Scripture Reading and Prayer
And so first, Exodus 20, verse 15.
The Lord says, you shall not steal.
And then if you please turn to 1 Timothy chapter six, beginning at verse six through verse 19. Once again, listen to the reading of God’s holy word.
Now godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. End having food and clothing with these, we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
But you, O man of God, flee these things, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith. Lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called, and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I urge you in the sight of God, who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus, who witnessed a good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep this commandment without spot, blameless unto our Lord Jesus Christ appearing, which he will manifest in his own time. He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen.
Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God who gives us richly all things to enjoy. Let them do good, that they may be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation, for the time to come that they may lay hold of eternal life.
Let’s seek the Lord’s blessing on this, his holy word.
O gracious God and heavenly Father, we do praise you and thank you for your word. We thank you for these passages before us. We thank you for this commandment that we will consider the eighth commandment this morning. And we pray, Father, that even now your spirit would be working in our hearts. that we might hear your truth, that we would be given by your spirit wisdom and understanding, that your spirit would truly apply it to our hearts, and that it would find within our hearts that rich, fertile soil that brings about great and abundant fruit for your glory. We pray now for your blessing upon your word. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ we pray, amen.
Introduction: Critique of the Prosperity Gospel
God wants you to be healthy and wealthy. In fact, the more seed money you give, the more prosperous your return will be. Some will receive 10, some 30, some 100-fold. You just need to call that 800 number at the bottom of the screen and make your sacrificial donation today.
At least, that’s what the proclaimers of the false prosperity gospel want you to believe. And sadly, many do believe. And they empty their bank accounts, but the only things that end up prospering are the wallets of those who have twisted the scriptures with these deceits.
The taking verses out of context, the deceitful tricks, the manipulation and the hypocrisy are to many of us so evident. And yet again, many still fall prey to these false teachers.
And it seems as though their ability to reason is actually overshadowed by greed and envy and discontentment. because they’re truly in love with money and wealth. That is their chief desire.
Well, friends, these are the heart sins that the eighth commandment seeks to expose.
But as we’ve noted before, the heart sins often lead to sins of word and deed, which the commandment more directly forbids.
But it’s important to highlight here, even at the start, that there’s nothing inherently evil with money or wealth or obtaining these.
As we’ll see, the Eighth Commandment teaches us that there’s a right way and a wrong way to obtain wealth, even as there is a right way to view wealth that’s honoring and glorifying of the Lord.
And so this is where we want to begin this morning. by putting wealth in biblical perspective.
Biblical Perspective on Wealth
Everything Belongs to God
And the first thing we want to note is that everything, everywhere, belongs to God. He is the creator of all things, therefore all things belong to Him.
David sings in Psalm 24,
the earth is the Lord’s and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein.
So the earth in all its fullness, including the resources like precious metals, gold and silver, or gemstones like emeralds or diamonds, the trees from which paper money is made, whatever is on the earth, whatever is in the earth, whatever fills the earth, all of it belongs to the Lord.
But note also not only the world, belongs to the Lord, but also those who dwell therein. All the creatures of the sea and earth, the birds of the air, all creeping things and insects, and of course, God’s special creature created in His own image.
Just even we ourselves belong to the Lord. And if we belong to the Lord, then all we have and possess belongs to the Lord as well.
So everything belongs to God.
God Has Graciously Given Us All That We Have
Well, this leads us to the second important truth that we need to understand, that if we belong to the Lord and all that we have ultimately belongs to the Lord, well then how did it come into our possession?
Because God has graciously given us all that we have.
James says that
every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights.
And this is a tremendous blessing, not just for believers, but really for all people. That God gives from His abounding storehouse and provides what we need. Precious gifts according to the good pleasure of His will.
In fact, Jesus affirms the goodness or the common grace of God in Matthew 5, verse 45, when He says that He, that is God,
makes His Son rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and the unjust.
So that everyone is given everything that they have from God, even these simple blessings of rain and sunshine. It all comes from God.
And according to God’s own good pleasure, and the purpose of His holy will, because again, He’s the sovereign Lord God creator, He freely gives to some more. And He freely gives to others less.
Again, because all belongs to Him to begin with, God is free to dispense those gifts as He pleases. He’s the sovereign God.
And so there’s no injustice with God than that some have more and some have less. That there are rich and that there are poor. This is the reality of the world in which we live.
The Lord gives and the Lord takes away as He pleases.
Injustice though, is also very clearly evident in the world. But injustice, though, comes not from God’s divine purpose, but from man’s sinfulness.
Injustice comes from whether man has gained that wealth through unlawful means, or even whether he’s fallen into poverty because of sin and foolishness.
Man is unjust. Not God.
God has given us all that we have, whether it’s a lot or very little, all according to His plan and His purpose and His good pleasure.
Possessions Are Amoral
Well, the third important truth that we must understand, as we already noted, possessions, money, and wealth in and of themselves are amoral. That is, they’re not good nor evil. They’re just things. And things are just things. They’re not moral beings.
But, how we obtain those things, or use them, or even lose them, can have moral implications.
We can obtain and use them lawfully or unlawfully. And what’s lawful or unlawful, we know, depends on God’s moral law, even the 8th commandment, as we’ll soon see.
But if God has given us possessions, money and wealth, well then these are good gifts that we receive from His hand. And it’s good and right to view them as good gifts.
Now, people often misquote Paul’s words here in 1 Timothy 6, verse 10, thinking that it says money is a root of all kinds of evil, but as we see, that’s not what Paul says here.
He says,
for the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.
And that’s a significant difference.
Paul’s pointing out the improper, sinful perspective with which people view wealth. Loving it and desiring it more and more and more, that’s sin.
But possessing it, possessing it as a good gift that God has given, and enjoying it in God-glorifying ways, that’s not sin.
And Paul makes this clear when he tells the rich to not trust in their riches, in verse 17, but in God,
who gives us richly all things to enjoy.
God has richly given us all things, all that we have, He’s given for us to enjoy.
Well that’s fine if you are wealthy and have a lot. But if you’re not wealthy, what if you have very little?
Now some, like the false health and wealth gospel preachers, claim that poverty is not God’s plan and design. That poverty is even sinful. But there’s no biblical basis for this claim.
Now again, how you come to poverty might be sinful. That is, if you have misused and foolishly handled the good gifts that God has given you, and you end up in poverty, well that’s sinful. And your poverty is caused by your sin.
But even if God has given you a little, the little that you have, Even that is still to be viewed as a good gift from God, right?
God hasn’t given to everybody great riches. Some people have very little. But what they have, they view it as a good gift from God.
And when you consider some of the stern warnings in scripture about the potential entanglements of the rich and wealthy, for example, Jesus in Matthew 19 says that,
I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.
And basically, his point there is, it’s impossible. A camel going through the eye of a needle, that’s impossible. It’s impossible for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
And of course, that throws the disciples into a panic. Well, who can then be saved? Because they thought that if someone was rich, that that was God’s abundant favor poured out upon them.
So if the rich can’t be saved, well, then who can?
But just after that, Jesus goes on to say, you see, with men, it’s impossible. But with God, all things are possible.
So God can make it possible, even for a rich man, to enter into heaven.
But the challenge is that the rich, again, and Paul addresses it here in 1 Timothy as well, that there’s these entanglements, these snares that can be present for the rich.
And so it’s possible then to consider, well, that having very little wealth might actually be a blessing then. Because you won’t necessarily face all those entanglements and snares.
The point to remember here, again, is that it isn’t necessarily sinful to be rich or poor. Nor is it to be seen as a demonstration of greater favor from God to be either rich or poor.
Because whatever anyone has, whether rich or poor, is to be viewed as a good gift from God. because it all belongs to Him anyway.
And like the parable of the talents, we’re to use what He’s given us, whether it’s a little or a lot, we’re to use what He’s given us with an attitude of gratitude for His glory.
Sins Condemned by the Eighth Commandment
And so with these important truths in mind, let’s consider then the sins condemned in the Eighth Commandment as well as what this commandment requires of us.
And we begin with the sins of the heart, as the commandments, again, are intended to ultimately pierce our hearts, because it’s in our hearts that our words and our actions are going to flow, are going to flow from them.
Ingratitude
And so the first heart sin condemned in the eighth commandment is ingratitude. That is, not being thankful for the good gifts that God has given.
Now we remember again that all mankind is created with the chief end to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.
And so the gifts that God gives us, even our money, wealth, and possessions, again, no matter how much or how little, these gifts are given to us, God gives them to us to be used in fulfillment of that chief end.
We’re to acknowledge these good gifts and we’re to use them for God’s glory.
And again, the scriptures repeatedly call us to be thankful for all that the Lord has given to us. And again, he’s given us everything. So we have a lot to be thankful for.
So when we don’t acknowledge these gifts as being good, or as being, we don’t acknowledge them as being from God, or if we would use them for sinful purposes and not in pursuit of God’s glory, well then we’re in sin.
And we reveal ourselves to be ungrateful to God, who is the giver of every good and perfect gift.
Now, such ingratitude is an affront to God’s holiness.
Again, even though all that we have is freely given to us as a gift, if we refuse to acknowledge God, and if we’re ungrateful within our possessions and our enjoyment of said gifts, aren’t being used for the purpose God intended.
And therefore, these good gifts become like stolen goods.
And we’re going to be held accountable to God for violating the 8th commandment because basically He’s going to find us in possession of stolen goods.
And it’s all because of our ingratitude. Because we didn’t acknowledge that these gifts came from God or that we used them. ungodly ways.
God gave them to us for a purpose, and we did not use them as such.
Now earlier we mentioned what Jesus said about common grace in Matthew 5,
that he makes his Son rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.
And so again, even the sunshine and the rain, which again is a blessing to all people, whether believer or unbeliever, and it’s God’s good provision for all people, for all creation, because everything depends upon the rain and the sun.
But for the believer, when we see these things, when we have rain, when we have sunshine, we rejoice, and we give thanks to God for these things, and we receive a further blessing by that acknowledgement of God’s goodness.
But the unbeliever, who rejects God and who refuses to give thanks to Him even for these common gifts, though they still enjoy the fruit of the blessings they bring in a practical material way, yet before God, their use and enjoyment of these gifts is offensive.
It’s as though they’ve stolen these blessings because they have refused to acknowledge the one who graciously gave them.
And again, so their ingratitude puts them in violation of the eighth commandment.
Greed, Envy, and Discontentment
But there’s other sins of the heart. Greed, envy, and discontentment. These are all related heart sins exposed by the 8th commandment.
As it’s chiefly these sins that will often lead to the action sin of stealing.
And so again in 1 Timothy 6 verse 9 Paul says,
But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
Note here that the desire to be rich can be a snare.
Now, at first it may reveal a heart that’s discontent with what God has given, right? They see what God has given. They’re not pleased with it. They desire more.
Now again, there’s nothing wrong though with being a good steward of what God has given and using lawful means to increase wealth and profit.
Again, we see this in the parable of the talents in Matthew 25, that the servants who were given 10 and 5 talents, they wisely put that money to work in lawful ways and they made a profit for the master. And that’s good. And they were rewarded handsomely for doing so.
But you see, if the motivation to increase wealth and make a profit comes from a heart that’s not content nor grateful for what God’s given, well then trouble will surely ensue.
As the love of money becomes the driving force rather than using what you have to glorify God.
And once bitten by the love of money bug, there’s never any satisfaction. You just want more and more, which gives way to greed.
And the greedier you become, you begin to even become envious of the money and wealth that others have, and you desire to have even what others have.
And if that envy goes unchecked, well then again, these heart sins will give birth to the action sins of stealing and theft.
And so greed, envy, and discontentment violate the Eighth Commandment.
Idolatry
Well, the love of money that Paul addresses here, that we just mentioned, is also indicative of another significant hard sin related to money and wealth, and that is idolatry.
And here we see that, yes, even the good gifts that God gives to us can become an idol. if we would allow those things, those good gifts, to become our chief desire and goal.
And Jesus warns of this idolatry of money when he says in Matthew 6,
No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
So either God is your chief focus of your life, or the pursuit of wealth. It’s one or the other because it can’t be both.
Now Jesus’ words here alone condemn the false prosperity teachers that really have increasingly infected much of the church.
See, they seek wealth in the name of God when the reality is wealth is their God.
But friends, money and wealth make for a terrible God.
Not only will their demands become ever more increasing, in that you’ll seek after these things more and more, and you’ll never be satisfied. You’ll never have enough.
But being enslaved to wealth and money will eventually lead to action sins, as we mentioned.
And those action sins can often have greater consequences, at least in this life.
Like if you steal, you could end up in prison. Have your rights taken away.
And we’ve seen many wealthy people get thrown in prison for just that.
And also speaking of this life, we know that money and wealth are bound to this life alone. They are of no eternal value.
And Paul says this here in 1 Timothy 6 verse 7,
For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
You can’t take it with you.
Although you can’t take it with you, you need to know, though, that making an idol out of wealth in this life can certainly have an impact on where you end up spending eternity.
The idolatry of wealth leads to certain destruction, which is why it’s condemned in the Eighth Commandment.
And so these are the heart sins of the Eighth Commandment.
Action Sins: Stealing
But what are the action sins?
Well, the straightforward reading of Exodus 20 verse 15 is very clear.
You shall not steal.
Don’t take what doesn’t belong to you.
Now, some may want to argue, what’s the big deal here? I mean, stealing, OK, it’s bad, but is it really deserving of a commandment?
It’s certainly not as bad as murder and sexual immorality because we know that both of those things are destructive.
But nothing is destroyed when you steal. When you steal, it remains intact. You’re just transferring, albeit by force or deception, you’re transferring possession from one person to another.
So what’s the big deal? What’s the big deal if I Grab a snack in the store that I didn’t pay for.
Well, if we consider the truth that we noted before, that all things ultimately belong to God, well then if we steal something from someone that wasn’t given to us, who are we ultimately stealing from?
We’re stealing from God.
We’re taking for ourselves something that God hasn’t freely given to us. He’s given it to someone else. It doesn’t belong to us. Therefore, we’re stealing from Him.
Now think about that for a moment. Let that resonate a little bit.
This idea that stealing is essentially taking what belongs to God because it’s something that He hasn’t given to us.
Think about that and go back to the beginning, to the garden.
Genesis chapter 2,
Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat.
Now all that God created belongs to Him.
But here we see that God puts Adam in a beautiful garden and He gives to Adam every tree in the garden so that Adam would have food to eat.
And so whenever Adam would walk by and pick off a piece of fruit of a tree and he ate it, he wasn’t stealing it.
Because you see, God gave it to him. It was a tremendous blessing and a gift from God and a wonderful provision.
But of all these trees in the garden, there was, though, one, only one, that Adam didn’t have permission to eat from.
And that God specifically told Adam which tree that was so that he wouldn’t be mistaken, he wouldn’t take from it by accident.
And then he even told Adam the consequence that he would endure if he ate from that particular tree.
Verse 17, Genesis 2.
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat. For in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die.
And what did Adam do? He ate. He ate.
And he plunged himself and the entire human race into an estate of sin, misery, and the curse of death.
All because he took for himself what didn’t belong to him. Nor did he have permission to take it.
Now again, to us, this might be just a small sin of a child.
Think about children and parents. You may have told your children, OK, there’s this fruit in the refrigerator. Don’t eat any of it because it’s for something special.
But the child goes and they take it. It’s just a small sin. Just a piece of fruit.
But this one small sin of stealing ended up enslaving all of humanity into the bonds of sin and death.
You see, because Adam stole from God.
Friends, let’s learn from this. That God takes stealing very seriously.
Stealing isn’t only a sin, an assault on God’s holiness as all sins are, but it’s also an attack on His goodness and the gracious gifts that He gives to us.
So any taking of money, goods, or property that belongs to someone else is stealing from that person and it’s stealing from God.
And again, these are clearly forbidden in the Eighth Commandment.
But there are many other forms of stealing that are more subtle.
Now, we don’t have time to go in detail with this whole list, but the Westminster Larger Catechism is very helpful when going through the Ten Commandments.
And it gives us all these detail of sins that are condemned by the commandments.
And question 142, are the sins forbidden by the Eighth Commandment.
And here they are.
Theft, robbery, man stealing, receiving anything that is stolen, fraudulent dealing, false weights and measures, removing landmarks, injustice and unfaithfulness in contracts between man and man or in matters of trust, oppression, extortion, usury, bribery, vexatious lawsuits, unjust enclosures and depopulations, engrossing commodities to enhance the prices, unlawful callings, and all other unjust or sinful ways of taking or withholding from our neighbor what belongs to him, or of enriching ourselves. Covetousness, inordinate prizing and affecting, meaning loving after worldly goods, distrustful and distracting cares and studies in getting, keeping, and using them, envying at the prosperity of others, as likewise idleness, prodigality, wasteful gaming, and all other ways whereby we do unduly prejudice our own outward estate, and defrauding ourselves of the due use and comfort of that estate which God hath given us.
That’s quite a list.
And it’s certainly worth a slow read-through when you have time to read through that and consider all the ways that we can violate the Eighth Commandment.
All these sins are unlawful ways of obtaining wealth or ways where we misuse and abuse the good gifts that God has given.
They’re forbidden by the 8th commandment and we ought to then be diligent in God’s grace to avoid them.
What the Eighth Commandment Requires
But how about when we look at the 8th commandment positively? Not only what it forbids, but what does the commandment require?
And indeed, it requires of us several things.
Responsible Stewardship
First, the 8th commandment requires us to be responsible good stewards of every good gift that the Lord has given to us. Again, whether that’s a little or a lot.
Again, the parable of the talents in Matthew 25 teaches us this truth.
The master, who we know from Jesus’ interpretation is the Lord, gave his servants money to invest.
And the faithful servants, there were two faithful servants and one unfaithful servant.
But the two faithful servants were rewarded for investing wisely and making a profit for the master.
But as we know, the lesson of the parable goes beyond money and wealth.
We must be, Jesus is teaching there, that we must be good stewards of all of our goods, talents, gifts, and abilities.
These too need to be invested wisely and we need to use them to the glory of God.
Faithful Work
Secondly, a key lawful way for us to obtain wealth is by faithfully doing the work and fulfilling the calling the Lord has given us.
Work is commanded by God.
Remember, work is a pre-fall responsibility that was given to Adam.
It was also required. One of the requirements of the fourth commandment was the implication that we work six days and rest on the seventh.
Well, here again, in the eighth commandment, it’s part of the requirement.
God has given us work to lawfully obtain wealth.
And so whether you’re a teacher, an engineer, an accountant, a manager, a builder, a business owner, or whatever it might be, you should be faithful and diligent in your work.
In fact, the Apostle Paul urges honest work as really a corrective and a remedy to a lifestyle, former lifestyle, of theft.
In Ephesians 4, he says,
let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need.
And so work is a requirement of the Eighth Commandment.
Honesty and Thankfulness
Thirdly, the Eighth Commandment requires you to be honest with others in your dealings and also again to be thankful to God for all that He’s given you.
Proverbs 11 1,
dishonest scales are an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is His delight.
The Lord delights in honesty.
And as we noted before, we should be filled with gratitude.
And again, we demonstrate our gratitude not only when we say to the Lord, thank you, as we should, but also when we’re content with all that he’s graciously given to us.
Again, Paul’s words to Timothy here in first Timothy six,
now godliness with contentment is great gain.
And then verse eight,
and having food and clothing with these things, we shall be content.
We’re called to be content with what God has given.
That’s what the Eighth Commandment requires.
Generosity
Fourthly, the Lord requires us in the Eighth Commandment to not only provide for ourselves and others, but also to give generously to the Lord and to those in need.
And Paul charges the rich again here in this time, verse 18,
let them do good that they be rich in good works, ready to give and willing to share.
At our prosperity, the Lord prospers us so that we might give and share.
The provision, this provision and generosity begins, of course, at the home.
And Paul strongly warns about this in the previous chapter, 1 Timothy chapter 5, when he says,
But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
So if you don’t provide for your family, well then you’re worse than an unbeliever.
So providing for them is a requirement of the Eighth Commandment.
We have a responsibility to provide for those in our own household through honest work and other lawful endeavors.
But it’s not just the provision for our family, but the Lord blesses us with good gifts so that we might be generous and that we might be a blessing to others.
To those inside the church, for example, Galatians 6, Paul says,
therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.
We ought to be generous toward one another, but also to those outside the church, to those who may have need.
James urges this in James chapter one,
pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their trouble.
And so we have mercy ministry in the church, helping to meet the needs of those in the church as well as those outside the church.
That’s a requirement of the Eighth Commandment.
Once by being diligent in these uses of the gifts that God has given to us, that we will then hear the words of the master to the faithful servant.
Well done, good and faithful servant. You were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord.
Wonderful words to hear and that we would all desire and strive to hear those same words because the Lord truly delights in a cheerful giver.
Trust in the Lord
Well, finally, the eighth commandment also calls us to simply trust the Lord.
Friends, you don’t have to steal. You don’t have to be greedy or envious of what others have. You don’t have to be discontent with what you have. You don’t have to even worry and fret about what you might need.
Because the Lord will provide and he has given us richly all things to enjoy.
And Jesus confirms this in Matthew 6 verse 28, when he says this,
consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin, and yet I say to you that even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you? O you of little faith! Therefore do not worry, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear? For after these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Beloved of God, you are the Lords. You are the Lords as creatures created in His image.
But especially, you are the Lords. as ones whose hope and faith is in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation.
And if you are the Lord’s and the earth and all the fullness belongs to the Lord, then trust him.
Trust him to take care of you and to provide you for all that you need.
Don’t steal from God.
Now, how can you know you can trust Him?
Because as Paul says in Romans 8,
because He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him freely give us?
God has already given us the greatest thing we could ever have, His own beloved Son.
That’s the only thing that will last us in through eternity.
If He has given us everything in Christ, He will provide all that we need in this life. and he will do it to the glory of God alone.
Closing Prayer
Oh, gracious God and heavenly father, we do rejoice and give thanks for your word. We are thankful for this eighth commandment that reminds us that you, all things belong to you and that you alone are the giver of every good and perfect gift. and that you provide for us all that we truly need. And sometimes that provision is a little, and yet it’s sufficient. And sometimes that provision is a lot in great abundance. And in both situations, we rejoice and give thanks that you have been so gracious to us. in giving us everything that we have. But of all the gifts that You have given us, aside from the wealth, our possessions, and the money, all those are wonderful gifts. And we are thankful for them. And we enjoy them when we want to strive to use those gifts for Your glory.
But all those gifts pale in comparison to the gift that you have given to us in your Son, Jesus Christ. That in Christ alone we have the forgiveness of sin. And that we have peace and reconciliation with you. That our Father Adam, who first stole from you and plunged all of us into this state of sin and misery, that Christ Jesus has now undone all that and that we can be forgiven and we can find grace and help in time of need.
And so we pray, Father, that you would impress that great truth upon each of our hearts here, drawing us all closer to yourself as we strive to be faithful witnesses Again, as we would faithfully use whatever You have given to us for Your glory, Your praise, and Your honor. We ask for Your blessing in these things. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ we pray, Amen.