I am a “third career” minister. In reality, however,
I actually had a very brief fourth career. When I was a boy, I was a
thief.
I grew up in a small town in Kansas in the '40s and '50s.
The store we shopped at was one of those then prevalent “Mom &
Pop” stores. Since we lived only a couple of blocks from the
grocery, one of my chores became taking the list my mother would prepare
to get it filled by the store’s owner.
On my first trip alone to the grocery, while waiting for the
sack to be filled with the day’s order, I discovered a large
cardboard box that contained candy bars. The temptation was too much.
When the store’s “Pop” wasn’t looking, I slipped one
of those candy bars into my pocket.
I was scared to death that I would be caught, but nothing was said when
I took the sack and headed home. On the way, I made sure to eat every
last scrap of that chocolate bar so as to leave no evidence of what I
had done.
Snatching and gloating
At the ripe old age of five, I didn’t waste a lot of time looking
into the future or the consideration of possible consequences. Every
trip to the grocery, for weeks, I would wait until no one was watching,
snatch a candy bar and gloat all the way home.
This lasted until the end of the month – when the month’s
grocery bill came in the mail. Much to my surprise, “Pop” hadn’t
missed a single stolen candy bar. Every one of them had been added to
the bill.
That day ended my career as a thief.
“Thou shall not steal.”
There is nothing ambiguous about the Eighth Commandment. It’s not
in the least confusing. If it’s not yours, don’t take it. Don’t
borrow it without permission. If you find it, return it. If a sneaky
little guy pops out of an alley and offers it to you for a ridiculous
price, don’t buy it.
“It,” of course, is the property of another, and that’s
where the problem comes in. It’s what constitutes property that
confuses us. Did God mean real property – real estate and land –
or did he mean any tangible property? Does property have to have some
measurable monetary value to be counted as property or will sentimental
value be enough? Can property be something that can’t even be seen,
like a good reputation, or does property have to be more than a concept?
Does it make any difference who is doing the stealing? Is a poor man
who steals in order to feed himself guaranteed a cell in the local jail
even as the influential business leader who steals millions is given a
slap on the wrist, or even looked up to by the rest of society? Why did
God have to make it all so confusing?
God didn't make it confusing
Of course, God didn’t make it confusing. We get confused because
we refuse to accept the magnitude of the Eighth Commandment. The
commandment does not say, “Thou shall not steal property.” Nor
does it say, “Thou shall not steal money, or food, or clothing, or
a car, or anything specific.” The simple and straightforward
meaning of the commandment is, “Thou shall not steal ANYTHING!”
In fact, the Eighth Commandment encompasses all the other commandments
and could stand alone as our only commandment, if we could live up to
it.
What is revering another god if not theft of worship from the one true
God?
What is the worship of idols if not theft of the love owed to God?
What is the vain use of God’s name if not the theft of His power?
Failure to keep the Sabbath holy is theft from ourselves, for “the
Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath.”
Refusing to honor your parents is taking from them what God commands
they are due.
Murder is the theft of another’s life.
Adultery is the theft of another’s promise and affection.
Bearing false witness against another is the theft of his good name,
and the act of coveting another’s property is the beginning of a
plan to steal from your neighbor.
“Thou shall not steal.”
Worst kind of theft Jesus revealed to us the worst kind of theft. On
His last journey to Jerusalem, Jesus went into the Temple and drove out
the money-changers. He said, “My house shall be called a house of
prayer but you are making it a den of thieves.”
Was Jesus against good business practice? Certainly not; in some of his
parables, He lauded good businessmen. As always, it was the motivation
rather than the action itself with which Jesus found the greatest fault.
It wasn’t just that these merchants were overcharging for the
sparrows and lambs that were to be used for sacrifices, but they were
taking money in the name of God for ungodly purposes. Instead of serving
themselves by serving God, they were taking care of themselves first.
Not much has changed in the Temple in 2,000 years. There are still
thieves in the Temple. Every minister and elder who receives money from
the church, whether in salary or in “expenses,” while teaching
doctrine contrary to God’s Word, is taking money under false
pretenses. In other words, any such minister or elder is a thief.
Theft in the pulpit
In our own Presbyterian Church (USA), we have ordained ministers who
preach that homosexual acts are not sinful, a doctrine that is not
supported anywhere in the Bible.
We have ministers and elders who preach that abortion is nothing more
than a woman’s “choice,” and that taking the life of a
child in the womb is not murder.
We have ministers who celebrate worship services in Presbyterian
churches who call on the names of Gaia, of Sophia, of Allah and others,
and thereby introduce false teaching into the body of Christ.
They all take money under false pretenses, claiming that they are
teaching truth when many of them cannot even say three simple words –
“Jesus is Lord.”
They call such actions “answering their conscience,” but what
they’re really doing is stealing God’s Word and perverting it
to their own earthly ends.
A thief is a thief is a thief even if he’s ordained.
Jesus will drive away thieves
Perhaps a not-so-funny joke I heard once best describes what we’ve
come to today. It seems this businessman was explaining business ethics
to his son. “Suppose,” he said, “that a customer buys
something in a hurry. I give him change for $10 but, after he leaves, I
discover that he gave me a $100 bill. The ethical problem is this:
Should I tell my partner?”
Too many of our seminaries no longer teach God’s Word, but
concentrate on the latest theologies with a liberal smattering of
sociology and psychology.
When Jesus Christ comes again to drive the thieves from the Temple, it
will be far too late to say, “I didn’t understand.”
Are we members of the Church of Jesus Christ on Earth? Are we members
of God’s Temple? Or are we a den of thieves?
God knows.
This commentary was excerpted from a sermon by Jon F. Jones, the
pastor of New Providence Presbyterian Church in Salvisa, Ky., a
Confessing Church.