The Eighth Commandment by Van Reenen My dear hearers, It is a very notable admonition which we read in Jesus famous sermon on the mount, namely, Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth. The Lord Himself was poor, poorer than the foxes, who had holes, and poorer than the birds of the air, who had nests, but He had no place whereon to lay His head. Neither did the Lord make any effort to become rich. He turned from Satan in disdain when he offered Him the kingdoms of the earth. Hence the Lord will not condone that lust of money, that thirst for gold, that thirst for great wealth in His people. Therefore He says, Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth. By the word treasures you must not understand those things that belong to the necessities of life, such as food and drink, clothing and shelter, etc. By treasures the Lord means those things which indicate abundance and luxury, such as gold, silver, beautiful furniture, clothes, and in one word, all that for which earthly-minded people slave, sacrifice everything, pollute their conscience and even hazard their soul and their salvation. Hence the Lords admonition is aimed at such pursuit of treasures in which the world is engrossed, and in which it places its trust. He does not advise against zeal and thrift, industry and prayerful planning to save either for ourselves or for an evil day, or for helping others in need, but rather against excessive, wrong, ye a sinful pursuit of temporal things. And alas, that is done so much. Since the fall man has made material things his god, the treasures of earth are his desire, they have his heart. And to obtain them he lies, robs, steals and practices usury, he sins against his soul and hazards his salvation. We see this in Achan. For a few hundred pieces of silver, a garment and some gold, he brought judgment upon the army of Israel and a curse upon himself. He was stoned and relegated to hell. And think of Gehazi, who, for a handful of silver brought shame upon the Lord, the God of Israel and upon His servant, and Naamans leprosy upon himself. And think also of Judas who for thirty pieces of silver betrayed his Master, and sold his life and his salvation. How good and loving the Lord Jesus is then, when he calls to us, Do not thus. Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Yea, how good and loving our God is, for it pleased Him to cast up a bulwark against that sin in the Commandment that now requires our attention. You will find our text in Exod. 20:15 Thou shalt not steal. Upon these words our catechetical instruction is based as you will find recorded in the Heidelberg Catechism: XLII. LORDS DAY. Q. 110. What doth God forbid In the eighth commandment? A. God forbids not only those thefts, and robberies, which are punishable by the magistrate; but he comprehends under the name of theft all wicked tricks and devices, whereby we design to appropriate to ourselves the goods which belong to our neighbor: whether it be by force, or under the appearance of right, as by unjust weights, ells, measures, fraudulent merchandise, false coins, usury, or by any other way forbidden by God; as also all covetousness, all abuse and waste of his gifts. Q. 111. But what doth God require in this commandment? A. That I promote the advantage of my neighbor in every instance I can or may; and deal with him as I desire to be dealt with by others: further also that I faithfully labor, so that I may be able to relieve the needy. Dear hearers! The subject which requires our attention today calls us again to the foot of the mount where God gave his law. It has already been our privilege to receive blessed lessons there. There we learned to know in what relationship man, especially Gods child, stands to the Lord. He is the Lord, our God, Who brought us out of the house of bondage of sin and the world. We also learned that we must serve Him alone, that we must serve Him reverently in spirit and in truth, that we must serve Him always, but especially on our Sabbath day. Then the Lawgiver taught us childlike submission. He showed us His great care for our life and for the most sacred relationship on earth, namely, marriage. We showed you the blessing of wedlock, that union of husband and wife, willed and instituted by our Creator, which in His Word He declares to be an example of the unity of Christ and His church, and which Christ honored with His presence and miracles. Next we showed you the corruption of man. Through sin the holy delight and desire for communion of husband and wife has become sinful and unbridled, so that the lusts of our flesh reach out to a stranger, yea even to various loathsome objects. We shall not record further the list of sins committed against the seventh commandment by thoughts, words, and deeds, in marriage, outside of marriage and even against marriage. Finally, we showed the beneficial purpose of the seventh commandment, which we shall not now repeat. the-highway/ten_commandments8.html
Posted on: Fri, 27 Jun 2014 09:04:27 +0000
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