You Shall Not Steal

The temporariness of this life and what we have here

From a news article: “World Health Organization officials expressed disappointment Monday at the group’s finding that, despite the enormous efforts of doctors, rescue workers and other medical professionals worldwide, the global death rate remains constant at 100 percent.”

Shel Silverstein wrote a song of profound wisdom that began like this:

"So you're takin' better care of your body
Becoming more aware of your body.
Responding to your body's needs.
Everything you hear and read about diets,
Nutrition and sleeping position and detoxifying your system,
And buying machines that they advertise to help you exercise.
Herbs to revitalize you if you're traumatized.
Soaps that will sanitize.
Sprays to deodorize.
Liquid to neutralize acids and pesticides.
Free weights to maximize your strength and muscle size.
Shots that will immunize.
Pills to re-energize you.

But remember that for all your pain and gain
Eventually the story ends the same...
You can quit smokin', but you're still gonna die.
Cut out cokin', but you're still gonna die.
Eliminate everything fatty or fried,
And you get real healthy, but you're still gonna die."

Scripture calls it “going the way of all the earth” (Joshua 23:14; I Kings 2:1). And in Hebrews, “It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). It’s the one appointment you can’t miss no matter how hard you try to miss it.

Through a little research I found another disappointing statistic: The average financial cost of death to its victims is 100%.

God’s word repeatedly reminds us of that profound bit of wisdom as well. Job 1:21 for instance, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return.” I Timothy 6:7, “we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world.” (cf. Ecclesiastes 2:18-23; 5:15-16; Psalm 49:17; Luke. 12:20).

Most would acknowledge these realities if you asked them, but they seem to push them out of consciousness as they go about life and live as if they weren’t true.
According to a little account I read about Mahmud, the first conqueror and sultan of India, when he was about to die of malaria at age 58, he ordered that all his costly apparel, his vessels of silver and gold, and his pearls and precious stones to be displayed around him in his palace. He touched the display and wept like a little child. And he said, “What toils, what dangers, what fatigues, both of body and mind, have I endured for the sake of acquiring these treasures, and what cares in preserving them! And now I am about to die and leave them.” Such is the end of the road for those who live for wealth and possessions. The end is bitter disappointment, which only increases when they leave their body and this world, and find that they will spend eternity away from God and all the goodness He provides, because they chose temporary earthly treasures over the gift of God, Jesus Christ.

Our subject this morning is the eighth of the Ten Commandments, “You shall not steal.” And I wanted to start with some realities that are ignored by those who steal, those who value “things” over Christ.

Jesus asked His disciples to consider, “what would it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” And, “what can a man give in return for his soul?” (Mark 8:36-37). So even if you could be the world’s most successful thief, steal trillions of dollars at a young age without a single human being knowing you did it, get to live in luxury and ease through your prime of life into old age… if you could have the world, just without Christ and His salvation, what would it profit you? You would have nothing forever. But Christ would have given you more than the world could offer forever. Yet with most people Satan doesn’t have to offer them the world. They will trade Christ for just a tiny piece of the world.

The book of Proverbs gives some powerful perspectives about ill-gotten gains.

… about having stuff that’s not rightfully yours.
Proverbs 1:19 says unjust gain takes away the life of its possessors. So one may think it’s to his advantage to embezzle or swindle or shoplift or lie to customers, but he doesn’t realize that what he acquires by that is equivalent to a cancer, a deadly virus, a life sucking parasite. He now possesses something that takes away the life of its possessors.
Proverbs 15:27, “He who profits illicitly troubles his own household.” Illicitly obtained money and things is like a scent that predators follow. You’re attracting the sharks, the wolves, the lions, to your home, endangering your own wife and kids.
Proverbs 21:6, “The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor and a snare of death.” When an animal is caught in a snare or a cage or a pit, it’s just a matter of time before the hunters come to kill and eat.

So possession of ill-gotten gains is to be in a trap and it’s just a matter of time. It’s to allow a deadly parasite to latch on. You’ve got the scent on you that is attracting trouble to your house. And the reason ill-gotten gains are all these things is because God is very real, the spiritual realm, angels and demons are very real, and nothing we say or do is really in private, it’s all seen by those in the unseen realm. They operate in the world and with us according to the rules we read of in God’s word. What God’s word says will happen if you do something or have something, that’s what angels and demons will enforce.

The eighth commandment has application to much more than just the stealing of money and material things.

It’s just as wrong to steal someone’s writing and pretend it’s yours. Plagiarism in other words.
It’s a terrible theft to steal people’s reputation or their good name with gossip and slander. Proverbs 22:1, “A good name is to be more desired than great wealth, Favor is better than silver and gold.” A character in a Shakespeare work said, “He who steals my purse steals trash; ’tis something, nothing; ‘Twas mine, ’tis his, and has been slave to thousands; But he that filches from me my good name Robs me of that which not enriches him, And makes me poor indeed.”
We can also steal people’s time by not keeping our appointments, or making people wait on us.
Another terrible theft which is common in churches today is the stealing of people’s liberty in Christ, through binding traditions and rules on people that are not of Christ. Legalism in other words. We can rob people of the freedom Christ brought for us with His blood by making religious laws and condemning things that Christ doesn’t.
The previous commands in the Ten Commandments are other forms of stealing. Adultery is stealing another’s spouse. Murder is stealing another’s life. Dishonoring parents is robing them of the honor we owe them. The first four commandments are about not robbing God of the time, respect, love and honor He deserves.

But I’m going to focus in particular in this lesson on the stealing of money, property and possessions. A lot of the stealing of material means that happens today is not the obvious kind. It’s often not armed robbery or breaking into jewelry stores at night kind of thing. I want to shine light on some much more…

Common forms of stealing that go on.

First, there are many forms of lifting sort of stealing.

There’s shoplifting of course.
But then there’s also workplace lifting. If you work at a vehicle service station and you take oil home that belongs to the station. Or if you work in an office and you take home copy paper or other office supplies. I read one of the most common items employees steal from work is toiletries.
Then there’s hotel-lifting. A hotel in New York City said that in one year’s time it lost 38,000 spoons, 355 silver coffee pots, 15,000 finger bowls, and 100 Bibles. That was all in one year. Reminds me of the little girl who was asked about what her mother’s last name was before she got married. The little girl replied, “I’m not sure. But I think it was Marriott. At least that’s what is written on all her towels.”
Of course we could add countless other forms of lifting: classroom lifting, church building lifting, pickup truck bed lifting, unlocked car lifting, etc.

Another form of stealing would be swindling.

Most of us have stories or have heard stories of taking a car to a mechanic shop for a minor repair and then hearing suspiciously that thousands of dollars of work need to be done on it.
How about when you want to sell your car and a potential buyer asks if the car has any problems? How honest are you?
Many say, “It’s business. All is fair in business. It’s just part of the game.” But the Bible says dishonest business practices are an abomination in God’s sight.

Maybe we could also include under this category what my wife discovered a lot of people do when she worked at Lowe’s about 15 years ago. Sometimes she’d work at the return desk, and she said people would buy riding lawn mowers in the spring time, use them through most the summer, then bring them back about three months after purchase, just before the time runs out when they’re allowed to return it, and they’d ask for their money back, saying, “Oh, it just didn’t run right” or “It’s not what I expected when I bought it.”
Have you ever returned something to a store claiming it was broke when you opened it, when in reality you broke it?

It’s very common for folks to swindle insurance companies today. I know insurance companies can also be guilty of some swindling themselves. But I read that 75% of all insurance claims are at least in some way fraudulent. When it comes time to fill out one of those forms, there is something within people that just snaps and says, “This is my chance to make a buck. Everybody ought to have at least one opportunity in life to get something, and this is mine.” So the damage gets exaggerated beyond what it really was because everyone wants to get as much as they can out of their insurance company.

Another form of stealing can be laziness in the work place.

You know, if somebody says to you I will give you 5 oranges for 5 apples and you say “Alright deal” and they hand you a bag of 5 oranges, but you only put 4 apples in the bag you give them, then you’ve stolen an apple from them. That’s the same sort of thing, isn’t it, if we receive a paycheck for 40 hours’ work, but we only give 32 hours of work in return.

In a book entitled “The Day America Told the Truth” it says that average employees around America frankly admit they spend more than 20% of their time at work goofing off. That works out to giving the boss 4 days of work each week but getting paid for 5. Over half surveyed said they called in sick on occasion when all they were sick of was working. Other employees told of coming in late and leaving early, taking extended breaks, falsifying their time card, making personal calls when not allowed, surfing the internet, and lying on expense accounts.

If we’re taking an honest day’s pay we need to give an honest day’s work.

We can also steal by means of keeping.

Have you heard about the preacher in Houston, Texas? One day, some weeks after he’d moved to town, he had to ride the bus from his home to the downtown area. When he sat down on the bus, he discovered the driver had accidentally given him a quarter too much in change. As he considered what to do, he thought to himself, “You better give the quarter back. It would be wrong to keep it.” Then he thought, “Oh, forget it, it’s only a quarter. Who would worry about this little amount? The bus company gets too much fare anyway, they will never miss it. Just accept it as a gift from God and keep quiet.” When his stop came, he paused for a moment at the door, then he handed the quarter to the driver and said, “Here, you gave me too much change.” The driver smiled and said, “Aren’t you the new preacher in town? I have been thinking lately about going to worship somewhere. I just wanted to see what you would do if I gave you too much change. I’ll see you at church on Sunday.” When the preacher stepped off of the bus, he grabbed the nearest light pole, held on, and said, “Oh God, I almost sold your Son for a quarter.” Let’s not miss the opportunity to reflect Christ and commend the gospel when someone gives us too much change.

There’s not only keeping extra change, but keeping what you find that may be returned to the one who lost it. “Finders keepers” is not a Bible verse. Quite the opposite actually. Deuteronomy 22 speaks on seeing another person’s ox or sheep wandering away, and not only were you not to keep it for yourself, but you were not to ignore it and move on with your day as though it wasn’t your problem. You were catch it and bring it back to the owner if you knew who he was and where he lived, and if you didn’t know, you were to keep the animal safe until the owner was found.

Then there’s also keeping stuff that you asked only to borrow. That happens a lot with borrowed tools and borrowed books.

There’s also keeping what you owe in debt or not paying your bills. Psalm 37:21, “The wicked borrows and does not pay back.” It’s not saying it’s wicked if you’re unable to pay your debt, but it’s a different story if you neglect to pay a debt you agreed to pay because you wanted to spend your money on other things.

Then there’s keeping what you owe in taxes and fees. The Lord said “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesars.” And Romans 13 is about how even if the government is not how we want them to be, it is an institution sanctioned by God, and He holds us responsible for obeying the laws of the land that aren’t contrary to God’s commands. And Romans 13:6 says, “For because of this you also pay taxes… 7 Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.” So that includes paying the parking meter. Pay the campground fee if you’re going to camp there. Buy the hunting license and fishing license if you’re going to hunt and fish. Render to all what is due, or we’re stealing.

Another form of keeping sort of stealing, but rarely seen as stealing, has to do with what Jesus said after He said, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesars.” His next statement was, “And render to God the things that are God’s.” Did you know we can steal from God? Psalm 24:1, “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein.” All that we have belongs to Him. We’re just stewards of His stuff. And so we steal from God when we keep back for our own use or pleasure, what God commands us to give to another. Under the Jewish law they were given specific percentages and specific offerings that they were to give at the temple. And in the days of the prophet Malachi, they weren’t giving all that God commanded them to give. So Malachi 3:8, God said through the prophet, “Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. 9 You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you.” Then God told them to test Him by bringing the whole tithe and see if He will not open the windows of heaven and pour out blessing on them until there is no more need.

Now, we’ve not been given specific percentages like the Israelites were on how much to give to church or charity or ministry works. But the Lord has given us some instructions like, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.” (Luke. 3:11). And when the Samaritan brought the poor, beaten and robbed man he found on the road to an inn, he took care of him through the night, then the next day took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, “Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I return I will repay you.” And Jesus said, “Go and do the same.” (Luke. 10:30-37). So when we encounter legitimate needs and we have more than we need, God would have us share to meet their needs. To keep in those circumstances is to not let God have control of His stuff; it’s robbing God in essence.
So with that in view the command against stealing is forbidding that we be tightfisted or selfish with our money, because it’s God’s stuff that we have in our hands and He’s commanded us to be ready to share, to meet the needs He brings our way.

I’ve heard stealing is excusable under five conditions.

First, if you really need what you’re stealing.
I remember a conversation several years ago with a guy at McDonald’s. I was in there having some breakfast and reading my Bible. And this guy decided to ask me what I was reading and it led into a conversation about spiritual matters. And in our conversation, he told me he’s a good person. He doesn’t do anything real bad. He occasionally steals a pound of hamburger or something from the grocery store, because times are tough and he’s got to eat. But he’s a good person. I mentioned to him the promise of Jesus in Matthew 6:33, “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things [food, drink, clothing] will be added to you.” Meaning you don’t need to steal. If being near to God and obedient to Him is priority in our life, He will work in our life to provide for all our physical needs. If I remember right, he quickly changed the subject.

A second condition in which some say it’s okay to steal is if the owner doesn’t really need it or if the owner won’t really miss it. Have you heard that at the office? “Oh that’s never used, what difference does it make if I take it home or leave it here? I might as well take it to my house where it will get some use.”

A third condition is if the owner has plenty and can afford to buy another. As long as the owner will still be better off than you then it’s permissible, some would say.

A fourth condition in which people think it’s excusable is if it’s just on a small scale. As long as it’s nothing big, then it’s no big deal.

And a fifth condition is as long as you are not stealing from an individual, but just a corporate body or an institution. It’s thought that to steal from your neighbor is one thing, but to steal from a company is an entirely other more excusable thing.

But you can notice with the eighth commandment there are no exception clauses attached. God just said simply, “You shall not steal,” period. I don’t find anywhere in Scripture any indications that God agrees with any of those five justifications for stealing.

God is paying close attention to how we are with money and possessions. It’s a big test in this life of our faith and love. Jesus said (Luke 16:10-13), “10 One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. 11 If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? 12 And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? 13 No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

So what should a person do if they’ve been stealing?

If you’ve gotten yourself in the trap, if you’ve allowed the parasite to latch on, if the scent is on you that’s attracting trouble to your home?

It’s very simple. I’ll read it to you from Ezekiel 33:14-16 where God said, “Though I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ yet if he turns from his sin and does what is just and right, 15 if the wicked restores the pledge, gives back what he has taken by robbery, and walks in the statutes of life, not doing injustice, he shall surely live; he shall not die. 16 None of the sins that he has committed shall be remembered against him. He has done what is just and right; he shall surely live.”

So what do you do? You give back what you’ve stolen, try to make right what you can. And determine to have nothing to do with stealing anymore, and go the way of righteousness and justice in the statutes of life, which in this last age of time in which we’re living means to follow Jesus. Commit to listen and learn from and go about life with Jesus, His way. And the promise is that none of the sins that you have committed will be remembered against you. They will all be covered under His blood. You will live and not die.

-James Williams

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