| Introduction The more I read the Bible, the more I realize that God cares about all of life and every part of life. He cares about the affairs of nations and the massive geo-politico policies and strategies. And he cares about how we think of the paper clips in our offices. Peter wasn't joking when he said that God "has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness…." (2 Pt. 1:3). We see God's all-encompassing care for life in what he says about how we are to relate to what belongs to others in v. 28. In our passage for this morning, the Holy Spirit helps us thinking properly about our relationship to material possessions by giving us three simple commands: stop stealing, work, and give. Before we go any further, though, I want to repeat something that I have been saying a lot lately. This verse is grounded on the truth that the Christian has a new identity in Christ. The Christian doesn't steal, works, and gives because of the transformation that the Holy Spirit worked in him/her. I keep on repeating this because it is so easy for us to slip into thinking that these exhortations are ends in and of themselves. In reality, they are means by which the power of God in us and the newness of life we have in Christ is demonstrated, 4:20-24. "We, like Lazarus, have been brought out of death into life by Christ. As part of that spiritual miracle our old graveclothes, which were appropriate for a corpse but not for a living body, have been taken off, and we have been reclothed in wedding garments in preparation for that great wedding supper of the Lamb. From this point on we should act like members of the wedding party." James Boice In his sermon, The Expulsive Power of a New Affection, Thomas Chalmers asks how shall the human heart be freed from its love for the world? His response to his own question is that the human heart will be freed from the love of the world when it is taken over by Jesus. That new affection, that new love that the Holy Spirit placed in our hearts, expels our love for possessions that leads us to stealing. The outline for our sermon this morning is a simple one. The verse itself breaks down into three parts: stop stealing, work, and give. To these three parts, we will add an introductory question regarding the place of this exhortation in the context of Ephesians 4. I. Why Is This Command Here? A. It seems unlike the other sins addressed in the passage. B. So, why did Paul choose this particular sin? 1. Was it something he knew the Ephesians were struggling with? 2. The rest of the exhortations have something to do with speaking: truth, anger kindness. C. The connection seems to be self-centeredness and selfishness. 1. Notice the common thread of self-centeredness, of thinking only of oneself, in the other sins addressed by Paul in this chapter. a. One lies to protect or benefit oneself. b. One gets angry because of a wrong (real or perceived) committed against oneself. c. One gets bitter and tears others down because of attacks against the kingdom of self. 2. Stealing also betrays this self-centeredness – taking what belongs to someone else because we want to. A. Our translation gives the impression that Paul is addressing a sin that no longer plagues the saints – Let him who stole steal no longer…. 1. That is not exactly what Paul is saying here. 2. A more literal translation is, "The one who steals, let him no longer steal." 3. Paul understands that Christians are able to steal and may even struggle with the temptation to steal. B. At the risk of saying what is painfully obvious, stealing is the taken of someone else's property when you do not have the right to do it. C. To help our thinking juices to get going, here are some examples of ways Christians may be stealing that are not as obvious as taking someone's wallet or purse. 2. Taking stuff from work 3. Not working all the time we are paid to work. 4. Being lazy – more on this in a moment since we may not have thought of laziness as a form of theft. 5. Withholding part or all your tithe. Mal. 3:8 – Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, 'In what way have we robbed You?' In tithes and offerings. D. Why is stealing sinful? a. The 8th commandment explicitly states do not steal, Ex. 20:15, Dt. 5:19. b. The command not to steal is one of the few commandments that is included in virtually every summary of the Decalogue in the NT. Rom. 13:9-10 – For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery," "You shall not murder," "You shall not steal," "You shall not bear false witness," "You shall not covet," and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. 2. The command not to steal, however, is not given in a vacuum. a. This commandment is based on the fact that God instituted private ownership as one of the ways mankind displays the image of God in them – we own things because God owns things. "Private ownership is not founded on mere human invention or custom, but on the moral law of God. It is definitely sanctioned by the eighth commandment, 'Thou shalt not steal," which is meaningless unless there is a divine ordinance of private ownership back of it." Johannes Vos b. Stealing defrauds the image of God in humanity. 3. The Bible teaches that stealing in sinful even in times of need. Pro. 6:30-31 – People do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy himself when he is starving. 31 Yet when he is found, he must restore sevenfold; he may have to give up all the substance of his house. "No condition, however hard or disagreeable, can entitle any man to do injury to another, or even to refrain from contributing to the necessities of his brethren." John Calvin 4. Why is it wrong for Christians to steal? a. The reasons why stealing is sinful in general also apply here. b. In addition, there is the matter of identity. 1) The Christian is no longer identified with the old nature of sin. 2) He is indwelt by the Spirit and the life that he now lives is Christ living in him, Gal. 2:20. 3) When a Christian steals, he is saying that Christ steals (you can put any sin in this sentence). 4) What a great dishonor to the name of Christ! 5. Why is it wrong for you to steal? a. Again, the previous two reasons apply here. b. To it, we will add the fact that you claim to be a Christian, a new creation in Christ. 1 Pt. 4:15-16 – But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people's matters. 16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter. E. We often don't think God's thoughts after him when it comes to our assessment of how bad a sin is (heinous). 1. Some sins are really bad in our thinking, and some are not. 2. Though the Scriptures to speak of some sins being more heinous than others, our lists often don't match the order of heinousness in the Bible – Jerry Bridges's book Respectable Sins 3. Paul includes thieves among various identities that cannot enter the kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6:9-10 – Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. A. Notice that the way of repentance is not to simply stop taking what is not ours, but to work. 1. Not stealing is only half of the change that Christ works in believers. 2. Working to be generous is the other half of the work of Christ in us in this area of life. B. Paul uses a word for labor/work that implies hard work. 1. Bible ethics teach that we are at our best when we are working hard. 2. That is part of our being made in the image of God and recreated in the image of Christ. Jn. 5:17 – But Jesus answered them, "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working." 3. The hands that were being used to steal will now be used for working. a. Work is good – humanity was created to work. b. Though the Fall affected the efficiency and effectiveness of work, work itself is good! c. There is nothing inherently wrong with 50 or 60 hours of work in a week. 1) It is popular today to poop long hours of work by saying that the family will suffer. 2) That might be true, but I guarantee to you that your children will suffer much more by witnessing your lack of diligence. 3) Or even more dangerous, your select diligence. C. This exhortation to work rather than steal helps us understand another form of stealing – not carrying your own weight (laziness). 1. I hesitate saying this, though, because often the diligent person will feel guilty and never ask for help and the lazy person will not listen to it, but I will trust that the Spirit will apply it where it needs to be applied. a. I am speaking here about people who are always leaning on other people for help without attempting to do what needs to be done to change their situation or to help back. b. I am speaking of those who are never willing wot help in any way. c. I am speaking of those who are not providing the return on the potential God has given them. Mt. 25:26-27 – But his lord answered and said to him, 'You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest.' d. I am speaking of those who are lazy. Pro. 20:4 – The lazy man will not plow because of winter; he will beg during harvest and have nothing. Pro. 24:30-34 – I went by the field of the lazy man, and by the vineyard of the man devoid of understanding; 31 And there it was, all overgrown with thorns; its surface was covered with nettles; its stone wall was broken down. 32 When I saw it, I considered it well; I looked on it and received instruction: 33 a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest; 34 so shall your poverty come like a prowler, and your need like an armed man. "Paul has no sympathy for people who are allergic to sweat…." Kim Riddlebarger 1) Laziness often gives birth to stealing. 2) Matthew Henry quotes John Chrysostom as saying, "Stealing is the effect of idleness." 3) Thomas Watson, in his commentary on the Westminster Shorter Catechism says, "An idle person tempts the devil to tempt him." 2. Working here is primarily referring to an activity that you are recompensed monetarily for doing it, but the principle applies to all kinds of work according what God's calling in your life currently is. a. Stay at home moms are to work diligently. b. Those going to school are to work diligently in their work at school. c. Those working outside of the home are to work diligently. 3. We work diligently because we are working for the Lord – doing what is good. a. The word Paul uses here for good includes the idea of what is morally good as opposed to just pleasant or beautiful. b. This implies God's control over what we do. Eph 6:5-8 – Bondservants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ; 6 not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, 7 with goodwill doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men, 8 knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free. D. This passage rally speaks against any sort of entitlement mentality where one thinks that another owes him something, or that society owes him something, or that the government owes him something, simply by virtue of his existing. "No one is entitled to be supported by others, who is able to support himself." Charles Hodge 2 Thess. 3:10-12 – For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. 11 For we hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busybodies. 12 Now those who are such we command and exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ that they work in quietness and eat their own bread. 1 Tim. 5:8 – But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. E. This passage does not agree with the modern view of retirement that says that at a certain age you are allowed to stop being productive and should live selfishly for yourself. 1. We should think of retirement as a change of focus not a cessation of productive. 2. We should think of retirement as being liberated to be productive in different ways. A. Notice how counterintuitive the purpose of working is – work so that you have what to give. B. Ultimately, the thing that we are to put off when we are putting off stealing is covetousness, and the thing that we are putting on in its place is generosity. "The grace of generosity is part and parcel of the Christian way of life." F.F. Bruce 2 Cor. 9:6-12 – But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things,may have an abundance for every good work. 9 As it is written: "He has dispersed abroad,He has given to the poor; His righteousness endures forever." 10 Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness, 11 while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God. 12 For the administration of this service not only supplies the needs of the saints, but also is abounding through many thanksgivings to God…. "No man liveth for himself; and no man should labour for himself alone, but with the definite object to be able to assist others." Charles Hodge C. The motivation that we have to work hard as Christians is so very different than the world's. 1. It is not self-fulfillment or self-actualization. 2. It is not amassing wealth. 3. It is not to increase our purchasing power. 4. The Christian's motivation for hard work is so that he can give. D. At the heart of being able to do what Paul commands here is contentment, specially contentment with Christ. "If we have but enough to bear out our charges to heaven, it is sufficient." Thomas Watson E. No Christian should consider himself or herself automatically exempt from being generous. "No condition, however hard or disagreeable, can entitle any man to do injury to another, or even to refrain from contributing to the necessities of his brethren." John Calvin 1. There may be times in our lives where we may truly not be able to help others. 2. But we should never, ever, consider ourselves excused from being generous. 2 Cor. 8:13-14 – For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened; 14 but by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may supply their lack, that their abundance also may supply your lack—that there may be equality. F. Our ultimate example of generosity is our Lord Jesus Christ himself. 2 Cor. 8:9 – For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.
Christ Jesus has redeemed us though his Spirit. He has taken us out of the miry pit, placed us upon the Rock who is Jesus himself, and has given us a new song and a new life. Because of that, we don't steal. Instead, we work diligently so that we can be as generous as is humanly possible.
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