Exodus - Part 28 - Exodus 20:15

0:00 Intro
1:49 Joke
2:26 Worship
7:43 Announcements
12:35 Pledge of Allegiance
16:35 Worship Continued
32:05 Message
1:05:17 Closing Worship

The Eighth Commandment is a short and simple sentence only four words long. “You shall not steal.” There’s not a lot to be said there. Or is there?

You may be getting a picture in your head about people in ski masks robbing a bank or breaking into a home to steal precious valuables. This commandment does say this is wrong but there is more to it than that.

At the time that the commandments were given to Moses by God, there were other codes and sets of laws. One famous one was the Code of Hammurabi. These codes also said that stealing was wrong and the consequences were very severe.

So, why did God reiterated that stealing was wrong to His people, the Israelites? God clearly wanted something different for His chosen people. He took them out of an environment where they were enslaved and didn’t have much free choice in their lives. Now that they were free, God wanted to make it clear to them how they needed to live to maintain their freedom. It was to create a civilization where they could thrive. It was a means to show their love for God and love for each other.

Practically speaking, if stealing was allowed, that would not be good. There would be no peace or trust between neighbors, or friends, or family. Stealing is an injustice selfishly inflicted on another person. God knew the importance of possessions, or having things in life that we enjoy and are ours to take care of. Everything we have comes from God and we can be thankful for what we have been given.

But, it’s more than stealing physical things. This can be in a variety of forms. Cheating on taxes, cheating on your timecard at work, purposefully not return something that was borrowed, taking credit for something we didn’t do, and the list could go on and on. Even stealing because you are hungry is wrong. Proverbs makes it clear that anything stolen must be repaid seven times over.

When we steal, we don’t trust God to give us what we truly need. Or, we’re not satisfied with what God has provided. Sometimes, we think we know what we need better than God. It only produces heartache and emptiness and it can never truly satisfy what we need. Believing in Jesus Christ brings that satisfaction that we need.