The Care and Use of Things 3
TEXT: Exodus 20:15; Eph. 4:28; Lev. 19:11,13,35-36
TITLE: The 8th Commandment: The Care and Use of Things 3
Exposition of Exodus LXXII
OCCASION: Westminster Presbyterian Church DATE: March 7, AD 2010
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Introduction
If you will turn to New Trinity Hymnal p. 875:
Q73, Which is the Eighth Commandment? The Eighth Commandment is, “Thou shalt not steal.”
*****Q74. What is required in the Eighth Commandment? The Eighth Commandment requireth the lawful procuring and furthering the wealth and outward estate of ourselves and others.
*****Q75. What is forbidden in the Eighth Commandment? The Eighth Commandment forbiddeth whatsoever doth, or may, unjustly hinder our own, or our neighbor’s, wealth or outward estate.
Thus far we have found that the Scriptures sound a lot like our Grandparents and Great-Grandparents. Like our forefathers before us they teach as we have found, the Sanctity of Private property so key to human liberty. They also teach that the Creation Ordinance of Work. We found that while God is the One from Whom all blessings flow, yet having a legitimate and lawful calling (that is, not Gambling or Bank-Robbery) is necessary for exercising dominion over creation both before and after the Fall. And with the Fall of mankind into sin comes major changes in the whole matter of scarcity and the nature of work. Instead of prosperity and abundance, it is rather the case that poverty becomes the default condition of mankind: Job 1:21, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there.” Thus while we are to be anxious for nothing, yet we are to give diligent attention (as opposed to idleness) to getting the things necessary to support ourselves and our families. As Dr. Calvin Beisner writes as he discussed Adam Smith’s An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations: “…wealth is neither natural nor easily created, that its creation requires diligence of mind and body…” But now that we have done this, then what use are we to make of these things?
I. The responsible and careful use of what God has blessed us with through honest labor.
A. An illustration and application
Both of my parents were raised on farms in Nebraska and went through the Dust-Bowl. The Dust Bowl is not/was not an obscure pre-Orange Bowl college football game for smaller colleges or universities! It was a drought in which topsoil blew by the winds of the Great Plains made crops fail and blotted out the sun. One received their Vitamin D, as my Mom told it, by taking disgusting Cod Liver Oil! My mother’s mother died of a strep infection shortly after giving birth to her brother leaving my Grandfather a widower with two small children in that trying time. Trying? You will remember that this was the Great Depression. On my Dad’s side I have described to you before the home place and pictures which today would be viewed as ‘poverty stricken.’ Interestingly they had food, clothing, and shelter, however think about this in light of today’s definitions, as Michael Bauman wrote in 1994, “Nearly 40% of those the US Government defines as ‘poor’ own their own homes–homes that have more living space than that enjoyed by most middle class Europeans.”
The results of this background on the way my parents raised me were profound. My mother kept the home and my father worked hard to provide for us. We were taught to clean our plate – food was not wasted; Yes this means eating left-overs. When you leave a room – turn off the lights. Think about what you need from the refrigerator first, then open the door and quickly get what you need. Put the pan on the right size burner on the stove and shut if off when not in use. Shut the door you don’t live in a barn and we are not air-conditioning (when we finally got one) the whole countryside! When a toy was broken we did not throw it away and buy another – Dad fixed it. I remember a plastic gun which either me or my brother had managed to land on and broke in half! It was fixed with that yellow contact cement and braces – only a little of that yellow marring the appearance. You played with a great deal of imagination anyway! Dad brought home shipping crates occasionally from work which I was to pull the nails from and stack the wood for later projects. And all of this came to a tremendous clash when the kids living next door about whom I certainly broke the 10th Commandment. We had a few water colors which were carefully and sparingly used while she had acrylic paints which were dumped everywhere without a care. I confess, I even more severely broke the 10th Commandment when they showed up with a mini-bike: First one with a lawnmower engine, then a more sophisticated one with shocks, then a Honda 70. I would have given a right arm to have one, but the boy next door would take great delight by going fast and then jumping off and watching it crash into the side of the house! I remember them bringing it over to our house for Dad to try to straiten the forks on his home-made arbor press.
This is not just a tale of my youth and the idiosyncrasies of the Reiber house. Neither is this simply the hopelessly outmoded mindset of those who lived through the Great Depression. Rather this is an application of this 8th Commandment: The responsible and careful use of what God has blessed us with through our honest labor. This is what LC 141, calls frugality. Frugal is not only a word which has virtually disappeared from our vocabulary, but a concept that has about gone as well. It speaks of the proper, temperate use of things as opposed to wastefulness and foolish expenditure. That same LC 141, speaks of a provident care…to keep, use, and dispose these things which are necessary and convenient for the sustentation of our nature and suitable to our condition.
B. Our Lord’s example and Scripture principle.
1. Frugality and Prudence You are familiar with John 6, where our Lord performed the miracle of feeding the five thousand. After He had given thanks, broke them, and they were distributed by the disciples, what then? Verse 12, “So when they were filled, he said to His disciples, “Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost.” Therefore they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten.” Gather up says our Savior: Positively take care of and responsibly use what has been given. So that nothing is lost says our Lord: Negatively speaking, let nothing be wasted and be unproductively thrown away. Gratitude and proper stewardship of what we receive from God demands responsible and careful use of what God gives to us.
Waste not, want not! is not simply an old saying, but the Biblical wisdom of God. Prov. 21:20, “There is desirable treasure, and oil in the dwelling of the wise, but a foolish man squanders it.” To place our love in earthly treasure is the way to poverty: Prov. 21:17, “He who loves pleasure will be a poor man.” Yet we may wisely and thankfully enjoy the wise gathering the fruit of the Lord’s blessing: Prov. 10:22, “The blessing of the Lord makes one rich, and He adds no sorrow with it.” This is not what Christ forbids in Mt. 6:19, “laying up for ourselves treasures on earth” – a hoarding for selfishness and with distrust of God (Lk. 12:16-22). This treasure is in the dwelling of the wise., those who fear God. Prudence is not worldliness: 10:5, “He who gathers in summer is a wise son; He who sleeps in harvest is a son who causes shame.” This is illustrated by Joseph in Gen. 41:48, who gathered during the time of plenty in order to prepare for the time of leanness. Prudence is another one of those words which has almost passed from our vocabulary. It however is the wise sister of frugality. Prov. 22:3, “A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself, but the simple pass on and are punished.” This is not knowledge of God’s secret will yet future, but it is the wise understanding of future troubles that makes for wise preparation today. The simple are devoid of all sensible looking to the future and as a result are reckless concerning the future consequences of present action or inaction, and so their foolishness is punished. In economic terms this principle derives from Prov. 6, where the industrious ant’s gathering prepares him for winter’s leanness. Years ago parents would read the Aesop’s Fable The Grasshopper and the Ant to their children which provided a moral lesson about hard work and preparation of the ant and the demise of the foolish grasshopper.
2. Honest careful use: Thrifty – Economical. In Lk. 15, our Lord told the Parable of the Prodigal Son. It is obviously much more than a lesson about the right use of the things of this life, however this young man’s audacity to demand his inheritance before his father is dead! his refusal of the godly father’s house; and of course his journey to the far country where “he wasted his possessions with prodigal living” – Certainly give a picture of the very opposite of honest and careful use of the wealth which God gives us by our work or inheritance. Many of the pop icons are simply pictures of this very thing and adored by millions until they end up penniless and addicted, which certainly speaks of the great dangers of the idol of mammon.
Again: Prov. 21:17, “He who loves pleasure will be a poor man.” This is not to say that we are to have no enjoyment, no pleasure in a truck or car or house or lawnmower or a cook-out! Jeremiah, alluding to the promises of God’s law in Lev. 26 & Dt. 28, says in 31:10-14, “….they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, streaming to the goodness of the Lord–wheat and new wine and oil, for the young of the flock and the heard…I will satiate the soul of the priests with abundance, and My people shall be satisfied with My goodness, says the Lord.” The 4th and 8th chapters of I Ks. where in 8:66, “On the eighth day he sent the people away; and they blessed the king, and went to their tents joyful and glad of heart for all the good the Lord has done for His servant David, and for Israel His people.” So too Ps. 104:15, “He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, and vegetation for the service of man, that he may bring forth food from the hearth, and wine that made glad the heart of man, oil to make his face shine, and bread which strengthens man’s heart.” Eccl. 2:24, “Nothing is better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. This also, I saw, was from the hand of God.” The Apostle writes I Tim. 4:4, “For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.” So we receive all things with thankfulness to God and sue them under His eye and according to His Word. I Cor. 10:31, “Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
So therefore we are not to simply waste our time and money to no good purpose, but rather on that which is of solid use. Isa. 55:2, “Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy?” We live in a day of a great deal of wastefulness. Being lavish in expenditures is often celebrated even when it violates the biblical principle of personal and family responsibility.
3. Care arising from conscience before God. We must look to our hearts and our motives concerning these things. Why must we have this carefulness, this frugal prudence? Negatively it must not simply be that we are self-centered and stingy! This must not be founded on our love of this world, but rather be acted out of conscience before God. Those who our Lord condemned as setting aside the law of God by their traditions those who used the religious dedication of things to God as a covert way of keeping from providing for their own parents. They were miserly and stingy because they wanted it themselves and thus abused God’s blessings upon them.
Wastefulness is sinful because of just what the Apostle teaches about the relationship between Master and Servant and Servant and Master in his epistles. This is of great, great importance and applies to a variety of areas which we will see later. The Apostle speaks of the servant, the laborer working as to the Lord and not to men whether bond or free. The Apostle tells the master that his treatment and rendering what is due (salary) is that for which he too must answer to God. This also applies in our reception and use of all things: We live to God. This is just to say, that in all our getting and using of the things of this world we are trustees, we have a temporary stewardship from God and to Him we must give an account. This must be a self-conscious and controlling factor in our use of things.
4. Thus we are enabled to make godly use of money and look to the poor. Godly use includes not only our provision for ourselves and our family. Being frugal, saving, and careful will make us ready to give to God for the support of the proclamation of the Gospel. Eph. 4:28, “Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need.” It makes us ready and able to wisely – not impoverish ourselves for that is nowhere required – but to have a care for widows, orphans, and the poor – that is, those lacking, food, clothing, and shelter (I Tim. 5:3ff). Prov. 11:24, “There is one who scatters, yet increases more…”
C. Carefulness to avoid what may destroy our wealth.
There are at least a million get rich quick schemes. From the billboards on the way to Vicksburg I understand that you can go down to the river and you will end up on a bed in a luxurious motel room swimming in cash! Gambling belongs perhaps in the area of sins forbidden by this commandment. Certainly we are not to jump in to such schemes. How many have ruined not only themselves, but their families sinning against their family and against God. If you are a Baseball fan you know of Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson being banned. We all have read of Bernard Madoff. Many other tales of family ruin could be found. As Christians we must avoid these.
We must all be careful not to involve ourselves in unnecessary law-suits: In I Cor. 6:1ff, the Apostle Paul deals with the I will sue at the drop of the hat mentality. This should not be viewed as a complete prohibition against using the law. If that were the case then the Christian who is run into at a stop light should simply go pay for the damage themselves. You will find the Apostle Paul using the lawful rights of his Roman citizenship, appealing to Caesar, and using Roman protection, the legal protection of the state, against a murder plot by the Jews. But what the Apostle does tell us in I Cor. 6, is that we are not to use the law and courts simply to aggrandize and pad our pockets. I actually knew of a guy, who while graduating from law school, had never passed the bar. Nevertheless when he was accidentally bumped from the rear he got one of those neck braces to wear to court! Why? Not an injured neck, but at the time he told me that it virtually guaranteed him $5,000! Prov. 11:5, “The righteousness of the blameless will direct his way aright, but the wicked will fall by his own wickedness.” Of this kind of thing is the over reaching into what is beyond all right to properly manage and do. Of course the huge and unmistakable example which I cannot but think of is, the granting of sub-prime loans which are loans extended to high risk categories dealing with the size of the loan, the structure, the credit rating of the borrower, the ratio of debt to income/assets, ratio of loan to collateral, the lack of supporting documentation.
D. Moderation
Recognizing our own temptations to cling to the things of this world and to prize God’s gifts too highly for their own sake and virtually idolizing them, we must carefully moderate our heart attachment to them. Phil. 4:5, “Let your gentleness [epieikhß] be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.” Mildness, reasonableness or moderation. Calvin notes, “We may understand him as exhorting them to endure all things with equanimity. This later meaning I rather prefer; for to epieikeß is a term that is made use of by the Greeks themselves to denote moderation of spirit–when we are not easily moved by injuries, when we are not easily annoyed by adversity, but retain equanimity of temper….Such equanimity–which is the mother of patience–he requires here on the part of the Philippians, and, indeed, such as will manifest itself to all, according as occasion will require, by producing its proper effects.” We must learn to control ourselves. So how does this apply?
A moderate valuing of things our desires. I Ti. 6:17, “Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy.” So we do not simply dismiss God’s blessings and not use them, not improve them, not be grateful and thankful for them; We do not become so so-called spiritual that we cease to work for them and use them; But neither do we idolize them and so loose ourselves in their pursuit that we forget the Giver and forget their proper use.
We must so moderate our wills and exercise discipline over ourselves that we do not fall into: I Ti.6:9, “But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.” There is an attraction there which pull men and women over the cliff.
We must moderate our affections and love for things. I Ti. 6:10, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed form the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” The heart which becomes consumed with the inordinate love of things of this world will know no moderation in the pursuit of them.
We must moderate our care about getting, holding, using them resting in God’s promise to take care of us, depending on His providence to support us – Mt. 6:25, Therefore I say to you, do not worry 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? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”
We must moderate our desires and find contentment in the position into which God has placed us. Heb. 13:5, “Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
As Christians living in a watching world we very much need to demonstrate these things. The old lessons of hard work, good work, working to the Lord, of thriftiness, saving, careful prudence, living frugally/economically are the reflections of the Gospel taken to heart and lived. Let us bring glory to our Lord and Savior. AMEN.
Larger Catechism 141, The duties required in the 8th commandment are, truth, faithfulness, and justice in contracts and commerce between man and man; rendering to every one his due; restitution of good unlawfuly detained from the right owners thereof; giving and lending freely, according to our abilities, and the necessities of others; moderation of our judgments, wills, and affections concerning worldly goods; a provident care and study to get, keep, use, and dispose of these things which are necessary and convenient for the sustentation of our nature, and suitable to our condition; a lawful calling, and diligence in it; frugality; avoiding unnecessary law-suits, and suretiship, or other like engagements; and an endeavor, by all just and lawful means, to procure, preserve, and further the wealth and outward estate of others, as well as our own.
