Honor
Other’s Property – Exodus 20:15,17
1. Leo Tolstoy was
a brilliant author who was wonderfully skilled at capturing human nature.
2. He wrote a
short story titled, “
3. In the story, a
peasant named Pahom became the owner of some property, and the ownership
inflamed him with a lust for more.
4. A traveling
merchant told him of a far-off land where vast tracts of land could be had for
a pittance.
5. So Pahom
traveled there to discover virgin, fertile soil, covered in grasses chest high.
6. Pahom asked the
chief of the people who lived there if he could buy land and how much it would
be.
a. the
chief told him he could have it for 1000 rubles.
b. Pahom
asked how much land a thousand rubles would buy, and the chief said, “A day’s
worth.”
c. Pahom
didn’t understand, being used to land being measured by acres.
d. the
chief explained, “A thousand rubles will buy as much land as you can encircle
in a day’s travel by foot.”
e. Pahom
was amazed; such an incredible deal. He
knew that he could travel far in a day and agreed to measure out the tract of
land he would buy the next day.
7. Pahom went to
sleep that night excited about what the next day would surely bring.
a. as
he slept, he dreamed, and in his dream he saw himself asleep in his tent, with
someone laughing outside it.
b. going
forth he found the chief sitting in front of his tent, holding his sides and
rolling about in laughter.
c. as
he came closer in his dream to the old man, he saw that it wasn't really the
chieftain, it was the traveling merchant who’d told him of the land.
d. then
it was the devil himself with horns and cloven hooves, chuckling away.
e. lying
on the ground before the laughing demon was a barefoot man wearing only ragged
pants and thread-bare shirt.
f. as
Pahom in his dream looked closer at the man, he saw that he was dead – and the
man was himself!
8. Pahom woke at
dawn in a sweat, and chalked up his dream to his excitement.
9. He quickly made
his way to the little hill where the chief and a few of his people awaited the
beginning of the measure of the land Pahom would buy.
10. Pahom dropped
his thousand rubles into the chief’s hat, and then began his circuit of the
land he wanted.
a. the
further he walked, the richer the land seemed to become.
b. as
the mid-morning came, an inner voice told him he ought to begin to turn, but a
further field with a small hill and a stream at it’s base beckoned him so he
held his course straight on.
c. at
mid-day he realized he must make his 1st turn and start back.
d. then
at mid-afternoon he made the 2nd turn and realized that if was going
to make it back to the starting
e. so
he began to run, but the ground became uneven and he ended up tripping and
falling several times, wrenching his ankle and twisting his knees and hip.
f. it
was late afternoon when he made the 3rd turn and began a sprint for
the hill where the chief and his people waited.
g. far
off in the distance he could see the hill and measured the distance against the
falling sun.
h. a
fear swept over him – would he make it in time?
He was winded and bruised, but the prospect of the lands he’d
encompassed that day drove him on.
i. two
more falls slowed him to the
j. he
pushed himself past the fatigue, hearing the faint cheers of the people as they
urged him on to complete the circuit; “Faster!” they yelled. “You’re almost
there. Keep going. Don’t give up. Faster
now, don’t let the sun beat you.”
k. Pahom
arrived at the hill just as the sun sank below the horizon, but he’d pushed
himself too hard, and fell down before the chief.
l. gasping
for breath, he felt a searing pain in his chest. Then all went black and he died.
11. Tolstoy ends the
story with these words, “Pahom’s servant picked up the shovel and dug a grave
long enough for Pahom to lie in, and buried him in it. Six feet from his head to his heels was all
he needed.”
1. There are
millions, even billions of Pahoms
today.
2. And they’re
running their races in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, London, Paris, Munich,
Moscow, Beijing, and Bombay. And the
race is killing them.
3. It’s a race for
more!
It’s a race driven by the voice of greed, the cries of the world which
egg us on and call us to define our lives by what we
4. Two of the Ten
Commandments are
5. We find them in
Exodus 20:15 & 17.
15 “You shall not
steal.
17 “You shall not
covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his
male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything
that is your neighbor’s.”
1. The 8th
Commandment is even more brief in Hebrew – “No stealing”
2. The 10th
says “No desiring another’s house, or
s
a. the
word translated as “covet” in our English Bible simply means desire
b. that
word is neutral – it’s flavor determined by what’s
desired.
c. and
in this case, it’s a prohibited
desire because what’s wanted belongs to someone else!
3. The 10th
Commandment is different from the previous 9 in that while they all deal with
actions, the 10th speaks directly to the heart.
4. The 8th
Commandment prohibits taking what
belongs to another; the 10th prohibits even wanting it.
5. And the reason
God spells this out in such clarity is because of the far-reaching effects of
the Fall.
1. You see, the
great tragedy that occurred to the human race when Adam & Eve sinned was
the profound re-orientation of their being and identity.
2. They went from
being primarily spiritually to physically oriented.
3. This is proven
by the fact that the very first thing that happened when they fell was that
their eyes were opened and they became aware of their naked what –BODIES!
a. it’s
not that they had their eyes shut
prior to that,
b. but
that they’d related to God, themselves and one another from a spiritual orientation in which the body
was merely a vehicle in which they lived on earth.
c. with
the Fall, the im
d. they
began immediately to cater to the demands of that body – and moved to cloth it.
4. Indeed – it was
the whole desire for more than they
originally
a. the
devil’s original appeal to her was to stir up discontent.
b. he
suggested that God was with-holding something from her that would enrich her and provide even greater satisfaction.
5. How crucial we
realize that this same tactic, this same bent
has been permanently etched into fallen human nature.
6. And
it’s why God gives both the 8th & 10th Commandments.
7. Notice how
early in life we learn to steal.
a. though
it’s a clear violation of conscience, children will take what doesn’t belong to
them.
b. even
parents who have raised their children with a strong sense of virtue and
morality can tell stories of how their young child snitched something that
wasn’t his/hers.
c. when
one of my sons was 4, we went in to a convenience store to pick up some quick
groceries.
1) as we walked by the candy aisle on our
way to the counter, he stopped to look.
2) I didn’t think anything of it and paid
for the items, then called him to follow me out to the car.
3) when we were driving out of the parking
lot I noticed he was acting rather strangely and asked him what was wrong.
4) he didn’t say anything, but when we got
home I saw him furtively sticking his hand in his
5) it hit me – he snitched some
candy. You know how I knew? Because I’d done the very same thing when I
was about his age!
6) sure enough, there in his
8. Sign up to work
in the Nursery or with the toddlers – it’s a graduate level education in human
psychology & Child development.
a. if
you do, you’ll see the bent toward
and penchant for theft and
covetousness writ large!
b. kids
will steal from each other, when they aren’t
looking and when they are.
c. they’ll
steal with stealth and outright. It’s a
part of human nature.
9. During the LA
riots, I remember watching the news and seeing a camera crew that had set up
outside a Fedco that had been over-run by the mob.
a. hundreds
of people were coming out of the store with arms and shopping carts full of
goods.
b. clothes,
jewelry, even home appliances were being carted off by the thieves.
c. the
re
d. the
answer of most of them was – “Why not – everyone else is doing it!” then they
would just
10. Many of us in
this room have been the victims of
theft – probably most of us have, in one way or another.
a. I’ll
never forget the time when I lived in Anaheim that I came home from work to
discover my apartment had been burglarized.
It’s hard to express the sense of violation I felt.
b. for
many of us here today, our vehicles have been broken into.
c. where
we work has been burglarized.
d. this
building has been broken into and things stolen.
e. cars
have been broken into right here in our own parking lot while we’re holding
services – so we have security patrols & surveillance cameras.
f. people
even steal from the bookstore and take items from the kitchen, the children’s
resource room, and the sound equipment!
11. Stealing from
church! What are they THINKING?
a. really,
we don’t have to go far to answer that.
b. all
we have to do is look in, and we’ll see the bentness
toward theft.
1. We may be repulsed by the idea of stealing from a church, but excuse theft when it’s more subtle.
a. “Not
me,” you say. “I’d never steal. It’s a
sin!”
b. okay
– how about this –
1) Do you re
2) When you come back into the US from
abroad, do you declare all the items Customs demands?
3) When you use credit and incur debt, do
you do so with a sincere desire to repay, or to avoid payment?
4) When you borrow something that belongs
to another, do you return it in a timely and complete manner;
a) the eggs or sugar you borrowed from that neighbor – did you
pay it back?
b) that book you borrowed from your friend
or the library, did you return it in the same condition?
c) that tool you borrowed, did you get it
back to the owner in good repair and ready to use?
d) those videos from the video store – did
they get back, or do you have to avoid going to that store because they have
your picture at the counter with a bill of a couple hundred dollars you owe?
5) Are you ripping off welfare when you
could be working?
6) Is there pirated or illegal software on
your computer?
7) Do you steal time from your employer by
calling in sick when you’re not or returning late from breaks?
8) Do you steal productivity from your
employer by sloppy and lazy work?
9) Do you pilfer supplies from work: how
about computer time on personal projects?
10) If you’re a manager, do you steal from
your employees by failing to pay them a proper wage for the work they do?
11) Do you plagiarize?
12) Do you cheat?
13) Do you steal from another’s reputation
through gossip & innuendo?
14) Do you steal from God by with-holding
from Him the tithe, as it says in Malachi 3:8
c. theft
takes many forms: This list shows just how prone to thievery human nature is.
2. This list of “little
thefts” many people justify.
a. oh
– in principle, and as an abstract we decry
stealing!
b. we
readily admit people ought not steal
– and mean that others shouldn’t.
c. YOU shouldn’t steal – and
specially, from me or mine.
d. but
when it comes to me, well, it’s usually pretty easy for me to rationalize my little crimes.
1) it seems so small and inconsequential,
specially when my theft isn’t from some person
but from an institution.
2) besides, everyone does it! It’s expected, normal, permissible even!
e. (???)
because everyone does it – does that make it right?
f. Is
it true that everyone steals? I can
think of at least One who doesn’t – His name is Jesus, and He is my Master and
Lord who has the right and authority to tell me what to do. And He says – “No stealing!”
14. When I
rationalize my sin of theft, I am shooting my character in the foot.
a. every
sin, no matter how petty or insignificant it may appear in the eyes of the
world, degrades my character and moral health.
b. it’s
the little compromises piling up that
develop within me the ethical inertia toward greater & greater compromise.
c. they
increase velocity and force with each additional theft, each new trampling of
our conscience.
d. the
CEO who embezzles $14 million of people’s retirement money doesn’t wake up one
morning after a lifetime of sterling ethical and virtuous morality and abscond
with the funds.
e. he
does so after a lifetime of smaller thefts and more meager compromises of his
integrity.
3. So let me ask
you – what’s your ethical direction today; what’s your moral inertia? Is it toward God or the World, holiness or
sin, heaven or hell?
4. Are you a
thief? Are you a coveter?
5. In preparing
this message I was convicted by the rather loose attitude I had adopted toward
the programs on my computer.
a. I
had to delete 2 of them because they didn’t belong to me.
b. I
went through my collection of music to see if there was anything improperly
duplicated.
c. I
ransacked my memory to see if there was anything borrowed I’ve neglected to
return.
1. The 8th
Commandment is straightforward – “Don’t steal!”
2. It bans any and
all forms of taking from another by stealth or force, whether that force be
physical violence or social pressure.
3. It even
precludes theft by civil government.
4. In order for
theft to be
5. This means
collective socialism and Marxism find no basis whatsoever in scripture because
they deny the right of individuals to own private property.
6. In such
systems, the state owns and controls everything.
7. But we mustn’t
over-react and conclude that pure
capitalism is the God-approved model for economics.
a. capitalism
which is uniformed and unregulated by Biblical ethics and Christian virtue ends
up becoming nothing more than crass
materialism.
b. such
a humanistic system becomes a convenient excuse for violating the 10th commandment’s
prohibition of coveting, and it does so by sanctifying
greed!
8. A Biblically-informed economic philosophy
is neither communist, socialist, nor capitalist. It’s Stewardist!
9. Stewardship
ought to be the Christian’s economic system!
10. Biblical
Stewardship recognizes that everything belongs, not to the State, nor to
individuals, but to GOD!
a. and
God, in His infinite wisdom has assigned to each person precisely what is
appropriate at that
b. along
with that present allotment and
c. so
that each of us might learn the
d. In
1 Cor. 4:2 Paul says –
It is required in stewards that one be found faithful.
11.The lesson is this – as we’re content and faithful where
we are right now, using what God has given us in a virtuous and ethical way,
investing it as He directs, then we’ll see a return which increases our capacity.
a. think
of how many parables Jesus told to illustrate this very thing.
1) there’s the parable of the talents.
2) and the parable of the soils to name
just 2.
b. stewardship
means to be content where we are, trusting God to give what’s needed, not what
is “greeded” and that as we live faithfully today, tomorrow’s capacity will
increase.
12. Theft & covetousness
are a denial of stewardship.
13. And really, they
are accusations against God!
a. they’re
tacit denials of His wisdom and
faithfulness.
b. they’re
discontent, saying that we want more
or other than what God in His wisdom has given us.
c. and, they’re a disabling of another’s
ability to be faithful as a steward of their property, because we took what God
gave them!
14. Covetousness is
the motive behind most theft.
a. it’s
the desire for more, not just a
specific thing.
b. at
first, when we’re young, we think that if we just had this or that, then we’d be happy; satisfaction would
finally be ours.
c. “Ah,
the sweet life – when I get _____________.”
d. we
get it, and for a time, we’re satisfied, it seems. But the satisfaction never
lasts.
e. so
we set our sights on some new thing and the cycle starts all over again.
f. as
we get older, the cycle time shortens until we arrive at the place where it
isn’t this or that which lures us, but more
of this or that.
g. and
then, it’s simply More!
h. when
John D. Rockefeller was the richest man in the world, someone asked him how
much money was enough. He replied, “Just a little bit more.”
15. The essence of covetousness, which is
spelled out in the 10th Commandment, is discontent with my life.
a. I
want my neighbor’s house.
b. I
want his wife. I want her family.
c. I
want his business. I want her stuff.
d. really
– I want his life - her lifestyle.
e. covetousness,
says, “I hate my life!”
1) “God, you dealt me a bad hand and I
want to throw in my cards.”
2) “I want to be like _____________!”
16. Discontent is blasphemy!
1. Your situation
may not be comfortable, in fact, it may be downright painful.
a. but
it’s im
b. are
you where you are because of
c. it
may be that you’re the victim of criminal action or simply adverse
circumstances that have combined to make life difficult for you.
2. Whatever your
circumstance or condition today, whether comfort or need, the call u
3. Seek
contentment by trusting in the goodness & faithfulness of God.
4. Then be
faithful right now with whatever you do
have.
5. Stop looking at or for what you lack – Give thanks
for what you have!