WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:04.880 Well, good morning, church. How are doing today? Everybody doing okay? Yeah. Yeah. 00:00:04.880 --> 00:00:17.775 Good. Good. Listen. Before we jump into our commandment for today, I wanted to thank you. Because about two weeks ago, we had, this church was basically taken over by middle schoolers. 00:00:17.855 --> 00:00:34.340 We had about a 180 middle schoolers at an event we call Converge. This is an event we do with a couple other local min... Youth ministries, local churches, and we all come together to put on this event for our middle schoolers. We had a 180 total. We had about 50 from Ward. 00:00:34.500 --> 00:00:43.615 And, let me tell you, man. We took over those hallways. We put inflatables up and down those giant hallways. You know what I mean? And I knew those big hallways were good for something. 00:00:43.615 --> 00:00:53.295 It's inflatables. That's what they're good for. And then we had escape rooms here at the church. We had laser tag, put put, all kinds of stuff. We had, Micah Williams, pastor of Unity Church. 00:00:53.295 --> 00:01:11.565 You all know Micah. He was our main speaker there, and, he did a great job of bringing God's word to our middle schoolers. And we had the majority, I would say, of our middle schoolers take a significant step forward in their faith in Jesus Christ. So it was a powerful weekend. Was It a very good weekend and it's because of your generosity. 00:01:11.565 --> 00:01:24.125 Yeah. It's because of your generosity we're able to do these kinds of things. So thank you so much. Thank you, Ward. I wanted to give you all a little insight this morning into my sermon planning process. 00:01:24.650 --> 00:02:13.585 Some of you may have wondered what it looks like for a pastor to write a sermon or a presentation, something like that. So I wanted to let you all know how it works for me. So normally, I get about six or eight weeks notice when I'm gonna be preaching on something and at that time, I get my scripture, I get like the big idea kind of thing and then from that moment on, my brain just starts like flooding with ideas and and images and pictures and all kinds of ways that I could creatively kinda interpret this passage to you in a way that hopefully is applicable to your life. So all these things start swimming around and and I pray about it and I see God and what he would have me say through this passage. And and then about two weeks before, I start doing a lot of research on the passage. 00:02:13.825 --> 00:02:25.510 I start looking in, what I have all these books in my office. They're called concordances and, or commentaries. And they're actual paper books which is crazy. Right? Turn the pages and everything. 00:02:25.510 --> 00:02:37.155 It's wild. And, so I start looking at all these. I look at the Bible itself. I cross reference scriptures and, look at other stories that tie into the story I'm preaching on. All kinds of things. 00:02:37.155 --> 00:03:10.495 I do some online research through trusted resources, all kinds of things. And then probably about seven or eight days before I actually preach the message, I put a pen to paper and start writing things down, trying to organize some of these thoughts, seeking after God's holy spirit to guide me in constructing something that might be applicable to someone's life. But with this passage, when I heard I was preaching on the eighth commandment, I kinda got stuck on the first the first part of the process. Because really, do not steal. Right? 00:03:10.495 --> 00:03:22.470 Like, I I kinda just wouldn't wanna come up here and say, just don't steal, and then call the worship team back out, and we all go home, watch football. You know what I mean? It's very simple. Just don't do it. Don't steal. 00:03:22.630 --> 00:03:54.030 But as I started researching this passage a little bit more, because it's part of the group of three three commandments. Do not murder, do not commit adultery, and do not steal. And all of these commandments have to do with how we interact with one another. So I started looking into this a little bit more, and I realized like all the commandments, there's a little more to it than just what is written in these short verses. This one goes a bit beyond just don't take stuff that isn't yours. 00:03:54.030 --> 00:04:19.200 So what we're gonna do today is we're gonna look at the real meaning behind you shall not steal. We're gonna look at the real intention behind God giving this command to the people of Israel. And then we're gonna kinda take it and look at how we can apply it to our own lives and how we can apply this to the blueprints of our lives. So the first thing we're gonna do, we're gonna look back. We're gonna pull the scripture up one more time if you forgot what it said. 00:04:19.440 --> 00:04:45.760 Exodus twenty fifteen says, you shall not steal. That's our entire passage. You shall not steal. Now, the Hebrew word used in this commandment, because the original translations we have of the Old Testament are in an ancient language, called Hebrew. And sometimes it's helpful to look at the original language to see if there's a little more meaning to the passage than it was translated in our modern English translations. 00:04:45.840 --> 00:05:00.745 So the word for steal used in this commandment is actually two words and they are lo tignav. Lo tignav. Someone asked me between services, they said, what was that Hebrew word again? And I totally forgot. So don't quiz me after this people, you know. 00:05:00.985 --> 00:05:21.290 Just hear it and receive that. Lo tignav. And, it actually comes from, the word ganav, another Hebrew word. And the simple definition for the word is this, to steal, thieve, or take by stealth. But there's also a broader meaning to this word as well, and that's what we're gonna look at for just a couple moments here. 00:05:21.675 --> 00:05:40.680 The first thing about this word and its broader meaning is simple. It refers to theft and robbery. And honestly, I'm get... I'm really glad God included these in the top 10 because I have a history of larceny myself. When I was younger, I think I was like 10 years old. 00:05:40.680 --> 00:06:03.635 I I had rode my bike up to the local party store and we're buying some candy and things and there I saw it. This beautiful, elegant, bic lighter that was about this big, a mini mini lighter. I I didn't smoke. I didn't light things on fire, but man, I had to have this lighter, you know. So as I was walking by, just kinda snuck it in my pocket and then we left. 00:06:04.130 --> 00:06:28.985 And I know. This is confession time for for Mark this morning. Okay? And then the thing was when I got home, I was just overwhelmed with guilt that I had stolen this lighter and I was like, man, how could I do this and everything? So out of shame, I hid it in my bedroom, and it stayed there until I moved out of my parents' house, like, ten years later, and I was moving all my stuff, and I found that little symbol of my sinful past. 00:06:29.625 --> 00:06:37.320 And, I threw it out. Somebody asked me earlier if I still have the lighter. I don't have it. I threw it out. But the guilt and the shame that came with that, I'm like, yeah. 00:06:37.320 --> 00:06:50.485 Dude, don't steal. It's not worth it. You're gonna feel terrible about it. But then it goes, there's a lot of examples about theft in the Old Testament. Stories we could talk about like Rachel stole her father's household gods. 00:06:50.485 --> 00:07:02.565 Achan stole some devoted things after the fall of Jericho. Ahab and Jezebel stole Naboth's vineyard, just to name a few. But basically, don't take things that don't belong to you. Just don't do it. Don't steal. 00:07:03.370 --> 00:07:28.835 And then the second thing this commandment refers to is the unlawful taking of people. The unlawful taking of people. Now at this point, some may pause and say, but hold on because there's servants in the Bible. There's slavery in the Bible. And there's things that happen in the scriptures that would say different, but but servanthood back then in ancient Israel looked a lot different than new age slavery. 00:07:29.555 --> 00:08:06.140 And this is shown by what comes in the very next chapter. In Exodus twenty one sixteen, it says, whoever steals a man and sells him and anyone found in possession of him shall be put to death. See, taking people from their homes against their will and selling them is strictly forbidden by the eighth commandment. And this gets hairy because sometimes after wars in the Old Testament, you would see foreigners taken, you know, as property and and and and forced into servitude after winning a war, defeating a land, things like that. And sometimes Israel's... 00:08:06.140 --> 00:08:42.570 Israelites could enter into things called indentured servitude. But new age slavery was based on people being bought and sold, taken from their homes against their will, sometimes by their own people. And this is a direct violation of the eighth commandment punishable in those days by death. The third thing the commandment refers to is cheating or swindling our neighbor. At the time these commandments were written, there was a lot of bartering and exchanging that happened, and they would use measurements of weight to say how much something was worth or how much value it had. 00:08:42.650 --> 00:09:17.415 And what would happen in the markets in those days is a lot of people would use crooked scales to try and cheat people out of more money than they actually owed them. So this was happening a lot during those times, and it's interesting because that may not translate to our times, but surely we can translate this to modern times of people trying to cheat in business deals, People trying to take more than they're warranted. We could almost look at this in terms of modern times as carry yourself in your dealings with others with integrity. Integrity. 00:09:17.415 --> 00:09:17.735 We're gonna 00:09:17.735 --> 00:09:40.610 come back to that word. But of course, there are other things this could apply to in modern times, stealing intellectual property, taking advantage of people, embezzling, taking unlawful stock or gambling tips, fraudulent merchandise, all kinds of ways that we could apply this to modern life. And then this passage refers to other things as well, like stealing property or land. But you get the idea. Right? 00:09:40.610 --> 00:10:01.120 This scripture basically is saying anything that belongs to someone else, we have no right to take it. And at the end of the day, this scripture is a call to integrity. And the reason for that is because integrity multiplies influence. Integrity multiplies influence. Okay. 00:10:01.120 --> 00:10:44.800 So we spent quite a bit of time talking about what not to do in light of this command, which makes sense. It's a negative command, do not steal. But I also believe there's some positive implications that come from this command about the way we carry ourselves or what we can take and grow with from this command, this eighth commandment. So I wanna turn our intention right now to the direction of how do we live our lives with integrity. And and the cool thing about that, that you find yourself in this place today is in our scriptures, in the bible, we have the example of a God who took on human form and came down to earth and lived a life that shows us exactly how to live our lives with integrity. 00:10:45.545 --> 00:11:26.535 His name is Jesus, and we have a book full of his teachings and the way he would live his life so that we can try to follow him and live our lives the best we can as he lived his life with integrity. So I think at this point, as we look at Jesus' life, there's really one scripture that Jesus spoke that I think can really wrap up not only this commandment, not only all 10, but all the other commandments as well. And I I believe that because he says it right in his quote. So for a little background of what's happening at this time is Jesus was gaining influence. People were coming from all over to hear what he would say or do next. 00:11:26.535 --> 00:11:35.120 Thousands would gather to come and see what Jesus would do next. And remember, they didn't get any evites. You know? They weren't getting... They weren't spreading the word on TikTok. 00:11:35.120 --> 00:12:01.940 This was word-of-mouth. Right? And people are coming from all around to hear and see what Jesus would do next. So the Pharisees who were the local religious leaders, they started getting nervous because they saw Jesus influence growing and thereby they saw their influence kinda going down a little bit. So they would take every opportunity they could to try and discredit the teachings of Jesus, to try and discredit him as the Messiah or the savior. 00:12:01.940 --> 00:12:43.630 So this situation was no different. There's a moment where Jesus, thousands have gathered to listen to him, to hear his teachings, and the Pharisees walk up to him and they ask him this question to try and get him to trip up, to try and get him to slip up and discredit everything he had taught up to this point. So they ask him, out of all the commandments in the Old Testament, you know, the big 10, like we've been talking about, but there's actually over 600 more commandments in the Old Testament, which Jesus would have been very familiar with. Because he grew up a Jewish boy and he would have learned all of these commandments by heart, really. So they asked him this question, but of all those commands, which one is the most important? 00:12:44.745 --> 00:13:07.750 Now there was a litany of commands Jesus could have chosen from here. All kinds of things. Everything from men don't trim your beards to the big 10 to don't murder, don't commit adultery, everything in between. And of course, as as being God and man, Jesus was the perfect authority to answer this question. And he does that in the book of Matthew chapter 22. 00:13:07.990 --> 00:13:29.640 That's where we're gonna be looking today. If you brought your Bibles with you, you can turn there or we have Bibles in the pews in front of you. And then also, you can read the scriptures on the screen. But if you do have your personal Bible and you have not circled, highlighted, underlined this passage, it's Matthew 22 verses 37 through 40. I encourage you to do that. 00:13:30.200 --> 00:13:35.400 Don't do it in the pew bibles maybe. Well, actually, go ahead. Do it in the pew bibles too. You know what I mean? Let's get the word out. 00:13:35.400 --> 00:13:44.865 No. I'm just kidding. Don't do that. Alright. But in Matthew chapter 22 verses 37 through 40, we hear what's referred to as the great commandment. 00:13:45.105 --> 00:14:19.295 And we refer to it that by tradition in the Christian faith, but also because Jesus says, this is the greatest commandment. So in Matthew chapter 22 starting in verse 37, it says this, Jesus replied, love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And honestly, at this point, Jesus probably already had the right answer. Are you like, you can imagine the Pharisees hearing that and being like, you win this round Jesus, but we'll get you, you know. 00:14:19.295 --> 00:14:44.635 But Jesus probably had the right answer already, but but then he continues. In verse 39 he says, and the second is like it, love your neighbor as yourself. And then he continues and says, all the law and all the prophets hang on these two commandments. Meaning meaning the top 10. Right? 00:14:44.795 --> 00:15:06.300 Meaning all the 600 other laws that were given in the Old Testament. Even all the prophets who had come before. Remember, in the Old Testament prophets were messengers from God. And Jesus is saying, every word they spoke hang on this command that we love God and that we love our neighbor. So I wonder at this point what the Pharisees are thinking. 00:15:06.915 --> 00:15:24.220 I wonder what's going through their heads because in this moment, they... The people who were there were astonished. The Bible says, people were astonished with the teachings of Jesus. Every time Jesus opened his mouth, people listened. And they came from all around to see what he would say next. 00:15:24.220 --> 00:15:48.710 And if you look at Jesus' life in the scriptures, in the gospels, you can see that his influence was growing rapidly from his time he starts his ministry here on Earth. Why? What was so magnetic about Jesus? What was so magnetic about the teachings of Jesus? What was it about him in the midst of a ton of other religious teachers and prophets? 00:15:48.710 --> 00:16:11.205 What stuck out about Jesus? You know what it was? It was that he actually lived out what he was teaching. He lived out what he was teaching and he did it perfectly. When he said love your neighbor, he had the full authority to say it and give this teaching because he did it perfectly. 00:16:12.885 --> 00:16:38.805 And the more he showed perfect love for his neighbors, the more his influence grew. The more the church grew. So if we think about this, if we think about the great commandment and all the laws and all the prophets hang on these two, then let's look at our passage. Let's look at do not steal and see how that measures up to loving God and loving our neighbors. So let's go back to what we talked about earlier. 00:16:38.805 --> 00:16:48.850 So stealing stuff that isn't ours. Is that loving our neighbor? Of course not. Right? It's it's never okay to covet things your neighbor has that you don't. 00:16:49.090 --> 00:17:05.955 It's never okay to put your own needs before someone else's and take what they have because you want it more. It's never okay to take things that aren't ours. It's not loving to put our needs before the needs of others because Jesus teaches others first. Right? Okay. 00:17:05.955 --> 00:17:16.010 So what about stealing and selling people? Is that loving our neighbor? Obviously not. Right? It's devaluing human life. 00:17:16.650 --> 00:17:33.485 Human life that was created by God stamped in his image. See, human life has value. And when we buy or sell people, we're devaluing human life. People aren't products. People aren't for sale. 00:17:34.445 --> 00:17:55.020 And they never should be because people, human beings stamped with the image of God are worth so much more. So much more. So what about the other things? Cheating, deceiving people into false gains, stealing land, taking property, stealing ideas or intellectual properties, plagiarism, etcetera. Do any of those things show a hint of loving our neighbor? 00:17:55.020 --> 00:18:20.450 And the answer is, of course not. Of course not. And the reason Jesus had the leverage, the influence, the authority to proclaim all the laws hinge on these two big ones, love God and love your neighbor, is again because he did it perfectly and his integrity multiplied his influence. Keep using this word integrity. What does that actually mean? 00:18:20.450 --> 00:18:53.245 So I I was looking up a ton of different definitions of the word and using Merriam Webster's dictionary and dictionary.com and all kinds of things, places. And I actually found one definition that I think kinda culminates all the other ones together in one. And it was actually from indeed.com. And it says this, integrity is the quality of being honest, having strong moral or ethical principles, and consistently doing the right thing even when no one is watching. Right? 00:18:53.245 --> 00:19:06.765 So let's compare these to the life of Jesus. Right? The first one, the quality of being honest. Was Jesus an honest man? This is an important place to start because if we come to the conclusion that he wasn't, then man, a whole bunch of our faith we have to rethink. 00:19:06.765 --> 00:19:26.555 Right? If if it turns out Jesus was not an honest man and we can look at other scriptures that talk about the character of Jesus. In first Peter two verse 22, it says, referring to Jesus, he said, he committed no sin and no deceit was found in his mouth. But there's an obvious flaw in this argument. Right? 00:19:26.555 --> 00:19:53.765 And that is if we don't believe Jesus was an honest man, that makes us question if the Bible is true. And right now, we're trying to use the Bible to prove the Bible. But the thing is the way Jesus lived his life, there was something different about him. And historians would say this alike as well as biblical scholars, there was something magnetic about Jesus. There was something that made people trust him so much that they they walked away from their lives. 00:19:54.085 --> 00:20:28.840 They walked away from their jobs and dedicated their entire life to following Jesus. So if he was a dishonest man, he must have been really good at it, you know. But historians agree alike, Jesus was an honest and trustworthy man. And because of that, he gained influence throughout the world. And when we, as followers of Jesus, are honest and trustworthy, we too gain influence in our neighborhoods, in our workplaces, in our communities, and in our world. 00:20:30.760 --> 00:20:46.495 So the second part of that definition, having strong moral or ethical principles. Does that sound like Jesus? I think so. Right? I mean, see the thing about Jesus, even folks who didn't believe he was who he claimed to be, still talk about how great his teachings were. 00:20:46.895 --> 00:21:23.115 You hear quotes all the time from even different religious leaders that say, I don't believe Jesus was god but his teachings are some of the best on loving your neighbor that I've ever seen. As as a man, he taught time and time again putting the needs of others first. We see him dining with the outcast and the sinner. We see him spending time with people who felt alone or unseen and there's also teachings tied to this in Jesus' sermon called the Sermon on the Mount found in the beginning of Matthew. We see here all these kinds of teachings and the thing about Jesus' teachings where they were very countercultural. 00:21:23.940 --> 00:21:37.220 It wasn't like he was coming along and just telling people what they wanted to hear so they'd follow him. Right? He was actually saying the opposite of most times what most people wanted to hear. And yet they kept coming back for more. Think about in the Sermon on the Mount. 00:21:37.715 --> 00:22:01.260 He says, the greatest of you must become servants. A call to servanthood. Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of God. Blessed are the meek and the peacemakers, which keep in mind the culture Jesus was talking to was one that valued power, valued strength. Now all of a sudden here comes Jesus and says, no. 00:22:01.260 --> 00:22:14.605 No. No. You got it all wrong. True power and strength comes from being meek, being poor in spirit, being a peacemaker. See Jesus comes along and he changes everything. 00:22:16.045 --> 00:22:53.360 Everything that people knew to be true, a new morality, a new ethical system. And the thing is friends, people were drawn to it. The Bible says they were astonished by the teachings of Jesus. He had strong moral and ethical principles and because of that, his influence in this world grew. And when we live our lives with strong morals and ethical principles, our influence in our neighborhoods, in our communities, in our schools, in our workplaces, in our world will grow also. 00:22:55.280 --> 00:23:22.450 The third part of that definition says consistently doing the right thing even when no one is watching. Friends, Jesus could only do the right thing. There was no capacity within him to do the wrong thing. He lived a perfect and sinless life so he could be the perfect sacrifice for our sins. So that we could be forgiven of all the shortcomings that we have in our lives every time we fail to live our lives in a way that honors God. 00:23:23.810 --> 00:24:05.005 Jesus always always was doing the right thing. And because of this, his influence in the world grew. And when we live our lives seeking after Jesus, striving to do the right thing like Jesus always did the right thing, then our influence in our neighborhoods, in our schools, in our workplaces, in our communities, in our world grows too. So where do we go from here? Action step, live and love like Jesus and lead all generations to do the same. 00:24:06.685 --> 00:24:44.020 Carry your lives in such a way that you strive to be more like Jesus tomorrow than you were today. We live our lives not to deceive or steal from others, but to elevate others and their needs above our own because that's what Jesus did. And when we live our lives with integrity, just like Jesus lived his life with perfect integrity, our influence grows and we're able to grow the influence or God is able to grow his kingdom through us. Just might see the world change. So friends, don't steal. 00:24:45.140 --> 00:24:59.685 Don't deceive. Don't cheat. But do love God. And do love your neighbor. And do it following the example of the one who did it perfectly. 00:24:59.685 --> 00:25:33.405 Live and love like Jesus. Would you all pray with me? Father, this morning we come into your presence humbled. As we look at the life of of the one who came to show us how to live the perfect life. God, we're humbled because you sent your son to die in our place, to die to forgive our sins, but you didn't only send your son to teach us how to die, but you sent your son to teach us how to live. 00:25:36.490 --> 00:26:07.600 Elevating the needs of others before our own. Not stealing or deceiving people, but do everything we can to enhance the lives of the people around us. God help us to live our lives doing everything we can to follow Jesus. Help us to live our lives with integrity, with ethical principles and moral boundaries. Help us to be more like you tomorrow than we were today. 00:26:08.240 --> 00:26:14.160 We pray these things in Jesus name. Amen. Would you all please stand with us as we worship together?