Rev. David Holwick ZF Exodus series, #14
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
October 4, 2009
Exodus 22:1,22-30
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I. Stuff matters to us.
A. Theft hits harder than murder.
1) My previous sermon dealt with personal injury law, while
this one deals with property rights.
2) When you think about it, murder and beatings get a lot more
press than property crimes.
a) It's more dramatic.
3) But property crimes outnumber violence ones about seven to
one (FBI statistics for 2008).
B. There are lots of ways to break the eighth commandment.
1) The traditional way.
You can smash a car window and steal a Jeep.
This happened to Josiah a few weeks ago.
Lo and behold, after he bought a new car, his old one
was recovered.
And his stuff was still in it.
Stuff the insurance company already reimbursed him for.
I told him he should tell them he got some of it back.
His response? "Come on, Dad."
I guess my son has the heart of a thief, too.
2) Less obvious ways to steal.
a) Not paying your accounts on time.
b) Calling work and saying you're sick when you're not.
1> This adds up to $6 billion a year.
c) Not paying for software you use.
d) Rigging contracts.
e) And, of course, manipulating Wall Street so you can make
a huge salary, only to have the government bail you out.
1> $8 trillion has evaporated from our personal wealth
in the past year.
2> Interestingly, the Bible condemns stealing by the
dishonest rich in far stronger terms than
stealing by the desperate poor.
3) Some of the best stealing is pennies at a time.
Stealing is as old as humanity, but there's always a new
twist we can put on it.
Especially if you have a computer.
A 22-year-old broke Californian named Michael Largent wanted
to do his banking online.
So he linked his local bank account to an online brokerage
firm.
This allowed him to transfer funds back and forth.
Lots of people do this -- I've done it myself.
When you set it up, the bank sends two small deposits to the
online broker account to make sure the transfers work.
The micro-deposits are between 2 cents and a dollar.
Michael knew a little bit about computers and so he wrote an
automated script that opened multiple accounts.
He gave each account a fake name, often that of a favorite
cartoon character.
He ran the scam for seven months.
In that time he made tens of thousands of fake accounts, and
collected over $58,000.
His defense was that they never said he couldn't open more
than one account.
And he is absolutely correct.
But the Secret Service says you can't create fake identities
and so he was convicted.
#36029
II. Highlights of the Jewish view of property rights.
A. Even thieves have some rights.
1) If they break into your house at night, you can kill them.
2) If it happens during the day, you cannot.
a) At night, you don't know if they want your wallet
or your life.
b) During the day, you can assess the situation and
you can identify him for a later trial.
B. When in doubt, arbitrate. 22:8
1) Jews knew that some crimes produced little evidence.
a) And what some thought were crimes, weren't actually.
2) The solution is a panel of respected neighbors (this is what
"judges" were in those days) who would assess the case.
C. Crime shouldn't pay.
1) Four-fold and five-fold restitution for stealing animals.
a) High restitutions for ox (a trained work animal)
because victim's livelihood is at stake. 22:1
Michael Largent knows about high restitution.
The judge gave him 15 months in prison and ordered
him to pay back $200,000 in restitution.
And he thought he was broke before!
b) If stolen animal is recovered alive, double
restitution is required. 22:4
2) Even negligence required paying back what was damaged.
a) Allowing your animals to wander. 22:5
b) Allowing a fire to spread. 22:6
3) Some believe the principle of restitution is needed today.
a) Since our jails are so overcrowded, it can be a more
humane way to deal with non-violent crime.
b) However, mandatory sentencing laws often get in the way.
Charles Colson writes of a judge who tried something new - or
actually old.
He applied biblical concepts of justice with remarkable results.
For months, a teenage gang had been breaking into homes all over
town, and the community was in an uproar.
When the perpetrators were caught, everyone wanted the judge to
throw the book at them.
But the judge saw that it was the first arrest for one defendant,
18-year-old Stephen Williams.
Instead of throwing Stephen in prison, the judge gave him a
three-part sentence.
First, Stephen had to spend every Saturday performing community
service -- painting buildings and cleaning parks.
Second, he had to pay restitution to his victims.
The judge ordered him to pay most of his paycheck to those he'd
robbed.
The judge even made Stephen sell his own property to make
restitution, things like his track trophy.
He wanted the young man to know what it was like to lose his most
precious possessions.
The third part of the sentence was the hardest.
Stephen had to sit down with each of the people he robbed.
Not surprisingly, they were quite angry.
This unusual sentence is an example of what's known as restorative
justice.
True justice goes beyond catching and punishing criminals.
It involves making innocent victims whole.
In Old Testament times, when a crime was committed, the law called
for restoring the peace -- or shalom -- of the community.
For example, when a thief was caught stealing, he didn't sit
passively in jail.
Instead, he had to work to pay back what he had stolen.
He had to restore his victim.
And shalom means more than the absence of hostilities.
It is God's peace -- the harmony of people living together in
God's order.
Most things that have been tried by governments over the years
have been costly failures.
But the Bible has the answers we need.
#22079
III. Those without property need special protection.
A. Don't mistreat the powerless.
1) Classic groups: aliens, widows, orphans. 22:21
2) Abusing them will have consequences for the community. 22:24
B. Loans have spiritual obligations.
1) You shouldn't charge interest for poor people.
a) Today, "usury" means ultra-high interest.
b) In the Bible, it often means any kind of interest.
c) Loans were considered a ministry more than a business.
1> People always came first.
2) Collateral should have a conscience.
a) Even zero-interest loans could require collateral.
1> It is Jesus who says lend without expecting
anything in return.
b) But human needs come first.
1> A cloak must not be kept overnight so they can
stay warm. 22:26
IV. Don't rip off God.
A. Don't steal from his honor.
1) Don't blaspheme God or the king. 22:28
B. Don't hold back his offerings. 22:29
1) The Jews had an established system for supporting
God's work.
a) There were tithes, and special offerings, and
firstfruits.
b) Giving less that God required was considered
actually stealing from God. Malachi 3:8
c) This would be a great opportunity for a preacher like
me to castigate you for not giving enough.
But the bulletin shows that our building fund received
more than enough this month, so you are off the hook.
...for now!
2) The offering of the firstborn had special significance.
a) All firstborn, human and animal, belong to God. 22:30
b) Animals were offered as sacrifices, and humans
were redeemed with money, which was then given
to the priests.
c) Humanitarian concern: firstborn babies get to stay
with mothers for a week. 22:31
V. Does God favor a particular view of property?
A. This was a hot topic indeed in the last century.
1) Capitalism.
a) Private people control their own assets.
b) Their moral obligations are up to their conscience.
2) Socialism.
a) Private property is widespread, but large industries
and critical areas like health care are handled by
the government.
b) Often, the government claims a spiritual, even
Christian, basis for its priorities.
1> Helping the little guy.
2> Constraining the rich and powerful.
3> Keeping the needs of the wider public in view.
c) European governments are largely socialistic.
1> The unemployed are treated so well, many of them
are using their time off to come to America
for vacations!
2> Do "welfare states" stifle personal initiative
and work against the common good in the end?
3) Communism.
a) The government controls most assets, and private
ownership is very limited.
b) The values are determined by a materialistic worldview.
1> They claim to help the ordinary people.
2> In reality, the elite get the best.
B. The Bible's perspective.
1) Individuals can own and control their personal property.
a) They saw themselves as stewards - God really owns it.
b) But God let individuals make decisions about it.
2) The rise of big government can thwart God's design.
a) The kings of Israel gradually consolidated wealth.
b) They broke down the principle of private wealth by
owning everything.
c) And the nation fell apart as a result.
3) Compare Amos' rebuke with conditions today:
Amos 8:4-6
"Hear this, you who trample the needy and do away with the
poor of the land,
saying, 'When will the New Moon be over that we may sell
grain, and the Sabbath be ended that we may market wheat?'
-- skimping the measure, boosting the price and cheating
with dishonest scales,
buying the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of
sandals, selling even the sweepings with the wheat."
Doesn't that sound like a lot of modern business practices?
VI. Man does not live by bread alone.
A. Property is important, but not eternal.
1) Jesus says God is concerned about the material needs of our
bodies, and will provide for us.
2) But something should be a greater priority for us - seeking
the reality of God's Kingdom. Matthew 6:31-33
B. Have you committed your body, soul and resources to Almighty God?
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
Some of the details in this sermon came from Rev. Robert Yule's sermon
"Practical Honesty: Living Out the Eighth Commandment" (Kerux sermon #19880)
#22079 "Ming Vases and Baseball Gloves: A Tale of Restorative Justice,"
by Charles Colson, BreakPoint Commentary, January 14, 2002. The
original source may be from "Restoring Justice" (second edition)
by Daniel Van Ness and Karen Heetderks Strong (Anderson, 2002).
#36029 "Stealing Pennies at a Time," by Kevin Poulsen; edited by David
Holwick, <http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2008/05/man-allegedly-b/>;
Also: <http://news.softpedia.com/news/e-trade-salami-slice-fraudster~
-sentenced-to-jail-122150.shtml>, May 27, 2008.
These and 30,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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