WEBVTT 00:00:13.839 --> 00:00:14.800 Well, good morning. 00:00:14.960 --> 00:00:21.600 Today is Sunday, the twenty-seventh of September, two thousand and fifteen, and God is still on the throne. 00:00:21.839 --> 00:00:28.320 He was all week long, all week long, he was good and gracious and loving for you. 00:00:28.559 --> 00:00:38.640 I don't know what your experience was, I don't know how you've processed this past week, but I can say with assurance that God is on the throne and God is involved with us. 00:00:38.799 --> 00:00:56.719 I don't know what the week ahead will be, none of us do, but I can say with assurance that God is faithful and loving and just and gracious and in control, and that's the way I want to start my week out, filled with a sense of who God is. 00:00:57.600 --> 00:01:05.920 Part of his goodness and part of his grace is that it may go well with us. 00:01:06.640 --> 00:01:08.400 He is beneficent. 00:01:08.799 --> 00:01:11.680 I don't know if you've used that word in this last week. 00:01:11.840 --> 00:01:12.480 You ought to try it. 00:01:12.640 --> 00:01:15.840 Walk around every once in a while and say, hey, God is beneficent. 00:01:16.079 --> 00:01:19.040 Beneficent, that makes you think of the Pope or something, doesn't it? 00:01:19.439 --> 00:01:25.040 All it really means is God is predisposed to our good. 00:01:26.400 --> 00:01:28.159 Predisposed to our good. 00:01:28.400 --> 00:01:29.359 God is good. 00:01:29.599 --> 00:01:39.439 And he is part of his goodness is that he tells us the ways of life, the way to go, the paths to follow. 00:01:40.159 --> 00:01:55.359 Proverbs 14, 12 tells us very clearly that there's a way which seems right to us, but the end of that way which often seems right to us is nothing but death and discouragement and destruction. 00:01:55.599 --> 00:02:00.159 And God loves us enough to tell us, don't go this way, go that way. 00:02:00.959 --> 00:02:04.159 Jeremiah 29.11, one of my favorite verses. 00:02:04.319 --> 00:02:05.840 How many of you have that memorized? 00:02:05.920 --> 00:02:06.799 You really ought to. 00:02:06.959 --> 00:02:12.319 Jeremiah 29.11, if you don't write it down and say, this week I'm going to focus on it. 00:02:12.400 --> 00:02:20.639 It says, For I know the plans that I have for you, plans for good and not for evil, plans to give you a future and a hope. 00:02:20.800 --> 00:02:22.800 Now, how many of you know it now that you've heard it? 00:02:22.960 --> 00:02:24.560 All right, that's better. 00:02:25.680 --> 00:02:35.840 Well, every command that God gives us is either to protect us from some harm or to provide us for some good. 00:02:36.960 --> 00:02:44.479 We've seen so far, we're at number eight this morning out of ten, and we have seen have no other gods before me. 00:02:44.639 --> 00:02:46.960 Put God first in your life. 00:02:47.280 --> 00:02:52.879 God needs to have first place in our life, and everything else has to be somewhere else. 00:02:53.199 --> 00:02:55.919 Put God first in our lives. 00:02:57.280 --> 00:02:58.319 No idols. 00:02:58.479 --> 00:03:03.280 We need to worship God as He is, not create a God of our own liking. 00:03:03.680 --> 00:03:08.960 The great danger is that we have a picture of God that is not who God is. 00:03:09.120 --> 00:03:14.400 We have a desire for God to be someone other than He is, and God says, have no idols. 00:03:14.639 --> 00:03:18.960 Worship the God who is, not just the God who you want. 00:03:19.680 --> 00:03:24.479 Make sure that God really makes a difference in your life. 00:03:25.039 --> 00:03:27.360 Shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. 00:03:27.439 --> 00:03:31.840 And that has more to do than just an oh God this or an oh Christ that. 00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:35.280 It has to do with speaking rightly about God. 00:03:35.599 --> 00:03:41.680 But it also has to do with living in such a way that we don't empty our faith of all meaning. 00:03:41.840 --> 00:03:52.159 If we could take all of our Christian activities and all of our Christian talk out, just be excised from the DVD of our life, and it would make no difference whatsoever. 00:03:52.319 --> 00:03:56.159 You would still be recognized, then you have been taking God's name in vain. 00:03:56.319 --> 00:04:01.840 If it's just Christian things that you're doing and Christian words that you're talking, it has no meaning. 00:04:01.919 --> 00:04:05.120 It's empty and it's using God's name in vain. 00:04:05.840 --> 00:04:11.840 He says to remember the Sabbath, he says, stop, stop, refocus, regenerate. 00:04:12.080 --> 00:04:23.519 Have one day of the week at least in which you are regenerating and renewing and recreating your soul and personally and physically and emotionally. 00:04:23.759 --> 00:04:27.680 Stop and refocus on who God is. 00:04:28.240 --> 00:04:33.120 Honor your father and mother begins then with all of the horizontal relationships. 00:04:33.279 --> 00:04:44.240 He'd been talking about the vertical, and then he moves to the horizontal, and he begins with that most basic human relationship of our parents, and we look carefully at that. 00:04:44.480 --> 00:04:47.439 Then he says, no murder with hand or heart. 00:04:47.600 --> 00:04:51.120 And it's not just a matter of taking a gun and shooting someone. 00:04:51.279 --> 00:04:57.920 Jesus makes it very clear that when we have hatred and anger in our heart, it's the equivalent of murdering. 00:04:58.079 --> 00:05:02.000 And he says, keep your bodies and your minds sexually pure. 00:05:02.160 --> 00:05:08.720 And it's not just a matter of what we do physically, although that matters, but it goes far deeper. 00:05:08.800 --> 00:05:11.519 It has to do with the thoughts and intentions of our heart. 00:05:11.600 --> 00:05:22.000 And Jesus made it very clear that when we lust, when we have impure thoughts, it's it's in some ways the same as actually carrying them out. 00:05:22.160 --> 00:05:23.600 Although please don't. 00:05:24.160 --> 00:05:26.160 Far worse to actually carry them out. 00:05:26.319 --> 00:05:33.199 But from a spiritual standpoint, he wants our bodies and our minds to be sexually pure. 00:05:36.319 --> 00:05:40.959 And we then move today to no stealing. 00:05:42.639 --> 00:05:46.800 Let God be your provider. 00:05:47.439 --> 00:05:56.079 It's a very simple command in one level, and yet there is a great deal at stake with this command. 00:05:56.720 --> 00:05:58.079 So let's take a look at it. 00:05:58.240 --> 00:06:01.839 Exodus chapter 20, verse 15, you shall not steal. 00:06:02.160 --> 00:06:11.279 So here for the third time in a row, commandments six, seven, and eight, they consist of two simple words in the original. 00:06:13.519 --> 00:06:18.160 No murder, no adultery, no stealing. 00:06:18.879 --> 00:06:24.319 That's the sum total of each of those tender commandments. 00:06:24.800 --> 00:06:32.000 Simple, straightforward, and when you think about it, no stealing, it almost goes without saying. 00:06:32.160 --> 00:06:44.800 I mean, if you've successfully passed kindergarten, uh, you will have probably learned, whether you've mastered or not, that you don't take the truck from your little playmate's hands. 00:06:44.959 --> 00:06:48.319 I mean, just keep your hands off of things that aren't your own. 00:06:48.399 --> 00:06:50.959 And in essence, it's that simple. 00:06:51.120 --> 00:06:53.519 Now there's far more to it than that. 00:06:54.079 --> 00:07:04.240 Um if you haven't perceived that you shouldn't take that which is not yours, you have made an incredibly poor start in life. 00:07:04.399 --> 00:07:08.240 And most kindergartners have begun to get that down pat. 00:07:09.279 --> 00:07:33.519 Um it's interesting, however, when it comes to this eighth command, when you look into the the at the theologians and the commentaries who have written volumes and received PhD degrees and THD degrees for studying and uh reflecting on God's Word, when it comes to the eighth command, it's amazing how silent they are. 00:07:33.600 --> 00:07:39.040 As though it is just so simple, what more is there to say about it? 00:07:39.360 --> 00:07:41.279 No less a Bible teacher than G. 00:07:41.439 --> 00:07:46.720 Campbell Morgan, and that may name may be familiar with some of you who are uh older, G. 00:07:46.879 --> 00:07:58.399 Campbell Morgan, an incredibly good um Bible scholar and pastor and writer of commentaries, even such a one as G. 00:07:58.720 --> 00:08:00.800 Campbell Morgan, and I'll read most anything that G. 00:08:00.959 --> 00:08:03.600 Campbell Morgan writes, except the following. 00:08:03.920 --> 00:08:16.480 He says, at this point in the Decalogue, in the Ten Commandments, the Decalogue passes from a discussion of essential facts of human life to matters of lesser importance. 00:08:16.720 --> 00:08:16.879 G. 00:08:17.040 --> 00:08:21.360 Campbell Morgan, gee, where in the world was your mind when you were saying that? 00:08:22.319 --> 00:08:34.000 Some of the commentators who wax eloquent page after page after page only deal in about three paragraphs with the eighth commandment. 00:08:34.159 --> 00:08:44.720 As though it is so simple, and it is simple, and yet there is something upon which this is based that is of great importance. 00:08:45.120 --> 00:08:53.360 And that is, as we will see, that God is and wants to be seen as your provider. 00:08:53.679 --> 00:09:01.600 And when you take into your hands that which He has not given you, you are rejecting God as your provider. 00:09:02.159 --> 00:09:08.559 So it's very simple, and yet it's tied completely to the character of God. 00:09:08.960 --> 00:09:14.960 All of the horizontal commands are tied to the vertical commands. 00:09:15.039 --> 00:09:19.200 You cannot be rightly related to God without being rightly related to one another. 00:09:19.440 --> 00:09:23.279 You cannot be rightly related to other people without being rightly related to God. 00:09:23.440 --> 00:09:28.960 They go together, and this one goes to the very core of who God is. 00:09:29.679 --> 00:09:32.720 So let's begin with the simple part of it. 00:09:32.879 --> 00:09:33.279 Stealing. 00:09:33.360 --> 00:09:34.559 How would you define stealing? 00:09:34.720 --> 00:09:40.080 Well, taking Tommy's truck with your chubby little hands in preschool or something. 00:09:40.320 --> 00:09:46.879 Well, stealing is to wrongfully acquire something that is not yours. 00:09:47.519 --> 00:09:54.159 And it's usually done by seizing it, uh, trickery, daring, or force. 00:09:55.759 --> 00:10:02.960 Um, there's only a limited number of ways in life that you can acquire something. 00:10:03.200 --> 00:10:06.320 Uh, first and foremost, we can work productively for it. 00:10:06.480 --> 00:10:08.320 That's actually God's intent. 00:10:08.639 --> 00:10:16.720 Man was left in the garden to work and oversee the garden and benefit from his labors. 00:10:16.799 --> 00:10:18.000 And that hasn't changed. 00:10:18.159 --> 00:10:24.799 The normal and most appropriate way, typically, for us to acquire something is through hard work. 00:10:25.120 --> 00:10:31.919 And that's been understood right almost until the present day, but I'm not going to get into politics here. 00:10:32.960 --> 00:10:35.279 Or something can be freely given. 00:10:35.840 --> 00:10:37.360 Maybe you get a Christmas present. 00:10:37.440 --> 00:10:38.159 Isn't that wonderful? 00:10:38.240 --> 00:10:40.320 Isn't that a wonderful way of getting something? 00:10:40.559 --> 00:10:47.679 It could be uh a wedding ring, it could be uh uh whatever, uh a new phone. 00:10:47.919 --> 00:10:53.600 Your wife, can you imagine your wife loving you enough just to give you a brand new phone? 00:10:55.200 --> 00:10:58.480 I see a number of men smiling, I don't see the women smiling. 00:10:58.639 --> 00:10:59.679 That's a different man. 00:11:01.120 --> 00:11:03.519 Or you can take something. 00:11:03.759 --> 00:11:14.480 There's really only you you can freely receive salvation through Christ because Christ alone, all our sins are placed upon Him. 00:11:14.559 --> 00:11:17.919 There's no working that you can do to receive Christ. 00:11:18.159 --> 00:11:21.200 That's a free gift, that's a valid way as well. 00:11:22.159 --> 00:11:31.600 But what God is talking about here is seizing something by trickery, uh, force, or daring. 00:11:32.559 --> 00:11:36.000 We used to have a thief in our family. 00:11:36.240 --> 00:11:38.000 Actually, we've had a number of them. 00:11:38.080 --> 00:11:39.519 We called them dogs. 00:11:39.759 --> 00:11:42.159 Have you ever had a dog that was a thief? 00:11:42.320 --> 00:11:45.759 Boy, I don't know, maybe it's us and the way we raise our dogs. 00:11:45.919 --> 00:11:52.159 Thankfully we don't have any right now, but uh I remember one dog, that rascal. 00:11:52.320 --> 00:12:02.399 If if we had somebody around and we put some cookies out on the table and looked the other way, boom, that mongrel took our cookies. 00:12:02.639 --> 00:12:08.320 We had a dog, uh it was a fox terrier, very um, very stubborn dogs. 00:12:08.480 --> 00:12:11.440 They often say that people get dogs like themselves. 00:12:11.679 --> 00:12:13.120 This was a wonderful dog. 00:12:15.200 --> 00:12:20.639 That dog had a vertical jump, vertical leap that was amazing. 00:12:20.799 --> 00:12:26.960 We'd be sitting at the dining room table, and I'd look over here, and I saw something out of the corner of my eye. 00:12:27.200 --> 00:12:34.159 That dog could jump vertically, turn its head around, go back down, and the next time he knew exactly what he was gonna get. 00:12:34.399 --> 00:12:41.120 That mongrel! Um, perhaps you've been robbed. 00:12:41.679 --> 00:12:42.960 Have you ever been robbed? 00:12:43.039 --> 00:12:45.360 We had an interesting experience one time. 00:12:45.519 --> 00:12:49.519 Uh we were driving from Brussels, Belgium to Barcelona. 00:12:49.759 --> 00:12:53.919 Wonderful drive, uh, beautiful uh highways. 00:12:54.080 --> 00:12:59.039 Uh Jane was sitting in the uh on the right-hand side, I was behind the wheel. 00:12:59.120 --> 00:13:08.480 We had just entered Spain, and um it was a busy uh interstate or uh autobahn type road. 00:13:08.799 --> 00:13:30.559 And um I noticed that there was a car that came along beside us, and I looked over, and there were, I don't know, three or four guys, or there was a gal in there too, I think, and they were looking over and they were pointing down at our wheels, and I thought, and and they were trying to get us to stop, and so I'm oh maybe I've got a flat tire and I don't know it or something. 00:13:30.720 --> 00:13:38.240 So I pulled over on the side of the road and they pulled over behind me, and a guy came and he motioned for me to come and look under there. 00:13:38.480 --> 00:13:44.080 So I get out of the car and and I go down behind, and uh I get down like this. 00:13:44.240 --> 00:13:56.720 I was my head was about this close to the to the ground, and and as I was looking to see what was wrong, I heard this bellow. 00:13:57.600 --> 00:14:03.519 This bellow coming from the right hand side of the front seat. 00:14:04.320 --> 00:14:06.879 Jane, do not cross Jane. 00:14:08.240 --> 00:14:19.440 What had happened is while they had me down there, uh, my head basically to the ground, uh, some other people got out of the car and went around to the right hand side. 00:14:19.600 --> 00:14:35.279 This was summer, the window was open, and before she knew it, someone had reached in, grabbed her purse, which was on the floor of the front seat under her legs, ripped it out, and took off, and this wounded cow bellowed. 00:14:36.240 --> 00:14:40.720 Um Jane's not here this morning, so uh please don't tell her. 00:14:40.879 --> 00:14:45.200 Uh there was a sense of violation. 00:14:47.600 --> 00:14:51.279 If you've been robbed, there's a sense of violation. 00:14:51.360 --> 00:14:56.639 There's all kinds of other violations, but many of the same emotions, actually. 00:14:56.960 --> 00:14:59.519 Something was taken from her. 00:15:01.600 --> 00:15:06.480 And that's just the nature of thievery. 00:15:06.960 --> 00:15:16.559 Something taken that is not ours, or we have the audacity by trickery or force to seize something that is not ours. 00:15:17.279 --> 00:15:23.120 We violate and seize something that is not ours. 00:15:23.360 --> 00:15:29.120 Well, the Bible makes it incredibly clear that uh this is to be condemned. 00:15:29.200 --> 00:15:31.600 Uh, the eighth commandment, you shall not steal. 00:15:31.759 --> 00:15:33.919 No stealing, no stealing. 00:15:34.080 --> 00:15:38.159 It's repeated uh as well as in uh in Deuteronomy 5. 00:15:38.320 --> 00:15:40.559 No stealing, don't do it. 00:15:40.799 --> 00:15:46.799 Uh Leviticus 19, 11 says, Don't steal, don't defraud your neighbor, don't rob him. 00:15:47.039 --> 00:15:49.679 It's a little bit hard to miss the point that's being made. 00:15:49.919 --> 00:15:54.960 The prophets, ever the conscience of God's people, Israel. 00:15:55.200 --> 00:15:57.120 The prophets were very clear about this. 00:15:57.279 --> 00:16:02.720 Ezekiel 18, 7 reminds us that the righteous man does not commit robbery. 00:16:02.960 --> 00:16:04.960 Ezekiel 35, 15. 00:16:05.120 --> 00:16:14.480 The wicked man will die unless he follows God's way and restores, repays that which he has stolen. 00:16:14.960 --> 00:16:20.879 Uh Zechariah 5 pronounces a lasting curse on the house of the thief. 00:16:21.120 --> 00:16:22.559 You just can't get away from it. 00:16:22.639 --> 00:16:28.320 In the New Testament, the same theme is picked up time and time again: the eighth commandment. 00:16:28.559 --> 00:16:41.360 Three times in the story of the rich young ruler in the Gospels, in Matthew 19, Luke 18, Mark 10, uh, is pointed back to this basic principle. 00:16:41.759 --> 00:16:46.559 Um, Titus chapter 2, when it's talking about church leaders. 00:16:46.879 --> 00:16:50.879 Uh church leaders are to be exemplary, not perfect. 00:16:51.039 --> 00:16:53.120 There is no perfect church leader. 00:16:53.360 --> 00:17:08.960 Elders, deacons, pastors, whatever, there's no perfect church leaders, but they are to be someone who, among other things, uh, is not uh out for um for personal gain. 00:17:09.279 --> 00:17:13.039 Titus says that slaves should not steal from their masters. 00:17:13.359 --> 00:17:16.799 Um Ephesians chapter 4, verse 28. 00:17:16.880 --> 00:17:18.480 Let's let's turn to that one for a moment. 00:17:18.640 --> 00:17:23.599 Ephesians 4, 28 Galatians. 00:17:23.759 --> 00:17:26.640 Ephesians 4, 28. 00:17:35.039 --> 00:17:40.400 I never have find problems finding anything in my Bible until I'm standing up here and I'm trying to turn to it. 00:17:40.640 --> 00:17:43.680 Do you have any anybody can relate to that? 00:17:44.640 --> 00:17:48.400 Talking about new life in Christ from 17 on. 00:17:49.440 --> 00:17:52.640 Uh verse 25, put away falsehood. 00:17:53.279 --> 00:17:58.000 Um speak the truth to one another. 00:17:58.720 --> 00:18:01.759 Verse 26, in your anger, do not sin. 00:18:02.640 --> 00:18:10.559 Verse 28, let the thief steal no longer, but let him labor doing honest work with his hands. 00:18:10.720 --> 00:18:19.519 Instead of taking with your hands, we're to be doing honest work with our hands that we might have something to share with anyone in need. 00:18:19.759 --> 00:18:22.079 And this is talking about Christians. 00:18:22.799 --> 00:18:24.720 He's talking about Christians. 00:18:25.359 --> 00:18:33.680 And he says, Stop stealing and work hard so that you will have something to give to another. 00:18:34.720 --> 00:18:57.599 Uh and you look a page or two further in Exodus from uh where we are, uh, if you look at Exodus chapter 22, there is a uh a whole, almost the entire first half of chapter 22, talks about stealing and what you're supposed to do if you steal. 00:18:57.759 --> 00:19:21.440 And the principle in Exodus 22 is that you not only return and repay what you have stolen, but that you you you do restitution, you restore, in some cases twofold, in some cases fourfold, in some cases fivefold, and in some cases sevenfold. 00:19:21.920 --> 00:19:24.400 It's not enough just to not steal. 00:19:24.559 --> 00:19:33.440 When you do steal, you're supposed to repay, and typically you're supposed to repay far more than you have stolen. 00:19:33.680 --> 00:19:36.240 As much as seven times more. 00:19:37.599 --> 00:19:42.480 So it's pretty clear that stealing is condemned. 00:19:44.079 --> 00:19:45.279 It's very interesting. 00:19:45.440 --> 00:19:51.279 Most of us, if we were asked, are we thieves, we would almost certainly say no. 00:19:52.240 --> 00:20:00.559 Um, according to the pollsters, and the the pollsters do things other than just follow the politicians. 00:20:00.799 --> 00:20:06.559 In fact, I'm getting so tired of the polls that I wish they would start talking, polling people about are they thieves or not. 00:20:06.880 --> 00:20:15.839 And actually, the pollsters have uh found that 86% of the adults in this country say that they have not stolen. 00:20:16.640 --> 00:20:29.119 Evangelical Christians, um, 91% of evangelical Christians report that they are not guilty of transgressing the eighth commandment. 00:20:30.480 --> 00:20:34.960 Um I suppose there are people here who have never stolen something. 00:20:35.119 --> 00:20:36.880 I suppose that's possible. 00:20:37.279 --> 00:20:39.680 I just think it's highly unlikely. 00:20:40.960 --> 00:20:45.119 Um is there someone who has never stolen anything? 00:20:45.359 --> 00:20:48.319 I they say confession is good for the soul. 00:20:48.480 --> 00:20:59.440 I remember distinctly, about eight years old, living in suburbs of Chicago, Glen Allen, Illinois, I walked into a Woolworth's five and dime store. 00:20:59.599 --> 00:21:05.119 Now, many of you don't even remember what nickels and dimes are because they're so worthless these days. 00:21:05.279 --> 00:21:08.000 How many people remember a Woolworth five and dime? 00:21:08.079 --> 00:21:09.359 Yeah, there we go. 00:21:09.599 --> 00:21:13.279 Uh there's even a few young hands who uh have heard about it. 00:21:13.519 --> 00:21:25.359 So I, eight years old, I walk in, and for some reason I thought I was in desperate need of one of these kind of reddish-pink erasers, you know? 00:21:26.079 --> 00:21:29.200 And so I stood there and I remember it like yesterday. 00:21:29.359 --> 00:21:38.559 I stood there and I kind of looked around, and I grabbed it and I put it in my pocket, and I just kind of do do walked out the door. 00:21:38.799 --> 00:21:43.359 I get about 15 feet out the door, and there was a hand on my shoulder. 00:21:43.519 --> 00:21:46.160 It was this big, huge guy. 00:21:46.400 --> 00:21:54.960 He was probably 16 years old and you know, five foot ten or something, but I thought this, you know, busted. 00:21:55.519 --> 00:22:05.279 And he took me to talk to the manager, and the manager gave me a Talking to, and worst of all, he threatened to call my father. 00:22:06.880 --> 00:22:18.640 Now, I told you a couple weeks ago about what happened when I called my mother a dirty name in her presence, and I was not interested in him calling my father whatsoever. 00:22:18.880 --> 00:22:23.920 He gave me a stern talking to, and he didn't call my father. 00:22:27.599 --> 00:22:31.039 Main Street, Glen Allen, Illinois. 00:22:32.000 --> 00:22:43.839 To this day, to this day, when I walk or drive past the store that used to be the Woolworths, I have this trauma inside me. 00:22:44.880 --> 00:22:49.920 Please don't tell me that you have never ever once stolen something in your life. 00:22:50.079 --> 00:22:54.640 Or if you haven't, if you haven't, just don't tell me, please. 00:22:57.200 --> 00:22:59.680 Who do we think we're kidding? 00:23:02.319 --> 00:23:11.039 We smile good-naturedly about the little boy who's caught with his his chubby fingers in the cookie jar. 00:23:11.920 --> 00:23:13.680 We chuckle about that. 00:23:14.079 --> 00:23:22.400 As though there's something cute about learning as a child to take things that you're not supposed to take. 00:23:22.640 --> 00:23:24.240 Why do we think that's cute? 00:23:24.400 --> 00:23:34.880 Why do we make Robin Hood into a hero, robbing from the rich and giving to the poor, as though the end justifies the means? 00:23:37.359 --> 00:23:43.920 As though robbing from the rich to give to the poor is essentially a good thing because it's a good end. 00:23:44.000 --> 00:23:48.480 It's a good result that poor people aren't as poor anymore. 00:23:48.559 --> 00:23:49.759 And that is a good thing. 00:23:49.839 --> 00:23:58.960 And it shouldn't just be the Pope who cares about poverty and social issues, by the way, but again, that's not our theme for this morning. 00:23:59.359 --> 00:24:08.000 What about pens and paper clips and computer cartridges and supplies at the office? 00:24:08.160 --> 00:24:14.240 What about using the phone for personal use when that's not what it's intended for? 00:24:14.400 --> 00:24:19.759 And the policy is you don't use that for personal things on the job. 00:24:22.640 --> 00:24:25.839 Is that or is that not stealing? 00:24:26.559 --> 00:24:35.839 If you know it's not allowed and you do it just because it's a relatively small thing, is that or is that not stealing? 00:24:40.240 --> 00:24:43.279 Theft in the workplace is huge. 00:24:44.480 --> 00:24:52.640 Retailers report that theft from their own employees is greater than theft from shoplifting. 00:24:53.039 --> 00:24:56.559 I guess there aren't enough eight-year-old little boys around anymore. 00:24:58.400 --> 00:25:10.720 In retail sales or retail companies, the reports that I get are that theft from employees is greater than theft from shoplifters. 00:25:11.200 --> 00:25:18.160 We've gotten comfortable helping ourselves to things that are not ours. 00:25:18.880 --> 00:25:19.839 Look at your home. 00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:20.880 Look around your home. 00:25:21.599 --> 00:25:23.440 Do a mental inventory. 00:25:23.599 --> 00:25:29.920 Is there anything in your home that you borrowed and have just forgotten to return? 00:25:34.240 --> 00:25:37.440 We've just moved twice in the last uh few months. 00:25:37.599 --> 00:25:43.839 We bought a home in Indiana, we moved to there, then we left that home empty, and we've come here. 00:25:44.160 --> 00:25:52.160 And when we moved to Indiana from South Texas, I'd have to tell you, I found a couple of things that I had borrowed. 00:25:52.319 --> 00:25:58.640 I hadn't intended to keep them, but somehow or another I neglected to return them. 00:26:07.920 --> 00:26:13.440 Now, I know you probably say, We're overcharged many times, and perhaps you are. 00:26:13.519 --> 00:26:20.799 So you go into Target and they're ringing up or whatever, and you know that you were undercharged for this item. 00:26:20.960 --> 00:26:29.920 Now, Jane, this amazing woman, she stands there at the register and she knows exactly what the price was of everything that she has bought. 00:26:30.079 --> 00:26:31.519 I don't know how she does it. 00:26:31.680 --> 00:26:35.119 I hardly know what I've bought, much less what the price is. 00:26:35.680 --> 00:26:44.000 But but she will watch the uh thing pop up on the register, and she can tell you if she's been overcharged or undercharged. 00:26:44.720 --> 00:26:49.279 What happens if we're undercharged? 00:26:49.440 --> 00:26:52.799 Do we just chalk it up and say, well, I probably got overcharged a bunch of times? 00:26:52.960 --> 00:26:54.319 Well, you probably did. 00:26:55.920 --> 00:27:01.039 Is that or is that not stealing to just allow yourself to be undercharged? 00:27:01.519 --> 00:27:08.720 What about uh um overstating your expenses on the expense report? 00:27:08.880 --> 00:27:10.400 Even just a little bit. 00:27:10.880 --> 00:27:15.119 Uh many people uh have expense accounts. 00:27:15.279 --> 00:27:18.000 Uh many people here have expense accounts. 00:27:18.160 --> 00:27:19.680 I have an expense account. 00:27:20.160 --> 00:27:44.319 It's very easy and very, very subtle to, in small ways, small Christian ways, of course, to inflate or expense off things that really aren't expenses, reimbursable expenses. 00:27:45.519 --> 00:27:47.839 What about cutting corners at work? 00:27:47.920 --> 00:27:52.960 And I don't mean the corner, if you work in a shop, you cut the corner off of the table you're making. 00:27:53.039 --> 00:27:55.519 I'm talking about what if what if you cut corners in work? 00:27:55.680 --> 00:28:03.519 You don't you don't put in a full day's work, you you extend inappropriately your lunch hour, you play fast and free. 00:28:03.759 --> 00:28:09.599 Few of us probably punch clocks, but it's awful easy to play fast and free. 00:28:09.680 --> 00:28:13.039 And is that not stealing from our employer? 00:28:13.440 --> 00:28:17.599 What about as as we fill out our tax returns? 00:28:17.680 --> 00:28:20.880 And the tax codes are incredibly obtuse. 00:28:21.519 --> 00:28:38.960 And it's sometimes very hard to tell what is appropriate and what's not, but it's also very tempting to assume the gray matters are okay and we push the tax codes just a little bit, or we report things that are in our favor and not in the government's favor. 00:28:39.039 --> 00:28:41.440 And you know it's rigged against you, you know the government's trying to. 00:28:41.759 --> 00:28:48.079 Now, there's a big difference between avoiding, legitimately avoiding taxes, or evading taxes. 00:28:48.240 --> 00:28:50.000 I get that, believe me. 00:28:50.240 --> 00:28:52.640 But it's still real easy. 00:28:53.200 --> 00:28:56.079 Uh, along about the 14th of April. 00:28:56.240 --> 00:28:59.440 Um, and probably if we wait that long, we're in trouble anyway. 00:28:59.599 --> 00:29:04.160 But uh what about you as an employer? 00:29:04.319 --> 00:29:06.960 There are some employers in our midst. 00:29:07.039 --> 00:29:11.759 What about employers not paying an employee a fair wage? 00:29:12.960 --> 00:29:14.480 Just because you can. 00:29:16.799 --> 00:29:24.160 Migrants, migrant workers get paid peanuts because we can get away with it. 00:29:27.680 --> 00:29:31.200 Is that or is that not stealing? 00:29:31.920 --> 00:29:33.759 You say, well, we made an agreement. 00:29:33.920 --> 00:29:35.519 Yeah, of course they made an agreement. 00:29:35.680 --> 00:29:37.759 They didn't have really any other choice. 00:29:38.079 --> 00:29:42.880 Why do you think they work for peanuts for lowest possible wages? 00:29:43.279 --> 00:29:47.920 Would you like to go out there and do that job day in and day out and get peanuts? 00:29:49.680 --> 00:30:11.440 An employer who doesn't pay a fair wage just because we live in a capitalistic society where the market determines things, but you know you're not giving someone a fair day's wage for a fair day's work, and I have no idea which of you are employers, and I'm not talking about any one of you. 00:30:11.519 --> 00:30:14.960 I'm just saying, is that or is that not stealing? 00:30:16.960 --> 00:30:19.519 What about pirated software? 00:30:19.680 --> 00:30:36.480 I was walking down the streets of a town at the foothills of the Himalayas about uh about a year and a half ago in India, and what was the the software that was for sale on the street was absolutely incredible. 00:30:36.720 --> 00:30:37.359 And it was. 00:30:37.519 --> 00:30:38.799 It was too good to be true. 00:30:38.960 --> 00:30:42.559 Most things that are too good to be true are too good to be true. 00:30:42.799 --> 00:30:44.400 Those prices were not real. 00:30:44.480 --> 00:30:50.960 That was pirated or uh copies or something, but it wasn't true. 00:30:51.200 --> 00:30:54.960 Um, more to the point, Monday night football. 00:30:55.119 --> 00:30:57.519 Uh I don't know how many of you have cut the cable. 00:30:57.680 --> 00:31:00.000 Our family cut the cable a number of years ago. 00:31:00.160 --> 00:31:01.839 We stream over the air. 00:31:02.079 --> 00:31:07.599 Works wonderfully, except for Monday night, because Monday night football is not available over the air. 00:31:07.759 --> 00:31:17.359 However, if you know someone who has a cable, has a cable subscription, you can use their credentials to stream it online. 00:31:18.480 --> 00:31:20.160 And that's stealing. 00:31:20.319 --> 00:31:22.960 It's just plain stealing. 00:31:24.079 --> 00:31:26.319 Tomorrow's Monday night football. 00:31:32.000 --> 00:31:33.839 What about plagiarism? 00:31:34.559 --> 00:31:38.799 Taking others' words, others' thoughts, others' productive work. 00:31:38.960 --> 00:31:48.880 I know a friend of mine who was a pastor of a large church who was dismissed because of plagiarism. 00:31:49.759 --> 00:31:51.200 And he should have been. 00:31:51.759 --> 00:31:56.160 But we get comfortable taking things that are not ours. 00:31:56.960 --> 00:32:08.720 Well, um, what's at stake here is something extremely important, and I really want you to get this. 00:32:10.079 --> 00:32:13.920 God is our provider. 00:32:15.279 --> 00:32:28.079 And when we when we take something into our own hands that He has not provided for us, including through the ability to work hard, that's a gift of God. 00:32:28.799 --> 00:32:29.920 We'll see that. 00:32:30.400 --> 00:32:36.000 But the issue with stealing is that we don't trust God to give us what we need. 00:32:36.160 --> 00:32:38.640 So we take it into our own hands and take it. 00:32:38.720 --> 00:32:42.480 Now, it may be subtle, it may be that you've never thought about it that way. 00:32:42.640 --> 00:32:49.920 I'm sure that as an eight-year-old, when I was reaching out for that little eraser, and I have one just like it in my desk over there right now. 00:32:50.400 --> 00:32:51.920 It's so frustrating. 00:32:52.799 --> 00:32:56.960 I wasn't thinking that I'm rejecting God as my provider. 00:32:57.440 --> 00:32:58.720 I wasn't conscious. 00:32:59.039 --> 00:33:00.240 But think about it. 00:33:00.559 --> 00:33:04.319 God is and wants to be our provider. 00:33:04.559 --> 00:33:07.119 He wants to be seen as our provider. 00:33:07.279 --> 00:33:10.079 He wants to be worshipped as our provider. 00:33:10.319 --> 00:33:12.319 All that we have comes from him. 00:33:12.720 --> 00:33:17.279 And when we receive from him what we receive, we receive all that we need. 00:33:17.440 --> 00:33:20.480 It's just we think we need a whole bunch of other things. 00:33:22.240 --> 00:33:28.079 And we are, in essence, rejecting him as our provider. 00:33:28.319 --> 00:33:31.279 A couple of simple thoughts and a couple of words of application. 00:33:31.759 --> 00:33:38.720 How we handle things, material things, is a spiritual barometer. 00:33:40.640 --> 00:33:47.440 That's very clear when we look in all the scripture says about material possessions. 00:33:47.759 --> 00:33:49.680 Things are not evil. 00:33:50.960 --> 00:33:52.160 They're not evil. 00:33:52.319 --> 00:33:57.599 There are evil things, but material goods are not in essence evil. 00:33:59.119 --> 00:34:08.000 However, the way we handle our material possessions reflects something about our spiritual lives. 00:34:10.320 --> 00:34:14.880 The scriptures, when they talk about material things, are just filled with this. 00:34:15.039 --> 00:34:20.800 Luke 16, the parable of the steward or the manager. 00:34:22.079 --> 00:34:46.320 I hope sometime we'll have a chance to look at this in some detail, but I want to just take a moment and look at a couple of verses in Luke chapter 16, verses 10 through 13, where it says, one who is faithful in very little is also faithful in much. 00:34:46.639 --> 00:34:52.719 And one who is dishonest in very little is also dishonest in much. 00:34:53.199 --> 00:35:01.199 If then you've not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust you for true riches? 00:35:01.360 --> 00:35:07.199 And true riches are spiritual, go well beyond gold and silver. 00:35:07.440 --> 00:35:15.920 And if you have not been faithful in that which is another's, who will give you that which is your own? 00:35:16.159 --> 00:35:27.280 You see, Jesus makes a clear link between how we approach material things, which are relatively unimportant themselves, but how we deal with them. 00:35:27.360 --> 00:35:29.679 There's great things at stake here. 00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:34.800 And it has to do with what's going on in our spiritual lives. 00:35:34.960 --> 00:35:42.239 A barometer is a thing that gets you in touch with things you normally aren't aware of, changes in atmospheric temperature. 00:35:42.400 --> 00:35:55.360 Now, unless you've got limbago and you can feel the change in the weather, or unless you're addicted to the weather channel, uh, you probably aren't aware of when highs and lows come through. 00:35:55.519 --> 00:35:58.480 You're not, it's not normally accessible to us. 00:35:58.880 --> 00:36:02.320 And yet, uh a barometer lets us see that. 00:36:02.480 --> 00:36:09.199 How we handle material things, uh 1 Timothy 3 is very clear. 00:36:09.440 --> 00:36:16.880 Considering an elder, he must not be a lover of money, a deacon must not be addicted to dishonest gain. 00:36:17.119 --> 00:36:17.599 Why? 00:36:17.840 --> 00:36:20.880 Because it says something about his spiritual life. 00:36:21.039 --> 00:36:22.639 There's a link here. 00:36:23.599 --> 00:36:26.480 All that we have comes from God. 00:36:27.760 --> 00:36:31.679 Full stop, without exception. 00:36:32.000 --> 00:36:38.800 Paul says pointedly in 1 Corinthians 4, 7, what do you have that you did not receive? 00:36:39.920 --> 00:36:43.760 Now, if we're not careful, we'll think, well, I earned that. 00:36:44.639 --> 00:36:50.239 Well, it makes it very clear in these other passages. 00:36:50.559 --> 00:37:06.079 Uh, wealth and honor comes from you, O Lord, the ability to work hard, the fact that you were raised in a place where you got a good education, you were raised with a good work ethic, you've been given privileges, you work hard. 00:37:06.239 --> 00:37:13.440 I'm not denying that you work hard whatsoever, but is that ability to work hard and earn well not a gift from God? 00:37:13.599 --> 00:37:16.480 Did that come from you because you're so great and so smart? 00:37:16.719 --> 00:37:20.800 What about somebody who is raised in absolute poverty and has no chances? 00:37:21.039 --> 00:37:23.599 Are they inherently less than you are? 00:37:23.840 --> 00:37:25.679 Or have you been greatly blessed? 00:37:25.840 --> 00:37:27.679 Has that been given to you? 00:37:27.920 --> 00:37:34.719 There is nothing that we have, including the ability to work hard and earn money, that isn't from God. 00:37:35.119 --> 00:37:38.719 Everything that we have comes from God. 00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:45.280 Deuteronomy 8, 11 and 12. 00:37:46.239 --> 00:37:47.760 Have to look at that one. 00:37:48.800 --> 00:37:50.400 Deuteronomy 8. 00:38:00.480 --> 00:38:42.719 God speaking to his people Israel, when they come into the land, take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandment and his rules and his statutes with I commanded, lest when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied, and then your heart becomes lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and who did all of these wonderful things and filled, fed you in the wilderness, verse 17. 00:38:42.880 --> 00:38:49.280 Beware lest you say in your heart, My power, the strength of my hand, has gotten me this wealth. 00:38:50.960 --> 00:38:55.599 What do we have that we have not received? 00:38:56.639 --> 00:38:57.599 Nothing. 00:38:57.920 --> 00:39:04.159 Your sparkling personality, your good looks, your abilities? 00:39:04.480 --> 00:39:07.039 What is there that we have not received? 00:39:07.280 --> 00:39:07.920 Nothing. 00:39:08.239 --> 00:39:13.519 Now, that's because God is our provider. 00:39:14.159 --> 00:39:22.880 And he makes it very clear that how we handle the things that he has provided for us are of great importance. 00:39:23.920 --> 00:39:29.280 And God is and wants to be seen as our provider. 00:39:29.440 --> 00:39:34.320 Matthew 6, he cares for the birds of the air and he clothes the lilies of the field. 00:39:34.559 --> 00:39:35.360 Who does that? 00:39:35.599 --> 00:39:36.800 God does that. 00:39:37.360 --> 00:39:39.840 And God gets the glory for all of that. 00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:48.400 When we take that into our own hands, then we're taking the credit for something that has been given to us by another. 00:39:49.039 --> 00:40:00.719 Keep your way of life free from the love of money, being content with what you have, for He Himself has said, I will never leave you, I will never forsake you, therefore I may confidently say the Lord is my helper. 00:40:00.880 --> 00:40:02.320 What can man do to me? 00:40:02.639 --> 00:40:04.159 God has given me everything. 00:40:04.320 --> 00:40:06.239 Everything that I have is from God. 00:40:06.400 --> 00:40:09.039 Everything that I need, I receive from God. 00:40:09.199 --> 00:40:12.400