Word of Salvation – Vol. 19 No.38 – June 1973
Stop Stealing
Sermon by Rev. Keith McPhail on Exodus 20:15 & Eph.4:28
Scripture reading: Ephesians 4:14-32
Psalter Hymnal: 195; 240; 266; 436; 493
Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ
We live in a world of changing loyalties and affections, of changing manners. A world seemingly bereft of morals. Things do not stand still. In the early days of the colony of N.S.W., some convicts were sent to Australia for no worse a crime than that of stealing a loaf of bread. These poor unfortunates stole bread to feed hungry children. After appearing in court, they were sent to the other side of the world.
In today’s society, theft is regarded as a normal thing. It is to be expected. Often when petty theft is reported to the police, the complaints may very well be disregarded. Theft is common. Recently, when a car was reported stolen, the police are said to have remarked, “Well, that’s the last you’ll see of that!” When retail stores set prices, the profit margin includes an allowance for theft. The honest man is called upon to pay a higher price than he should, so that the value of stolen items is also covered.
Many housewives are lured into purchasing items they cannot afford. And scandalously high rates of interest are charged. That is theft. There is one chain of stores which offers terms freely to people, assures them that the repayments are easy, but does not tell that its interest rate is 12½%! These same shops will lend money for customers to repay other shops, or to cover electricity bills, pay car registrations, etc., without informing the borrower that the interest rate is 25%! I recently spoke to a woman who had worked in one of these stores. She resigned because she was required to give further credit to a woman who had borrowed $2,000 without the knowledge of her husband. Theft! Theft done legally! None the less, theft.
All varieties of theft, brethren, are contrary to the word of God.
If these examples we have looked at are not in direct opposition to the Word of God, then they encourage disobedience to God’s will and way, and are intolerable. However, does theft occur only among non Christians?
But what says our text?
“Let him who steals, steal no more.”
Let him who allows theft to form any part of his life, be done with theft! Any form of theft whatsoever! LET HIM STOP! He who is in the habit of thieving, must put an end to it.
To whom was the apostle speaking?
He was speaking to the church! What, the church of apostolic times? Yes! Paul is here writing to Christians. He is writing to the communicant members of the Church in Ephesus! Does that seem strange to you? In the Churches of those days there were slaves. These were men whom the Holy Spirit had laid hold of and drawn to the Saviour. In that day it was the accepted thing for slaves to commit petty theft in their master’s household, and provided it did not go too far, it was ignored. You may say, ‘that doesn’t happen today, does it’? How many of you people work in places where it is looked upon as the normal thing to thieve little bits of this and that? After all, doesn’t the proprietor make his money out of the workers’ efforts? He owes it to them. But, “He who thieves, must stop!”
The apostle, led by the Holy Spirit, continues his message – Let the thieves within the church, give up their habits, and let them work with their hands in honest labour.
Forget not beloved, Paul is addressing the born again Christians, who need to be awakened to their personal problems. Spiritual, personal problems called sin. Unless they were awakened to their sins, how could they deal with them? And unless we are awakened to our sins, how can we deal with them? They who are given to thieving must give it up. They must perform what is good. Writing to the Church in Thessalonica, Paul says, “If a man will not work, neither should he eat.” This is not a doctrine invented by Marxist communism. The Word of God is much older than that. But our text also suggests that they who cannot work are entitled to our help. Performing with one’s own hands what is good, in order to share with him who is in need.
The supreme example of this is seen in the life and person of Jesus Christ. When we could do nothing to work our own salvation, He did not cast us aside, but worked our salvation for us upon Calvary’s cruel cross. That work which was pleasing to God, we could not do. Jesus did it for us! A work, essential to our salvation. Work is a necessity. God has ordained it. It is therefore a physically and a spiritually good thing. We must work and labour for our needs, even if for no other reason than that God commanded it. He knows what is necessary for our wellbeing.
“Working good with his hands, even to give to him who has need,” says the Word. Let us therefore be industrious in godly callings, not invading the rights of others, especially the right of possession, by stealing what belongs to them.
Note that theft has an internal and an external cause.
The internal cause of theft is unbelief.
Firstly, even if it be claimed that necessity has forced one to commit theft, he has demonstrated a failure to trust in the providence of God.
Secondly, theft may come from covetousness. Some people are said to have itching hands: some, itching palms. That is, they long to get money in their hands. The itch for another’s goods may lead us to scratch it from them. Beware of itching desire. All sin arises from wrongful desire.
There is also an external cause of theft.
This cause is not our bodily senses by which we may see, touch, taste, smell and hear what is pleasing to us, BUT is of the devil himself! Satan. The devil makes the pleasures of the world appear most desirable. And desire brings forth passion. And passion entices us also to bow the knee to Baal. Where the heart was once possessed with the desire to be ever praising the Lord, when we would have run to His beck and call, now we limp after Jesus, with moaning and groaning. O the shame of it!
Exodus 20 teaches us that a man may steal from God.
We may steal His honour.
How may one do that? By the improper use of His name. By speaking of Him disrespectfully. Have you never heard the careless expression used in T.V. interviews, newspaper articles and real life, “Someone up there cares for me.” It may be uttered by a gambler after a win, or by someone after an apparent escape from injury or death. It may be said in the midst of greater blasphemy! It is stealing God’s honour!
Christians sometimes fall into another error, calling upon the name of the Lord, but not doing His will.
“Why do you call Me Lord, Lord, and not do the things I command you?” said Jesus. We may thieve part of the Lord’s Day. To take part of the Lord’s day for our own earthly or manly pleasures is to rob God. “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.” This applies to our enjoyment of the Lord’s Day, enjoying it in the worship of God. As such it is a foretaste of heaven to delight in the Lord’s Day and its benefits.
We may also rob God with our offerings.
He who does not give the Lord what He requires, robs God of His just due. Some do not hold with tithing, but since I cannot find a denial of it in Scripture, I truly accept it. Malachi 3:8 and 10 says, “Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me. But you say, How have we robbed Thee? In tithes and contributions. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you. Bring Me whole tithes into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open to you the windows of heaven and pour out to you a blessing until there is no more need.”
This is a beautiful picture of providential grace. Yes, beloved, they who have taken the Lord at His word have found Him faithful. But are we found faithful to Him?
Do you work for a boss?
Do you ever go to work too tired to do an efficient day’s work? You are robbing your boss. That is theft. Do you ever stay up so late on a Saturday night that you cannot enjoy worship on the Lord’s Day? That is theft! It is robbing God! How late a night did you have last night??????
Do you speak evil of the brethren so as to rob them of their good name? You thief!
But a man may also rob himself. By wasted opportunities.
The wasted opportunity of a good home. Many a young man or young woman grows up thinking that he is one of the most unfortunate persons in the world, because he is stuck with the parents he has. An American author of yesteryear, Mark Twain, commented that when he was twenty, he was astounded at his father’s appalling ignorance. When he was twenty two he wondered how his father could have learned so much in two years. Mark Twain was growing up.
Young people, the real question is: Why did the Lord put you into the family into which you were born?
He knows what is best, Look for the best in your home and parents, and you’ll never regret it. When parents and children fail to understand each other, it does not mean that the children have a bad home. But it does mean that it could be better if each was prepared to understand the other more fully. Don’t waste the opportunities of a good home. Don’t be the last to want to put matters right. You may be found to be robbing yourself as well as other members of your family.
DON’T WASTE THE OPPORTUNITIES OF A CHRISTIAN UP-BRINGING. I don’t know of a greater wealth which any one may have.
Don’t waste your inheritance. That is to rob yourself as did Esau. To care nothing for your inheritance in Christ. Your inheritance is not in money. That can be lost. Your inheritance is in the promise which God has given you in your birth and life, in that family where you belong. Don’t rob yourself. With all your getting in this life, get a heart knowledge of Jesus as your Saviour. Let that be the foremost passion of your life. Use the God-appointed means of grace, especially His Word.
You want to be wise don’t you? Every sane man does. One does not have to be clever to be wise. David was able to say that he had more wisdom than his teachers for God’s word was ever with him.
O beloved congregation, nothing would thrill my heart more than to be assured that each of you loved the Lord and His word. That you even now took the Word of God to your very heart, and treasured it. O take advantage of every gift of God which He puts before you. Lean upon the Lord.
Beware lest we be found to be robbing God and man.
Does the talk of theft make you ill at ease brother? or you sister? Has theft crept into your life – unawares? You who promised to serve Him forever – Have you been robbing Him?
When He gave Himself for you upon that cross, He knew all your sins.
You cannot keep yourself from Him and His mercy now – run to Jesus in faith and prayer. Tell Him all your troubles.
You, who have never confessed your faith in Him!
I don’t have to tell you of your guilt. The Lord in His love has shown it to you. He pleads with your heart to come to Him. Dare you say no? No to Jesus?
Why your heart is filled with fear at the very thought of such a thing. “Though your sins be as scarlet they shall be white as snow.”
Come, and by faith plead with Jesus to cleanse your heart and mind; and trust Him for all.
Everyone of us will one day stand before the living God. Can you stand before Him just as you are? Can you stand before Him unrepentant, if you have robbed Him? When did He rob any man? Ah no, He robbed no one. Though we robbed Him, He gave His only Son to carry away the burden and penalty of your sin – sin confessed.
Jesus died for the sin of the world – every kind of sin this world knows. Every kind of sin you have ever known. Will you not take your burden to Jesus?
How can you refuse the one who loves you so?
Pour out your heart to the Saviour this day/night and be filled with peace. God’s peace which passes understanding, and which issues in joy beyond measure.
And to the great Triune God, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, be the praise and glory and dominion forever.
Amen.