Intro…
Welcome to the Cornerstone Baptist church podcast. My name is Justin Wheeler, I am the preaching pastor for Cornerstone and today we are in week 42 of our journey through the Heidelberg Catechism. Today, I will be talking to you about questions 110 & 111.
This week our question deals with the eighth commandment, which reads:
Deuteronomy 5:19 You shall not steal.
The most basic definition of stealing is when a person takes something that doesn’t belong to them. It is to take another person’s property without permission or right without the intention of returning it. Stealing is dishonest. It takes advantage of another person’s hard work. It disregards the rights to personal property, and it undermines trust.
If you have ever had something stolen from you then you know how important this command truly is, at least as far as it pertains to you and your experience. But as we look to the Scriptures, we get the impression that God’s prohibition against stealing has a much broader scope than we might think at first.
Transition…
It is stealing/theft to break into someone’s home, car or property to take something from them. It is stealing to put a piece of candy in your pocket at the grocery store cash register without paying for it. It is stealing to take someone’s pen at work, to take someone’s lunch from the breakroom fridge, and it is stealing when you take the robes from the fancy hotel room without paying for it.
But stealing also includes being dishonest when you sell things to your neighbor. It is stealing when you claim a full workday even though you left at 2. It is stealing when you take advantage of people by swindling them out of money and it is stealing when you know the cashier gave you $20 back as change when she only owed you $5. You see, there’s more to this commandment than we think at first and the catechism is trying to help us see that.
Lord’s Day Focus...
Question 110: What is God’s will for you in the eighth commandment?
Answer: He forbids not only outright theft and robbery, punishable by law. But in God’s sight theft also includes cheating and swindling our neighbor by schemes made to appear legitimate, such as: inaccurate measurements of weight, size, volume; fraudulent merchandising; counterfeit money; excessive interest; or any other means forbidden by God. In addition, He forbids all greed and pointless squandering of His gifts.
Outright theft or robbery is where our minds go at first and it needs to be pointed out that it is sin and should be punishable by law. But in God’s sight stealing also includes cheating and swindling our neighbors.
The Bible has a lot to say about using accurate weights and measures in the marketplace. This idea is about dishonest practices. It is talking about a person who puts a ten-pound weight on the scale when it actually weighs 5 pounds so that they can get more money by cheating.
Prov 11:1 A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is his delight.
So stealing is not just about taking what doesn’t belong to you, it is also about cheating others out of what is right and fair. It is about dishonesty.
It is also about taking advantage of people in need. If a neighbor needs help and I sell them a tool that will help them get a job to make money, but I make them finance the tool at a rate that will keep them in my debt far beyond what the tool is actually worth, then I have taken advantage of them. It is a form of stealing.
Instead, of being dishonest and trying to profit from that dishonesty, the Lord calls His people to work hard, to earn an honest wage and to be generous with it.
Eph 4:28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.
This brings us to the second question…
Question 111: What does God require of you in this commandment?
Answer: That I do whatever I can for my neighbors good, that I treat others as I would like them to treat me, and that I work faithfully so that I may share with those in need.
When we don’t love our neighbors the way we should we are prone to cheat them, steal from them and take advantage of them. But when we learn to love our neighbors according to God’s command, we grow to the point that we want to be a blessing to them. We want to care for them, be honest with them, help them and be generous with what we have.
Greed leads to stealing, but love leads to generosity and that is what this command is leading our hearts to embrace. In fact, this is what the gospel is leading us to embrace.
Have you ever taken stock of the times Jesus encountered someone that was wealthy? It happens quite a bit. In the gospel of Luke there seems to be specific attention given to the distinction between the poor and rich. When Jesus comes into the world He is born in the poorest of conditions, to a poor mother and father, and His birth is attended by shepherds, not exactly high society folks.
During his ministry he runs into several wealthy people and tells stories about the wealthy. He met the rich young ruler and told the parable about a rich fool. He met Zachheus and he told the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. He taught about the prodigal son who clearly had problems with money and sin but he also pointed out the woman who gave away her last two pennies at the temple.
What does all of this mean? I’m not entirely sure, but it seems that Jesus wants us to understand that there is a connection between our faith in Him and how much of a hold our money has on our heart.
Matt 6:24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
We cannot serve God and money, but we can serve God with our money. Money makes a terrible god. It can’t satisfy us, it can’t save us, it can only make us comfortable for a couple of years before it runs out or we die and pass it on to someone else. We don’t serve money because God tells us that it is the root of all evil and it turns a gift into a false god. We don’t worship stuff because it makes an idol out of something that moth and rust destroy.
Instead, we serve God with our whole being, our heart, soul, mind and strength, and we use his gifts to make much of Hm. So be generous, be a faithful steward of all that God has given you, use his gifts in such a way that it shows Christ to be God rather than the things of the world.
As Christians, all of life is a stewardship and every gift is an opportunity to enjoy God and share his love with others.
Thank you for joining me today to learn about the eighth commandment. Next week, we will continue to study by looking at the ninth commandment, which addresses bearing false witness against your neighbor. I hope you will join me for that discussion as we look at Lord’s Day 43 and question 112.
Conclusion…
If you want to learn more about Cornerstone Baptist church, you can find us online at Cornerstonewylie.org. You can follow us on Twitter or Instagram @cbcwylie. You can find us on Facebook at facebook.com/cornerstonewylie. You can also subscribe to this podcast on iTunes or google play to stay up to date on all the new content.
Thanks for listening.
