12th April 2025

12th April 2025


Pray (ACts)


Read (Exodus 20v15)


Message (Scott Woodburn)


The world is in a terrible state but frequently I hear a solution offered which promises to make everything better. What is the solution? Tax the rich. The thinking goes that the rich need to pay more in taxes. They need to pay their fair share. They’re having it easy while the rest of us struggle.  Nero is fiddling while Rome is burning. It’s certainly an easily chanted phrase but I’m not sure it is something I can support.


There is of course a wider conversation to be had about taxes in general with another often repeated phrase stating that “all tax is theft”. I don’t know if I could chant that phrase either but I might say “all tax is a necessary evil and all tax should be used wisely.” I might discuss that on another day but today we’ll satisfy ourselves by thinking about what it forbidden by the eight commandment. 


Our larger catechism states “The sins forbidden in the eighth commandment, besides the neglect of the duties required, are, theft, robbery, man-stealing, and receiving any thing that is stolen; fraudulent dealing; false weights and measures; removing landmarks; injustice and unfaithfulness in contracts between man and man, or in matters of trust; oppression; extortion; usury; bribery; vexatious lawsuits; unjust inclosures and depopulations; engrossing commodities to enhance the price, unlawful callings, and all other unjust or sinful ways of taking or withholding from our neighbor what belongs to him, or of enriching ourselves; covetousness; inordinate prizing and affecting worldly goods; distrustful and distracting cares and studies in getting, keeping, and using them; envying at the prosperity of others; as likewise idleness, prodigality, wasteful gaming; and all others ways whereby we do unduly prejudice our own outward estate, and defrauding ourselves of the due use and comfort of that estate which God hath given us.”


There is much in that paragraph to be digested but I want to zero in on “covetousness” and the “envying the prosperity of others”. We may never steal from Tescos but when we are deeply unhappy with our current lot in life and begin to envy others, we have left the eighth commandment in tatters. The golf returns to Portrush this summer and I have lost count of how many times I’ve heard about the extraordinary amount of money that is paid in rent when the golfers come to town. I heard a story about one couple renting our their house to a golfer who paid for a new kitchen to be installed. Is this story true? I’ve no idea but it has been told and there is something in us all that wishes we could be in such a position.


I’m uncomfortable with the phrase “tax the rich” as I think it is mean spirited, jealous and sometimes downright nasty. Brothers and sisters, the eighth commandment forbids us from longing to be Ulster’s version of Elon Musk, it says no to us when we are tempted to steal from our neighbour and it blocks our path when we deal falsely with our fellow human beings.


The life of envy and covetousness robs us from “the due use and comfort of that estate which God hath given us.” which simply means we should thankful for what we have and not hungry for what we don’t. In the West not all of us are Elon Musk but we are wealthier than the vast majority of the world’s population. May we let that truth humble us and instead of shouting “tax the rich!” may our cry be “praise the Lord!”


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC


Q56 What is the reason annexed to the third commandment? The reason annexed to the third commandment is, that however the breakers of this commandment may escape punishment from men, yet the Lord our God will not suffer them to escape his righteous judgment.