DECALOGUE VIII

This commandment is easy to dismiss if you dont go out at night as a burlger.
But with some reflection, it becomes evident that stealing from people is an attitude that generates behaviors like being a burglar. As always, the Law is Spiritual as Paul stated.

Spend some time as a group finding ways that, despite the lack of larceny, theft has been accepted as a way of life.

Thaw

• What insights would you say you have gleaned from this series over all?
• What are some ways that you understand God, the Bile or your own day-to-life differently?
• What from our time just this Sunday most stuck with you?
• Have you ever had anything stolen? Do tell? Have you ever stolen anything? Tell that too.

Leader note: without making someone sorry they shared something as vulnerable as a time they stole, watch for justifications being added to the story. See if reasons are given in hindsight that have to do with financial need, anger at someone for having, the thrill of excitement, etc. If you decide to bring up the justification given, or asking to clarify if you are hearing a justification, remind the group that theft is always justified in the eyes of the thief. That will help set the stage for the kind of stealing you'll be dealing with later that has less to do with physical stuff.

• What about the vagueness of "You shall not steal" speaks to you?

Leader note: it doesn't list the kinds of things you are ot to steal, nor from whom is stealing prohibited. It leaves it open to EVERYTHING.

Read

• Luke 19:1-9
• Luke 20:21-25
• Thoughts?

Leader note: Notice that Zacchaeus, whose job it was to collect the collected taxes from lower level tax collectors who collected from Roman citizens to an extraordinarily excessive degree, is reversing the direction of possessions. Jesus didn't have to order it.
But in the following chapter, Jesus says (among other things in this highly charged sentence!) that taxes should be paid. Both the tax collectors and the taxed lived in a deep tension of protecting themselves from being taken from, while trying to also fully "get". Both had their justifications and other saw the other not as humans but as receptacles of their possessions. Discuss as a group the work that Jesus is doing in these polarities, what this says to us, while leaving current politics out of the discussion.

Read

• Galatians 5:13-17
• Thoughts?
• What are ways that we can "consume" each other?
• How does this create a break in peace between people or groups?
• How do people who aren't led by the spirit love one another if they are always protecting themselves from one another?

Leader note: the last question isn't designed to become an us versus them. It's instead supposed to illuminate, for faithful people, that the spirit is always trying to teach us to exodus from slavery. Remember, Galatians is to christians. It's for us to do work on us, not talk about "them".

Read

• Eph 4:28
• How is this passage helpful in understanding how Christ wants to retrain the parasitic "flesh" to love?

Leader note: help the group see that the 8th command is a prohibition, but the Spirit of God doesn't just want the rule remaining unbroken.the rule was for us. So, there's a "cease from stealing" and then in place of the stopped behavior, a "love with those hands instead". All the ways that we take from people are ways that we could, instead, find ways to be more loving.


Read

• Matthew 20:28
• John 10:10
• Thoughts?
• How does God as "giver" differ from your view of God growing up?
• What if God doesn't make life comfortable; does this mean he is a taker? Explain.
• What if God doesn't give to "me" what he gives to "you, or does so in different amounts, does this mean he is a taker? Explain.

Discuss

• What does this have to say about treating people with patience? How about gossip? Giving the benefit of the doubt? Second chances?

Leader note: these are a few ways that, instead of taking from someone's life, reputation, etc...we are generous with them. When we are not patient, for example, we take the time from someone that they need because we have chosen to out our timeline up as of higher value than there's. It's a me-centric way of being a taker, rather than a loving giver. Gossip takes away dignity and respect in service to a story I want to tell for personal gain. That, and many other examples, are the work of an internal parasite. No tangibles are taken, but a theft occurs nonetheless.

• There are obvious implications for this commandment and what it means to be a thief.
• Are there any members of this group that feel they may need to admit that they take things, physically or online, or otherwise?

• How does the eighth command apply to the products we buy, the kind of deals we take or the companies we do business with?

• What is God speaking to you about what it means to be less of a taker and how can this group help you step into that?