INTRODUCTION
• SLIDE #1
• Edward Blaine who had spent 20 years in prison for bank robbery back in 1963 thought he would try again in 2003 in Spotsylvania County, Virginia.
• According to The Free-Lance Star of Fredericksburg, Blaine walked up to two tellers at Union Bank & Trust and ordered them to "be cool" and give him all the money in large bills. The culprit had a gun in his pocket, Johnson said, but never pulled it out.
• He received several thousand dollars from two surprised bank cashiers at the Union Bank and Trust in Port Royal, and as he fled he spilled $100 notes in his wake as he attempted to stuff the cash into his pockets and get away.
• When he reached his hired getaway car he realized that he had locked his keys inside. Then Mr. Blaine began beating on the window with a piece of wood. The commotion drew the attention of two civilians, who began chasing him.
• The fleeing felon attempted to pull out his gun but failed, and shot himself in his leg but kept fighting his would be arresters; one of whom shot the suspect in the leg also.
• The local police charged the robber with 8 felonies, including robbery and 2 counts of attempted murder. The suspect was attended to in hospital and recovered.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/bungling-burglar-has-ivery-i-bad-day/
• When one accepts Jesus as their Lord and Savior, our life should start to change.
• For some people the change is fast and dramatic, for others, it is much slower; nonetheless, because of who we now belong to, our life should be different than the life that we lived before we accepted Jesus.
• The passage we are going to dig though today is one that deals with stealing and no longer stealing.
• We are not to steal, and most of us probably think we have either never stolen anything.
• In our time together this morning, we will look at the issue of stealing; however, we are going to focus on the heart behind what drives one to steal versus the type of heart one in Christ should possess.
• SLIDE #2
• Ephesians 4:28 (HCSB) The thief must no longer steal. Instead, he must do honest work with his own hands, so that he has something to share with anyone in need.
• SLIDE #3
SERMON
I. The old way of life centered on being selfish.
• Paul is writing to the church that is very young and is full of folks who were from the Gentile world.
• Those who came to Jesus as Jews had a stronger base from which to build from; however, those who were Gentiles, for the most part did not have a strong base from which to build their faith.
• So here Paul addresses what would seem to be one of those Captain Obvious moments, THE THIEF MUST NO LONGER STEAL!
• I would hope as we are engaged together this morning, that we do not have to deal with the issue of stealing; however, there are many in our country who struggle with this sin.
• According to the web site Business 2 Community, from statistics from 2015, the amount stolen annually from U.S. businesses by employees stands at $50 billion.
• I do not believe that includes the cost to business for loss prevention.
• Business in the U.S. loses 7% of their annual revenues to theft and fraud by employees.
• At 75% of employees have stolen at least once from their and 37.5% have stolen at LEAST twice.
• 33% of all business bankruptcies are caused by employee theft according to the Statistics on STATISTICBRAIN.com.
• 29% of employees who had ides stolen at work who decided to pilfer from their place of employment is 29%.
• And on average it takes two years from employee fraud to be detected.
• WOW! Some businesses work on such small margins, one can see how losing 7% of their revenue to theft from employees could shut them down.
• Another common crime is shoplifting. According to StatisticBrain’s web site as well as others, businesses lose $13 billion a year to shoplifting.
• Estimates show that there are 27 million shoplifters in the U.S. with 10 million of them getting caught in the last 5 years.
• By the way, the odds of getting caught shoplifting are 1 in 48. 55% of shoplifters state they started as teens.
• Let us recognize that stealing in the broad sense is not unknown among present-day Christians.
• Deans of students in any Christian school can elaborate on this problem at some length.
• Income tax returns, insurance claims, stealing office supplies, and examinations in school are only a few examples of situations where Christians are many times less than honest.
• O.k. time to step out of the stats and dig deeper.
• WHY would folks steal from their employer or shoplift?
• It comes down to being selfish, someone wants what someone else has and they are not willing to work for it, they will steal it to get it.
• The root sin behind one who steals is selfishness. The thief only cares about getting what they want, they do not care if they put a small business persons like Jo Mann or Gary Lee out of business.
• When one steals, they are taking what another person has labored for. It should be easy to see how wrong that is.
• Wasting time at work is another way to steal.
• According to an article in Forbes from a study done in 2014 with 75o0 employees surveyed...
• The number of people who now admit to wasting time at work every day has reached a whopping 89%.
• Employees are spending longer periods than ever before “wasting time.” Employers, be prepared for alarm as you review the newest statistical breakdown:
• 31% waste roughly 30 minutes daily
• 31% waste roughly 1 hour daily
• 16% waste roughly 2 hours daily
• 6% waste roughly 3 hours daily
• 2% waste roughly 4 hours daily
• 2% waste 5 or more hours daily
• The estimated loss by employers during the first 2 days of March Madness is $175 million. http://www.forbes.com/sites/cherylsnappconner/2013/09/07/who-wastes-the-most-time-at-work/#76cf9a677b3a
• Some of those who came to Jesus was slaves and slaves of that day would steal from their master if the opportunity arose, so Paul wants everyone to know that stealing is not the right thing to do as a Christian.
• Selfishness is something that we all need to make sure we do not allow to creep into our lives.
• It is so easy to fall into the trap of thinking we deserve things we did not earn. We have seen the Christmas videos of the kids who did not get what they wanted so they threw a fit.
• Selfishness causes all kinds of trouble with the Church family as well as within other relationships we have in life.
• SLIDE #4
• James 3:16 (HCSB) For where envy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every kind of evil.
• Jesus calls us to a different way of life.
• SLIDE #5
II. The call to a new way of living.
• The second phrase in verse 28 of Ephesians 4 states, “Instead, he must do honest work with his own hands”
• Paul uses this word WORK in connection with manual labor (1 Cor. 4:12; 2 Tim. 2:6; cf. the noun in 1 Thess. 1:3; 2:9; 2 Thess. 3:8); and also in connection with religious work (Rom. 16:12 twice; 1 Cor. 15:10; Gal. 4:11; Phil. 2:16; 1 Thess. 5:12; 1 Tim. 4:10; 5:17).
• Instead of being selfish, we are called to be industrious. When one decides they will work for what they receive, they will be in a better state, and they will appreciate what they have because they earned it.
• I went to High School with a number of my friends whose families bought them nice cars, and most of those students did not take care of their cars because they did not have to work for them, or much anything else in their lives.
• Someone once said that hard work never killed anyone, but why take the chance!
• The Bible speaks highly of work. The Apostle Paul made tents while he served the various churches so that he would not be a burden to them.
• I have always tried to make sure that folks have no cause to call me lazy since being in ministry allows me to determine how I use my time.
• SLIDE #6
• Proverbs 14:23 (HCSB) There is profit in all hard work, but endless talk leads only to poverty.
• Proverbs 21:25 (HCSB) A slacker’s craving will kill him because his hands refuse to work.
• There is something satisfying about working hard and accomplishing something.
• I remember looking at a sweet car drive by when I was with my dad, I told him I wanted that car, he told me to work hard and one day I could get one.
• Working hard has its rewards.
• Three boys were bragging about who had the best dad. The first boy said, “My dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, calls it a poem, and they give him $100.”
• The second boy jumps in and says, “That’s nothing. My dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, calls it a song, and they give him $1,000.”
• The third boy grins and says, “Oh, yeah? My dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, calls it a sermon, and it takes six men just to collect all the money!”
• The scriptural injunction is not merely that stealing cease, nor even that restitution be made.
• The Christian principle is laid down that each man should toil honestly at what is good, not merely to meet his own needs and thereby avoid temptation to thievery, but to be able to amass a surplus to help others in need.
• This is in stark contrast to the prevalent attitude that assumes that one is entitled to the supply of needs, whether or not he wishes to work.
• By working diligently, the individual removes some of the temptation to steal, and by assisting others in need, he helps remove the temptation from them also. (The Glory of the Church: Studies in Ephesians)
• There is more to this than just working hard.
• SLIDE #7
III. New life, new focus.
• Paul wants the Ephesians to stop stealing and to practice honesty. But he wants more than that.
• Paul realizes that back of this sin of stealing lies a more basic fault, namely, selfishness.
• Hence, he strikes at the very root of the evil, for, by turning the attention of the thief, whether actual or potential, away from himself to the needs of other people, he strives to give him a new interest in life, a new joy.
• When we work, we are not to be selfish with what we have earned, but rather we are to look for ways to help our brothers and sisters in Christ when needs arise.
• The last part of verse 28 states: so that he has something to share with anyone in need.
• We are not called to hoard what we have, our attitude is to change from one of being selfish, to selfless!
• We are to help one another. At FCC, we have Caring By Sharing. That fund is used to help those in the church family with needs as they may arise. People give generously to that fund and it allows FCC to help folks when in need.
• It is a good feeling as well as a good thing to be able to help those in need.
• When we are in Christ, our sole focus cannot be on self, it must be on others also.
• Jesus was always cognizant of the needs around Him. Jesus did not ignore the needs of others, nor should we.
• The biblical motive for possessions is not personal or selfish gain but the opportunity to assist others (for biblical injunctions on giving, see Matt. 19:21; Luke 14:13; John 13:29; Acts 2:44; 4:32–37; 6:1–4; Rom. 15:25–29; 2 Cor. 8 and 9).
CONCLUSION
• I have been around selfish people; I have been a selfish person before. Their lives are marked by anger, entitlement, and sadness.
• I have been around those who are selfless in their giving, they are joyful people.
• I have found that those in the church who come to be served are never happy, those who come to serve are joyful.
• Those who come to serve are not seeking to be recognized for all they do or to be the spotlight of attention, they serve the Lord with joy no matter what!
• I know not many if any in here today are thieves, but what about the underlying issue of being selfish?
• God calls us to be selfless, not selfish. Selfless will change your world, selfish will do nothing but frustrate!
