Sermon Tone Analysis

EXODUS 20:15

 

/You shall not steal/.[1]

A robbery is a devastating experience.

None but one whose home has been burglarised can begin to imagine the trauma resulting from such a cowardly invasion.

None but one who has suffered a burglary can describe the resultant devastation to life.

Victims of this despicable crime often speak of feeling violated and frequently describe a loss of security so intense that in some instances they are unable to resume a normal life in what was once their secure and beloved domicile.

Both men and women have reported that they are unable to again wear clothing handled by a burglar rifling through their closets and dresser drawers.

Many report the feeling that the craven thief has exposed the most intimate details of their life.

Burglary is a despicable crime which devastates and desecrates an individual’s existence far beyond the mere loss of property.

Better to meet a mad dog than to suffer the torments which follow a burglary.

Robberies, whether armed robberies or those which only rely on intimidation, leave victims enraged and shaken to such an extent that they are frequently unable to readily get on with life.

The theft of personal items from a desk at work, from a locker at school, from a parked automobile, all alike take a toll of the victim far beyond the loss of mere personal items.

In every instance, it is as though the thief has trampled on the rights of others and demonstrated in a most brazen fashion utter contempt for the victim.

The victim is reduced to a mere “thing” to be used by the thief, and the attitude of the thief is akin to that of a rapist or some violent abuser using others for personal gain.

The Bible defends ownership of property, liberal social philosophies notwithstanding.

For this reason, the robber is always condemned in God’s Word—theft is never condoned.

I should imagine that each of us would agree that ownership of property should be recognised by government as a God given right, inviolate and protected and forever secured in law.

I doubt there is among us one person who considers herself or himself a thief.

Perhaps you can recall an incident of petty pilfering in your younger days or you recall some thoughtless act when you took an item belonging to another; but in the main, we are not thieves and robbers.

Therefore, we may be tempted to consider this rule for living, as we do other of these rules for living, to be irrelevant—an archaic remnant to warn others or to remind us of how we might have once lived.

Though it is likely that none of us would consider ourselves to be robbers or thieves, perhaps we need to reassess this view.

It is a fascinating observation that the Word of God frequently challenges believers to weigh whether they have violated this Eighth Commandment, knowingly or otherwise.

God, through His spokesmen the prophets, often confronted His own people to accuse them of theft.

Though such challenges may deprive us of comfort, for the next few minutes, consider whether we have inadvertently violated this rule for living.

Let’s probe beneath the surface of the matter to discover what God may have to say to us from His Word.

When we have explored the issue, let’s reflect on what we have learned to see if we may avoid further condemnation and so that we may discover how to glorify God in our lives.

*Some Theft is Frequently Overlooked or Even Condoned in Contemporary Society* — As is true of most rules for living, many of us are willing to make exceptions to this rule.

There are forms of theft which are ignored or even condoned.

Somehow they don’t seem so awful or perhaps we even justify such acts in our own minds.

Let me list a few examples, although I make no claim that the list is exhaustive.

Some condone stealing from the government.

Paul instructed Christians, /Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue/ [*Romans 13:7*].

I suspect that each of us loves to hate the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency.

We aren’t much more enamoured of provincial and municipal tax authorities.

This antipathy toward payment of taxes is so deeply ingrained that virtually all of us are willing to invest extra time seeking every deduction possible as we prepare our income taxes; and many of us are tempted to be silent about portions of our income.

We quite naturally resent governmental intrusion into our financial affairs.

We begrudge government’s claim on any portion of our earnings.

Especially do we hate governments’ claim to a growing portion of our income, and the more so as the amount claimed grows larger each year.

Our outrage only grows when those responsible for collecting and spending these funds seem to squander our hard-earned money without ever a thought to what we might wish or even require of government!

We rightly resent leaders making their own lives comfortable and secure—with our money!

There is a persistent tax revolt within Canadian society.

The most obvious form of this tax revolt is a black market in exchanging goods and services for cash.

This underground economy provides services in exchange for cash so that government auditors are hard-pressed to demonstrate that a transaction occurred.

In this way, the GST need not be reported and the funds received are treated as exempt from income tax as well.

No Christian can participate in this activity and think to honour God.

Of course, we resent taxes, but we cannot resort to theft and lies to accomplish our goals and still glorify God.

Make no mistake; to avoid paying taxes through deceit or deliberate refusal to report what you are required to report, is theft and is roundly condemned by the Word of God.

The payment of taxes has been elevated to a higher position than mere obedience of civil powers.

You will recall an encounter Jesus had with the Pharisees when they tried to trap Him in a church~/state issue.

The account is recorded in *Matthew 22:15-21*.

/The Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his talk.

And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone’s opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances.

Tell us, then, what you think.

Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”

But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites?  Show me the coin for the tax.”

And they brought him a denarius.

And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?”

They said, “Caesar’s.”

Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”/

Listen again to the passage in Romans in which the verse previously cited occurs.

For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing.

Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honour to whom honour is owed.

Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.

The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.”

Love does no wrong to a neighbour; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law [*Romans 13:6-10*].

Some condone stealing from employers.

There are a surprising number of employees who condone stealing from their employers.

Occasionally they justify theft by the rationale that they are simply getting what is theirs.

They believe they are inadequately recompensed for their work, and so they take the issue into their own hands and steal what they believe is their due.

Others simply never think about what they take, considering that the employer is so large that the company will not miss some small item.

There are still others who would never take something materially from their employer, but who consider it a small thing if they are late to work, or if they leave their place of employment early each day, or if they extend their lunch break by a matter of minutes, or if they take extra coffee breaks during the course of the day.

To steal extra time from each activity is to steal from your employer and is condemned by the Word.

Writing in the encyclical we know as Ephesians, Paul instructed Christians in this matter.

/Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labour, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need/ [*Ephesians 4:28*].

It requires no great stretch of imagination to apply to each wage earner Paul’s instructions which were included in his letter to Titus.

There, he wrote: Slaves are to be submissive to their own masters in everything; they are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour [*Titus 2:9, 10*].

Let each Christian determine that he or she will give a full day’s labour for a day’s wages.

When we live honestly, even in the face of dishonesty, are but applying the words of Christ: I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil.

But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.

And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.

And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.

Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you [*Matthew 5:39-42*].

Some condone stealing from those deserving respect.

It is possible to be a thief and never steal material items from another.

For example, some steal respect from those deserving respect.

In *Romans 13* we saw this command: Pay to all what is owed to them: … respect to whom respect is owed [*Romans 13:7*].

Clearly, among those things belonging to Caesar is respect [Φόβος] for the office.

Governments, both provincial and federal, have earned our caricature.

Unfortunately, veracity no longer seems to be a quality demonstrated by political leaders.

The current federal government must qualify as one of the most scandal-ridden governments in the history of the Dominion of Canada.

Our Prime Minister is arrogant toward other world leaders, haughty toward provincial leaders, and even condescending toward the electorate.

He is sparing with the truth, holding what may be described at best as a peculiar view of history and of his relationship to events surrounding that history.

I confess that I have regaled others with jokes about governmental leaders and forwarded my share of stories ridiculing them.

Though they merit such ridicule on many occasions, I acknowledge that such activity is unbecoming of a Christian, to say nothing of being defiant of Scripture.

On one occasion, I received a rebuke from a fellow-pastor for a story which I related concerning the present elected head of the Canadian State.

Though I did not enjoy receiving the rebuke, my fellow-pastor was technically correct.

I was in error in relating a disrespectful story concerning the Prime Minister.

The point of relating this incident from my own life is to remind each of us—and to personally acknowledge—that as Christians we owe respect to those who govern our nation, our province, and even our communities.

We owe respect to elected leaders—if not to the individual governing, then assuredly we owe respect to the office.

I am not condemning others, for I myself need to exercise cautious in this area of life.