Ephesians 4: Stop Stealing, Work in Order to Give

Introduction

At the Centro Evangelico Battista di Perugia in Italy, the series on the letter to the Ephesians picks up where it left off in May. The preacher, who describes himself as a missionary and pastor, focuses on a single verse: "Let him who stole steal no more; but rather let him labor, producing with his hands something that is good, that he may have something to give to him who has need" (Ephesians 4:28).

His title fits in one sentence: "No more thieves, but workers." He draws two truths from it. First, recognize that taking what is not yours is a sin. Second, replace selfish stealing with selfless toil, the wearying work that serves to give.

And before you tell yourself "I am not a thief, this message is not for me," he asks you to wait a moment.

Message Outline

1. Why We Catch Ourselves Rooting for the Thieves

The preacher starts with heist movies: a carefully chosen crew, each member picked for a skill, a meticulous plan, obstacles identified, timed rehearsals in a replica of the site.
Watching these films, we catch ourselves rooting for the thieves even though we know what they are doing is wrong. At a men's gathering on a Saturday morning, a brother offered an explanation: the desire to avenge an injustice. Those with a lot of money must have gained it wrongly, or simply "they have a lot and I don't."
Change the script: a gang plans to burgle a family in the neighborhood who can barely make ends meet. Everything flips. You hope they get caught.
The real question is an everyday one: is your heart at peace with what you have? Do you want to be a good steward of what God has entrusted to you, or do you spend your time thinking about what you do not have: the car, the bank account, a brother's house?
He quotes Oscar Wilde with humor: "I have very simple tastes. I am always satisfied with the best." A simple travel coffee mug, seen this summer in the United States, can cost a fortune. You are happy with yours until the day you see a brother's at church. And some brands know how to make you want what you did not know existed.

2. Be Who You Are

In the first part of the letter, Paul explains that whoever is in Christ is no longer spiritually dead. He has seen his sin, asked for forgiveness, and God has changed him. In the second part, Paul explains how to live in the light of what is true.
It is like physical life: you know about gravity, so you do not walk on the balcony railing. Spiritually, it is the same. Paul's message can be summed up like this: "Be what you are."
This is possible thanks to God's intervention. The power that raised Christ from the dead is at work in you. If you are truly born again and walk by the Spirit, it will show: your spouse, your children, your neighbors and the members of the church will notice.
This new life is nothing vague. It is a new way of thinking in which you are no longer at the center. "He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:30). When you walk into your home, your church or your workplace, you no longer want to be noticed: you want God to be seen.
God has even prepared the good works in advance for us to walk in (Ephesians 2:10). "He does not say to us: I saved you, now figure it out, be creative." What grace!
The passage of Ephesians 4:17-32 follows a three-step pattern: put off the old man, be renewed in the spirit of your mind, put on the new man (Ephesians 4:22-24). Living led by your desires is a very bad way to live: you want one thing, then another, until you end up with whiplash.

3. Recognize That Taking What Is Not Yours Is a Sin

The word translated "steal" shares, the preacher notes without claiming to be a Greek specialist, the root of our word "kleptomania." But Paul is not speaking only of those who have received that diagnosis.
He draws on a book studied years earlier with a group of men from the church, Lo studio espositivo. The author takes the example of the commandment "You shall not steal" (Exodus 20:15) to distinguish the interpretation of a text from its application. A passage has one meaning, but many applications.
The meaning retained: do not take what is not yours, and do not use what does not belong to you as if it were yours. Stealing a chocolate bar from the supermarket is just one application among many.
The obvious applications: money, tax evasion. The less obvious ones: at work, you sell your time and your effort to your employer. If you do something else, or if you work only when someone is watching, you are stealing. At school, copying another person's answers and presenting them as your own is stealing.
Intimacy, physical or emotional. A person choosing to show their body does not give you the right to look at it, because it is not their place to decide that. If this person is not your spouse, this intimacy does not belong to you. Taking it, even by looking, is stealing.
The preacher pauses on 1 Thessalonians 4:3-7. God's will is our sanctification: abstaining from sexual immorality. In verse 6, the word rendered "in the matter" means, in his view, "to defraud." The passage speaks of sexual purity, not the business world. A fiancé or fiancée is not yet your spouse: you may be seeing someone else's future spouse.
The slogan "my body, my choice" responds to a real problem, that of abuse. But it does not acknowledge God as Creator and owner. The preacher goes so far as to say that it is invoked to end the life of a child. "The earth is Yahweh's, with its fullness; the world, and those who dwell in it" (Psalm 24:1).
Wasting time is also a way of stealing. But the greatest way of stealing is to take the glory: not acknowledging God as Creator and owner, not glorifying him or giving thanks (Romans 1:21). You breathe air that does not belong to you: how much did you pay for it?
God shares his glory with no one (Isaiah 42:8). King Herod accepted a crowd flattering him by shouting "The voice of a god, and not of a man!" He died eaten by worms, because he did not give glory to God (Acts 12:21-23). And this is not reserved for others: the one who preaches may want people to say "What talent!" Expounding the Word is a grace; the glory belongs to God.

4. The Sins That Go with Stealing

Arrogance: you put your own assessment first. "I should have this thing, I count for more, I am more important."
Lack of faith: if God has not chosen to give you this thing right now, you decide he cannot provide at the right time, in the right measure, and you take.
Self-centeredness: "It is a victimless crime, they have so much money they will not even notice the difference." What reasoning!
Idolatry: covetousness is idolatry (Colossians 3:5), and the Bible speaks very strongly against idolatry.

5. Replace Selfish Stealing with Selfless Toil

If you are in the habit of taking what is not yours, know that this belongs to the old life. The change of mindset consists of moving from "I must have, for me, I accumulate" to "let him labor with his hands."
Work is hard. But it existed before the fall: God had given Adam work to do (Genesis 2:15). The difficulty of work is a consequence of sin (Genesis 3). With humor, the preacher advises against reminding your wife of Genesis 3 during childbirth.
The verb used suggests weariness, exhaustion. Coming home tired because you have worked well is a good kind of satisfaction, without becoming proud. Having a body and a mind that function is a grace from God. The preacher thinks of a child he meets on some mornings who can hardly do anything with his hands.
"With his hands" does not mean that intellectual work is a fault. A commentator points out that Paul contrasts serious work with laziness and stealing.
Work must also be good, including in the moral sense. Do what is expected of you: your employer first, but above all God, in all your roles. The preacher lists his own: disciple of Christ, husband, father, missionary, pastor. Understand your tasks, then be consistent.

6. A New Goal: Having Something to Give

Man's eye and heart are never satisfied: "Yesterday I stole 100, today I must steal 200." The new goal is different: "I no longer steal for myself, I work well to help others."
The verse is brief and does not say everything. Galatians 6:10 specifies a priority: "let's do what is good toward all men, and especially toward those who are of the household of the faith."
Do you think of the great philanthropists and wonder whether you must give millions? Start with what you have, as a faithful steward. "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil" (1 Timothy 6:10).
You do not have to be rich to be generous. The churches of Macedonia, "in much affliction," with "their deep poverty," gave beyond their means. They even insisted on having "this grace and the fellowship in the service to the saints." They first gave themselves to the Lord (2 Corinthians 8:1-5).
Usually, it is the one in need who insists and calls again on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. Here, the insistence goes the other way: "Let us help."
John Piper, in Don't Waste Your Life, cites a study on the giving of American Protestants to the church: 2.9% of their income in 1916, a little more in 1933 at the worst of the Great Depression, 3.2% in 1955, then 2.6% in 2000, even though they were much richer than in the days of the Depression.
"Yes, but gas, the cost of living..." The preacher answers: we can be generous. It is not the numbers that count; it is God who blesses good management. He recalls the message of Haggai: God can make the little bear fruit and scatter the much (Haggai 1:6-9).
Help is not always money: a helping hand, time spent together, a ride in the car. Whoever wants to be a faithful steward for the glory of God and the good of others will know how to see the needs and respond to them.

7. There Is Hope

The verse brings other subjects to mind: crushing taxes, debts, unjust situations. That is not the point of the text, but God is sovereign, he is just and he sees everything. In unjust situations, pray and seek the counsel of mature believers, without forgetting whom we belong to.
Ask yourself in what way you take what is not yours. Confess it, acknowledge it, ask the Lord's help to obey his Word.
The list in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 is severe: thieves will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the next verse opens a door: "Such were some of you, but you were washed. But you were sanctified. But you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in the Spirit of our God" (1 Corinthians 6:11).
You can be saved, you can be changed. If you are in Christ, look at the general direction of your life and at how you respond to a call like the one in this verse. It is a sign that will show you where you stand.

Key Takeaways

Stealing is taking what is not yours or using it as if it belonged to you: money, work time, exam answers, intimacy, glory.
The greatest form of stealing is refusing God the glory that belongs to him as Creator and owner.
Stealing hides other sins: arrogance, lack of faith, self-centeredness and idolatry.
The believer does not merely stop stealing: he works hard and well, with a new goal, that of giving.
You do not need to be rich to be generous, and hope remains: in Christ, you have been washed, sanctified and justified.

Personal Application

In what area do you take what is not yours: your work time, your screens, the way you look at others, the recognition you seek?
Is your heart at peace with what you have, or do you spend more time thinking about what you do not have?
In your work, do you do what is expected of you, even when no one is watching?
Who are you working for this week: to accumulate, or to have something to give to those in need?
What small step of generosity can you take with what you have today: a gift, time, a service rendered?

Verses Cited

Frequently Asked Questions

What does "do not steal" mean according to the Bible?

The preacher returns to a simple definition: do not take what is not yours, and do not use something that is not yours as if it belonged to you. Stealing a chocolate bar from the supermarket is just one application. The principle also touches the time owed to an employer, cheating on exams, intimacy that does not belong to you and the glory that belongs to God alone.

Why does Paul say to work in order to have something to give?

In Ephesians 4:28, the change does not stop at ceasing to steal. The purpose of work changes: we no longer take for ourselves, we work well to help those in need. The human heart is never satisfied, but the believer receives a new goal: giving.

Do you have to be rich to be generous?

No. The preacher relies on 2 Corinthians 8: the churches of Macedonia, in extreme poverty, gave beyond their means and even insisted on taking part. Start with what you have, as a faithful steward. And help is not only money: time, a service, a ride in the car.