• An essential building block for a stable, prosperous society

Don't steal – earn so you can give

• "Food gained by fraud tastes sweet to a man, but he ends up with a mouth full of gravel." (Proverbs 20v17)
• "He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need." (Ephesians 4v28)
• "Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Saviour attractive." (Titus 2v9-10)
• "The Lord Jesus himself said: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'" (Acts 20v35)

Honesty at work & play

• "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men." (Colossians 3v23)
• "Do not defraud your neighbour or rob him. Do not hold back the wages of a hired man overnight." (Leviticus 19v13)
• " Do not use dishonest standards when measuring length, weight or quantity. Use honest scales and honest weights..." (Leviticus 19v35)
  • Stealing time, including wasting it!
  • Filching office supplies, etc.
  • Tax evasion
  • Copyright – C Ds, DV Ds, etc.

Jesus takes us a stage further in our thinking

• The challenge of consumerism
• "He who buys what he doesn't need steals from himself." (proverb)
• Christians are called to challenge culture when it is wrong, to be different
• Jesus' example: what did he own??
• Jesus' words in today's gospel reading: Luke 12v22-34

Learn to be content with what you have

• "But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." (1 Timothy 6v6-10)

Care for the poor

• "They asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do." (Galatians 2v10)
• 852 million people do not have enough to eat, 1.3 billion have no safe water, 2 billion have no access to electricity and 3 billion have no sanitation
• International trade is worth $10 million a minute. But poor countries only account for 0.4% of this trade. Indeed, their share is actually half what it was in 1980.
• Just one week’s worth of the subsidies given to farmers in rich countries would cover the annual cost of global food aid
• $20 billion is spent on cosmetics in the United States each year – more than double the $9 billion it would take to provide basic water and sanitation for everyone
• Annual global military spending exceeds $1 trillion. That’s a thousand billion dollars – around 100 times what it would cost to put every child in the world through primary school.
  • Unjust trading systems
  • "Fair-trade" products ("Max Havelar")
  • Sweatshops, child labour, prostitution
  • ‘Climate change is also clearly a development issue since its adverse effects will disproportionately affect poorer countries.’ (European Commission, 2003)
  • 90% of the victims of weather-related natural disasters during the 1990s lived in poor countries.
• "If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth." (1 John 3v17)

Do not steal from God!

• "A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the LORD; it is holy to the LORD." (Leviticus 27v30)
• "Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me." But you ask, 'How do we rob you?' "In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse - the whole nation of you - because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. (Malachi 3v8-10)
• "God loves a cheerful giver." (2 Corinthians 9v7)
  • A "tithe" is 10% - the minimum standard the Old Testament sets for giving.

Do not steal

• But remember Jesus' forgiveness of the thief on the cross
• We are called to commit ourselves with God's help
  • To give rather than get
  • To care for the poor
  • To work for justice, which will help the poor
  • To give back to God everything we are & have
• All because God has given so generously to us

Questions

• How does your behaviour at work & play reflect this commandment?
• How concerned are you to give compared to your concern to get?
• How can we avoid the dangers of consumerism?
• How much has God given to you? In what ways? How are you showing your gratitude?
• How much of your income do we give away, compared to what you spend on yourself?
• How much of your giving should go via your local Church?
• In what ways are you caring for the poor?
• How can you work for justice for the poor?