Proverbs 16:25-26 (KJV)
There is a way that
seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
He that laboureth
laboureth for himself; for his mouth craveth it of him.
Doesn’t it seem to you
that human nature almost instinctively wants to do the opposite of what God’s
teaches us to do?
God told Adam that he
was to earn his meal by the sweat of his face.
He was going to have to
work if he wanted to eat.
It seems like people
have been trying to get around that command for almost always.
The first church in
Jerusalem, in an attempt to help its poor and elderly members, sold their
possessions and put the money in a common treasury to be dispensed by the
Apostles.
It almost immediately
created a problem when someone decided their widows weren’t being taken care of
as well as some other widows were.
The church could have
been derailed if the Apostles had been forced to focus on dispensing money
instead of prayer and ministry of the Word.
When the pilgrims came
to America, their first attempt to govern themselves was a communal system.
They created:
· A common home and
· A common garden
The idea was that
everyone would work together and they would all share in the produce.
The problem was that
some thought others were not working hard enough and someone got to thinking
that, if we are all sharing equally, there was no reason to work harder than
the guy doing the least amount of work.
Many of them died and
they all almost starved to death.
Next year they
instituted a system where each family was responsible to produce their own
food.
When they were only
going to get to eat what they had themselves produced, they produced an
abundance for everyone.
They figured it out – it
worked better when everyone was working for themselves.
Inspired by the American
Revolution and the War for Independence, France entered into their own series
of wars aimed at overthrowing the monarchal system of government for a
democratic one.
The American War for
Independence lasted seven years
The French had at least
three Revolutions beginning in 1789 and did not arrive at a settled government
until about1870.
There are a lot of
reasons for the differences in outcomes of the American Revolution and the
French Revolutions and I cannot pretend to understand much about any of them.
*I do know that America had a unique advantage
over France in that there was so much land and natural resources for its
population to work with here.
And we had leaders who
were Christian in thought, while France had people like the socialist, Karl
Marx influencing the thinking of its people.
The French were toying
with Communism before the United States had even fought our Civil War.
I do not believe that
everything that has happened in the United States has been good and
I do not believe that
everything that is happening in the United States right now is going to turn
out for good
But I am certain that
two things have led to the prosperity and greatness of the United States of
America over these two hundred and forty one years.
*I. A FAITH IN
GOD
The founders of our
country were very different men. In many respects they viewed each of their
colonies as separate and independent countries. They viewed people from those
different colonies as different from themselves as we would the citizens of
Mexico or of Canada.
They all had different
ideas concerning faith
They were:
· Episcopalians,
· Presbyterians and
· Congregationalists
(None of the leaders
were Baptists but eventually many of them would come under the influence of Baptist
thinking.)
Some of them were
practicing Christians. Some of them were not.
*But they all shared in common
· A faith in God and
· A belief that God was found in the Bible
*Almost to a man they believed that the
Republican form of government that they created could only work for a Christian
people.
They believed the
leaders should be professing Christians
They were not very
sympathetic of those who expressed anti-Christian sentiments.
Thomas Payne, writer of
Common Sense, one of the most popular things every written in the Colonies in
its day was, for all practical purposes, shunned in America after he wrote the
ungodly Age of Reason.[1]
When Payne died, no one
would bury him. His body was eventually taken to England where the last time it
was ever seen it was in someone’s barn. It was later lost.
I am not saying that was
right – only that the founders of our country and those who lived in America in
that day, had a common faith in the God of the Bible.
The other key to
American prosperity is
*II. A CAPITALIST
ECONOMIC SYSTEM
Proverbs 16:26 (KJV)
He that laboureth
laboureth for himself; for his mouth craveth it of him.
It is also sometimes
called the Judeo-Christian ethic.
2 Thessalonians 3:10
(KJV)
For even when we were
with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he
eat.
Karl Marx and socialist
thinking says,
“From each according to
his ability to each according to his needs.”[2]
Christianity, the Word
of God and capitalism says
Proverbs 16:26 (KJV)
He that laboureth laboureth
for himself; for his mouth craveth it of him.
*The principle is this simple, reward a man for
his efforts and his efforts will be a reward for everyone.
Give a guy the freedom to build a business, give him the incentive
of success for his work, and he will build a business that will employ
countless numbers.
Give a guy the freedom to experiment and try new things, let him dream of
selling his inventions for profit, and he will create things like vehicles,
telephones, electric lighting, and smart phones.
*Conclusion
The Bible teaches
capitalism as the most productive economic system.
Proverbs 16:26 (KJV)
He that laboureth
laboureth for himself; for his mouth craveth it of him.
No comments:
Post a Comment