Pentecost 14/08.17.08/Fort Q & IH/7th Commandment
Stuff
· The 7th Commandment deals with stuff.
o Keep your hands off of other people’s stuff.
§ It’s not yours.
· Leave it alone.
· But, as with all the Commandments, there is more to it.
o Not only are you supposed to keep your hands off of someone else’s property, you are also supposed to help them keep it
§ You are to help protect another’s property
· So, seeing that this Commandment deals with stuff, I want to take a brief look this morning at our view of stuff
o Man, we have a lot of it don’t we?
§ In fact, I hear people complain about having too much stuff.
· One of the fastest growing businesses in North America is……storage facilities.
o We have so much stuff we cannot fit it all in our houses and garages
§ I’m told that many people don’t actually store their vehicles in the garage because it is too full of stuff!
· So we need to rent storage facilities to store the stuff we aren’t using
o There are several TV shows that are all about organizing your stuff
§ They go into a house that is so full of stuff that it is a mess and they show how you can organize all your stuff
§ Stuff. Stuff. Stuff. We’re all stuffed!
· We like our stuff.
o Our stuff.
§ It seems an innocent enough phrase – “our stuff,” “my stuff”
· But really therein lays a problem.
o Much of our world’s problems comes down to disagreement over whose stuff it is
§ This takes place on a very large scale – say for example in the disagreement between Russia and Georgia that has been in the news
· And it takes place on a personal scale when we have a disagreement with a neighbour or a children’s argument over a toy
o Whose stuff is it?
· And since our culture, society, and world is based so much on getting and trading and transferring stuff from one place to another and from one person to another
o It is very easy for us to lose sight of the truth
§ Whose stuff is it?
· It is God’s stuff
o He has just loaned it to you.
· But we tend to strut about and show off our stuff
o We like to make sure that others know how much stuff we have
§ We especially like it if others know we have more stuff than they have
· We take pride in our stuff
o We like to think of our stuff as a trophy
§ Look at what I did! This is my stuff!
· But do you see the problem here?
o We are not recognizing the Giver.
§ One of the great Church Fathers, St. John Chrysostom wrote:
· Now what have you, tell me, which you have not received, but hast rather achieved of your own self? You have nothing to say. Well: you have received; and does that make you high-minded? Nay, it ought to make you shrink back into yourself. For it is not yours, what has been given, but the giver's.
o For we have all things from Christ. Both existence itself we have through Him, and life, and breath, and light, and air, and earth. And if He were to exclude us from any one of these, we are lost and undone. For 1 Peter 2:11 we are sojourners and pilgrims. And all this about mine, and yours, is bare words only, and does not stand for things. For if thou do but say the house is yours, it is a word without a reality: since the very air, earth, matter, are the Creator's; and so are you too yourself, who hast framed it; and all other things also. But supposing the use to be yours, even this is uncertain, not on account of death alone, but also before death, because of the instability of things.
· Stuff. There is nothing wrong with stuff.
o That is why God has given us the 7th Commandment – to help us live together with our stuff
§ But stuff becomes a problem when we cease to recognize it as a gift from God
· Because when we cease to recognize the Giver of the gifts we make ourselves into gods
o And that is the 1st Commandment
· We as Christian people can rejoice in our stuff
o Because we rejoice in knowing that our loving Heavenly Father has given us these gifts
§ We, as Christians, seek to use the stuff we have been given for the benefit of others
· Indeed, we ought to seek to protect one another’s stuff
o For we recognize that God has not given it to us – but to them
§ We recognize God as the giver of the gifts
· And as Christians we recognize that not only does God gives us stuff – He gives us something of far more value
o He gives us forgiveness, life, and salvation through Jesus
§ He gives us gifts in the Divine Service through Word and Sacraments
· Trouble is…we tend to value the material stuff of this life far more than the spiritual gifts God gives
o That is why the church is not overflowing most Sundays – many people do not understand that there are precious gifts being given out here
§ The gifts of God
· The blood bought gifts of Jesus
o Forgiveness, life, and salvation
§ We all need to reorient our priorities and recognize God’s gifts in our lives
· Keep your stuff. Recognize from Whom you have received it.
o Make use of it to the glory of God.
§ Help and protect others and their stuff.
· Recognize the Divine Service for what it is!
o And rejoice in the gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation given to you for the sake of Jesus.
§ For this is the stuff that life is made of!
