The Mississippi enterprise. (Jackson, Miss.) 1938-current, 1962-03-03
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
March 4, 1862
BY Rev. George A. Harper
511 Avenue G.,
Greenwood, Miss.

NO STEALING.
Scripture Lesson - Exodus
20:15; Joshua 1925; Mat
thew 22:15-22; Mark 11:15-19;
Luke 1927; Print - Exodus
20:15; Joshua 1925; Mat
thew 22:15-22.
MEMORY SELECTION -
Let him that stole steal no
more: but rather let him Ia
bour, working with his hands
the things which is good, that
he may have to give to him
that needeth. (Ephesians
4:28). To steal is to break one
of the ten commandments.
Stealing is sin and displeases
the Lord. Stealing robS and
deprives our fellow man.
Stealing is the taking away of
another mans possessions
which do not legally belong
to us. The second part of the
text commands men to work
with their hands that they
may have sufficient for them
selves, and rather than taking
away from another, they may
be able to give to others and
legally assist them.
ALL POSSESSIONS MUST
BE HONESTLY AND OPEN
LY ARRIVED AT: There
must be no sneaking and UNI
derhand methods of getting
what we want. Our posses
SionS must come through the
open market where all people
are allowed to compete hon.
eStly for what they would like
to have, with every one re-
Specting the rules laid down
for having and holding. The
primary source of stealing is
bad heart. Powerful Sec
ondary sources of stealing
are: D extreme poverty or
necessity, (2) laZiness - a man
steals because he is too lazy
to work, 60 fast living a
man lives faster than he can
supply, az Love of display and
60 the love of money. For
the love of money causes more
kinds of stealing than every
other cause in the world"
HONESTY IS WITH THE
SPOILS OF THE ENEMY:
A man named Achan viola
ted the order forbidding the
personal appropriation of any
of the Spoils of the enemy. 1t
is highly probable that such
strict orders against plumber
ing are required by 4 ilitary
necessity to prevent the
br e a k down of discipline
which would become quite lax
during moments of great vic.
tory. The harsh penalty visit.
ed upon Achan and his family
may be meant to teach the
seriousness of the sin of greed
at the time when a righteous
victory has been won at the
great sacrifice of life and
property in both camps of the
con t e n d + S. The gold.
en- wedge, the two hundred
Shekels of silver and the
godly Babylonian garment
constituted a great temptation
to a greedy and dishonest ma
ture. But the reason for re
sisting the temptation in these
delicate circumstances was
also great SO that the punish
ment was also corresponding
ly severe.
RELIGIOUS AND CIVIC
HONESTY:
The reply of Jesus to the
dilemma with which the Phar
isees confronted Him in a jew
Ell both as to the handling of {
dilemma and as a masterpiece
of moral discrimination. The
Pharisees had supposed that
the question whether one
should pay tribute to Caesar
or not, could not be answered
without giving serious offenSe
to one of the very partisan
groups present. On looking al
the tribute money, Jesus ask
ed whose name and image was
on it. Then mentioning both
God and Caesar, He told the
questionerS to give each his
own. Christ gave a wise ans
wer, Christ's enemies sought
to entangle Him in His speech
They undertook an impossible
task. All men of all time