God's Boundaries for Abundant Living - Don't Take It, Part 1

I love to get something for nothing. I like to find a dollar bill in the parking lot. I like to buy things I don't need if I can get them on sale.

I just want to get something for nothing. Could it be that this innocent attraction is hiding a much more devious root issue in my heart and yours? Stay with me today as we explore the real meaning behind the Eighth Commandment. Welcome to this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. The mission of these daily programs is to intentionally disciple Christians through the Bible teaching of Chip Ingram.

For most of us, stealing isn't a big struggle. You may be inclined to dismiss this guideline altogether. But today, as we continue our series, God's Boundaries for Abundant Living, Chip warns us that we've all broken this commandment, whether we recognize it or not. So I hope you'll pay special attention to this message.

And before we get started, if you missed any part of our study in Exodus chapter 20, catch up anytime through the Chip Ingram app. Well, with that, here's Chip with his talk, Don't Take It. If you have ever been to or ever visited or ever observed a 12-step program, I mean, it is a very, very interesting experience.

Because what they understand is they start the meetings like this. If I was going to a 12-step program, in fact, I wrote mine out, is I would be sitting in a small group of people and you don't say, Hi, what's your name? Hi, what's your name?

I would say, Hello, my name is Chip. I'm a spiritual kleptomaniac. I admit that I'm powerless to stop my compulsive desires that I have to take other people's stuff. Left to myself, I'm driven in almost every circumstance in life to get something for nothing. I have this burning desire in small, little ways to try and get something for nothing.

It's called kleptomania. My name is Chip. Now, that's what I would say if I were introducing myself in a 12-step program. Now, others might introduce themselves and say, Hello, my name is June and I'm an alcoholic.

Or, My name is Bob and I've had a sexual addiction. And the reason they do that is because the number one issue in change is admitting you have a need. The number one issue in any change is admitting you have a problem. And the human mind and the human heart can come up with almost unlimited creative ways to not only go into denial but to rationalize and to blame and figure out how not to face the real issues in our life. And so, I read what I would introduce myself as and sometimes my kleptomania has been in very harmless ways.

I taught this once at our church and people were kind of laughing and thought, this is obviously just an introduction to a message. And I said, When I play golf, a great golf game for me is like two or three, maybe four pars out of the 18 and finding 10 or 12 or 15 golf balls. I think there's something in me and I'm an old baseball player, so if you swing really hard, you can slice most of them. I just aim for the left fairway and hope that as it slices across, it stays into the right.

And what I know is there's many people who play exactly like this. I think subconsciously I do that because when I slice out of bounds, I sometimes come back with both pockets filled with golf balls. I've gotten so happy finding golf balls at times that I've waved to my friends and said, Go on ahead. I'll meet you at the next hole. Give me a double bogey.

Give me a triple bogey. I've got seven in my pockets and I know there's got to be more out here. It's like Easter egg hunting for adults. And then, so they thought I was kidding and so I have this airline bag that I got. I'll tell you later how I got it if I remember.

But it was one of those places where to listen for a presentation for an hour and a half, it was, again, a free lunch issue, getting something for nothing. I was either going to win a car, $25,000 in cash, or exclusive luggage. I got all four pieces of the exclusive luggage inside a piece of plastic about that thin and it unfolds. And the only good thing I could find is I put all the golf balls I found. And so I held up this big bag of golf balls and the people laughed and they thought I was kidding so I went behind the podium and I had a box that's about this big and I could hardly lift it and it was full of golf balls. And they thought this guy really does have a problem but then I said, no, no, no.

I am a kleptomaniac. Then I had another bag and we had two missionaries in town and I find good golf balls. I mean, I just have a gift for finding not just balls but good balls. And I had another big bag that I gave to a missionary from New Zealand and the Philippines because they're so expensive there and it turned into a ministry.

Giving golf balls to missionaries. See, you can rationalize it. It just takes a little time. But you can steal stuff and you can think about getting something for nothing. Now that's a humorous kleptomania.

And now, you know, everyone who plays golf doesn't have this problem but I do. That's why if we came to a 12-step program I would share these deep issues in my life. One that wasn't so humorous that happened as I was actually studying the Ten Commandments for the first time at an in-depth level. And I took every time that the Greek or Hebrew word for stealing pops up, any place that happened, Old or New Testament, I did a survey and for weeks and weeks I studied it. Because I thought that basically stealing was like for armed robbers, embezzlers, fraud. I just thought it was, you know, muggers down in Central Park. I thought stealing was for people who bought people over the head or people who cooked the books. You know what I mean? Those are people that have kleptomania. But I thought, you know, these commands are tough to take.

I thought when I got to number eight I would skate free but I was wrong. As I was studying this passage I learned that the meaning of the word steal is much broader. In fact, some of the uses are in Genesis 30 it's to take from another to snatch away where Jacob is ripped off by Laban. Or it can mean to take advantage of someone unjustly. All throughout the Old Testament stealing means to rob the poor or the widow or the orphan. You can steal by unlawful laws or by unjust decisions that exploit them. Stealing isn't just grabbing or taking, it's cheating, bribing, extorting or even grafting. It means at times that where you don't take something you can steal by withholding what is due to another in Proverbs 3 and Malachi 3.

It's when you don't pay people the fair wage that they deserve. It's when you owe someone something and you have it and you don't deliver it, it's stealing. It literally can be you can steal by breathing another. It's used literally of a bear who's robbed or bereaved of her cubs.

It's also used of Absalom. And he didn't steal money, he stole people's hearts. He stole the heart of the people from his father. Stealing can involve not just tangible but intangible things like loyalty and affection and stuff that belongs to others. And finally stealing can mean defrauding, trickery. You can never actually take something but you can actually deceive another's heart or mind to get unfair advantage and you steal. And behind all the stealing is you want to get something for nothing. That's the heart of it.

You want to get something for nothing. And so I was studying this and I'm praying and my system is I get up real early in the morning and I study for a few hours and then every Wednesday I take all day and study. And then my goal was by Thursday afternoon, my outline is done, I give it to my assistant by two o'clock, she comes up with all the notes, then I can sort of cook on it, take Friday off, don't have to think about it, my mind is free, get up early for a couple three hours, look over those notes, decide on the final illustrations, really feel good, spend the day with my family, go into Saturday night church a couple three hours early and then get my heart ready, pray through the message and go through to my mind.

Well that system works really well unless you get stuck on like Wednesday. And I'm studying and I'm stuck. I mean I've got all these verses, all these books, all these commentaries, all these notes and it won't come together because there's a process where God births the message in a teacher or a pastor. And it's like I begin to get anxious and I'll wake up at 1.11 and then I'll wake up at 2.17 and then I'll wake up at 3.15 and then you get thinking I'm not going to sleep much, so if you're not going to sleep you might as well pray. So I got up, got my briefcase open and I start going over it and over it and I'm just stuck. And then I said Lord, it's Wednesday, do you understand it's Wednesday Lord?

I mean I know you made the days and by the way, tomorrow at 2 o'clock I've got to turn this outline in and I don't want to put junk, I mean this is, I mean all scripture is important but I've got a feeling like doing these commands is like really important, you put them in stone, I'd like to at least get them like on paper, pretty good. And I can't get through. And so I remember saying Lord, if there's anything in my life from my heart that is keeping me from hearing your voice on this message, would you show me? I mean I'll just deal with it. Now I've been up at 1.11, I've been up at 2.17, we're on round three.

So it's not that I'm getting more noble, I'm getting more tired and I realize I don't want to fight God. And I sat quietly and I'd like to say it took hours for anything to come to my mind. It took minutes. Hey Chip, you know that trip you took to Phoenix several months ago? Yeah.

The one where you followed your son, took him to college? Yeah. Remember how you arranged a big meeting with the pastor of the big church and you did some interviewing? Yeah, great. But you remember that you, you know the mileage, you know when you filled out your taxes here just recently, the mileage for that, you accounted as a business trip? I said well yeah, I did business there and spent a couple days working with that guy, yeah. And you know this is an audible voice, this is how God speaks to you.

So would you have gone and met with that pastor at this particular time if your son wasn't going to that particular college? Maybe? I'm just kidding Lord, no. So you really arranged that time because this, it's just like finding golf balls isn't it? You're always trying to get something for nothing. You're always trying to figure a way to, you know, kill three birds with one stone.

Two is never good enough for you. So you went there, in fact didn't you even, you know, put a couple hotel bills as a possible tax deduction? And well you're getting really picky now aren't you Lord? And I just, my conscience, I thought you know, God if that's the problem I'm sorry, I'm wrong. And you know I just thought, you know, I'd kill two birds with one stone and I wanted to meet with that guy anyway and it was a really good meeting and it really helped me and it would have been a hundred percent, you know, and it's not like I was reimbursed, I was just saying that it was an unreimbursed business expense and it's a small percentage and this can't really be that big a deal is it Lord? Yeah it is.

It's called stealing. It's what you've been studying. And so I said I'm sorry, okay, I repent, I confess, I'll make it right tomorrow morning. Would you speak to me?

I need to finish this message. And he did and the outline came together and there was peace restored to my soul and so the CPA there in San Jose does it for a number of Christian organizations and he did our church and a number of big organizations and so I called him and, hey Dave how you doing? He said, oh great Chip and you know he starts to do the, hey good to see you and I said no Dave this isn't like social. I said this is confession. I said have you turned in my taxes yet? And he said no.

The 15th we sent them all out at one time. I said well I've got one kind of deduction, unreimbursed business expense and you know it might be a technicality, I'm still trying to fudge a little bit and I'm not sure if it really counts but my God showed me last night I don't want it, okay? And I explained to him what I did and why and the primary purpose of the trip in my heart was this and he said you know what it's interesting, your conscience is lining up very accurately with IRS protocol and rules.

So it is sin huh? He said yep you got it. I said well Dave forgive me for the poor testimony and I'd like you to mark those off and he said by the way Chip, he said here's how we calculate it just for your information. You write that in if it's not over X amount of dollars and he went through all this formula and when he got to the end and showed me how much money I saved it was like what is it about the human heart that is so dark? What is it about the human heart that is always trying to get something for nothing? What is it about the human heart that is always trying to fudge? What is it about the human heart, here I'm a pastor of a church and I'm trying to figure somehow some way to write off a few miles on a trip and a couple you know $39 to $59 and you only get a certain small percentage of that and I sacrifice the peace of God, a full night's sleep, an alienation from my father to try and cut a little corner.

Has anyone else ever done that? See that's what it means to be a kleptomaniac. Klepto is the Greek word for to steal. The purpose of the eighth command is this, the purpose is that God wants you to know that he values people and their right to own and possess personal property so highly that he put a divine boundary around what belongs to others. Now as much as we are warned about materialism, as much as we are warned about not letting our life become revolving around work, when we earn and when we come up with ideas and when we trust God and when we step out and that results in personal property or personal ideas or patents and we have earned them and worked for them and they become our property because we have worked by the grace of God to produce something, God takes a big border or boundary around that property and he says that belongs to you and I'm going to tell other people they can't mess with what rightly belongs to you and I'm going to say to you, you can't mess with what rightly belongs to them.

So much so that the eighth command is to act as a flashing light on the dashboard of our conscience saying don't take it. Don't take it, that's the theme, don't take it if it doesn't belong to you. Respect others' property, respect others' ideas, respect the laws that protect them, don't steal them, don't receive them, don't plagiarize them, don't defraud them. The idea of stealing, don't take and don't receive anything that rightly belongs to another and if you're still thinking that I'm the only kleptomaniac in the room, that would mean don't take their money, don't take their product, don't take their copyrights, don't take illegal discounts, don't take another's reputation, don't take their ideas, don't take supplies from work, don't use phone lines that don't belong to you, don't use copy machines that don't belong to you, don't use or take anything without permission that doesn't belong to you. If your employer paid for the pencils, they're his pencils.

If he's paying for the phone line, it's his phone line. If he pays you for X amount of hours and you have X amount of time for lunch, the beginning of that time and the end of that time is your time and the five minutes before or the 10 or 15 minutes that you come late, you are stealing from your employer. When Bill Gates, who we all know has lots of money, makes little copyrights about software that he created and you say he's got billions of dollars and my buddy has it and I take it and I put it on my machine because Bill will never know the difference, I'm stealing. When I download music off my computer that someone else has worked and created a song because I now have the technology to do it and I don't pay the copyrights to the people who made the song who wrote it, I'm stealing. When I take software from our company that works on my company computer and you know what, it would be so nice and by the way, I could do some work at home and I download it on my personal computer and I even do some work at home, I'm stealing. Now, if you want to ask your employer, can I use that, can I do that, I could do a little bit more work at home, when you take or when you receive anything that belongs to another person, you steal and your faces are telling me what probably is accurate, I'm mildly relieved but discouraged for you, there's other kleptomaniacs in the room. You know what, I think we're in a room of thieves. You see, as long as we make stealing, people who wear ski masks and break-in homes and people that are doing devious things like snatching purses, then we're pretty clean on the eighth command. But when you study scripture, what you find is the heart of the eighth command is not simply about taking.

It involves taking, receiving, not just things but anything that belongs to another person. On the bottom of your notes, it says the roots of kleptomania, why do we do it? Why do we do it? I want to give you three reasons. The first one is greed. It's the insatiable desire to get something for nothing. And I will not ask you, because you only have to go about once to get this, but you know, why in the world have almost everyone in this room at some time driven an hour and a half or two hours or three hours and heard a very boring one and a half hour presentation to get something that when we got it we thought this is a joke? What was it in you that really thought that you were so special that someone sent you a little envelope, act now, call within the next three days and they were really going to give you $10,000, a new car or a high fidelity stereo system and they hand you this little box and you're thinking you've been caught at least twice because you've got luggage and a radio system.

What's behind that? Why do I have to try and figure out how to line up a ministry opportunity when I'm taking my son to college? Why couldn't I say I love my son, it's a great college, it costs money, why don't I put gas in the car, why don't I just accept there's so many miles to get there. Has God provided for my needs?

He provides for my needs. What is it about me that's trying to figure out a loophole? It's called greed and it's in your spiritual veins and it's in mine. The second reason that we steal is laziness.

It's the inherent desire to take a shortcut, to cut a corner, to get the product without the process. It started for many of you in elementary school. Remember the PE teacher when they had PE?

For some of you. Remember the PE teacher would say, okay, we're going to warm up, here's the gymnasium. I want everyone to run around the outside of the basketball court. I need to walk down to the office, make sure we do at least 10 laps. He stands there with the whistle in his mouth and everyone very carefully runs around, be very careful with that here, and you go right around the edge. Then pretty soon as he doesn't look, you cut just a little bit of the corner. Then he walks out of the room and he goes down to the principal's office.

Three laps later we got everyone doing a circle inside of the box. I got news for you people, we got full blown born again, Bible believing, I love God, I want to raise a Christian family, evangelical Christians doing circles inside the box when it comes to integrity. When it comes to being honest. When it comes to stealing.

When it comes to telling the truth. We are lazy. Inherent in the fall, we are lazy. I'm looking for a shortcut and you're looking for a shortcut. I know we have all kind of really nifty words that rationalize it.

But I steal because I'm greedy, I steal because I'm lazy, and finally I steal because of pride. There's an adrenaline pumping adventure. There's a power that comes to just see.

If you can pull it off. Now for some of you, you came from really really good homes and this never entered your mind and for you I'm very thankful. But I decided when I was teaching this the very first time, we had a staff and it was a church that grew very rapidly and there was about a core of us.

We ended up with about 10 or 12 pastors that we did about a 10 year run and then we added another 10 or 12 pastors or so after that. So I went to the guys I knew, I mean we've been together for a long time. I said, guys, staff meeting, anybody here ever steal anything? It was like we're all converted.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Everybody in the room had stolen. And then I said, well what? And this one guy from North Carolina said, I remember when my brother and I did it.

We went into this hardware store and you know the axe handles, the big long axe handles. He said, we didn't even know what it was. I said, well what'd you do? He says, we took the axe handle and we put it down our pants leg and we walked out like this. And I said, well why did you do that? He said, see if we could. I said, well what'd you do with the axe handle? He said, we didn't know it was an axe handle. We just threw it in the creek. What is it about the thrill of just seeing if you can get away with it?

Had another guy who came from a very difficult home and an abusive situation and he had more stories than I could ever use. He said, but we played a game. My brothers and sisters and I and the people I ran with, we would see the winner of the game was who could get the biggest object out of the mini-mart without being caught. Just how big of object could you get out of the mini-mart when the guy wasn't watching? I mean, you know, like a pack of gum. I mean, you didn't even get in the running. And I said, well what did you do with the stuff?

He said, we threw it in the dumpster. And you know what, that sounds so crude and how could anyone do that? But you know something? A lot of stealing occurs sheerly out of the can I get away with it. In ancient cultures, for example, in Sparta, in Sparta it was never considered even stealing unless you got caught. In fact, in the country of Sparta, if you stole and you didn't get caught, then you could brag and you were esteemed for how nifty and smart you were in pulling the thing off. The Canaanite gods, the actual gods that they worshipped stole.

They would steal here, steal here, and it was applauded. So when this comes in to God's people's minds and heart, and he says, don't take, don't receive anything, any idea that belongs to someone else, it was a revolutionary concept. Well you ask yourself, like I do, how do we overcome this? How do we change? How do you overcome being a kleptomaniac? And I understand that, at least I pray, that most everybody listening to my voice is saying, you know what, it's not like I'm taking big stuff and I know I'm not doing, are you ready for this, I know I'm not doing anything worse than anybody else.

Everybody at work does it. Everyone leaves early, but I work really, really hard and sometimes I do things at home, I'm sure I make up for it, I'm sure it balances, save it, save it. If we're going to break this internal pulsating desire to get something for nothing, whether rooted in greed, laziness, or pride, number one, we've got to face how we steal. Number two, we've got to break down the defense mechanisms that we have gotten very good at, even as believers. And then number three, we need to follow God's divine prescription. And what I'd like to do in the remainder of our time is, okay, step one, let's face the facts, then step two, what's God's prescription, weigh it out, and let's walk out of here as people who in every way say, we're going to be honest, we're not going to steal. This is Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. You've been listening to part one of his message, Don't Take It, from our series, God's Boundaries for Abundant Living.

Chip will be back shortly to share some helpful application for us to think about. Many people today look at the Ten Commandments as an outdated and oppressive list of rules. So are they still necessary today? Does it matter if Christians follow them or not? Well, Chip addresses these tough questions through his detailed study in Exodus chapter 20. Discover, rather than a rigid set of don'ts, how the Ten Commandments act as guidelines for a loving and caring heavenly Father. I hope you can join us for every message in this series. To learn more about Living on the Edge or our many insightful resources, visit livingonthedge.org. That's livingonthedge.org. Our Bible teacher, Chip Ingram, is with me now, and he has a special word that he wanted to share with all of you.

Chip? Thanks so much, Dave. You know, summer is a time where you tend to get a little time off, or you find a novel that you want to read, or maybe you want to grow spiritually and do a specific study. And what I would tell you is this, if there's one single book that I've had the privilege of writing, that I would say if you have not read this, this summer would be the time. It's called The Real God, How He Longs for You to See Him. You see, what comes into your mind when you think about God is the most important thing about you.

Everything in my life and in your life flows from our view of God. I've read some great theology, and my experience over the years was, as I read Tozer and J. I. Packard and these great theologians, the truth was there, but I didn't know, how do you get it from your head to your heart? And so my book called The Real God was my 20-plus-years journey of taking the seven attributes. There's far more, but the seven major attributes and saying, how do we take that from knowing God is good to believing he is good, to knowing that he's just, and in your heart of hearts be able to deal with the injustice and the struggles in the world. Let me encourage you, if you need a book to read, to really realign your life and your walk with God.

It's called The Real God, How He Longs for You to See Him. Dave, could you give them a little information about how they can get the book? Happy to, Chip. To learn more about this resource, visit SpecialOffersAtLivingOnTheEdge.org or the Chip Ingram app. Through Chip's book, he'll explore seven key attributes of God revealed in scripture.

Discover how knowing who God really is gives us purpose, security, and true joy in our lives. So if you're ready to transform your view of God, check out The Real God today by going to SpecialOffersAtLivingOnTheEdge.org or the Chip Ingram app. Well, Chip, your message today was really thought-provoking because I think most people consider stealing a pretty obvious sin, like we all know that taking a candy bar from the store is wrong. But you helped us realize it can be much more subtle and dangerous than that. Well, take a minute, if you would, and unpack that a little more for us. Well, Dave, this is thought-provoking.

I remember thinking to myself, you know, thank heavens, we finally have one that I don't think I do. And then as I studied it and I started recognizing that God actually makes it very clear that He values people and He values their right to personal property and possessions, and that we need to honor that. And it's not just taking a thing, but it's much deeper. You know, you can steal time.

You can steal a person's reputation. At the heart of stealing is laziness. It's, I don't want to work. I don't want to put in the time. I don't want to grind this out.

I don't want to discipline myself. And behind this commandment is a lot of attitudes, including greed or covetousness that all of us are challenged with. I sure hope all of our listeners will be listening to our next broadcast because I'm going to tease out what this actually looks like in some everyday ways that we all are guilty of stealing. And I remember making a real clear commitment. I mean, yes, maybe a little legalistic, but I wasn't going to steal a pen from work.

I wasn't going to take anything, no matter how small, on my expense account if I had to divide it because, you know, nine-tenths of it was all business and there was one little part for me. And even though I'm a contributor to the ministry and a contributor to the church, that I would actually not let little things slide. And that has really helped me.

It's changed my perspective. It's put a boundary around that which belongs to other people. And it actually makes us free. And Lord, I pray right now for your spirit.

Would you show us, especially those of us that think of all things we don't steal, would you show us where we violate that boundary and what it does to others and what it's doing to us so that we might be free? In Christ's name, amen. Thanks, Chip. As we wrap up, I want to thank those of you who make this program possible through your generous financial support. Your gifts help us create programs, purchase airtime, and develop additional resources to help Christians live like Christians. Now, if you've been blessed by the Ministry of Living on the Edge, would you consider sending a gift today? Now, you can do that when you visit livingontheedge.org or the Chip Ingram map, and now you can text donate to 7-4141. That's the word donate to 7-4141. We want you to know how much we appreciate your support. We'll listen next time as Chip continues our series, God's Boundaries for Abundant Living. Until then, this is Dave Druey saying thanks for joining us for this Edition of Living on the Edge.