7 Deadly Sins Series
June 15, 2008
Greed
After 13 years Bill Gates is no longer the richest man in the world. The technology tycoon was not ranked Richest man in the world for the first time in over a decade. Bill Gates fell from his spot on the top to a lowly number three position. His net worth of $58 Billion only goes to hold a number three spot in the wealth of the world. The wealthiest man alive is a man by the name of Warren Buffett he is worth $62 billion dollars. Poor Bill Gates might need to go out and get a job before he ends up begging on the streets. Not quite. There are almost 200 countries whose Gross National Product is less than $58 Billion. That means there are at least three people who have more money by themselves then almost 200 nations produce in goods and services in an entire year. Can you imagine what you would do with $58 billion? Thats almost too big to calculate. So lets break it down. Lets say that Bill Gates wants to spend all his money before he dies. He is almost 53 years old. Lets say he lives for another 20 years. To spend all of his money before he died he would have to spend 2.9 Billon dollars a year. Thats still kind of big for more most of us to picture so lets break it down more: if you divide that 2.9 billion by 365 days in a year you are left with $7,945,205 to spend every day. Thats a huge number. So lets make it smaller: take that by 24 hours in a day. In order to spend everything he has now if he did not make another penny while he was alive Bill Gates would have to spend $331,050 per hour or $5517.50 a minute, or $92 every second. That just sounds unreal. We dont make anything like that. So lets look at where we are.
There is this program called the global rich list. You input how much money you make every year and it puts that into a global perspective. Obviously Bill Gates is top dog on that list¦but where do you fall? According to this global rich list if you make $60,000 per year you are in the top 1% of the world. Not all of us are so wealthy as to live in that top 1% so lets break it down a little further. At $40,000 per year you are in the top 3% of the richest people in the world. If you make $30,000 you are in the top 7%. Honestly its a bit surprising to think about it. $30,000 a year is hardly enough to live comfortably off of here, yet it puts you in the top 7% of the world. I wanted to see just how far this went so I plugged in some really low numbers to see where they would land: $3,000 puts you in the top 15% of the richest people in the world. $2,000 a year drops you all the way to 18% of the richest people. Do you realize that the homeless people sitting outside Wal-Mart begging for money are making more than 80% of the world? What is really unbelievable about this is that Bill Gates makes more money in a second then some people do in an entire year.
This week we are looking at the sin of Greed. The hard thing with this sin is that it is completely culturally acceptable. In fact many people in this country would consider greed a virtue not a vice. We look at it as a natural motivator to do more. Romans 1:29 warns us of the dangers and evil of greed. Just look at the crew that greed runs with. This is rough bunch. :
Ro 1:29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, Ro 1:30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; Ro 1:31 they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Ro 1:32 Although they know Gods righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
Now as everyone knows the key to happiness is found in one word: more. More money, more power, more cars, more stuff = more happiness. The American dream is all about the accumulation of things. The dream is all about working jobs you dont like to make money so that you can buy things that you dont need.
Greed is defined as a desire to acquire wealth or possessions beyond the needs of an individual. So what do you need? We go through life saying: I need this I need that I have to have those things but in the end what do need? Food, water, clothing, and maybe shelter. Everything else is just a glorified want. Sure there are things that make life easier. There are things that make life seem more enjoyable or more comfortable. But ultimately they are not things that we need. One of my professors at Ozark described greed as wanting-more-ish-ness, I am not sure that is a word but it gets the idea across beautifully. You see the problem is not money or stuff. There is this wonderful misconception that money is the root of all evil. The LOVE of money is the root of all evil. Money is not good or evil in and of itself. The problem is that we have bought on to this idea that money or stuff will make us happy. So we mindless pursue the god of more thinking he is the key to happiness. We have this insatiable desire to have more than we do. When is it enough? Never. There is always something else to buy, always something else to have. When I was studying this week I came across a very interesting book. It was called: I’m Rich Beyond My Wildest Dreams--I Am. I Am. I Am.: How to Get Everything You Want in Life it was paperback. I remember thinking, wow¦what a perfect way to describe the American mindset. Riches=happiness. If you have the money you can get everything you want in life. After all the one thing our consumer economy will tell us is that you can buy anything for the right price.
It seems that we have let our love for more dictate our actions. So let me ask you: the job that you have did you take it because you enjoyed it but because of how much it paid? How about your career-did you pick your career based on what you wanted to do, or based on what made money? We aspire not just for ourselves but for our children to grow up and to get a great job so that they can make lost of money so they can buy lots of stuff so they can¦wait¦have you ever wondered what is the point of this natural American way? What do we do with that stuff? What good does that stuff do us?
In Luke chapter 12 verse 13 there is this story of a man who comes to Jesus and he brings up a legal matter. He says to Jesus: Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. Why does he say this to Jesus? Jesus is not an official judge. At this time it was not uncommon for rabbis to deal with civil affairs. In fact America is one of the few places that tries to separate religion from civil affairs. So the question is not without merit. Here is the problem if He does as this man asks He is effectively turning Himself into the Jewish misconception of Messiah. The Jews were waiting for a political Messiah, if He starts offering judgments on this little financial cases He will only open Pandoras box for further misconceptions about His role as Messiah. Rather than addressing the question that was asked, Jesus addresses the likely motive behind that reason. Which takes us back to why does this man say this to Jesus? Culturally it is not unusual, but that does not answer why. The law is very clear about inheritance. If this man had truly been cheated or wronged by his brother then he would have a legal case to get what he deserved. It seems the reason he brings this to Jesus is because he does not have a legal case but if he can get Jesus to force his brother to give him the money, then he can take what isnt his and there is nothing anyone can do about it. So Jesus says to him: Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a mans life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. Then He told them this story: There was a rich man who had fertile soil. His land produced a good crop. The problem was this rich man had no place to store his crops. So being wise in his investment he tore down his barns to build bigger ones that would hold all of his crop. Now note he already had barns. This is not a man saving so that he can live. He is building bigger barns to hold more so he can have more that he holds onto. Then because he has been so wise and saved up so much he can relax. He can eat, drink, and be merry because after all he is taken care of. Yet God calls this man a fool. For that very night the rich man will lose his life. Then what is left of his great estate? What will happen to all that planning, saving, and storing? The work and the labor of this man on earth are left to those who come after him. Who knows what kind of person they will be?
This man accumulated great wealth in this life but none of that went with him. When he died he had nothing because his focus had been on worldly wealth. Wise as he may been in saving he did not invest in what really matters: eternity. It is foolish to focus on what fades away rather than on that which will always be.
In Matthew 19 there is this great story about a rich man. What is interesting though is how we read it. It seems that rich is anyone who has more money than we do. No matter how much we have, we are not rich but that guy down the street who gets an extra $1000 a year he is rich. It is interesting that rich is defined as someone with just a little more than we have. So the story of the rich young ruler is familiar but we often separate ourselves from it. Dont. I want you to listen to this story as if it was about you.
In Matthew 19 there is this young man that comes to Jesus and asks what he must do to get eternal life. Matthew just tells us that he is young and rich. Luke tells us he is ruler as well. This is one sharp kid. He is still very young but he is also rich and successful, he has it going on. You have to love this kid. He is very successful and yet very young. This is a kid you want on your side. He doesnt have to be going places, he is already there. Plus it has not affected his character. With all of this success he has still managed to love his neighbor. I mean you have to give kudos to this kid. Yet his money and his wealth have not satisfied him. He has kept the law perfectly and yet still he feels like something is missing. He is very astute for a young man. He recognizes that there is something about Jesus. He thinks to himself: Maybe this man has the answers to what is missing in my life. So he goes and with great respect asks Jesus what he must do to be saved. So Jesus tells him: sell everything you own and follow me. Now before we get into the harsh demand that Jesus puts on this man we must not forget that this demand would be a rejection of Jewish law. The Jews forbid giving away more than 20% of your possessions. So what Jesus is asking Him to do is to defy Jewish law. Then of course there is the other thing the part where he has to give everything away. This young man left because he had great wealth. His money kept him from following Jesus. If you would just set the rich young ruler off to the side so it can marinade. We will come to him in a minute.
Do you realize that most of us probably have as much if not more wealth accumulated that this young man? We think this story is about people like Bill Gates¦it isnt. This story is about people like you, and like me. Dont misunderstand this. Its not really about his wealth. We see he is rich and that he leaves because he had great wealth and think the problem is his wealth, it isnt. If you look at Scripture you see that not everyone is called to give away everything they have. The problem is not money. The problem is how we treat it. You see you can keep the law. You can play by the rules and still love other things. In Judaism and in Christianity you can do everything right but get everything wrong. You can be seen as a pillar of righteousness and not really have a love for God. Lets go back to our young ruler, which is more a parable about us than any one of us wants to admit.
Now dont miss this. This rich young rules really likes Jesus. He respects Jesus. He wants to follow Jesus in his heart. He desires to be with Jesus. He probably even wishes he could be like Jesus. That is the problem. The problem is all of that isnt enough. His investment on earth keeps him from investing in eternity. The one thing that is clear about Jesus call to discipleship. The one thing that is consistent with everyone who is truly to be a disciple of Christ is that you forsake all other loves. You can keep the law. You can even look like a good Christian and still love money, sex, power, and possessions. The problem is while you can be a Christian and do that you cant follow Christ and do that.
The sin of greed is never about money. It is about priorities. It is about allegiance. Greed is what happens when your god is money. When you have turned your allegiance to the things of this world and your desire, focus, and ambition is to accumulate or have them you investment is in ashes. The problem of greed is not that money is evil or that when you have money you are evil. The problem of greed is that comes from bad priorities. Money is not evil. Caring about money more than God is.
The sin of greed, of this rich young ruler, and of our lives in this room today is that we have allowed the things of this world to take priority over a relationship with God. What Jesus is asking this young man and all of us to do is not really to sell everything we have He is asking us to love Him more than these things but not just that. He is asking us to love Him instead of these things.
The rich young ruler was looking for a way to have eternal life and keep his money. My guess is there are some of you in here who are doing the same thing. You want salvation, you want the life that Jesus offers you just dont like the price tag that comes with it. So you want to see if it is offered at discount store, or maybe someone is selling it cheaper on ebay. That is a mistake. Salvation comes not as some reward for being a good person but through a relationship with the Messiah. That requires that you make a choice of how you will invest your time and your energy: do you want money, or do you want Jesus? The line is drawn. Which side do you want to stand on?
