Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction:

Martin Luther once said, "If all thieves, who nevertheless do not wish to be considered such, were to be hanged on the gallows, the world would soon be desolate, and would be without both executioners and gallows."

One of the major problems of our society is theft.

I

read of one estimate that said that one out of very 52 supermarket customers carries away at least one item that was unpaid.

The U.S. Commerce Department said about 4 million people are caught shoplifting each year,

but for every person caught, 35 go undetected.

That means about 140 million shoplifting incidents occur every year.

Also, according to this survey, few shoplifters steal out of need.

70% of all shoplifters are in the middle income bracket and 20% had high incomes.

Only 10% were in the lower income range.

A nationwide shoplifting epidemic is crippling the finances of brick-and-mortar retailers,

which warn that they may be forced to raise prices or even shutter stores in order to offset tens of billions of dollars in lost inventory.

The National Retail Foundation is estimating that it lost $94.5 billion in 2021 due to “shrink” — an industry term that means lost inventory — which is being blamed primarily on shoplifting, according to the Wall Street Journal.

It also noted retailers, on average, saw a 26.5% surge in organized theft incidents in 2021

The $94.5 billion sum represents around 1.4% of retail revenue in 2021, according to the NRF, whose data shows significant year-over-year increases in “shrink” that accelerated during the coronavirus pandemic.

Between 2014 and 2019, shrink rose at a compound annual rate of around 7% year-over-year,

according to the NRF.

In 2020, shrink surged by 47%.

The next year, it increased by another 4%.

https://nypost.com/2022/12/23/retail-theft-cost-retailers-94-5-billion-in-2021-report/

Stealing is a sin against God because:

Theft is a failure to trust in God’s provision in your life.

Whenever we take something that doesn’t belong to us, we deny that God has given us or is able to give us everything we truly need.

Therefore, keeping the eighth commandment is a practical exercise of our faith in God’s providence.

There is a very spiritual side to this command.

Our motivations for breaking it may rooted in simple selfishness or pride, but at a deeper level it is often rooted in a lack of faith in God’s provision.

Do I believe that God owns everything?

(Ps 24:1) Do I believe that God is right and good in distributing his goods and gifts as he sees fit?

Do I believe that God’s provision for me is sufficient?

If I do, why would I be willing to go outside God’s law in order to get what I want?

Am I willing to do what is necessary within God’s law to improve my situation?

So, how do we turn from our unfaithful ways to trust in God and obedience to this command?

Theft is also an attack on God’s providence for others.

This is a second way that stealing is a sin against God: It robs what he has provided for someone else.

Here it is important to understand that the eighth commandment assumes a right of ownership.

By saying, “You shall not steal,” God indicated that people have a right to own their private property.

Otherwise, the whole concept of stealing would fail to make any sense.

Only something that belongs to someone can be stolen from them.

But the reason that anything belongs to anyone is because it comes from God,

and we do not have the right to take for ourselves what God has given to others.

Robbing and stealing form your neighbor is not a sign of love but devalues their hard work and industrious attitude.

In fact, it is more than stealing property from them, it is stealing God’s blessing and goodness form them.

By stealing from others you are making yourself God

and thinking that you should have what God has not given you

and have what others have been given by God.

What does the 8th Commandment forbid

what does the 8th Commandment Require:.

Live with Integrity.

By not robbing others

Everyone knows that stealing is wrong.

Even people who don’t read the Bible know the eighth commandment, which says, “You shall not steal” (Exod.

20:15).

To steal is to take something that doesn’t belong to you.

The Hebrew word for stealing (ganaf) literally means to carry something away, as if by stealth.

To give a more technical definition,

Theft is to appropriate someone else’s property or or diminish God’s Image unlawfully or immorally.

What the eighth commandment forbids seems very simple.

However, most people fail to understand its full meaning.

Like the rest of God’s law, the prohibition on stealing is comprehensive:

Let’s look at some ways we steal from people and then we’ll consider how we rob God.

1.Murder - stealing someones life form them.

Adultery.

It’s no accident commandment #8 follows the prohibition against adultery because this sinful act robs the marriage covenant of the sacred vows made between husband and wife.

2. Stealing someone’s innocence.

This can happen through immorality or abuse.

3. Kidnapping and trafficking.

The earliest rabbinic tradition interpreted this command as specifically prohibiting the stealing of people.

In the very next chapter, we read in Exodus 21:16: “Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death.”

4. Theft.

5. Robbery.

This involves the taking of property through force or the threat of force.

6 Burglary.

Burglary involves breaking into a structure to commit a crime.

7 Stealing from employers.

USA Today reports 48% of all American workers have taken something from an employer.

This can involve lifting office supplies for personal use, padding expense reports, taking longer lunches, laziness, or cheating on time cards.

8. Stealing from employees.

This can happen when employers don’t pay a fair wage or withhold benefits from workers.

This sin is addressed in James 5:4: “Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.”

9. Refusing to work.

While some are not able to work because of a disability or are retired, others can work, but choose not to.

This could be classified as a sin against society.

This is dealt with in 2 Thessalonians 3:10-12: “For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.

For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies.

Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.”

10.

False measures and deceptive practices.

Proverbs 11:1 says, “A false balance is an abomination to the LORD, but a just weight is His delight.”

"Tipping the Scales,"October 3, 1936

There is a chicken on the scale waiting to be weighed and purchased.

You have a butcher who is wearing an apron

His customer is a respectable-looking woman of perhaps sixty.

Like the butcher, she looks pleased.

The two of them exchange a knowing smile, almost as if they are sharing a joke, but the joke is really on them because the painting shows what they are secretly doing.

The butcher is pressing the scale down with his big fat thumb, to raise the price.

At the same time, the woman is trying to get a better deal by pushing the scale up with her forefinger.

The reason both of them look pleased is that neither is aware of what the other is doing!In typical Rockwell style, the painting is a charming scene from American life that makes us laugh at our own foibles.

But really what the butcher and his customer were doing was violating the eighth commandment.

Myers comments: “Both the butcher and the lovely lady would resent being called thieves.

The lovely lady would never rob a bank or steal a car.

The butcher would be indignant if anyone accused him of stealing;