Thank you for stopping by to read the Weekend Sermon this week. I am very happy to be able to post the sermon, and I hope that all is going well with everyone this week.
This week has been a week of ups and down. I am getting more engaged with my writing work, and I am happy about that. I also found a good dog program from Germany to watch on the Internet, and I have been enjoying that. It has been kind of a sad week though. I feel terrible about what has happened in Italy, I would ask that you all continue to pray regarding that situation. I also found out this week that Toby's veterinarian retired after 37 years of practice. It brought back a lot of memories.
I have one thing that I would like for you all to pray on my behalf this week. We have been having on and off storms all week. Please pray that these storms won't be too bad and cause damage or flooding. Thank you.
As I mentioned, please be in prayer for Italy. Also, please continue to pray for the people in Louisiana who have suffered so much with the floods. I heard that there were some bad storms in Japan as well, so pray for those folks too.
Continue to pray for peace in Syria. Things just keep getting worse there. Let us pray for the people of Mali and Cambodia this week that many people there will hear the message of the love of Jesus.
As I am sure that you are aware by now, we have been going through two different sermon series this summer. Last week, we had a message from the lessons from the animals series. This week, we return to our series on the Ten Commandments focusing on the commandment that says, "Thou shalt not steal." Now, I do realize that I am going out of order by writing about this commandment today, but I am still formulating in my mind what I want to say about the commandment against adultery. We will tackle that when we come back to the Ten Commandments series the week after next.
Like most of the commandments, our commandment for this week has a very obvious meaning on the surface, but I think that we can dig down and find some deeper meaning in this commandment as well.
On the surface, this is a straightforward command against taking something that does not belong to us but belongs to someone else. Every culture that I am aware of has some kind of law against theft. A society could not last for very long if people were taking other peoples things. Society would soon descend into complete chaos if rampant theft were to begin to take place.
I think that there are some other ways that we can apply this commandment to some of the situations that we find ourselves in today. First of all, we see a vast amount of exploitation of the rich over the poor. One way that this manifests itself is by corporations paying unfair wages to workers so that the rich corporate elites can make more for themselves off the backs of the poor.
Many people around the world work hard and are not even paid a living wage while the richest 1 or 2 percent just keep getting richer and richer. The Bible actually speaks about this type of unjust situation. James 5:4 speaks about the rich keeping back the wages of those who work in their fields. James makes it very clear that this type of behavior is not pleasing to the Lord.
No Christian who is in business should pay their workers less than a living wage. They should provide safe working conditions and good benefits. Anything less is stealing from workers.
Another type of theft that occurs is when corporations charge exorbitant prices for items that are essential for human life just so that executives can make big bonuses and salaries. There has been a case profiled in the news recently about a pharmaceutical company that raised the price on one of its products over 300 percent while the CEO raised her salary to some astronomical amount. This is just one example of rampant corporate greed at the expense of the poor and vulnerable. Surely, it is a type of theft against the poor, and surely it is a violation of the commandment in question.
I think that there is another application of this commandment as well. Those who are workers have the responsibility to not take from their employers. We should give a fair days work for a fair days pay. If we go to work and play around and don't do a good job, we are taking our employers money for nothing, and that is not good either.
As I was analyzing this commandment, I thought of the fact that sometimes we steal from ourselves. By that I mean that when we don't do our best and try to be all that we can be we are taking away from what our lives could be. Sometimes, I feel that I am doing that. I would just urge you to be all that you can be. Follow God's will and let your talents and abilities take you as far as you can go.
Finally, I would like to talk about how we can rob God. The Bible actually says in Malachi 3:8 that we rob God when we don't give our tithes unto the Lord. Some will say that the tithe is not for today, but I don't see any Biblical justification for this. Jesus Himself in Matthew 23:23 speaks about giving the tithe while not neglecting the more important matters of the law.
Some believe that you should only give the tithe to the local church. I personally believe that it is OK to give the tithe to any charitable organization. That is a matter that each individual needs to decide between them and the Lord Jesus.
These are just a few of my thoughts about the commandment "Thou shalt not steal." I hope that you will study the matter and let the Lord speak to you about it.
Next week, we will continue in our lessons from the animals series. I will post the verses on Monday. I hope to have a review on Wednesday. My God bless you all. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment