Is Greed Good?
CCCAG August 6th, 2017
10 Commandment Series- #10
Scripture- Exodus 20:17
When I was 18 years old a friend of mine invited me to a party to hear about an opportunity to start my own business.
He picked me up and we drove into a very affluent part of Lake County IL to a gated community that sat on the shores of Grayslake. Grayslake is a is a suburb of Chicago where many rich people lived. We were stopped at the gate while a security guard called the house we were heading to, and we were allowed to pass. We then drove into another large gate which was at the end of the driveway of a large house, pushed the button to signal the house and we were let in. We drove up the long driveway and stopped in a parking area next to a 4-car garage with all of the doors open showing an expensive SUV, shiny sportscar, and two luxury sedans. Looking around us, the grounds were immaculate. There was a pool, tennis court, patios with sitting areas. We walked up to the house, and before we could even knock on the door, it was opened by a man dressed in a suit who showed us to the gathering room where a few other couples were sitting. We all did introductions, and the owner of the house, a very well-dressed man named Bill. Bill was a very charismatic guy and began talking to us about our dreams in life. Given that we were all guys there, he asked us all to share our dreams and specifically this question-
“If you could have any car every made, what would be?”
One person said they would love to have a Cadillac, another person wanted a high end sportscar, another person said Lincoln Towncar, and another a Lexus.
When it was my turn, I said I don’t know the make or model of the car, but I wanted that Black Convertible that Don Johnson drove in the original Miami Vice. Bill said, “Yep, that’s a 1972 Ferrari Daytona Spider 365/GTS. They cost about $300k. I have one on order.”
Bill then gave us a tour of the grounds and of the house, showing us how wealthy he was. After the tour, he showed us the method he used to get all of that wealth. Essentially, it was a pyramid system. Fortunately, I wasn’t even close to being able to invest in it, and my friend had just invited me to fulfill a requirement that he had within that system to get a minimal amount of invites per month.
As I was preparing for this weeks message I remembered this visit to Bill’s house, and how he used a subtle tactic of focusing us on money, possessions, and wealth to close off our higher reasoning abilities.
In other words, Bill got us to covet his lifestyle and wealth.
The prohibition against coveting is the last of the 10 commandments, and lets read it this morning before we really break it down-
Exodus 20:17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
Prayer
The 10th Commandment is unique in that for the last 9 commandments, we have focused on the external actions that people do. The 10 Commandment turns that around and points us inward.
Big idea-
[Coveting is the most dangerous of actions described in all of the 10 Commandments because it deals with what is really on the inside of us.]
The word covet means to have an unhealthy desire, ungodly lust, or selfish motive to gain something that God has not supplied or given to us.
In part, Coveting is what ruined the religious leaders of Jesus’ day, and the reason they got such a stinging rebuke from him.
They coveted their position in society
They coveted their money and wealth
In fact, they were so greedy they used the religion of their day to fleece the poor out of whatever money they had and that made Jesus just loose it on the money changers.
One minute it’s business as usual, the next some crazy Galilean is throwing tables and chair and chasing them around with a whip.
Jesus then turns and calls the pastors of his day dead men, whitewashed tombs, and a brood of snakes.
Their root sin was that of coveting. In fact, the first thing that we need to realize this morning is that coveting is-
I. Root of all sin
That’s the first truth of coveting. All of the other sins start with coveting something we do not have.
I have referred to Genesis 3 quite often during our time in the 10 commandments because so much of our understanding of right and wrong, sin and righteousness is found within that single chapter of the bible. Genesis 3 describes the first temptation of humanity, their fall into sin, the damage it caused the human soul, and the subsequent expulsion from God’s presence that still exists today.
In Genesis 3, God gives them a simple command- You can eat anything in the garden except this from this one tree. This tree represents the knowledge of good and evil. satan comes and places that seed of doubt within Eve. He does so by questioning God’s word and attributing God’s prohibition from eating from the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil to God wanting to keep Adam and Eve from experiencing everything they could experience in life.
Then the bible says that Eve-
“saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.
The bible in this verse shows us what the seeds of coveting are. If we allow those seeds to take root in our spirits, they will always produce a harvest of rebellion and sin in our lives.
The first thing Eve did was-
1. She saw- instead of immediately dismissing satan and his temptation and trusting God and His command to her and her husband, she deliberately looked at something that God had forbidden.
a. It always starts with a look
The Mecca of advertising in the United States is based in New York City along Madison Avenue. Just like Wall Street is synonymous with business and trading, Madison Avenue is known for giving us the advertising that we are inundated with every single day of our lives.
On Superbowl Sunday, we all put on our jersey’s, grab some snacks, and huddle around the TV to watch the big game. The game is the main focus, but what else is unique about the Superbowl that gathers a lot of attention? The commercials. Madison Avenue goes all out to make funny, creative, and appealing commercials for this event. For every 30 second commercial Madison Avenue pays the National Football League $4.5 million dollars.
Why would anyone in the right mind pay for something that most people fast forward through when they DVR a program?
Because they know that a single look can set a hook in someone that will cause them to view a product favorably. It’s the same tactic most of us use when we fish-
we set an attractive bait out there,
and the fish starts looking at it,
wondering if there is any danger with that shiny lure or worm dancing in front of their face.
It starts with a look.
Once that look happens, the look turns into a longing. Biblically, this is where satan is getting ready to set the hook.
It’s like we are baby fish swimming around the lure, looking at it. We start to realize how hungry we are, and how much we want what is being dangled in front of us. We were just fine a few minutes ago, but now this thing is there, and we have to have it.
It’s like satan gives the line a few gentle tugs to give the illusion that the bait is going to get away, so we move closer, and all of the evidence that this might be dangerous fades into the background as we stare at this thing we want.
That brings us to the next step in coveting-
1. Eve considered the forbidden
a. In other words, She reasoned her way out of obedience
Back to the fish- he’s thinking- “But that bait is so shiny, that worm is so fat. Surely there is nothing wrong with it.”
Just a nibble to make sure. I mean, mama and daddy fish told me to run away from worms just hanging in the water, or to be careful around things that were overly shiny. I know they said to all of us little fish that if it is too good to be true, it usually is dangerous.
But surely this thing in front of me is ok. I’ve eaten worms before and they have never hurt me. I’ve snapped at shiny things and gotten a meal out of it.
This is where Eve is at. Eve saw, once she considered, and once she reasoned her way out of obedience- she reached out and plucked the fruit from the tree.
Coveting always will lead you to a place you never should or want to end up.
The 3rd step involves the sin
2. She ate (the Action produced by the coveting)
The fish snaps at the bait, and discovers the hook hidden within the bait. Now it’s being pulled against it’s will into certain death- a meal for another person’s table.
In Eve’s case, The Holy Spirit- the very essence of their creator immediately left her and Adam. Think of the emptiness felt by our first parents- they had the fullness of God in them and upon them, and suddenly it’s gone.
She hears the laughter of the evil one as and they realized their spiritual nakedness. Overwhelming shame fell upon them, and they desperately tried to make coverings for themselves to hide the spiritual emptiness.
A simple look ended in eternal death,
A simple look sent the Son of God to the cross to pay the penalty…
And that is why God takes coveting very seriously, because coveting ended with Jesus on the cross.
In fact, it can be argued that the entirety of the 10 Commandments was God’s response to mitigate humanities fall from grace and build that protective fence around human behavior to keep them from harm until the perfect appeared- the savior Jesus Christ.
That’s the spiritual side of coveting, let’s look at one of the practical ways that coveting damages our lives and our relationship with God.
II. Coveting is the destroyer of contentment
“Greed is Good!”
Who said that?
Actor Michael Douglass said that as he played a character named Gordon Gecko in the 1987 movie Wall Street.
Charlie Sheen played a young stock broker that goes to work for his hero, one of Wall Street’s richest and most successful traders.
During a stockholder meeting for a company he owned stock in, Gordon Gekko gave his famous speech that described how greed in all of it’s forms helps mankind break through all the fog and clarify our goals so that we can be successful in life.
Is he right? Is Greed good?
Greed is the more common word for coveting.
In the case of Wall Street greed was money and power and they were the evidences of success.
For some, greed is that perfect somebody, even if they are someone else’s somebody.
For others, greed is a lifestyle you can’t afford, and you are drowning in debt trying to sustain it. A few weeks ago, we said that the average family had over $150,000 in total family debt, and each individual American has over $5k in credit card debt.
Do you think greed contributed to that?
I had a coworker once who came to work in a bad mood. He was all sullen and silent during the squad check and I asked him what was wrong.
He said, “Remember that enclosed hot tub I built last year on my backyard deck? Everyone loved coming over for cookouts and enjoying my hot tub. Then my neighbor went and built one bigger than mine, and everyone wants to go to his house how. We were both on our decks the other day and he looked at me and grinned. I know what that grin meant….he was bragging his was better than mine! I’m going to add on to mine and show him! I’m going to work an extra 24 hr shift a week until I have enough money to expand and then everyone will see I have the better setup.”
Now I don’t have a problem working hard for things you want. I do the same thing. God blesses hard work, and would rather have you work hard to earn the resources to get your possessions rather than go into debt for them.
The problem is when they become objects of worship, or objects that meet a need inside you that is supposed to be filled by God.
Next to physical illness, most of the misery in our lives is caused from greed.
Greed is the destroyer of contentment and contentment is the root of peace.
This is probably one of the concepts that we as Christians in America struggle with the most because our entire way of life is built on this nebulous thing called the American Dream-
If I had to describe the American Dream to someone I would say it’s the requirement and a sense that we deserve to have a nice house, a nice car, a great job, a wonderful marriage and family, and an awesome, long retirement where you drift off into the next life with no pain or regrets.
This may step on a few toes this morning, but the bible has something to say about this mindset. Jesus in the book of Revelation describes the Christian chasing after the American Dream like this-
Rev 3:17 For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.
Spiritually speaking- it’s placing all of your trust, all of your sense of self-worth and all of your confidence in created things, and not in your creator God.
God wants your life to revolve around HIM, because within HIM is safety. Within God there is fullness of Joy, and within God there is peace everlasting.
Two thoughts before we move onto the last part of today’s message.
The first one comes from Susanna Wesley, the mother of John and Charles Wesley- the great evangelist and worship leader that blazed a trail of revival across America in the 1700’s and formed the Methodist church.
Young John Wesley asked his mother what sin was, and she has this amazing quote I want to share with you this morning because it also applies to what coveting would be-
“Whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, takes off your relish for spiritual things, whatever increases the authority of the body over the mind, that thing is sin to you, however innocent it may seem in itself.” Susanna Wesley
This quote refers to sin, but also refers to coveting and greed.
Paul the Apostle gives us this advice as he was adding a thank you note for missionary support that had been sent to him-
Phil 4: 11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
The take away for us this morning- don’t put your hope, faith, or trust in the created, but put your hope, faith, and trust in the creator. Amen?
Finally, I want to point out this fact as we close
III. The 10th Commandment serves as the bridge between the law and grace
The first 9 commandments have dealt with direct actions in how we approach God and how we live with each other. They provide the planks in the fence that is meant to keep us within God’s protection and God’s will for our lives.
But fences can and are often climbed in our world, and if we are honest, we are pretty good at climbing God’s protective fence very often in our lives.
The 10 Commandment points to a better way-
Instead of erecting a fence, change what is inside a person so they never want to go near that fence ever again.
The Old Testament Law, whose basis is in the 10 Commandments says don’t do it
Jesus in the New Testament says be transformed by me renewing your mind so that you don’t even want it.
Two examples from the beatitudes-
It’s not enough to not murder- don’t allow anger and hatred, or resentment to build up within you.
It’s not enough to not commit sexual sin, but don’t entertain lust in your heart and instead look upon all people as they were your brothers or sisters.
But None of us are capable of living like this without a changed nature, and that only comes from dying to oneself and taking up Jesus’ nature as our own.
All rise
Jesus HIMself calls this new nature being born again in John 3. In fact it’s so important, Jesus says this twice and then moves into the most famous of bible passages-
John 3:16-17
Joh 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Joh 3:17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
You can receive this gift of a new life by admitting that you have messed up and willfully done what the bible calls sin, ask God to forgive you of that sin, and ask Jesus to become your Lord, Your God, Your savior, and most importantly- your KING.
Prayer.
