THE COMMON THIEVERIES OF LIFE
#289 THE COMMON THIEVERIES OF LIFE
Scripture: Exodus 20:15, Malachi 3:8-10 NIV Orig. 7/17/1966; 10/1984
Rewr. 7/24/1989
Passage:
Exodus 20:15
15 “You shall not steal.
Malachi 3:8-10
8 “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me.
“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’
“In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.”
Purpose: Continuing a series on the Ten Commandments, here identifying this eighth command as the bold declaration of relationship.
Keywords: Morality Series, Ten Commandments
Timeline/Series: Sequential
Introduction
Back in the mid-seventies, there were many students from Middle Eastern countries in school in various universities across the United States. One of the major ways in the last half century that America has helped third world nations is through the education of some of their brightest students.
One of these exchange students was in school in Oklahoma, It became necessary for him to purchase a used car. He was on a limited budget, but had to have a dependable car. The young man went to an agency near the campus and made the necessary arrangements. The used car served the young man well. Even when service was needed the dealer went out of his way to provide for this customer that would be leaving the country as soon as he graduated. He could have treated the young man shabbily. After all, the oldest consumer declaration known is “caveat emptor”—“Let the buyer beware.”
This is the rest of the story. Years passed. The young man, highly trained in business acumen, worked hard and became purchasing agent for a contractors’ association that was an affiliate of his government. Remembering his honest American friend who had helped him secure and keep a used car, he placed an order for his government. The order was for 450 pick-up trucks, and 750 heavy dump trucks.
I. The First Concern of Thievery is in not Daring. “Thou shalt not steal” means that we possess honorably, or not at all.
1. It is the failure to accept God’s plan for human provisioning.
1) Some think that work was a punishment heaped on Adam for his sin.
2) I remind you that he was given the garden and made to be its keeper.
3) God’s plan, then, is all are to be remunerated for their labor.
a) The Fourth command sought to certify a day of rest from labor.
b) Proverbs 12:11, “He who tills his land will be satisfied with bread.”
c) The prudent woman of Proverbs 31:27, “She watches over the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness.”
d) Paul advised Christians in I Thessalonians 4:11, “We urge you to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands.”
e) There was an even stronger word in I Timothy 5:8, “If any provide not for his own, he has denied the faith.”
f) Even the beasts were protected by Deuteronomy 25:4, “Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn.” Quoted in I Corinthians 9:9 and again in I Timothy 5:18.
4) This plan is the foundation upon which any workable economic system is based.
a) One of the first freedoms should be the right to work—therefore to earn, therefore to save.
b) It is in this spirit of occupation that God gave man “dominion.” We can “occupy”—sitting, sleep. But for the Greek literally, it means “to be busy with.”
2. It is also the failure to live within our means.
1) Many year-end crime reports show most arrests for robbery, burglary. Last seen—over 1,000 per day
2) Article (Christianity Today) “Stealing Their Way through College.”
3) Until recently, 85% were men.
3. It is not daring to grant to others what we demand for ourselves.
1) There are too many who are unaffected by the plight of unemployed/under-employed.
2) Christians need to address social issues that force people into crime. In VBS I shared the story of Frank Laubach. More need to adopt his “Each One Teach One” philosophy.
4. Thank God, men are not working in sweatshops for pennies a day. 15-year-old boys are not being hung for stealing bread. But America still has social circumstances motivating criminal activity.
II. An Additional Concern of Thievery is That of not Sharing. “Thou shalt not steal” means that it is a sin to guard so selfishly what we should give away.
1. Not sharing the return of honest debts.
a. Christians are to be fiscally responsible.
b. That means paying debts, living within our means.
c. Proverbs 28:6, “Better is the poor that walketh in his uprightness, than he that is perverse in his ways though he be rich.”
d. I remind you there our responsibility to God is pictured in terms of debt—Our sin has not only corrupted us. Romans 8:12, “WE are debtors, not to the flesh, . . . but . . . the Spirit.”
2. It means sharing the load of legitimate taxes.
a. Not to pay the debts of scheming politicians. This week’s paper tells of Angola and the former governor’s agent (________) serving a five-year prison term.
b. Not to build up a welfare system that invites corruption.
c. To keep my country strong, and to help the weak, aged, homeless, who are not able to help themselves.
3. And of course it means the sharing of the blessings of the tithe.
a. Old Testament law or New Testament expectation for every believer.
b. The higher goal of reconciliation. Matthew 5:23, “If your gift . . . and remember, leave . . . go be reconciled.”
c. Malachi 3:8 pleads that the people not “rob God.”
d. At the point of commitment, we discover what we ought to do materially.
e. One of the eight woes of Luke 11:42 is of those tithing everything except a willing spirit.
III. The Final Concern of Thievery is That of not Caring. “Thou shalt not steal” speaks of the sin of not caring.
1. Stay free from the sin of benefiting from someone else’s misfortune. There was the Biblical character of Jacob (deceiver). He is not pictured as a hero. In fact, he makes amends to Esau.
2. Stay free from the sin of robbing a person of that that is irreplaceable.
a. Many girls have lost virtue on the basis of false promises [by] boys.
b. Gossip has been the instrument of stealing honor, integrity—to start it [or] to pass it along. Shakespeare: “He that filches from me my good name, Robs me of that which not enriches him, and makes me poor indeed.” (Iago in Othello).
3. Stay free from the sin of stealing from the truth of God’s Word.
a. To deny it is to rob it of saving efficacy.
b. To compromise it is to steal from its life-giving vitality. John 10:1, “I say to you, he who does not enter the sheep-fold by the door, the same is a thief and a robber.”
4. Stay free from the sin of robbing people of their dignity.
a. They are the children of God.
b. We are to treat all people accordingly.
Conclusion
A student at seminary was the son of Japanese diplomat. In England they were given one hour to pack before being extradited at start of the war. Value (silver and gold); ancestor (porcelains, etc.). Finally, woolens, food. The war robbed them of great wealth. A daughter killed herself when her husband was killed in kamikaze raid. Converted in Germany following the war when he was given a portion of a German New Testament.
Links
https://renovare.org/articles/living-each-moment-with-a-sense-of-gods-presence-frank-laubach