Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Help my neighbor as I can

James 5:1-6
Warming to rich oppressors.
Sins of the rich:
The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you.
You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you.
There is a special danger in wealth. It wraps people up in false security. They are so well-insulated that they ease to feel for those who are cold and hungry.
This life is so pleasant that they forget the day of reckoning. But God sees and hears all.
In the style of an Old Testament prophet. James denounces(譴責) those who pile up riches yet pay out no wages. There are echoes of Proverbs, too, in these phrases.
Compare Jesus' parable of the rich fool (Luke 12:16-21)
Why?
Rich is not sin, but when rich is caused by failed to pay the workmen who worked for you and condemned, murdered innocent men, this rich is sin who will be charged by the Lord. They lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter.
How?
I am not rich but I have some may help poor, my neighbor.


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