Give, Don't Take
Finding Freedom in the Ten Commandments • Sermon • Submitted
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8th Commandment
8th Commandment
Stealing is taking something that is not yours, pretty straightforward...
But it is more than petty theft or robbing a bank.
Most of us here have never robbed a bank, but many of us have snatched something from a store.
Taking something that isn’t yours is stealing, even if we don’t think it is all that big of a deal.
“Accidentally” hitting the lemonade button when you are filling your cup with water.
Signing into your buddy’s Netflix account (they are a billion dollar company after all).
Reveals God to us
Reveals God to us
1) God is JUST.
1) God is JUST.
The 8th commandment points to God’s JUST nature.
deu 3
4 “The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.
When we go into a store to purchase something we are given a price, if we agree to pay the price then justice has been served.
When we go into a store to purchase something we are given a price, if we agree to pay the price then justice has been served.
If I refuse to pay the price and put the item in my pocket, I am being unjust and untrustworthy.
If the seller charges too much for the item knowingly ripping me off, he is being unjust and untrustworthy.
God is never unjust or untrustworthy.
He will never rob or defraud us, never lie or cheat us.
God always deals justly, in His wrath and in His grace.
The 8th commandment shows the
2) God is GENEROUS.
2) God is GENEROUS.
The other side of not being a thief is being GENEROUS.
Tim Keller says this:
“You have not stopped being a thief (biblically speaking), when you have stopped taking. You have stopped being a thief when you start giving.” Tim Keller
11 For the Lord God is our sun and our shield. He gives us grace and glory. The Lord will withhold no good thing from those who do what is right.
God is our generous provider.
He is not required to give us anything, but He richly blesses us with so many things.
Jesus compares God’s provision for us to how He takes care of the birds of the air, He is generous and kind to us.
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
romans 8 31 32
His greatest act of generosity came in sending Jesus.
Tim Keller says this:
“You have not stopped being a thief (biblically speaking), when you have stopped taking. You have stopped being a thief when you start giving.” Tim Keller
He does not without His generosity and grace from us.
Confront our sin
Confront our sin
Confront our sin
Confront our sin
Why do we steal…why is generosity so difficult?
Two ingrained issues in our hearts.
1) Confronts our PURSUIT of SIGNIFICANCE.
1) Confronts our PURSUIT of SIGNIFICANCE.
We, by nature, are deeply dissatisfied people, not content with our position in life.
Looking to
It really is a pursuit of value, measure how much we are worth by the things we have.
Have you seen the “Online Shopping Fails” on the web. People buying things advertised, but they show up entirely different than expected.
But it is more than petty theft or robbing a bank.
Our sinful tendency is to look to the things we own or the experiences we have to be the measuring stick of our significance in life.
We break the commandment when:
For some people, money is the way to the good life.
They define the good life as nice cars, vacation homes, nice clothes, live on a lake and be a part of a country club, etc, the ability to fly 1st class, take great vacations, etc.
But what we are sold is often a rip off to what is reality.
The pursuit of significance is like running on a treadmill thinking you are gaining ground.
The pursuit of significance drives us to steal from others, neglect the needs of others (even our families), to drive up debt and struggle to pay for what we promised we would purchase, and to ignore the needs of others
Or just not able to rationalize generosity. “If I give I won’t be able to __________.”
All in effort to make our lives count
To stand out
Some of us are so strapped down in debt that all you can think about is work and paying the next payment. Generosity is not even on the list for writing checks.
The 8th commandment pushes against our pursuit of significance through worldly accumulate of stuff.
2) Confronts our PURSUIT of SECURITY.
2) Confronts our PURSUIT of SECURITY.
Jesus commands us in “do not be anxious about your life...” and that demands the QUESTION- What makes you anxious?
Your savings account dropping below a certain number?
• Your savings account dropping below a certain number?
• Not being able to afford a newer car, a nicer toy, or an annual vacation?
Not being able to afford a newer car, a nicer toy, or an annual vacation?
• Not being able to give your kids the life you think they deserve?
Not being able to give your kids the life you think they deserve?
Not being able to retire when or where your want to?
• Not being able to retire when or where your want to?
We have very legitimate worries about money and I am not making light of those.
• We have very legitimate worries about money and I am not making light of those.
But for many of us in the room today money is a security blanket that:
• But for many of us in the room today money is a security blanket that:
• Keeps us from giving because we are concerned we won’t have “enough”
Keeps us from giving because we are concerned we won’t have “enough”
Keeps us from Godly responsibilities as we feel the pressure to work harder and longer to make sure there is “enough”
• Keeps us from Godly responsibilities as we feel the pressure to work harder and longer to make sure there is “enough”
Ensures we will have what we really want and probably deserve since we are WORKING so hard.
• Ensures we will have what we really want and probably deserve since we are WORKING so hard.
The 8th commandment confronts the safety blanket we make money into.
The reality is it there is never enough $$ to make you secure.
Instructs our following
Instructs our following
Instructs our following
Instructs our following
1) Instructs us to SEEK CONTENTMENT.
1) Instructs us to SEEK CONTENTMENT.
6 But godliness with contentment is great gain, 7 for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. 8 But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. 9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.
1 timothy 6:6-
Contentment is not something we can buy or work hard enough to receive.
You have all you need right now to find contentment.
It isn’t quitting or giving up hard work.
Jon Bloom shares this about contentment:
Jesus described the kind of experience he wants us to know:
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. . . . [For] your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.” (, )
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. . . . [For] your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.” (, )
Paul, from prison, shared his experience of the secret with all who would listen:
Paul, from prison, shared his experience of the secret with all who would listen:
“I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” ()
“I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” ()
The secret to contentment is very simple. And it does not require heroic acts of piety. No, in fact it requires a childlike response from us. The secret is beautifully summed up in this phrase: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart” ().
The secret to contentment is very simple. And it does not require heroic acts of piety. No, in fact it requires a childlike response from us. The secret is beautifully summed up in this phrase: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart” ().
God designed us to trust him in whatever knowledge, wisdom, and strength he provides us and to trust his knowledge, wisdom, and strength when ours reach their limits.
The 8th commandment is a command to “Trust God and stop looking for money and stuff to bring you contentment in life.”
2) Instructs us to EMBRACE the JOY of GENEROSITY.
2) Instructs us to EMBRACE the JOY of GENEROSITY.
35 In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”
6 The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
2 cor 9
There is joy in being generous, but we have do get over the feeling that we are giving up something we find great value in.
Each $$ we give is a dollar we are not able to spend on ourselves.
Each hour we serve is an hour we cannot be served.
Each act of kindness is a moment we weren’t concerned with ourselves.
The attitude of Jesus in is a challenging but necessary realization we all must have.
It is better to give than receive.
It is better to serve than to be served.
We are in a season in our church where we are going to be challenging each of us to lean in to service.
We are not doing this only so we can do more, but more importantly we believe it is absolutely necessary for each believer to grow in service.
If you don’t believe me, then you might want to lean in to reading God’s Word more and see what He says.
The 8th commandment is a call toward generosity.
Promises us eternal hope
Promises us eternal hope
The Story of Zacheus
1 He entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. 3 And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. 4 So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. 5 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. 7 And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” 8 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.” 9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
Zacchaeus was a tax collector, whose job was to collect taxes from his own people, but was allowed to take as much as he wanted to make himself rich.
He was an extortioner who was protected by the Roman government.
He was hated by the Jewish people, to the point that he wasn’t even considered a human being.
He gave up a lot to be wealthy.
Family relationships, cultural acceptance, friendships
He saw something in Jesus that was worthy of getting a closer look.
But no one would let him see.
He had more wealth than anyone in the city, but there was a vast void in his heart that money or stuff could never fix.
A call to stop looking to money and possessions for your security and significance.
1) Promises us REAL and LASTING SATISFACTION.
1) Promises us REAL and LASTING SATISFACTION.
Jesus calls to Zacchaeus and in His call is:
A call to stop looking to money and possessions for your security and significance.
Jesus was inviting Zacchaeus to experience REAL and LASTING satisfaction and security in Him.
Zacchaeus had lived his life under the principle that the more money he had the better life would be.
A call to stop looking to money and possessions for your security and significance.
Jesus called him out of the tree and invited him to consider the real way to lasting satisfaction.
2) Promises us a GREAT and GLORIOUS INHERITANCE.
2) Promises us a GREAT and GLORIOUS INHERITANCE.
Zacchaeus comes down from the tree, spends the day with Jesus, and a miraculous transformation happens.
8 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.” 9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham.
luke
The Jewish law states that the only reason someone would need to give back 4-fold what they stole was if they stole a cow (I don’t know why).
But Zacchaeus was transformed.
We can often read these words like a super pious guys is saying them, but the Greek reads more like a child who no longer has training wheels.
“Jesus, I want you to know, I am making things right, money is no longer my Lord!”
Zacchaeus has received the great and glorious inheritance Jesus died to give us.
eph 1 11-14
11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
