20:15 15 “You shall not steal.
The popular TV show is back, where crooks teach us how to protect ourselves from people like them
Synonyms for stealing:
Extortion, burglary, defraud, misappropriate, cheat, embezzle, rob, swindle.
1 Corinthians 6:10
10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
When Israel conquered Jericho they were instructed not to take of the spoils of that city...but one guy was just ‘Achan’ to have these things himself. It resulted in judgment for everyone, and Joshua was told by God to take Achan, his family, and all his possessions, stone them, pile them in a heap, and burn them to ashes. Then Joshua turned to Israel and said, “Now don’t steal.” Do you think they got the message that day?
Used to be you’d go to bed at night and not worry about locking the door. Today we lock it, put bars on the windows, install a security system, and train the dog to kill!
But we’re all guilty in this matter, in one way or another. It goes all the way to the top as some in ministry misappropriate funds, politicians and CEOs alike do shady deals. I heard an estimate that if you stopped all theft in America we would balance the national budget in 3 years!
3 STEALERS
1. SIMPLE STEALER
A. This is the common, ordinary thief. From cds,
Cigarettes and batteries to bicycles, cars, and the like. Why buy when you can just take!
Ill.—man told his wife to fire the maid...he caught her stealing their bath towels. His wife asked, “Which towels did she take?” “The ones we got on vacation from that Holiday Inn!
B. Shoplifting—How strong do you have to be to do this? Seriously, the US Dept. of Commerce estimates that 35 million Americans
engage in this every year.
1. That’s one in every 50 shoppers.
2. About 5 million get caught.
3. Next time you go to Wal-Mart, look around at the other 500 people in there, and realize that 10 of them are there to steal
something!
4. Who pays for that? We all do!
C. Know this: That God knows about it. And there’s no statute of limitations with Him. Make it right!
Proverbs 15:3, "The eyes of the LORD are in every place ,beholding the evil and the good.
D. Most thieves look left and right, before and behind, to see if someone was watching, but they need to look p!
E. They ‘eye in the sky’ is a hidden camera in every place, and the only way to erase the tape is to immerse it in the blood of Christ!
Making it right involves not only confession, but also making restitution.
Ill.—Zacchaeus got saved and restored to everyone he had wronged 4 fold.
The Simple stealer...
2. SOPHISTICATED STEALER
Even Christians fall prey to these things, and don’t realize they are stealing.
• Employee theft—“The Day America Told the Truth” is a very revealing book on ethics. When it comes to work ethics
A. The average employee said they spent 10% of their time goofing off.
B. Over ½ surveyed said they called in sick on occasion when all they were sick of was working.
C. Other employees told of coming in late and leaving early, taking extended breaks, falsifying their time card, You are to give honest
work for honest day's pay.
Ephesians 4:28
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 needs.
Ill.--JC Penney recalled riding on a street car and the driver not asking for his nickel. He got home and told his father about it, who replied,
Son, today you sold your honor for a nickel!
• Employer theft—business owners, bosses...listen up. James 5:4 4 Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields
are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty.
It is a form of stealing to take advantage of people in dire straits...to accept work but not give a fair wage. Just because you can doesn’t mean that you should.
Ill.—prospective employee asked the interviewing boss what his wages would be. “Exactly what you’re worth” came the answer. “Oh, I could never live on that!”
• Paying taxes—“Um, I need to use the bathroom!” No, sit down, and face the music!
Luke 20:25
25 He said to them, “Then give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
Romans 13:7
7 Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor..
No normal human enjoys paying taxes, but in a civilized society it is a necessary evil. Tax evasion is a form of stealing. Tax avoidance is perfectly legal. Trying to pay as little as possible is fine, and normal. But God wants His children to be honest.
• Unpaid debt—Christians should pay their bills, and on time. And if unable to do so, you should call your creditors and make
arrangements, rather than try to dodge them.
Romans 13:8 Owe no man any thing...
Just try to do the right thing, and God will reward you. Maybe your creditor won’t give you grace or be reasonable. That’s no excuse to not do what’s right, trusting God with your end result.
• Cheating in school—a math teacher at Vanderbilt University would say to his class at exam time: I’m about to give you 2 tests...1 is in Trigonometry and the other is in honesty. If you must fail one of these tests, please let it be the trig. Lots of good people cannot pass trig, but no good people who cannot pass in honesty.
Ill.—a football player was unusually dumb, and cheated regularly off the honor student next to him. The teacher always suspected this, but never had proof until the final exam when the honor student wrote next to one question, I don’t know, and the football player wrote, “Me Neither!”
The essence of stealing is found in one word: TAKING
Everything God controls GIVES. For God so loved the world that he GAVE...
But Satan is about taking. He robs, kills, and destroys. Satan initiated man’s fall in the garden of Eden by getting Eve to TAKE something that didn’t belong to her.
When we give we are behaving like God, and when we take we are like Satan. We are never more like Satan than when we rebel and take, rather than give!
I. The simple stealer,
II. The sophisticated stealer...
3. SPIRITUAL STEALER
Malachi 3:8
Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
Our new believers don’t know they are stealing until God tells them, which is now!
Malachi 3:9-11
9 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. 10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. 11 And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field...
Tithe = 10% of your increase [income or other blessings you receive] to the local spiritual storehouse where you are fed out of spiritually.
A. God blesses His people when they obey in this area, and a financial curse is upon those who don't
Ill.—man went to his preacher and said, I used to tithe back when I only made a couple hundred dollars a week. But now I make a couple thousand a week and I’m having trouble letting go of that big of a tithe. Pray for me.
The pastor got on his knees beside the man and prayed, God, Phil here was able to obey before, but can’t seem to now. So I pray you’ll bring about circumstances that will reduce his salary back to where it used to be so he can tithe. The man jumped up and said, never mind, I can tithe!
The Tithe
A. Abraham commenced it long before the law
B. Moses commanded it
C. Jacob continued it
D. Jesus commended it
E. Who are we to cancel it?
B. The tithe is a trust fund, because you are saying, God, I trust you with my finances.
1. I believe 90% w/ your blessing will go further Than 100% that is cursed.
2. Shoes last longer and the roof is stronger!
3. If my faith wasn’t strong enough to tithe, there is doubt whether it’s truly strong enough to get me to heaven.
If you can trust God w/ your soul then you can trust Him with your finances.
God owns it all anyway. He doesn’t need our money. He wants our heart. Tithing is not His way of raising money, it’s His way of raising Christians!
Without faith it’s impossible to please Him.
Don’t rob from God and don’t rob yourself of the blessing
A. We live in an extraordinarily materialistic and
consumerist society.
1. Immersed in a culture that feeds an appetite for more and bigger
2.It fosters the myth that selfworth is found in material wealth and that happiness is found in possessing things
2. 30 year olds feel like failures because they don’t have the kind of house and car that their parents own,
4. 40-year-olds feel unsuccessful because they aren’t millionaires.
B. Millions of couples struggle under oppressive levels of debt that strain marriages, destroy happiness, and intensify conflict and
anxiety.
As one radio host says, “We buy things we don’t need with money we don’t have to impress people we don’t even know.”
C. Jesus emphasizes that all money belongs to God.
1.For example, if we drive a company car, we know that it’s not our car.
2. It’s to be used for the company.
3. And God wants us to use our possessions with that attitude.
D. God is letting us use the money HE gives us in order to reach the world for Jesus Christ.
1. What a relief that is.
2. Our money is not our money it’s God’s money.
3. And it is only through God that we possess it.
4. As Christians we need not worry about trying to ‘keep up with the Jones’.’
That’s not what we are about.
What a stress-reliever!!!
God will provide for our needs.
We need not worry.
Jesus tells us: “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet their heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”
When people with different incomes are asked, “How much more income would it take for you to be happy” they answer in surprisingly consistent ways, saying that 20 percent more income would ease their burdens, help them buy all they needed, and bring security.
1. People $10,000 think of $12,000 will bring happiness,
2. earning $50,000 think with $60,000 they get on
3.those earning $500,000 feel that with only $100,000 more income, they will finally have it made!
At the root, this is a spiritual problem.
We can never earn enough money to be happy when we believe that satisfaction, self-definition, and meaning come principally from possessions.
At some point, we must decide whether we will listen to the wisdom of the world or the wisdom of God!
A. Proportional giving and tithing forces us to look at our earning, saving and spending through the eyes of God.
1. It reminds us that our ultimate self-worth comes from our assurance that we are children of God,created by God, loved by God and saved by God!
2. That’s when true happiness begins!!!
B. When we stop worrying about money and possessions
we are set free to live—really live and give—really
give our entire lives to God!!!
1. When we rob God we are really robbing
ourselves!
The greatest beneficiaries of generous-active giving is the giver!
Giving increases our faith, frees us from anxiety, and brings us closer in our walk with God!
Sir John Templeton, chairman of the $15 billion Templeton fund is quoted as saying: “I have watched over 100,000 families over my years of investment counseling.
I always saw greater prosperity and happiness among those families who tithed than among those who didn’t.”
William Colgate, The Soap Man
Many years ago a lad of sixteen years left home to seek his fortune. All his worldly possessions were tied in a bundle, which he carried in his hand. As he trudged along he met an old neighbor, the captain of a canal boat, and the following conversation took place, which changed the whole current of the boy's life:
"Well, William, where are you going?"
"I don't know," he answered, "Father is too poor to keep me at home any longer and says I must now make a living for myself."
"There's no trouble about that," said the captain. "Be sure you start right, and you'll get along finely."
William told his friend that the only trade he knew anything about was soap and candle making, at which he had helped his father while at home.
"Well," said the old man, "let me pray with you once more, and give you a little advice, and then I will let you go."
They both knelt down upon the towpath; the dear old man prayed earnestly for William and then gave this advice: "Someone soon will be the leading soapmaker in New York. It can be you as well as anyone. I hope it may. Be a good man; give your heart to Christ; pay the Lord all that belongs to Him of every dollar you earn; make an honest soap; give a full pound, and I am certain that you will be a prosperous and rich man."
When the boy arrived in the city, he found it hard to get work. Lonesome and far from home, he remembered his mother's words and the last words of the canal boat captain. He was then led to "seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness," and united with the church. He remembered his promise to the old captain, and the first dollar he earned brought up the question of the Lord's part. In the Bible he found that the Jews were commanded to give one-tenth; so he said, "If the Lord will take one-tenth, I will give that."
Having regular employment, he soon became a partner. After a few years his partner died, and William became the sole owner of the business.
He now resolved to keep his promise to the old captain; he made an honest soap gave a full pound, and instructed his bookkeeper to open an account with the Lord, and carry one-tenth of all his income to that account. He prospered; his business grew; his family was blessed; his soap sold, and he grew rich faster than he had ever hoped. He then gave two-tenths; prospered more than ever; then he gave three-tenths; then four-tenths; then five-tenths.
He educated his family; settled all his plans for life; and gave all his income to the Lord's work. He prospered more than ever. This is the story of Colgate, who has given millions of dollars to the Lord's cause, and left a name that will never die
What are we bringing God?
Tithing means that, as believers—we give one-tenth of our income to the Lord.
In our Scripture Lesson for this morning, God says, “Bring the whole tithe into my storehouse…Test me in this…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.”
“Storehouse tithing” means that we give our tithe to God through the local church.
This is God’s designated storehouse!!!
