This week is the eighth sermon in our Ten Commandments series: Do not steal. Stealing is a prevalent problem in our day. We have locks and alarm systems on our houses and cars. We have passcodes on our phones. We have security measures on everything. But the Bible defines stealing as more than just taking someone else’s stuff or sensitive information. Everything is a gift from God, so we are stealing from God when we are stingy or bad stewards. We steal from our loved ones when we do not properly invest in those relationships.
Social media
-
When it comes to stealing, don’t read Robin Hood, read the Bible.
Tweet -
3 ways: What’s mine is mine I’ll keep it. What’s yours is mine I’ll steal it. What’s mine is God’s I’ll steward it.
Tweet -
Therapeutic theology focuses on you. The Bible emphasizes your neighbor. God loves both you and your neighbor.
Tweet -
Want to be a good witness for Jesus at work? Start by working.
Tweet -
Nobody at your work wants to hear about how Jesus changes lives if you’re a bad employee.
Tweet -
When God walked the earth, they taxed him too.
Tweet -
The difference between a tax and a tithe is love. Gov’t will take your tax. God invites you to give your tithe in love.
Tweet -
2 mistakes in church: prosperity theology(rich=godly) and poverty theology(poor=godly).The wise alternative=stewardship
Tweet -
Our spiritual debt is immense—every time we sin we accrue more debt to God. We can never repay him, so we need Jesus.
Tweet -
Alarms, locks, weapons, self-defense—we safeguard our lives like it’s normal but sin isn’t how life was meant to be.
Tweet -
Stewardship = allocating resources as God has instructed.
Tweet
Recommended resources
Stewardship: God Gives
You own nothing, it’s all on loan from God. God created the earth you live on, the air you breath, and even your own soul. It’s all a gift that you’ve been given to govern justly and steward for God. In this sermon from the Doctrine series, pastor Mark Driscoll will challenge people to stop using their time, talent, and treasure to serve themselves—and start using them to serve God.
It’s all about the numbers?
In September, Outreach magazine released its annual issue listing the 100 largest and fastest-growing churches in the nation. For the first time in a number of years, you won’t see Mars Hill Church listed.
The cultural mandate and your work today
When you tried to figure out what to do with your life, you probably didn’t go to the book of Genesis for direction. But the cultural mandate, found in Genesis 1:28, is God’s first job description for humankind, and it still holds true for our lives today as Christians: “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” What does that have to do with our vocational calling—our work?
Your work is holy
Many of us struggle to find meaning in our work. We are tempted to settle for seeing their lives as marked by sacred times of church, family, and prayer, surrounded by secular times of work and rest that are devoid of any sacred purpose. But God does not intend for our lives to be lived in pockets of sacred time and secular time.
