RULES FOR THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED
THOU SHALT NOT STEAL
Dr. JIM DIXON
EXODUS 20: 15
JUNE 30, 2002
Before this nation was born, when America was still a British Colony, King George III of England issued the Proclamation of 1763. That proclamation was designed to stop the growth of the thirteen American colonies, and it prohibited the acquisition of new land west of the Appalachian Mountains. The next year the British Crown, the British government, established the Revenue Act of 1764, sometimes called the Sugar Act. It mandated that the colonies pay taxes on imported molasses.
The next year, 1765, the British government established the Quartering and Stamp Acts. The Quartering Act required that the colonies provide room and board for British stationed in the colonies. The Stamp Act required that the colonies purchase tax stamps for virtually everything from legal documents to playing cards. The revenue from those tax stamps was used by the British government to build the British military.
In 1767, the British government established the Townsend Act. They required that the colonies pay duties or indirect taxes on imported goods. Of course, ultimately the Townsend Act led to the so¬ called Boston Massacre, March 5, 1770. Five protesting American colonists were killed by British troops in the city of Boston, and six additional American colonists were injured.
In 1773, the British Crown established the Tea Act and that led to the Boston Tea Party, December 16, 1773, when American colonists disguised as Indians poured British tea into Boston Harbor.
That so angered the British government that they established what were called the “Intolerable Acts of 1774.” In response, colonial America established the First Continental Congress and then in April of 1775, the Revolutionary War began with the Battle of Lexington and Concord. Historians debate the causes of the Revolutionary War. Certainly, those causes were many and those causes were complex, but there is no doubt that foundational to the Revolutionary War was the eighth commandment, “Thou shalt not steal,” because, you see, the Americans living in the colonies believed that the British government was stealing from colonial America. They viewed the Proclamation of 1763 as stealing their land. They reviewed the Revenue Act, the so-called Sugar Act—they viewed the Quartering and Stamp Acts, the Townsend Acts, the Tea Act, the Intolerable Acts, as stealing. They viewed them as theft. They viewed them as taking money from their own pockets, and it is a fact that the Colonial Americans referred to King George III as a thief. They viewed the British Crown as a symbol of theft.
Taxation without representation was not the entire problem. Theft was the perceived problem. Of course, we can leave it to historians to debate the legitimacy of that view and whether that view is fair and just. But today we begin a week of celebrating our nation’s birth, and today we also come to this eighth commandment, “Thou shalt not steal.” This morning I want us to take a look at this commandment in the context of stealing from men, stealing from God and then, in a deeper context, provided by Christ.
First of all, what does it mean to steal from men? What does it mean to steal from people? What does it mean to steal from human beings? “Thou shalt not steal.”
Not too long ago I read the story of a husband and wife who decided to take a vacation to New York. They were only going to be there a few days. They were really looking forward to it. They found a hotel in New York City. The next morning as they woke in their hotel room, the husband said, “I’d like to go out and take a little walk, get a little breakfast.” His wife said, “That’s great but I just want to sleep a little more.” He said, “Well, I’ll slip out and maybe find a bite to eat.” He got dressed and went out on the streets of New York. That morning he began to walk around, and he was amazed at how crowded the streets were, how many people there were that morning. As he walked, he bumped into people a little bit here and there. Suddenly, somebody bumped violently into him. It just shook him and he began to think, “Maybe this person was a pickpocket. He checked and sure enough his wallet was gone. He could see the thief running ahead of him. He decided to run after him.
This husband was big and he was fast. He was an athlete. He managed to catch the thief just before the thief entered the subway. He grabbed him and he slammed him up against the wall. He reached into the thief’s coat and retrieved his wallet. He wanted to call the police. He wanted to call the authorities, but he thought that that would take a lot of time, he really wanted to enjoy his vacation and time is finite. He just took the thief and kind of rammed him up against the wall a few more times and then just turned and walked away.
Well, he didn’t feel like eating breakfast anymore, so he went back to his hotel room. He said to his wife, “I didn’t eat breakfast and you’re not going to guess why. You’ll never guess why.” She said, “I know! You forgot your wallet! It’s over there on the table.” Sure enough, he found his wallet on the table. He checked in his coat and saw that he had stolen the other man’s wallet. All that time he had thought that he had stopped a thief, that the other man was a thief, and now he suddenly realized that he was the thief.
That’s kind of how we view things when it comes to theft. We think it’s other peoples’ problem. We don’t view ourselves as thieves. We don’t think of ourselves as people who steal, but theft is a great problem in the United States of America. According to the United States Department of Commerce, approximately 6 million Americans are arrested every single year for shoplifting. The government tells us that there are 35 cases of shoplifting for every one arrest—more than 200 million cases of shoplifting in the United States of America every year,
The United States Department of Commerce tells us that most of these cases are not perpetrated by lower income people. Most of these crimes, these thefts, are perpetrated by middle-income people, and many of them are perpetrated by upper income people who view the whole deal as a lark. But the Bible says, “Thou shalt not steal.”
The problem of shoplifting is a small problem in this nation when compared to the problem of internal theft. Thirty percent of the business failures every year in the United States of America are directly related to internal theft according to insurance statistics. Nine percent of the American work force steal regularly; steal regularly, from their place of employment, from their employer. Seventy-five percent of retail workers confess they have stolen occasionally from their place of business. More incredibly, seventy-four percent of those say they feel no guilt. They feel no remorse because life is tough. If you steal a little bit here, and you steal a little bit there, what’s it going to hurt? In the aggregate, American business loses $150 billion every year because of theft—17% percent of total business income before taxes. A nation of thieves.
Today we have all the negative stigma attached to corporate America, all the accusations that have been brought against Enron, the accusations that have been brought against WorldCom, the accusations that have been brought against Tyco International, Denergy, Adelphia, and Arthur Andersen. Just yesterday, the government leveled a $10 million fine on Xerox, unprecedented, and all having to do with greed, all having to do with the eighth commandment, “Thou shalt not steal.” Even Martha Stewart has been accused of insider trading. It’s the time in which we live.
Store managers and store owners who overcharge their customers, sales persons who pad their expense accounts, people who make personal phone calls on company time and on the company dollar in violation of company policy, people who do not report all of their income to the IRS or who cheat in any way on income tax returns, students who copy other students’ homework, steal other students’ answers, ministers, preachers, who just kind of “borrow” another minister’s sermon. It’s all theft, and it’s epidemic in America. God wants you to search your heart to see if there’s anything, no matter how subtle, to repent of. God wants you to take an inward look.
A long time ago I heard a joke, and perhaps you’ve heard it too. It’s a very old joke about a thief who broke into a house. He checked things out. He knew that the couple who lived in the house were on vacation, so he had planned this well. One night he broke into the house. It was dark, but he had his flashlight. He began to move around in the vacant house looking for things of value and opening drawers. Suddenly, he heard a voice. The voice said, “Jesus sees you.” He froze. He looked around and suddenly he saw a bird in a birdcage, a parrot. He breathed a sigh of relief that it was just a bird. The bird was saying, “Jesus sees you.”
He began to move around the house some more looking for valuables, looking for jewelry, something of worth. The whole time, the bird kept saying, “Jesus sees you. Jesus sees you.” He began to get irritated and aggravated. He went up to the birdcage, and he shook it. He said, “Shut up, you stupid bird!” Suddenly he heard a low growl. He looked and he saw this very large ferocious Doberman Pinscher, and he heard the bird speak. The bird said, “Sic ‘em, Jesus!” Of course, it’s a very old joke, but it’s true. It’s true that Jesus sees you. Jesus sees me. “Before Him, no creature is hidden. All are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” He sees you. To Him, we’ll all have to give an account. There are consequences when we violate The Decalogue; consequences when we violate this eighth commandment, “Thou shalt not steal.”
You know how in Luke, chapter 19, we read about a man named Zacchaeus? The name Zacchaeus in Hebrew means “pure” or “righteous.” Zacchaeus was not pure, and he was not righteous. He was a tax collector. In biblical times, most tax collectors were crooks, and they defrauded the people, acquiring great wealth. Jesus tells us, the Bible tells us, that Zacchaeus was not a normal tax collector. He was a chief tax collector. He was the head of all taxation in the region of the City of Jericho. Jericho was a wealthy resort city. King Herod himself had a winter retreat in Jericho. The main road from the east to the Holy City of Jerusalem passed right through Jericho. Tax collectors were becoming very, very rich. Certainly, the chief tax collector. Certainly Zacchaeus.
But he had a problem. He felt guilty. Somewhere deep inside there was remorse. Somewhere deep inside, he wanted to be forgiven. He longed for cleansing and meaning and purpose in life. He heard that Jesus was coming to Jericho. He heard that Jesus was the Messiah. He heard that Jesus was the Son of God. He heard that Jesus was a friend of tax collectors and sinners. He longed to get a glimpse of him, but he had two problems. The crowds were huge. As Jesus came into Jericho that day, the whole city came out. The crowds lined the street, seeking to get a glimpse of the Son of God.
Zacchaeus was short of stature, and he could not see over the people. The Bible tells us in Luke 19 that Zacchaeus climbed a tree to get a glimpse of the Son of God. Just to get a glimpse. An amazing thing happened. As Jesus journeyed along with His disciples and the crowds were crowding in, suddenly Jesus stopped. He looked up in the tree and he saw Zacchaeus. He called him by name, a divine moment of divine insight. He said, “Zacchaeus, I must stay at your house today.” The crowds were puzzled and angry. How could the Messiah associate with such a sinner? Zacchaeus welcomed Jesus into his home where they supped and they broke bread together. His life was changed, and he believed and he repented. This thief repented. He made a commitment to Christ. He said, “Half of my money, half of my wealth, I’ll give to the poor; and the other half I’ll use to pay back everyone I’ve defrauded, and I will pay them back four-fold.” There was joy on the face of Christ. Jesus said, “Truly, salvation has come to this house today.”
Most people view that passage as a soteriological passage having to do with salvation, and it does. But, you see, it also deals with the eighth commandment, “Thou shalt not steal.” Jesus paused on the Jericho Road to stop a thief and to transform him. If you’re involved in any theft today, Jesus wants to stop you. He wants to transform you. If you would repent, he wants to forgive you. Where possible, He wants to lead you to restitution, that you might make restitution to those you’ve defrauded, no matter how small. “Thou shalt not steal.” Don’t steal from people.
Secondly, this commandment means, “Don’t steal from God,” and this is even more serious. Do not steal from God. In Malachi, chapter 3, the word of God, God speaking to the people of Israel: “Will men rob God? But you are robbing Me. And yet you say, ‘How are we robbing You?’ With your tithes and with your offerings. You are cursed, the whole nation of you, for you are robbing Me. Therefore, bring the full tithe into My house and put Me to the test and see if I will not open up the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing.”
In Israel, in the Old Testament era, the tithe was mandatory on the people of God. It was 1/l0th of their income, 1/l0th of their money, 1/l0th of everything they made. “The tithe is the Lord’s.” They were to give 1/l0th of everything they made to the work of God on the earth. It was a minimal standard of giving because they were to give tithes and offerings. Of course, historians tell us the evidence is clear that the early church and, indeed, Christians through the centuries have viewed the tithe as also binding on them. Christians have viewed the tithe as a minimal standard of giving as the people of God in Christ seek to support the work of God on the earth. I believe with all my heart that the tithe is binding on the people of God today and should be a minimal standard of giving if we life, if we breathe to seek first the kingdom of God.
I’m sure there are a few pastors who like to speak about tithing and money and stewardship, but I am not one of them. I’m really not. I find the subject very, very hard. And yet I know I do you no favor if I fail to speak on the subject of money because blessing and cursing hangs in the balance. I do myself no favor if I fail to speak on the subject of money because if I fail to speak on the subject of money because I am called of God to proclaim faithfully the word of God in totality, and I’ll be held accountable. I bring judgement upon myself if I ignore this subject.
You see, Jesus gave 38 parables, and 16 of them deal explicitly with the subject of money. One out of every ten verses in the Gospels, one out of every ten verses in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John deals explicitly with the subject of money, wealth and possessions. There are 500 verses in the Bible, approximately, that deal with the subject of prayer. There are approximately 500 verses in the Bible that deal explicitly directly with the subject of faith. There are additional verses dealing indirectly with the subject of faith, but there are 2,000 verses in the Bible dealing explicitly and directly with the subject of money, wealth and possessions. You see, God knows if He doesn’t have your money, He doesn’t have your soul. If you are not giving tithes and offerings, He doesn’t have your heart. Will men rob God?
This is June 30 and June 30 is the very last day of our fiscal year. At Cherry Hills Community Church, this is the last day of our financial year. I have not seen the most recent numbers, but it looks like we’re going to finish this fiscal year $300,000 to $400,000 under budget, behind budget. That doesn’t mean we’re going to finish the year in the red. We’ll probably still be in the black because we’ve cut back ministry. We’ve put a freeze on new hires. For the most part, we’ve put a freeze on budgeted new hires, even a freeze on replacement hires. We’ve cut back on ministry just trying to make ends meet. If we finish this year in the black, it’s no cause for celebration because we will have cut back on ministry and that should never be.
But, you see, our church is like so many churches. We’re robbing God. About 25% of our members give nothing to the church. Almost 50% of our attendees give nothing to the church. What’s true of us is true of churches all over the United States of America, and most of those who do give, do not give a tithe. They do not give the full tithe. They’re still robbing God. Why does the church of Christ seem so impotent in our culture and in our time? Because God doesn’t have our souls. He doesn’t have our hearts. He doesn’t have our pocketbooks, and we are robbing God.
Thirdly and finally, there is a deeper teaching, and this comes from Christ. You know as you look at the Sermon on the Mount, and as you look at the Sermon on the Plain as recorded in Matthew and Luke, you see time and again how Jesus takes The Decalogue—He takes The Ten Commandments—and He gives them a deeper meaning. He quotes the sixth commandment, “Thou shalt not kill. Whoever kills shall be liable to judgement.” He says, “You’ve heard it said of old, ‘Thou shalt not kill. Whoever kills shall be liable to judgement,’ but I say to you, ‘whoever is angry with his brother or sister will be liable for judgement.’” a deeper meaning.
He takes the seventh commandment, “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” “You’ve heard it said of old, but I say to you, ‘Whoever looks upon a woman with lust has already committed adultery in his heart.’” A deeper meaning. A deeper teaching. “You have heard it said of old, ‘Thou shalt not swear falsely,’ relating to the third and the ninth commandments, ‘but I say to you, do not swear at all, either by heaven for it is God’s throne or by earth for it is His footstool or by Jerusalem for it is the city of the Messiah, the City of the King.’” A deeper teaching, a deeper meaning.
What meaning does He give to this eighth commandment? What deeper teaching? “Thou shalt not steal?” He does not quote it in the Sermon on the Mount or in the Sermon on the Plain, but He definitely refers to it, and all Bible scholars agree He brings a deeper teaching. His words are these: “I say to all who hear, love your enemy, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer him the other as well. From him who takes away your coat, from him who steals your coat, do not withhold even your cloak. Give to everyone who begs of you. If anyone takes away your goods, if anyone steals your goods, do not ask for them again. But as you would have people do to you, do so to them. For if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? For even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much again. But I say to you, do good, lend, expecting nothing in return and your reward shall be great and you will be called children of the Most High for He is kind, even to the ungrateful and the wicked, so be merciful as your Father in heaven is merciful.” An astounding teaching.
There’s not a single Bible scholar who denies that the message of this teaching is this: Do not withhold. “You’ve heard it said of old, do not steal.” I say to you, “Do not withhold.” An absolutely radical teaching. Of course, Jesus doesn’t mean that there won’t be times when the Holy Spirit leads you to withhold. He simply means in principal we are to be givers. In principal we are to go through life as givers and forgivers in our interpersonal relationships. They are to be characterized within the covenant community and beyond. Our relationships are to be characterized by giving and forgiving. Radical. It’s not enough. It’s not enough to go through life and avoid theft. That’s not a high standard of righteousness. That’s not setting the bar high. It’s not enough to go through life avoiding theft. You must go through life giving and forgiving, not withholding.
Understand that you own nothing. I own nothing. The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof. “All souls are Mine,” says the Lord God Almighty. The soul of the Father as well as the Son is mine. The soul of the mother as well as the soul of the daughter is Mine.” He is the owner of all things. We have no right to withhold. We have no right to hoard, but we have the privilege of giving away, not our stuff but His stuff. It all belongs to Him. You see, ministry only has power if we give and forgive. Your life will only change other lives if you give and forgive. The Gospel is empowered by compassion.
As we conclude this message, I want to talk about a scene from the movie “Les Misérables.” This is a scene where Jean Val Jean who is a thief has been befriended by a Christian priest and then steals from the priest. He’s apprehended by the authorities. He says, “Oh I didn’t steal this. It was given to me.” The authorities take him back to the priest to find out what really happened.
In that movie, and I know many of you saw it, Jean Val Jean’s life—Jean Val Jean played by Liam Neeson—his life was transformed and he became a new man. He was not transformed by justice, although justice is important. He was not transformed by prosecution and incarceration although sometimes that’s necessary and appropriate. He was not transformed by punishment although sometimes punishment is needed. He was transformed by compassion by a priest who was willing to give and forgive. That’s what transformed him, and that’s just what Jesus is saying to us this morning as we go forth from this place and out into the world. Do you want to be used of God? Do you want to be able to minister in power? It requires that you give and forgive and that you do it in your interpersonal relationships. Not stealing is an inadequate standard. Jesus says, “You must not withhold. You must give and you must forgive and you will be children of God and you will be great in the sight of God.”
So, we have this eighth commandment, “Thou shalt not steal.” Do not steal from men. If you have stolen, repent and seek restitution. Do not steal from God. If we’re stealing from God, we need to go home today and change our lives, repent and serve His kingdom and then take a deeper look at a deeper teaching, what it means to give and forgive. Let’s close with a word of prayer.