Click For Audio Version
You shall not steal.
Exodus 20:15 NKJV 15 “You shall not steal.”
Jesus reinforces this commandment in Mark 10:19 NKJV 19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Do not defraud,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’ ”
God knows our nature. Stealing has been a continuous problem from the beginning of creation. People always want something for nothing and will do almost anything to acquire what is not theirs.
Have you ever been tempted to steal?
Of course you have, be honest. I have yet to find anyone who has not been tempted to pick up something that was not theirs.
I don’t want you to think of me as a thief, but as a young person in particular, I must confess that I was often tempted. However, as a mature Christian, I still faced temptations. Perhaps you only thought about changing a number on your tax return, or maybe you found that you had forgotten to ring up an item at the store and didn’t want to correct your mistake.
What did you do?
Two temptations I had are good examples.
I believe that I am an honest man, but let me share these examples. A thief can be anyone, not just the person we often picture as a guilty thief.
At the time, I was teaching Sunday School, President of a Christian School, and serving on the Church Board. You would have never thought that I would have been tempted, but I was.
One morning, when I went out for my morning walk, just before dawn, I walked by my neighbor’s house. Her grandson, who was known to drink and party, had parked his car on the street. As I looked down, there was a wad of money folded over, just lying there. I picked them up and continued my five-mile walk.
There was about $250, as I remember. I knew my neighbor was still asleep, so I put it in my pocket. Then I started thinking, maybe I shouldn’t return it. After all, he should have been more careful. He would probably use it for drinking and partying. If I kept the money, I would be helping save him from himself.
Yes, I really thought this. Satan uses all kinds of deceit to encourage us to sin. I found it strange how tempted I was to keep what was not mine, and the reasons I came up with.
It would still have been stealing. It did not belong to me, and I returned it.
Then there was the rifle.
Two weeks later, just two houses farther down the street, Satan tried again. Yes, I was tempted again. I love guns, even though I don’t keep any. I especially love rifles.
This time, there is a very nice 30-06 rifle propped up against the curb where the hunter had set it when unloading. I had never experienced a hunter being so careless with their rifle. I am sure there was some reason, but they had unloaded their car and gone to bed with a loaded rifle sitting at the curb.
Tempted though I was to punish them by taking and keeping the rifle, I didn’t. As the Lord had shown me, it would have been stealing regardless of how careless they were. So, this time, I woke them up and gave it to them, though I didn’t want to do so. I did remind them of all the children playing alone on that street.
What is stealing?
A simple definition for stealing is to take someone’s property without their permission. This applies to everything: time, money, a person’s reputation, or anything someone possesses.
We use many words for stealing. At times, we say, take, loot, appropriate, shoplift, embezzle, rob, swipe, rip off, and sometimes in business, we say we are making a sharp business deal.
Is it possible that we could list gossip along with the other ways people steal? Gossip often steals a person’s reputation.
Whatever words we use, it is still taking something that does not belong to us.
God says you shall not steal. In the Old Testament, Moses defines many ways people steal, and all of them are condemned.
Stealing comes from the heart.
Jesus points out to us in Mark 7:21-22 NKJV, 21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 22 thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness.
Stealing, like all other sins, comes from the heart. If your heart is right with God, you will not steal. This does not mean that you will not be tempted. You will be!
God will provide all you need to do what He has called you to do. There is no need for any of us to steal, even if we can find a legal way to do it.
In this lesson, let us look at those from whom we steal.
I pray that each one of you will carefully examine your life and consider possible ways you may be stealing and from whom. If we do, I believe that most of us will find we are guilty of stealing.
First, people steal from God.
When Moses was in the wilderness, God instructed him to command the people to set aside a tithe or 10% as a required offering. This was just one of the offerings, and it was considered Holy. God was to be given the first of all they produced, and nothing was to have any blemishes.
If you don’t tithe, you are not alone. Records show that about 80% of Christians return less than 2% of what God gives them in offerings. Among committed Christians, only 10%-25% claim to give a tithe or more.
Most Christians believe that 10% is the starting point because of the Old Testament law.
However, in the Old Testament, this was not all that was required. They were to give other tithes and offerings to the Lord for different purposes.
The children of Israel found it difficult, just as we do today. Some did not give at all, and others found many excuses why they should not have to give. God never accepted their escuses and He will not accept ours.
In the last book of the Old Testament, we find this Scripture.
The prophet Malachi gives us this message from God in Malachi 3:8-9 NKJV. I know that you have heard it before, but I feel that it is relevant to this study.
“Will a man rob God?
Yet you have robbed Me!
But you say,
‘In what way have we robbed You?’
In tithes and offerings.
9 You are cursed with a curse,
For you have robbed Me,
Even this whole nation.”
Have you robbed God?
This is a serious question that each of us needs to consider before we say we do not steal.
Scripture clearly states that everything belongs to God. In Psalm 24:1 NKJV, it says, The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness,
The world and those who dwell therein.
This Scripture is one of many. Deuteronomy 10:14, 1 Chronicles 29:11-12, Job 41:11, Haggai 2:8, and many others give the same message.
Many Christians have not received the message.
Yes, it is sad, but many Christians, who on the surface seem to be following God, are unfaithful in their giving. People make all kinds of excuses as to why they cannot give. However, God has always made it clear that He must be first in our lives.
First, we steal by claiming that all God has entrusted us with is ours. It is not, and we are responsible for using all of it as God leads us. If we fail to realize that all belongs to God, we will never be able to use it correctly.
Often, we say that we have earned it and, therefore, can spend it on anything we desire. It is God who gives us life and the ability to earn. Yes, we earn money, and that is the resource with which He entrusts us.
Your commitment to returning to God a portion of what He gives you tells your spiritual health. God gives us a starting point. It is called the Tithe. However, it is only a starting point. You need to ask God what He desires for us.
Second, people steal from each other.
I opened the discussion on stealing with two examples of my temptation to steal two items I found in the street. You can be tempted in many ways and with many very different items. However, stealing is still stealing regardless of what you take or how you take it.
There have always been those who steal whenever the opportunity arises. It happens in our daily life, and it happens in the Church. Sometimes it is planned, but often it occurs on the spur of the moment. Committed Christians don’t look for ways they can steal, but temptations are always present, even in the Church.
Paul speaking to the Ephesian Church in Ephesians 4:28 NKJVsays, 28 Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need.
Let us all pay attention to what Paul says to these early Christians. We do not want to be guilty of stealing, of breaking the Eighth Commandment.
Money is not the only thing we can steal.
Our God mentions another kind of stealing you may not have thought about. I have often written about Preachers and Christians not sharing the whole truth and just talking about God’s love. A very important message, but one that does not contain the whole truth.
God says through Jeremiah the Prophet in Jeremiah 23:30-31 NKJV, 30 “Therefore behold, I am against the prophets,” says the Lord, “who steal My words every one from his neighbor. 31 Behold, I am against the prophets,” says the Lord, “who use their tongues and say, ‘He says.’
We must be careful when we quote God’s Word not to make it say what we want, instead of what God says. False doctrines start with one person putting forth his ideas and claiming that they are God’s Word.
It is worth remembering that God sees this as stealing His words.
God will judge every word we utter.
In Conclusion
The Eighth Commandment says in Exodus 20:15 NKJV 15 “You shall not steal.”
Stealing is taking what does not belong to you.
We steal from God when we neglect to tithe. We should treat all we have as God’s to use. He will show us what to give beyond our tithes.
Stealing, regardless of what we call it, is still taking something that does not belong to us. Stealing nearly always hurts someone in some way.
Jesus says in John 10:10 NKJV 10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
The thief belongs to Satan.
We always need to ask ourselves, in this war, which side do we want to be on?
There are only two sides, God’s and Satan’s.
The choice is yours.
Click the following links to continue your study of all the Commandments, The First Commandment – No Other God!, The Second Commandment – No Idols, The Third Commandment -The Lord’s Name, The Fourth Commandment – The Sabbath, The Fifth Commandment – Honor Father and Mother, The Sixth Commandment – Do Not Murder, The Seventh Commandment – Do not commit adultery, The Eighth Commandment – Stealing,