Intro: Is all theft wrong? Consider a father stealing bread for his starving family, is that wrong? Consider a politician campaigning to raise taxes on the top 1% of Americans in order to redistribute that wealth to people who really need it? Is that really wrong? Consider a teenager who borrows clothes from a friend and fails to take them back afterwards, is that really stealing? When we consider the eight commandment there may seem to be a few grey areas, but overall stealing is pretty much universally recognized as bad. I think it’s safe to say every industrialized nation has laws on theft. Even the person who says, “There is no absolute right or wrong” steal their wallet and see what they say then! Except for a few difficult scenarios, stealing is pretty much considered by all people as wrong. The question I would like to answer this morning is, “Why is stealing wrong?” This is the question that goes unanswered by society. Think about it, High School science books teaches teenagers that we are all a result of billions of years of evolution and we are simply evolved animals with higher intellects. So, if we are simply evolved animals, then why is stealing wrong? I mean, does the bear ask the bees before he takes their honey? Does the wolf ask if he can take the chicken’s egg? Does a dog ask before stealing your sock? Mine doesn’t! No, of course not; their animals, they steal! All animals steal. If we are simply evolved animals then why is stealing 1 wrong? I mean, if we are evolved primates then we should steal if it helps us! Right? Why is stealing wrong? Turn with me to Ex. 20 CPT: God commanded Israel to trust in His provision Pray For the Israelites, they had never had owned property. These were Egyptian slaves. They had never owned their own house, their own donkey, or anything for that matter. Everything was ultimately owned by Pharaoh. The eighth commandment gave Israel the right to own private property. Theft of someone else’s belongings was a costly sin. For example, if someone was caught stealing they would have to repay the person double. Stealing was more work than it was worth! At the heart of this commandment, God wanted his people to trust in his provision over them. He wanted them to look to Him as the supplier of all their needs. He wanted them to be content with what He gave them. He wanted Israel to trust Him. Stealing was wrong for Israel because it showed a distrust of God. Do you trust God to meet your needs? 2 You know… CPS: God commands us to trust in His provision too Stealing is wrong because when we steal we are admitting to God we don’t trust Him to meet our needs. At the very core of theft is an unwillingness to trust God. We have plenty of verses encouraging us to trust God. Phil. 4:19 says, “My God will supply all your needs.” Psalm 23:1 says, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” Gen. 22 calls God’s name Jehovah-Jireh which means, “The Lord provider.” There are countless other verses in the Bible that all say the same thing, “God provides for His people.” Do you believe that? Do you trust God to get you through the tough times? PSS: This morning, if I accomplish one thing I hope it’s that I would persuade you to trust God to meet all your needs. God hasn’t left you. He is fully aware of all your needs. God is faithful. He cannot deny His own character. EL: This commandment truly is an expression of love, because if we love God we will trust in his provision and not resort to stealing. In other words, the more you love God the more you trust Him and the more you trust Him the more you will love Him. Love and trust go hand in hand. 3 Q: Do you trust God to meet all your needs? Is there any shred of doubt in your mind that God will take care of you into old age; that God will provide you work; that God will satisfy your desires? Is there any way that you may be guilty of not trusting God? Stealing is wrong because God commands us to trust Him for our needs. “But Bro. Jared I don’t steal!” -Have you ever cheated the government on your taxes? -Have you ever short changed God in your tithes? -Have you ever borrowed something and not return it? -Have you ever stolen time from your boss while you were on the clock? -Have you ever purchased a counterfeit item? -Have you ever just taken something that wasn’t yours? At some point in time we have all been guilty of not trusting God to meet our needs. Therefore, we stole to meet our own perceived needs. Church, this is not a minor commandment. The punishment for breaking the seventh commandment is eternal separation from God. The Bible says the wages of sin is death, including the sin of theft. Not only that, but when we fail to trust God we miss out on the joy we have in child-like trust. 4 TS: Let me give you some characteristics of a Christian who trusts God and see if these describe you… #1 A Christian who trusts God is content to live without (Phil. 4:10-13) E: The Apostle Paul told the Philippian Church that he had learned the secret of living without and living with plenty. That secret was trust in Christ. Christ was all Paul needed. For years Paul traveled the ancient world planting churches, and for all that time God was right there with Him. Never once did Paul steal food to feed himself or someone else. God always provided for His servant. A: What about you? What about me? Are we content to live without that new car? Are we content to live without that new___________. Paul is not condemning riches at all. In fact at times Paul was extremely wealthy! Having wealth or not having wealth is not what Paul is talking about. What Paul is talking about is the insatiable desire we have at times for more stuff we feel we can’t live without. When a man or a woman is controlled by a desire for more this or more that they may resort to stealing it or at the very least coveting. Maybe you are not guilty of 5 stealing right out of a store in broad daylight, but maybe you are guilty of stealing by robbing money from the families’ budget in order to pay for it, maybe taking a large loan out that’s not necessary that puts the family in financial trouble. I: This reminds me of a story I once heard… There once was a man who became envious of his friends because they had larger and more luxurious homes. So he had a realtor list his house in the paper, planning to sell it and to purchase a more impressive home. Shortly afterward, as he was reading the classified section of the newspaper, he saw an ad for a house that seemed just right. He called the realtor and said, "A house described in today's paper is exactly what I'm looking for. I would like to go through it as soon as possible!" The agent asked him several questions about it and then replied, "But sir, that's your house your describing." A: Are we content people? Do we trust in God’s provision whether we have a little or have plenty? Can we live without? #2 A Christian who trusts God would rather work for what he has (Col. 3:23) 6 E: The Apostle Paul urged the Colossians to work for what they have. Here are a couple other verses about work… Proverbs 12:24 The hand of the diligent will rule, while the slothful will be put to forced labor. Ecc. 9:10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, Trusting in God does not mean that you sit by and expect blessings to fall out of the sky. Trusting God means you apply yourself to the work God gives you to do and through that he will bless you. Christian should be the hardest working people there on earth. A: You know one of the main reasons people steal is because it’s easier than working for it. Sometimes theft is simply a result of being lazy. I: It reminds me of a news paper article I came across this week. It read, “It was a sunny March day in Omaha, Nebraska, Melissa Peters was getting ready to take her son to school. She was heading for her car when she found a gun pointing at her face, courtesy of 17year-old. He had little interest in the mother or her child, who fled quickly. Instead, he simply entered the vehicle to steal it. There was only one problem—the car had a manual transmission, something with which the teenager was unfamiliar. The boy turned on the lights and the windshield wipers trying to make his escape. A neighbor called the police. It took them about eight minutes to arrive and find an empty car sliding gently into the neighbor’s yard, 7 knocking over the fence. He was quickly picked up by police.” It would have been easier for the boy to get a job and buy the car he wanted; now he’s doing time. A: The Christian man or woman would rather have the satisfaction of working hard for what they have while still giving God the glory. Christian man/woman trusts God to meet all their needs through their hard work. #3 A Christian who trusts God is patient with God’s timing (Ecc.3:1-8,11) E: King Solomon writes in this short book insight for living. In verses one Solomon says this, “There is an appointed time for everything.” In verse eleven Solomon says, “God has made everything beautiful in its time.” A: Sometimes, we feel we know better than God does about what we need. Have you ever been convinced that you needed something right then and there only to later regret purchasing it? Retailers call it “Buyer’s Remorse.” I: One on-line consumer website that gauges consumer spending habit concluded that the average person will make 40,000 impulse purchases in their lifetime. The top three reasons were: confusing “wants” 8 with “needs,” Falling for advertising tricks and gimmicks, and believing in quick-fixes. This is a common problem for all of us. We are constantly pressured to keep up with the latest fashion, latest technology, and latest vehicle style! This leads to poor decisions on our part that jeopardizes our budgets. But someone may say, “Well it’s my money I have plenty of it. I can buy whatever I want to!” I wish I had your problem! At the heart of that sentiment is an erroneous view that your money is yours. Every cent the Christian has in his bank is God’s! Not just 10%. Every purchase we make needs to be within a reasonable budget that honors God. Money manager Dave Ramsey encourages couples to have a “fun money” line item to keep from hurting the rest of your budget. That’s a good idea. Do your best to trust God’s timing. He will provide. #4 A Christian who trusts God is grateful for what he has E: 1 Thess. 5:18 Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you Psalm 107:1 Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! Ephesians 5:20 Giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 9 A: A Christian man or woman who loves God trust God. A Christian man or woman who trusts God is always grateful for what he has. Gratitude is a sign of a believer in rightfellowship with God. Discontentment with life, discontentment with house, car, clothing, and material items in the Christian’s life is a sign of a spirit of entitlement. When we feel entitled we can easily rationalize stealing, but being grateful causes us to give more to others and it causes us to have more joy. Feeling we deserve more then what God has given us will put us on the road to stealing, one way or another. Church, be faithful where you are, with what you have, and I promise you God will give you the increase according to his will. I: Take the prayer of Jabez for example. Scripture says, “Jabez was a more honorable person than His brothers. He cried out to the God of Israel saying, "Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain." And God granted his request. Jabez didn’t feel entitled. Scripture says He was an honorable man. Praying for prosperity isn’t wrong. It is though if you feel entitled to it. It is wrong if you are not grateful for what you already have. Pray with Jabez, 10 but pray with the Lord too when he said, “Not my will Lord, but thine be done.” #5 A Christian who trusts God lives by God’s standards (Ex. 20:15) E: Period. End of sentence. God said not to steal, so we don’t. Stealing is wrong because God told us not to. A: But what about victimless theft? Sometimes we rationalize theft with these words, “Well, I’m not hurting anyone by taking it or it’s not stealing he can afford it.” I: In 2007 WALMART recorded 348 billion dollars in revenue. In that same year Walmart had 3 billion dollars stolen from them by people walking out the front door with hidden merchandise. To many shoplifters they may rationalize their decision by saying, “Ah! They can afford it!” Maybe they can afford it, but it’s still theft. A Christian Man or woman lives by God’s absolute standards at all times because they trust God to meet their needs. #6 A Christian who trusts God is always aware of God’s presence (Psalm 139:7) E: David is comforted by God’s presence in His life. But this verse also reminds us that God is always aware of what we are doing. No sin is hidden from God. 11 A: Sometimes we steal from the government because we feel we can get away with it. “They won’t audit me!” They may not audit you, but God will. We are guilty of rationalizing our sin because we often wrongly think, “No one will know!” After giving Israel the Ten Commandments Moses said in the book of Numbers 32:23, "But if you fail to do this, you will be sinning against the LORD; and you may be sure that your sin will find you out.” A Christian who steals because “no one will know” is not trusting God to meet their needs and they don’t fear God, but a Christian who is constantly aware of God presence is keenly aware that God knows what I need and He will provide. Conclusion, Why is stealing wrong?-Many reasons, but fundamentally stealing is a sin because it shows a lack of trust in God. Do those six characteristics describe you as a Christian? Content with life? Rather work for what you have? Patient with God’s timing? Grateful? God’s standards are your standards? Perfectly aware of God’s watchful gaze? 12 If you scoreid high in those areas then you are a Christian who trusts God to provide for you. However, I think we all scored low in some area. It all boils down to this…do you trust God to provide for you and your family 100% of the time? And think about this…If God provides a way for us to be forgiven of all our sin, through the shed blood of Christ, why wouldn’t He provide for all our physical needs? 13
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