6/21/2009 The Ten Commandments 7 - Thief in the Night:  DO NOT STEAL

Sermon Scripture References:
    The 8th Commandment: Deuteronomy 5:17
    Key New Testament Scripture:  Ephesians 4:28
    OT text about weights and balances :  Leviticus 19 33-37
                    Other verses about weights and balances: Deuteronomy 25:13-16, Proverbs 16:9-12
     Boundary Marker verse: Deuteronomy 19:14
     Zaccheus offering to return everything he stole now that he is following Jesus: Luke 19:1-10
    Jesus and not storing up treasure on earth when thieves steal:    Matthew 6:19-20
    Other Scripture:  See last slide below  (it was not included in sermon)

   POSSIBLE QUESTIONS:  (Not in any particular order !  Choose and Arrange to make a flow that makes sense to you!)
1.  Was there anything in our time together this Sunday - a song we sang, a point from the sermon, a prayer, a station activity - that really stuck out to you?  If so, why?

2.  See first slide below

3.  What actions of the wealthy and powerful could be considered a form of stealing from widows and orphans?

4.  What remedy for stealing did Paul present to a thief in Ephesians 4:28

5.  How do you think Jesus transforms the commandment "You shall not steal?"

6.   Thieves break in and rust and moth destroy down here but Peter says we have an inheritance which cannot be destroyed (1 Peter 1:4).   How does the Lord keep us and our inheritance ?  (see also 1 Peter 1:6-7)

7.  How do we steal from God ?      (Possible discussion about stealing God's honor when Sunday morning goes from God centered worship to human centered entertainment)

8.  Possible discussions on the types of stealing mentioned in the sermon:

Stealing:
Things
Time
Innocence
Reputation
Debt (such as to Craftsmen)
Extreme Interest to Poor
From Future Generations:   National Debt and Distruction of the Environment
Making bootleg copies of music, software, videos, without paying for them.
 

9.  Do you agree that a person's reputation is more important than their wallet ?   Why or why not ?

QUOTES

1.     Barclay:  The laws of the Ten Commandments are not only a necessary part of the Christian ethic; it is a necessary part of any agreement to live together.  It is part of the foundations of any society, and without obedience to it, any society would be impossible

2.     Horton: Whenever we try to find transcendent answers for human conduct in society, we are always brought back to two competing moral interests: Freedom and Justice.  Absolute freedom in a sinful world would be anarchy resulting in the dictatorship of a person or group capable of ruling a mob.  But absolute justice in a sinful world would eliminate liberty and the variety that enables us to make meaningful choices.

3.     As Shakespeare wrote in Othello:

A good name is the immediate jewel of the soul
Who steals my purse steals trash, tis something, nothing
Twas mine, this his, and has been slave to thousands
But he that filches from me my good name
Robs me of that which  not enriches him
And makes me poor indeed.

5.  LUTHER SAID:
“If we look at mankind in all its conditions, it is nothing but a vast, wide stable full of great thieves.  These men are called gentlemen swindlers or big operators.  Far from being picklocks and sneak-theives who loot a cash box, they sit in office chairs and are called great lords and honorable, good citizens, and yet with a great show of legality they rob and steal.”

6.  LUTHER SAID WE BREAK THE COMMANDMENT ANY TIME WE take advantage of our neighbor in any sort of dealing that results in loss to him.  In other words, a person steal not lonely when re robs a man’s safe or his picket, but also when takes advantage of his neighbor at the market, in a grocery shop, butcher stall, wine and beer cellar, workshop , and in short, whatever business is transacted and money is exchanged for goods or labor.

7.  G.K. CHESTEROTON

“No man is really any good till he knows how bad he is, or might be, till he has realized exactly how much right he has to all this snobbery, and sneering, and talking about “criminals” as if they were apes in a RAIN forest ten thousand miles away…till he has squeezed out of his soul the last drop of oil of the Pharisees, till his only hope is somehow or other to have captured one criminal, and kept him safe and sane under his own hat”

8.  Sometimes we excuse stealing because the person does it in a clever way, and we admire their use of wits.  But William Wibur points out “A thief twists his God-given gift of creativity and ability to make a contribution to society.  Instead, he focuses on how he can take advantage of getting reward of another person’s initiative and creativity.  A thief also reverses the God-given right to own private property that has come from working, earning, saving and having.  He wants the fruit of another person’s labor without having to earn it.