The Ten Commandments - 10
You shall not commit steal
We have already discovered that the commandments were given to Moses many centuries ago for the people of Israel, but they have much to say to us today. They are the unchangeable law of the Living God given for our good, and they tell us how we should be living in relation to both God and our fellow men.
We have seen that the first four of these commandments deal with our relationship to God: We are to have no other gods before Him; we are not to make idols and worship them; we are not to misuse the name of God in swearing or in a careless manner, and we are to keep one day each week set apart for Him. The remaining six commandments have to do with our behaviour towards our fellow men: We are to honour our parents; we are not to murder and we are not to commit adultery, as we saw last time. Today we are looking at the eighth commandment, found in Exodus chapter 20 verse 15. This commandment says: "You shall not steal."
Theft, robbery, stealing - these are all too common in our world today. The previous commandment concerning adultery has to do with God's holiness. This commandment has to do with God's justice and we are going to look at three things concerning this injunction that we must not steal:
Number one - "The right to our own property". Number two - "What is stealing?" Number three - "What it means to steal from God."
First then, "The right to our own property."
In Bible times landowners placed landmarks as a line of demarcation along the boundaries of their fields. This is still a practice today and boundaries are carefully drawn so that we can know what belongs to us and what belongs to our neighbours. We all have things in our homes that belong exclusively to us or to our family. No one else has a right to these things unless we choose to give them away. In some countries there is what we call "common land" which is open to all people. It is usually cared for by local authorities and no individual has the right to enclose it and prevent others from crossing it. To do so would be to steal it from everyone else.
We have no right to someone else's property even though we may want it, or need it, or feel that they do not need it. No matter how unfair we might think things are; no matter how difficult our circumstances, there can be no justification in stealing another's property.
Secondly, "What is stealing?" This may seem to be obvious, but there are many aspects to stealing which are not recognised or which are ignored. We would all see robbery and burglary as acts of stealing. Occasionally these acts are committed out of need but usually out of greed. Theft is a cruel, callous offence, especially when aimed at an individual. Such stealing hurts the victims very deeply and some are left permanently affected by fear. When homes are broken into there is always a feeling of violation.
But stealing takes many forms. It is not always an open act of violence or the breaking and entering of a home. It can be other acts of dishonesty such as overcharging for goods and services, or using false measures so that the purchaser receives less than he paid for. This was something for which God - the God of justice - condemned the people of Israel. They were cheating one another with false measures and false weights. Does this sound familiar? It is a form of stealing.
And then there is something which the Bible refers to as "usury". This is the lending of money at an excessively high rate of interest. At first the lender seems very helpful, especially if the need is great. But the borrower soon finds himself frighteningly indebted to the lender, whether an individual or an organisation. The Hebrew word for usury has the meaning "to bite." It is a though the usurer is a wild animal putting its teeth into its victim and as it were drawing blood as well as interest. The greedy money lender is a robber.
But what about the employer who does not pay fair wages? He is in effect stealing his employees time. Equally, employees who do not do a fair day's work are not giving value for the money they earn and they, too, are guilty of stealing their employers time.
I am sure that you can think of many other ways of stealing. The unauthorised 'phone call from the office; the inflating of expenses claims; and we could go on. All these break the commandment that we should not steal. Judas Iscariot was a thief. The Bible tells us that he looked after the money for the disciples, but he betrayed that trust and stole from the bag. To steal is to disobey God as well as to break the laws of our land and can only bring dishonour on the name of the Lord. Christians are to be scrupulous in their honesty, avoiding all appearance of evil.
Thirdly, "What does it mean to steal from God?"
We can do this by putting our own interests first. Christians have been redeemed at a great cost - the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Christians are, as it were, "under new management." So we are not to merely live for ourselves and our own selfish desires. The Lord Jesus is to be our role model and He said that we are to "Seek first the kingdom of God". We are to put Him first in our lives to serve Him with the gifts and abilities He has given to us. We are, as Paul says in Romans chapter 12 verse 1, to offer our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God. To do this is a spiritual act of worship. So do not rob God by keeping from Him any part of your life.
We can steal from God by not giving Him our time. Listen again to Paul, this time in Ephesians chapter 5 verses 15 and 16:
"Be very careful, then, how you live - not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil."
The King James version says, "Redeeming the time, because the days are evil." How do you spend your time? It is so easy to allow even legitimate things to so occupy us that we do not give time to the things of God. How much time do we spend in prayer, in Bible study, in preparation for the Lord's work in our churches or in our neighbourhood? We have time for the things we want to do, but do we have time for other people? Our Lord was never too busy to stop and listen or to reach out a hand to help those who came to Him.
The days in which we live are evil, just as they were when Paul wrote to the Ephesians, and so we must take every opportunity to evangelise young and older while there is time. Do not rob God of time, but sanctify your days to Him and you will not go unrewarded as He uses you to the blessing of others.
In a previous talk we were looking at the fourth commandment which is about keeping the Sabbath Day set apart for God. We can steal from God by ignoring this commandment and not observing a Sabbath Day. We can steal from God by only giving Him a part of that day and then spending the rest pursuing our own pleasures. Christians observe the first day of the week, the day when Christ was raised from death, as the day to remember Him and to serve Him. It is a day when our time can be dedicated to the Lord. Let us not rob God of His day, but as we are able, where we are, give Him our Sabbath Day.
In Malachi, the last book in the Old Testament, chapter 3 and verse 8, God is speaking through the prophet and saying to the people of Israel, "Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me." And the people ask, "How do we rob you?". The answer is given, "In tithes and offerings." The Israelites were required to give a tithe, or a tenth, of their produce as provision for the Levites who had no land of their own. This was a very important requirement so that the priests could function unhindered by concerns as to what they would eat and so that God's work could be financed. In Malachi's time the people were failing to bring their tithes and so were in effect robbing God of what was His due.
It is possible for us to steal from God by not giving to Him what is His due. Sacrificial, joyful giving is a part of true worship. We only give back to God what He has graciously entrusted to us. Whatever we can give is nothing compared with what He has given. We remember the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ who, "Though He was rich, yet for our sakes became poor that we through His poverty might become rich."
The Lord Jesus commended sacrificial giving when He saw a woman put a very tiny coin into the Temple treasury knowing that she had in fact given all that she had. We are called to be faithful stewards of all the Lord has given to us. We are to give so that God's work can go forward unhindered. When we do this we are assured of God's blessing. Listen to what the Lord said to the people of Israel through Malachi:
"Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this says the Lord Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and poor out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it."
Let us not steal from God, but let us give to Him our time, our talents and our gifts, and so experience this wonderful blessing He promises!