AM Sermon preached at Central Christian Church March 11, 2007
God’s Top Ten 8th Commandment
[SERMON SERIES SLIDE---IT’LL ADVANCE AUTOMATICALLY TO THE TITLE SLIDE THEN A BLANK SLIDE.]
So did you hear the story about the Sunday School teacher who was teaching on the 8th Commandment and trying to illustrate that it’s wrong to steal? “all right children, here’s another example,” she said. “If I were to pull a man’s wallet out of his pocket and take all the money in it, what would I be?” Little Johnny’s hand shot up, “Oh, oh I know! I know!” “Okay, Johnny, what would I be?” “You’d be his wife!”
Obviously that wasn’t the answer she was looking for. Today in our series we’re ready for the 8th commandment which is found in [SLIDE] Exodus 20:15 and says “You shall not steal.”
Let’s take a quick little survey. Raise your hand if someone has ever stolen money from you. Raise your hand if someone has ever billed you for services they never performed for you. Raise your hand if you’ve ever had a piece of jewelry stolen. Your wallet or purse stolen. How about your bicycle---any of you had your bicycle stolen? Did someone steal your lunch at school or work? Your cell phone? Your computer? A camera or music CD? Your car?
How did you feel when you found out you’d been robbed? I remember when I was about 8 years old and someone stole the desert out of my lunch sack. Man I was so bummed. I felt so hurt and violated, I cried. Then there was the time in high school during gym class--- when I finished playing basketball I discovered someone stole my Tiger’s eye ring. As an adult I had things ripped off from my car---tapes, sports equipment, my tape deck. And there was that morning when I arrived at the church office and sensed something was wrong. Sure enough there was. Someone had broken in, taken some of the church’s sound equipment from the auditorium---pried open the door to the offices and ransacked the place. It felt really weird as I looked at my open desk drawers and knew that someone had dug through them and taken things out the night before. My plans for the day had to be laid aside. I ended up talking with police and working with another guy in the church putting up boards over the window they’d broken into. Maybe you can relate---maybe you experienced something much worse. Maybe someone broke into your home. When that happens the thieves don’t just take your stuff they rob you of some of your sense of security. I think God has this command not to steal on His Top Ten list because it devalues people, people made in His own image.
I mean when some kid stole my desert from my lunch he wasn’t thinking “oh I probably shouldn’t do this because this lunch belongs to a tender-hearted second grader who’ll get his feelings hurt.” And when that person stole the tapes and sports equipment from my car they weren’t thinking “I really shouldn’t do this because the guy who owns this stuff uses it with his church youth groups and besides he’s barely getting by financially and it’ll be hard for him to come up with the money to replace it.” You know they weren’t thinking about me. You see to them, I meant nothing. They just wanted the stuff they saw. To them---I had no value and I didn’t matter at all. Stealing devalues people. I think that’s one of the reasons stealing is such a terrible thing in the eyes of God. But even more than the devaluing of people---stealing is an attack on the ownership of God.
A lot of thieves won’t break into churches and steal things because they’re somewhat afraid---they operate under the crazy assumption that it’s no big deal to God is they steal from people’s homes ---but boy they’d better not steal things from one of God’s churches because if they do that “Boom, zap God’ll come down hard on them for doing that…” But the reality is, whenever someone takes something that does not belong to them---they are stealing from God. Allow me to explain. You see, if we’re going to fully understand this 8th commandment we have to realize that the Bible teaches us that there is a right to private ownership. Rick Atchley puts it well when he writes: “There is a wrong of taking because there is a right of keeping.” And that right of keeping is something God along can give. The right of private ownership, the right of keeping is not absolute. Everything we have in our keeping we have in the form of a trust from God. [SLIDE] Psalm 24:1 says “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it.” That means our right of keeping, our right of private ownership is in reality a matter of individual stewardship. Our cars, homes, sports equipment, computers, ipods, cell phones, TVs, clothes and toys are not really ours. They belong to God. And even though God allows these things to be distributed and possessed by people---the bottom line is they’re all still his. And that’s what makes stealing so wrong. When God has chosen to give someone the right of keeping, we defy Him, we steal from Him, when we do the wrong of taking.
[BLANK SLIDE]
Now most of us probably think---all that’s all right and needs to be said---but really now I’ve got a pretty good handle on this 8th commandment. I’m not the thieving kind. I think most of us think that way because [SLIDE] when we think of stealing we probably think of someone robbing a home or [SLIDE] breaking into a business. [SLIDE] We might think of a cat burglar cracking a safe or [SLIDE] some down and out drug addict holding up a convenience store. [BLANK SLIDE] And so generally speaking we don’t think of ourselves as someone who is guilty of stealing.
But let’s remember that stealing isn’t just a matter of taking something by force or at gunpoint. Stealing comes in many forms and there are lots of ways this 8th commandment gets broken. [SLIDE] Cheating on a test is a form of stealing. By the way---I read this past week that students taking exams are using the latest forms of technology to cheat. One report out of England suggested that nearly half of the exam takers they observed were using mobile phones to call for answers. And some students even bought special phones about the size of an ant---so they could hide them in their ears and not be caught cheating. There’s shoplifting [While it was encouraging after last week’s statistics about sexual crimes being on the rise to learn that theft and burglary were on the decline---I was still amazed that studies reveal that about 1 out of every 50 shoppers who go into a store shoplift something from it.] Embezzling cost copies millions if not billions each year. Along that same line---taking items from one’s place of employment---taking home a tool, ink pens, paper they’re all forms of theft. One guy I heard about worked at a nursery and every night at the end of the day he’d sneak home a few pieces of sod. In about two weeks he’d covered his entire backyard. Now he probably wouldn’t have dreamed of loading up a truck with sod and stealing the whole load at once. But pretty much that was what he did---only he didn’t feel so guilty taking just a little at a time. And often isn’t that what we think. Oh they’ll never miss one stamp. What’s one hand towel to a big hotel like this one? Ever take a dollar from your Mom’s purse or a cookie from the cookie jar without first getting permission?: If it doesn’t belong to you and you take it, you’re guilty of stealing.
How about when you the cashier at the store hands you back too much change? Do you keep it, consider yourself lucky and make a quick exit before they realize their mistake----or do you give it back? Can we say stealing? And we’re just beginning to scratch the surface—[SLIDE 13] there’s identity theft….calling in sick when you’re not…there’s hotwiring cars…illegal downloading of copyrighted music…. [SLIDE 14] There’s plagiarism---stealing credit for someone else’s work—copying their answers and turning them in as your own--- how about this one? One person orders a salad at a restaurant, the other orders the buffet but then both people eat from the buffet plate. Maybe you’ve never tried that but have you ever tried to pass your kids off for being younger than they are so you wouldn’t have to pay full price for a meal or admission to a theme park? [SLIDE 15] Then there’s borrowing tools and not returning them or that Tupperware or pan you’ve had in your cabinet so long you think of it as your own---so many ways to steal---misrepresenting income on your taxes, falsifying medical claims----[SLIDE 16] there’s forgery, of course---but there’s also doing some uninvited fishing on a private pond, paying for 9 holes of golf but playing 18 and buying a new item at a store and then using the new cash register receipt to return an older broken item for the cash. [SLIDE 17] There’s turning in more hours on times sheets than were actually worked and on the flip side there’s not paying a laborer wages he’s earned----and on and on and on we could go. It’s no wonder that slide up there’s a mess. I read that there are 138 synonyms for stealing. And no matter which one of them you use, no matter what form stealing takes---God says it’s wrong. Don’t do it.
[BLANK SLIDE]
Now as we’ve been studying through the Ten Commandments together we’ve been seeing how while negative behaviors are being forbidden, positive behaviors are being encouraged. God doesn’t want us to swear using Him name but He does want us to use it in worship. God says no to murder but yes to controlling anger. No to adultery---yes to honoring marriage. So when God says no to stealing---we ought to be wondering then what is God saying yes to? What positive behaviors lie at the heart of this 8th commandment? God doesn’t want us to steal---so what’s He want us to do?
[SLIDE 19]
God wants us to acquire things honestly. Supposedly three ministers were talking one day about how their offerings and pay were handled. The first said well at my church the put all the money in a basket. They have me stand straddling a line on the floor---then they hand me the basket. I toss the money up in the air and whatever falls on the left side of the line I get to keep---whatever falls on the right side the church keeps. The second guy piped in…we do something similar only instead of straddling a line, I stand in a circle. What falls in the circle I get the rest goes to the church. What about you they asked the third man. Me? Well---there’s no line or circle. I just throw the money up in the air. I figure what God wants He’ll keep and what comes back down I get.
Seriously, now---There are at least four ways of acquiring things which are honorable and honest. [SLIDE 20] The first is to work for them. [SLIDE 21] Ephesians 4:28 begins, “He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work…” [SLIDE 22] And Proverbs 12:14 claims, “From the fruit of his lips a man is filled with good things as surely as the work of his hands rewards him.” [SLIDE 23] A second means of honest acquisition is inheritance. [SLIDE 24] Proverbs 13:22 tells us “A good man leaves an inheritance for his children’s children.” And [SLIDE 25] Ecclesiastes 7:11 reads, “Wisdom, like an inheritance, is a good thing and benefits those who see the sun.” [SLIDE 26] A third honest way to acquire things and wealth honestly is receiving it as a gift either from other people or from God. Sometimes people give simply because they want to help or want to bless another person. Gifts are given at Christmas, birthdays and anniversaries. Sometimes small acts of kindness are greatly rewarded. I remember one of the girls at Lincoln Christian College who visited a lonely widow in a nursing home received a very expensive ring from the widow’s estate. God says to us “while taking what is not your is wrong---it’s okay when others give to you. And enjoy it when I give to you.” Just as all stealing is at its core robbing God---all giving is at its core brought about by God. [SLIDE 27] James 1:17 informs us “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father…” And a fourth way of building wealth or acquiring possessions which God does not condemn involves… [SLIDE 28] Honest Investments and trading. Remember Jesus commendation of the good servants in Matthew chapter 25? The master had given them a certain amount of money and they had traded and invested it while he was away on business and when he returned they were able to present him with the profits of their investments. Do you recall what the master told the servants who turned a profit? [SLIDE 29] Matthew 25:21 “Wonderful!” his master replied. “You are a good and faithful servant. I left you in charge of only a little, but now I will put you in charge of much more. Come and share in my happiness!”
[SLIDE 30]
The 8th commandment invites us to come by wealth and things honestly. It also reminds us to use things and love people. Money and things are secondary----relationships are primary. Listen as I read from The Message version of the Bible about a man who got this turned around in his heart….[SCRIPTURE SLIDES] 17As he went out into the street, a man came running up, greeted him with great reverence, and asked, "Good Teacher, what must I do to get eternal life?"
18-19Jesus said, "Why are you calling me good? No one is good, only God. You know the commandments: Don’t murder, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t lie, don’t cheat, honor your father and mother." 20He said, "Teacher, I have—from my youth—kept them all!" 21Jesus looked him hard in the eye—and loved him! He said, "There’s one thing left: Go sell whatever you own and give it to the poor. All your wealth will then be heavenly wealth. And come follow me." 22The man’s face clouded over. This was the last thing he expected to hear, and he walked off with a heavy heart. He was holding on tight to a lot of things, and not about to let go. Mark 10
Remember Jesus’ words from Luke 12:15 --- [SLIDE 36] Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." When we steal we use people and love things. [BLANK -SLIDE 37] But God says to us that the greatest thing we can do is love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. He says the second greatest thing we can do is love people. Remember how you felt when someone ripped you off and then apply Jesus’ words---[SLIDE 38] found in Luke 6:31 “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” Again, the 8th commandment exhorts us---Use things---love people.
[SLIDE 39]
This 8th commandment also encourages us to practice patience. Our culture is obsessed with instant gratification. Back in 1996 only 32% of Americans considered the microwave a necessity---by 2006 the figure had risen to 68%--- when we’re hungry we want our food fast---we don’t want to wait. That’s why Little Caesar’s has developed a whole line of pizzas which they advertise as “Hot-n-Ready.” We want what we want and we want it now. Many thefts aren’t premeditated---they’re a matter of impulse or impatience. It’s not that the thief couldn’t work for, save up for and eventually buy the item they’ve stolen---it’s the fact they don’t want to wait. They want the thing now and since they can’t afford it, they lift it. [SLIDE 40] Proverbs 19:11 says “A man’s wisdom gives him patience…” God wants us to learn the value, the joy and the sense of accomplishment that comes from obtaining things legitimately. Sending off that last payment on a car---picking up that layaway item you paid off, holding that loan paper that says paid in full---those things make us feel good, not guilty. [SCRIPTURE SLIDES] Solomon wrote “12 I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. 13 That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil—this is the gift of God.” Ecclesiastes 3:12-13
[SLIDE 42]
Lastly and perhaps most importantly this 8th commandment encourages us to become generous persons. I love the story of the IRS auditor who was talking with a minister on the phone---He asked, “Now this Joe Smith that I’m talking about…does he attend your church?” “Yes, he does,” the preached replied and then asked, “Why are you needing to know? Is he in some kind of trouble?” “Well, no, but then again maybe, yes.” the auditor continued, “you see Joe claimed on his taxes that he’s given a large gift to your church. So tell me, has Joe given your church a gift of $5000?” The quick thinking preacher answered, “If he hasn’t---he will!”
We’ve looked at 8 of the commands on this top ten list. And repeatedly we’ve observed God’s emphasis on opposites. Think about it---the opposite of worshipping idols is worshipping the one true God. The opposite of committing murder is valuing and saving lives. The opposite of adultery is maintaining sexual purity and being faithful to one’s spouse. These are the things we’ve been discovering together. So it follows rather naturally doesn’t it that the opposite of being an unlawful taker is being a generous giver? Earlier I read the first part of Ephesians 4:28, now I’d like to read the whole verse… [SLIDE 43] 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. ----that he may have something to share with those in need. A simple paraphrase---Stop grabbing up what isn’t yours and start loosening your grip on what is. Don’t steal and hoard---work and give.
The call to be generous and the rewards of being generous are scattered throughout the Bible…In the pages of the Old Testament we read…
[SLIDE 44]
Deuteronomy 15:10
Give generously to him (a needy brother) and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to.
[SLIDE 45]
Psalm 112:5
Good will come to him who is generous and lends freely, who conducts his affairs with justice.
[SLIDE 46]
Proverbs 11:25
A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.
[SLIDE 47]
Proverbs 22:9
A generous man will himself be blessed,
And in the New Testament we find….[SLIDE 48]
2 Corinthians 9:11
You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion…
And we are challenged by these words from 1 Timothy…[SCRIPTURE SLIDES]
17Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 19In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life. 1 Timothy 6:17-19
Look again at that phrase in verse 17 [SLIDE ---it claims that God richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Lay that alongside the 8th commandment and you’ll come to realize that--- Those who steal act in ways opposite of God---those who are generous imitate Him.
[SLIDE 53]
And be sure not to miss that last phrase in verse 19—so that they may take hold of the life that truly is life. Taking hold of the life that truly is life. Friends, that’s really God’s motivation in giving us the Ten Commandments. And it’s His motivation in sending Jesus Christ into this world. God wants us to take hold of the life that truly is life.
[SLIDE 54]
Jesus said “John 10:10
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
You know before we close things out this morning, I’d like to think that I’ve convinced every person in here that while they may not be guilty of Grand Theft Auto---they’re guilty of breaking this 8th commandment---not because I want you to squirm in your seat---but because I’m hoping we’re all reminded of our own sinfulness—our need for forgiveness and our need for Jesus. You see, we’re lawbreakers. We’re guilty before God. And there’s no hope for us other than Jesus. It is only through Him that we can receive the forgiveness of our sins---Only He has the power to change our hearts and remake us. Only He can give us a certain victory over our old sinful taking and stealing nature---only He can transform it into a loving and giving nature.
As we approach our time of decision this morning---
Imagine this scene from just outside of first century Jerusalem. Three men are hanging on crosses and dying. The man in the middle is Jesus. The men on Jesus’ right and left are thieves, men guilty of stealing. One man gives Jesus a hard time. The other speaks humbly and kindly to Jesus. We don’t know for sure what happened to the man who spoke harshly---but we know that the man who spoke humbly joined Jesus in paradise. Someday friends I want to meet that man---Not because he was a thief---but because he was a pioneer. He paved the way for thieves like me. That thief on the cross who received forgiveness realized he couldn’t steal his way into heaven. However, he also came to understand that he could gain admission through Jesus, if Jesus was willing to give it. Jesus was. And the good news folks, He still is. Think about that--- and if you’d like to make a public decision please come forward and meet with me as the praise team leads us in Change My Heart O God……….
===========================
NOTE TO THOSE WHO READ AND OR CHOOSE TO MAKE USE OF ANY OR ALL OF THIS SERMON: I am sharing this sermon with the hopes it will be an encouragement to others. I apologize for any blatant typing errors! If you find any I’d appreciate hearing from you so I can correct them. I try to give credit where credit is due, noting writers and or sources to the best of my ability. I have for years been drawing from a wealth of sources including this website. I recognize that my mind and writing processes are fallible. I may occasionally fail to properly identify a source. Please do not take offense if you see anything of this nature. I never intend to plagiarize. Having said that I want you to feel free to draw from my message. When appropriate I hope you will give credit as I do. But most of all I hope Christ will be lifted up and God will receive the glory in all things.
