3D Worship Part 14 – Worship is Trust: The Eighth Commandment
Deuteronomy 5:19 April 19, 2026
Introduction
In God we trust…America’s motto that replaced E pluribus unum (“Out of many,
one”), first emerged in the 1800s (fourth stanza of the U.S. national anthem “The
Star-Spangled Banner”). After the Civil War, it began to appear on our currency.
First on the 2 cent piece and eventually on every piece of currency, which
became the law of the land in 1955. The motto now appears on stamps, license
plates, and many governmental buildings.
The motto being placed on money was meant to show that even though there is
wealth expressed in the very piece of currency one is holding, ultimately our trust
is still in God not the money.
Our definition: exaltation and prioritization of the object of your highest love in
any given moment
o Devotion + Desire = Delight in the Lord, worship in Truth and Spirit (John
4:23)
o Today we turn our attention to the 8 th commandment and we see that
Worship is Trust, or put differently, we worship that in which we trust.
Sections: 1) The Truth of Trust; and 2) The Spirit of Trust
The Truth of Trust
Deuteronomy 5:19 “You shall not steal.” (see also Exodus 20:15)
Steal (Heb. gānaḇ) to take that which does not belong to you without permission
or the other’s knowledge
steal is distinguished from the concept “to rob” in that stealing is done
in secret
o Closely related to 10 th commandment – no coveting – coveting next week.
Joshua 7:20-21 “20 And Achan answered Joshua, “Truly I have
sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and this is what I did: 21 when
I saw among the spoil a beautiful cloak from Shinar, and 200 shekels
of silver, and a bar of gold weighing 50 shekels, then I coveted them
and took them. And see, they are hidden in the earth inside my tent,
with the silver underneath.”
o Note progression of how sin works (see James 1:14-15)
o See Part 21 of Joshua Series back in 2022 for deeper
exposition of this text
When we take what does not belong to – we are first and foremost
stealing from the Lord even as we are stealing from the one to whom
the Lord entrusted the thing.
Phillip Ryken, “The God who gave this commandment is our Creator
and Provider. To keep it is to recognize that ultimately everything
belongs to Him, and that therefore we do not have the right to take
what He has given to someone else”
Ways we steal
o Direct Theft (money, opportunities, time, ideas, supplies, debt we know we
can’t or don’t intend to repay, taking credit for others’ work, etc.)
o Fraud/scamming (we all just paid taxes….always tempting to under report)
o Extortion/blackmail
Settlers of Catan
o Laziness/low effort
o Exploitation of those in need or who are ignorant of their rights
Positive Flip:
o Call to good stewardship (managers of God’s resources)(see Matthew
25:14-30)
Call to generosity
Everything belongs to God…are we living openhandedly for the
furtherance of His Kingdom
Call to serving others
Whatever we have been entrusted is for the purpose of
glorifying God through our enjoyment and using it to serve
others
Not a good steward if:
Hoarding, gluttonous, materialistic, wasteful, greedy/selfish,
preferential/partial
The above is all well and good, but only gets to the surface truth of the
commandment the actions that we should be obedient to as we devote ourselves
to the Lord….But Jesus wants our heart to desire the Lord….that together our
devotion and desire would lead to true delight in Him….in order to get there we
must understand the spirit of this commandment, the spirit of worship as trust.
The Spirit of Trust
Mattthew 6:19-21, 24 “19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth,
where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up
for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and
where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there
your heart will be also….24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate
the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the
other. You cannot serve God and money.”
o What do we really value – where is out treasure
Matthew 6:25, 30 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what
you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is
not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?… 30 But if God so
clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the
oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?”
o Anxious (Gk. merimnaō) – fear/worry to be troubled by some circumstance
that will affect you in the future
C.H. Spurgeon in his devotional Morning and Evening said, “He who
cannot calmly leave his affairs in God’s hand, but will carry his own
burden, is very likely to be tempted to use wrong means to help
himself.”
Our anxiety makes us rationalize/justify or sinful behavior instead of
trusting in God.
Between 1988 and 1992, a group of people stole nearly £600k
from the Bank of England. How did they pull this off? They
worked at the Louhgton incinerator and their job was to burn
the old bank notes. But they were going through hard times and
they figured the money was going to be burned anyway and
weren’t hurting anyone, so why shouldn’t they have it? Of
course they were caught and had to repay the money with
some serving jail time.
Sadly this sort of thing isn’t rare…in fact for most companies
the risk of theft is greatest from their employees who rationalize
that they deserve or are entitled to what they are taking.
o What makes us anxious….notice that the heart of anxiety is a lack of trust
(faith…v30)
o How do we view life? Again, what do we value? What do we worship….in
who do we trust?
Matthew 6:33 “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all
these things will be added to you.”
o What are we seeking first
o (If time permits, story of Abraham and Isaac, Genesis 22)
o Jehovah Jireh – The Lord will provide – God sees (root word or Jireh) and
will meet our deepest needs.
Romans 12:31-35 “31 What then shall we say to these things? If God
is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own
Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him
graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against
God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ
Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is
at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who
shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
o The Lord gave us His son – the ultimate provision. How much do we value
that? And if the Lord would give us His Son, can we not trust Him in all
things?
Conclusion
In God we trust – has been challenged in court since it became the motto.
Ultimately, courts have upheld its use for various reasons, but the most common
argument is based on a legal term called “ceremonial deism”. This refers to
governmental religious references like “in God we trust” or “under God” in the
pledge of allegiance, deemed to be mere cultural rituals and not inherently
religious because of long customary usage. In other words, there is no real
religious value in the words, they are mere ceremony that expresses no real trust
or no real submission to a so-called God.
It is this trap, giving mere lip-service to God and not really trusting in Him, that
the 8 th commandment is fighting against.
Worship is shown and expressed through the thing we trust in. If we do not trust
God, our life will be filled with anxiety, worry, and fear.
o If that describes you today, do not feel ashamed. Instead, give thanks that
God loves you enough to mercifully and gently point out the heart of the
issue.
o Ask the Lord to build your trust in Him. Ask Him to help you overcome the
reasons why you don’t trust and ask Him to continually show you the
reasons that you can trust Him….and at the same time, ask Him to help
change what you value, what you treasure, that you would let go of the
enemy’s attacks and temptations to place your care in the things of this
world.
o Ask the Lord to help you treasure Him and place your value in His Kingdom
and things that are eternal and that need not have any anxiety or worry
spent on them – because they are imperishable.
Let us ask the Lord to enable us to steward His resources as we trust Him and
look to Jesus, the ultimate provision for our life.
Amen. Amen.