In his sermon on socialism, Paul White discusses the biblical perspective on work and sharing, referencing Ephesians 4:28, which emphasizes ceasing theft, working honestly, and sharing with those in need. He contrasts socialism with Christian values, arguing that socialism's redistribution of wealth is akin to theft, as it takes resources without consent and undermines the church's role in supporting those in need. White identifies two main issues with socialism: it is based on theft and it replaces the church's responsibility with government intervention. To address these issues, he urges individuals to stop benefiting from socialist policies, work diligently, and share willingly. For churches, he emphasizes committing to their community, supporting financially, and ensuring they can meet the practical needs of their members. Additionally, he stresses the importance of addressing spiritual needs through the gospel, highlighting that true service to others stems from a devotion to God and His teachings.

I know that several of you have Bibles, but I won't ask you to turn to this just in order to save time. Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 28, we read these words, and I'll try to be clear enough so that if you don't have a Bible with you, you can pay attention. You can pay attention. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Now Paul here, riding to the church at Ephesus is addressing the issue of an apparent thief.

There was a thief in the church. And you'll notice if you pay attention to this verse that he begins by giving a negative Prohibition that is what not to do and then he leads into a positive command that negative prohibition Let the thief no longer steal or we could say stop stealing. The positive injunction or the positive command, work, let him labor, work, work honestly and work with your own hands. And then you'll notice at the end of the verse, he gives the reason why this thief must stop stealing and begin to work, namely so that he will have something to share with those who are in need, anyone else who might be in need. And so if we wanted to outline this text from the apostle to the church, we could say, number one, stop stealing.

Number two, work. And number three, share. Now using those words as our lens, I want to address you on the subject of the religion of socialism. For some, that term is new. I actually tried it out at the supper table.

I said I was talking about socialism, and I looked at all the younger ones, and they just stared at me. You hear the word social, and perhaps you think about being sociable, like being nice. Yes ma'am, no ma'am, yes sir, no sir, holding the door for others. Or perhaps you hear in that word social the term Society and you think but perhaps socialism just means just caring for other people in the society Let me give you a definition This is just a standard different dictionary definition and again if you were to interview five different socialists they would all give you five different definitions but here's the one that came up very quickly and I think it sums it up properly. Socialism is a political structure where the people of a nation own and control the means of production and they distribute the end result proportionately to everyone.

In other words, for those of you who are younger, let me break it down very simply. Everything is owned by everyone. Now put that in your mind when you think about these bicycles over here or the fishing poles we use. Everything belongs to everyone. Some of you have probably heard of the terminology of wealth redistribution.

That's socialism. Now this is usually fleshed out not really in bicycles and fishing rods. It's fleshed out in the realms of our most basic needs, like housing, like health care, and like education. And so you're going to see socialism in various ministries. You've probably heard these terms.

Government housing, government health care, government education, welfare, Medicaid, food stamps, all of these are ministries of socialism. Again, the idea is that all of the people as a whole pull all of their resources together and they just work together to make sure that everyone in the society has those most basic needs. So, here's an illustration. A man goes to work and he works all week at an hourly rate. Let's say he makes $10 an hour and he works 40 hours a week.

All right, math majors, he brings home how much money? Somebody said 350, 300 maybe. Now why is that? Why would he work at $10 an hour for 40 hours a week and only bring home 300, 350? It's because the government has decided to take some of his paycheck and put it into that pool That would be divided out amongst the people now that money might go to pay for Laptops in the government school system it might go to pay for carpet in government housing.

It might go to pay for an inhaler for an elderly man who smoked his whole life and now he's disabled and he can't work. That's a personal family example of my own. Now from a distance, when I describe that, this idea of socialism is often mistaken for practical Christianity, practical Christian values lived out in public, and many have made and continue to make that mistake. Why is that? It's because we're commanded to care for the orphans and widows and their distress.

We are commanded to care for the elderly. We are commanded in Ephesians 4 to share with those who are in need. Socialism seems to address that, right? Socialism serves the fatherless, the poor, the elderly. They're all taken care of in a socialistic society.

Is that not exactly what we want? Is socialism not merely biblical Christianity lived out in the public sphere? The answer is no it's not. Now why is that? Again if all of these needs are being met then why would we not jump on board and say hooray let's do that?

Well I want to give you some of the problems with socialism. Let's consider some of the problems with this way of thinking. The first problem, I think this is foundational, with the socialistic mentality is the means by which the funds are taken. You have to have money and you have to get it from somewhere. Now think about it, if someone takes something that doesn't belong to them, what do we call that?

Stealing. That's correct. Now, what about when the government takes something that doesn't belong to them? What do we call that? We call that stealing.

I think someone said taxation. We call it stealing. When the government takes something that doesn't belong to them, even if they have made it a law that they can take it, it's still stealing. These commands from God's Word assume the concept of private property. Now some people would love to say, well God owns it all.

He owns the cattle on the Thousand Hills. He owns it all. And That's true, but he also gives it to us to be stewarded by us for his kingdom. So again, are we not to share what God gives us? Of course we are to share.

We are to share willingly. As Christians, we share willingly from what the Lord has given us, again, joyfully and gladly, cheerfully, and we are to give to those who are in need. Actual need, not want. We are not compelled to give to those who are in want. I'm in want.

We'd probably all say, well, I'm just really suffering from a state of want right now. But that's not need. We're also not compelled to continue to give to the needs of those who refuse to submit to the law of God and live their lives in accord with godliness and righteousness. In other words, we're not commanded to facilitate their state. Again, what's the problem?

Isn't that exactly what socialism seeks to accomplish, is share? The answer is yes it does, but it's built on the foundation of theft. Robin Hood was not a good guy because he robbed from the rich and gave to the poor. He was a thief. You see the second problem with socialism It's built on a foundation of theft.

And the second problem is that this system must take upon itself the duties of the church. But since this is now a corrupt government system doing what the church is supposed to do, and this corrupt system has no moral impulse to do it based on godly principles, they will continue to execute their system based on theft and greed and self-indulgence, not according to godliness. And so this turns what appears outwardly to be a great thing, a wonderful thing, into a corrupt thing and an immoral thing. It takes what should be done by the church as an act of worship to God and makes it an act of worship to the God of the state. It makes pure and undefiled religion self-serving, man-centered.

Again, our text, Ephesians 4.28 or 1 Timothy 5.17, if anyone does not provide for his relatives and the members of his household is worse than an unbeliever. Pagans don't even do that. Contribute to the needs of the saints and show hospitality, Romans 12-13. So then as we have opportunity we are to do good to all people, especially to those who have a household of faith. These are all written to the church, you see.

It is our job. Problems with socialism. It's built on a foundation of theft and greed, and it is the government stepping in to do what the church should do. So what can we do? What can we go home and do to stem the tide of this government ran system?

We'll start first with the practical things that you can do. You can go home this weekend or after this weekend and put this into place as an individual. Stop stealing. Paul says let the thief no longer steal. That means in as much as it is within your ability to do so, stop taking part and benefiting from these socialistic endeavors.

The second thing practically that you can do as an individual is work. The Bible has given us, I think I can find three ways to righteously obtain wealth. You can work for it, you can receive it as a gift, Or you can invest your own money into a business and reap the benefits of your wealth. For most of us regular guys, we're just going to be working. And we should plan to work.

Work honestly. Work with your own hands. Now that doesn't mean that only the guys who come home with mud on their boots are working. That means find something to do and work. Labor at it.

Work. Young men, young boys, learn to work hard and do it. Work. Stop stealing. Work and then share.

As you grow up and you work and you learn how to budget, a priority in your budget should be sharing because God has commanded us to share. It's not an option, it's a command. So share. Plan to live frugally. Stop stealing.

Work and share. The second category of practical fixes I want to apply to us as church members. Again I'm assuming and addressing all of us as members of local churches. And remember, the problem, one of the problems with socialism is that it takes the job of the church and gives it to the government. Well, if we got our way and the government relinquished the rights to all this work, this week how many of our churches would be ready to meet the needs that are there very few of them I would imagine so what can you do in your church commit number one commit to your church that means go go early go often stay late participate in all of our functions and ministries as men and as fathers.

We must set this as an example to our sons and even for our daughters as they look for godly men. This is what a godly man looks like even if he's a layman. He's a churchman. That needs to be important. He's not first and foremost a sportsman or an outdoorsman or a businessman.

It doesn't matter how many pocket knives you can hold or how many balls you can juggle or how many targets you can hit if you don't know where your Bible is. We're first and foremost churchmen. So commit to your church. That means the people. Know them.

Ask about their lives. Know their needs so that you can help to meet their needs. Commit to your church. Give to your church. As a member of a New Testament church, you're commanded to give a portion of your money to your church so that she can carry out the tasks that God has given her.

Give heartily, give gladly, give over and above what's expected. In other words, you're investing in the kingdom of God as it is manifested on the earth when you give your money to the church. Give to your church. Thirdly, support your church. After you've gone and lavished all of this wealth on your church, don't say, well, I gave my money, I'm done.

Start conversations about what your church can do. We had some of these this past Sunday night at our own church. We got a bunch of young people. What are we gonna do when we get old? We're gonna take care of each other Start these conversations find out what the financial state of your church is Go to go to meetings if you know a family's in need work with the elders and the deacons to meet those needs and make sure everyone in your church knows this is the kind of church we're going to be.

If we have to live in a commune, it'll be weird, but we're going to take care of each other. We're going to work together because we are a body. Support your church. Give to your church. Commit to your church.

All of that will be great and it will be wonderful, but it will be lacking if we don't also meet the spiritual needs. There's the practical as an individual, as a church member, but there's also the spiritual fix. Meeting physical needs, taking care of the poor is biblical. And it is important, helping the poor and the widow and their distress is biblical and godly and right. But that will be incomplete if we do not meet the spiritual needs of those caught in the religion of socialism.

And so when you're trying to address these things and help people, they need to know that first and foremost you serve, yes a loving and a compassionate God, but a holy God who must punish sin and sinners. And they need to know that the reason life on this earth is so difficult is because of their sin and sin in general. Sin has put them in the place that they're in, and they need God in order to get out of it. And they need to know that that loving and that gracious and that holy God sent His Son to take the form of a servant. He emptied himself of his external glory, he died under the wrath of his father for sinners.

In other words, he came to begin to put all of this mess back together and meet first our spiritual needs and then our physical needs and so they need to know He sacrificed Himself therefore we are sacrificing ourselves that we seek to selflessly love and serve others because That's what God has done for us in the person and the work of Christ. It's not just social. It's not just because we love people. It's because we serve a holy God who demands it. Because God deserves their praise and Christ has earned their praise.

The lamb has, he deserves the reward for his sufferings and so we proclaim the gospel. When the gospel is heard and believed and trusted then all of the material things, the things of this world will grow strangely dim and we'll learn to serve Christ and to serve his church and to serve others and that will be our priority. Stop stealing. Work. Share.

Commit to your church. Give to your church. Support your church. And preach the gospel. Let's pray.

Lord help us to be obedient to your word. Help us to realize that the things that your word demands of us is not always, these are not always the easiest things to do. They are hard for us. But your kingdom is worth it. And Christ is worth it.

Help us to be real men. And to train our sons to be real men. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.