Christ Church Leavenworth
WLC 14O
July 27, 2025
Private Property and Public Sins
INTRODUCTION
This morning, we are continuing our study of the ten commandments in the WLC. Last week, Dr. Bray concluded our review of the duties associated with the seventh commandment; and so this morning we are ready to begin unpacking the eighth, which is “Thou shalt not steal,” and found in Exodus 20:15. It is the fourth commandment in the second table of the Law. As a reminder, the first table of the Law is the first four of the ten commandments which can be summarized as “Love God.” The second table of the Law is the final six of the ten commandments which can be summarized as “Love your neighbor.” These two, when taken together, lay the foundation for all the Law and the prophets (Mt. 22:40). In other words, all of God’s commands hang together. They can be discussed separately, of course, but they cannot be separated. You can talk to a husband without talking to his wife, but you cannot talk to him as though he were not married. It is the same with the laws of God. You can talk about one without talking about the others, but you cannot talk about any of them as though the others did not exist. So, finding certain parallels between them should not surprise us: murder is taking another man’s life, adultery is taking another man’s wife, and theft is taking another man’s bike. Each involves a type of taking that God forbids.
The seventh commandment, as you recall, prohibits adultery. By doing so, however, notice what it presupposes: the institution of marriage. No one could commit adultery if there was no such thing as marriage. No one could take another man’s wife if there were no wives. The institution of marriage is presupposed in the prohibition of adultery. And so God condemns adultery in the seventh commandment because He loves marriage. As Chesterton once observed, “the true soldier fights not for the hatred of the thing in front of him, but for the love of the thing behind him.” Why does God hate adultery? Because He loves marriage.
That brings us to the eighth commandment. In it God prohibits theft. By doing so, what is being presupposed? The institution of property. No one could steal if there was no such thing as property. No one could take another’s man’s possessions if no one really possessed anything. Incidentally, this is why socialism is a sin. If one man stealing something from another man is prohibited by God, how much more so one government stealing the right of every man to own anything? The institution of property is presupposed in the prohibition of theft. And so God condemns theft in the eighth commandment because He loves property.
As we will see next week in our study of James, every good and perfect gift comes from God. Property is one of those gifts. Not just the stuff, but the right to call some of the stuff yours and to do with it as you please. Consider the kindness of God: (1) He gives us good things, (2) He gives us the right to call those good things ours, (3) and then He goes so far as to warn everyone else to keep their grubby paws off those good things that He has given to us upon the threat of violence.
God is a giver and one of the things that He has given to us is our rights. Our rights do not now and never did come from the state. Our rights come from God. The state, when acting within its God-ordained sphere of jurisdiction, really is a gift from God. It is a deacon of wrath for the peace and quiet of all. But when the state forgets that or flat out contradicts it, it becomes a bane to justice instead of a blessing. If, instead of protecting our God-given rights, it steals them; that is a sin. “Thou shalt not steal” applies to everyone – even if one of them works for the government… especially in fact. No one gets to steal. The state can pass a law that makes it legal for them to steal, or law enforcement can, ironically, refuse to enforce existing laws that prohibit theft, but no one can remove the guilt of theft that way. No one can steal the sword of justice from God’s hand. He sees it all and more importantly, He sees it all for what it is, a violation of the eighth commandment. According to His standard, those kinds of shenanigans are condemned. Socialism may be state-sanctified stealing, but God still hates it. He gave us the eighth commandment to tell us not to do that and then He gave us the tenth commandment to tell us to not to even think about doing that.
As Dr. Bray pointed out last week, the preferred pronouns of the alphabet people is a bad business and one we must be on guard against, but the preferred pronouns of socialism are just as bad, if not worse. While we were paying attention to “he” and “she,” we took our eyes off of “mine” and “thine.” The war is not just being fought on the front of “they/them,” it’s also over, “yours/theirs.”
In our time, envy is everywhere. It is so prevalent, someone might be tempted to ask, “what’s in the water?” The answer to that, unfortunately, is, “You don’t want to know.” But envy is certainly included and not even a Burkee can filter that out. But envy has only found its way into our laws because it was already present in our hearts. We had socialism in our souls before we had it in our schools. Consider the words of Jesus from Matthew 15:19, “Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.” One of the reasons there is so much theft in our society is that there is so much theft in us. Furthermore, we kind of like the loot so we don’t ask too many questions about where it all came from. There is no ethically-sourced plunder. We willfully ignore that the stuff we get was grabbed from someone else. We tend to notice, of course, when it’s our stuff being stolen, however. Then we cry out for justice. We get excited when we’re getting a “free” trashcan, but we get uppity when they take more taxes. But that is what envy always does. It rejoices when others mourn and mourns when others rejoice. A society built on theft, however, cannot survive. Eventually it will run out of someone else’s money and there won’t be anything left to steal. There are natural and eternal consequences to ignoring God’s law.
So, if we want to hate theft like God does, we have to start with the eighth commandment, that is to say, we have to stop stealing. We cannot expect more from the government than we expect from ourselves. Consider Romans 2:21-24, “You then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law. For, as it is written, ‘The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.'" Judgment begins with the house of God (1 P 4:17). If we want them to stop stealing, we have to go first. Ephesians 4:28 says it this way, “Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.”
This brings us full circle back to the institution of property. God commands to our weakness and for the benefits of others. He has to tell us not to steal because otherwise we would. And when we stop stealing, it benefits everyone. Everybody is blessed when they live in a world where their stuff is not in constant danger of being taken away. But that’s not all. Property rights not only keep others from taking your stuff, they give you the ability to give your stuff away. In other words, property rights are what make generosity possible. If you don’t own anything, you cannot give it away. And if someone takes it from you by force, they not only take your stuff, but they rob you of your opportunity to gladly give it. And that is another reason why socialism is a sin. It is confiscation that calls itself compassion. It is generous with other people’s stuff. But a robbery by any other name smells just as rotten. That is why God condemns communism and that is why Jesus hates socialism. The eighth commandment forbids them. If God condemns a man for stealing another man’s property, how much more does he condemn a system that steals the right of property from every man? Jesus hates that. Why? Because He loves property and He loves people. As Pastor Wilson has pointed out, “Property rights are human rights.”
One of the biggest hurdles to overcome in attempting to combat all of this is that of accepting how much it will cost you to stop profiting off of it. Much of what we enjoy is systematized plunder. Many programs we benefit from would not exist if plunder were abolished. Socialism is the sin of sending your envy off to Washington to represent your interests in plundering the property of your neighbor. As a result, we have the government we deserve. God, have mercy.
CALL TO CONFESSION
Since we are so often tempted to take things from others or to turn a blind eye to those who take things from others when it benefits us, we are reminded of our need to regularly confess our sins, whether they be these or others. So, if you are able, please kneel with me and confess your sins, first privately and then corporately using the prayer found in your bulletin.
CORPORATE CONFESSION
Almighty and merciful Father…We confess that we are by nature sinful and unclean. We have sinned against You in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done and what we have left undone. We have not loved You with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We justly deserve Your present and eternal punishment. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of Your Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us. Renew us and lead us by Your Holy Spirit so that we may delight in Your will and walk in Your ways to the glory of Your holy name.
DECLARATION OF PARDON
Arise and hear the Good News! The assurance of pardon today comes from Romans 5:1, 8-9…
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ… God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.
Christian, God gave His one and only Son in order to save thieves, like you, from their sins. In order to punctuate the point, He had Him crucified between two thieves. One of those thieves confessed his sin and called upon Christ to save him. That thief received forgiveness from the Father. Since you, like him, have confessed your sins and have called upon Christ this day to save you, know that your sins, just like his, in Christ, really are forgiven… THANKS BE TO GOD!.
Now let us ascend to the presence of God in all worship and praise.
No comments:
Post a Comment