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Scripture: Exodus 20:15
The popular TV show is back, where crooks teach us how to protect ourselves from people like them. But the Bible says, we ARE people like them!
Synonyms for stealing:
Extortion, burglary, defraud, misappropriate, cheat, embezzle, rob, swindle.
1 Corinthians 6:10
Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall 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! Same with our cars. We not only lock them everywhere now, but we put ‘The Club’ on the wheel, take the face off the stereo, and lock the hubcaps. In some neighborhoods they’ll take your paint job at a stop light!
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 Kinds of Thieves :
1. SIMPLE THIEF!!
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!
-- 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.
That’s one in every 50 shoppers.
About 5 million get caught. 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! Who pays for that? We all do!
Some take candy from a jar, change from a pop machine, or at home from your own parents. Or maybe you stole a glance at your neighbor’s paper in school...and then stole their answers!
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.
Most thieves look left and right, before and behind, to see if someone was watching, but they need to look up! 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 THIEF”!!...
2. SOPHISTICATED THIEF
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, the average employee said
they spent 20% of their time goofing off.
Over ½ surveyed said they called in sick on occasion when all they were sick of was working. You are a liar and a thief when you do so.
Other employees told of coming in late and leaving early, taking extended breaks, falsifying their time card, making personal calls when not allowed, surfing the internet, and lying on expense accounts. It is stealing when you don’t give honest work for honest pay.
Ephesians 4:28 28 Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.
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.
God is your best labor union, Who vindicates you when cheated. Don’t defend yourself exclusively, let God defend you!
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.—A 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.
Owe no man any thing
Romans 13:8
8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.
• Again, just because maybe you can get away with it doesn’t mean you should! I’ve known some to just make providers eat their losses. They
put their electricity in someone else’s name, or their cell phone, or whatever. You are not only stealing from that company, but you are stealing
from me and others who also use that company, and have to pay increased prices to cover all their ‘write offs’.
• It’s more about your character than your credit rating!
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 should ever
fail the test of 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!”
o The essence of stealing is found in one word: TAKING
Everything God controls GIVES. For God so loved the world that he GAVE...
The sun gives light.
o Plant seed in the earth and that ground gives it life. Rivers give water, so do clouds.
o The more we use the more the world produces to fill the void we create.
o But Satan is about taking. He robs, kills, and destroys.
o 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!
The simple THIEF, the sophisticated THIEF...
3. Spiritual THIEF
Malachi 3:8
8 “Will a mere mortal rob God?
Yet you rob me
“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’
“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 You are under a curse—your whole nation—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 there will not be room enough to store it.
11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the LORD
Almighty.
.
Don’t kill the messenger. This is God’s message. He’s in management, I’m just in sales!
Tithe = 10% of your increase [income or other blessings you receive] to the local spiritual storehouse where you are fed out of spiritually.
God blesses His people when they obey in this area, and a financial curse is upon those who do not.
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, nevermind, I can tithe!
The tithe:
Abraham commenced it [long before the law]
Moses commanded it
Jacob continued it
Jesus commended it
Who are you to cancel it?
A tithe is a trust fund, because you are saying, God, I trust you with my finances. I believe 90% w/ your blessing will go further than 100% that is cursed. Shoes last longer and the roof is stronger!
If my faith wasn’t strong enough to tithe, I’d worry about whether it’s truly strong enough to get me to heaven. If you can trust God w/ your soul then you can trust Him w/ 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!
Some Christians live in stolen houses, drive stolen cars, wear stolen jewelry...paid for with tithe money. Spiritual stealing, sophisticated stealing, simple stealing. It’s all displeasing to God. Let’s strive to please Him who is all about giving, by not being takers.
