Message
Luke 12:13-21
“Gripped By Greed”.
You know the feeling don't you? It may come as you jump into your rusted out HQ Holden, while the guy parked next to you slides into a brand new BMW.
It may come to you when you try on a pair of $20 bargain priced shoes, while the woman next to you can't decide between the $200 red high heels and the $180 black slip-ons.
It may come to you while you watch your class-mate at school buy a present which is worth your whole years pocket money.
What is this feeling?
It’s a longing, a desire, a wish to have those things which others have and you don't.
It begins as a small thought … “I just want a little more.” But soon the small thought becomes an unquenchable desire.
It is the feeling of greed.
The issue with greed is that it can hit anyone. Rich or poor. Famous or completely unknown. Because, for so many of us, there is this thought that we have that we just need a little more.
Just one more dollar.
Just one more toy.
Just one more set of shoes.
Just one more game.
Just one more electronic devise.
Just one more …
Think about what your “just one more” is as we read our text this morning.
Luke 12:13-21
This is a classic story of “just one more” – in this case it was “just one more barn”.
And it really helps us to understand what greed is.
Jesus says very clearly `Watch out!' and `Be on our guard against all kinds of greed'.
How many types of greed are there?
Jesus gives us at least three examples.
Greed comes when we do not acknowledge that all our riches, small or large, are lent to us by God.
Who gave the farmer the bumper crop for the season? Wasn’t it God?
Who gave the farmer the bread on his table that morning? Wasn’t it God?
Who gave you any of the things that you have in your possession? Wasn’t it God?
In the parable of the sower and the seed, Jesus says, “The seed grew by itself” – God is behind the growth.
Even when it comes to the result of Gospel labour … some plant, some water … but God makes it grow.
In Psalm 50:10-12 God declares:-
Every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills.
I know every bird in the mountains, and the insects in the fields are mine.
If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it.
We may have been the one who worked to get the money, but didn’t God give us the ability we needed?
We might not even have job at the moment. Yet we still live in a country where we have good social security support. It is because God put us here.
All that we have is on loan from God – who is a generous provider. Which means all that we have is not merely at our disposal to use how we like.
To think anything differently is to have an attitude of greed.
Greed comes when our wealth and possessions give us a misplaced sense of security.
Look at the man in our passage. He seems to think he will live forever, he is untouchable.
I’m going to eat and drink and have a great life.
I’m going to go into early retirement and live the good life and get really old and only then will I die.
He is confident because he has long-term wealth security.
There are many people like that.
Kerry Packer was the 94th richest person in the world when he died at 68 in 2005.
He previous had a heart attack in which left him without a pulse for six minutes. In an interview with Ray Martin after that event Packer said.
You want the good news or the bad news?
(Ray) Give us the good news.
The good news is there is no devil. The bad news is there no heaven. … There's nothing.
I’m sure Kerry is still coming to terms with the surprise that he was wrong.
But money can do that to you can’t it?
It can give us a sense of security that is completely misplaced.
That is why lotto is so popular … winning the lotto will solve all your problems.
But it doesn’t.
70% of people who win $1,000,000 or more will lose or spend their money within 5 years.
The divorce rate for lottery winners is four times the average.
Money doesn’t solve your problems – if anything quick money brings out the worst in you.
It all comes back to putting your faith in the accumulation of wealth … which is greed.
Greed also comes when we are self-centred and arrogant.
Look at the man in the parable. In the space of three verse he refers to himself twelve times.
"He thought to himself, `What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops'. Then he said, `This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy, eat, drink and be merry."'".
There is no thought of his fellow man. None of us is here for ourselves. In fact there is a much bigger picture that we need to be aware of.
It comes back to the reason Jesus is telling this parable in the first place.
Jesus tells the parable in response to a question.
Actually calling it a question is a little generous. It is really quite a rude interruption.
Jesus has been focussing on very important themes such as fearing the one who is able to keep you in hell, and the call to acknowledge God before all people, and the lack of forgiveness which comes when people blaspheme the Holy Spirit.
And then this younger brother interrupts and demands that Jesus sort out an inheritance dispute with his older brother.
The way he goes about it is a really good example of what happens when we get consumed with greed and gathering more stuff.
Greed causes us to forget God’s perspective about material provisions.
Read Luke 12:22-24
Aren’t you more important than birds?
Indeed you are. You are so important in fact that Jesus came to this world to die for you so that you would not need to be eternally separated from God’s grace.
You are the apple of God’s eye. You are wonderfully made.
When we start going down the read of “just one more thing” aren’t we forgetting our amazing place in God’s plan.
Read Luke 16:13-14.
Loving money and being greedy is the attitude of the Pharisees.
These were the people that Jesus had the most to say against. They were the ones that turned a relationship with God into an external religion that was as useless as a white-washed tomb.
Jesus says these things to the Pharisees because He wants us to be aware of the emptiness that can creep into our relationship with God.
God doesn’t want emptiness … He wants life vitality and joy. And a life of “just one more thing” robs us of that joy.
Read Luke 12:32-34
So where is your treasure?
What does your house, your car, your possessions, your attitude to money, your life-style say about where your treasure is?
There is no point being the richest person on earth who has no relationship with God. Because when it comes to death every one of us has exactly the same material wealth. We all have nothing.
We can build up real treasures in heaven. But building such a treasure never comes by having a “just one more thing” attitude.
So, even the way the young man approaches Jesus …
… rudely interrupting.
… completely fixated on wealth.
… not even hearing the important truths Jesus was teaching.
Even his approach reminds us that this is an area of life that needs our focus.
Because it should be relatively easy to follow the 8th commandment.
The eight commandment says “You shall not steal”. Specific examples in the Bible of breaking this command include:-
… scheming and swindling in order to get our neighbour’s goods for ourselves;
… inaccurate measurements of weight, size, or volume;
… charging excessive interest;
Modern day examples of that is “don’t take stuff that you have not paid for which doesn’t belong to you.”
I think most of us can do that, and we understand the boundaries.
Except perhaps when it comes to electronic media.
Here is a graph.
(Graph was titled "Top 20 Illegal Music File Sharers"
And you might think the issue might be related to ones level of income and education. The rate of piracy more than doubles between those with a household income of $40,000 (14%) to over $100,000 (30%).
We are Australians. A lot of us have good incomes. Maybe some of us are statistics in the graph?
My point is this:-
The eighth commandment says:- do not steal.
Jesus reaffirms the command in Mark 10:19.
Ephesians 4:28 goes a step further. Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.
It is pretty clear. And with the use of a few commands called “delete” it is easily fixed.
That is the issue of stealing – relatively easy to avoid and to fix.
But the attitude which leads to stealing … the attitude of greed … is not so easy to fix.
So again we come to the point of finding freedom.
How do we change our attitude of greed … our “just one more thing” attitude?
It comes back to the recognition that
One’s life is not defined by the abundance of their possessions.
Think about the people who have had a real significant impact in your life.
How many of them had that impact because of their wealth?
Was it not their unconditional love?
Or perhaps they went the extra mile for you.
I had a teacher in grade 6 – Mrs Gognait. She drove an old Datsun 120Y. Her wealth to us was to equip us to believe that we could learn and achieve and excel.
Your life is not defined by the abundance of your possessions.
Think about your local cemetery – who were the rich people? Who were the ones that had the nicest houses and the fanciest cars?
Just picture the farmer of the parable for a minute. The previous evening he was having a wild party, he was full of energy and life. Wine women and song abound. Yet in the morning his body is nothing more than a cold hard corpse; a breeding place for flies.
While his soul is facing a reckoning before God his sons are fighting over the inheritance. Is he even missed?
Your life is not defined by the abundance of your possessions.
Ultimately it is a simple equation.
For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
Ephesians 5:5
Your life is not defined by the abundance of your possessions.
Your life is defined by the abundance you have in Christ.
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.
2 Corinthians 8:9
If we have gained the riches of Christ, we will be eternally better off than a person who has millions, but is not rich in Christ.
Here lies freedom.
The freedom that enables us not to steal.
The freedom that enables us to go into each day thinking, “I have all I need … I don’t need just one more luxury.”
The freedom of enjoying the amazing blessing God gives us each and every day.
For hasn’t God really given us all the material possessions we could possibly need?
Prayer
