Well, good morning, everyone. If you would turn with me in your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 4. I'm excited this morning to continue our series in the book of Ephesians that we've been going through now for several months as a church. Now imagine with me for a moment that you're part of a small church living in a hostile culture that is opposed to everything you believe. Practicing, your faith is tolerated but not exactly encouraged. There's not necessarily outright persecution, but being open about your faith can negatively impact your position at work or limit the kinds of friends that you're able to make or keep. Meanwhile, the city that you are living in is filled with dozens of other religious groups and organizations. There are temples everywhere, and the ruling authorities encourage the worship of the emperor. That's Ephesus. a bustling port on the coast of Asia Minor in what is now called Turkey, a wealthy metropolis, one of the most important cities in the Roman Empire. And it was in this thoroughly pagan city that Paul worked hard over several years to establish a church and build a beachhead for Christianity. Now, Ephesus was a tough nut to crack, and Paul faced many difficulties along the way, not just from the surrounding culture that was thoroughly pagan, but even within the church itself. Gentiles and Jews from wildly different backgrounds had all come to faith when confronted with the truth of the gospel. But now the challenge was bringing them together as truly one body in Christ. That's the central question at the heart of the book of Ephesians. Will this congregation be able to set aside all their numerous cultural, political, social, and even religious differences in order to live and work and worship together as a people of God? Can the many really function together as one? What will that look like? And how will they accomplish such a lofty goal? We've been looking at Paul's answers to these questions as we've worked our way through the book of Ephesians, and we're almost at the end now of chapter four. Having reminded the Ephesians that they're one body in Christ with one Lord, one faith, one baptism, Paul then tells them, as we just heard Rita read to us, that they should no longer walk as the Gentiles do in the darkness and the futility of their minds. But instead, they should put off their old selves and then put on their new selves, restored, redeemed, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness, true holiness. But what does that look like? Well, Paul says, let me give you some examples. And then as he continues, he says, well, instead of lying, we should be telling the truth. And instead of giving in to anger, we should be quick to forgive. And instead of stealing, we should work hard. And instead of corrupting talk, we should use our words to build others up. And we've already looked at those first two examples, lying, anger. A few weeks ago. Today, we're going to look at stealing, and then next week, we'll be hearing his commands about the power of our words. But for today, the main point of our message is really quite simple. Don't steal, but work hard for the good of others. Now look at me here at verse 28. Paul says, quite simply, let the thief no longer steal. And when we hear the word thief, I don't know about you, but I tend to think of criminal activity, right? Like bank robbers, car thieves, pickpockets, that kind of thing. Theft is something that bad people do out there, right? And since we're all good people in here, we can perhaps just sort of skip over this passage and get something more relevant or applicable for our lives. Now hopefully there is indeed some truth to that statement. My hope and prayer is that you truly are united with Christ and your lives look differently now as a result, right? That you're significantly different than the culture around you. That as a follower of Jesus, you've learned to crucify your flesh and resist the temptation to, in this case, take what isn't yours. But at the same time, we have to reckon with the fact that Paul is addressing this command to the church in Ephesus, right? He's not standing on a street corner somewhere preaching to the pagan unbelievers, right? God's word is likewise aimed predominantly at us as born again followers of Jesus Christ. So, as we consider this passage, we first have to ask the question, who are the thieves Paul is addressing? Now most likely they came from a variety of backgrounds. So first of all, Ephesus is a bustling trade city, but there were undoubtedly still a significant number of poor people in the city, whether day laborers or farmers or whatever. These people would have lacked the kind of financial security that would help them make it through seasons where there wasn't enough work. So using terminology from our context, it wasn't that they were unemployed, you might call them underemployed. Right? They could work, they often did work, but it wasn't enough work, not enough work to make ends meet. And although stealing is always wrong, desperation can sometimes lead people to make incredibly foolish decisions. Think of a homeless person swiping food from a grocery store, not because they're greedy, but simply because they're hungry. But even in those situations, stealing isn't any less wrong. And if they're caught, they should be punished, which may in some cases sound cruel and harsh. This person's starving. What do you expect them to do? If you have any amount of compassion in your heart, something about punishing somebody in that situation should feel wrong or unjust even. And I agree and I want you to hold on to that concern because we're going to address that towards the end of this sermon. So some of the theft Paul was addressing may have been sort of seasonal or determined by, driven by need, but other people in that congregation may have engaged in more socially acceptable forms of theft or stealing. I'm thinking here of merchants or tradesmen who had multiple opportunities every day to subtly, surreptitiously kind of boost their bottom line. So you think about using different weights and measures for different customers or overcharging for certain items or delivering less than was promised or paid for or padding the bill with unnecessary or extraneous charges. In our context, think about the kind of aggressive sales intentionally directed at the elderly, many of whom are living in retirement homes. Technically speaking, it's not illegal to pitch your expensive subscriptions or overpriced products to this people group, this demographic. But while you might be obeying the letter of the law, It's clear that many of these companies are violating the intent, the heart of the law, abusing the trust of a vulnerable population for personal gain and profit. That's theft. Now others in the congregation may not have really thought of themselves as thieves at all, really, just as most of us don't. We're generally honest, upright, straightforward people. But the temptations still remain. Like Eve, We see, we want, we take. Or perhaps more often we see, we want, and we don't take because we have this sort of inherent terror in our hearts of what would happen if we actually followed through on those temptations in our hearts. So we don't steal anything but that whole time that covetous desire remains in our hearts. And it's still there. We have to fight hard to overcome these temptations. But of course sometimes our willpower is not enough. And those good intentions aren't enough. And so we do indeed take, and then we rationalize our actions with all kinds of excuses and explanations. Oh, my company has so many of these. They won't miss it if I take a few. Or, I deserve this. I'm owed this. Or, everyone else is doing it. I mean, nobody seems to care. What's the big deal? Or, you know what, it's all right. I'll give it back to my parents, my brother, my friend, my boss, my company, whatever it is. I'll give it back later. Except then we never do. Or maybe, well, nobody's gonna be hurt by this. I mean, what does it really matter? And on and on. Resisting the urge to steal is an important first step to take, but uprooting those deeper heart issues that led me to that covetous desire to begin with is so much harder. And to all of this and more, Paul says, don't steal. Take off your old self and don't put it back on. Replace the fear of missing out or not having enough with faith in God to provide. Replace the self-righteousness that says, I deserve this, I'm owed this, with the selflessness that says, not my will, yours, God, but your will be done. Christians should not only look different on the outside, but actually be fundamentally different on the inside. Even non-Christians can follow the law, but as disciples of Christ, we should live lives that are above reproach. Setting an example for those around us, proving through our actions that our words have meaning, proving with our lives that our faith is legitimate. But why shouldn't we steal? Well, first and foremost, obviously sealing violates God's law and the punishments for sealing are emphasized over and over again throughout the Bible. But sealing doesn't just break an abstract law on a piece of paper somewhere. It actually breaks fellowship with God himself. Sealing is a way of saying, my will be done, not yours. Stealing says to God, you don't really know what's best for me or I would have this, this, this thing, this toy, this money, this job, this relationship, this money, this tool, whatever it is. And since Lord, you won't give this to me, or you don't care enough to give it to me, or you haven't given it to me yet, I'm just going to go ahead and take it for myself. So when you steal, you're just shoving God completely out of the picture. But stealing doesn't merely fracture that vertical relationship with God. Stealing also violates our fellowship with others. Horizontally, it corrupts Christian community. And this, I think, is the focus of Paul's message here in Ephesians 4. One of the most important themes of Ephesians is unity in the body of Christ, unity in the church. And stealing threatens to undermine and destroy all of that. Instead of building up the body of Christ, stealing is like the person playing Jenga, slowly knocking out the little pieces of wood until eventually the whole structure comes tumbling down on itself. Taking something that doesn't belong to you breaks trust, it severs relationships, and it tears apart the fragile relationship and fellowship that we have as followers of Jesus. So when Paul says, let the thief no longer steal, That's not simply an ethical commandment, right? He's identifying a significant threat to Christian community that must be avoided at all costs. Don't steal. But having said all that, In the end, I don't think theft is really the main point of this passage of scripture, of this verse. Paul certainly wants his congregation to put off their old ways of stealing and cheating because it damages the community, corrupts the body of Christ. But in many ways, the focus here is less on what they shouldn't be doing and more on what they should be doing instead, working hard for the good of others. And that's our second point today from the text, work hard. Look at the second part of verse 28, Paul says, let the thief no longer steal but rather let him labor doing honest work with his own hands. Hard work That's what you and I were created to do. It's how God made us. If we came with an operating manual, and many new parents wish that indeed we did, I think somewhere on the first few pages it would say, work, right? It's right there in Genesis chapter two at the very beginning. In the beginning there was no man to work the ground, Genesis 2.5. So God makes man and then he says he took the man and he put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and to keep it. Meaning work is not a punishment for sin, work is a God-ordained plan for our good. You know, as much as we idealize retirement, so many people find, when they get there, that it's not all that it's cracked up to be at all. They realize that work, that once seemed so tedious and time-consuming and frustrating, actually provided their lives with meaning and purpose. And now, with nothing to do, they feel lost and adrift. Why? Because we're made to work, to do things. So sure, vacations are nice, Sabbath rest is important, but work has a potential to bring us deep satisfaction because work is how we are wired to function in this world. It explains why the cure for stealing is not handouts. Right? The cure for stealing is to work, as Paul says here. Now there's certainly a time and a place for giving gifts to others to help them in their time of need, and we're going to talk about that in a few minutes. But long term, the most effective and dignified path to alleviating poverty is work. And you may be thinking, okay, fine, but not everyone who steals is poor. Right? Absolutely. There are all kinds of factors that drive people to steal. Everything from boredom to frustration to greed or revenge. But whether you are rich or poor, work is still, according to the Bible, the best solution. So think about it. Are you in desperate financial need? Then let's help you get a job so that you can work and earn money and be able to support yourself. Are you just bored and frustrated and that's what's leaving you to covet and steal? Then let's help you find a different job where you're working enough such that there is no idle time to dream up ways of cheating others. Are you struggling with greed and covetousness wishing you had what others have? Then get to work, hard work. Greed is a little bit like algae, right? It grows best in still, untroubled waters of idleness, where it proliferates and spreads until it consumes us completely. And if you want to clear the algae, you have to get the water moving. And if you want to clear out greed, then you need to get working. Working is the cure because stealing is essentially just another form of laziness. It's like action-oriented sloth. Like if there was such a thing, right? Meaning the person who resorts to stealing often, not always, but often is just too lazy to do the work for themselves. So they take the fruit of someone else's labor instead. So a silly example would be, I'm too lazy to make cookies at home, so I'm just going to wait for you to do it, and then I'm going to take the fruit of your labor. But in a more serious example, I'm too lazy to work hard in school so I can get a good degree and get a good job and go through promotions and work towards getting a higher salary. So I'm gonna wait for you to do all of that work, and then I'm just gonna steal the fruit of your labor, your money, your supplies, your time, whatever. Do you see this pattern? Stealing is just a lazy man's way of sort of working. Except in this scenario, you put in all the effort, I get to enjoy all the results. So the solution for all these challenges is to work with your own hands as Paul says, not consuming the fruit of someone else's hands but using your own instead. As the Bible says in Proverbs 13, 4, the soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing for the soul of the diligent is richly supplied. Paul doesn't use the word diligent here in Ephesians, but the concept is the same. Paul encourages hard work, labor, not punitive levels of hard work like labor camps or something. Although maybe there are some kids who feel that that's what it's like at home when they get their chore lists. But Paul is talking about work that breaks the sweat. Work that makes you want to sit down after a while. Work that makes you want to rest your eyes or take a break. Which really could be anything at all. Studying hard for a test. Wrestling for hours with a long paper or essay. Plowing through a long backlog of emails. Making a series of phone calls you've been putting off for too long. folding all the clean laundry that's been piling up on your bed at home, putting away all your toys, organizing the basement in the garage, mowing the 12 acres of grass that we've now inherited outside our building. That's a real one. That's not just a hypothetical example. We really need help with that. Doing honest work or something useful, as it says in the old NIV, something good, Remember we read in Ephesians 2.10, this is what we're created to do, saved by Christ to do good works that he has ordained for us beforehand. Now I know what you're probably thinking around now, especially after mentioning yard work. Both Paul and I are conveniently skipping over Genesis 3 and all that stuff about the ground being cursed and sweat and thorns and thistles. Right, the curse on our work. And sure, work is often mundane, routine, boring. It can be draining, it can be difficult. It can absolutely drive you crazy and make you want to quit. I've had some terrible jobs in my life. But despite everything, generally speaking, almost all of the time, it's still better to work than not to and especially when we consider the detrimental effects unemployment and underemployment can have on our souls and therefore also on Christian community and fellowship within the church. So work hard, work with your own hands, do honest work, useful work, something good. till, sow, produce, provide, create more than you consume. Be diligent in pursuing whatever works God has provided for you to do and complete those tasks with thankfulness in your heart to God for his blessing and his provision along the way. Now I said at the beginning of this sermon that stealing is wrong, even in difficult situations, when people are driven to steal because of hunger or poverty. And I said, it sounds cruel or harsh to talk about the fact that that's still wrong, they should still be punished. And I said, that sounds harsh and we'd revisit that topic. Because we should have compassion on those who are in dire need. And Paul sees that and he talks about that here at the end of verse 28. So not only does he say, let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him work. But then he gives a reason. He says, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. We should work, not just to provide for ourselves, Not just to provide for our families, but so that we would in turn have something to share with those around us, with those who are in need. So I want you to be thinking, even at this moment, who are the people in need around me right now? Who are those people here in the church who are in need around me right now, and how has God blessed me to be able to provide for those needs? Obviously trying to solve the economic, the relational, the physical, the social needs of the poor can be overwhelming given the many, many different ways in which people end up in crisis. But there's a repeated note played throughout the Bible that God's people are to take care of the poor, the weak, the needy, the hurting, the homeless, the helpless, the hopeless. These people shouldn't be pushed out of our view but should be front and center in our ministry. And indeed, over the last 2,000 years, Christian compassion has made a massive impact globally, sparking the creation of hundreds of Christian aid organizations and non-profits and drastically improving the living situations of those in need. It's incredible. But Paul's command here is a little bit more tightly focused and simply a call to take care of all the poor, all the needy. He's speaking here to Christians about Christians. Look at verse 25. There Paul says, we shouldn't lie, but rather we should speak truthfully with our neighbor for we are members one of another. Now you are not literally members one of another with your actual neighbor, the person living in the house next to you, unless they happen to be a Christian also. Paul's talking about that membership in the church of God, the body of Christ, brothers and sisters in Christ. And in a similar way, just a few verses later, when he talks about anyone in need, Paul speaks here, I would think, almost certainly about fellow believers within the church, your brother, your sister in Christ. And the fact that we should therefore support and care for their needs here first and foremost in the church. This is exactly what Paul tells the Galatians in Galatians 6 10. So then as we have opportunity let us do good to everyone and especially to those who are of the household of faith. If we're going to help the poor out there then how much more so should we also be helping those in need here within these four walls. So going back to what I said a moment ago, stealing prompted by poverty is wrong. And the compassion you feel is good because God envisions the church being a place where we care and support for those who are in need, where nobody is left isolated or lonely or unable to find help. Now in the extreme moments, it may seem as if the only options left are steal or starve. But if we are to reflect the love of Christ as the body of Christ then we should ensure there is neither stealing nor starving in the church. As I preached from John 13 last week, our love for each other should be so deep, so profound, so different, so unlike anything else in this world, that even non-believers would marvel at the kind of community they see happening in here. Not so that we might be honored for our incredible generosity, right? But so that God might get the glory for the life-transforming power of the gospel at work here within us. Now this has been a core value for us as a church, as Gospel Fellowship Church, before we joined forces to become Grace Redeemer. But for the last 12 years, this has been a core value for us, ensuring that the needy in our own congregation are taken care of. Not to the detriment of other people, but primarily as a focus of our care needs. In fact, a significant concern raised by a number of people when we were first talking about joining together as churches was that having a building And all of the work and time and money associated with that would take away from or drain resources from our benevolence fund and our ability to care and continue caring for people in our own congregation. But as a pastor here, I want to assure you that we remain 100% committed to that same vision that's been part of our DNA from the very beginning, caring for the congregation's needs. as they arise. Why? Because I said in our membership class this morning, we believe that scripture should help guide not only what we believe as a church, but also the way in which we do church as well. Not just our doctrine, but our methodology. which covers everything from worship, to men's ministry, to women's ministry, and also to benevolence ministry. So when it comes to helping someone in need, we believe the Bible is clear. First, if anyone can work, they should work. That's the principle that we see here in Ephesians 4 28. Second, if they have family, then family should offer the next tier of support. We see that principle in 1 Timothy 5 and verse 8 and 16. And then third, if the individual still needs help, then the church collectively should step in. We see this modeled in Galatians 6 and 1 Thessalonians 4, Acts 2, Acts 4, so many other places in the New Testament. And here's the thing, this really happens. Like it actually works. We've seen this dozens of times over the last 10 years. Often without the deacons or the pastors ever getting directly involved. A car repair bill gets taken care of. Our new water heater gets installed. A housing need is provided for. Meals are taken care of. Clothes, shoes, a computer, financial support, home repairs are fixed and on and on. These are not, Made up examples. These are all things that have happened in our church's congregation. Such generosity is incredible to me. It's such a powerful example of the Holy Spirit moving in the hearts of his people, stirring them to action, to care for the needs of those around them. But for any of this to happen, for that system to work, for needs to keep being met in this manner, there has to be a commitment to working for a living. Those who feel a pull towards taking what isn't theirs, Paul says they have to turn over a new leaf, putting off their old self, putting on the new self and working hard, not driven by greed or fear, but out of a deep desire to help bless, provide, support and care for the needs of our brothers and sisters in Christ here in the church. I want to close today by sharing a A real world example of a former thief who turned everything around in his life as a result of meeting Jesus Christ. Now this guy was no petty thief, meaning he wasn't like grabbing bags or purses or mugging people on the street or anything. In fact, everything he did was, strictly speaking, legal. The government was certainly never going to arrest him, but he had figured out a way to abuse the system in such a way that he could keep getting richer off the income of those around him. And due to a series of unjust legal loopholes, he was able to squeeze people harder and harder until they paid him what he wanted. And he got really, really, really rich as a result. Living a great life, in a nice home, in a beautiful city. But pretty much everyone hated him. But money is power and because he did all this under the protection of the government, there wasn't much anyone could do about it. Until one day in a plot twists that probably no one could have ever foreseen, he met Jesus and everything changed. His eyes were opened and his greedy heart of stone was replaced with a joy-filled heart of flesh. And then, even more incredibly, heavily convicted by the Holy Spirit, he gave vast amounts of his wealth away to the poor and actively sought to repay those whom he now recognized he had been stealing from. It was amazing. It was so amazing that many people around him didn't believe that this was actually happening, that it was true. But it was. In that moment, salvation came to his house, and he was never the same again. His name was Zacchaeus. a rich tax collector living in Jericho, a real thief living in a real city who had a real encounter with Jesus and whose life was turned upside down as a result. Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. The sinners, the tax collectors, the prostitutes, the drunkards, the thieves, the cheats, the liars, the murderers, He came to save people like Zacchaeus, but he also came to seek and to save the less obviously sinful people like you and me. Those who perhaps never actually did anything wrong, never broke the law, but whose hearts are just as corrupt, just as dead, just as spiritually needy. And Jesus continues to seek us out today, even in the middle of our ongoing battles against sin and temptation, reaching out to us in our helpless messes, just as he reached out to Zacchaeus, an offering to come and stay with us, offering to come and cleanse us, offering to come and make us new once again through the power of his Holy Spirit. What a gift, what a promise that is. Knowing that in our battle against sin, even in our failures, Christ comes both to seek and to save those who are lost. Offering his comforting presence to those who are feeling weary and heavy laden. and bringing his powerful strengths to help those who are feeling weak and overwhelmed by their sin. Jesus offers us everything we need in himself for his glory and for our good. So my prayer this week is that you would turn to him for strength, turning away from any old lives or patterns of covetousness or greed or theft and learning to work hard so that you also may have something to give to those in need. Would you pray with me? Lord we're so thankful that we don't You don't leave us to struggle and battle against our sin natures in our own strength, for then it will be hopeless. The bar would be set too high. The task would be impossible. The temptations are too great and our lingering sin nature is too strong. But Lord, with your help, through your Holy Spirit, We can defeat our enemy and live in a way that brings you glory, putting off our old selves, putting on our new selves, clothed in righteousness and living lives that are holy and pleasing in your sight. And we pray for your help to do this today. In Jesus' name, amen.