WEBVTT 00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:02.879 Happy Valentine's Day, everybody. 00:00:02.959 --> 00:00:06.480 If you haven't heard that yet, hopefully, if you're married, you have. 00:00:07.040 --> 00:00:08.880 That would be a good start. 00:00:09.119 --> 00:00:15.839 So a good feel-good message for today is Exodus 20, verse 15. 00:00:16.079 --> 00:00:20.160 Not very thematic at all for Valentine's Day, but that's okay. 00:00:20.239 --> 00:00:21.280 We'll go with it anyways. 00:00:21.359 --> 00:00:22.399 This is just the next. 00:00:22.480 --> 00:00:26.800 We've just been working our way through the book of Exodus, which is the second book of the Bible. 00:00:27.359 --> 00:00:28.800 If you're here for the first time. 00:00:28.960 --> 00:00:33.840 So we've been working our way through for a few months, and so we've gotten into the Ten Commandments. 00:00:33.920 --> 00:00:40.640 And what we've been discovering about the Ten Commandments, if you remember, if you have been with us, is that the Ten Commandments is known as a law. 00:00:40.960 --> 00:00:50.799 It is what is right, it is what is good, it is what is holy for our lives, it sets such good, clear boundaries for societies and for people, for us. 00:00:51.119 --> 00:00:52.000 So it guides us. 00:00:52.079 --> 00:01:01.280 But what we've been discovering is that while it guides us, it also crushes us because inevitably we do not perform up to the perfect standard of the law. 00:01:01.439 --> 00:01:07.599 And therefore, the law can't just guide us, or should we live just being crushed by it? 00:01:07.760 --> 00:01:11.760 But we have to let it send us on to the grace of God. 00:01:11.840 --> 00:01:18.000 And that's in the scriptural story, the whole Bible, that's what it's about, is this covenant of law leading us to the covenant of grace. 00:01:18.079 --> 00:01:21.280 And we've been seeing this over and over again with each commandment. 00:01:21.359 --> 00:01:32.319 And each commandment, what we've been seeing is that we kind of come into it with a certain thinking, like, oh, I got it all worked out, I know exactly what this means, and we've been discovering that it actually means a lot more than we initially think. 00:01:32.400 --> 00:01:38.400 And so uh today, Exodus 20, verse 15, you shall not steal. 00:01:38.640 --> 00:01:40.480 Well, you can't get any more practical than that. 00:01:40.640 --> 00:01:47.040 That's just pretty practical, but of course, we can't leave it at that, and of course, uh, there's all sorts of good implications that are in here. 00:01:47.200 --> 00:01:57.280 So I think this morning, um maybe for the first uh half of this sermon is gonna feel a little conceptual, and then as we go, it'll turn more personal. 00:01:57.519 --> 00:02:09.840 Um, and I think because a lot of times stealing uh at times feels incredibly uh clear, like your grill was on the back deck, and you woke up the next morning and your grill is gone. 00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:19.840 Like somebody stole it, or perhaps somebody else's grill was on their back deck, and then one night you went and took their grill and you stole the grill, right? 00:02:19.919 --> 00:02:22.879 Like we also are the thieves, not just the bad guys. 00:02:23.039 --> 00:02:25.919 Um so uh we have to admit that a little bit today. 00:02:26.080 --> 00:02:34.000 Um, and then sometimes there's other theft that we're participating in, and we don't even realize it till later, and we can have a confession now. 00:02:34.159 --> 00:02:36.400 Is anybody um on Napster? 00:02:36.479 --> 00:02:39.759 Does anybody just want to say I was Napstering it? 00:02:40.240 --> 00:03:02.000 Okay, I I can remember like year 2000, Napster had come out, and up until this point, uh me and my buddies went to the Book Nook 2 in Lilburn in the back of the bookstore was the Used CDs, and back there it was like we had we thought we had hit the jackpot at that point because it was$5 CDs, and I got a Pearl Jam 10 CD, which is incredible. 00:03:02.080 --> 00:03:06.879 So, anyways, I mean we we didn't tell anybody about it because we were scared our supply would dry up. 00:03:07.199 --> 00:03:08.719 And then Napster came along. 00:03:08.800 --> 00:03:10.719 I mean, this was unbelievable. 00:03:10.960 --> 00:03:18.479 So if you're probably under 25, Napster was peer-to-peer through the computer, internet had just started up, right? 00:03:18.639 --> 00:03:30.960 Internet was moving, and like these guys developed this peer-to-peer music sharing uh way for you to open up all your music, and everybody else could come and take your music, and we're just all stealing music, right? 00:03:31.039 --> 00:03:37.439 Like just everybody's stealing, and nobody's thinking about it being stealing until I think Metallica and Dr. 00:03:37.599 --> 00:03:50.080 Dre sue Napster, and then Apple comes along and provides a free uh not a free way, they provide iTunes a legitimate way uh to download and buy digital music, and then the label starts suing individuals. 00:03:50.159 --> 00:03:50.879 Do y'all remember that? 00:03:50.960 --> 00:03:56.639 If you were Napstering, you knew this because this rumor spread and it scared you to death. 00:03:56.800 --> 00:04:00.159 You're like, a college kid in Des Moines got sued? 00:04:00.319 --> 00:04:03.680 Like just like a guy, like a normal guy, and you just stopped. 00:04:03.759 --> 00:04:05.759 You're like, I am not gonna be sued. 00:04:05.840 --> 00:04:18.399 I'm you know 20 years old or whatever, I'm not being sued, and you just stop, but all of a sudden we all became aware that we had been stealing, and then you had to decide what you're gonna do with like your 250 burned CDs. 00:04:18.560 --> 00:04:24.160 Um remember you'd buy the racks of empty CDs and you'd just be burning all day long, anyways. 00:04:24.399 --> 00:04:27.040 Um of you know exactly what I'm talking about. 00:04:27.519 --> 00:04:29.600 Or you saw your kids do it, perhaps, or something. 00:04:29.759 --> 00:04:33.600 Uh in the scriptures, we see all different types of stealing, right? 00:04:33.759 --> 00:04:38.480 It's not just robbery, um, it's all sorts of types. 00:04:38.560 --> 00:04:42.399 And so we see kind of active stealing and then we see passive stealing. 00:04:42.560 --> 00:04:44.399 So active stealing, here's some examples. 00:04:44.480 --> 00:04:50.160 In Leviticus 6, we see embezzlement, which is the misuse of something that's entrusted to somebody. 00:04:50.240 --> 00:04:51.439 It's a violation of trust. 00:04:51.519 --> 00:04:53.360 We do see robbery in Leviticus 6. 00:04:53.439 --> 00:05:01.680 In Luke 3, we see extortion, which is charging an excessive price or using someone's property or labor by force. 00:05:01.920 --> 00:05:06.319 In Deuteronomy 24, we see kidnapping, which is still a huge problem. 00:05:06.480 --> 00:05:08.800 You're stealing in an individual. 00:05:09.439 --> 00:05:24.079 Passive stealing in Exodus 22, it talks in detail about negligent acts of a neighbor that causes harm to your property, and that if that neighbor doesn't restore the situation, that that's actually stealing. 00:05:24.720 --> 00:05:28.399 Passive stealing can be a failure to repay someone. 00:05:28.639 --> 00:05:28.959 Right? 00:05:29.120 --> 00:05:44.800 Like you just owe somebody five bucks or fifty bucks, and you're like, yeah, I'm gonna get around to it, and you just keep thinking, and you know, you know you owe them, but at the same time, you sort of just want to let it slide, and you know exactly what I'm talking about. 00:05:45.040 --> 00:05:47.519 Or failure to return something. 00:05:47.759 --> 00:06:11.519 Like you borrowed a Darth Vader mask for Halloween four and a half months ago, and you still have the mask in your garage, and you know you have the mask, and you know you're gonna see your friend because you're going to lunch with him this week, but at the same time, you just sort of like having that mask for the next time you might need a Darth Vader mask or a shovel or whatever you have borrowed. 00:06:11.600 --> 00:06:13.199 And you know exactly what I'm talking about. 00:06:13.360 --> 00:06:15.439 It's just easy to do that. 00:06:15.519 --> 00:06:18.879 And the scripture is saying, hey, just remember that's stealing. 00:06:19.040 --> 00:06:26.319 And then also in Deuteronomy 24, we see that stealing is also when we withhold giving to the poor. 00:06:26.639 --> 00:06:26.879 Right? 00:06:26.959 --> 00:06:28.160 We forget about that one often. 00:06:28.319 --> 00:06:31.600 If you withhold giving to the poor, you're you're stealing. 00:06:32.639 --> 00:06:35.920 Now we can't talk about stealing without talking about ownership. 00:06:36.240 --> 00:06:40.160 So, like I said, we're conceptual for a little bit before it gets real personal. 00:06:40.319 --> 00:06:47.680 So when I was a little kid at Christmas, you right, you get all these presents, and you have your little pile of presents, and I would I was super weird. 00:06:47.759 --> 00:06:48.720 I'm still weird like this. 00:06:48.800 --> 00:06:49.439 I still do this. 00:06:49.519 --> 00:06:52.240 As soon as I get, yeah, I still do it on Christmas. 00:06:52.480 --> 00:06:56.399 I want to take all my stuff and put it up. 00:06:56.639 --> 00:06:58.319 I don't like it out in the open. 00:06:58.480 --> 00:07:04.079 I don't like the idea that somebody could slip in and something could disappear and I might not find it again. 00:07:04.240 --> 00:07:12.399 I mean, when I was eight years old, I opened up all my presents, and then as soon as everybody else, as soon as it was over, I took everything, I went to my bedroom and I put it up. 00:07:12.480 --> 00:07:13.759 I wanted it safe. 00:07:13.920 --> 00:07:16.160 I want if I could lock it down, I was gonna lock it down. 00:07:16.240 --> 00:07:19.040 Like I wanted as safe as possible. 00:07:19.199 --> 00:07:20.240 And I still do this. 00:07:20.399 --> 00:07:22.079 I do not like my stuff laying around. 00:07:22.160 --> 00:07:23.839 I do not like people touching my stuff. 00:07:24.000 --> 00:07:24.959 I like it safe. 00:07:25.199 --> 00:07:30.959 I hate the idea of something I own uh leaving my control. 00:07:31.439 --> 00:07:35.439 I absolutely hate it, or it being lost, or me not being able to find it. 00:07:35.519 --> 00:07:36.959 I did I just hate that idea. 00:07:37.199 --> 00:07:42.879 Whether you're weird like me, any weird weirdos, like weirdo, I'm that control freak. 00:07:43.120 --> 00:07:44.720 It's what sounds worse when it's you. 00:07:45.040 --> 00:07:46.879 It does sound worse, thank you, Heather. 00:07:47.839 --> 00:07:49.040 Perfect, perfect. 00:07:49.759 --> 00:07:54.000 It is, it does sound worse because I should be above such things. 00:07:54.639 --> 00:08:02.720 All right, so when uh on one side, this is uh this idea for ownership, right? 00:08:02.800 --> 00:08:08.480 Like that's what this is, is this like innately wired ownership thing that somehow we have in us. 00:08:08.800 --> 00:08:18.560 On one side, it's bad when it turns into hoarding, uh, but it's real, and this commandment implies that ownership is positive. 00:08:18.800 --> 00:08:24.000 Don't steal somebody else's stuff, which means somebody else owns that thing, which implies ownership. 00:08:24.079 --> 00:08:25.120 And that's our first point. 00:08:25.279 --> 00:08:29.519 Do not steal implies that ownership is in existence. 00:08:29.759 --> 00:08:40.879 So if things are owned, and this is where it starts to get a little more like this is how our lives work, if things are owned and not just free for anybody to grab at any point, it means a process exists. 00:08:40.960 --> 00:08:43.759 That there's just a process that exists in this world. 00:08:43.840 --> 00:08:51.200 And for us, for a lot of us, we just take this so for granted as we were taught it when we were five years old or four years old all the way through. 00:08:51.360 --> 00:08:57.200 But if you're in a community, a neighborhood, a society where this is not taught, there's a breakdown that occurs. 00:08:57.519 --> 00:09:00.799 Or if we don't align with it, there's a breakdown that occurs in our lives. 00:09:00.879 --> 00:09:06.159 And the process is this work to earn, to own, to give. 00:09:06.799 --> 00:09:09.279 Work to earn to own to give. 00:09:09.440 --> 00:09:09.679 Right? 00:09:09.759 --> 00:09:11.440 You're going, yeah, that I knew that. 00:09:11.600 --> 00:09:15.360 Of course you knew that, because you've been taught that over and over and over again. 00:09:15.519 --> 00:09:18.159 But that is what God is implying through this commandment. 00:09:18.320 --> 00:09:22.480 He's setting up a structure for our society and for how society can work. 00:09:23.840 --> 00:09:31.679 It seems pretty basic to us, but when there's a breakdown in this flow, societies and neighborhoods and communities break down. 00:09:31.840 --> 00:09:39.919 There's a quote in the handout in your bulletin sociologist and economic economist uh Francis Fukuyama. 00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:47.120 He comments on how fevery and distrust create wasted energy in groups of people. 00:09:47.279 --> 00:09:51.600 So listen to this, and it's pretty wordy, so kind of hang with me and listen to it pretty closely. 00:09:51.840 --> 00:10:05.679 People who do not trust one another will end up cooperating only under a system of formal rules and regulations, which have to be negotiated, agreed to, litigated, and enforced sometimes by coercive means. 00:10:05.840 --> 00:10:13.679 This legal apparatus serving as a substitute for trust entails what economists call transaction costs. 00:10:13.919 --> 00:10:21.360 Widespread distrust in a society, in other words, imposes a kind of tax on all forms of economic activity. 00:10:21.600 --> 00:10:26.480 A tax that high trust societies do not have to pay. 00:10:26.720 --> 00:10:28.559 Okay, so hold on to that thought. 00:10:28.799 --> 00:10:30.559 Point number two, hold on to that thought. 00:10:30.720 --> 00:10:32.480 We're still kind of conceptual here, I know. 00:10:32.559 --> 00:10:33.679 So hold on to that thought. 00:10:33.759 --> 00:10:37.279 Um you thought you thought you were coming for a sermon, and like we're like in economics at this point. 00:10:37.600 --> 00:10:39.519 So hold on to that, Fukuyama thought. 00:10:39.679 --> 00:10:45.679 Point number two, do not steal imparts uh dignity to individuals. 00:10:46.320 --> 00:10:54.000 See, because it implies ownership, it also imparts dignity to individuals that you have a right to own something as a human being. 00:10:54.159 --> 00:10:56.720 And you have a right for somebody else not just to come take it. 00:10:57.039 --> 00:10:59.279 So it implies dignity to you. 00:10:59.440 --> 00:11:09.600 Now, Christy and I, we've been fortunate enough to live in several different uh very diverse demographically, economically diverse neighborhoods. 00:11:09.679 --> 00:11:15.279 And probably our the most interesting and maybe our favorite neighborhood we've lived in so far was Grant Park. 00:11:15.360 --> 00:11:23.039 And we lived there for five years and we still talk about it all the time because it was just it was an absolute melting pot of people. 00:11:23.440 --> 00:11:32.159 I mean, it was a melting pot of types of people, of thoughts, of politics and religion and ethnicity and incomes. 00:11:32.320 --> 00:11:37.519 And I wasn't paranoid there, even though there was stealing going on all around us. 00:11:37.919 --> 00:11:40.559 But I tended to keep things locked down a little bit more. 00:11:40.720 --> 00:11:42.159 We weren't paranoid, but you know what? 00:11:42.240 --> 00:11:44.080 My grill was locked to my fence. 00:11:44.240 --> 00:11:45.600 I'll just be honest. 00:11:46.480 --> 00:11:51.120 Like, but I wasn't paranoid because I still trusted the neighbors immediately around me. 00:11:51.200 --> 00:11:57.600 So the trust, let me not be paranoid, but you you were sort of more aware. 00:11:58.080 --> 00:12:03.600 And then we lived in Buckhead, which is a little bit more uppity up, and then now we live on a nice street in Marietta. 00:12:04.000 --> 00:12:06.080 But yet, yet, in all three, right? 00:12:06.320 --> 00:12:10.639 In all three, we have had stealing on our street. 00:12:10.879 --> 00:12:12.080 In all three. 00:12:13.440 --> 00:12:16.559 And there's nothing like the feeling when you have something stolen. 00:12:16.960 --> 00:12:29.120 I can't still I can still remember when uh I was just out of college, um, I was in grad school, I was in seminary, I was working, I was living with some a few a few friends, and uh our house got robbed during the day when we were all at work. 00:12:29.360 --> 00:12:35.840 And if you've ever had that happen to you, you you just feel like somebody came into my home. 00:12:36.159 --> 00:12:38.159 Like they were in they were in my room. 00:12:38.320 --> 00:12:48.720 They went through my stuff, they took my stuff, and it wasn't just an assault on my property, it it felt like an assault on your personhood, on your dignity. 00:12:49.919 --> 00:12:59.919 When there's a breakdown of this trust, it can easily be a breakdown of society and there can be a breakdown in the motivation to work and to earn and to own and to give. 00:13:00.240 --> 00:13:14.639 So what Fukuyama is saying, back to Fukuyama, uh, if we can go back to him, he's saying uh that the less energy a society has to put toward protection and legality, it means it frees up energy for creativity and for investment. 00:13:15.360 --> 00:13:17.840 And this is why God's saying, don't steal. 00:13:18.480 --> 00:13:21.440 And you don't want your society to be a stealing society. 00:13:21.840 --> 00:13:24.799 Because it just breaks things down. 00:13:26.320 --> 00:13:40.639 So, like I just mentioned, there is this second sort of process that's occurring here that that this there's an implication in this commandment, and that's this that stealing is an assault on a personal property, which is an assault on people's dignity and motivation. 00:13:40.960 --> 00:13:45.039 This past week I watched the Bernie Madoff uh two-part story. 00:13:45.200 --> 00:13:48.320 I don't know if it's quite a documentary, sort of like a drama documentary. 00:13:48.480 --> 00:13:49.919 Anybody watch it on ABC? 00:13:50.080 --> 00:13:51.279 Yeah, it's so it's fascinating. 00:13:51.360 --> 00:13:54.480 I'm fascinated with that storyline with Madoff and sort of what he did. 00:13:54.559 --> 00:13:58.960 And so uh he stole$20 billion of principal funds. 00:13:59.120 --> 00:14:02.000 So he was kind of the secretive hedge fund guy. 00:14:02.080 --> 00:14:10.320 Um, everybody's just sending him money because he's just mailing out paper statements, making up 12 to 15% returns each month forever, for years and years and years. 00:14:10.480 --> 00:14:20.240 So everybody just keeps sending them more money, and he's just stockpiling it and chased Manhattan Bait one savings account, earning 2% interest, but he's he's telling everybody they're earning 12 to 15 percent. 00:14:20.480 --> 00:14:25.360 And uh because those returns are so great on paper, then everybody just keeps sending him more money, of course. 00:14:25.440 --> 00:14:29.679 And so it just keeps going and going and going until uh the breakdown of the entire system. 00:14:29.840 --> 00:14:47.279 And when everything starts to crash down, what's very clear is that his theft, uh his theft is on people's savings and fortunes, and for some people, I mean for some people it's charities and for some people it's retirements and retirement systems, not just like one person's retirement, it's generational wealth. 00:14:47.440 --> 00:14:51.360 But what's clear is that it's more than a loss of money. 00:14:51.759 --> 00:15:04.399 Like that he didn't just steal money, that there's there is there's when we steal things, we steal more than the things because it is a stealing of somebody's dignity. 00:15:04.639 --> 00:15:10.879 And while you're watching this, I found myself, of course, you're asking this, like, how could he have done this? 00:15:11.120 --> 00:15:12.559 Like, how could he have done this? 00:15:12.720 --> 00:15:15.440 Well, and you and as you watch, you go, well, quite easily. 00:15:16.159 --> 00:15:21.919 I mean, when your heart's in the wrong place, there's all sorts of places you'll end up going that you never planned on going. 00:15:22.080 --> 00:15:25.759 I mean, when you just really want to control things that aren't yours. 00:15:26.159 --> 00:15:35.360 When you really want to impress people so badly, there's all sorts of things that you'll do that you never planned on doing. 00:15:36.480 --> 00:15:39.039 And so we see that stealing begins in the heart. 00:15:39.279 --> 00:16:05.759 When you have a heart that is that is not being defined by what God is saying to you and who you are and the work Jesus has done for you, and that you are valued and loved and chosen and forgiven, and that's your resting place, but your heart is instead trying to work to earn the favor of somebody else, the approval of that person or this person or this group or this society, then you can end up in all sorts of places. 00:16:06.320 --> 00:16:11.039 Paul writes a statement in the New Testament in Ephesians, Ephesians 28 about stealing. 00:16:11.200 --> 00:16:26.799 He says this, similar as this commandment back in Exodus, uh, Ephesians 4, 28, let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. 00:16:26.960 --> 00:16:28.720 So we just see it again here, right? 00:16:28.879 --> 00:16:32.159 Work to earn, to own, to give. 00:16:32.799 --> 00:16:34.879 We just see the process there. 00:16:35.039 --> 00:16:39.759 And what we see is if you're not giving, then the things you're owning really own you. 00:16:39.919 --> 00:16:41.279 We talk about that a lot. 00:16:41.519 --> 00:16:43.360 And that's a horrible life. 00:16:43.679 --> 00:16:47.600 And when you hoard, you're actually stealing for those that you should give to. 00:16:47.759 --> 00:16:51.200 I was reading this week, I ran across Psalm 24, verse 1. 00:16:51.360 --> 00:16:56.720 Uh, the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, so everything is his. 00:16:57.679 --> 00:16:58.639 Everything's his. 00:16:59.679 --> 00:17:02.159 The world and those who dwell therein. 00:17:02.320 --> 00:17:04.079 So it seems pretty clear. 00:17:04.319 --> 00:17:07.519 It's also incredibly freeing that it that it's all his. 00:17:07.759 --> 00:17:12.160 And that's what within within the Christian faith, we don't just talk about ownership, we talk about stewardship. 00:17:12.240 --> 00:17:14.559 So our ownership is a stewardship. 00:17:14.720 --> 00:17:21.200 So we understand that we just don't own it, but we act the things that we actually are owning, we're stewarding. 00:17:21.279 --> 00:17:23.440 Well, we'll lose it all anyways, eventually, right? 00:17:23.599 --> 00:17:25.920 We have to let go of all of it eventually. 00:17:26.400 --> 00:17:28.960 And stewardship's incredibly free. 00:17:29.200 --> 00:17:34.160 Because what it means is it means that we are free and separate from our assets. 00:17:35.359 --> 00:17:37.839 That our assets do not define us. 00:17:38.079 --> 00:17:47.039 That they come and they go, they're stolen, or we lose them, or we earn some more, but we're secure no matter what, because we're not secure by our work. 00:17:47.200 --> 00:17:53.920 Our ability to earn it, or our ability to own it, or even our ability to give it away, we are secure by the work Jesus did for us. 00:17:54.079 --> 00:17:57.359 That we are beloved before God by that work. 00:17:57.599 --> 00:18:06.400 And so ownership and stewardship, this becomes a subject matter for us that's incredibly freeing because we don't use it to create our own validity. 00:18:06.960 --> 00:18:08.880 And so that's where this commandment takes us. 00:18:11.680 --> 00:18:15.279 That see, holding on to things with closed fists is very exhausting. 00:18:15.359 --> 00:18:24.960 That's an exhausting posture to live in, but to work and earn and own and give with open hands, this is a very freeing way to live. 00:18:25.599 --> 00:18:28.400 That our lives and our identities could be formed this way. 00:18:28.559 --> 00:18:32.160 Do you remember the great scene in Les Miserables? 00:18:32.480 --> 00:18:35.599 Toward the end, and Jean Valjean, oh, this is the beginning. 00:18:35.759 --> 00:18:38.400 Jean Valjean, he he steals from the bishop. 00:18:38.640 --> 00:18:39.440 Y'all seen it? 00:18:39.599 --> 00:18:40.400 Maybe read it? 00:18:40.559 --> 00:18:41.839 Nobody read it, let's be honest. 00:18:41.920 --> 00:18:42.880 It's just way too long. 00:18:43.279 --> 00:18:44.079 We all saw it. 00:18:44.240 --> 00:18:44.880 Somebody read it. 00:18:45.279 --> 00:18:45.920 Ruth read it. 00:18:46.000 --> 00:18:46.720 Thank you, Ruth. 00:18:46.880 --> 00:18:47.759 You read it for us. 00:18:48.000 --> 00:18:51.440 You were you, yeah, we talked to you before the test in English. 00:18:51.759 --> 00:18:54.720 Um you told us what it was about. 00:18:54.880 --> 00:18:58.319 Uh so Jean Valjean steals from the bishop, right? 00:18:58.720 --> 00:19:00.240 Uh he steals silver. 00:19:00.400 --> 00:19:11.759 And so then the police find him, bring him back to the bishop's house, and then the bishop's kind of he's he's kind of sitting back talking, and the police are saying, We found the guy, we found the guy. 00:19:11.920 --> 00:19:17.599 And then the bishop says, Oh, uh, you forgot the two silver candlesticks. 00:19:18.880 --> 00:19:22.880 You know, I I I gave you all of that, but you forgot these two also. 00:19:24.079 --> 00:19:26.240 And the police just can't believe what's going on here. 00:19:26.400 --> 00:19:32.720 And the police eventually just have to leave because the bishop's saying, hey, I gave it, I gave it all to them. 00:19:33.599 --> 00:19:40.799 And then the bishop, and then the bishop says to Valjean, he says, Today I bought your soul. 00:19:41.519 --> 00:19:41.839 Right? 00:19:41.920 --> 00:19:45.440 And what he's saying is, he's saying, Grace buys the soul. 00:19:45.680 --> 00:19:46.720 Not law. 00:19:47.279 --> 00:19:49.200 See, he bought his soul with grace. 00:19:49.359 --> 00:19:51.519 Grace was the thing that bought the soul. 00:19:51.599 --> 00:19:57.279 And this is what we've been learning every week that we're all thieves. 00:19:58.319 --> 00:20:04.880 Maybe we haven't stolen a grill or 20 billion dollars, but we all still, from the Lord, we all still honor and glory. 00:20:04.960 --> 00:20:21.359 Every time we turn to our own work, to work our way out of our shame, to work our way into forgiveness, to work our way into validity as a human being, that is that is a stealing of glory because we are in our self-reliance, we are self-glorifying ourselves. 00:20:21.440 --> 00:20:23.920 So we're all thieves right away. 00:20:24.559 --> 00:20:36.720 And what we've been learning in these past sermons is we've been learning that we're all murderers, we're all adulterers, we all have hard hearts, forgetful hearts, selfish hearts, and yet the way that God restores us is not by doubling down on the law. 00:20:37.359 --> 00:20:41.359 He says, You forgot these two candlesticks. 00:20:41.839 --> 00:20:43.680 I I was gonna give you even more. 00:20:43.839 --> 00:20:44.799 You forgot them. 00:20:46.720 --> 00:20:49.759 That's the thing that turns Valjean's heart. 00:20:49.839 --> 00:20:55.039 That's the thing that turns our heart, it's the outside word spoken to us. 00:20:55.119 --> 00:21:00.240 In Le Miz, it's the candlesticks to us, it is the person of Christ. 00:21:00.480 --> 00:21:20.319 And this is freedom that is not known in perfection before the law, and that can be this moral law, or that could be any law that you're signing on to in your life of attempting to be perfect before, that you will not find freedom there, but you will find freedom in honesty of your imperfection, confession of it, and receiving of the work of Christ on your behalf. 00:21:20.480 --> 00:21:21.519 Nothing else will do it. 00:21:21.680 --> 00:21:42.720 At the end of Le Miz, Valjean is dying in Fontaine, which she had her own story of theft that had come upon her life, and she had been a prostitution, she had to sell her hair, she sold her teeth, and she's she has already died, and she's in heaven, and she's welcoming Valjean into heaven, and she sings so beautifully, and I will not sing it, I will say it. 00:21:42.960 --> 00:21:50.880 She sings, Come with me, where chains will never bind you, all your grief at last, at last behind you. 00:21:51.119 --> 00:21:54.640 Lord in heaven, look down on him in mercy. 00:21:54.720 --> 00:21:57.680 And Valjean's response is not one of merit. 00:21:57.839 --> 00:21:59.759 He says, Forgive me all my travels. 00:22:00.799 --> 00:22:03.039 And take me to your glory. 00:22:04.240 --> 00:22:08.319 There's also this scene at the end of Luke, just as beautiful of a scene for a lot of us. 00:22:08.799 --> 00:22:10.559 We've heard it so many times. 00:22:10.880 --> 00:22:15.279 And Jesus, incarnate God, having mercy and grace manifested. 00:22:15.920 --> 00:22:27.039 He's coming to the cross, taking all of our sin and our shame and our fevery and our hard hearts upon himself and deeming to us his righteousness for us, right? 00:22:27.119 --> 00:22:29.680 That great exchange is occurring. 00:22:29.839 --> 00:22:32.559 And as he's on the cross there, there's a thief next to him. 00:22:32.799 --> 00:22:38.079 And up until this point, all we know, all we understand about this other guy is he's a thief. 00:22:38.160 --> 00:22:39.200 He's a dirty rotten thief. 00:22:39.279 --> 00:22:39.759 That's all we know. 00:22:39.839 --> 00:22:41.279 We don't know anything else. 00:22:41.920 --> 00:22:46.720 And maybe nobody has understood the mercy and the grace of God more than this guy. 00:22:47.039 --> 00:22:56.960 Because what he understands, which is so much of difficulty for what we have a hard time understanding, is that he knows he brings nothing to the table. 00:22:58.000 --> 00:23:05.680 And it says in Luke 23, 42 and 43, he says, this thief who just knows he has nothing, he brings nothing. 00:23:06.000 --> 00:23:09.680 Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. 00:23:11.039 --> 00:23:17.119 And Jesus said to him, Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise. 00:23:17.599 --> 00:23:29.759 So my brothers and sisters, find great rest in the God who both creates a way for a healthy society for us to live and exist in, and a refuge for all of us dirty thieves to be redeemed. 00:23:29.920 --> 00:23:30.880 Let's pray together. 00:23:35.200 --> 00:23:40.559 God, thank you that you accept us as is. 00:23:41.680 --> 00:23:43.920 For some of us, we have stolen. 00:23:44.079 --> 00:23:50.400 We can think back of music and candy bars and grills. 00:23:50.799 --> 00:23:58.799 And for some of us, we can think back on small amounts of money and even large amounts of money that we have stolen. 00:24:01.839 --> 00:24:04.799 God, we've stolen from people. 00:24:05.119 --> 00:24:06.880 We have misused people. 00:24:08.799 --> 00:24:11.359 We have misused people's property. 00:24:15.519 --> 00:24:19.599 God, we are not innocent when it comes to stealing. 00:24:20.799 --> 00:24:39.359 In honesty, we welcome you into our hearts to shine your light because we know that we know that only in this openness toward you will we find freedom and forgiveness. 00:24:41.680 --> 00:24:45.599 But we confess to you that we fall short when it comes to this law. 00:24:46.400 --> 00:24:56.720 And we are so grateful that you do not use this law and you do not hammer it onto us for us to merit our way into your favor. 00:24:58.240 --> 00:25:12.720 But as we come and confess that we fall short and we are in desperate need of your work for us, and in desperate need of your righteousness for us, and in desperate need of the work of Jesus on the cross, that it is as if we are perfect. 00:25:13.839 --> 00:25:18.960 That we are always your beloved and you love us just right now. 00:25:19.759 --> 00:25:21.839 And it could never be anymore. 00:25:26.000 --> 00:25:35.359 God, we thank you that you have created a way for our world to work in a healthy pattern, a way that would guide us. 00:25:36.240 --> 00:25:45.039 And we confess it crushes us and help it help us to be guided on and moved on to the grace that you have provided for us. 00:25:45.200 --> 00:25:46.400 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:25:46.640 --> 00:25:47.119 Amen.