Surprisingly, you just may be the thief.

"Is it My Ambition to Keep From grieving the Holy Spirit? part C" (Stealing)

Ephesians 4:22-32 c

Pastor Kerry Kinchen, Bridgeway Bible Church

Please turn to Ephesians 4:22-32. Ephesians 4:22-32. As you are turning there, I want to ask you a question:

Do you want to live life in such a way as to not grieve the Holy Spirit?

Before you answer, please realize that I did not ask you about being saved from damnation by grace through faith. I am asking you whether you want to live that saved life that was bestowed upon you by grace through faith, and live it in such a way as to not grieve the Holy Spirit? As you are answering the question in your heart, let me make another comment. My question is not that I am asking you whether it is okay to fail. Also, I am not asking you if it is okay to sin. It is not okay to sin, and yet, grace covers us when we fail. The precious blood of Jesus, covers you when you sin. In Christ, you are once saved in eternal spiritual salvation. The area I am particularly interested in for us this morning, is an area, in which Paul the apostle is keenly interested while writing chapter 4 of Ephesians. God is keenly interested in this area. God, by the Holy Spirit, is the one who is urging us to be about the task of making it our ambition to keep from grieving the same Holy Spirit. Let us read now--look at 4:22, where Paul says,

"... in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, 23 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. 25 Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, because we are members of one another. 26 Be angry, and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on the cause {NET "the cause"} of your anger, 27 and do not give the devil an opportunity. 28 He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need. 29 Let no unwholesome [corrupt, rotten] word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. 30 Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you." Ephesians 4:25-32

Please prepare your heart for the preaching of God's word this morning, in this sermon titled,

"Is it My Ambition to Keep From grieving the Holy Spirit? part C" (Stealing)

In writing the Ephesians epistle, Paul was evidently addressing a lot of concerns that were of relevance among the churches of the Asian region--Ephesus in particular. Though it might seem strange as we immediately look at this, it is apparent that thievery must have been one of the sin problems that Christians had there among the church. Of course we know that the fact that stealing as something that is a sin is as easy to understand biblically. Even in the secular world, stealing is a crime that is punishable by imprisonment, and sometimes death, depending on who was stealing, and what was stolen. It is almost surprising, then, to find Paul writing to the church, and saying,

"28 He who steals must steal no longer;"

But the question we are going to explore this morning is whether this is really all that surprising. Surprising, or not; in this text, we see that Paul realizes that stealing is something that Christians are tempted to do, can do, and actually do. Further, we recognize that thieves can be found in the church. If we want to act all religiously pious, and surprised, about our sinfulness, we could be surprised that thieves are found in the church. But the fact of the matter is that thieves are among us, as part of the body of Christ, in the body of Christ, and in fact, what each of us must consider in deep, personal, candid heart searching honesty, is that they may be any one of us, each, individually. Yes, you might be a thief! So, we must come to grips with this passage, and first of all, recognize that Christians can be thieves, and secondly, we must recognize that we could be a thief, and then thirdly, when we look at this passage, we must recognize that this is a clear cut command to do three specific things:

1) repent of stealing,

2) Be a worker, and work

3) Be a giver, and give.

It is easy to understand that the Bible makes it clear, (and Paul does so here in Ephesians), that stealing is simply a manifestation of the sinfulness of our old man from when we were lost in the world. Remember how Paul started out this whole section where he explained the dead calcified root of the futile Gentile mind, and heart? He said,

"17 So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, 18 being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart."

Their hearts are hard; lost, corrupt. Their hearts are excluded from the life that we have, which is the life of God. Jesus knew this too. He came to the lost sheep of the house of Israel to make rock hearts into flesh hearts. He came to give life to dead hearts. He came to change hard hearts from that which loves stealing, into that which loves sacrifice. Jesus knows what the problem is, and where it comes from, so he said,

"19 out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, ..." Matthew 15:19

Theft comes from the futility of the Gentile mind, according to the sinful heartbeat of the world. Lost Israelites have the same sinful heartbeat. Like all manifestations of sin, such sins must be confronted by the sharp sword of the word of God, and that is what Paul is doing. Paul is urging normal Christian folks, to quit living according to the poison heartbeat of the world. Cut that dead heart away, and then throw it away! From this word, then, we should be convicted by the Spirit, and we must repent of that which is of the old man. You and I, must throw off acting like the old man. We must throw off the old man as if it is like an old garment, according to Ephesians 4:22. All that is of the old man is all that is not walking according to the renewed spirit of our saved minds, Ephesians 4:23. All that is of the old man is that which grieves the Holy Spirit, according to Ephesians 4:30. All that is of the old man is not imitating God, according to Ephesians 5:1, but rather, is the devil's opportunity, according to Ephesians 4:27. It is bad. It hurts the body of Christ, and it hurts the Holy Spirit.

All of these things, and all of Paul's flow of exhortation, lead us to recognize that there are various reasons why Christians steal. And so, in our godly call to make it our ambition to keep from grieving the Holy Spirit, we learn that, first and foremost, the overarching reason why a Christian would steal is that the Christian has not put off the old futile Gentile mind, which I think has been made sufficiently clear so far. But, there is more to this, which is why I am going in this particular preaching direction this morning. Listen to me very carefully: What I mean is that there are certain dark desires of lost sinful humanity that drive sinful humanity. They drive sinful humanity, but they taint us who are supposed to be driven by the Spirit, through His word. So, when we look at those particular things, through the eyes of the Holy Spirit, we can get an idea of how they effect us in our own thinking. John describes them well when he capsulizes them, saying,

"16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world." 1 John 2:16

John says that those who are lost in the world love these things--lust and pride. These affinities are what drives sinful humanity. These are the desires of the old man, who is completely of his father, fallen sinful lost Adam. Us Christians (being of our Father God) do not love these things. We can do these things, when we do not throw off the old man, but we are not in love with them. How many of you know what I mean? When you sin, the Spirit convicts you, and so you hate it. This is one of the proofs of true salvation--you are convicted to hate your sin. But, nevertheless, you sinned didn't you? The point is that the fact that we can do these things, and the fact that we actually do these things, is what is important. We Christians have lusts of our flesh. We Christians have lusts of our eyes. And we Christians have boastful pride of life. To demonstrate this to yourself, just think about how you want certain things that satisfy your flesh. When you lust after something to satisfy the desires of your flesh, and you are really longing for it, even though it is not right, then you are demonstrating that you have in you, (in some respect), that exact same attribute which drives people who are lost. When you see something, and you lust after it, even if it is wrong to lust after it, then you are demonstrating that you are able to do what lost people are driven to do as a matter of their singular natures. Basically, you can do what they live to do. Any time you are prideful, you are demonstrating that the desires of the old man are tainting you. Again, we are not in love with all those sins, because they are not our supernatural affinity, but we can do them. Our supernatural affinity, (or I should say our supernatural affection) is to love God with all of our heart, and to love our neighbor.

Okay, this leads us to consider the problem that grieves the Holy Spirit. When we do not walk outside the futility of the Gentile mind, and we do not walk as imitating God, then we are not putting off the old man, and if we are not putting off the old man, then we are agreeing with the the natural affinity of the world, and so we succumb to the sins of lust and vanity that they love. Follow what I am saying: Any time a Christian steals, they are doing something that is paramount to acting like the old man that they used to be, which is the same man that was lost, and was separated from God. You are imitating the guy down the street, but you are not imitating the Christ in your heart. But to get to the point of actually stealing, the spirit of your mind is acting old too. What I mean, is that the garment of the old futile Gentile mind, which is stuck in futility mode, and vanity mode, and worthless temporality, is hyper focused upon fulfilling whatever makes the flesh feel good, and fulfilling the lusts of what you see, and appeasing your prideful self absorbed self. It is where vain philosophies of relevance and felt needs are what drive your actions, rather than God's standard of what He thinks is relevant, and what the Holy Spirit feels you need. So, that is the overarching reason why Christians would steal.

Now, under that overarching reason, we can identify several avenues that the sin of stealing comes about. In Paul's day and context, certain instances of stealing could be found in the agricultural world, like around Ephesus. One was the practice of moving the boundaries of land. They didn't have long fence lines back then, so they would set up markers to delineate land boundaries. The lust of the eyes would be manifested when someone in a remote area would notice that the land was better over on the other side of the boundary. Either the grass was greener, or the ground was more level for building, or the seasonal water flow just missed their own property at certain times of the year, and so the temptation would be to move the boundary;

"It's not my property, but hey its easy to make it my property, so I think will."

Do you see the principle?

"Its not righteous, but hey it's easy to sin, so I think I will."

Losing livestock brings the same kind of temptation. If the sheep, or cow should wander off onto another person's property, then the temptation could arise to take the animal. The sinful mind can justify such actions based upon the circumstances, but the action is still the same thing--isn't it? It is stealing. If the people that are being stolen from are wealthy, or have huge amounts of land, livestock, or other resources, then it is even easier for the sinful Gentile mind to seek to justify the thievery. The thinking process goes like this:

"Well, Titus won't miss this animal anyway. After all, he has thousands. I've only got hundreds"

Or,

"I need this more than he does. After all, my family doesn't eat as well as the average person."

Or,

"Agustus doesn't need this section of land. He's got way too much anyway."

These are sinful self justifications, based upon unrighteous judgments, and lust for more. Lust for more leads to thievery, and according to the futility of the Gentile mind, the lust filled person has wrongly attempted to justify his actions based upon the circumstances. Okay, stay with me, because Christians today can steal in similar kinds of ways by justifying their actions based upon their circumstances. It is called situational ethics, where the ethic is based upon humanistic felt needs of what is considered relevant for the moment. You see, they start the justification process when they succumb to the lusts of their eyes, flesh, and pride, rather than God's eyes, God's Spirit, and humble contentment in His provision. Cheating someone in a contract, or business deal is a manifestation of this lust. Typically whenever a Christian agrees to use something at a price of payments, such as rent, or purchase, and then decides that right in the middle of the payments, that it was a bad idea to rent, or buy, the item, the right course of action is to continue to pay for the item anyway, or try to renegotiate the contract. Everything is right, good, and godly, as long as the other party agrees to what you are doing. But, as soon as the Christian says,

"Well, I can use this money for something else, so I just won't pay."

Or, as soon as the Christian thinks,

"What can they do about it anyway? It might mess up my credit, but I can live with that"

How about this one that brings grief to the Holy Spirit in a heartbeat;

"At least they don't know I am a Christian."

How pitiful;

"At least they don't know I am a Christian."

Or how about this one--the one that has grieved the Holy Spirit, over and over again, in complete irreverence for the God of the universe, who transferred you out of the domain of darkness, into the kingdom of His dear Son--where, in shameful disregard for all that God is teaching us, you hear the slap on the face of the Holy Spirit that brings instant grief; you hear it when someone says,

"It doesn't matter. God has grace. He will forgive me anyway."

as if you are naive enough, self deceived enough, and ignorant enough of the full counsel of God, to think that there is no consequence for your actions. Oh, how we must learn the fullness of our responsibility as those who have been named by Christ. How many times do people fall into grievous error, and sin because they think,

"God has grace. He will forgive me anyway."

Either they are forgetting about the clear warnings such as are found in Galatians 6, or they try to ignore what they know is true. Maybe they don't believe God's word, where God says,

"7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. 8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life [which is abundance in life, both now and forever]. 9 Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary." Galatians 6:7-9

Bridgeway, you need to know that people who are children of God, really do bring curses upon themselves all the time for their actions. Yes, you are forgiven unto eternal spiritual salvation. But, yes, you also reap in this life, according to what you sow in this life. But it is absolutely amazing that in our day and age of post modern, fuzzy Christianity, that Christians act like they don't believe that when they sow to the flesh, they will reap corruption, and so, when it comes to money that they owe, they will think something like this;

"It is too much trouble for them to collect from me, so I'll just wait it out until they get tired, or I get lost in the system."

What has happened is that false justifications have crept in as part of what the old man would do--not the new man in Christ. It's all part of the sinful process of justifying sinful actions. Make no mistake about it, these kinds of things are thievery. There is no justification for it, and it grieves the Holy Spirit. Another area, that Christians can steal, is in respect to employers, and in respect to employees. Employers can steal from employees, for example, when they have the employee in a commission earning position. What they do, is they cheat the employee out of a commission by acting like either the lead, or the sale, came from another source, or by deceitfully failing to notify the employee that it was their work that achieved the sale in the first place. The employer has stolen from the employee, and in the futility of the Gentile mind, has tried to justify the thievery by asserting that he or she, as the employer, has the authority to do so, or by sinfully asserting,

"What they don't know won't hurt them."

How many people have sinned in multitudes of ways, with those words on their lips? Make no mistake about it folks, it is sin, and it grieves the Holy Spirit. Stealing also occurs with Christian employees. One of the biggest ways this happens is by trying to get out of work that has been agreed to according to the job. It is a waste of the company's time, and money, to goof off. Whether you are paid by hourly wage, or by salary, to goof off is to steal money from your employer. It is stealing, and it is sin. Taking extended breaks during your work day is also stealing. When you take an extended break from working, and you have not agreed to this extended time of unproductively beforehand with your employer, then you are stealing time from your employer who is paying you as if you are working on your employer's time. Walking away with items that belong to the company is also stealing. The sinful attempt at justifying such practices are,

"Well, you know, they won't miss this. After all they are big, and successful, and besides, so much stuff goes to waste every single day. That same stuff might as well go to my car, and then to my house."

It's stealing. Or, here is a common thought of justification;

"The company isn't using this any more, so I'll just take it home with me."

When this is done without asking, it is stealing. Another temptation that Christians encounter, and then they give in to, thus bringing grief to the Holy Spirit that has sealed them for the day of redemption, is to take something that is considered to be insignificant, and small. You know, it is supposedly meaningless to your employer, but oddly enough for some reason it has meaning, which is further demonstrated in the fact that it has enough meaning to you that you would steal it! Listen to me, taking so called, "little things" may not seem like stealing when the futile Gentile mind is trying to justify it, but God wants us to call it what it is: it is stealing, and it is sin. Another way that Christians may steal from people is to artificially create shortages. It's deception to say that you raised the prices on something because there are shortages, but there really aren't. Cheating on income tax statements is stealing. If you were some kind of political revolutionary who refused to pay Federal Income Tax because you think the income tax amendment was illegally ratified, or you have some other lawful issue with the whole system, or some moral issues concerning what the government does with its money, and so you are protesting as an activist of some sort, then you, according to the Law, can do what you want in terms of voluntary compliance, and other remedies. In our Republic, you even have a right to fight the system. But that all shifts to a different jurisdiction with your Creator, when you feign patriotism because you are really being greedy, and so you fill out a tax form in deceit, and then you sign your name to it. How many of you know what I mean when I talk about the jurisdiction of the Creator? What I mean is that in God's world, greed, and cheating is a sin. These are all examples of ways that people steal, and Christians can steal in these ways too. Stealing is based on lack of faith, which originates from the sinfulness of the old man. It is not based upon the new man of salvation.

Now, this leads us to consider why people choose not to steal. Some people choose not to steal because they are afraid of getting caught. They don't want to get arrested, shamed, and hurt. Such a standard is based upon fear of temporal earthly consequences. It is based upon self preservation. Still, others choose not to steal because they have a humanistic standard of living according to a code of honor. Don't be fooled; such code of honor standards are based upon pride, and self righteousness. It is prideful self glory for people to operate in a humanistic standard of a code of honor. To abide by such a code appeases the flesh and bolsters up our own sense of self importance and superiority to the other, so called, rabble of the world. The problem is that everyone without Christ, who abides by a code of honor, is part of the rabble, no matter how perfectly they keep the humanistic code. It is self righteousness, and in the end, it means nothing. What God cares about for us is that we sow to the Spirit to reap from the Spirit. Here is the simple code that God honors:

If you sow grief to the Spirit, then you will reap grief.

God wants us to reap eternal life things now. Nevertheless, millions of lost souls pride themselves in their ability to keep from stealing according to the futility of the Gentile mind in respect to codes of honor. Still, others will choose not to steal because they are superstitious, or because they believe in a false god. They are afraid that what goes around comes around, and so they are afraid, and they just want to preserve their lifestyle of happiness. They live in fear of superstitious consequences for their actions. But, it doesn't matter, because without Christ, the ultimate consequence of their actions is eternal damnation, no matter how much they thought they were able to keep from stealing.

This leads us to consider the one big guiding reason why you, and I do not steal, should not steal, and must not steal, (though there are Christians who steal.) It is the reason that matters. It is the reason that pleases the Holy Spirit. The reason why you and I should not steal, and must not steal, is because God says that we are not to steal. God says stealing is wrong, and so we agree with God. God says don't steal, and so we agree with Him, and in agreeing with Him, we agree to not grieve the Holy Spirit.

Laura my wife was shopping at the grocery store recently. After the purchase, she left the store, and then she realized she hadn't been charged for some of the items. She could have kept on going with over twenty dollars worth of stuff; for free, but she went back to the same cashier, and told him that she hadn't paid for the items. He asked her why she came back. She told him, because that is what Jesus would want her to do. The man, confronted with the eternity of the mind of Christ, stood there, stupified, apparently in accordance with the futility of the Gentile mind. So, God says stealing is wrong, and so we agree. God says don't steal, and we also agree. And this is what is said in our text,

"28 He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, [work] performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need."

In looking deeply into the word of God here, I want us to notice some important principles. A primary principle to consider is that when one steals, they take what someone else has. I think that there are perhaps dozens of ways that a person can come into ownership of something, like through charity, or inheritance, or discovery, but what I want us to recognize is the primary way that God is saying that most of us get what we have. We work for it. And so with this in mind, we recognize that to steal, is to take what another person has also labored to have. Okay, keep this in mind. When we look at what God is telling us to do in the Christian walk, he tells us not to steal anymore, but rather, to labor--to work. It is important for all of us to understand that God has ordained work as the means for getting what we want, and need. What this means is that work is not a curse. You know, a lot of folks think that work is a curse because of the fall of man in the Garden of Eden. But, back in the garden of Eden, Adam, (the first man) had a job to do. His job, before the curse of the fall, was to work to oversee, and tend to the garden before the fall. Working among the briars, in toil, outside the garden was a curse. Consequently, Adam, and all of his offspring have worked by the sweat of their brow to produce. Nevertheless, work itself is not the curse. Part of the curse aspect that humanity experiences since the fall, is that people are not content with their work. They are not content with the time, energy, and process of good honest work, in much the same way Adam and Eve were no longer content with good honest work, when the ate from the forbidden fruit. This discontentment with good honest work, leads to the ultimate rebellion against good honest work, which is the bad dishonest work of stealing. Stealing is the curse--not work. Work is a blessing. Later, God even commanded work in the so called decalogue. How many of you know what the word, decalogue, means? The word literally means, "The ten sayings." There are ten commandments on the stone tablets that Moses received from God, but what is interesting is that one of the commandments has a sub statute connected to it. Most people recognize that the sabbath day rest is given as a commandment of God. But, unfortunately, there are many who overlook the statute that comes right before it. It is the statute to work. We find it in Exodus 20,

"9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work," Exodus 20:9

We find it repeated in Exodus 34,

"21 You shall work six days, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during plowing time and harvest you shall rest." Exodus 34:21

And we find it repeated in Deuteronomy 5;

"13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work," Deuteronomy 5:13

Maybe we can come up with another name for the decalogue. We could call it the undecemalogue from the latin word for eleven, but actually the Bible refers to it as the ten commandments, so we should just stick with that. The main point is that work and rest go hand in hand. In other words, God doesn't just say "rest." He says work first, then rest. The immediate point for us, in what I have been explaining, is that all throughout history, God has made it clear that He has ordained work as the primary means for getting what we need, and yes, God supplies all your needs according to His riches in glory, as Paul says in Philippians, and the primary way He does this is through His providential hand in providing the fruits of your labor.

Now, I want you to notice the direction of turning around that is taking place when we look at Paul's urging, and dissect it like we are doing. In other words, rather than stealing someone else's labor, and stealing the fruits of their labors, we are to cease stealing, and replace it with our own labor, and the fruits of our labor. This is the great turn around that is pleasing to the Holy Spirit, rather than grieving to the Holy Spirit. This leads us directly to the second principle. It is the continued command to labor, performing with your own hands what is good. Think about this principle for a moment. Stealing is certainly work, isn't it? Think about it. Stealing could be easy work, but sometimes it's hard work being a thief. But stealing is dishonest work, that brings dishonest gain. When we steal, we are not demonstrating our love for God, and we are not demonstrating our love for the people we are stealing from. It is bad labor. It is not good labor. Now, we notice the direct turning around of the ways of the old man of the futile Gentile mind in this text. We notice it in the fact that good work, replaces the bad work. Whereas in thievery, one performs evil with one's hands, in honest business, one performs good with his own hands. And this is what we want, which leads to the next principle, which is the principle of doing good work, so that our lack of having will be supplied with having, so that we "will have." Notice the wording, where Paul says it is,

"28 ... so that he will have ..."

As we look at this, we recognize that Christians steal because they are sinning, but they steal because they want to satisfy the lust of the flesh by having something that pleases the flesh. They steal to satisfy the lust of their eyes, because they covet, and want to have what they see. They steal because they want to satisfy their pride. They envy what others have, and so they want to have it too. They see something that others have that they think will bolster their own image, and so they are consumed with getting it, at the sake of biblical ethics to have it. To steal is to help one's self to whatever one wants by taking away from others what they want or need. But the direct turning around from the thievery that we find inherent in God's word, is that one is commanded to work to have what one needs, and wants. Further, there is a reason to work to have, which is the opposite of trying to fulfill the lusts of our flesh, the lusts of our eyes, and our boastful pride of life. It is to be

"28 ... performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need."

This is a wonderfully beautiful example of Christianity expressed out to other people as God's love in action. I don't think that most Christians in our age and culture, truly understand that the ultimate performance of good work is to share with one who has need. Remember, Paul has already said earlier, that,

"... we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them."

Sharing by giving to other Christians to supply their needs is something that God wants you and me to do. God prepared it. Paul said to the Ephesian church leadership,

"34 You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my own needs and to the men who were with me. 35 In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'" Acts 20:34-36

Ask yourself,

"Do I really believe that it is more blessed for me to give, than it is for me to receive?"

Now, ask yourself the great test question;

"Am I acting like I believe that it is more blessed to give than to receive through the fact that I make it my ambition to give to meet the needs of brothers and sisters in Christ who are weak, and who have needs?"

Looking at our Ephesians text, we recognize that the turning around of working to have something to share with the one who has need, is simply to be about the walk of godliness in helping others by giving to them, because God is using you as a tool in His hands to help them meet their needs. Further, it is to give to them what God does not allow them to steal through their own obedience to Christ. Ultimately, this brings us to, (and magnifies) the overarching principle, and that is:

To work good with your own hands for the purpose of sharing with those who have need, is a manifestation of the law of Christ that we received from Christ.

The turning around of the whole corrupt sinfulness of stealing, then, is that, whereas to steal is to transgress the law of Christ, to work, doing good by providing for others, is to fulfill the law of Christ. Your old garment of the old man, doesn't want to find ways to fulfill the law of Christ. The darkness of the futile Gentile mind could care less about any kind of command to be loving God, and loving other brothers and sisters in Christ. But, for the Christian, breaking the law of Christ grieves the Holy Spirit. Fulfilling the law of Christ is the product of the Spirit filled life. As I wrap us this sermon this morning, listen to how Paul quotes the command to not steal, and covet, and then how love is manifested toward a neighbor. Paul says,

"8 Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. 9 For this, 'You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet,' and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, 'You shall love you neighbor as yourself.' 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law." Romans 8:8-10

Now, if we have a hard time understanding the depths of love that God intends for us to experience and practice that goes beyond the command to not steal, and to not do wrong to a neighbor, then God has given us Galatians 6:2 for further clarification,

"2 Bear one another's burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ." Galatians 6:2

This means that it is more blessed to give than to receive, and it means that we must work, performing with our own hands what is good, so that we will have something to share with one who has need. In so doing, we fulfill the law of Christ that has been fulfilled for us by Christ in us, who is our hope of glory, and we work the works that were prepared beforehand for us to walk in--ultimately reaping according to what we sow.

The final word I want to leave with you this morning is the faith issue that lies behind all that we have looked at so far. There is a faith issue in working, and trusting God for your provision. There is a faith issue in working, and trusting God while you give to provide for others in need.

"5 Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; because He Himself has said, 'I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you," 6 so that we confidently say, 'The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid." Hebrews 13:5-6

Folks, sometimes things get really hard, and a tendency is to have our faith shaken in time of need. Whenever we get hit by the fist of life, it is easy to feel like God is going to forsake us. But He does not forsake us. I wish I could have spent more time on this passage because it is pregnant with wisdom from the mind of God concerning this matter. The main thing we need to get from this though, is that when we are content with what we have, no matter how small it is, then we have the confidence to recognize what God is doing in our midst. What I am trying to get across, is that the faith walk goes through a real trial when we are not content. When you work, which is, that you are doing what God says He wants you to do, then you will "have," but further, you will always have enough (if) you are content. The word, enough is always married with the word content. Remember that. Why do I say you will always have enough? Because God says, "I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you," and the reason is the big "so that." The big so that, is

"6 so that we confidently say, 'The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid."

I urge you to start reaping the pure, peaceful rewards of work by not putting your faith in your selfish desires. Make it your ambition to be putting your faith in the Lord who is your helper. The life of the thief whose character is not free from the love of money, and is not being content with what is had, is the life of fear. It is the life of unsatiated desire for more. Make it your ambition to have more, by working for it. But, make it your ambition to have more by working for it according to why God says you should have more. It is so you can share with other who have needs. You reap what you sow. Be about the good work of sowing to reap blessings from God now, that simply add to the blessings that you will have for eternity. This, my precious brothers and sisters, is pleasing to the Holy Spirit.