The Eighth Commandment

This sermon was preached on 27/1/2011

You Shall Not Steal (Exodus 20:15)

One of the epidemics that is sweeping our nation is that of theft. It has been calculated that 13% of our gross national product is stolen each year. An article I read stated that between 2000 and 2006, shoplifting cost retailers in Britain almost £14 billion pounds. The Treasury is denied millions of pounds by individuals who don’t pay the right amount of tax. Offices lose a lot of money each year because staff pilfer pens and other items of stationery. There are several million people in Britain who work in offices. If each one takes a pen for his own usage each month, the cost to the companies involved is almost £1,000,000 each month. And we can add to pens a whole range of other items. Of course, each individual can say, ‘It is only a small item, and no-one will notice.’ But the cost overall is high, and all of it is a breaking of the eighth commandment.

On the social level, the consequences of theft are many. Supermarkets put a percentage on to their prices to cover for losses from theft (the figure of £14 billion that I mentioned earlier included £ 4 billion spent on crime detection). Trains companies assume that some passengers will not pay for their journeys, and therefore the rest have to pay increased fares. Businesses lose a percentage of potential profits because items have been stolen. Everyone suffers from the effects of this epidemic.

Yet the social level is not the most important aspect of this epidemic. Instead we must realise that the Lord regards such activities as sinful, as disobedience to his revealed will.

Two details

The first detail that this commandment indicates is that everything belongs to God. Only the One who owns everything has the authority to say that nothing can be stolen. The Bible reminds us often that everything belongs to God. For example, the psalmist says in Psalm 24:1: ‘The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein.’ God says in Psalm 50:10-11: ‘For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine.’

A second detail that can be deduced from this commandment is that it is appropriate for a person to have possessions. It is important to observe this detail because there are political and religious ideas that assert the principle of communal possession. The obvious political theory is communism, and in such countries the state owns everything.

It is often argued that the early church in Jerusalem practised a form of communal ownership when it is said by Luke in Acts 2:44 that ‘all who believed were together and had all things in common’. The difference between communism and the practice of the Jerusalem church is that the latter’s method was voluntary. Peter, when speaking to Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5, makes it very clear that they were not obliged to give the proceeds of their sale to the church. Their sin was that of pretence, of stating that they had given all of what they had received to God. The clear implication of these passages in Acts is that the Jerusalem church, in its early days, was marked by brotherly love. Often it is forgotten that many of the converts from the Day of Pentecost did not live in Jerusalem and temporary arrangements would have to be made for their support.

Worship and witness

In looking at previous commandments, we observed that the first four are concerned with our worship of God and the remaining six with our witness to those we know. Of course, witness is not only a consequence of worship, it is another aspect of worship. It is not only inconsistent with worship to steal from one’s neighbour, it is also incompatible with true worship. A person who engages in stealing and does not confess it as sin cannot worship God from the heart.

In contrast, a person who does not steal from any person or organisation makes a powerful witness. Some may say that such a person is very pernickety, yet they will also realise that he is consistent with his claims to follow God’s requirements. Of course, if the individual is pursuing a legalistic, self-centred approach to life, then his insistence on not pilfering may come across as rigid and severe, so it is very important for a Christian to respond with a Christlike attitude in every situation. There is a great difference between self-righteousness and loving obedience to God’s law.

Of course, it is also possible for employers to steal from employees. Paul made it clear that in his letters that masters had to be fair to their slaves. James warns such that God will judge them: ‘Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. Behold, the wages of the labourers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts’ (Jas. 5:1-4).

We can extend the range of this commandment to current global practices. Is the use of third-world cheap labour by first-world companies not a breaking of this commandment? It is, and it may be that the economic problems of the west are divine judgements for the abuse of the poor in other parts of the world.

The commandment initially seems simple and straightforward. But the application of it extends far beyond possessions. In the Bible, this commandment forbids stealing people (kidnapping), animals, and land, paying low wages and using false weights.

Why do persons steal?

The basic reason is that they desire the object that was stolen by them. They could steal food because they are hungry or they can steal an object because they are greedy. The desire can be inbuilt or it can be fanned by the temptations of the devil. Second, theft is usually deceptive – thieves perform their actions when no-one is looking. Third, theft is an expression of prayerlessness, even when done because one is hungry, as lack of prayer indicates lack of trust in God. Fourth, theft is an expression of discontentment, of not being satisfied with what God has given to us in his providence. Fifth, theft is an expression of indifference to God’s requirements, a clear evidence that faith in God is absent from the heart.

What can we steal?

The answer to this question is probably endless. Obviously we can steal another person’s possessions. Such actions are so obvious that I don’t intend to discuss it. Instead I want us to consider other things that we can steal.

First, we can steal what belongs to God and we can do so in different ways, two in particular. One way is by keeping back part of the tithe. This was God’s complaint when he spoke to his people through the prophet Malachi. The Lord asks this question, ‘Will a man rob God?’ His answer is ‘Yes’ and he proceeds to show that this form of theft concerns tithes and offerings. The Israelites were robbing God by giving to him the worst animals in their sacrifices.

Many people object to the notion of tithing and instead argue that some cannot afford to tithe. While there may be exemptions to the rule, such exemptions do not allow those who can afford to tithe not to do so. Tithing is fair, because each gives according to his station in life; tithing is flexible, because a person can adjust his giving according to how God blesses him in providence; tithing is faithful, because it reveals that the giver takes God’s Word seriously; tithing is fruitful, because it provides funds for God’s work to spread.

Then we can robe God by stealing his time. Although there is a sense in which every moment of every day belongs to God, it is also the case that one day belongs to him a special sense, and that is the Sabbath (we looked at this aspect when considering the fourth commandment).

We can also steal what belongs to our fellowmen. As we have already mentioned, many steal from the government by not paying tax. In doing so, they are stealing from society because the theft prevents the government from implementing policy or from giving a fuller range of benefits.

We can also deprive our fellows when we waste their time with trivial things such as pointless talk. The time that a person has is given to him by God in order to use it in a wise and holy manner. But others can cause the time to be wasted by speaking about useless topics. Talk can also be perverse. Many reputations have been destroyed because an individual told falsehoods about another.

Remedies for stealing

No doubt, there are many possible responses that can be classified as remedies, but here are a few suggestions. One is prayer, and a good example of such a response is made by Agur in Proverbs 30: 7-10: ‘Two things I ask of you; deny them not to me before I die: Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the LORD?” or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.’ Agur prayed for a sufficiency of provision.

A second response is to engage in activities that help others. In Ephesians 4:28, Paul teaches those who previously broke this commandment: ‘Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labour, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.’ Paul’s implication is that a thief is lazy and selfish; his remedy is not merely to get rid of the laziness (that is reform without grace), but to replace idleness and stealing with diligence and compassion.

A third response is to focus on heavenly treasure. There is no doubt that much theft occurs because individuals have focussed on earthly things. No-one has ever stolen an item while thinking about heaven; no-one has ever stolen another person’s reputation while thinking about heavenly riches.

A fourth response is to trust in God by considering his promises. Stealing may be the consequence of present problems, such as when done by a parent whose children are hungry. Of course, if such an action is done by a Christian, it does not say much for his or her church. Paul tells believers to ‘do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith’ (Gal. 6:10).

Restitution

The eighth commandment is the one commandment by which a breaker of it can make suitable restitution. It is impossible for a murderer or an adulterer to make a payment that can make up for the loss inflicted on the victims or on their families; it is almost impossible for someone who bears false witness to make sufficient compensation for the damage caused by their lies. Yet in general it is possible for those who steal items to make restitution. An example of this in the Bible is Zaccheus who, after his conversion, informed Jesus that he intended to restore fourfold any defrauding he had done (Luke 19:8). The normal requirement for restitution was double (Exod. 22:4, 7), but fourfold was the amount if the thief killed or sold a stolen animal. It looks as if Zaccheus wanted to pay the highest amount rather than the lowest, I assume because he wanted to be sure that restitution was made.