Sermon review September 2 - part one

I have not done this in a while. Disclaimer, this is an impression from memory of the first of two sermons I heard Sunday. I have not "cheated" and looked at notes. This is what I took away 24 hours later. Some parts of this may be my own thoughts that were born from what was said. Major parts of the this sermon may have been omitted as not important to me or because I have simply forgotten.

MP has been doing a series on the book of James. This is his second to last sermon on James. I missed last week. This week's portion was the last part of chapter 4 and most of chapter 5. His theme is summarized by James' admonition: "The wages of your workers that you have withheld from them have cried up to heaven."

The pastor spoke on not taking advantage of people in business. Living a moral life with money. He mentioned not necessarily looking for the cheapest price, the best deal. We should think about whether people are receiving a living wage while producing things.

MP spoke of the people you use for lawn care. This is also one that concerns me a lot. I find it wonderful that it came up in a sermon. I do worry and pray about this very thing. I also think about when I hire a handy man to work around the house. Do you just think about how little you can get by with paying? Or do you consider how well they work and pay fairly, even generously? I do think he mentioned restaurant tipping but this applies here too. It was amazing to hear from the pulpit things that DW and I have always struggled with. As he said, this is hard.

We also have some rental apartments and we have to think about that too with the poorer people that we get for renters. Sometimes they despite-fully use us but that does not give us reason to be unfair to them.

James said, "The wages that you have withheld from your workers have cried up to heaven." God has heard their complaint, seen their plight. And he will act against you. I do wonder if some of the troubles that happen to us are the result of my selfishness with money and people I hurt crying to heaven. I really try to be fair and do right. But I am sure I get it wrong sometimes. Someone might get me angry and I retaliate.

But when I am in a position of power this is sin. This is wrong. Our powerful God is just even when we provoke him to anger. We must strive to follow his example. And we must be merciful even as God, through Jesus Christ, is merciful to us.