Introduction
How much stuff do you have? Of how many things can you say: “This belongs to me?” What exactly does that mean? And what are you going to do with all these possessions? Why do you have them to begin with? What is their purpose?
This topic of possessions and property is the concern of the eighth commandment. Once again, the Ten Commandments give a negative statement: “You shall not steal.” If something belongs to another person, you may not take it and pretend it is yours. Most people in the world agree that this should be a rule; it is the minimum requirement, the absolute negative. But as Christians we don’t set the bar low. We look for the positive principle, and how it allows us to honor God, to really enjoy the freedom we have in Jesus Christ, and to be a blessing to others.
Freedom to love the Lord with our possessions
1. Respect for others’ possessions
2. Blessing of private property
3. Pursuing heavenly wealth
Respect for others’ possessions
Our catechism starts with the negative aspect of the eighth commandment. If we take “You shall not steal” in the most literal sense, it obviously means no thieving and no robbery. But there are more subtle violations of the commandment, and they are also sinful. Remember, Jesus explained that “You shall not kill” even means that we shouldn’t hate or insult our fellow man; and “You shall not commit adultery” means not even desiring sex outside of our proper relationships. In the same way, “You shall not steal” means that God forbids not only outright theft and robbery, but also many other sins involving the possessions of others.
Sin is often subtle. Sinful people are crafty. We think of all kinds of ways to increase our benefit at the expense of others. We are good at finding the loopholes to come out ahead of others. Or to sneakily violate the rules when nobody is watching. The catechism talks about schemes and devices, that is, trickery and crafty plans to make ourselves rich by using others. Even though we don’t snatch stuff from another person’s hand, or house, or pocket, these schemes and devices are still wicked. Q&a 110 lists four examples of these more subtle forms of stealing:
1. False weights and measures. Suppose you buy and sell meat by the pound, using old-fashioned scales. You can secretly make a little extra money by replacing the pound by a lighter weight when you sell. It’s really 20 pounds, but now the scale says 21 pounds, and you get more money. In the ancient world, this form of stealing was well-known. But God said: “Do not have two differing weights in your bag, or two differing measures in your house. You must have accurate and honest weights and measures.” Related to this is trick number 2: Deceptive merchandising. This happens if you pretend to sell something that is worth more than it actually is. It happens so easily: tell a buyer on E-bay or Kijiji that something is in a good condition while it really isn’t, and you make money that you shouldn’t really have. The counterpart of deceptive merchandising is 3. Counterfeit money, where you pretend to pay with something that is actually worthless. Finally, the catechism lists 4. Usury, which means charging large amounts of interest. If people are desperate to borrow money, you can force them to pay a high interest rate, but it isn’t right.
Any trick we use to get another person’s things without paying a fair price is wicked, a violation of the eighth commandment. A positive way of understanding all this is that we should respect another person’s possessions. The Lord has given them to this person, not to you; and we ought to respect that, acknowledge it, and be content with it. Sin against the eighth commandment often begins with sin against the sixth and tenth commandments. Against the sixth when we think the other person is not important enough to have these possessions (at least less important than we are); and against the tenth commandment when we covet, when we really want to have what God gave to someone else.
Blessing of private property
In the eighth commandment God forbids stealing, directly and indirectly. But we get a much richer perspective on this commandment when we consider why we have possessions. “The earth belongs to the Lord, and all that is in it,” says Psalm 24, yet he entrusts specific things to us individually. The Bible acknowledges private property and speaks about it as a blessing.
We need things to live, and to live well. We need money to buy food for ourselves and our family, a house and clothing to stay warm, tools to do our work. The ancient Israelites needed their ox and their donkey to plough fields and transport loads; we need our cell phones and cars to do our work and go places. We obtain these things by working for them. They belong to us, not to others; we have the exclusive right to use them, and also the responsibility to use them well.
This is an important point to remember. Our possessions are a blessing to us, as long as we understand their proper place and use. These things are ours—but we belong to the Lord Jesus. Our possessions are there to serve us—but we serve the Lord and we serve others for his sake. Our private property gives us freedom—but we ought to use this freedom to love God and others and bless them.
In the Old Testament, the Israelites had to learn this aspect of property in a very special way; see Lev. 25. Every seventh year was a Sabbath Year. No crops were to be planted. The people had to trust that the Lord would bless them enough in the six years, that they would be provided for in the seventh year, even without doing the hard work. Every fifty years, in the Year of Jubilee, they were supposed to hit a big “reset” button on their economy. Fields you had bought from other families had to be given back to them. People who had sold themselves as slaves, because they could not pay off their debt in a different way, had to be released. This is an unusual arrangement, of course, and I am not sure that the Israelites ever fully obeyed this instruction! But the lesson in it all is that ultimately, everything and everybody belongs to the Lord. Even our private possessions are really his.
We may not have Sabbath Years and Years of Jubilee, but the principle is still the same. Our things ultimately belong to the Lord;they are his gifts to us . When we use our possessions, we ought to ask what the Lord wants us to do with them. The first purpose of our possessions is to use them for our livelihood. We enjoy our food, we feed our children, we live in comfort, we save up for the future. These gifts we receive as tokens of God’s love. We don’t need to feel guilty about this. We belong to Jesus Christ, who is King over all; since everything belongs to him, in a way everything is ours to enjoy.
But now we must be careful, especially if we are rich—as many of us are. What do we do with the stuff that is not essential for our livelihood? How do we spend the rest of our money? The Bible has much to say about this, and our catechism summarizes this. At the end of q&a 110, it mentions three ways in which we can go wrong: greed, abuse, and squandering.
First, God forbids all greed. Jesus himself said this clearly in Luke 12:15: “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” The Lord was not talking about illegitimate ways to make money. He said this to a man who had the right to an inheritance, and wanted Jesus to be the judge. But rather than saying who should get the money or land, the Lord warned against the desire for these things. If we spend too much time and energy on gathering wealth, we are on the wrong track.
Next, we may not abuse the possessions the Lord gives us. When we spend our money on meaningless things, or selfish things, or unnecessary luxury, we are squandering the Lord’s gifts to us. What would the Lord say about the clothes we buy, or the vehicles, or the vacations we take? “I gave you thousands of dollars to work with, and you use it for this?” Squandering God’s gifts is often foolish in itself, because we may find out that we haven’t saved up enough. The book of proverbs warns us: “Drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags.” “The wise store up choice food and olive oil, but fools gulp theirs down.” Spending without saving is foolish, and therefore sinful.
But we must take it a step further. Even if you are smart enough to save up for the future, you still cannot do just anything you want with what is left. Our discretionary income must be spent with Christian discretion. Because our possessions, and especially those we have left after providing the basic necessities for ourselves and our families, have a clear purpose. Our catechism brings that out in q&a 111. What does God require of you in this commandment? — I must promote my neighbor’s good wherever I can and may.
We already heard this in the sixth commandment: the positive counterpart of “You shall not kill” is: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” In the eighth commandment we make it explicit: the positive teaching of “You shall not steal” is: Use your possessions to bless your neighbors. Not just every now and then. Not just a little bit in the collection bag on Sunday, or when writing donation checks at the end of the year. We must learn a Christian attitude toward our possessions and put it into action: My possessions belong to the Lord, who has been very generous to me; let me, then, be generous to others.
This kind of generosity is not an optional nicety for believers; generosity is a divine command! Already in the Old Testament, the Lord instructed: “There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land.” (Deut. 15 : 10, 11)
Fulfilling the eighth commandment positively, by being generous and unselfish with our possessions, is fruit of the Holy Spirit and a mark of true Christians. We see this clearly in the description of the church in Acts 2 and Acts 4. They worshiped and fellowshiped; but also, “God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them.” This is the positive goal of the eighth commandment: that we share so generously, that no one has to suffer poverty.
Our catechism adds one more thing. We should not be passive in this matter, in just being generous with whatever leftovers we may have. We should actively pursue earning possessions for the specific purpose of giving them away to the needly. We sometimes speak of the Calvinistic ethic of working hard. Well, here is the complete statement of this ethic: God requires that I work faithfully so that I may be able to give to those in need.”
As an immigrant community, we can look back over three generations. Our grandparents came here with very little and worked hard; and by the Lord’s blessing they became quite well off, and today we live in nice houses and have much more than we need. And we tell others: See, that is how the Lord blesses faithful, hard work! That is generally true. However, let’s make sure that we are not known for the wealth that we hoard for ourselves, but rather for the wealth that we share, generously and from a sincere heart. The Lord’s blessing is most visible in his mercy and grace, which we can show to others by our generosity.
Pursuing heavenly wealth
We have talked about our possessions. It matters what we do with our things, even if they belong to us. The Lord is Lord over our entire life, including all our stuff. That is what the eighth commandment is about.
All of this must be seen in the greater perspective of the Kingdom of Jesus. We are headed for eternal life with Jesus Christ, on a new earth that will be joined with the new heavens. But that means that our earthly possessions today are only a very small part of the equation. We cannot take our stuff with us in death, and we will not take our wealth along to the glorious future. While our old self is very much attached to “the flesh”, including all kinds of riches and comforts, our new self of the Spirit should know better.
This is why Jesus admonished us not to collect treasures on earth, which will fade, but to collect treasure in heaven. He told his disciples to be generous in their charitable giving, because our Father in heaven will reward us. His instruction to the rich young ruler, “sell everything you have and give it to the poor,” is only a little bit of an exaggeration. If we have our basic food and shelter, what more do we really need as children of the Kingdom of heaven?
How we deal with our possessions, and especially our wealth, is a good test of where our heart is. If we hoard or squander money on earth, our heart is on earth, and our faith is still weak. Mature faith has its treasure in heaven, and is therefore generous in giving money, time, and energy.
Let me make this even more concrete, specific for our congregation. It has been a concern among the elders, for a long time, that many members do not contribute anything toward the budget of our church, even though they are obviously able to. In itself, money is not a big thing; if necessary, we can do with a less fancy building, and your minister can survive on a smaller income. Also, thankfully, many members of our church give more than is asked, and so make up for those who don’t. Our concern is not financial; it is spiritual. Precisely because it is a voluntary contribution, what you do with it reflects your heart. What is more important to you: the operation of the church or your vacation? What takes priority: support for the preaching of the gospel and outreach, or a new computer? Your financial choices reveal your heart, and your gratefulness (or lack of it) for our salvation.
Conclusion
The eighth commandment is, in the end, a positive commandment. The Lord has given us our possessions as a gift to enjoy; and also to use as a blessing to others around us. A community that lives according to this Christian principle of grateful generosity will be beautiful, and reflects the peace and riches of the Kingdom of heaven. As long as we live this earthly life, let us use the stuff of the earth to do good and to show others the generous mercy of our Lord Jesus. Then we can look forward to much greater riches afterward, to the treasures of heaven stored up for those who belong to him.