Trust: the Glue of Community

Trust: The Glue of Community

Tenth Sunday after Trinity

Collect of the Day: Grant to us, Lord, we beseech thee, the spirit to think and do always such things as are right; that we, who cannot do any thing that is good without thee, may by thee be enabled to live according to thy will; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Homily Text: Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. Exodus 20:15,16 (BCP, p. 87)

Suppose that we are not only members of the same church, but  all also neighbors. What is the glue that holds both communities together? Trust. Trust, that if I leave my garage door open in the neighborhood, you will not steal what’s mine. Trust, that when you say something to me or about me at church, I know you will tell the truth.

The two commandments we consider today address both those issues which are necessary for true community to exist, whether our families, our church, our neighborhoods, our towns and cities, our states, or the nation. When these commandments break down, the community starts to fall apart.

1.Thou shalt not steal.

The commandment, “Thou shalt no steal” assumes that we have a right to own personal property and that ordinarily it may not be taken from us. The Declaration of Independence does not list all the inalienable rights, but says among them are these three: “life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness.” Many think there is a fourth right of freedom - ownership of property. In America, the government does not own your property; it only records and protects your ownership.

You have stuff - perhaps a house, a car, furniture, jewelry, cash, a bank account, stock investments. Those things are yours, and I may not take them from you. The government may take some of what you own but only as allowed by strict legal procedures. There are: (1) eminent domain laws that allow the government to take your land for public use at a fair price; (2) tax laws that require you to render to the government a certain percentage of your income and the value of your property; and (3) bankruptcy laws that allow courts to transfer ownership of some of your assets to pay some of your debts.

One of the most important Biblical principles of ownership that Christians need to remember is that God owns everything: “The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein…” (Ps. 24:1). Whatever we have, we hold in trust for God. As God made Adam the steward of creation at the beginning, so he makes us stewards of whatever he lets us possess. This principle contrasts with two attitudes: (1) “I have a right to some or all of what you have; I will take it if I can,” or (2) “What’s mine is mine, and I will use it as I please.” God’s principle calls us to say, “What’s mine is God’s, and I will use it for him.” The way we use our earthly treasure has a direct connection to how we will be rewarded with heavenly treasure.

There are many forms of theft that God forbids in the 8th commandment:

·        Burglary in which a thief goes into a house and takes some of what belongs to the owner.

·        Extortion when a criminal uses force or the threat of force to take another person’s money or property.

·        Blackmail when someone threatens to ruin a person’s reputation if they do not surrender some of their money or property.

·        Embezzlement in which an employee or trustee secretly takes money or materials entrusted to him.

 An employee’s not giving a full day’s work for a day’s pay or an employer’s not paying a fair wage in a timely manner to those they employ.

·        Price gouging when businesses take advantage of situations like natural disasters to drive up prices.

·        Looting when mobs take advantage of civil unrest to steal from retail businesses.

·        Cheating on tests; plagiarizing another’s work.

·        Stealing utilities. Jackson, MS, has a great problem with people who have tapped into the water system and pay nothing; and many think nothing of tapping into a cable TV line.

·        Not paying debts. I understand the credit card industry can encourage misuse of credit, but it still strikes me as wrong when I hear the commercials that say they will “reveal” the secret that credit care companies don’t want you to know - that though you borrowed it, you don’t have to pay it all back.

The New Testament congregations included people who had lived their lives as pagans who had no contact with the Old Testament moral code. We find St. Paul writing to the Corinthians and Thessalonians to tell them to stop engaging in sexual immorality. He also told the Ephesians, “Let the thief no longer steal.” 

Faith in Christ requires and produces change. When Zacchaeus, who had used his position as a tax collector to extort lots of money received the grace of Jesus, he promised he would return 4 times what he had stolen. In Belfast during the early 1920s there was a work of the Holy Spirit in which many unbelievers became Christians. One result was that shipyard workers filled sheds with tools and equipment they had stolen.

But St. Paul doesn’t stop with telling us to stop stealing. There are two more steps.  Paul goes on to day that the former thief must do “honest work…so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.” Paul says “Stop stealing. Then, support yourself by working. Then become a giver not a taker. Be generous with those who really are in need.”  Christians don’t work just to have enough for themselves but to have enough to give. The result in the early Jerusalem church was that “there was not a needy person among them.”

God says, “Don’t steal; work and give.”

2. Thou shalt not bear false witness.

Susan doesn’t like bargaining. She thinks, if you want to buy something, the seller ought to tell you the price, and you decide whether you can afford it. That’s the way it works at the grocery and department stores and the gas station.

But some things like cars and houses require negotiation and bargaining. We visited Turkey for a missionary conference. On the streets of the towns we visited, we encountered everywhere sellers of Oriental rugs. We resisted till the last day when I determined we weren’t going home without a rug. I understood the stated price of a rug meant nothing. So, I began to bargain with the merchant. We haggled back and forth, until at last we agreed on a price. I felt triumphant. I got the rug for much below the price he quoted. But I expect the merchant was thinking, “Another dumb American I tricked into thinking he got a deal.” (This is a little bit of a sore spot with me; when Susan asked the kids if they wanted some of our rugs, one said he wanted my rug, but I really liked that rug and thought it was mine.)

I am not sure what I think about the morality of bargaining. It feels like neither side in truthful and sincere. These situations make me think about what it means to be honest.

The 9th Commandment says, “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.” The context is a trial. The Commandment means “Thou shalt not bear false testimony against thy neighbor.” This is where it is most critical to tell the truth. In a trial a person’s life, freedom, or property is at stake. If you lie, the person could lose his property, his freedom, or even his life.

But, why would you lie? You might be a cynic who cares nothing about truth or justice. Or, maybe you know the person is not guilty of this crime, but is guilty of other crimes, so you figure in the end your lie will mean he gets justice. Or, it could be that this person is your enemy, so you lie against him and are glad he suffers punishment. God warns us, “When you are called into court to give testimony, tell the truth no matter who is on trial or what the truth may cost you.”

If this command forbids us to lie in court, it has implications for all our lies: (1) lies to make ourselves look good, especially in comparison to others; (2) lies to make others look bad because we do not like them or because by making them look bad we make ourselves look good; (3) lies to keep ourselves out of trouble; (4) lies to give us an advantage over others.

We tell outright lies – things we tell for the truth but know are lies. We tell half-truths when we tell the truth, but what we leave out makes what we say a lie. We lie when we withhold information to which others have a right. The trouble is that we lie so much, we no longer know when we are lying.

We are not required to say everything we know, think, or feel – sometimes silence is the way of love. But, if we speak, we must speak the truth.

God is a God of truth whose words can be counted on as true. We can count on what God says in the Bible without reservations. God wants us to be like him. The Old Testament law says, “You shall not swear by my name falsely, and so profane the name of your God; I am the LORD.” In the New Testament, St. Paul tells us, “Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each of you speak the truth to his neighbor, for we are members of one another.”

What holds a community together? Trust. Trust is based on respecting one another’s property and respecting the truth. Don’t take what is not yours, whether it’s your neighbor’s axe or a tax refund. Don’t lie. Let others trust what you say.

The good news for us all is that Jesus died to save thieves and liars such as we are. He took all our thieving and lying on himself as his own guilt, and he suffered what we deserve to suffer for these sins. By faith we receive Jesus and the grace he offers.  Our guilt is removed. Our condemnation is no more. Our consciences no longer accuse us. God’s grace begins to transform us into trustworthy disciples of Jesus.

Grace comes into our lives by Word and Sacrament.