Remember your leaders who taught you the word of
God. Think of all the good that has come from their lives, and follow the
example of their faith. Jesus Christ is
the same yesterday, today, and forever. Heb 13:7-8 (NLT)
"The
combined wealth of the world's richest 85 people is now equivalent to that
owned by half of the world's population – or 3.5 billion of the poorest people
– according to a new report from Oxfam," (NBC.com, 2013).
I read this today and
shuddered. I have recently been studying
the minor prophets of the Old Testament.
Time and again they were warning the people of Judah and Israel that
they could not continue to mistreat or oppress the poor among them.
This is what the Lord says:
I will ·punish
them [Lnot turn back/grant a
reprieve].
For silver, they sell ·people who have done nothing wrong [the innocent/righteous];
they sell the
·poor [needy] to buy a pair of
sandals.
They ·walk [trample] on ·poor
people [Lthe heads of the poor] as if they were
·dirt [Lthe dust of the
ground/earth],
and they ·refuse to be
fair to [deny
justice to; or push away] those who are ·suffering [afflicted].
Fathers and sons ·have sexual relations with [Lgo in to]the same woman,
and so they ·ruin [defile; profane] my holy name.
·As they worship at
their altars [LBeside every altar],
they lie down on clothes
taken ·from the poor [Lin pledge; Cas collateral for a
debt; Deut. 24:12–13].
They fine people,
and with that money they
buy wine to drink in the house of their god. Amos 2:6-8 (EXB)
God is very clear, He will not
continue to allow this wrong attitude.
If it did not stop, He would pour out judgment upon them. They did not stop and were taken captive by
the Babylonians. Not before they went
into starvation and complete desolation.
We, Americans especially since
we are a Christian Nation, are under the same rules. God has not changed. However, we are oppressing the poor to make
money.
"A survey in six countries
(Spain, Brazil, India, South Africa, the UK and the U.S.)
showed that a majority of people believe that laws are skewed in favor of the
rich," the report said," (NBCnews.Com, 2013).
Let's look at that portion of
the scripture again that addresses this very thing, "…and they ·refuse to be
fair to [deny justice to; or push away] those who
are ·suffering [afflicted]."
By passing laws that favor the rich we are guilty of this sin. Now, many may state, I am not in a place of
power, I have no control. What do you
want me to do about it?" Edmund
Burke, a British politician, orator, and philosopher put it quite succinctly,
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do
nothing," (The Quotations Page, 1994-2013).
What makes this a sin? Why
should this be our concern? James has
much to say on the subject. In Chapter 4
he states,
"Come
now, you who say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such
a city and spend a year there and carry on our business and make money.
Yet you do not know [the least thing] about what
may happen tomorrow. What is the nature of your life? You are [really] but a
wisp of vapor (a puff of smoke, a mist) that is visible for a little while and
then disappears [into thin air].
You ought instead to say, If the Lord is willing,
we shall live and we shall do this or that [thing].
But as it is, you boast [falsely] in your
presumption and your self-conceit. All such boasting is wrong.
So any person who knows what is right to do but
does not do it, to him it is sin." James 4:13-17 (AMP)
This sin perpetuates the evil
that is committed. On this day, Martin
Luther King's Birthday is commemorated.
He was a man who stood up and did something when he saw others being
oppressed. He understood it was a sin
for him to stand down and do nothing.
Our society today has too many
idols causing too many of us to rationalize being idle. So, let me leave you with these words from
James to ponder for yourself how you will proceed in the face of such wanton
disregard of the poor and suffering of our world:
James Chapter 2
My brethren, pay no servile regard to people
[show no prejudice, no partiality]. Do not [attempt to] hold and practice
the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ [the Lord] of glory [together with snobbery]!
2 For if
a person comes into your congregation whose hands are adorned with gold rings
and who is wearing splendid apparel, and also a poor [man] in shabby clothes
comes in,
3 And you
pay special attention to the one who wears the splendid clothes and say to him,
Sit here in this preferable seat! While you tell the poor [man], Stand there! Or,
Sit there on the floor at my feet!
4 Are you
not discriminating among your own and becoming critics and judges
with wrong motives?
5 Listen,
my beloved brethren: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the
world to be rich in faith and in their position as believers
and to inherit the kingdom which He has promised to those who love Him?
6 But you
[in contrast] have insulted (humiliated, dishonored, and shown your contempt
for) the poor. Is it not the rich who domineer over you? Is it not they who
drag you into the law courts?
7 Is it
not they who slander and blaspheme that precious name by which
you are distinguished andcalled [the name of Christ invoked in
baptism]?
8 If
indeed you [really] fulfill the royal Law in accordance with the Scripture, You
shall love your neighbor as [you love] yourself, you do well.
9 But if
you show servile regard (prejudice, favoritism) for people, you commit sin and
are rebuked andconvicted by the Law as violators and offenders.
10 For
whosoever keeps the Law [as a] whole but stumbles and offends
in one [single instance] has become guilty of [breaking] all of it.
11 For He
Who said, You shall not commit adultery, also said, You shall not kill. If you
do not commit adultery but do kill, you have become guilty of transgressing the
[whole] Law.
12 So
speak and so act as [people should] who are to be judged under the law of
liberty [the moral instruction given by Christ, especially about love].
13 For to
him who has shown no mercy the judgment [will be] merciless, but mercy [full of
glad confidence] exults victoriously over judgment.
14 What is
the use (profit), my brethren, for anyone to profess to have faith if he has no
[good] works [to show for it]? Can [such] faith save [his soul]?
15 If a
brother or sister is poorly clad and lacks food for each day,
16 And one
of you says to him, Good-bye! Keep [yourself] warm and well fed, without giving
him the necessities for the body, what good does that do?
17 So also
faith, if it does not have works (deeds and actions of obedience to back it
up), by itself is destitute of power (inoperative, dead).
18 But
someone will say [to you then], You [say you] have faith, and I have [good]
works. Now you show me your [alleged] faith apart from any [good] works [if you
can], and I by [good] works [of obedience] will show you my faith.
19 You
believe that God is one; you do well. So do the demons believe and shudder [in
terror and horror such as [a]make a man’s hair stand on end and contract the
surface of his skin]!
20 Are you
willing to be shown [proof], you foolish (unproductive, spiritually deficient)
fellow, that faith apart from [good] works is inactive and ineffective and worthless?
21 Was not
our forefather Abraham [shown to be] justified (made acceptable to God) by
[his] works when he brought to the altar as an offering his [own] son Isaac?
22 You see
that [his] faith was cooperating with his works, and [his] faith was
completed and reached its supreme expression [when he
implemented it] by [good] works.
23 And
[so] the Scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed in (adhered to,
trusted in, and relied on) God, and this was accounted to him as righteousness
(as conformity to God’s will in thought and deed), and he was called God’s friend.
24 You see
that a man is justified (pronounced righteous before God) through what he does
and not alone through faith [through works of obedience as well as by what he
believes].
25 So also
with Rahab the harlot—was she not shown to be justified (pronounced righteous
before God) by [good] deeds when she took in the scouts (spies) and sent them
away by a different route?
26 For as
the human body apart from the spirit is lifeless, so faith apart from [its]
works of obedience is also dead.
How is your faith's pulse?
From <http://www.nbcnews.com/business/worlds-85-richest-have-same-wealth-3-5-billion-poorest-2D11958883>
Moncur, Michael.
"Quotations by Author."
Edmund Burke Quotes. QuotationsPage.com, 2013.
Web. 20 Jan. 2014
