Word of Salvation – October 2015
Eighth Commandment: You Shall Not Steal
A sermon by Rev. Pieter Tuit on Lord’s Day 42
Bread and butter issues have been very much in the forefront in our nations the last couple weeks. I only have to mention the federal and state budget and all its ramification, clear or not clear, the National Disability Insurance scheme, the Gonski education reforms, the concerns raised by the independent schools about present and future funding, the recent decision by the Ford motor company to close its operations in our country by 2016, local business struggles, rising unemployment, discussion about penalty rates, cost of living pressures for households, the cutting of the baby bonus.
Bread and butter issues impact families. Families cost money. A recent study has shown that for those on low incomes it will cost about 250,000 dollars to raise a child from when it is a baby to the time it finishes school. If you have a middle range income it will cost you about 400,000 and for those on high income you can expect to fork our more than half a million. Bread and butter issues make sociologists come up with names like KIPPERS. KIPPERS used to refer to smoked fish the British liked for breakfast. Now it refers to KIDS IN PARENTS POCKETS ERODING RETIREMENT SAVINGS. This is a reference to kids in their twenties and older still living with Mum and Dad. We hear of DINKS referring to DOUBLE INCOME NO KIDS couples.
We are all familiar with the saying that money cannot buy happiness.Most of us probably believe this even when we wish we would be financially better off. However, this idea was disputed in a recent on line article. According to this article in the Australian, a young Australian professor of economics at the University of Michigan, Justin Wolfers, has undermined the conventional wisdom with a battery of provocative statistical work of sufficient quality to appear in the American Economic Review, the holy grail of economic journals. Wolfers says higher incomes make people in rich countries even happier than higher incomes do in poor countries.
Bread and butterissues is also something Holy Scripture confronts us with in the eight commandment, YOU SHALL NOT STEAL. At first glance we may think that this is a commandment that we can easily skip over. O yes, as children most of us had our hands in the cooky and jolly jar when mum was not looking, and here and there we may transgress just a little bit but over all we think that we are doing pretty good.
However, our church’s teaches the Heidelberg Catechism kind of spoils that party. It asks two questions. The first one is “What does God require in the eight commandment?” The answer reflects the time in which the Catechism was written. At the same time it shows that the authors had listened very carefully to Holy Scripture. The catechism tells us that,”God forbids not only outright theft and robbery, punishable by law. But in God’s sight theft also includes cheating and swindling our neighbor, by schemes made to appear legitimate, such as: inaccurate measuring of weight, size and volume; fraudulent merchandizing: counterfeit money; excessive interest; or any other means forbidden by God. In addition God forbids all greed and pointless squandering of his gifts.”
Wow, this is quite a mouthful. It shows that this commandment goes a lot further than keeping your hand out of the lolly jar or not cheating too much on one’s income tax form. But the Catechism is not finished yet. It is not finished because it knows Scripture still has more to say about the subject. The catechism, having listened carefully to Holy Scripture also asks, ”What does God require of you in this commandment?” The answer is,” That I do whatever I can for my neighbours’s good, that I treat others as I would like them to treat me, and that I work faithfully so that I may share with those in need.”.
In other words we may think that we are not a thief if we do not steal. The catechism tells us that Scripture teaches that we are thieves when we do not advance our neighbour’s good.
In order to understand how Scripture approaches what we call the bread and butter issues of life let’s go back to the Old Testament. God had made a covenant with Abraham. In this covenant relationship God would bless Abraham and his descendants. Abraham and his descendant would be a blessing to those around them. The ten commandments and the rest of the OT laws give guidance and structure to this. God’s covenant relationship was not only vertical, dealing with worship, faith, sacrifice, etc. It was also horizontal It covered every area of life, including the bread and butter issues of life.
All these laws were there so that Israel could live under God and in accordance with his will in every area of life. By doing so Israel could be that contrast society. It would show to the nations around her what it was like to live under the blessed rule of God guided by his law. And by being that contrast society Israel fulfilled part of its calling to be a blessing to the nations.
I encourage you to read what Exodus and Deuteronomy have to say about what this means for the so called bread and butter issues of life. Scripture pays a lot of attention to it. Scripture says a lot about ownership. Yes, Scripture is not against owning things. At the same time it is very much concerned about how we get the things we own. It is very much concerned with how we use the things we own It is very much concerned with what purpose we give them in our lives. This is why, in Scripture the emphasis is very much on stewardship. Stewardship refers to owning things under God in God’s way.
Israel in the Old Testament had a lot to learn in this area. She started out as a nation of slaves. In other words she was owned. She did not own anything herself. Her people had no rights, no protection of the law. They were at the whim of the Pharaos of Egypt. These Pharaos saw the Israelites as dispensible parts in its economic and nation building enterprise.
The Exodus was not only an event of spiritual significance. It also had economic, social, political significance. Through the Exodus God also saved them to a new form of life. That form of life stood in contrast to the way of life, including economic life, they had experienced in Egypt. That way of life stood also in sharp contrast to the way of life on the nations round about her. That way of life included owning things. That way of life included how to acquire things to own. That way of life included how to treat the property of someone else. That way of life included how to do business, how to pay wages, how to treat one’s laborers. That way of life included the bread and butter issues of life.
In the ten commandments this is summarized in that short and terse statement, YOU SHALL NOT STEAL. However this is followed by detailed instruction on how to apply this to economic, business and bread and butter life.
God took Israel’s calling to be a contrast society in this area very serious. This is why we hear the prophets preach their words of judgment when Israel did not live up to it. The prophet Amos even received the nickname the red prophet. Hear him speak to Israel,” I hate, I despise your religious feast; I cannot stand your assemblies. Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offering, I will not accept them…. Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never failing stream.”
It appears that Israel did well on the vertical. Its worship services were well attended. The temple in Jerusalem was religiously in full swing. But they did not live as a contrast society. Their economic, business and bread and butter life did not reflect God’s will for them. We find similar warnings with the prophet Micah. He asks the question “With what shall I come before the Lord? Shall I come before him with burnt offering,…will the Lord be pleased with thousand rams. No Instead God has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
This theme is repeated in the New Testament, in the teachings of Jesus as well as the New Testament epistles. When we read the gospels we see that Jesus said more about bread and butter issues than any other subject, including sex. We find this especially in the gospel of Luke. Luke is not an easy book for those who have acquired their wealth in an unjust way. Jesus has some forthright things to say. Hear him thunder,” Woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Hear his warning what good is it for people to gain the whole world but lose their souls.
We hear Jesus say that it will be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of heaven. He told the tax collector Zacheus that he had to pray back three or four times the money he had swindled from people. In Luke 12:15 Jesus says, ”Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” At the final judgment Jesus will say to those on his right hand, “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” At the same time we see that Jesus had people of means amongst his followers and was supported by them.
The NT epistles reflect the teachings of Jesus in their instruction about the place of money in the life of the believer. There are the warnings like we read in 1 Cor 6:9-10 . “Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”
Paul writes to the Ephesians,” Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need. He encourages the Galatians by saying,” Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”
According to Scripture Christ saves us not only from slavery to sin and its consequences. He also saves us from slavery to the idol called money and possessions. Christ’s redemption causse a complete reversal in the way we view, obtain and use our possessions. Yes, Christ’s redemption helps us live a life of what can be called grace-filled stewardship.
This life of grace-filled stewardship helps us recognize that what we have is a gift, a trust from God. Grace-filled stewardship makes us aware that one day we will need to give and account of what God has give us be it much or be it little. A life of grace-filled stewardship makes us first of all to want to be rich towards God, to be rich in the fruit of the Holy Spirit in our hearts and lives.
A life of grace-filled stewardship makes us seek first the kingdom of God and its righteousness trusting that God will take care of the bread and butter issues of life. A life of grace-filled stewardship means being committed to a life of business and labour practices that reflect God’s will for our lives. A life of grace-filled stewardship is a life where the sin of greediness is lacking or at least is fought against.
A life of grace-filled stewardship makes us grateful for what God gives and for what he allows us to enjoy. At the same time a life of grace-filled stewardship makes us pray that prayer from Proverbs 30,”Two things I ask of you, O Lord; do not refuse me before die; keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise I have too much and disown you and say,”Who is the Lord?” Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.”
A life of grace-filled stewardship is a life in which we as parents and grandparents model our children and grandchildren what it means to serve the Lord Jesus with the wealth that God has given us. We model to our children how they should acquire and make us of the possessions that God wants them to have and use. We will encourage them to find business and other professions through which they can do whatever they can to work for their neighbour’s good.
And, if the Lord chooses to prosper our honest and just business and employment practices grace-filled stewardship makes us ask how can we use what God gives us for our neighbour’s good. And we do not have to look far to see that there are plenty of opportunities to bless others with the overflowing riches that God has given us. A life off grace-filled stewardship is conscious of Scriptures and catechism’s teaching that God’s will for me is that I do whatever I can for my neighbour’s good, that I treat others as I would like them to treat me, and that I work faithfully so that I may share with those in need. A life of grace-filled stewardship will not want to burden our children and grandchildren with almost unpayable debts due to present day sending that is out of control.
A life of grace-filled stewardship is a life in which our possessions do not own us, we are not enslaved to them. No on behalf of God we own our possessions and we use them to his honor and his glory and for the well being of our neighbor.
A life of grace-filled stewardship is therefore a generous life for the simple reason that we are loved and cared for by a generous God who loves it when he sees his generosity reflected in his own children. A life of grace-filled stewardship knows the joy of giving, the giving of self, the giving our your time, the giving of your heart, the giving of your possessions. Yes, a life of grace-filled stewardship even knows the joy of giving sacrificially.
Grace-filled stewardship recognizes that it is not only a matter of giving but also of creating opportunities to create wealth and to this in a just way.I still remember in the front of a Catholic church in a rural town in the Philippines a sign that said THOSE WHO HAVE LESS IN LIFE SHOULD HAVE MORE IN LAW. The poor do not always need money but justice. This week’s Economist reported that between 1990 and 2010 one billion people were lifted from a life of poverty through creating economic opportunities. Grace-filled stewardship therefore will make Christians vote for those policies that create just opportunities for creating wealth by making just business practices and employment opportunities possible.
A life of grace-filled stewardship, individually, as families, and as a Christian community makes for a contrast society that shows a world where greediness, and egotistic self centeredness often reigns supreme what it is like to life under the blessed rule of King Jesus and how this impacts what we have and how we use what we have.
Congregation, the call to a life of grace-filled stewardship in every area of life is an exciting calling. It starts with the God to love God above all with all our mind heart and strength. It results in loving our neighbor as ourselves and do whatever we can for their good. It is a call that challenges us to deal Christianly with the bread and butter issues of life. It is a call for which we will need the work of the fruit growing Holy Spirit in us God’s fruit bearing people.
In the final chapters of Revelations we have a picture of God’s final response to two ways of wealth creating and riches. In Rev. 18 we have a picture of God’s final judgment not only upon sin and rebellion but also upon a wealth creating system that left God and his will for wealth out of the picture. In Revelation 21 we also read of the wealth of the nations being brought into the new heavens and new earth. I believe this text shows that how we will respond or not respond to the calling of grace-filled stewardship will have eternal significance.
Congreation go forth therefore also this week realizing that the bread and butter issues of your life are under God’s control. May the words of this hymn therefore ring in your ears. This hymn is also a prayer to God to help us deal in a Christlike and Holy Spirit honoring way with the bread and butter issues of life. Let us close this message therefore with this prayer.
Fill now my life, O Lord my God, in eery part with praise;that my whole being may proclaim, Your being and Your ways. Not for the lips of rpaise alone, nor yet the praising heart, I ask, but for a life made up of praise in every part.
Prasie in the common things of life, its goings out and in; praise in each duty and each deed, exalted or unseen. Fill every part of me with praise, let all my being speak of You and Your love, O Lord poor though I am and weak.
Then Lord, from me You shall recive the praise and glory due, and so shall I begin on earth the song forever new, So shall no part of day ornight from sacredness be free; bu all my life, with You my God, in fellowship shall be.
Amen!