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Sep 04, 2022

Stop, thief!

Stop, thief!

Passage: Deuteronomy 5:19

Speaker: Andrew Kerhoulas

Series: Life in Ten Words

Keywords: love one another, do not steal, love your neighbor as yourself, love fulfills the law, owe no one anything

In his rules for life, God commanded his people to not steal another person’s property. This is basic legislation in every civil society. But, as we’ve seen throughout this series, God’s rules are always vertical and horizontal; stealing is first theological, and not merely ethical. We know from our children that stealing is a basic human instinct. So, how does God deal with robbers?

Readings & Scripture

PREPARATION: Based on Exodus 20:9-10, Matthew 11:28; Psalm 84:10
LEADER: God said, “Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
ALL: But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord.”
LEADER: Jesus said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden,
ALL: And I will give you rest.”
LEADER: We come in the name of the Holy Spirit, resting from our labors.
ALL: For a day in your dwelling place is better than a thousand elsewhere.

AFFIRMATION OF FAITH/SCRIPTURE READING/CORPORATE PRAYER - John 10:7-11
LEADER: So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

ALL: Thanks be to God.

CENTRAL TEXT: Deuteronomy 5:19, Romans 13:7-10
Deut. 5:19 “ ‘And you shall not steal.’ ”

Rom 13:7-10 Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

BENEDICTION: Based on Ephesians 4:28
LEADER: Because of infinite blessings that we have been given in Christ Jesus,
ALL: Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let us labor, doing honest work with our own hands, so that we may have something to share with anyone in need.
LEADER: The peace of the Lord be with you all.
ALL: And also with you.

RELATED SCRIPTURES:

  • Exodus 20:15; 21:15
  • Leviticus 19:11
  • Deuteronomy 8:10-17; 24:7
  • 2 Samuel 19:3
  • Proverbs 30:9
  • Jeremiah 7:9
  • Hosea 4:2
  • Zechariah 5:3
  • Malachi 3:8
  • Matthew 6:19-20; 27:38
  • Mark 10:19; 14:1; 15:27
  • Luke 18:20; 19:1-10; 23:32-43 
  • John 10:10
  • Romans 2:21
  • 2 Corinthians 9:6-7
  • Ephesians 4:28

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

  1. Have you ever had something stolen from you? How did you feel in the aftermath? 
  2. Martin Luther defined stealing as “acquiring any property by any unjust means.” What kinds of “property” do people steal nowadays? Discuss.
  3. God prohibits stealing of any kind. But he does elaborate on certain kinds of stealing that was prevalent in the ancient Near East (see Exodus 22:1 & Deuteronomy 24:7). Why do you think God said the penalty for kidnapping was death? What does it say about God’s heart that he values his people more than their property? 
  4. According to Jesus, who is the thief in John 10? Is it Satan or is it the religious leaders? If it’s the latter, what is Jesus communicating about religion in contrast with what he offers us in the gospel? 
  5. Read What does God do with robbers?

QUOTES: 

  •  I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. In other words, if our expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusements, etc., is up to the standard common among those with the same income as our own, we are probably giving away too little. If our charities do not at all pinch or hamper us, I should say they are too small. There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot do because our charities expenditure excludes them. I am speaking now of charities’ in the common way. Particular cases of distress among your own relatives, friends, neighbors or employees, which God, as it were, forces upon your notice, may demand much more: even to the crippling and endangering of your own position. For many of us the great obstacle to charity lies not in our luxurious living or desire for more money, but in our fear—fear of insecurity. This must often be recognised as a temptation. Sometimes our pride also hinders our charity; we are tempted to spend more than we ought on the showy forms of generosity (tipping, hospitality) and less than we ought on those who really need our help. C.S. Lewis
  • There is only one sin, only one. And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft… When you kill a man, you steal a life. You steal his wife’s right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someone’s right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness. Baba in Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner
  •  [Stealing] was thus an act directly contrary to the love and will of God as expressed toward man in the covenant. It was an act in which one man assumed control of the life and fate of another man for his own personal gain, thereby assuming a right that properly belongs only to God…Any act that involves the manipulation of another human being for personal gain is tantamount to the crime. Peter Craigie
  • Christianity preaches the infinite worth of that which is seemingly worthless and the infinite worthlessness of that which is seemingly so valued. Dietrich Bonhoeffer

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