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Wednesday, 11 October 2017
Comprehending Pink’s Commandments Part 48
Foreword:
The following exerpt is taken from The Ten
Commandments by Arthur W. Pink
(BAKER BOOK HOUSE, 1994 GRAND RAPIDS, MI)
In this blog series I will work through this very
important article a paragraph at a time – asking my reader comprehension style
questions at the end. I have been much convicted by the writings of Pink and I
pray your walk will also be strengthened meditating on his teaching of
scripture …
THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT PART III
Another way in which we rob God is by an unfaithful
discharge of our stewardship. That which God has entrusted to us may be just as
really outraged by our mismanagement as if we interfered with another's trust
or plundered our neighbor's goods. This commandment then requires from us that
we administer our worldly estate, be it large or small, with such industry as
to provide for ourselves and those dependent upon us. Idleness is a species of
theft. It is playing the part of the drone and compelling the rest of the hive
to support us. So prodigality is also a form of theft, since extravagance and
wastefulness are a spending of that substance which God has divided to us in
"riotous living." He who remains in secular employment that requires
him to work on the Lord's Day is robbing God of the time which ought to be
devoted to His worship. Before passing on it should be pointed out that one who
obtrudes himself into the Gospel ministry without being called of God in order
to obtain an easy and comfortable living is "a thief and a robber"
(John 10:1).
God has ordained that men should earn their bread by the
sweat of their brow, and with that portion which we thus honestly obtain, we
must be satisfied. But some are slothful and refuse to labor, while others are
covetous and crave a larger portion. Hence many are led to resort to the use of
force or fraud in order to gain possession of that to which they have no right.
Theft, in general, is an unjust taking or keeping to ourselves what is lawfully
another's. He is a thief who withholds what ought to be in his neighbor's
possession just as much as one who takes his neighbor's property from him.
Hence this commandment is grossly violated both by management and labor. If in
the past the poor have been wronged by inadequate wages, the scales have now
turned in the opposite direction, when employees often demand a wage that
industry cannot afford to pay them. If on the one hand it is right that a fair
day's work should receive a fair day's pay, it holds equally true that a fair
day's pay is entitled to a fair day's work. But where loafing obtains it does
not receive it.
1) What forms of stewardship do you think Pink is referring
to in the first sentence? Are you guilty or do you know cases where others have
been guilty of such theft?
2) When a person is lazy who can they be said to stealing
from and how? Think in terms of time, money, labour, effort, example and
provision.
Comprehending Pink’s Commandments Part 47
Foreword:
The following exerpt is taken from The Ten
Commandments by Arthur W. Pink
(BAKER BOOK HOUSE, 1994 GRAND RAPIDS, MI)
In this blog series I will work through this very
important article a paragraph at a time – asking my reader comprehension style
questions at the end. I have been much convicted by the writings of Pink and I
pray your walk will also be strengthened meditating on his teaching of
scripture …
THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT PART II
The solemn and striking fact deserves pointing out that the
first sin committed by the human species entailed theft: Eve took of (stole)
the forbidden fruit. So, too, the first recorded sin against Israel after they
entered the land of Canaan was that of theft: Achan stole from among the spoils
(Josh. 7:21). In like manner the first sin which defiled the primitive
Christian church was theft: Ananias and Sapphira "kept back part of the
price" (Acts 5:2). How often this is the first sin committed outwardly by
children! And therefore this Divine precept should be taught to them from
earliest infancy. Years ago we visited a home, and our hostess related how she
had that day secretly observed her daughter (about four years old) enter a room
in which was a large bunch of grapes. The little tot eyed them longingly, went
up to the table and then said, "Get thee hence, Satan. It is written,
'Thou shalt not steal,' " and rushed out of the room.
"Thou shalt not steal." The highest form of this
sin is where it is committed against God, which is sacrilege. Of old He charged
Israel with this crime: "Will a man rob God? yet ye have robbed Me. But ye
say, Wherein have we robbed Thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a
curse: for ye have robbed Me, even this whole nation" (Mal. 3:8, 9) . But
there are other ways in which this wickedness may be committed besides that of
refusing to financially support the maintenance of God's cause on earth. God is
robbed when we withhold from Him the glory which is His due, and we are
spiritual thieves when we arrogate to ourselves the honor and praise which
belong to Him alone. Arminians are great offenders here, by ascribing to free
will what is produced by free grace. "Ye have not chosen Me," said
Christ, "but I have chosen you" (John 15:16). "Herein is love,
not that we loved God, but that He loved us" (1 John 4:10).
1) Interestingly the first sin I can remember comitting as a
child was theft. I’m sure there was some dishonoring my parents or lying but I clearly
remember taking something from a hardware store and knowing it was wrong to do
so and still doing it – I was five years old. Is your recollection similar?
Perhaps it is because theft is so obviously wrong and tangible and the reminder
of the sin is a physical object that, while in your possessio, accuses you. I
still have some marbles I stole from my school mates!
2) Though we no longer live in a theocracy like Israel where
tithes were the tax of the nation and it is true that we do not have to give a
tenth of our income to the church – are we not even more obliged to give what
we can and even more so that it occasionally deprives us of luxury (to break
the idol of wealth) and to do so because it is fitting to further the gospel
and support the family of those who minister to us? When we favour holding onto
money for our comfort rather than giving to the church are we robbing God not
just of the said money but also of trust (trusting him for provision)?
Tuesday, 10 October 2017
Comprehending Pink’s Commandments Part 46
Foreword:
The following exerpt is taken from The Ten
Commandments by Arthur W. Pink
(BAKER BOOK HOUSE, 1994 GRAND RAPIDS, MI)
In this blog series I will work through this very
important article a paragraph at a time – asking my reader comprehension style
questions at the end. I have been much convicted by the writings of Pink and I
pray your walk will also be strengthened meditating on his teaching of
scripture …
THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT PART I
"Thou shalt not steal" (Ex. 20:15). The root from
which theft proceeds is discontent with the portion God has allotted, and
therefrom a coveting of what He has withheld from us and bestowed upon others.
With his usual accuracy Calvin hit the nail on the head when he wrote,
"This law is ordained for our hearts as much as for our hands, in order
that men may study both to protect the property and to promote the interests of
others." Like the preceding one, this precept also respects the government
of our affections, by the setting of due bounds to our desires after worldly
things, that they may not exceed what the good providence of God has appointed
us. Hence the suitability of that prayer, "Remove far from me vanity and
lies: give me neither poverty nor riches, feed me with food convenient for me;
lest I be full and deny Thee, and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor, and
steal, and take the name of my God in vain" (Prov. 30:8, 9).
"Thou shalt not steal." The positive duty here
enjoined is this: thou shalt by all proper means preserve and further both
thine own and thy neighbor's estate. This commandment requires proper diligence
and industry so as to secure a competency for ourselves and families, that we
may not through our own default expose ourselves and them to those straits
which are the consequence of sloth and neglect. Thus we are to "provide
things honest in the sight of all men" (Rom. 12:17). But even more, this
commandment is the law of love with respect to our neighbor's estate. It
requires honesty and uprightness in our dealings one with another, being
founded upon that first practical principle of all human conduct:
"Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to
them" (Matt. 7:12). Thus this commandment places a sacred enclosure around
property which none can lawfully enter without the proprietor's consent.
1) Show how resisting the impulse to steal is related to
loving others.
2) How does your salvation prohibit your taking anything
that is not yours in this world?
3) Elaborate and make specific to your own life the prayer
of Proverbs 30:8-9.
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