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Colin Smith: The thief is come to steal and to kill and to destroy. Satan is the great taker of what does not belong to him. He's always trying to get as much as possible and give as little as possible. That's his character.

Steve Hiller: Welcome to Open the Bible Weekend with Pastor Colin Smith. Today we continue the message "Your Struggle for Integrity." It is based on the commandment, "Thou shalt not steal." We began with a definition last time: that stealing is trying to get as much as possible while giving as little as possible. Some of us saw a little bit of that in our own character, and now you are saying that is the character of Satan as well. That is really sobering.

Colin Smith: It is, and it reflects the fact that sin, which comes from him, is in all of us. There are a lot of folks these days who sadly are being drawn to the dark side. I would ask this question: What is it that you see in the dark side that draws you? Satan has come, Jesus says, to steal and to kill and to destroy. What is it that is attractive about that?

The enemy of human souls is the great taker. He promises much; he gives little. There is a lie and a false promise in every sin and in every temptation. You think you are going to find great happiness if you come and you pursue this, but it always leads to disappointment.

In contrast, the light of the Lord Jesus Christ comes as the great giver. He gives himself. He says, "I am the good shepherd. I come and I lay down my life for my sheep." Then when He comes to us, He says, "Now take my yoke upon you. My yoke is easy, my burden is light," because anyone who walks with Christ gains far more than they ever give.

If I lay down my life for Christ, to die is gain. Therefore, Christ is the great giver, and if I become like Christ, I will want to reflect more of that character. There is nothing that is attractive in the darkness; there is everything that is attractive in the light.

Steve Hiller: We are going to continue to see what that looks like from Exodus chapter 20 and verse 15 as we continue the message, "Your Struggle for Integrity."

Colin Smith: God will hold Christian employers responsible for our stewardship in paying appropriate salaries to those who generate the wealth and the blessing that we enjoy. Then while we are thinking of paying, there is the whole issue of late payment—bills that hang out there, either from the home or from the business, long beyond the time that they were due to be paid.

The Bible speaks to this. We are to give, according to Romans 13:7, to everyone what we owe them. If you owe money on a bill, it is no good to say, "Well, this is a big company and they won't miss it." It is what you owe, and your responsibility is not the company; your responsibility is your bill.

If someone gives you a loan and you do not repay it, that is stealing. It is no use saying, "Oh, he doesn't need the money back." Whether or not they need the money back is none of your business. Your responsibility is to pay what we owe.

Fourthly, there is the whole issue of copying. Here you come to a sin that is too common among pastors: plagiarism—taking other people's material and speaking it as if it were your own. Then, of course, there is the whole issue of copyright in relation to computer software or copying a music CD from your friend at high school so you don't have to buy one. That is taking what is due to the artist.

You say, "Well, the artist doesn't need it. He's already a millionaire," which is probably true. But think about that. What you are then saying is that it is okay to steal from someone who has more than you do if you think they have already got enough.

If you go with that logic, that would mean that most of the world has the right to steal from every one of us, including our high school students, because half the world owns less than a high school student in America. Copying is stealing.

Then think of this. I have called the last one "shallow Christian living." If stealing is about trying to get as much as possible by giving as little as possible, I think that the eighth commandment speaks very powerfully to the way that many people approach the Christian life.

Remember the question that a very rich person once asked Jesus: "What must I do to get eternal life?" You see the whole tone of that question? What is the minimum I have got to give to make sure I get in? How can I get eternity's blessing at the minimum price? Doesn't that show a whole attitude of heart?

This commandment is like an X-ray of the soul. It shows what we are really like. We want to get much, and we want to give little. As I have looked into my own soul, and I guess as you look into yours this morning in the light of the word of God, maybe we will confess that this is indeed one of the ten greatest struggles of our lives.

That is enough about breaking the commandment. Our aim is to encourage keeping the commandment. Let's move on quickly to the question: What does keeping the commandment look like? Remember, the best way to avoid a wrong road is always to choose the right road and to go down it as fast as you can.

Let's turn over to Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 28, where Paul gives us the New Testament exposition of the eighth commandment. Notice that there in Ephesians 4:28, he gives us the negative and then the positive on which we will focus. First the negative: He who has been stealing must steal no longer.

What are we to do instead? Notice what he says: "but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need." If I ask the question, what does it mean to keep the eighth commandment? The very obvious answer is going to be that it means working and it means giving.

Don't steal; instead, this is what you do to keep the eighth commandment: you work, and you give. The opposite of stealing is working. The word that Paul uses for work here means labor to the point of fatigue. He commends labor to the point of fatigue. That is the meaning of the word that he uses.

If you know what it is to flop into your bed at night and feel pretty well spent, Paul is saying that is a good thing. You have given yourself. That is a worthy thing. The Bible always takes a positive view of work. This is a good gift from God.

Tracing the times when the Apostle Paul speaks of working harder than those who wanted to have an easy life in ministry is very significant. He speaks about this in 1 Corinthians 15 and 2 Corinthians 11. He talks about laboring and struggling. These are the kind of words that reflect what authentic work ministry actually looks like.

"In everything that I did," he said, "I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak." "Work with your hands," he says. The Bible commends to us the value of working hard. That is a note that we need to hear. It is a fundamental biblical principle.

The New Testament encourages us to approach our work, which after all is the largest part of our time for the largest part of our life, with a positive attitude. "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, working as for the Lord, not for men."

Remember that work was given before the Fall. Work is not just some kind of necessity that you have to do; it is an opportunity to contribute. You will be a contributor for all eternity. God has built the desire to contribute into the very fabric of creation.

Whether your work is paid work as an employee, or whether your work involves no take-home pay because you are a student, you are looking for work, you are creating a home, or you are giving yourself as a volunteer, whatever the nature of your work, paid or unpaid, remember there was no pay packet in the garden, but there was work. God has called us to contribute.

Find what you can contribute, and then do it with all your heart. Learn to love your work and to value it as a good gift from God. Learn to say in the morning, "Thank you that I have work. Thank you that somebody so values what You enabled me to do that they are willing to pay me to do it."

Thank you because this is Your way of providing for me, and it is Your way of allowing me to grow because we grow through our work. It is Your way of allowing me to make a contribution. If you feel you are beginning to outgrow your work, thank God for that; it means you are growing.

Warren Wiersbe said once, "I've always found it very helpful: Do everything you can to the best of your ability. You never know who will be measuring you for a larger task." God knows all about that. If you come to a point where you have outgrown your work, then thank God for it. He will lead you to something that will continue to enable you to grow even further.

Approach your work with a positive attitude. Then as we seek to work, which is the way in which we fulfill the eighth commandment, we are to offer our work as worship to the Lord. Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 7 says, "Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men."

I have been thinking about the jobs I have done over the years. Here we go. Number one: I worked in a grocery store stacking shelves and serving cold meat at a delicatessen. Number two: I worked as a night shift cleaner. Number three: I worked as a house parent caring for mentally handicapped children. Number four: since that time, I have worked as a pastor.

In which of these jobs was I working for the Lord? Answer: all of them. That is probably the most important thing for many of us to grasp. We often make the mistake of dividing things into sacred and secular. We think the pastors work for the Lord, and we say, "Well, I just work for Motorola or District 214 or Jewel-Osco."

But the Bible never makes that kind of division. Paul says to every Christian, "Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord." That is the way in which you are to approach your whole thinking about work. Offer your work as worship.

The reason we find this difficult is that we are deeply convinced that God is interested in prayer and evangelism and preaching. But we are not half as convinced that God is interested in microcircuitry, school lunches, or checkouts at the grocery store.

Of course God is interested in school lunches and microcircuitry and checkouts at the grocery store. That is one of the first things we learn in the Bible: that God walks with Adam in the garden, engaging with him in his work. There was no prayer or evangelism involved.

In heaven, there will be no prayer nor evangelism, but there will be work. You will be contributing creatively, according to your gifting made perfect. Your work will be your worship. It will be the joy of heaven. You will be in that zone—a friend of mine calls it the "sweet spot"—where you are doing exactly what God designed you to do, and you are doing it with fulfillment and freshness for all eternity.

His purpose in work is that there will be a little taste of heaven on earth in advance. Think of what this kind of approach will do for the quality of your work. If you do it as for the Lord, it will give your work new meaning and new significance. You will find new joy in what sometimes seem like ordinary tasks that you can offer as worship to the Lord because it is what He has called you to do.

Steve Hiller: You are listening to Open the Bible Weekend with Pastor Colin Smith and a message called "Your Struggle for Integrity." It is part of a larger series called "The 10 Greatest Struggles of Your Life." If you missed any of the broadcasts in our series, you can listen online at openthebible.org.

While you are there, check out a film that is perfect for this time of year. It is called "Heaven, How I Got Here: The Story of the Thief on the Cross." It is about the thief who was crucified next to Jesus—how he began his day headed for hell, but he ended up hearing those words from Jesus, "Today you will be with me in paradise." It is a one-hour film that we have translated into over 20 languages. You can watch the film for free at openthebible.org/heaven. Let's get back to the message.

Colin Smith: What does keeping the eighth commandment look like? It involves working and giving. He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but he must work, doing something useful with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with those in need.

Whatever stage of life you are at, and whether you are employed or not, working for money isn't the issue. The issue here is what you can contribute to the life of other people. One of the joys of table conversation at home these days for us in our family is hearing some of Karen's stories that she brings home from teaching young children at Christian Heritage Academy.

They have what they call "rug time" where she sits on this chair and all the children sit on the rug around her. On one occasion, they were talking about what they wanted to do when they grew up. One five-year-old little girl said, "First, I'm going to be a secretary. Then I'm going to be a nurse. Then I'm going to be a mother. And then I'm going to be a teacher." To which Karen said, "My, you're going to be very, very busy."

"Oh yes," she said, "and the sooner I get started, the sooner I can retire." Five years old! Now, if you think that work is just what you do to get money in order to build a big enough pile for you to be able to retire, you have completely misunderstood the biblical vision of work.

The purpose of life is that we contribute. If you don't have to work for pay, the question is, how can I contribute in the freedom and the blessing that God has given to me now? God has entrusted you with time and with talent and with treasure. The question is, how are you using these as a contribution to the life of others?

How are you saying, "Lord, take my gifting, take what You have entrusted to me. You've given me the Holy Spirit, not to hold to myself but for ministry." Don't let me be like the servant who takes what You have given and digs a hole in the ground and just lives my little private life. Give me a vision of why I'm here.

The Heidelberg Catechism gives various dimensions of the eighth commandment and adds this at the end: "In addition, God forbids all greed and all squandering of His gifts." See, if God gave you a gift and you don't use it, that is stealing. He gave it so that you should contribute to the lives of others and you should play your role within His kingdom.

If you hold that to yourself, you are doing what the third servant in Jesus' parable did: you are burying it in a hole in the ground. I am stealing from God and I am stealing from other people if I do that, by withholding from them what God intended them to receive through me.

Whenever I go into a meeting, whenever I am in a conversation, whenever I am sitting at a dinner table, even if it is with my own family, I have got to ask: What is the contribution I can make here? How can I contribute? The eighth commandment means having a change of heart.

I see just how many ways I want to be a taker rather than a giver. Do you see that in yourself? Instead of saying, "How much can I give?" my instinct too often is to say, "How much can I get?" If I am to fulfill the commandment, I need a radical change of heart. I need to be turned from a taker into a giver.

In this last moment, I was trying to think of two examples of a taker and a giver. It came very clearly to me. Of course, that is exactly what Jesus is talking about when He described Satan. He said, "The thief is come to steal and to kill and to destroy."

Satan is the great taker of what does not belong to him. He is always trying to get as much as possible and give as little as possible. That is his character. He pays terrible wages. "The wages of sin is death." If you do his work, you will be terribly disappointed when you get your pay packet.

But Jesus said, "I am come that they might have life, that you might have life and have it to the full." Jesus is the great giver of what already belongs to Him. Satan is the great taker of what he does not own—the grasper after the throne of God, the grasper after your soul. Jesus is the great giver of life that is already His.

Christ turns takers into givers. The gospel is more than good advice; it is good news. It is not a set of instructions on how to change. It is not a manual for how to be a better employee or how to develop a strategic portfolio for giving. It is a new life, a new heart, a new spirit, and a new vision of life so that freely I may become ever increasingly a giver like Christ, whose Spirit dwells in me.

Pour your life out for Him and you will have no regrets. When you receive your reward, you will not be disappointed. You will not look around heaven and say, "Was this really worth it?" You will stand before Him and you will wonder in awe why you found it so difficult. Those who trust in Him will never be put to shame.

Steve Hiller: What a great reminder from Pastor Colin today that as we understand the gospel and as we begin to apply it to our lives, it really gives us a new heart, a new spirit, and a new vision so that we can give freely. What a great look today at how Christ turns takers into givers.

Our message is entitled "Your Struggle for Integrity." It is part of a larger series on the Ten Commandments called "The 10 Greatest Struggles of Your Life." If you missed any of the broadcasts in our series, you can listen online at openthebible.org. You can stream the program or download an MP3 for free.

Open the Bible is a listener-supported ministry, and as you give a gift of any amount this month, we want to send you a copy of John Stott's book called "The Incomparable Christ." Colin, who is this book for?

Colin Smith: It is for anyone who wants to know the Lord Jesus Christ better. It was written by one of the most influential Christian leaders of the 20th century. John Stott was a faithful preacher, a pastor, and a scholar for over 60 years. He is one of my heroes of the faith.

I love to read his writing, and never more so than when he is writing on the most central subject of all: the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. This book, "The Incomparable Christ," is a deep dive on who Jesus is. It comes in four parts.

We see Jesus as He is presented in the New Testament, as He has been presented by the church over the centuries, as He has inspired various figures in history, and as He is presented to us in the book of Revelation. It is just a glorious snapshot of who the Lord Jesus Christ is. Anyone who reads this book is going to feel that they come to a deeper worship, a deeper love, and a deeper trust in Jesus.

Steve Hiller: We want to send you a copy of this book as our way of saying thank you for your financial support this month. You can give online at openthebible.org or call 1-877-OPEN-365. That is 1-877-673-6365. For Pastor Colin Smith, I'm Steve Hiller. Thanks for listening and I hope you will join us next time. Open the Bible Weekend is a listener-supported production of Open the Bible.

Colin Smith: This is Pastor Colin, and I want you to know about a resource that will help you in your devotional life. It is called Open the Bible Daily. My colleague Pastor Tim Augustyn takes what you hear on Open the Bible and edits it into daily bite-sized chunks that you can read in your devotional time in less than three minutes.

Every day you will find a verse of scripture, a short teaching from God's word, and an application that you can carry with you through the day. People who use this tell us that they read it every day, and I think that if you try it, you will love it too. For more information, visit openthebible.org/daily. That is openthebible.org/daily.