• Exodus 20:3-17 (NIV)
[3] You shall have no other gods before me.
[4] You shall not make for yourself an idol. . .
[7] You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God. . .
[8] Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. . .
[12] Honor your father and your mother. . .
[13] You shall not murder.
[14] You shall not commit adultery.
[15] You shall not steal.
[16] You shall not give false testimony . . .
[17] You shall not covet.
INTRODUCTION:
As we look today at the eighth commandment, “You shall not steal,” here are a couple of stories to remind us that crime does not pay.
A London taxi driver found an ingenious way to keep his cab clean. He would wrap up the leftovers from his lunch together with any other garbage he found in the cab in a newspaper each day and leave it in the backseat of his cab. By the end of the day, it was always gone. Someone stole it hoping for a treasure but ended up with a big surprise instead. -- Robert C. Shannon, 1000 Windows, (Cincinnati, Ohio: Standard Publishing Company, 1997).
Here is a true story from the dim-witted criminals department: A man walked into a convenience store, put a $20 bill on the counter and asked for change. When the clerk opened the drawer, the man pulled a gun and asked for all the cash in the register. In his hurry to get away the man took the cash from the clerk and fled, leaving his $20 bill on the counter. So how much did he steal from the drawer? Fifteen bucks. Go figure. -- "Strange World," Campus Life, Vol. 56, no. 2.
Looking around the sanctuary this morning, I don’t think we have any hardened criminals like bank robbers. I don’t think any of us are shoplifters or kleptomaniacs. None of us are likely to be labeled as a common thief, so maybe we should just skip over this eight commandment and go on to something else, right? Wrong! Some of us might like that because before we’re finished this morning we are liable to all discover that each of us is guilty of stealing in one way or another.
As we think about stealing today, we’re going to see that there are three ways we can steal:
1. We can steal from others,
2. We can steal from ourselves,
3. We can steal from God.
I. We can steal from others. The eighth commandment demands honesty in how we deal with other people. Stealing destroys relationships that are built on trust.
1. How did you get all the stuff that you have? When you think about it there are only three ways of getting anything. Paul alludes to all three ways of acquiring things in Ephesians 4:28.
• Ephesians 4:28 NIV
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.
a) You can get a lot of stuff by THEFT. Stealing is a way to take things and make them our own, but it too comes with a cost. Stealing does not create self respect. Stealing does not result in greater productivity but loss. Stealing does not produce trust but suspicion. Paul instructs those who were stealing to stop it.
b) Instead of stealing Paul tells us to acquire things through WORK. This is a way of getting things by earning it. When we work hard for the things we have it builds a sense of self respect because we know the cost. Furthermore work is productive. When you work hard it can result in an abundance that can be shared with others.
c) What we have may have been received as a GIFT. You can do nothing to earn a gift. A gift is an expression of love. Many of us have received gifts that we felt we did not deserve, and yet once given it is ours. Salvation is just such a gift. We can do nothing to earn God’s favor. No one is more deserving than anyone else. We’re all sinners bound for hell, but God has rescued us. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved; it is the gift of God so that no one can boast.
2. You’re not a thief because you steal. You steal because you there is a thief living within your heart.
a) The same can be said of any sin. You are not a sinner because you sin. Use sin because you are a sinner.
• Psalm 51:5 NET
Look, I was guilty of sin from birth, a sinner the moment my mother conceived me.
• Proverbs 20:9 NIV
Who can say, "I have kept my heart pure; I am clean and without sin"?
b) The nature of sin within our hearts makes us selfish people. Selfishness and greed within the heart is the reason people begin to steal and take things from others. They want to satisfy their desires.
3. How do we steal form others?
a) None of us may be inclined to rob a bank, pick a pocket, snatch a purse, steal a car, break into a house or any of the 101 other common burglaries that might make the evening news. These are just some of the more obvious kinds of stealing, and we all know that it’s wrong. But stealing can take place in many different kinds of ways.
b) Some of us may be guilty of stealing from our EMPLOYER. Perhaps it’s something as simple as bringing home supplies from the office or by borrowing shop supplies but never returning them. We also steal from our employers when we don’t give them 8 hours of work for 8 hours pay. When we extend our coffee break or lunch break, or if we are lazy in doing our work we are guilty of stealing from our employer.
• Colossians 3:22-23 MsgB
22 Servants, do what you’re told by your earthly masters. And don’t just do the minimum that will get you by. Do your best. 23 Work from the heart for your real Master, for God.
c) As an employer you can also steal from those who work for you by not treating them fairly.
• Colossians 4:1 NIV
And masters, treat your servants considerately. Be fair with them. Don’t forget for a minute that you, too, serve a Master — God in heaven.
d) We become as guilty as a bank robber when we choose to not repay our debts. Bankruptcy should be the last resort for a Christian and not a simple way of escape from the burden of debt. When you make foolish choices to buy things you really don’t need on credit, and then struggle to make the monthly payments you are caught in a downward spiral in which if you’re not careful you can be guilty of stealing from your creditors.
• Proverbs 22:7 NIV
The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.
e) We’re also guilty of stealing when we do fame someone’s good name. We think of identity theft as something new to the computer age whereby someone can take your Social Security number or credit card number to buy things that they will never pay for that you might. However we’ve rob someone of their identity through slander and gossip.
• Proverbs 16:28 NIV
A perverse man stirs up dissension, and a gossip separates close friends.
4. That the punishment fit the crime. God’s plan for the thief is to make restitution.
• Exodus 22:3 NIV
"A thief must certainly make restitution, but if he has nothing, he must be sold to pay for his theft.
a) The lord said if am and steals an ox then he should make a repayment of five head of oxen. It wasn’t good enough to just give back what was stolen. Restitution required not just the repayment of what was taken but the payment of a penalty as well.
b) In Luke chapter 19 Jesus visits the home of Zacchaeus, a tax collector made wealthy by stealing from taxpayers. As a result of this visit Zacchaeus’ heart is transformed and he vows to not only give to the poor, but to also repay anyone he has cheated four times the amount taken.
c) Unfortunately American criminals are often not required to repay what has been stolen. Instead they are only sent to a prison where they can learn from other thieves how to become a better thief. Wouldn’t it be better if we required a thief to make had just restitution and then he would be free to return to his life? Let’s make the punishment fit the crime.
We steal from others in many different ways. We can be guilty of stealing from our employer, of cheating our employees, of robbing the bank when we fail to repay our debts, or of stealing someone’s good name. (And yes we could be guilty of a whole variety of grand theft and robbery.) Regardless of how we may steal from one another the punishment should fit the crime. But we not only steal from others. . .
II. We steal from ourselves.
1. Perhaps you are wondering how we can steal from ourselves.
a) If we believe that we can live our lives “care free” and gratify our every desire we are badly mistaken. Everything we do comes with its own unique consequences. No one can live their life free from consequences.
• Galatians 6:7-8 NIV
7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
b) How I live my life today can rob me of the joy that tomorrow would hold. The choices and make today can rob me of the resources I could use tomorrow.
2. How do we steal from ourselves?
a) Bad habits will rob us of having the fullness of life. Addictions such as alcoholism or drug abuse rob the individual of the fullness of life that God intended them to have. Momentary pleasure brings much pain and suffering later. The life and stolen by drugs and how alcohol can never be reclaimed.
b) Sexual sin will steal intimacy and real joy from you. Pornography fills the mind with fox and images that can never be realized. The Bible put it plainly, “Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body” (1 Corinthians 6:18 NIV).
c) Playing the lottery and other types of gambling robs you and your family of the financial resources you need. Gambling offers the illusion of instant wealth but fall short of its promises. The odds are stacked against you; the game is designed for you to lose.
d) Personal debt and uncontrolled credit spending robs you of future wealth. With every swipe of a credit card you take the potential of tomorrow and spend today. With every purchase the banking industry siphons money out of your wallet through interest and penalty charges. Get out of debt and stop robbing yourself of future wealth.
3. We can steal from others and we can rob ourselves, and
III. We rob God.
1. How many of us are guilty of robbing God in tithes and offerings?
• Malachi 3:8-11 NIV
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.
