August 4, 2013
The Profit in Greed
A young man asked an old rich guy how he made his money. The old guy fingered his worsted-wool vest and said, “Well, son, it was 1932--the depth of the Great Depression, and I was down to my last nickel. I invested that nickel in an apple. I spent the entire day polishing the apple and, at the end of the day, I sold the apple for ten cents. The next morning, I invested those ten cents in two apples. I spent the entire day polishing them and sold them at 5-o’clock for 20-cents. I continued this system for a month, by the end of which I’d accumulated a fortune of $1.37.”
“And that’s how you built and empire?” the boy asked.
“Heavens, no!” the man replied, “My wife’s father died and left us two million dollars.”
Our focus Scripture, Luke 12:13 through 21 has the Master dealing with a question about how to justly divide a family fortune with a man’s brother. And, just as the story of Jesus in Mary and Martha’s home, Messiah focuses on what really is important. We have covered a series of incidents where there are choices to be made, giving us comparisons for options as a parent would teach a child how to make decisions correctly and for their own good.
In this story, a voice from a gathered crowd listening to the Master’s teaching requested, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” Obviously, this person heard something in Immanuel’s teaching that reminded him of fairness he desired in his brother that would mean a fortune for him, and he thought the lesson applied to his brother. It didn’t matter that the Teacher had focused on truth, found in verses 1 through 3, or fear in verses 4 through 6, or blaspheming the Holy Spirit in verses 8 through 12; this guy wanted the money he believed should be coming to him. Scripture goes no further into the reasons this man didn’t have his share of an inheritance, but I suspect the Teacher knew, and that knowledge likely led to the response.
The list of things Jesus taught about were intangibles, but this guy wanted money that would make him wealthy by earthly standards. Not missing this opportunity, the Mater responded with, “Guy, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” What an excellent question. There were obviously relationship problems between siblings of a family that had inherited a serious amount of money. What is unsaid but obvious is that greed had overtaken the family to the point that when truth was spoken in the presence of this man, all he heard was a way to force generosity, or a sense of fairness, onto his brother. How do you do that when greed has its teeth buried in your spirit?
How had this man missed the lesson he had just heard? Money was all that was on his mind. After the teaching about eternal issues, such as truth, fear, and the Holy Spirit, this guy’s greed blocked all sense of reason. Perhaps he thought it would be a miracle if the absent brother actually did share the family fortune. The Master knew about his thoughts so He said, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.”
“All kinds of greed,” what was He talking about? Money and power are related, so whatever form power takes, regardless of its type, run-away greed can result if not tempered by the code of conduct that began with God’s list of rules handed to Moses for us to follow. Remember this one from Deuteronomy 5:21, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife?” It continues, “You shall not set your desire on your neighbor’s house or land, his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
Not only are we ignoring the commandment that we shall not covet, but we have a tradition and name for disobeying it that makes such behavior seem harmless—“keeping up with the Jones’.” Such competitive attitudes surface in every ethnicity, profession and culture in our nation. Even in our rural areas known as the “Bible belt,” we find farmers shopping for tractors when a neighbor gets one that’s bigger than theirs.
Can you name someone in your world that has to have one more of something than his neighbor? What about the church world? Is there no pride in a pastor with a larger church than the one on the other side of town? You know there is. Would radio or TV preachers brag about one more station than their broadcast neighbors? We both know the answer, and it’s “yes”. This huge problem has so gripped our nation that it could very easily bring us down. We seem to be obsessed with having more than we can afford.
Davon Huss of the Pleasant Ridge Church of Christ in Aurora, Indiana, compiled the result of greed in the United States, which is shocking. Most families go into debt at the rate of $400 per paycheck. Credit-card debt now stands at $1.6-trillion, which is one reason consumer debt has doubled in the past 10-years. And, it’s not only families. The nation’s debt is well over $16.6-trillion with $123-trillion in unfunded mandates. When we do the math, every one of us, including new-born children are in debt by $400,000. We want it but don’t want to earn it. To see what one-trillion looks like, look it up on the Internet. Apparently, the same greed that motivates politicians to desire a position is not checked at their office doors.
It’s not just money that causes greed to grow. There are some who want to show off their possessions, even when they consider a mate, boyfriend or girlfriend as a possession. Recently a man refused to allow a repairman in his home while his wife was present for fear the person who was to fix an appliance was better than him. This attitude of “I deserve more than you” and you can’t have what I have is a form of greed that destroys relationships, families, and even churches. There are some who must have more of the pastor’s time than somebody else, or brag through name-dropping.
In Bible terms the word “covet” is wisely used. The first time is Exodus 20:17, where in the Ten Commandments we are instructed not to covet. The Hebrew kaw-mad’, is translated to “covet” and means; to delight in, beauty, greatly beloved, delectable, delight, desire, lust and precious thing. Then we see “covet” again in Deuteronomy 5:21 where a different Hebrew word is used, aw-vaw’, meaning to wish for, greatly desire or long for. The second time it’s used in the Torah an added internal element is emphasized that is more emphatic, as coming from the heart of a person.
The New Testament Greek combines the two Hebrew meanings into one. The word for covet is ep-ee-thoo-moh’-o, meaning to set the heart upon, fain and lust after. This use is in Romans 7:7. First Corinthians 12:31 and 14:39 uses dzay-lo’ meaning zealous for, warmth for, to envy or be jealous for. There is an element of malice and indignation in dzay-lo’ such as understood in the phrase, “you owe me” or I am entitlement to.
What is clearly spelled out in all meanings of “covet” is the fact that somebody else has earned or rightly owns something you want, and you want it for free, without exchange. Desiring something you did not earn and taking it by force is theft, and we have a commandment against that as well. Setting a personal goal for something available for which you pay or exchange for, is not what “covet” is about.
As with the rich young ruler in Mark 10:17, money was the subject of the term “covet” for this man who wanted Jesus to strong-arm his brother. Had the Master responded to the call and go against the man’s brother, He would have gone against the Law of Moses and assisted in wrongdoing, and that would have created issues for Christianity even today.
So, not only did Yeshua reject the role of judge or arbitrator, but he emphasized what is important in life by launching into a story—a parable. In modern understanding it goes like this; There was a very rich farmer who owned very fertile ground. He thought, “What should I do? I don’t have storage bins for all my crops to sell at the top of the market price. Tell you what: I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones and keep it in there, along with my equipment. Then, I’ll say to myself, ‘Self, you have enough to carry you for many years; relax, eat, drink and have a good time!’
But God said to him, “You fool! Today your life will end, and all that stuff you have accumulated will belong too—who?”
The Teacher ended the parable with, “So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.”
Here’s a case where the farmer earned everything he had. Was he wrong to build bigger barns and hold his crop for a better market? No, not at all. The foolish action was basing his life and actions on his trusted possessions and not following the Code of Conduct so clearly set before him. His attitude was that the foundation of his happiness was in his possessions and not his relationship with his Creator.
You too may enjoy going to estate sales. Every time I look over what was once someone’s treasure, the prevailing thought is, I’ll bet they thought they could take it with them. But, there it is, being sold for much less than the deceased thought it was worth. This begs the story of Aurora Shuck and her Cadillac. Aurora loved her 1976 red convertible. Aurora was 62 when she died, and she and her husband of 41 years, Raymond, lived in Aurora, Indiana. The Cadillac was so loved that Mrs. Shuck asked to be buried in it. She was, and the 14-burrial plots, oversized vault and labor to lower this huge car into the ground with her, cost $176-thousand. But, did Aurora drive it up to the pearly gates and announce, “Here I am, let me in”? On the contrary, St. Peter’s response would be more like, “You loved what more than God?”
Matthew 6:21 holds a famous quote, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” David Stewart makes a great point when he identifies how much of humanity thinks of this passage, also found in Luke 12:34. Stewart writes, “The treasure doesn’t follow our heart; but rather, our heart follows our treasure—whether it be a career, a family, or a large accumulation of wealth. This means control is gradually turned over to things rather than God. Rest assured, your stuff don’t care about your code of conduct, nor does it care if it drags you down. Any person who has stood before God will tell you; the greatest things in life are not at all things.
Our society has so embraced greed that we even have a World of War-craft video game called “Greed and Pride.” Of course, it includes on-screen weapons and killing. Does teaching about God’s Code of Conduct have a chance in the mind of the player? Greed and Pride are real, and so is murder, but is it of God?
Christian instruction has, for ages, included a list of what we know as “the seven deadly sins” or “capital vices, or cardinal sins”. We have recognized these things as traits that will bring us down and come between our Father and humanity. These things are not sins specifically directed against God, but each other. These seven are; wrath (or anger), greed, sloth (or laziness), pride, lust, envy and gluttony. Admittedly, this list is loosely based on Proverbs 6:16 and is not precisely scriptural. The thought is that these sins enlist other deadly sins to be carried out and destroy a life of grace and charity within a person.
There appears to be a dichotomy here, or a division between theory and practice. On one hand we teach an abundant life through Christ, and certainly there are TV preachers who want you to “sew a seed” in their ministry so you can play a heavenly slot-machine, where God always lines up the cherries for a jackpot. All you have to do is send in the money. Some people who giver up their last dollar to these preachers are likely the ones who have gone against God’s laws of prosperity and now expect God to bail them out with some sort of miracle. But, who am I to say that doesn’t happen? Yet, it would make more sense for a person to know and follow God’s laws of prosperity, holding to the right attitudes and motives, than expecting a “get-out-of-jail” card every time they sin.
There is prosperity in giving and gratitude. There is a law of attraction. We know that we reap what we sow, and we know that when we try to reap what we don’t sow, the cause for such behavior is greed.
It is not necessary to hoard things or be buried in a Cadillac. God has promised to provide, even for sparrows, so obtaining more stuff through violence, trickery or manipulation is not necessary at all. How do you trust God when you trust more in your ability to get more through greed? Will you trust in your stuff when you meet God, and what will your explanation be when He asks you why you didn’t trust Him?
While it’s no excuse for us to participate in greed, there is gluttony coming from even the ones who teach against it. A Biblical example of simony, where sacraments are sold in the church or temple, raising positions of authority in the Church hierarchy, is the story of Messiah clearing the Temple of money changers. Can you think of another story in Scripture where the Master was angrier? He physically cleared the place of greed in references made in all four Gospels. Start with Matthew 21:12.
Because we live in a nation with beautiful opportunity to prosper, greed has found fertile ground to grow when God’s Code of Conduct is not applied to keep it in check. This is a big reason why God and His Law must never be dismissed from a free society. Blow a hole in the dam holding back greed, and we will see the result in a run-away economy, inflation, crime and poverty. Prosperity is not the result of being given things or money, prosperity comes from having our hearts right with God and letting Him be in control, instead of holding on to inanimate objects.
Where are we as a nation, a family or even church in this issue of greed? How will we come to learn and even practice the flow of wealth and prosperity as God intended?
The late-great Zig Ziggler coined a phrase that is a sound philosophy regarding wealth and how to live the flow. While this is not scripture, it accurately summarizes wealth without greed. If you don’t have these words fixed in your memory, do it now. These words are; When you help enough other people get what they want, you will have what you want.
Whether your fortune is $1.37, two-million or more, release the greed and watch it grow. And, don’t let things control you, or the desire for things. Let God rule your life and allow His love be shown in all you do to be prosperous.
In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, amen.
©2013, J. Tilton
