Stealing

Timeless Truths for Troubled Times #8

Stop! Thief!

Ex 20:15

c. Just look at the synonyms - extort, burglarize, defraud, filch, heist, cheat, beguile, bilk, misappropriate, pilfer, pillage, plunder, rob, swindle, swipe, fleece, gyp, sham, embezzle, bamboozle

b. It isn't long before the baby wants to reach over to the baby next to him and pull that pacifier out of his mouth and sticks it into his own.

a. Unless there is a general agreement to respect the property of others and a prohibition against stealing, no society could long exist.

b. If you feel free to claim what is mine, and if I feel free to claim what is yours, you and I will not be able to live together.

c. We will be enemies, eyeing each other with suspicion, waiting for our chance to steal from one another.

d. No family, no city, no country, no race can long survive where the Eighth Commandment is not widely respected.

9. Every day brings us new stories about car theft, white-collar theft, armed robbery, muggings, shoplifting, insurance fraud, income tax evasion, breaking and entering, embezzlement, employee theft, pyramid get-rich-quick schemes, extortion, blackmail, bribery, and all the rest of the sophisticated means we use to rip each other off.

10. Some years ago, the president of a large southern university received a letter from a prominent business man who was one of the school's most famous graduates. In the letter he enclosed his college degree and wrote, "I am no longer keeping something which does not really belong to me. I cheated on my senior exams and did not pass them fairly and squarely. I stole my college education."

I. Five Kinds of Thievery

· Let me suggest five ways in which even the most pious churchgoer may become a thief.

A. The Time Thief

1. Time is the most precious commodity in the world.

a) It is the one truly non-renewable resource.

b) Once time is gone it can never be reclaimed, recycled or repeated.

c) Time waits for no one, stops for no one, slows down for no one.

d) When enough time has passed, we too will be gone.

2. Who are the time thieves? They are the ones who…

a) —Come late for work

b) —Leave early for lunch

c) —Take extra-long breaks

d) —Leave early for home

e) —Watch the clock instead of the job

3. Many routinely promise to be somewhere at a certain time … knowing that they will be late. Often they even plan to be late.

a) Does it matter to them that others have arranged their schedules to fit their promises? Not at all!

b) They are late for appointments

c) They are late with assignments

d) They are late for meetings

e) They are late to keep our promises

4. In too many cases, the motto of the American worker is “Do less and get paid more."

5. Stealing time is a terrible crime because you steal that which can never be recovered.

6. The loss is permanent … and no double-time tomorrow can make up for the time you stole today.

B. The Gossiping Thief

1. Here is a thief who steals the good name of someone else.

a) “Psssst … Have you heard the latest?”

b) “Did you know that Sally and Bill are splitting up?”

c) “She never intended to pay the money back.”

d) “He said he was sick but I’ll bet he was just playing golf.”

e) “I’m glad she lost her job. She needed to get some humility.”

f) “Those Johnson kids are the worst children in church.

g) I think the middle one will probably end up in jail … or in Congress … or both."

2. When you gossip about someone else, you’re guilty of stealing their good name.

a) You are guilty of robbery just as much as the mugger who holds you up on the street.

b) And you aren’t any less guilty in God’s eyes.

c) If any other evidence needs to be mentioned, remember that gossip is listed in Romans 1—along with homosexuality—as one mark of a depraved life.

3. Here’s a test. Just go to three close friends this week and ask them: Do you think I have a tendency to gossip?

4. You might be surprised at the answers you get.

C. The Shoplifting Thief

1. The US Dept of Commerce says that 4 million people are caught shoplifting each year

2. Experts tell us that only 1 in 35 shoplifters is ever caught.

3. Your family will spend $300 this year in extra costs because of someone else’s shoplifting.

4. Take a look at this profile of the average shoplifter:

a) Most are between 25-45 years old.

b) More women than men shoplift.

c) Most are not poor:

d) 80% of all shoplifters have money or credit cards with them to pay for the things they are stealing.

5. A hotel that had been in operation for ten months reported 18,000 towels missing, 355 silver coffee pots, 1500 silver finger bowls, 38,000 spoons and 100 Bibles taken.

6. Regardless of the reason, stealing is wrong - God condemns it and declares it to be sin

D. The Careless Thief

1. This thief may seem small indeed after the one just mentioned, yet far more of us are likely to be careless than to deliberately defraud others.

2. The careless thief is the one who borrows and does not return.

a) He is the one who borrows and does not pay back.

b) He promises to do so … and he does not.

3. Why is this so critical?

a) We have an answer in the OT teaching concerning just weights and measurements.

b) Back then, merchants didn’t have fancy electronic scales that could perfectly weigh each trans-action.

c) Small businessmen used weighted bags to balance the scales.

d) But if the bags were improperly filled, the customer would end up paying for 2 shekels of meat when the butcher had secretly given him 1 1/2 shekels.

e) If the “weight” was rigged, the customer would be cheated.

4. That’s why the Old Testament in five separate places warns against unjust weights and measurements.

5. God hates that practice and promises to judge those who rig their weights in order to cheat others.

6. It reminds me of the architect who spent hours and hours pouring over the tiny details of his blueprints. Why, he was asked, was he spending such an inordinate amount of time on the details? Because, he replied, “God is in the details."

7. God is in the details! And if God isn’t in the details of your life, those who watch may fairly wonder if God is really in your life at all.

E. The God-Robbing Thief – Mal 3:8

1. Guess where you find the God-Robbing Thief?

a) Look for him in church on Sunday morning!

b) That’s right. The God-robber is the one who refuses to give to God that which belongs to him.

c) He is the one who knows God personally, realizes that his blessings come from God … and still refuses to give to God.

2. Instead he hoards his money … hugs his profit … holds his loot … hangs on to his prosperity.

a) When the plate is passed, he throws in a five or a ten, but his heart is not in it.

b) That one is a God-Robber! Look around you.

c) You may be sitting next to a thief right now!

3. Wait! Look in the mirror. Is that a God-Robber looking back at you?

4. Our text says, “Put God to the test!” What a thought! Go ahead and give God what belongs to him … and see what happens!

5. Would you like a big blessing, one so huge that you couldn’t begin to contain it? Try giving a tithe to God. See if God won’t keep his Word to you.

II. A Biblical Cure For Stealing

1. Is there a way out of the stealing trap?

2. Can a thief really change his ways?

3. For those of us who live at the level of 80% honesty, is there any hope for improving that percentage?

4. The answer is yes. God’s word shows us a three-step plan in Eph 4:28

28 Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.

a) Honesty – “Let him that stole, steal no more”

b) Industry—"Doing something useful with his hands"

c) Charity—"That he may have something to share"

5. The problem with theft is that it is by nature entirely selfish. You steal in order to “get” for yourself.

6. Stealing will come to an end when “getters” become “givers.”

a) —Stop stealing

b) —Start working

c) —Give instead of taking

7. At the heart of this sin is a deep lack of faith in God.

a) We steal because we think we do not have enough.

b) We steal because we think we deserve what others have.

c) We steal because we want what we have not earned.

d) We steal because we fear the future.

8. That reminds me of a wonderful story about Maxey Jarman, founder of the great Genesco shoe chain. Over the years Mr. Jarman as a Christian layman supported many worthy causes, including the Billy Graham Crusades. He freely gave his money to benefit God’s work in many places. But the day came when his company collapsed and with it, his personal fortune. Someone asked him, “Mr. Jarman, don’t you regret giving all that money away? Think what a difference it would make if you had it all back.” To which he replied, “Oh no, I don’t regret any of the money I have given away. After all, I only lost what I kept for myself."

9. What a fantastic perspective on life. “I only lost what I kept for myself.”

10. The great tragedy of life is that it takes a tragedy for so many people to discover that truth.

11. It is only when we lose it all that we realize it was never ours to begin with.

12. When you give something away, you’re not losing it —You’re investing it.

13. When you keep something for yourself, you’re not really keeping it. —You’re only postponing the time when you will ultimately lose it.

14. Can a Thief Be Saved?

a) I know one who was.

b) The last person Jesus forgave was a thief.

c) Think about that. While he was hanging on the cross, Jesus said to the thief hanging by his side, “Today you will be with me in paradise.”

15. Every word in that sentence is crucial.

a) “Today” — Instant salvation

b) “You" — Personal salvation

c) “Will be" — Certain salvation

d) “With me" — Intimate salvation

e) "In paradise” — Heavenly salvation

16. As the saying goes, it doesn’t get any better than that. Jesus said those remarkable words—not to a good man or to a religious man—but to a thief who was paying the ultimate price for his thievery.

17. Can a thief be saved? Absolutely.

A man handed a bank teller a note demanding money. She replied, "Straighten your tie, stupid, you're on camera." When we steal, we are on God's camera.