The Big Ten: No Stealing

Exodus 20:15 You shall not steal.

When I first came to Zambia for a visit, we were driven through Central Market on a Saturday. It was crowded and packed with people, cars, shoppers, vendors. Suddenly as we were stuck in traffic, a man came running through the crowds. He was being pursued by several other men, one of whom had a large club. When they reached our car, they caught the first man and began beating him. Blood was everywhere. In fact, when we reached New Hope Church, our DS remained behind to wash the blood off the car. Rev. Kilembo later explained to us that this man was a thief. He had stolen in the market, and the punishment was a terrible beating.

We recognize that stealing is wrong. But here is the fact: stealing is normal in Zambia. If you take your car to a mechanic, you must watch the mechanic like a hawk or he will steal good parts from your car and replace them with poor quality parts. Our DS had most of the parts from his car stolen by a mechanic, including even the tires. There is an attitude here that says, “If someone else has what I don’t have, and I want what they have, I have the right to take it, because the other person can always buy another, and I can’t.” When Tara brought sweets for the children and there were extras, you should have seen how some of us took as many as we could stuff in pockets or hands. I saw youth with five or six. When there was a scare about ritual killings here in Matero, local people felt justified in breaking down foreign-owned stores and stealing whatever they could carry out. Police stood by and did nothing.

So, is it OK to steal? Is it just a cultural value? Or maybe we are allowed to steal, but only from someone with more resources. What do you think? If so, how few resources am I allowed to have before I steal? 

I have an idea that the limit is just a little more resources than I have. As long as it is from people or businesses who have more than me, I feel justified in stealing. Think about this, though. Imagine I am in Shoprite. While the cashier is looking the other way, I take K1 from the till. I need money; my children need school fees, rentals are due, and besides, I want to give an additional K1 to help the men defeat the women in the A.C.G.D. competition. And it’s only K1. But imagine if every customer takes K1 from the till. How many people shop there in a day? 1000? That’s K1000 loss in just one day. K7000 in a week. K365,000 in a year. So, what happens if a store loses money like that? One response is that they will raise their prices on all their goods to cover their loss. So I will now end up paying much more than the K1 I stole. The other response is that employees will lose their jobs. Not because they deserved it, but because I stole.

Stealing is interesting because of the reality. Listen to this scripture from Psalm 24:1. The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to him. There are some who take that and say we should own no private property; everything should belong to everyone else. The early church voluntarily behaved like this. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Acts 2:44-45. The reality is this worked because the believers were together. They enjoyed unity in the Holy Spirit. Notice that the scripture says that believers sold their possessions and goods. It was a voluntary response to needs they saw. These were their goods. Where did they get them? Ultimately from God, who created everything and owns everything. It is God who entrusts us with goods and properties. 

Do you know the story Jesus told about the three servants in Matthew 25:14-30? Their master was going away, so he divided money among the three. To the first he gave five bags of silver, to the second he gave two bags, and to the third he gave one. When the master returned, he found that the first had invested his money and now had ten. The second had also invested his money and now had four. To both of these servants, “The master said, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’ 

But the third servant was scared, and he hid his money. When the master asked him about it, he returned the one bag he had been given. The master was furious. “Then he ordered, ‘Take the money from this servant, and give it to the one with the ten bags of silver. To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away. Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 

You might be wondering “what does this have to do with stealing?” That’s a good question. The third servant didn’t steal, did he? He just didn’t do anything with the money he’d been entrusted with. After all, he only had one, while others were given two and five. He was poor. It’s hard when you’re poor, right? But listen again to what Jesus said. To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away.

In other words, we all have responsibility to use well what we have been given. Now I want to go back to something I said earlier. I told you that everything is from God, who entrusts us with goods and properties. God has given each of us according to how he has called us and to the purpose for which he made us. So if we take something, we are stealing from God and we are undermining God’s work in the world. 

In Malachi 3:8-12, God, through the prophet, Malachi posed the following scenario.

“Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me.” 

“But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’

“In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse — the whole nation of you — because you are robbing me. 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 for it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit,” says the LORD Almighty. “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the LORD Almighty. 

I like to preach on Malachi 3:10, the good part. 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 for it. We all like this part, right? But the problem when we just read this verse without reading verses 8-9 is that we can come away thinking that God made the tithe optional. 

I cannot be more clear about this: the tithe is not optional. When we fail to bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, we are indeed robbing God. We are stealing from God. And thus we are under a curse. We cry and complain, “God isn’t answering my prayers,” yet at the same time we are stealing from him, right in broad daylight. 

I don’t like bringing negative words. I don’t like this part of the prophecy. I like the positive, the open floodgates part. But the reality is, these are God’s words, not mine. But it does bring me to the application part of the sermon. What do we do. Should we just quit stealing? That’s part of it. But repentance is never simply stopping doing what’s wrong. Remember Zacchaeus, the wee little tax collector who climbed into a tree to see Jesus? And when Jesus saw him, he said, “I am coming to your house.” When Jesus went to his house, Zacchaeus responded, “Today I am giving half of my wealth to the poor, and if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will pay them back four times as much.” (Luke 19:9)

In this, we see repentance. Zacchaeus stopped stealing, but he turned the opposite direction and gave wealth away. The opposite of stealing is generosity. 

In 1 Timothy 6:17-19, Paul gives this instruction: Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and generous to those in need, always being ready to share with others. By doing this they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future so that they may experience true life.

Those who have, whatever they have, God calls us to generosity. That generosity is a good foundation for the future, and through it we may experience true life.