Blog

by Charlie Wolcott

“You shall not steal.” -Exodus 20:15

I hope that over the past few weeks, you’ve seen the dangers of idolatry and why we must take it seriously. The last couple of weeks have been very heavy. It’s very difficult to address the murder and adultery of idolatrous practices “softly,” and trust me that I held back as much as I could on it. But these are issues our little kids are being confronted with the moment they step outside the house (if they haven’t been flooded with it on TV already). This post will be much lighter, however, I’m not done yet. Idolatry does not merely lead to stealing. It is a form of stealing. Yes, if you worship any god other than the True God, you are a thief. Idolatry is thievery.

There is only One True God. He is the Lord. There is none like Him. There is none who can compare with Him. There is none who can create, none who can deliver, none who can perform great acts, none who can save, none who can produce life, and none who control all things. None, other than the True God. One thing greatly missing in many churches is the study of God. It is rare to hear a sermon about the attributes of God and an accurate description of who He is and what He is like as revealed in Scripture. I know of a few books about the attributes of God, but good luck finding them in your local Christian bookstore and good luck finding one among contemporary preachers. When the preachers themselves don’t preach about God and who He is and what He is like, why are we surprised when the general population doesn’t know about Him either? The fact is that God’s true character is scandalous to culture. God is offensive to us in our sinful state, but unless we describe God as He revealed himself to be, then we are practicing idolatry and are attributing that which belongs to God to a being of our own liking. This is stealing.

When someone takes part of God’s message but mixes it with other philosophies and ideas and proclaims it as their religion, they are stealing from God. I call the atheism of our day a form of plagiarism, since they love to boast about their academics. As we know, plagiarism is the greatest sin of academia. You get expelled from college for it, yet plagiarism is practiced most heavily by the professors at these universities. How can I say that? They steal from God and claim it as their own models. Where does morality come from? The atheist will say “society.” Where does “society” get it? In reality: God. Or they will say, “Everyone knows what is right and wrong.” To which I agree but then follow up with Romans 2:14, John 1:9, and Romans 1:19-20 which reveals that the reason why everyone knows what is right and wrong is because God has told everyone what it is and given us a conscience to prove it. But the atheist claims it as his own morality and doesn’t give its proper credit to where it is from. That, by the book, is plagiarism.

Jesus lashed out at the Pharisees for attributing His works and deeds to Beelzebub. They had seen and heard all Jesus had done and instead of wonder and awe, they attributed His works to demons. Jesus called this the “blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.” As John MacArthur put it in this sermon, “This puts them out of the possibility of being saved.” The Pharisees had an idol in their minds. They had a picture of the Messiah being a great military leader, yet nothing in Scripture ever suggests that. They had a false image of God and it prevented them from seeing Him when He was right in front of their eyes.

There is a lot of idolatry going on today. A lot of people proclaim a version of God that fits their ideals then call it “God.” That’s not just blasphemous; it’s theft. It’s stealing from God and putting it where it doesn’t belong. If your idea of God changes based on the culture, the latest “scientific findings,” or on whatever some person tells you rather than being based on Scripture, then you have an idol and you are stealing God’s glory and God’s name for your personal gain.

One form of this stealing is on display in Matthew 7:21-23. Many in the church are false converts and they will speak the language, do great deeds, even perform miracles and cast out demons, but Jesus will turn on them and say, “I never knew you.” The Message’s paraphrase of Jesus’ statement essentially goes: “You just used my name for your own platform.” Let me make this clear: there are many who claim the name of Christ and they don’t have a right to it. They are stealing from God, claiming something for themselves that isn’t theirs to claim. It has not been given to them by God to wear in the process God calls to get it. They just claimed it, but God knows the real from the fake. Often the fakes do a fine enough job to reveal themselves as such. The false convert isn’t just a false believer; he’s a thief. He is stealing from God that which isn’t his. Some of us need to get right with God right now. I’m not innocent of this charge either. There are times where I’ve declared I’m doing something for God’s glory and His purposes, when I’m really doing it for mine. Frankly, that’s stealing. A thief will not enter the Kingdom. That should disturb us.

Next week, we’ll deal with lying. Don’t be surprised if there is a lot of similarity to what I am saying here today.

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.