Hello, you are listening to Second City Sermons,
a ministry of Second City Church in Midtown Harrisburg.
It's our hope that these sermons will draw you
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Instagram and YouTube. We hope you enjoy this
sermon. God Bless. I'm going to read another
part of Servant on the Mount, because that's
what I thought we were going to read. This is
chapter 6, verse 19. where neither moth nor rust
destroys, and where thieves do not break in and
steal. For where your treasure is, there your
heart will be also." We pray. Lord God, we pray
that as we turn to this next commandment, Lord,
that we would find your law to be lovely than
to be desirous, that we would want, we would
seek to walk in your ways. that we would see
the beauty of Jesus who walks in them perfectly
and desire to be his disciples, those that follow
him. Gotta pray. Lord, we know, I think of the
reading that Gordon read for us before the confession,
we know that there's so many, it is such a temptation
to be religious and empty. And we see that in
the gospels, whitewashed tombs, just going about
the ways. Trying to look good. God, I pray that
that would not be the effect of looking at your
law, not huffing ourselves up, not trying to
look good, but seeking to really love you with
our whole heart and mind and soul and strength,
all of our being laid in worship to you. And
so Lord, do with this time what you will and
conform us to the image of our Lord, the image
of beauty and goodness and truth in whose name
we pray. Amen. All right, some of you I I'm sure
know this because one of the most famous Covers
of the Saturday Evening Post those famous ones
that were painted by Norman Rockwell is the painting
from 1936 called tipping the scales Some of you
might know that know what I'm talking about as
soon as I mention it, but it's it's a great Painting
there's there's two people in it and in between
the two there's a scale and one of them is this
older woman She's in this lovely flower dress,
and she has this cute black hat with all these
flowers around it, too. She just looks really
quaint. Silvery hair that's nicely done up underneath
her hat. And she's come to the butcher, maybe
for a Sunday chicken, or maybe it's big enough.
I kind of doubt it, but it's like a Thanksgiving
turkey. She's come to the butcher, and so on
the other side of the scale is the butcher, and
he's got this big bushy butchery. white mustache
and these beautiful spectacles, glasses, small
that fit his head just perfectly. And here's
what's happening. They're both smiling, they're
both grinning in this because in some ways they
think they have kind of won one over on the other.
What's happening is that under the paper, the
butcher paper that's holding the bird, You can
see hidden by that paper from the view of the
woman, the butcher pushing his finger down on
the scale. And on the other side, this woman
with this just lovely grin, you can see that
she's so warm and she's also thinking she's won
the day. Hidden by the scale itself from the
view of the butcher, she's pushing up on the
scale. They've figured out. how to win the upper
hand. They're both pleased with themselves and
totally unaware of the other. And of course,
like most of Rockwell's paintings, it's just
this depiction of American life. Normal, wholesome,
American everyday life. They look like charming
people. But man, they are both breaking the Ten
Commandment, or the Eighth Commandment. And you
know what? They look like people, she certainly
looks like somebody that would protest strongly
being called a thief. You know? Thank you very
much. I'm a good, upstanding, hard -working American
citizen. Not some Bonnie and Clyde. Not some
Butch Nelson, Babyface Cassidy. You know not
robbing banks doing some bank heists and jumping
on the train Cutting town I imagine this butcher
would be like Pretty pretty indignant if somebody
said hey don't go to that butcher pushing down
the scales not trustworthy But I also imagine
that he would he might call the police maybe
not the first time if the check bounce We would
the second time be like this person's trying
to rob me Yeah I imagine this older woman is
cooking up this roast chicken or roast turkey
for her grandchildren whom she dotes upon And
who she dreams will be the leaders of the future
And neither of them seem to be faced by the idea
of sort of padding their pocketbooks at the expense
of another, right? So the last couple of weeks
we've looked at the Sermon on the Mount a little
bit in relation to a couple of Ten Commandments,
because Jesus does, and we saw in chapter five
that Jesus makes it really clear that we cannot
let ourselves off the hook for murder and adultery.
anger and lust are thrown in there and they are
rightly done so because they are also so easily
connected with harming the other and faithlessness.
And I think it's possible for us to get to the
eighth commandment, because Jesus makes it so
explicit that the sixth and seventh are related
to us, that we get to the eighth commandment
and we can all collectively go... Let's just
breathe a sigh of relief here. Finally, we can
exhale. Y 'all, there was a survey done by the
Barna Group several years back. 86 % of adults,
this is in the US, said that they completely
satisfy the commandment. do not steal 86 percent
that's a pretty good number i imagine you'd put
yourself in that number statistically you would
if it 86 percent's a pretty high number you know
maybe some of you are like i might so it's 50
percent of you right um like the second command
commandment that prohibits the making of idols
And our inclination when we hear that to think
like that applies to the Hindu family that has
a little you know, like incense that they burn
and stuff like that We tend to think of this
command do not steal as Kind of applying to the
guy that walks down down Green Street late at
night one in the morning, you know Pulling on
door handles just going is this one unlocked?
Maybe if we're thinking a little bit more with
a little more greater complexity, we're like
Bernie Madoff Wall Street Ponzi scheme, you know,
we certainly don't tend to think of ourselves
But just like Jesus spoke of anger and lust murder
and adultery there in chapter 5 What did we hear
in chapter 6 that we're not supposed to lay up
treasures in heaven or? Ross rest moth and rust
destroy and where thieves break in and steal
right the shun this kind of idea Just to find
that our treasures are in heaven It's not just
because there are thieves here on earth But that
our own thieving is always a reflection of where
our treasures are, right? Our own grabbing on
to things have to do with what our faith is in
our trust is in okay So this morning, I want
us to consider just a question like what is stealing
and why does it matter? Pretty easy. What is
stealing? This is the last. So there's three
commands that are really short, right? Don't
murder, don't commit adultery, and this is the
last one. Don't steal. The other ones have a
few more words to them. But quite literally,
these three commands in the Hebrew are just two
words, right? Two words. We've talked about this
last couple of weeks. And these two words are
lo, the same words as the last couple of weeks,
but logonaf, which is really, don't take stuff
that doesn't belong to you. Don't steal. Don't
take something from somebody else without their
permission that is not properly yours to have.
Don't take something that doesn't belong to you.
And doesn't it, again, just strike you as so
simple? I think it kind of does. And so one of
the things that I've been doing in this series,
in the Ten Commandments, is I've been looking
at the great catechisms of the Protestant Reformation.
Because if you read Luther's catechism, or if
you read the other catechisms, pretty much all
of them explain with some great detail the Ten
Commandments. So I'm going to read to you a couple
of those. One of the great catechisms that came
out of the Protestant Reformation was the Heidelberg
Catechism, written in Heidelberg, Germany in
1563. So that was part of the German Reformed
tradition, which second church, when it was started
in 1864, was the second German Reformed church
in Harrisburg. The very first Church in Harrisburg
was actually Salem German Reformed Church, and
it was built by John Harris, who laid out Harrisburg.
We're the second German Reformed Church. And
so let me read for you question 110 from the
Heidelberg Catechism. What does God forbid in
the Eighth Commandment? God forbids not only
outright theft and robbery punishable by law,
but in God's sight, theft also includes all scheming
and swindling in order to get our neighbor's
goods for ourselves. whether by force or means
that appear legitimate. Such as inaccurate measurements,
doing this and this, right? Of weight, size,
or volume, fraudulent merchandising, counterfeit
money, excessive interest. All of the reformers
talk about excessive interest in some of their
writings actually, but I mean all the great reformers.
They would have hated payday loan places because
it hurts the poor so much. Or any other means
forbidden by God. In addition, God forbids all
greed and pointless squandering of his gifts.
Fairly extensive, right? Kind of getting us to
think more broadly about what does it mean to
steal? Well, so that's one of the great catechisms
of the Protestant Reformation, the German Reformed
Church specifically, the Heidelberg catechism.
1563. If you go forward a little bit, what you
find is actually the great confessional documents
of the Presbyterian tradition, and we're part
of that as a church in the Presbyterian church
in America. And those great documents were written
in 1643 to 47 at the Westminster assembly, and
so they're called the Westminster Confession
of Faith and Larger and Shorter Catechisms. The
Larger Catechism is the best part, they're all
great, but the Larger Catechism is where you
get the Ten Commandments sort of expounded. And
I wanna read to you some of that, okay? So here's
question 141. What are the duties required in
the Eighth Commandment? The duties required in
the Eighth Commandment are truth, faithfulness,
and justice in contracts and commerce between
man and man. So honorably business dealings,
right? Good contracts that honor the other person.
rendering to everyone his due restitution of
goods unlawfully detained from the right owners
thereof restitution think about how actually
Zacchaeus says I'm going to pay back fourfold
and Jesus says salvation has come to your house
today for all that I took unjustly um giving
and lending freely according to our abilities
and the necessities of others so lending towards
the necessities of others Moderation of our judgments,
wills, and affections concerning worldly goods,
a provenance, care, and study to get, keep, use,
and dispose of those things which are necessary
and convenient for the sustenance of our nature."
That's maybe a long -completed statement, but
one of the things that maybe that applies to
is, hey, Flora says, I think I can be a nurse,
and that would be a good way to sustain myself
and love others. That's maybe a proper application
of this is what it's saying. One of the things
that you can do is actually seek, how do I work
in the world well? A lawful calling and diligence
in it, or your work. Frugality, avoiding unnecessary
lawsuit suits and surety ship, or other like
engagements. And an endeavor by all just and
lawful means to procure, preserve, and further
the wealth and outward estate of others, as well
as our own. It's wildly expansive. I'm not done.
Question 142. What are the sins forbidden in
the Eighth Commandment? The sins forbidden in
the Eighth Commandment, besides the neglect of
the duties, so it's like all that other stuff
that I just said, that stuff, are theft, robbery,
man stealing. By the way, I actually read this
week, there was a statement about different ways
that man stealing happens. This was written,
also in Germany in the 17th century. And one
of the ways that was listed was stealing children
for the growth of a monastery. Man stealing and
receiving anything that is stolen, receiving
things that are stolen. Fraudulent dealing, false
weights and measures. There's that one again.
Removing landmarks. meaning unjust disputes over
the border between your land and your neighbors.
This is upholding the surveyor's job as a just
and good job. Injustice and unfaithfulness in
contracts between man and man are in matters
of trust, oppression, extortion, usury, bribery,
vexatious lawsuits, unjust enclosures, depopulations,
unjust enclosures and depopulations, unjust annexations
maybe of one area towards something else for
the maybe the sake of, you know, gain. And grossing
commodities to enhance the price. And grossing
commodities to enhance the price. Supply and
demand. Maybe we can limit the supply of this
so that we can increase our pocketbooks. Unlawful
callings and all their unjust or sinful ways
of taking or withholding from our neighbor what
belongs to him, or of enriching ourselves, covetousness,
inordinate prizing and affecting worldly goods,
distrustful and distracting cares and studies
in getting, keeping, and using them, and being
at the prosperity of others, as likewise idleness,
prodigality, wasteful, I actually had to look
at that, prodigality, wasteful over -adulgence.
excessive extravagance, wasteful gaming, so a
type of gambling, and all other ways whereby
we do unduly prejudice our own outward estate
and defraud ourselves of the due use and comfort
of that estate which God has given us. That's
a lot, isn't it? I mean, in so many ways, you
can see how it doesn't apply just to the 17th
century in England. with the 21st century here
in the United States. And of course, I could
go on, and the Bible could go on, and so we will.
No, but not with the same kind of way. Okay,
I mean, thinking about this, in some of the ways,
what's the way that people steal so much in our
day? I mean, think of time. How often time is
stolen? An employee has a contract to work a
certain amount of hours in a given time frame,
and that lunch break extends another 15 minutes
here and there, and the coffee break extends
here around the copy machine, and just this taking
of what has been agreed upon. Filling out false
time cards in the rare places that those still
exist. I remember, so I had a great job in college.
I loved it. I worked for Seattle City Parks Department.
My first summer at the beginning of the day,
I would walk along Alki Beach and pick up trash,
and I loved it. And then the next couple of summers,
I walked along the beach at Lincoln Park in West
Seattle. It's just a great way to begin the day,
trim trees throughout the day. I love that job.
Well, I mean, there were a couple of people that
I worked with who I got along with very well,
and I'm not going to name, even though I don't
think they're ever going to watch this sermon.
But I remember very clearly how they would just
joke about how they would lie about sick days
because, man, it was a nice day out and their
buddies were going for a motorcycle ride and
they wanted to go too. They'd steal time. Stealing
time. This is wild to me, but I looked it up.
Time theft costs U .S. employers between 450
billion dollars and 550 billion dollars annually.
Time theft. That's how much it costs employers.
For an individual business, it accounts for one
to eight percent of payroll. So up to eight percent
of payroll is just lost because of time theft.
Of course, it's not just the employee. Employees,
employers can do that too, right? Demand that
which is beyond actually what was agreed upon.
It's a way of theft, right? That the employers
are doing to the employees and they can take
advantage of it because, hey, no one paying.
You need to show up all this other time even
if we didn't agree to that. Get this, this is
pretty wild. I read about this hotel that reported
that in the first year of business, it had to
replace 38 ,000 spoons. Why is everybody taking
the spoons? And 350 coffee pots, and 100 Bibles,
which I was like, oh, praise the Lord, somebody
took the Bibles. That's great, take the Bibles,
y 'all, if you need to take a Bible today, you
can have one of our Bibles, okay. But it's just
so pervasive. Stealing someone's reputation.
is an application of this commandment. That's
something that's talked about in the Bible, and
it's something that happens. It's a good deal.
Destroying somebody's character, right? Gosping
about somebody, trying to talk about them bad
so that you can maybe get the promotion for somebody
else, you know, and cut down somebody else. Taking
credit for somebody else's work so you can look
good, right? It's just applied so much. Even
if the villain Lago, right? Jed and Shakespeare's
Othello said it, it's true and Shakespeare wrote
it, he who steals my purse steals trash but he
finches my good name makes me poor indeed. Somebody's
good name is an important part and we can actually
steal that from them. That is wrong and that
is breaking the eighth commandment. And of course,
this is what we do towards God. We steal his
honor. his glory. We do not give him the worship
that he is due. We steal what is rightly his.
We believe that our goods and our wealth and
our honor and our jobs and our children are all
ours. Our time, Lord, is ours. We work hard for
it. It's not just the kind providence of God
that you have it and somebody else doesn't. Should
all good gifts come from our Heavenly Father
above? They're all His. He bestows them on who
He will. We steal from Him when we do not acknowledge
Him as the giver of all good things. So it's
true, like I said last week, that so often what
the commandments are doing is they're giving
you the most bold kind of part of the command,
but there are so many things that follow from
it. Murder is not just manslaughter, but it's
not preserving the life of the other, right?
Adultery is not just that, but it's also so many
other things, and we know it is. Of course, the
same is true for stealing. That's what we could
say what it is, so many ways that we can apply
it. But why does this matter? Okay, so just a
few things. Why does it matter? One, and this
might seem like a strange thing to start with,
is that you're made for work. You're made to
work. And a lot of times what ceiling is doing
is it's saying, you know, there's an easy way.
If I can just take it, if I can kind of, you
know. Work the system so that I can get the upper
leg instead of actually acting justly in the
world and maybe I can get ahead and not have
to work so hard. But God actually made you for
work. He works six days and he rests on seven
days. He said, go and do likewise. In fact, one
of the things he first thing he tells is to be
fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, subdue it,
have dominion over it. Work, cultivate a life.
in this world that reflects me and I like to
work and create and you are made to do so as
well. We are placed in the garden to tend to
it and often stealing is a form of laziness.
Stealing can take the honor or the reputation
of another away because we want to get ahead
of them, right? We want to look better in our
own eyes from who they are. taking that which
is not ours is simply saying, I deserve it without
the hard work. Lifting ourselves up is often
putting others down. And so actually, you know,
you can think of what Melias read for us in Ephesians
chapter four, where Paul is instructing them,
how do we live this Christian life? And there's
all kinds of things like, don't be angry, you
know, don't let this thing go down in your anger
and stuff like that. But one of the things that's
said is, let the thief no longer steal. He's
like, that is part of your old self that has
been put to death. Just put on the new self.
Put on this new life in Christ. And part of that
new life is, do not steal any longer. Let the
thief no longer steal. Instead, it says, but
rather let him work. Why does it matter? Because
we're made for work. And then Paul actually goes
on to say, doing honest work with his own hands
so that he may... have something to share with
anyone who's in need. Part of your work is so
that you can give to others. We were made to
work and we were made to work in such a way that
we are not taking what is not properly ours,
but we have something to offer the life of the
world. And that in some ways actually brings
me to the second reason why I think it matters.
And the second reason is that, so we were made
for work, but we were also made for trust. We
were made for faith. We were made for dependence,
right? So our first parents, again, were placed
in the garden with God under his delight, his
goodness, right? He says, this is very good.
But also under his shelter, his protection. and
we're to live with Him in a relationship of trust,
to believe that His words to us are good and
right, and actually the boundaries in which He
puts us in are good and right. And so, you know,
there's this command, don't take of this tree.
And of course, understandably, you're like, well,
why would God do that? And there's all kinds
of thoughts about that. But at the very least,
one of the things is that from the very beginning,
they were to trust. that God's provision for
them is enough and that His words for them are
good and right and that they might not even know
why that is. And yet His words for them are good.
And of course, that's why among other things,
why the first sin is not just the sin of lying,
which it is, but it's also stealing. It wasn't
theirs. God had not given it to them. Instead,
they were to live this life of trust and dependence
that what God has given them is enough that He
will provide for them in their need. And so when
we steal, it matters because it actually goes
against what we're made for, this life of work,
but also this life of trust and dependence on
God and His love and care for us. And so this
brings me to the third thing of why I think it
matters. And this is kind of simple too, is that
it matters because our stuff is from God. This
matters because our stuff is from God. Interestingly,
in Malachi, Malachi chapter 3, God talks about
how we rob from God when we don't tithe, but
what's the point of that? The point of the tithe
is actually saying, all that I have is yours,
right, as we sing. And when we actually take
that, which is not ours, we're actually fighting
against this idea that God is the giver of gifts.
Let me read a little bit of that for you. Malachi
3, 6. For I the Lord do not change therefore
you a children of Jacob are not consumed from
the days of your fathers You've turned aside
from my statutes and have not kept them return
to me and I'll return to you says the Lord of
hosts But you say how shall return well man Rob
God Yet you are robbing me you say how have we
robbed you and your tithes and contributions
Your curse with a curse for your robbing me the
whole nation of you He's going to keep going
in that. But there's this way in which we actually
rob God. We can actually take from him. Of course,
it's kind of wild to me that Abraham gives a
tithe in Genesis 14, and it predates this Old
Testament tithing kind of idea. But why is this
going on? Like, why does the Old Testament talk
about this? And why is this a good Christian
practice to give? One reason, okay, we can say
this. It's not like God needs it, right? Does
God need our stuff, our money, our tithe? Psalm
50 says kind of famously that he owns the cattle
on a thousand hills, right? It's not like he's
a need. He speaks and things just come into being.
But why this matters is because we have to remind
ourselves again and again that all that we have
and all that we are is ultimately God's. He doesn't
need it. But he commands us to give even the
tithe and these kinds of things because he wants
to reinforce this again and again that all Everything
belongs to him And again, let me get back to
this. Okay, we think that our property The property
the stuff that we own can be disposed of as we
will right Meaning we can use our time we can
use our resources and we can use our minds and
everything that we have as we will they are ours
But actually at the heart of this command is
that they're not ours, is that they are God's.
Stealing is not just an affront to your neighbor,
it is also an affront to God. What the Bible
says is that everything that we have is not our
own. In fact, it tells us that we ourselves were
bought with a price. It says that our bodies
are not our own. You don't just get to do whatever
you want. It says they are to be offered up to
the Lord as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing
to Him. Everything that we have, all of it belongs
to God. He gives them to us. You simply hold
them as a trustee, tending to them. But also,
as the parable of the talent says, you will have
to give an account to the Lord for how you used
all of what you have. Okay, so anyway, what is
stealing? It's quite simply, in the shortest
way, it's taking what is not yours to take. But
it encompasses so much. Why does it matter? Because
it robs us of actually what we are made for.
We're made to work. We're made to trust. We're
made to have faith. But it also robs God of what
is rightly His because He's the one that gives
gifts, gives talents. And He also says, you're
going to have to give an account for how you
dealt with them. So stealing is not just stealing
from the other, but in a way it's also stealing
from yourself and it's stealing from God. Which
is to say that when we sit with all of this,
we can't write it off as the command for the
guy that's walking down the street, checking
the handles of the door, like the car doors.
We can't write it off as like, oh man, Bernie
Madoff, Bonnie and Clyde, the cute lady with
the flowery hat, the butcher. this is a command
for you and for your pastor and For your children
and for your friends and for your roommate for
your spouse Okay, so I'm gonna leave you with
an assignment today I'm gonna give you an assignment.
You do not have to bring this back to me. But
actually I'd be really interested if you did
Here's what it is. It's kind of simple. I would
like you Maybe as an individual but more like
it would actually be better if you did this with
somebody else to get a roommate or your friend
Or your children or whatever or your spouse.
I want you to take a pen and a paper and I want
to I want you to actually write down together
and think together. How do I steal? I've given
you so many categories Like I mean this if you
need help get out the larger catechism question
141 and 142 Get out the Heidelberg Catechism.
Get out Luther's Catechism. It's got lots of,
it's great too. And just ask, like, how do I
break this, right? And then I also want you to
ask, how am I tempted to steal? Because what
the Lord invites us to do is see that these are
not just commands for our external appearances,
but commands for our hearts. And after you do
that, okay, after you do that, I want you, listen
to me. None of you are writing this down, so
listen attentively, class. After you do that,
I want you to get out of Bible and I want you
to turn to the Gospel of John, Matthew, Mark,
Luke, John. It's the fourth book in the New Testament.
I want you to get it out and I want you to read
what were our words of forgiveness and peace
this morning, which is John chapter 10, verse
10. And it says this, the thief comes only to
steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come
that they would have life and have it abundantly.
And as you write down those stealing acts, as
you write down those stealing temptations, I
want you to give it to Lord and receive His new
life. Let me pray. Lord. Again, these commands
just seem so utterly applicable to us. I pray
that we would not stop our ears and harden our
hearts, that today we would hear your voice,
and we would run to you, and we would love you,
and we would live for you. In Jesus' name, amen.
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