God's Boundaries for Abundant Living - Don't Take It, Part 2

Do you long for God's blessing in your life? I know I do, but I found some time ago that I had a habit that was constantly robbing me of God's blessing. Today I'll tell you how I began to curb that habit and how you can protect yourself from that same fate.

Stay with me. Thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Living on the Edge is an international discipleship ministry focused on helping Christians live like Christians. Well, we're in the middle of Chip's series, God's Boundaries for Abundant Living. Over the past several programs, we've journeyed with Chip through Exodus chapter 20, getting a fresh perspective of the 10 commandments God has laid out for us. Well, in just a minute, he'll share the second half of his message, Don't Take It. But before we begin, if this is your first time listening to Living on the Edge or you want to learn more about what we do, go to livingonttheedge.org.

You'll find tons of resources and countless programs to enjoy. So check it out today. Okay, if you have a Bible, go now to Exodus chapter 20 verse 15 for today's talk.

So let's face up to the facts. Let me give you about three different ways specifically that we steal. These were drawn right from scripture. We steal first by seizure. It's called taking. Notice Ephesians 4 28, let him who steals, steal no longer, but rather let him labor with his hands, performing with his own hands what is good in order that he may have something to share with him who has need. We steal by seizure. We just take stuff. Muggers, robbers, and bandits take by force from fellow Americans, leaving a third of them injured. Less dramatically, employees help themselves to company supplies without permission. Auto parts, tools, staplers, postage meters, pens, pencils, notebooks, gasoline, oil, food, and padding expense accounts.

Copyrights with regard to software. How many people have written a term paper and someone else did 90% of the research and all you need to do is put a little footnote to say who really wrote it, but that little footnote doesn't get on the paper and you act like you wrote it. It's called stealing. Our common among Christians is what I call long-term borrowing.

I wonder, when I did this I actually did this because I knew it was coming up. I wonder how many garden tools in your garage belong to someone else. I wonder if you opened your cupboards, how many punch bowls or serving platters belong to someone else. I imagine if you went through your closet, how many sweatshirts or where we were wetsuits or pieces of sports equipment are in your house that belong to someone else, but we're born again believers so we just borrowed it. But when you borrow it and it's been seven years, three years, I actually, you know what, I was so convicted I went out to my garage and I started inspecting.

And then I went to my library and I just started looking through books and thought, we take it, you know, thinking I don't want to make the guy feel bad, then it's on my shelf for three years. Long-term borrowing I'm going to suggest is stealing. It's just stealing. It's not yours. You've seized it. I don't mean it's been willful, malicious, but you've seized it. I've seized it. God says, make a list, go through your garage, go through your cupboards.

If you broke it, replace it. And by the way, I had a real opportunity for a testimony of the Lord. I had some garden equipment of an unbelieving neighbor and I didn't even know it was in there. And I just brought this over and then when I looked at it, it was like, oh my lands, you know, I don't know if he messed it up this badly or me. And I thought, man, I just took the thing, went down to the hardware store and I got myself a new rake or whatever the thing was and I bought a new one and I took the new one to him.

And you know what, I got to tell him, I'm sorry that I don't know how it got this way, but here you go. I'm doing a little series in our church on the Ten Commandments and the eighth command says, don't take it. And I took it. I didn't mean to take it. I didn't willfully take it. And what belongs to you has been here for a long, long time. And somehow it got messed up while it was in my garage.

So you deserve a new one. You know what the look is on an unbeliever's face when someone does that? Well, one, this guy's nuts. That's okay.

And second was, maybe there are some Christians out there that actually believe what they say. Can you imagine if you went through your garage and your library and your drawers, wouldn't it be neat if, you know, I hope it's not scores of, but wouldn't it be kind of neat if people got notes next week and materials returned and books given back and punch bowls returned and weir barrows with a new tire on the front and they go, what's this all about? I forgot all about it.

Ah. And you say, well, it's yours and God just showed me I ought to give it back to you. And then you ask forgiveness and make restitution. The second way we steal is by deception. Notice Proverbs 10, too. It says, wealth you get by dishonesty will do you no good, but honesty can save your life.

Deception or trickery, lies, half-truths, gimmicks, schemes, rationalization, tricks are all means that we play on people's minds and you know what, we've just figured out ways where it doesn't feel very bad but to cheat them. One in every 52 customers that leave a supermarket leave without paying for at least one item. Conversely, they did a study and they took 500 random products. Random products, everything from screws to a bag of peanuts to a bag of 100 aspirin or vitamins that are supposed to be in this bottle. Over half of the items did not contain what the label said.

They found, for example, 90 vitamins in a bottle of 100, 60 screws in a package labeled 100. Can I ask you a penetrating question? Is your business honest? I mean, your department honest? You run it honestly? Anybody sold a car lately? Anybody mess with an odometer? When you sold the car, did you tell them the not so good features as well as the, hey baby, this is a great home.

Isn't this the game we play? Hey, I mean, it runs like a charm. You're going to love this thing. Really, I had a whole lot of problems. I had a couple minor things.

Yeah, the transmission and the wheel bearing in the back. You know what? Just around town, you're really going to love it. That's this conversation. Three days early in a coffee shop, what are you going to do, man? I've got a new car. Why? The thing's a piece of junk.

I've got to upgrade pretty soon. What are you going to do? I'm going to see if I can sell it, stick the thing in the paper or something.

This is that conversation. In other words, bad, bad. When you sell it, it's good, good. When you make the transaction, what do we say? What? It was a steal and it was.

It was a steal and it was. And see, here's the irony. It's like the little tiny bit of money that I might have saved or thought I saved for counting some mileage and lied to the IRS and I lost my peace with God. I lost the blessing of God. God doesn't bless liars. He doesn't bless stealers. He doesn't bless adulterers. He blesses people who walk purely before Him. We are giving away our birthright. We're giving away often the blessing of God for what? Wow, you sold the car for 300 more dollars and God's blessing is removed from your life? You think it's worth it?

I don't think that's worth it. I was thinking of those that are students. Over half of those in school say they lie about references on their term papers. We have a whole generation of people that you can go through some colleges and you can have someone actually go to most of the classes and in some sports schools we've just found people can take the SAT for you to get in and you just steal people's brains. You steal their knowledge. We steal their ideas.

God says don't go there. The third way we steal is by defrauding. Defrauding is withholding from another person what rightly belongs to them. Proverbs 3 27 and 28. Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due when it's in your power to do it.

Don't say to your neighbor go and come back and tomorrow I'll give it to you when you have it with you today. When it's in your power to do what you ought to do, what you're responsible to do it says give it. When companies withhold fair wages and benefits they defraud their workers. Leviticus 19 13 says don't take advantage of anyone. Don't hold back the wages of someone you've hired even for a night. When employees do less than a full day's work they steal from their employers. When employers don't pay benefits that the government requires they steal from their employees. Now you know we have bits of government and those laws are unjust and it shouldn't be that way and that guy never gives a fair day's work anyway and you know it all is going to even out. Here rationalization.

Honor God. How many here have had a relative or a good friend borrow some money from you? You know it's only a couple hundred bucks right? Or maybe it was to put a little money down on a house three or four five thousand dollars or maybe it was more. How many people have a relative or a friend that you've quote lent some money to and they now have amnesia? And how many of you have ever done that and find yourself with this unsettled feeling like all the families getting together at Thanksgiving and you can't figure out I don't want to go, I don't want to go, I don't want to go, I feel so uncomfortable and then the thought comes because I owe Uncle Bob 750 bucks that I borrowed seven years ago and he always passes the gravy like this. Anybody owe anybody any money? Anybody owe you money?

By the way do you want to know how we rationalize it? When I steal from someone else what I learned is it's not a big deal. Steal from the IRS, the government they're not using the money any good any right? Steal from Bill Gates, what's one little copyright?

The guy's a genius, he's got zillions of dollars, he'll never miss it. Every time I steal from someone else it's not a big deal. I mean that gas station they're charging too much anyway. So what if a few more things came out of the candy machine? You know what it's overpriced anyway. I don't have to go back and tell the person you know I got seven candy bars for the price of one. It was a blessing from the Lord.

It's for my children. I mean see when I steal from someone else it's not a big deal, they'll never miss it. And when the guy who breaks into maybe one of your homes and if it's a pretty nice house and he takes your jewelry you know what he's thinking?

What's a diamond necklace or what's a nice pair of earrings? Look at the nice place they have it, look at the nice car. It's not a big deal. Have you ever been on the other end? Have you ever had someone steal from you?

Have you ever had someone break into your home? I can still remember how livid I was. I was playing golf one day, I set my clubs out, it was a gift from the church in Texas. I mean the little thing on the bag you know it wasn't like they were super expensive but they meant a lot.

I went in and sat down to have a Coke and I came out and it was gone. I had a friend that was at a place similar to this and I had a friend that they came back from an event like this, their house was trashed and man everything that you could take was gone. And the lady said I've never felt so violated and so angry. That's how God feels when we steal from him and when we steal from others. And our level of denial is we don't think it's a big deal when we do it, even in the little things, but we think it's a really big deal when people steal from us. The final means of defrauding and possibly the most serious is when we steal from God. And you're thinking whoa, wait, wait, wait. How can you steal from God? He's got everything. Well, follow along.

Malachi 3, 8 to 11. Will a man rob God? And yet you rob me, Scripture says.

But you ask, how do we rob you? Answer in tithes and offerings. You are under a curse, the whole nation of you, because you're robbing me. The nation of Israel is under the curse of God because they're robbing him.

Here's the solution. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house. Test me in this, says the Lord, and see if I won't throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you won't have room enough for it. I will prevent the pests from devouring your crops and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruits, says the Lord Almighty. I wonder how many Christians are robbing God. Last statistic in America, about 97% of them.

You know what? I'm not even going to go to is the tithe for today, all right? The tithe occurred before there was the law, 10%. You've got it in the law and if you add it all up, it's way more than a tithe. You have Jesus saying to the Pharisees, hey, you should have given this with the right motive, with the right attitude. New Testament clearly teaches proportional giving, but I'll tell you what, 10% of what we have, I think, belongs to God.

That's a great place to start. 97% of Christians in America did not tithe last year to any charitable organization. The average born again evangelical believer gave 2.7% of their income.

2.7%. And you know what? Now, this was under the economy of Israel. God says bring it into the storehouse.

Well, why? Because I've got a Levitical priesthood as a theocracy. You're robbing these guys of their wages. We've got poor people and widows over here and if you don't bring in your 10% of this festival and your 10% happening over here and your 10% over here, we can't feed the widows over here. It's set up in an economy so that you always remember it's not yours, the 90% or the 84% or whatever you keep.

And I'll tell you, the lights will come on in your life when you realize all that you have and all that you own, it does not belong to you. It is God's. It's God's. And so you can never puff your chest out and say, I gave 16% of my income last year.

I sure am really doing great. No, you gave 16% of what God entrusted to you. Praise the Lord, press ahead.

And you know what? He holds you accountable for the 12% or the 8% or the 16% or the 78% you gave and he holds you just as accountable for how you spend and do with the rest. It's scripture.

We have figured out a way to say, I have an ooey gooey feeling. I'm in a small group. I go to a Bible study. I have this emotional feeling toward God.

I got news for you. God is not looking for your emotional feeling. He's looking for your obedience. And it's not a law.

It's not a gun to your head. Every member of these are boundaries. Why does God give a boundary? Greed will kill you. Greed will kill your relationships. What's the antidote to greed? Generosity. Well, how do you be generous?

Well, you start with the basic. Each time God gives you X amount of dollars, you go through this process where you go, this isn't mine. It's painful, but this isn't mine. Who gave you the brains to earn it? God did. Who gave you the air to breathe? God did. Who provided the job?

God did. Whose is it? God's.

Okay. Now, just so you remember that it's really mine, I want you to take the first portion and I'm going to do some wonderful what I call spiritual power. You give me the first portion and you watch that 90% go way farther than the 100% that you had.

Because I want a faith relationship with my people. It's just like work six days and I'll watch your six days of work go way beyond everyone else who works seven. So as a good beginning point, so you remember as my gift to you, I want you to give the first portion to me so you always know it's all mine. Oh, thank you, Lord. That's a great reminder.

I really appreciate that. And when you don't do that, you are down a path that will bring destruction to you. And you say, some people say, well, I can't give. Well, how much is your credit cards over? People can't give because they're leveraged in debt.

Why are you leveraged in debt? Because you're greedy. Well, why are you greedy? Because you're in a consumer mindset world. Why are you in a consumer mindset world?

Because the world is telling you that you've got to dress a certain way and drive a certain thing and have this and have that. And we live beyond and you keep buying more and more stuff that you can't afford that doesn't bring the satisfaction to your heart. That's why we have all these garage sales. I mean, I look at more good stuff and I think, man, a lot of what in the world? We have so much stuff. Why? Because we're buying junk we don't need. Well, if I gave, I would have to really watch my money. Duh.

I'd have to maybe even go on a budget. Duh. I might have to, wait a second, we might have to eat at home more. Oh my. Might even talk around the table.

Might get to know each other. Might take five minutes afterwards and even pray. I mean, ridiculous things could happen if you were forced to say, I'm going to give God the first portion, figure out how to live on the 90, re-prioritize my life. This is a gift from God. And when you don't do it, you are robbing God. And if you don't give it willfully, what's this text say?

At least what he did to the Israelites? Unexpected car repair. Or maybe chariot repair. Unexpected illness.

Jobs that go south. See, God gently, lovingly, Hebrews 12 is this. He loves you so much that when you live and I live in disobedience, he will bring what I call the velvet vice of love.

It's velvet on the outside because it's always gentle from a heart of compassion and he'll do this to your life. You know what? And get your priorities right.

Get your finances in order. And you know what? The more you disobey, the more painful it gets. He'll get your attention. Why? Because he loves you. He's not down on you.

He loves you. Because if you keep living the way you're living, I keep living the way I'm living, I keep going into denial and lying and stealing and pretending, who is it going to hurt? Me. What would a good parent do? A good parent would lovingly, spiritually spank me and allow there to be holes in my purse so that the more I try and do it my way, the less effective I would become.

And the less effective I would become, I would say, oh Lord, I guess maybe I need your help. We steal, fellow kleptomaniacs, I can see you're finally on the same page with me. We steal by seizure, by deception, by defrauding. And this last portion is very quick, but this is, I like to do this. I like to do what I call a spiritual P and L on the profit and loss of stealing.

So I did a profit and loss. Is the short term gain of whatever I can get from stealing, that little copyright, or that few hundred dollars, is it worth the long term pain? Is getting things worth losing peace, integrity, and God's blessing?

That's the one that brings me. And by the way, you're human, you're going to be tempted, right? You're going to be tempted to steal sometime tomorrow. And I always say, now would I rather have this little thing done by a shortcut, or would I rather have God's blessing and his peace? Because often the reason I steal someone's idea is to press someone. Is it really worth, you know, looking powerful and important and then looking small in God's eyes?

I don't think so. Is a phony image in a condemning heart worth the stuff that you're getting? You know, the reason we take it, why do we take stuff?

What are we going to use it for? We're trying to project something that's not true. Is your lust worth the lovelessness that stealing inflicts on others? Remember, every time you steal, that other person feels the way you feel when someone steals from you. And I always do this one, carefully consider you always reap what you sow, Galatians 6. Stealing always starts small, but it always grows. It's like a cancer. That's why I think it's so important to break the habit, and especially parents with your kids, break the habit of lying early, break the habit of stealing. It's not, I can download this, and even though it's illegal and everyone else is doing it. Son, we don't do that in our house. But it's only 99 cents, then you pay 99 cents and you go online and you get it right. We don't do that in our house. Well, it wasn't a lie, it was an exaggeration. We don't do that in our house.

Because they always grow. And I guess what I looked at when I looked at that, I said, can I really afford to steal? Can I really afford to keep stealing and defrauding and tricking? And I just came to the conclusion, no.

And if no, then what do we do about it? God has a divine prescription guaranteed to restore fellow kleptomaniacs like myself. We're all just a bunch of chickens in the same boat, aren't we? We're just all a bunch of saved sinners, loved by God, common struggles, ups and downs, and we have a gentle savior who brought us here, not to beat us up, but to say, here's the bar. And the bar's there because I love you, it's a boundary. But I'm not fudging, and I don't grade on the curve, and I'm not going to wink at your sin, and I brought you here to love you. And for some of us it means you need to go home and do some 180s. I mean, you need to do some radical readjustments of relationship, finances, and focus.

What do we do about it? If you get your pen out, you know them well, but let me just give them to you. Number one is admit your need and ask for help. You can write one word, repent. The word repent literally means to have a change of mind that leads to a change of action. There was a thief on the cross, and what did he do? He had a change of mind that led to a change of life. And what was he? He was a stealer. He was a thief.

He was a kleptomaniac. Jesus, save me. I need help.

Did he get help or not? Will God give you help or not? God doesn't want you walking out this door going to lunch with your head down, man, I can't believe, man, I thought I was pretty clean on this one, man, I really steal, man, I've been stealing software forever and company time and phone lines and copy machine and, man, I've rationalized, oh, I don't even know where to begin to be honest. Just begin right here.

Jesus, help me, I'm sorry, this is wrong. Just own it. Second is pay back whatever you've taken whenever possible. One of the great evidences of the work of God is restitution. Repent and then restitution. When Zacchaeus came to Christ and he had the little party, what's the first thing he did?

He got it. Lord, this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to pay back anyone I've robbed, anyone I've overcharged, not just what I did, four times. And what was Jesus' response? The real thing happened in this house.

Salvation has come to Zacchaeus. Third, attack the source, not simply the symptoms of stealing. Attack the source. The source of most stealing for most of us is not pride in the power trip, it's greed. And the only way you overcome greed is with the antidote of generosity. And I don't mean just in your giving to God. Just decide I'm going to be a generous person. I'm going to be generous with my time. I'm going to be generous how I drive. That person, you know what, they don't deserve to be let in, I'm going to be generous, I'm going to let them in. I'm going to be generous at the table. I'm going to be generous when I go over to lunch and yes, I'm hungry and other people are hungry, I'm going to say, why don't you go ahead of me.

I'm going to be generous when I get to the salad bar and I really want this and I see that kind of the good stuff is starting to run out. And then as we Christians do, that smile, bump that person, make sure I get that chicken before anybody else does. We do it. We do it. You do it. I do it.

And now you know what? May the chicken be blessing to another. And do it in the little stuff and you just decide I'm going to be generous in my thinking. I'm going to be generous with my time. I'm going to be generous with my stuff. I'll be generous with my money. I'll be generous with my God.

And you know what I do? It just does something to your heart and it breaks the power of greed. Finally, if you need stuff, work hard. Just work hard.

Just realize there is a way to get stuff and it's not running on the inside of the spiritual track of the gymnasium. It's just stay outside the lines the way God said and expect the hand of the good and living God to place His hand upon you and to bless your life and to bless your hard work and be generous with what He's given you and you will see that you will almost always have more than you ever, ever, ever need. And with it, peace in your heart. You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram and the message you just heard, Don't Take It, is from our series, God's Boundaries for Abundant Living.

Chip will be back to share some insights from today's talk in just a minute. Whether you're religious or not, we all know something about the Ten Commandments and may even be able to name a couple. But do you know that they're just as important now as when God gave them to Moses? Through this study in Exodus chapter 20, we'll learn how respecting our parents, putting God first, and keeping our word aren't just good ideas, but the moral foundation for our faith. Stay with us to get a fresh perspective on these boundaries and better grasp how they can lead to an abundant life. If you've missed any part of this series, catch up on the Chip Ingram app. Before we go any further, our Bible teacher Chip Ingram is with me now to share a quick word.

Thanks so much, Dave. If you've been listening to Living on the Edge for a while, you may have heard me talk about BIO. The B is for Before God, the I for In Community, and the O for On Mission. And here at Living on the Edge, we have about a million folks who listen each week, like you are right now. We've got hundreds of thousands who use our small group studies, read the books, and go to the website every year. And for many, the teaching and the resources we provide through Living on the Edge, it helps them understand what it really means to come before God and to meet Him and experience Him. For others, it's kind of their lifeline to doing life in community. But there's a relatively smaller group of people who step up and say, I'm all in. We want to be on mission with you, and we want to make this ministry happen.

So here's what I'm asking. Nearly all that we do at Living on the Edge is only possible through the financial partnerships of folks like you. Will you help? Will you pray about becoming a partner with Living on the Edge financially?

Would you stand in agreement with us on our mission as we pursue in this day and age to help Christians really live like Christians? Thank you for doing whatever God leads you to do. Thanks, Chip. Send a gift today when you visit LivingOnTheEdge.org or through the Chip Ingram app. Or you can text donate to 74141. That's the word donate to 74141. For Chip and the entire Living on the Edge team, thank you in advance for your generosity.

Well, with that, here again is Chip. As we close today's program, what we know is that it is responding to God's Word, not hearing it that makes a difference. Greed. I mean, the Bible's full of warnings about it, but we don't talk much about it. Where has greed entered your heart?

And how will you break its power? Are you willing to admit that you are living above your means? Are you willing to address some things that you have stolen, possibly from God, in your lack of giving or in your lack of time? Could it be that greed has its tentacles and is choking out the Spirit's work in your heart and life? You work so much you don't have time for people, you don't have time for you, you don't have time for God, because it all boils down to more and more and more. If so, today.

Today's the day. Break the power of greed. Go to God. Repent. Get help. Make restitution. And then become that generous person that you so like to be around.

God will give you the power, but you have to take the first step. Take it today. Good word, Chip, thanks. As we close, if you're looking for a way to get more out of Chip's teaching, let me encourage you to download his message notes.

This helpful tool is available for every program. Chip's notes contain his outline, all of the scripture references and lots of fill-ins to help you remember what you're learning. You can download them at livingontheedge.org under the broadcasts tab. App listeners tap fill-in notes. Well, I'm glad you've been with us. Until next time, this is Dave Drouie saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge.