Sermon Tone Analysis

NO THEFT            EXODUS 20:15

 

            This morning, we return back to our series on the Ten Commandments (Ten Words or Pronouncements).

I want to remind you once again that the Ten Commandments are divided into two tables.

The first table consists of four commandments dealing with our relationship with the Lord, while the second table consists of the last six commandments dealing with our relationship with others.

You could sum up the Law and the Prophets in the Great Commandment given by our Lord and Savior, “You are to love the Lord your God with all your heart, your mind, and your soul and you are to love your neighbor as yourself.”

So this morning, we are going to look at the eighth commandment which says *You shall not steal*.

In essence, this commandment shows respect for persons and a person’s possessions.

There are over 10 million acts of theft and robbery in the United States alone every year.

The crime statistics and the public cost of stealing and robbery are, in light of those kinds of numbers, enormous.

Millions of dollars are lost every year in this country over the theft of goods and services.

One estimate says that 1 out of every 52 shopper’s carries something out of the supermarket for which they haven’t paid.

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, 4 million people are caught shoplifting every year.

But for every one caught, 35 others get away with it.

This means that there are over 140 million incidents of shoplifting every year in America!

What’s really tragic is that only 10% of all shoplifters come from low incomes, 70% are middle class and 20% are classified as wealthy.

These facts are astounding!

America appears to be a country of thieves.

I suppose that if everyone who was guilty of theft were arrested, there would be no jails to hold them, nor arresting officers to lock them up!

One new hotel reported that in their 10 months of operation, they lost 38,000 spoon, 18,000 towels, 355 silver coffee pots, 1,500 silver finger bowls and 100 Bible to thieves.

In fact, American business reports that goods and services are approximately 15% higher than they would be were stealing not so epidemic.

So God gave this commandment to the children of Israel in the wilderness before they entered the Promise Land.

Again, I remind you that this commandment is comprehensive like all the other commandments and it is relevant for believers today.

If you notice the commandment is not specific in what you won’t steal, from whom you want steal, and when you won’t steal.

In fact, it does not even mention why you should not steal.

The reason is that you should not steal anything at anytime from anyone.

Ligon Duncan said, “Stealing is a sin against the providence of God.

It is a sign that one lacks trust in the Lord to provide.

Also, it is a sin against the image of God because it hurts the person and the community.”

Let me provide you a few examples throughout the Old Testament against stealing.

I want to remind you that this term is broad.

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

So here the issue is kidnapping another person created in the image of God.

Over one chapter Exodus 22 beginning in verse 1 there are laws about restitution.

Here one is forbidden from stealing another’s livestock such as ox or sheep.

In verse 5, man is forbidden to allow his animal loose in another man’s field to graze.

In verse 7, if a man allows another to take care of their goods and something is stolen, then the one whose possession it is in must come near to God and show whether or not he has put his hand on the person’s property.

In verse 10, livestock is put in the possession of another to take care of for a time.

In verse 14, a thing borrowed must be returned like it was.

Turn forward in your Bibles to Leviticus 6 verses 1-7.

Again, the issue is making restitution for something that was stolen through robbery or oppression or something found which was lost and lied about.

The person caught should make restitution plus 20% and a guilt offering to be forgiven.

Finally, turn forward to Leviticus 19, verse 13.

This commandment even required fair treatment of domestic help.

The eighth commandment requires a fair and generous of low-income help.

Listen to Leviticus 19:13, "You shall not oppress your neighbor nor rob him.

The wages of a hired man are not to remain with you all night until morning."

You get the point.

If people are living hand to mouth, and you pay them cash or you barter in goods, and you hold that payment overnight, that could be critical in their case, living hand to mouth.

It would give you real power over them, a little pull.

But you're not to do it.

You are to pay them in a timely fashion.

In short, the Old Testament forbids all manner of stealing under this command, burglary, kidnapping, robbery, stealing, theft, white-collar crime, and wrongful treatment of people in economic relationships.

It requires that we respect our neighbor’s life, liberty and property.

Yes, this commandment establishes property rights.

And in sum, God is commanding us in His word here to refrain from any manner of depriving our neighbor what belongs to him, whether it's his life or whether it's his property.

Yet, the Old Testament is not the only place that you will find a command not to steal.

If you turn to the New Testament there are several passages that deal with the subject of stealing.

Just like the Old Testament, the New Testament views stealing as a sin against God.

In fact, the New Testament states that stealing is a matter of the heart.

Jesus said, “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander” (Matthew 15:19).

In other words, Jesus is getting to the root cause of the problem and the root cause is a matter of the heart.

What are reasons that people steal?

I can think of a few.

One is the issue of greed.

Our culture thrives on this.

Greed is excessive desire to acquire or possess more than what one needs or deserves.

I have got to have what my neighbor has.

Another reason people steal is selfishness.

In other words, you do not care who or how you might hurt someone as long as you get what you want when you want it.

You put yourself as the number one priority.

Both greed and selfishness are condemned in the Bible.

Some people steal because they lack confidence in God providing for their need.

They find themselves in a pinch and do not trust God to provide for them at the right time.

In the New Testament, believers are instructed not to steal because it does not match the life change that has been brought about by a relationship with Christ.

In Matthew 19, there is the story of the rich young ruler who approaches Jesus and is asking what he must do to inherit eternal life.

Jesus said, “You are to keep the commandments.”

So the rich young ruler asks, “Which ones?” Jesus said, “You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother, and, you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt.

19:18).

Here Jesus gives the second table of the Ten Commandments and makes a link that the way we love our neighbor is by keeping these commands.

Paul does the same thing in Romans 13:9 saying that the life of a believer is not a person who steals or covets, but loves his neighbor.

Again, if you love others than you will not steal from them.

In demonstrating a changed life as a result of repentance, John the Baptist answered the question that some were acquiring of him because they received the message.

In Luke 3, he preached that the kingdom of God is near and as a result the crowds asked him, “What then shall we do?”

And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.”

Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?”

And he said to them, “Collect no more than you are authorized to do.” Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what shall we do?”

And he said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.”

The New Testament views obedience to this command as part of the life-change that comes when God gives you new life in Jesus Christ, when someone is regenerated by the grace of God, when someone is changed by the Holy Spirit.

For instance, turn to Ephesians 4:28.

Paul, in contrasting the way we were and the way we are now in Jesus Christ, says this, "He who steals must steal no longer, but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good so that he will have something to share with the one who has need."

He's contrasting the way some Christians were before they met Christ, embraced Him, and were saved by Him, and the way they are as those who are filled by the Spirit.

He says the same things to Christian slaves in Titus 2:8-10.

"Remember," he says to those slaves, "Don't pilfer, but show all good faith so that you adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect."

In other words, he is saying to these Christian slaves, the fact that you refrain from stealing from your master will be a witness to your master for the truth of your conversion and to the grace of our God and savior.

Peter and Paul said those who are thieves and swindlers and covetous and revilers will not inherit the kingdom of God.

They said that some of them were exactly that, but they are not anymore.

In fact, coming to Christ is a life-changing experience.

God has not saved us to leave us as we are but to transform us into the image of His Son Jesus Christ.

So a mark of being a Christian is that you do not steal.

Now that you understand the command, I want to share with you a couple of things that I believe are implied in this command.

One is that if something is stolen from you then you have a right to own it.