The Reigning God
February 27, 2022
Preached by Ben Bechtel
Scripture Reading
Exodus 20:1-2, 15
1 And God spoke all these words, saying,
2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery…
15 “You shall not steal.”
Once upon a time, when we wanted to watch a movie, we would drive down to the nearest Blockbuster store. After you rented that movie, drove home, and popped it into the DVD player, you would hear this intense music. Then the words “you wouldn’t steal a car” popped onto the screen. This was the anti-piracy ad that was played at the beginning of every movie in this era to remind us that downloading movies illegally was stealing. This ad became personal for me one day in early high school when my school held an assembly where a government official came in and spouted off horror stories about teenagers who got caught pirating movies and music. Meanwhile, Limewire was on my computer, and I now realized with each download I was racking up jail time.
This is a comedic story fifteen years later, but it reveals something true about me and all of us: it is so easy to move the goal post on the 8th commandment, to mess with the definition of God’s law when it is convenient for us. If we’re honest, the reason why we mess with this commandment is because we believe God is holding out on us, that at his core he is stingy. However, what I hope we will all come to know this morning, is that obedience to the command “do not steal” begins when we know God not as a cruel taker, but as a generous giver.
1. The Presupposition Behind the Command
Now, what is a presupposition? Well, simply put, it is a precondition for some other statement to be true. For example, in order for a physical trainer to prescribe various different activities to a patient, they are presupposing countless truths about human biology and physical science, starting with gravity. Presupposition is kind of a terrible word to use in a sermon outline because I have to stop to explain it. But, I think the word helps us to get at something important as we approach this commandment.
We might define stealing simply as taking something that does not belong to you. Now, what is the presupposition of this command? To prohibit stealing, the taking of something that does not belong to you, it must be assumed that things belong to people. For me to steal money from you, that money must first rightly be yours. The 8th commandment implies some form of ownership.
Let’s think about this in the context of Israelite history. Israel had just been freed from slavery in Egypt. We don’t know that many details about their time in slavery, but we do know that they were enslaved for a long period of time, and that it was at many times cruel slavery. I think it’s safe to assume that the people of Israel journeying through the wilderness of Sinai didn’t struggle with hoarding, because there wasn’t much of anything to hoard. They were nomadic, freed slaves.
Look at the kindness of God and the dignity bestowed on these former slaves in the 8thcommandment. This command was a way of humanizing each person and family by giving them some personal possessions. God was creating an environment of security for them to begin to build lives as families and as a community. If you read on to Exodus 21-23 you see this fleshed out into the rest of Israelite society. Pharaoh was a cruel taker; God is a good giver.
In giving the 8th command God restored back to his people part of what it means to be made in the image of God that was stripped from them by Pharaoh. In Genesis 1:26 we read these words:
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
There are many things we could pick out of that verse, but I want to focus on that word dominion. What kind of person has dominion? A ruler or a king. The territory they preside over is their dominion. So, part of what it means to be made in the image of God is that we as humans were made to function as kings and queens over God’s creation. However, we are not the ultimate rulers of God’s creation. We merely image God. God is the one who reigns over all he has made. He is the rightful ruler. What it means to be made in the image of God then is that we use the physical stuff of earth, the material and natural resources that God has given us, to bring glory to him as the ultimate king.
The presupposition of the 8th commandment is explained in Genesis 1: we are stewards of God’s resources, entrusted with them for God’s glory. The church father John Chrysostom talks about human beings each being an imperial treasurer, charged to take care of some share of the king’s wealth. We are not free to use those resources however we see fit. We must use them for the glory of the king. However, we are truly given some form of ownership over some of the king’s resources.[1] God gives us possessions to use for the spread of his glory in the world. This command then presupposes not only that human beings have ownership over certain things, but that this ownership is a stewardship, entrusted to us by God for his glory. It presupposes that God owns everything and that we steward some of the things God owns.
This teaches us at the outset that money and possessions are not inherently bad but rather are good gifts from God. In an interview Christian philanthropist and art collector Roberta Ahmanson gave a defense for why she spends her time and money collecting “stuff.”[2] She helpfully rebuts a mindset which she terms “as-long-as-ism.” This mindset says, “we’ll support the arts as long as everyone has heard the gospel or people aren’t poor and starving.” Friends, at the outset of this sermon let me be clear: material possessions are not bad. Owning material “stuff” is not bad. Part of what it means to be human is to be a steward over the good, beautiful, material things of earth in a way that brings God honor and glory. This is how Roberta Ahmanson makes sense of being an art collector as a Christian. In other words, the proper first question to ask as. Christians about possessions isn’t “how much can I own?” but rather “why do I own what I own?” and “what am I using it for?”
2. The Prohibition and Prescription of the Command
If this is what lies behind this command, what is the actual content of the command? Let’s continue with the image of us functioning as stewards of the King’s resources. Stealing is living as if we are the ultimate rulers over what God has entrusted to us and others as stewards. As author Jen Wilkin writes, “Stealing prays ‘my kingdom come, my will be done.’ It turns to my neighbor and demands, ‘Give me this day my daily bread.’”[3] All forms of stealing then are not simply perpetrated against another person but are robbery of God himself, since he rightfully owns all things (Mal. 3:8-10).
This helps us to broaden out our definition of theft from where we might normally draw the line. This command clearly prohibits taking what is not yours, as we’ve said. This command prohibits laziness, either slacking off at your job or not doing what you ought to be doing to provide for yourself and others. This command also prohibits economic injustice of all kinds, particularly regarding the exploitation of the poor. Think of junk loans with crazy interest rates intentionally sold in poor neighborhoods. This command prohibits false advertising, what the Westminster Catechism called in their day “false weights and measures.” We as a staff were just having lunch with a member of our church who is studying and living in Germany right now who said that when he got there the apartment, he was supposed to be renting was a horrible place that had been deceptively advertised on the internet to gain more money.
This command most broadly prohibits greed, which can defined as “stealing with the eyes of our heart.”[4] Think of how Jesus broadened out the command about adultery to prohibit any sort of lustful thought. This way of thinking also applies to the 8th commandment. Greed, stealing with our hearts, is a particularly deceptive sin. Pastor Tim Keller in his wonderful book Counterfeit Gods speaks of greed this way:
“Nobody thinks they are greedy. As a pastor I’ve had people come up to me to confess that they struggle with almost every kind of sin. Almost. I cannot recall anyone ever coming to me and saying, ‘I spend too much money on myself. I think my greedy lust for money is harming my family, my soul, and the people around me.’ Greed hides itself from the victim…Jesus warns people far more often about greed than about sex, yet almost no one thinks they are guilty of it. Therefore, we should all begin with a working hypothesis that ‘this could easily be a problem for me.’ If greed hides itself so deeply, no one should be confident that it is not a problem for them.”[5]
Greed is the water we swim in. Greed is the oil burning while we cook without a care in the pot. As Keller says, we ought to begin with a working hypothesis that we likely break the 8th commandment.
On the flipside, what does this commandment require of us positively? To rephrase this in the language we’ve been using so far, how do we steward our resources for God’s glory rather than gathering and using them to build our own kingdoms? I would submit to you the foundational principle of biblical stewardship is radical generosity. Let me phrase it another way so we feel the weight of it a little bit more: righteous living with our money and possessions, living that accords with God’s right and good law and character, consists not only in not stealing, but in generously providing. Let me go to a few texts to prove this point.
First, let’s go to Ephesians 4:28. This passage is a New Testament reiteration of the 8th command, but notice what is added:
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.
Based on this verse, the thief is required to work instead of stealing, so that he has money to give to those in need. The fulfillment, the keeping of the 8th commandment as it is restated in Ephesians 4:28 is not in not-stealing, but in providing for the needs of others through honest gain.
Psalm 112 makes the association between generosity and righteous living even more explicit (vv. 5 & 9):
It is well with the man who deals generously and lends;
who conducts his affairs with justice…
He has distributed freely; he has given to the poor;
his righteousness endures forever;
The psalmist describes giving freely and generously to those in need not simply as a good thing, but as righteousness, as obeying God’s law. Notice the similarity in verse 5 to Psalm 1:1, “blessed is the man who…”.
This is precisely how our forefathers in the faith understood this commandment to apply positively to the Christian life. In the Westminster Larger Catechism 141, a document written by Christians 400 years ago to help Christians learn the truth of the Bible, it says that the 8th commandment requires that we make “an endeavor by all just and lawful means, to procure, preserve, and further the wealth and outward estate of others, as well as our own.” To sum all of this up, in the eyes of God there are only two types of people: radically generous stewards of God’s resources and thieves.
Ultimately, this command urges us to give up control over our possessions, to acknowledge God’s reign, and to invest in heavenly riches. Jesus famously says in Matthew 6:19-21:
19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
All investment involves risk and so for many of us, definitely for me, I don’t make any investments without talking with my financial planner. Jesus here is giving us the wisdom of an eternally wise financial planner. He is advising all of us to use our money to invest in the things that will count for eternity, things that will resound for God’s glory. This is such a generous church! I see so many of you as role models for myself to follow in investing in eternal things.
For many of us though, and I’ll put myself in this category, our hearts struggle with theft and greed, in investing in our own kingdoms. How do we begin to loosen the chains of greed on our hearts? First of all, Jesus teaches in that passage the principle that our heart follows our money. If you desire to build patterns of generosity into your life, start now with your money even with your heart not fully in it. Begin to reevaluate the way you use your resources and start investing in the kingdom of God. Your heart will catch up as you practice the discipline of generosity.[6]
The other thing I would say that will make all of us uncomfortable, and which makes me uncomfortable even saying it, is to submit your finances to other trusted Christians. We are so private with money as a culture, and I think this really hinders us from walking with Jesus into generosity. We are all so tied to our wealth and possessions. We need trusted, wise, mature Christians to help us to be generous, obviously with much grace and patience.
3. The Promise in the Command
In order to ultimately loosen the chains of greed from our hearts, we have to ask the question, why are we greedy? I would submit to you that ultimately, deep down, we are greedy because we view God more like Pharaoh, a cruel taker rather than a generous giver. Acknowledging God’s rule and reign over us and our possessions isn’t enough to overcome our greedy hearts. After all, Pharaoh was a king who claimed sovereignty over the people of Israel as well. Kings can own everything and still be tyrants. What we need in order to overcome our greed and become generous people who keep the 8th commandment is to see the generous heart of God.
Think about that command. God didn’t just give the Israelites, fresh out of slavery, desperate for resources, the command not to steal. He also promised them, and would generously bless them, with life in a land of abundance, a land described as flowing with milk and honey. God freed them from slavery in order that he might lavish his riches upon them. Yahweh is no Pharaoh.
We see his supreme generosity displayed in the person of Jesus Christ. In 2 Corinthians 8:9 the apostle Paul writes this:
9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.
The way in which we turn from being self-seeking rulers to generous stewards is by beholding the lavish generosity of Jesus Christ. Though we were poor and had nothing to offer, the one with all wealth and power gave everything for us, so that we might become rich. Jesus, though he was the rightful owner of everything, gave that all up, became a man, and ultimately died the death of a thief. Jesus was crucified between two thieves! He did this so that you and I, the very thieves who stole from him and who withhold his resources from others, might be showered with the riches of heaven. This is why Paul says you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. The generous God gave everything for poor thieves, so that poor thieves may possess the eternal riches of God. Only grace like this can transform us into generous people who keep the 8th commandment and say along with our Lord Jesus “it is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). This is the promise of the command do not steal.
Next week Pastor Benjamin is going to be speaking on the 9th commandment, “do not bear false witness.” In an age of indifference about truth, it is good for us that we serve a God who is the definition of truth. Come back next week to hear more.
[1] John Chrysostom, On Wealth and Poverty, 50.
[2] “A Conversation with Roberta Ahmanson.”
[3] Jen Wilkin, Ten Words to Live By, 116.
[4] DeYoung, Good News, 200
[5] Timothy Keller, Counterfeit Gods, 52-53.
[6] I got this idea from Kevin DeYoung, The Ten Commandments, 137.
Family Discussion Questions
What has God given to you and to your family? How might you consciously steward and use these possessions for God’s glory?
Examine your heart. In ways specifically do you feel pulled toward greed? Confess this to God and identify one person to whom you will confess this sin.
Read Ephesians 1:3-14 and meditate on the ways in which God has been generous in saving you.
