"Thou Shalt Not Steal"(8th Commandment: Sermon Series on the Ten Commandments)
Sermon Transcript for March 26, 2000
By Rev. Mike Beck
Scripture Reading: Matthew 5:13-30
The Ten Commandments are a wonderful gift that God has given to us. In them we find a blueprint for living. The first four give us a blueprint for our relationship with God. The last six give us a wonderful blueprint for our relation with our fellow man. But before we look at the Eighth Commandment, "Thou shall not steal", I want to look at the commandments overall in a little deeper, theological way.
The Apostle Paul, if you’ve studied the Book of Romans, in the early chapters of Romans talks about the purpose of the Law. In simple terms, he points out that the Commandments ultimately serve to reveal to us our sin and our corresponding need of a Savior. Paul, in his writings, repeatedly reminds us that salvation is not what "we" do, but rather what God has done "for us" in Jesus Christ.
But that does not mean we discard the Law. As Christians, our response is out of our love for what God has done for us. That we strive after, what the Bible calls, holiness. Holiness of "heart" which has to do with our "motives". Holiness of "life" that has to do with our "actions". But as we strive after holiness as God’s people, there is absolutely, friends, no room for self-righteousness in this area of keeping the commandments. When you stand at the entrance to heaven and God might ask you, "On what basis should I let you in?" If you start talking about how good you have been you are in big trouble. Because the Bible says, "Our righteousness is as filthy rags, salvation is by grace through faith." There is no room for self-righteousness.
This passage from Jesus’ "Sermon on the Mount" that we read this morning, if taken literally, says "If you have harbored hatred in your heart toward your brother, you are guilty of murder." Jesus also, and there last week I tried to say to our young people, it is possible to live by God’s standards in terms of our sexuality. But having said that, if we look at these words of Jesus today, friends, I stand guilty of adultery. For I have looked upon a woman with lust in my heart. And my guess is if these words are taken literally, most of you men would have needed to have been led into church today by a seeing-eye dog. For we would long ago have gouged out our eyes.
What about these words of Jesus? These words and many others of Jesus are his frequent use of what is called hyperbolas. Hyperbolas are overstating the facts in order to make an important point. And this kind of passage is not to be taken in a strict, literal sense. But we do need to see the importance of it. Why does Jesus point out these things? Because God knows how potentially destructive things like hatred and adultery can be. And because God loves us he wants us to avoid those things like the plague!
Jesus was asked one time to summarize the law. What was the most important command? And you remember how he answered, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, and with all your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself." That is the standard by which we are to strive to live. But the other side of the coin is we strive to live by it with the realization that we all fall short of it and stand in need of God’s forgiveness and grace.
Let’s move on to the Eighth Command, "Thou Shalt Not Steal." At first-glance it’s a very straight forward command. But as with all of the commands, we’re striving to look at them in a little broader sense. Stretching the boundary of our first thoughts. I will say again, and I believe I’ve said this now two or three times, this sermon series is not original with Reverend Mike. This sermon series comes from a wonderful book by Dr. David Seamands entitled, "God’s Blueprint for Living." Now why do I need to say that again this morning? Because if I don’t give Dr. Seamands credit, I’m guilty of breaking the Eighth Command by stealing his good stuff.
The definition of stealing is the same today as it was in Bible times. The taking of something that belongs to somebody else. And I want you to notice these last three commands. The Sixth Command, "Thou Shalt Not Murder", is the safeguard of life. The Seventh Command, "Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery", safeguards marriage. The Eighth Command, "Thou Shalt Not Steal", safeguards property. I looked in the dictionary for some synonyms to the word "steal". There’s a whole bunch of them. To extort, to seize, to burglarize, to cheat, to defraud, to beguile, to mis-appropriate, to swindle, to embezzle. And then, here’s my favorite, to bamboozle!
Let us not take the commandments lightly. Hear these words of Paul from 1 Corinthians, Chapter Six, Verses 9-10: "Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God. Do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexual offenders, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor swindlers will inherit the Kingdom of God." Then a word of hope, Verse 11, "And that is what some of you were, but you were washed, you were sanctified. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God."
As we look at this Eighth Command, let me try now to give you some every-day ethics in terms of following this Eighth Commandment. And you know, I like preaching in Price Hall. There’s a clock on the back wall so I have absolutely no excuse. You have a better chance of getting out on time. Some every-day ethics in terms of this Eighth Command.
You pull through the McDonald’s drive-thru and you order a Value Meal #4 and #6 and you have a super-size #6. And they tell you what the amount is and you know it’s too low. What do you do? Or if your taste in dining are better than that you go to Red Lobster. And at the last minute you order dessert and when the server brings the bill you realize they haven’t added on the dessert. What do you do? When the boys were at home, I ‘m afraid I’m guilty of this one, you go to the Golden Corral and you order one salad bar and you split it three ways. Or you go to Wal-Mart and you’ve got this item at the bottom of your grocery cart that they didn’t scan and it’s Christmas time and it’s cold and you get all the way out to your car on the back row and discover that you didn’t pay for that item at the bottom of the cart. What do you do? Or you subscribe to the basic cable TV channels and all the sudden you realize the premium channels are coming through clear as a bell and you’re getting all these movies free that you aren’t paying for. What do you do?
Friends, when we fail to pay for those things, we will pay with a piece of our integrity and a piece of our spiritual lives. For integrity is never washed down the drain in one swoop. Integrity is chiseled away little by little.
Now, I need to make a sidelight here. Don’t go to extremes in terms of legalism in some of these things. Which is what the Pharisees of Jesus’ day did. For example, I’ve lost enough money in vending machines that when I put in $.60 for a diet coke and I get my diet coke and $.40 back, I don’t go running to see who I can give the $.40 to. I figure that over the years those mistakes just about come out even. But, by golly, when the lady in the McDonald’s line tells me $2.00 too low and I know it’s too low, I’ve got a God-given responsibility to say, "Recheck my bill; I don’t think you’ve charged me enough."
Let’s go on to some weightier matters in this area. All I have to say is April 15. And you get the point. Jesus said, "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and unto God what is God’s." Now, I have no problem at all with using every legitimate deduction you can use because a lot of times I don’t think Uncle Sam’s a very good steward of my money. And I don’t particulary give him what I give him any more than I have to. But the last I checked, when I get $100 for a funeral, that’s income. And that needs to be reported on the line for my IRS form that says "Other Income." There was a person who wrote the IRS who said, "I owe you some money but I have not paid. Enclosed is a check for $100. P.S. If I still can’t sleep tonight, I will send the next installment."
Shoplifting has become almost an epidemic in our day. When we cheat on a test or on an exam have we not taken from someone else something that doesn’t belong to us? Or, here I’m going to step on some toes, when you illegally dub that cassette tape, or CD, or you take the computer software program and loan it to five of your buddies to load on to their computer. Check the wrapping carefully. They are for the use of the purchaser only. Somebody makes their living from the sale of that item. And when we illegally dub it we have taken something that doesn’t belong to us.
Let me ask you this question. What do we steal from persons in terms of their reputation through our idle conversation and gossip? That’s a good one, friends. What do we steal from another person in terms of their reputation through our idle conversation? What do we take away from other persons who count on us or who look up to us through irresponsible actions on our part. Their I’m speaking of the sacred gift of trust that someone places in another person. And then, finally, what do we rob from God when we fail to be good stewards of the gifts he has given to us? Are we robing from God in terms of our tithes and offering? Do we not rob from God when God has given us a spiritual gift and we’re unwilling to use it for the well-being of the body of Christ? Do we not rob from God when the Bible says God delights in our coming together to praise and worship Him, and if we become careless in that have we not stolen something that is precious to God?
Matthew 5, Versus 13-16 says you are suppose to be "salt" and your are suppose to be "light" to the world. We can be "salt" and "light" through our faithful following of this Eighth Command, "Thou Shalt Not Steal". Now I can tell my boys, "You are not suppose to steal." But recently they thought I was crazy when I called the cable company and said I’m getting HBO and Showtime and I’m not paying for them. Come out and check the box and turn them off. And they said, "Dad, why did you do that? You could watch some good movies." But it was a moment to teach a lesson beyond words. Be "salt", friends, be "light" to the world.
You’ve heard me say over and over again, I believe the Christian life is finding balance. In this area, two weeks ago, we sang this hymn and it’s part of what we need to be, "I want a principle within, of watchful, Godly fear. A sensibility of sin, a pain to feel it near." That’s one side. The other side is our closing hymn today. When we sin, there is, "Grace Greater Than our Sin." Number 365, let’s stand together and sing.
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