8th Commandment: I Found a Title on the Internet

We began talking about the 7th commandment by saying: God isn’t against sex, intimacy, beauty, or physical pleasure; he invented them! Tackling the commandment, “you shall not steal,” we can say something similar: Enjoy God’s blessings and gifts!

I studied this letter to Timothy a few years back and was struck by God’s command to enjoy what he gives you. Paul tells Timothy:

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. I Timothy 6:17 (NIV)

If you are even a little bit rich, you’re invited to enjoy everything God has entrusted to you. If God has given you the resources, enjoy the truck, take a vacation, and go ahead with the kitchen renos.

Enjoy all that God provided for you. Thank the Lordfor his gifts.

The thing you can’t do is: put your hope in riches. Don’t take luxuries for granted. Don’t trust you’ll get happiness or security from having the latest and greatest of everything.

Wealth is uncertain. Markets rise and fall. Moths and vermin destroy. Thieves break in and steal. Natural disasters come w/o warning. Wealth is uncertain.

But God is more solid than a mountain. In Ps 75, we hear God say:

When the earth and all its people quake,

it is I who hold its pillars firm. Psalm 75:3 (NIV)

If the Lord allows you to enjoy riches or if he provides your daily bread, enjoy it and give thanks to your heavenly Father.

The goal? Godliness w/ contentment. Be content with what God provides for each day. The bar for being content surprisingly low:

We brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that

I Timothy 6:7–8 (NIV)

Can you say the same?

Food þ, Clothing þ; I’m content?

This is where we begin to stray into behaviour covered by the 10th commandment. Do you remember what it is?

“You shall not covet.”

Coveting is the desire to have something that belongs to someone else. Coveting is just the tip of the iceberg.

In the NT letter James, we find a description of how sin progresses:

Each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. James 1:14–15 (NIV)

Stealing starts w/ coveting food, clothing, a house or car belongs to someone else. That covetous desire gives birth to sin: taking what does not belong to you. The sin of stealing, gives birth to death.

Paul warns how harmful desires lead to sin and death in this letter to Timothy and the Chr. in Ephesus:

Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. I Timothy 6:9–10 (NIV)

The problem isn’t w/ having or enjoying God’s good gifts. The problem is with being discontent with God’s gifts. The problem is wanting to get rich . . . as if riches are the key to happiness, long life, and security. The problem is idolatry – “the love of money.”

In one of Paul’s other NT letters, greed is identified as idolatry:

Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. Colossians 3:5–6 (NIV)

That probably requires some unpacking.

The 1st Commandment addresses idolatry. You remember the 1st Commandment?

I am the Lordyour God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. Exodus 20:2–3 (NIV)

If you are looking for security or happiness from owning lots of stuff, then “having stuff” has become an idol for you.

If accumulating land or animals, sports cars or pairs of shoes is more comforting than the assurances of the God who rescued you from slavery to wrongdoing and death, then you’ve made stuff #1 in your life. Your possessions are in God’s place. That is idolatry.

God’s word warns that wanting to get rich is a temptation to sin. It’s a trap. It leads to ruin and destruction. Esp. if you’re willing to take what isn’t yours. Stealing leads to broken relationships and all kinds of grief.

Maybe you saw it on the beach this summer. It happens even among young children. If one kid takes off with another kid’s pail or shovel, there’s going to be a chase and yelling and hitting – all of which might include murderous thoughts.

W/ adults, ruin and destruction, evils and grief are even greater:

Grandparent scam – In the news on Thurs.: Newmarket couple lost $100 000 b/c someone posing as a “grandchild” phoned, first needed bail, then more and more money

You might have your own stories of when someone stole from you. It’s an awful feeling to stand where your van was parked and you find it . . . gone. You don’t forget that experience quickly.

But we don’t do that stuff, do we? I doubt any of us have robbed a bank at gunpoint. But . . .

In a store, anyone ever tempted to put something in your pocket and walk out w/o paying?

What about keeping something not yours? hammer

Would you take gov’t benefits you don’t truly qualify for?

We’re tempted to defend such actions. You’ve heard the rationale:

Gov’ts are wasteful; if they’re handing out cheques, I should get my share.

I wouldn’t steal from a Mom & Pop shop. I have standards! But Costco & Walmart budget for theft; nobody local gets hurt.

Right. We can cook up all kinds of excuses that won’t work in a court of law. Our excuses don’t work before our Maker & Redeemer, the Judge of all the earth either.

Here’s the thing: We should be as concerned about other people’s stuff – even gov’ts and multinational corps. – as we are about our own stuff. The 2ndtable is about loving others as you love yourself.

Sin leads to death. Whether it’s the evil desire of coveting stuff that belongs to someone else, or the idolatrous thought that owning more stuff makes you happier than a right relationship with God, or taking someone else’s tools, ideas, or overcharging them – coveting, idolatry, and stealing – it’s all sin. “Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.” It all leads to death.

Sin breaks relationships with other people. Sin cuts us off from God and the life he gives. The punishment for sin is death, physical death and eternal damnation.

That would be the end of the story, except God has rescued his people from sin and death. Jesus entered his own creation on a rescue mission. Being fully human, he could offer himself as a ransom for many; he’s our substitute. Being fully God, he could bear the punishment for sin on behalf of all people.

Jesus’s rescue plan was to do more than just avoid committing sin. He fully lived out the positive expression of all God’s instructions.

Let’s give this some thought. The negative expression of this command is: “You shall not steal.” What is the positive expression? Instead of stealing, how does God want us to act?

This letter to Timothy spells it out:

Command [the rich] to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. I Timothy 6:18 (NIV)

Opposite of stealing is generosity. Yet, being generous is not something most people can do successfully 100% of the time.

In another letter, when Paul is encouraging Chr. to be generous b/c he’s raising support for the Chr. in Judea who face famine and persecution, Paul doesn’t show them pictures of starving widows and malnourished children. God’s word motivates generosity by painting a picture of the unselfish sacrifice of Jesus Christ:

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. II Corinthians 8:9 (NIV)

From the throne room of heaven to a borrowed manger, and from the manger to a cross he doesn’t deserve, Jesus emptied himself and became poor to make you rich with many good things.

We find the same encouragement in the poetry of Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi:

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God,

did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;

rather, he made himself nothing

by taking the very nature of a servant,

being made in human likeness.

And being found in appearance as a man,

he humbled himself

by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! Philippians 2:5–8 (NIV)

Out of deep love and an endless supply of generosity, Jesus became poor and humbled himself to give you life beyond price. He died on the cross to make you alive. His earthly poverty makes you rich eternally – rich w/ heavenly treasures that will last.

That’s the assurance that Jesus provides as recorded in the gospel according to Luke. Jesus’ teaching turns the world’s measures success upside-down:

And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Luke 12:29–34 (NIV)

That treasure in heaven, the Kingdom of God, is freely given to all who make the good confession – to all who confess they cannot avoid temptation on their own and need to be rescued by Jesus’ unselfish actions. By faith you can “take hold of the eternal life to which you were called.”

Will you accept God’s generosity?

Will you accept God’s gift of life?

Will you accept God’s assurances that he will provide everything you need for life, godliness, and contentment?

There’s no need to covet or steal. God provides what you need and sometimes – even more than we need.

One of the gifts God has so generously given us is the HS. The HS is poured out on all believers. The HS of God is at work transforming us more and more to act like Jesus and sound like Jesus. In Paul’s letter directly to the church in Ephesus – the same place Timothy is preaching and teaching – Paul speaks directly about the transformation:

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. Ephesians 4:28 (NIV)

The idea is that we strengthen our faith in God by exercising it. We show our faith that God will provide for our needs by sharing what he’s given us.

It’s a privilege to be the way God answers other people’s prayers for daily food

It’s cool to be able to respond to God’s generosity with generosity of our own so that as we mature in faith we grow up to be like Jesus.