Do Not Steal - Exodus 20:15

INTRODUCTION

How’re you guys doing?

Over the last several weeks here at Coram Deo there has been an exploration through the 10 Commandments.

Something we have been saying through out the series is the idea that these commands, these words are not legislation from a cosmic bureaucrat who wants to ruin our fun, but rather these are instructions from a loving father who knows us, who loves us and knows what we need.

So we are given these commands these words.

Today we come to the eighth command and we read in Exodus 20 in verse 15:

You shall not steal.

So we come to our word this morning.

Now here is the reality everyone in this room has been impacted by a thief in some way.

Right, whether you are the one who stole or the one who had something taken from them.

In the United States today, property theft occurs every three seconds.

As I started working on this passage I thought back to a time I served at a small country church in Missouri.

This church paid me a small stipend in cash.

It wasn’t a lot, but it helped me as a college student pay for gas and food.

Well one afternoon when I was headed back to campus, I had gone with a friend and we made the decision to stop and get some food.

I took the small amount of cash and put it in my bible and left it on the seat.

We come back out to discover someone had broken in this car.

Which let me tell y’all this was an old chevy impala.

This car didn’t scream value.

So we were shocked to see the glove box open and the content strewn about.

In the back seat I saw my Bible and I breathed a sigh of relief. Phew, the word of God had safeguarded me…

EXCEPT NO!

That fool had flipped through my Bible and taken the cash!!!

Ok look…I don’t know what kind of person you have to be to steal money from a Bible.

Again we have all been affected.

The reality is I can’t be too mad, nor can you, because we all in someway have stolen.

We have.

Whether it’s outright or in subtle ways we have all been found to be thieves.

the reformer Martin Luther said,

“If we look at mankind in all of it’s conditions, it is nothing but a vast wide stable full of great thieves.” _Martin Luther

Ouch

You see the commands have a way of leveling the playing field between us and God.

This morning we are going to break this command down the same way we have the others.

What does this command reveal about God?

What does this command reveal about us?

How does it point us to Jesus?

How does it show us the path of life?

I. What does this command reveal about God?

A. The Giver and Steward

So what does not stealing reveal to us about God?

The opposite of stealing is what? It’s giving.

And that is the nature of our God.

He is a giver. He is our provider.

We have in scripture from the very beginning, from God, a cultural mandate.

If you look in Genesis 1:28

Genesis 1:28 (ESV)

And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

So God from the beginning of creation gives to mankind this mandate.

He creates then gives that creation over.

You see biblically ownership is stewardship.

The idea of stewardship is that we are given charge over something.

It’s that God owns this earth and everything in it.

You and I, we function as stewards of his creation.

B. The Dignity of Personal Property

Now here is what is unique in this concept, we have this idea here of personal property.

The Bible dignifies personal property and roots this dignity in the imago Dei, that is the image of God.

So to steal from someone is not merely to just take their possessions.

It is actually an assault on that persons dignity.

It is an affront to the toil of their hands, the produce of their talents to the property that is rightfully theirs.

Those of you who have been robbed you know what that feels like.

You feel violated.

To this day my wife Hannah is overly cautious about locking doors, thats because when she was a little girl someone broke in her home and stole from her family.

Her dignity as an image bearer of God was violated.

God is the one who establishes this idea of our personal property.

That we work and enjoy the fruits of our labor.

The dignity of work is grounded in creation itself. Right?

God tells Adam before the fall to subdue the earth, to work the earth and then to enjoy the produce thereof.

But the thing is, we know that the fall happened.

That mankind sinned against God and so we are told that as a consequence…the earth will no longer gladly or willingly yield it’s fruit.

It’s because of the fall that it is now difficult to work.

It’s because of that that we have banks with armed guards. That we have safes with steel doors.

When you go to the store and hop out of your car what’s the first the thing you do?

You lock the door.

Right our parking lots are a song of beeps and honks signifying the security of all the vehicles there.

So now we live in a world where not only is work hard, but we have to worry that our stuff isn’t safe.

We know that this isn’t how things should be.

Again we know that God is our provider. Who has called us to steward his creation well.

Throughout the scriptures we see that God hates stealing.

Perhaps the reason why God hates stealing so much is that it is a crime which completely contradicts His character.

God is gracious; the thief is greedy.

God gives; the thief takes.

God responds to the cries of the needy; the thief callously creates needs and tragedy.

What could be more contrary to the graciousness of God than the cruelty of the thief?

You see stealing is a crime of great consequence.

[So then we see that God despises stealing because it is opposed to the very nature of who he is. With this in mind, let’s ask the question what does this command reveal about ourselves?]

II. What does this command reveal about ourselves?

Here is a question for you if you left cash sitting on your car seat out in the open and left your door unlocked.

Are you surprised that it is stolen or are you more surprised that is not?

Theft is all around us.

I just bought these pants a few weeks ago.

My wife found em on a clearance rack and passed em over the dressing room commenting that they had anti-theft pockets.

Yeah I see your jealousy…we’ll talk about that commandment soon.

They have material that blacks RFID.

Y’all we gotta have security in our pockets!

Theft is everywhere.

There is security fraud, tax fraud, insurance fraud, internet fraud, plagiarism, copyright violation, illegal downloading and streaming and on and on I can go.

We have passwords on our phones not just locks for our doors.

My goodness just a few weeks ago I had a pair of sunglasses stolen while I was at dinner.

This is a pervasive problem.

Now we are here good church people.

None of us would steal…right?

Well the tragedy is we tend to have a narrow view of this command.

We do not see the scope of this command, because we view it through a fallen heart rather than the lens of Christ.

We steal in so many ways.

You may say, “I have never taken someones personal property!”

Maybe you have never committed petty theft at work. Taking company property home and keeping it for yourself.

But have you committed the theft of time?

We start late, finish early, stretch coffee and bathroom breaks and waste time in between.

…got a little quiet in here.

Here is a scenario, you go to a yard sale. It’s an older lady, a widow.

Her husband recently passed and she is trying to make a little money.

You find a bunch of tools. They are being way under sold. Not just yard sale cheap, but unbelievably cheap.

This lady obviously has no idea what they are worth.

Do you buy em?

But…but Billy it’s a great deal…it’s a steal!

…yes!

You see we steal all the time.

This command stretches far and causes us to pause and think.

How do we avoid breaking the eight word in a world in which we can walk into a store and we can get clothing at an incredible values because someone, somewhere was paid almost nothing in order to produce it.

There are ways in which we can participate in a theft that is perpetrated by a group.

For example, some large business can steal, either by fixing prices, or manipulating the market, or by using their power to pay inadequate wages.

They can also provide unsafe working environments, which can certainly produce profits at the expense of their employees.

The child labor abuses of the last century are an example of corporate theft.

This harkens back to the prophets of the old testament as they thunder against the oppression of the poor and about the business practices of thievery that institutionalize such oppression.

Church in a post-fall world stealing and robbery and thievery are a lot more complicated than we first think.

We have to start looking at this commandment with a sober mind.

We steal. We do.

But I haven’t even gotten to the Ultimate Theft.

You see the Ultimate Theft is that we steal from God.

We talked about how the 10 Commandments are a breakdown of vertical and horizontal.

Right, love the lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind and the second is like it, love your neighbor.

That is certainly true.

But the commands are addressed in terms of our faithfulness to God.

Believer, God makes claim upon every dimension of your life.

Your relationship with fellow human beings is a reflection of your relationship with our creator.

The prophets asked, “Would you rob God?”

Our honest answer must be, “Yes we do”

We rob God all the time. We rob him of the praise due his name.

We rob him of worship and give it to fleeting idols.

We rob God of our talent, of our treasure and invest in lesser things.

We rob God of our possessions and money.

We rob God of our priorities and our passions.

In all these ways and more do we rob our creator.

You and I…we are stewards.

We often hear people speak of wealth and talent as divine favor and blessing but we should think of these as an incredible responsibility.

Exodus 19:5 (ESV)

Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine;

God speaking to Moses says, “all the earth is mine”

It’s not enough that we not steal.

We have to put all that we are and all that we have at the disposal of God…because we understand that he ultimately owns it all.

One of the concepts we learn from an early age is possession.

Mine. (Sammy)

For so many of us that’s still how we view our lives. Like children clinging to a toy.

Sorry but this is mine.

We are so often thieves.

Thank God we are not left to our own devices. But we have one who we can look to who calls us out of our robbery.

We look to Jesus.

Let’s look.

III. How does this command point us to Jesus?

I think the perfect way to see how this command points us to Jesus is to see him on the cross.

Luke 23:39–43 (ESV)

One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

We know from the other gospel accounts that these men hanging on the cross were thieves.

This thief’s actions had lead him to his demise.

He had prized the possessions of others which lead him to a cross.

Oh but what he encountered on that cross.

Jesus’ words to him echo out to us, “Today you will be with me in paradise.”

Jesus transforms this commandment by helping us set our hearts on true treasure.

Christ calls the thief to a greater treasure. One that can’t be stolen.

An inheritance that is imperishable.

He tells the thief he will be in paradise and truly he was.

That thief’s inheritance was the presence of God.

For Jesus himself is our treasure, the treasure we must value about all others.

John 10:10 (ESV)

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

Jesus contrasts himself with the thief who steals, kills, and destroys.

Jesus came to give us abundant life, and in doing so, he modeled for us a way of living that is characterized by honesty, generosity, and love for others.

Jesus never took what didn’t belong to him, but instead, he freely gave of himself to others, even to the point of laying down his own life for our sake.

Through his death and resurrection, Jesus conquered the power of sin and death, which includes the sin of stealing.

He invites us to follow in his footsteps and live lives that honor God and respect the dignity of others.

As followers of Jesus, we are called to live in a way that reflects his values and priorities.

We are called to resist the temptation to take what does not belong to us, and instead, to use our resources and abilities to bless others and build up the kingdom of God.

We are called to treasure Christ above all.

That’s why he taught us in Matt 6:19-21

Matthew 6:19–21 (ESV)

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Where is your treasure?

This morning the call is for the thief to find their treasure in Christ.

This passage calls us from stealing, from robbing God, from viewing things with a wicked possessive heart and instead to see Christ as our inheritance, our treasure

The apostle Peter calls us to see this inheritance is an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading.

This morning maybe you look at your life and you’ve stolen.

Perhaps blatantly, you’ve stolen money. You took someone else’s property.

Or perhaps you look at your life and you see all the ways you have stolen from God.

This morning look to Christ on the cross. As he bleed he looked at the thief securing his inheritance with every drop he bleed.

That blood was shed for you friend.

Come to Jesus this morning.

Jean Valjean - Les Mis - A poignant scene of a man hardened by 19 years in prison finally free only to find his status as a convict makes life difficult.

He is welcomed by a priest. He is fed and cared for only to find himself overcome by the temptation of taking the churches silver.

The next day he is caught and taken back to the priest. He is beaten and bloody.

This priest filled with compassion says he gave him the silver but that Jean had forgotten the candlesticks.

Once the police leave confused the priest says to Jean, “.You must use this precious silver to become an honest man, God has raised you out of darkness”

This is the moment of change when Jean goes from being a thief to being a giver.

So to have we been raised from darkness

[As this command calls us to see Jesus we see that he transforms us. Let’s look at how this command shows us the path of life.]

IV. How does this command show us the path of life.

As we consider this command to not steal. We actually get a really clear answer in the New Testament on what it means to obey this command and walk in the path of life.

Ephesians 4:28 (ESV)

Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.

The apostle Paul is writing this passage in Ephesians 4, calling us to walk in a newness of life. That we would put off the old self.

Here we get an explicit response on how we are to live in this.

We are to not steal, but rather to labor, and in so doing work for the Lord.

Why do we labor? So that we may have something to share.

Again the opposite of stealing is what? It’s giving.

We have been given so much.

We who were once far off, we thieves we have been brought near because of the cross of calvary.

Now we model that generosity.

We no longer steal. That’s the old self.

We put that off and we put on the new self.

We work for king Jesus and we are generous.

You see as we walk in the newness of life we are empowered by the spirit to no longer be thieves.

So we live in the power of Christ and his love and we learn not only to refrain from stealing but to multiply our treasure by clinging to Christ alone!

It’s from that bounty that we share our treasure. We shower on other the treasure God has given us

We do this not counting the cost up in our heads, but rather looking to the treasure that is laid up in heaven for us.

I love this.

Do you see what it does? It takes the whole of your life, including your job, and turns it into a work of grace

We often compartmentalize our lives as bad stewards.

We do the church thing on Sunday but Monday at the office is mine.

Jesus calls you to a greater life.

To see that in this, even if your job seems pointless, it’s not, God is working in you, displaying his grace to the world.

Everything is in the service of grace not greed.

Don't steal to have. Don't work to have. But work to have in order to give.

You see the way of life calls us to look different, to showcase to the world the mercy we have received.

In the life of Jesus we see a really clear picture of what it looks like to go from being a thief to being a son.

How many of you guys know the story of Zacchaeus?

Unfortunately most of us know him as the wee little man.

He was the chief tax collector, a notorious thief.

As Jesus came to Jericho, Zacchaeus being a short dude, climbs up in a tree to see Jesus come.

And Jesus…Jesus looks up at him. This wicked thief. The chief tax collector and tells him to come down, because he is coming to his house today.

And much like when Jesus enters the house of our hearts everything changed.

We read in Luke 19: 8-10

Luke 19:8–10 (ESV)

And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Look at Zacchaeus!

He does the unthinkable.

He stops stealing.

He stops bowing to the idols of riches and worships King Jesus.

What do we see him doing. We see him seeking to give restitution.

The way of life for the thief is to stop stealing. To restore what they stole. To work heartily for the lord, and to give to those in need.

Conclusion:

This morning as we close I want you to ponder your life.

Consider the ways you’ve been a thief.

Today believer, if you know Jesus, if he is your treasure. Then in a little bit you will have an opportunity to take communion, to remember the gospel displayed in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.

Before you take the elements this morning. Ponder deeply on your life. On the ways you have fallen short.

Perhaps as you think of your thievery you know that you need to make restitution.

…I just want to stop here for a second. Maybe you don’t know Jesus this morning.

Or maybe you think following Jesus means trying harder...

This morning if you look at your life and you say, “no way…no way could Jesus forgive me. No way could he love me. My sin is to great.”

Friend.. you are wrong. The problem is you think your sin is bigger than God’s grace. You need to repent not only of your robbery but of your pride. See his grace in all it’s magnitude.

If you think wrongly that you need to somehow make right all your wrongs before Jesus could love you…you are believing in yourself and not in his saving power.

What work could the thief on the cross do to merit Jesus’ invitation?

Zacchaeus sought to provide restitution AFTER he had been pursued by Jesus.

Friend we work out of the joy of our salvation not to earn it.

This morning we need to reveal in Jesus. In his grace. That he would pursue you and me to the point of death.

That he has risen from the grave, securing our salvation, securing our inheritance.

My prayer is that as you read this command you would no longer read it as You shall not and rather as you need not.

You need not steal because you have a greater inheritance.

[Questions to ponder before we take, and in our community through out the week.]

1. How might I grow in my understanding of being a steward of God?

2. In what ways have I been guilty of robbing God?

3. What have I viewed as a greater treasure than my inheritance in Christ?

4. How might I live, work, and give in a way that shows my treasure is in Christ?

Pray with me.