COME AS A CHILD LESSON 148 THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT

THOU SHALT NOT STEAL

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

The eighth commandment should be pretty cut and dry, right? 

“Thou shalt not steal.” 

Easy to understand; isn’t it? 

Or is it? 

This is the commandment that God gave to Moses while up there on the mountain that protects our personal property.  It keeps us from being robbed.

To “steal” is to take something that does not belong to you.  God doesn’t wish for this to happen among His people, or anywhere for that matter.  To steal is an unrighteous act and it is considered a sin in the eyes of God.

The world operates on a system that says “GET” but God operates on a system that says “GIVE.”  If something is not given to you; you are NOT to take it.  Period.   If something belongs to someone else; it is not yours to take. 

So; this commandment is the place where God begins to teach us not to be selfish.  A selfish person thinks only of himself and his own needs; a self-LESS person considers the needs of others first.  Learning to appreciate the needs and rights of others means respecting their property and their rights as a human being.

There are a million forms of theft. 

You can take someone’s personal possessions for yourself; and that is the most common form of theft; but there is also the theft of using deceptive advertising and taking the hard earned money of other people by using a con-game to make yourself an easy living. 

Some manufacturer’s cheat their customers by making a substandard product and selling it for a top of the standard price.  This is another form of stealing.  

Some companies steal through different means of bookkeeping methods where they bill their clients for more hours than they actually spent on a job; some employees do not actually work all of the hours they mark down on their timesheets; this is another form of stealing. 

A form of stealing can happen through corrupt government actions.  People can be overtaxed to the point that they have nothing to show for their labor.  Causes can be misrepresented by officials that are greedy and taking money underneath the table. 

There are those who are perfectly able to work and those who COULD find jobs to support their families that live off of government subsidies; this is stealing.  It would be taking from those who truly need these subsidies who are actually entitled to such funds.  Living with a sense of entitlement and always feeling like the world owes you a living is stealing.

Have you ever taken a few office supplies from the office just because they were readily available?  It wasn’t much; but it was stealing.  Don’t tell me you could not afford to go out and buy them for yourself, it was laziness as well as stealing!

We could go on forever giving examples of unobvious, yet true ways of stealing.  These things go on constantly under the sun as the world turns around  and around on its axis; but God does not approve of them. 

In God’s economy each person is required to provide for their own needs as much as possible and to share with those who do not have what they need.  It is a culture of giving not a culture of being greedy and taking. 

Just like in the other commandments we have already studied; Jesus had a lot to add later on to those basic words that God gave Moses up on the mountain about stealing.  You might say that God laid the foundation with Moses and Jesus put the finishing work on the building.  

Jesus had much to say about theft.

One of the most famous examples is a parable that He told to his disciples.  He speaks in Matthew 25 of a Master who entrusted his servants with different amounts of talents.  They were to invest them and use them while he was away.  One day the Master returned and inquired as to how each had invested their talents.  Two of them invested wisely, but the third had nothing to show for all the time that his master had entrusted him with his wealth.  Because the servant did not take care of the master’s wealth and at least TRY to increase it and make it grow in some way; the Master was displeased and this servant was considered no greater than a common thief.  

How are we caring for our world while our Master is away?  He WILL return, you know?  Our wastefulness and carelessness with the things of the earth will be frowned upon.  It will be yet another form of theft from unwise servants.  

You can steal from God by being like this lazy, worthless servant and deciding to do absolutely nothing with the life God has given you, or the talents He bestowed upon you.  This would be the same as stealing from heaven.

Oh, come on!  Can you really steal from heaven?  

I believe you can!

Not only do we steal from each other; sometimes we also rob God of His tithes and offerings.  This is yet another form of stealing. 

In thinking about all of these many ways one can become a thief, one begins to realize that this commandment about stealing isn’t just about taking from others; but it is about learning to be responsible for our part in the overall operation of the world. 

I’ll let you in on a little known secret.  God doesn’t need your tithes and offerings!  He already owns everything and can do with it all whatever He pleases.  He simply gives us the OPPORTUNITY to tithe in order to teach us how to be responsible. 

I’ve heard a lot of people say that the tithe was done away with in the Old Testament because it isn’t spoken of again in the New Testament.  I once heard this statement directly from the mouth of a priest!  I’m sorry to disappoint those of you who quit believing in tithing because of such rumors; I guess everyone just totally forgot about reading  2 Corinthians 9:7, or the story of the widow’s mite found in Luke Chapter 21, or Matthew 23:23, or Acts 20:35, 1 Corinthians 16:2, Matthew 6:1-4, Luke 11:42 (note the last few words), Acts 2:44-47, and I could go on but I won’t. 

The old legal system of using animal sacrifices has been done away with because Jesus was the perfect sacrifice, but he FULFILLED the law and he didn’t ABOLISH the law.  Adam to Abraham and beyond all show examples of God’s people bringing the firstfruits of their labor as offerings to God.  Jesus did more.  He gave EVERYTHING.  He is our best example.  This act of bringing offerings to God STILL honors God.  I laugh everytime I hear people say that Jesus never tithed.  He GAVE EVERYTHING, all that he had and he had no sins to pay for.  He gave it ALL for us.  Don’t tell me He never tithed  He set the perfect example in this arena too.

The New Testament readings put a firm emphasis on the act of giving, cheerfully and wisely and with your whole heart.  

My brothers and sisters; you CAN rob God.  Be careful to give back to Him from the blessings He has showered down from Heaven on you.

We must not rob God and we must not rob our fellow man. 

If you are a true child of God your heart will not rest until you stop being a thief; both to God and to mankind.   

But what if you, like all the rest of us, have already broken this commandment in a million and one ways? 

 I give you the example of the cross where on each side of Jesus at the crucifixion hung a thief.  One thief believed and repented.  To him it was given to be with Christ in paradise for eternity.  Be like that thief, the one who repented; and go and sin no more.