Proverbs 22:16 (KJV)
He that oppresseth the
poor to increase his riches, and he that giveth to the rich, shall surely come
to want.
Proverbs 22:22-23 (KJV)
Rob not the poor,
because he is poor: neither oppress the afflicted in the gate:
For the LORD will plead
their cause, and spoil the soul of those that spoiled them.
One of the reasons why I
like studying the book of the Proverbs is because it is filled with practical
wisdom.
All of the Bible is
really.
One of my Daily Visits
with God last week I read 1 Samuel 12:7 where Samuel reasoned with the children
of Israel concerning the nature of the king they had asked for.
I wrote my thoughts down
in a blog I called “Reasoning Skills.”
Someone wrote back to me
and said they needed that devotion to help them try to resolve a dispute they
had with another person.
I was able to give them
the Lord’s Model Prayer and explain how it too can be used to teach how to
appeal to someone with whom we have a disagreement.[1]
1.
Acknowledge the
other's position (Our Father)
2.
Give them respect
(Hallowed be thy name)
3.
Be prepared to give
them what they deserve (Thy kingdom come. they will be done)
4.
Make your request and
state you case (give us this day...)
5.
Reaffirm their value
in your eyes (For Thine is....)
So, as I said, the Bible
is a very practical book.
Christian business
people remark all of the time how that even non-Christian businesses often
unwittingly use Biblical principles in business precisely because it is
practical, sound and wise.
There are whole models
of Biblical counseling built upon a practice very similar to what I did with
the Lord’s Model Prayer.
The book of Psalms, for
instance, represents every human emotion imaginable and even combinations of
those emotions.
So one way to teach the
book of Psalms is to
· Identify the emotions represented in the Psalm
· Analyze the Psalm’s treatment of that emotion,
· Record and catalog your analysis, and then
· Teach your analysis as an authoritative treatment when you
deal with someone facing that emotion
So, for instance, say
you encounter someone who is battling loneliness.
· Psalm 139 describes a person who is alone.
· She how the Psalmist works his way out of loneliness and
then
· Teach that Psalm to the person who fights this problem
The Bible is a practical book.
Proverbs especially, is
loaded with practical teaching on principles of stewardship.
I have been pastor here
over 18 years yet I do not believe I have had as much response to any preaching
and teaching as much as I have this series of lessons.
About the only
“complaint” I have had about it is several parents who have said they wished I
were teaching it to their teens.
But I want to tell you;
the Bible is a useless book if it is only a practical book.
What makes the Bible
useful is that it is a prophetic book.
It is a supernatural book.
There are a lot of wise
people who have developed a thousand practical tools for good money management.
The Bible is useful
because it stretches our eyes past the paper and pencil of financial accounting
and casts our gaze into the treasures of heaven.
With that in mind there
are four things the Proverbs warns us not to do:
*I. OPPRESS THE POOR TO INCREASE WEALTH
Proverbs 22:16 (KJV)
He that oppresseth the
poor to increase his riches, and he that giveth to the rich, shall surely come
to want.
Practically speaking,
one of the easier ways to increase wealth is to take it from those with less.
Our state does that with
the lottery.
I could not find a
definitive number how much money Washington brings in each year from the
lottery. I did see that in 2014 they had roughly $121 million toward college
tuition.
That’s a lot of money.
Here’s the thing;
wealthy people are not the ones buying those lottery tickets.
They may not all be
technically poor, who gamble on those things – I watched a soldier buy a hand
full of them the other day.
But it’s not the wealthy
buying them.
It’s people who hope
they can get wealthy by buying them.
The state spends
hundreds and hundreds of thousands of (lottery) dollars each year to advertise
the lottery.
I promise, the people
watching those ads are not those you and I would think of as wealthy.
They are far too busy to
watch much television.
It is the person who
wishes he was wealthy who watches hours and hours of TV each day and is duped
into buying lottery tickets through the advertisements he or she sees.
The state can make money
off the poor, but that does not make it right.
Charismatic
Televangelists do the very same thing, by the way.
Do not
*II. GIVE TO
THE RICH
(I am sure this is also to increase wealth)
Proverbs 22:16 (KJV)
He that oppresseth the
poor to increase his riches, and he that giveth to the rich, shall surely come
to want.
This giving could be
financial, or it could be some other sort of favor or benefit.
The point is do not use
what we have in order to win the favor of the rich in order to get from them
wealth.
There is nothing wrong
with being friendly and even generous to someone who has more than you have.
There is something very
wrong with using that generosity for the purpose of getting from them.
Thirdly don’t
*III. ROB THE POOR BECAUSE HE IS POOR
Proverbs 22:22 (KJV)
Rob not the poor,
because he is poor: neither oppress the afflicted in the gate:
This is like a crime of
opportunity.
There is a very well
known Fundamental Bible College who, a number of years ago, forced an
evangelist who was a member of their “Campus Church’s” congregation to quit
because the college did not want to be associated with his resistance of the
government’s tax codes.
He was physically
escorted off the campus by campus guards and, when he attempted to use appeal
through a Christian legal ministry, was advised that he could never hope to win
against this college – they would just out money him.
It might be possible to
rob the poor because he is poor.
That doesn’t make it the
right thing to do.
*IV. OPPRESS THE AFFLICTED IN THE GATE
Proverbs 22:22 (KJV)
Rob not the poor,
because he is poor: neither oppress the afflicted in the gate:
The phrase “at the gate”
is the key to this portion of the passage.
The gate would have been
the place where legal matters were settled.
Whenever the Bible
speaks of someone sitting at the gate, it means he has risen to a place of such
importance in his city that he is a judge and ruler.
People would take their
problems to the leaders and the gate to get their differences settled.
I think I know someone
who is right now being victimized by the state government simply because the
state knows they can’t afford to fight them.
The state might win, but
that does not make it the right thing for them to do.
This family needs our
prayers.
Let me end with,
*V. THE PROPHETIC REASON TO HEED THIS WARNING
Proverbs 22:23 (KJV)
For the LORD will plead
their cause, and spoil the soul of those that spoiled them.
Notice that the Bible
says the Lord will “spoil the soul…”
God might not
necessarily take away the wealth of those who do the wrong thing for gain.
But He will judge them.
And there are some kinds
of judgment far worse than doing without.
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