Virus – Hidden Infections of the Spiritual Life
Greed – When Enough is Enough?
Review: We’ve been looking at the various viruses that infect and destroy our lives along w/ the antidote God supernaturally provides through the Holy Spirit and His Word.
Laziness – failing to take advantage of God-given opportunities and abilities. It results in poverty, problems, and pain. Not everyone who is poor is lazy, but everyone who is lazy will become poor.
Lust – an insatiable craving to gratify and satisfy a legitimate God-given desire in an illegitimate way. It destroys your convictions, character, and connections if not contained.
Anger – an emotion that doesn’t produce the righteous life God desires. It is fruitless, foolish, and forbidden and it must be harnessed.
Pride – Pride only thinks about me – it is the worship of me, myself, and I. It is a self-righteous, self-sufficient, and self-centered and the only way to overcome it is to get over you and get under God.
Envy – to have an evil eye for things you want but don’t possess. It rots your reasoning and ruins your relationships. The only way to overcome it is to stop comparing, stop complaining and to learn to stay content.
Gluttony – to be mastered by your appetites. It’s perfidy against God, poverty to your life, and poison to your body and to overcome it you must learn to EAT properly – Enjoy your blessings – Account to others – Train your bodies.
Trans: Today we’re going to finish our series on the 7 deadly sins by putting the virus of greed under the microscope of God’s Word – what it is and how it works.
Funny: 3 contractors from MO., FL, and NY. are on vacation. The manager of the property is told by the owner of a problem that needs to be fixed. Desperate, the manager approached his guest for help. The contractor from FL pulled out a tape and figured a price of $900 – $400 for supplies, $400 for labor and $100 profit for him. The MO contractor pulled out a tape and said, “I can do it for $700 – $300 for supplies, $300 for labor and $100 profit for me.” W/out measuring NY contractor said, “I can do it for $2700.” The manager said, “How do you know you didn’t measure anything?” The man from NY said, “Its simple - $1000 for me, $1000 for you, and we hire the guy from MO.”
Text: 1 Tm. 6:3-12
I The ROOT of Greed
Note: Greed is not the appreciation of money or the accumulation of things. Its not extravagance, b/c all that is relative. If you have more than one pair of shoes and a coat then you live more extravagantly than most of our world.
Insert: Greed is human desire gone awry. It’s consumption out of control. It is when we allow ourselves to be controlled and devoured by some desire for material things.
Insert: Greed is the reason consumer debt has doubled in the last 10 years and why most Americans go into debt at a rate of $400 per paycheck. It is why credit card debt in US stands at $1.6 trillion and why Citibank commercial now bid us to, “Live rich!”
Funny: Greed is well described by a gravesite in England. One stone read, “She died for the want of things.” Next to her was a 2nd stone reading, “He died trying to give to her!”
Truth: Greed gives permission for possessions to possess us. It’s a cancer to contentment that eats away at its victims fostering an insatiable craving for money and things. Greed is the love of money. It’s the condition where enough is never enough.
Phrase: Love of money – money isn’t the root evil – it’s the love of money. Money is never a problem until you don’t have any or until you fall in love w/ it. But those who fall in love w/ it end up lying for it, lusting for it, killing for it, and going to hell for it.
Verse: Don’t be greedy, which is the same as worshiping idols. Col. 3:5
Note: Col. 3:5 says greed is idolatry. Greed is to love something more than God
Truth: Greed is the idolatrous love of money and what it can buy.
A Greed is COMMON
Note: Greed is everywhere! God knew it would be, so He addressed the issue of money more than any other topic in the Bible except the Kingdom of God. Of the 30 parables Jesus told 16 of them dealt w/ money. To put it into perspective, there are about 500 verses on prayer, 500 verses on faith, but over 2000 on money. Why? B/c greed is a common problem and what people are willing to do for it is crazy.
Insert: A survey was taken asking people what they’d be willing to do for $10 million.
– 3 % of parents said they would put their children up for adoption
– 16% said they would leave their spouse
– 25% said they would abandon their family forever
– 23% said they would become a prostitute for a week
A 2nd survey was given a few weeks later dropping the amount to $1 million.
– 65% they would live on a deserted island for a year
– 30% they would spend 6 months in jail for a crime they didn’t commit
Then the survey dropped the amount to $3000.
– 24% said they would reveal a friend’s secret even though they promised to keep it.
For $500 – 66% said they would kiss a total stranger – how many of you would?
For $50 – 75% said they would kiss a frog (I kissed a camel for $1500)
Truth: Our love for money will determine what we would be willing to do to obtain it.
1 Greed has nothing to do w/ what you KNOW
Verse: You Pharisees and teachers are show-offs, and you’re in for trouble! You wash the outside of your cups and dishes, while inside there is nothing but greed and selfishness. Mt. 23:25
Note: The Pharisees in Jesus’ day were the spiritual superstars – teachers and keepers of the law and everyone knew it. They blew the trumpets when money was given at the temple; they were to ones who prayed long, loud prayers in public – praying, “Thank God I am not like these sinners around me.” They were the pious people of the day. Yet Jesus says they were driven by greed.
Note: They knew the Law but they couldn’t see their greed. This ought to send a message to us – regardless of how well we know the Bible, it’s possible to be blind to greed.
a Greed is difficult to identify in life (Subtle)
b Greed is a Son of God issue (Sinister)
Note: Pointing out greed in the lives of others isn’t our business, but God’s business. We need to be concerned about our struggles w/ greed than w/ what others have. Greed has nothing to do w/ what you know and everything to do w/ what God knows.
2 Greed has nothing to do w/ what you OWN
Note: Greed isn’t limited to affluent people. People w/ less often struggle more w/ greed than those w/ more. They spend hours dreaming and scheming how to make more money. They’re consumed by how to make a quick $, winning the lottery, or criticizing people who have more than they have. They’re convinced money will solve their every problem and makes them deliriously happy. (Ecl. 5:10, 14-15)
Truth: Your level of satisfaction and fulfillment in life is the greatest indicator of how greed is affecting or not affecting you. Greed struggles w/ contentment and when it has its talons in your heart, mind, and wallet enough is never enough.
B Greed is COMPULSIVE
Note: Greed can be summed up in a word: MORE! We want more. Like most sins, greed is always out for more. What used to be a vice is now seen as a glamorous virtue.
Insert: Americans compulsively buy $1300 on credit for every $1000 they make.
Quote: This is a society that tends to judge people by the way they spend money and there is little psychological reward for being a saver. Most of the debt we get into isn’t caused by our needs, but by our wants. We have an epidemic case of the “want-itis.
Funny: A girl told her boyfriend, "My mom is happy only when she is spending money. She went shopping everyday until thieves stole her credit cards." He asked, "Did your dad report the theft?" "No, the thieves are spending less than my mom did!"
Note: It’s funny how People spend money they don’t have to buy things they don’t need to impress people they don’t like – it shows us the compulsiveness of greed.
C Greed is CUNNING
Verse: Someone said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to give me my share of my father’s inheritance." Jesus said to him, "Who appointed me to be your judge or to divide your inheritance?" He told the people, "Be careful to guard yourselves from every kind of greed. Life isn’t about having a lot of material possessions." Lk 12:13-15
Note: This is a contrary truth to our the ideas of our culture, but in this story Jesus is talking to some people about God’s Kingdom when this man interrupts and asks Jesus to tell his brother to give him his share of the family inheritance. Jesus uses this opportunity to talk to the people about grip and gall of greed.
Note: Beware (be on your guard) – life doesn’t have anything to do w/ possessions. Most of us have been duped into thinking, “Whoever has the most toys wins.”
Insert: Greed is a scam artist only out for self. It will do whatever it deems necessary to obtain that which it desires.
Story: A woman (Kristen Clawbury) announced to her friends she had ovarian cancer – her friends rushed to her side, prayed w/ her, cried w/ her, and helped her in every way. After a few mo., she told them the treatment at the Dana Farber Institute had failed and she was going to have to go out of state for experimental treatments and that wasn’t going to be covered by insurance. Her friends got together and held fund-raisers to raise over 40k. Then they found out it was a scam. She had cut her hair to make it look like she had gone through chemo. She took the money and bought a car, went on a vacation and had plastic surgery. At the trial, one of her friends said, “She had a disease far more deadly than cancer – she had the disease of greed.”
II The REALITY of Greed
Note: Greed corrupts thinking – it causes us to have stinking thinking.
Verse: Do not store up for yourself treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will also be. Mt. 6:19f
Note: Jesus is talking about the attitude and activity people have towards money. Nothing reveals the condition of our heart more quickly than how we respond to financial struggles – it is an indicator of our spiritual maturity.
Note: Greed blurs the lines and blinds us to reality. It prevents us from viewing anyone or anything accurately. When we look at life through the lens of greed, Jesus says we will be walking in darkness and that will we not be able to think straight.
A We Forget Things are TEMPORARY
Note: Jesus is challenging us to see how temporal and fruitless money and possessions are. They’ll eventually turn to rust or dust. Who wants to spend their life on rust & dust?
Insert: But do you see the principle – anything that isn’t of eternal value is going to turn to rust or dust. Greed corrupts our thinking that rust and dust are all that matter.
B We Forget Things are TEMPERMENTAL
Note: Greed breeds conflict. Do you have any clue of how many family fights are the result of conflict over money and greed? I don’t either, but I’m sure that it is a lot.
Stat: 56% of all marriages that end in divorce are the result of financial disagreement.
Verse: A greedy person stirs up a fight, but whoever trusts the Lord prospers. Pr. 28:25
Note: Greed is the opposite of trust. It can’t wait for God to provide b/c it is obsessed w/ getting what it thinks it needs even at the expense of hurting others.
C We Forget Things are TRUTH-TELLING
Note: Greed reveals your priorities. It reveals the idolatry in your heart.
Note: When Jesus said, “Where your heart is there your treasure will be.” He was voicing an important principle – your attitude and love for money will tell everyone what is really important to you and what or who is on the throne of your life.
III The REMEDY of Greed
A Cultivate GRATITUDE
Verse: Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Th. 5:16-18
Note: We’re to cultivate a thankful attitude (an attitude of gratitude). Paul says that so long as you have food and clothes then you have a reason to be thankful. Personally I would add a house, a car, and a set of golf clubs – but God didn’t ask me!
Note: Greed gripes about what it doesn’t have instead of rejoicing in what it does have. We need to understand that gratitude sets us free to enjoy what we do have.
B Cultivate GENEROSITY
Verse: Tell them to do good, to do a lot of good things, to be generous, and to share. By doing this they store up a treasure for themselves which is a good foundation for the future. In this way they take hold of what life really is. 1 Tm 6:18-19
Note: Our trust should be in God alone and we’re to use our money for good – real life. If you have it, it is only b/c God gave it and you should seek to enjoy it provided you never love it more than you love God.
Story: Recently a friend of mine was offered a gift from his employees. They’d gathered money to show their appreciation to him. While he was thankful for their gift, when he heard of a real need that one of his employees had, he asked if he could give his gift to bless that family by sharing his gift to meet their need. That’s generosity.
C Cultivate GLADNESS
Verse: I am not saying this b/c I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 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. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. Ph 4:11-13
Note: This verse explains that contentment is learned – its not standard human equipment obtained in our mother’s womb. Just spend a day w/ a newborn.
Insert: Paul was a wealthy, highly educated, and respected man at the top of his game when he first encountered Jesus and his disciples but when he’s writing this text, he was broken, abandoned by his family and friends, and was a prisoner on death row. And he had the nerve to say that he has learned to be content.
Word: learned – to direct one’s mind toward – it means to enter into a new condition of gladness that is beyond my present circumstances. It is an intellectual process that produces and internal effect. In other words, we change the way we feel by changing the way we think.
Note: The phrase is in the aorist tense meaning it’s a once for all decision. As Christians we must learn once for all to be content w/ life and God.
Note: I can be content b/c Christ strengthens me to do it. I can do all things through Christ… God, you are all that I need.
Trans: Greed – it is the most socially acceptable condition of the (7) deadly viruses b/c it is the most subtle and pervasive of the lot. To overcome it will require the super-natural assistance of the Holy Spirit and a commitment to focus on the things of God. But in doing so, we allow God to be our source as we trust in His great love.
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Story: A young man from a wealthy family was about to graduate from school. The custom of his neighborhood was to bestow a car upon the graduate. The boy expected the norm would hold true for him. He’d spent months talking about and looking at cars w/ his dad. A week before graduation the father and son found the perfect car. The young man was certain he’d see the car in his driveway on graduation. Yet, when he opened his father’s gift it was a Bible instead of keys. He was so mad he threw down the Bible and stormed out of the house, never to reconcile w/ his dad remaining estranged until his dad’s died. As the son went through his dad’s belongings, he came across the Bible his dad had given him years before. He brushed off the dust and opened it. To his surprise and horror he found a cashier’s check b/w the pages of Bible. It was dated the day of his graduation for the exact amount of the car he and his dad had chosen together. Many times God’s greatest gifts are still found in the pages of Scripture but we sometimes allow greed to destroy relationships and divert our attention elsewhere causing us to miss out on life. Houston Post, 9/2/92
RESOURCES
Sermons: Jeff Ward – Materialsim - #7 from the Seven Deadly Sins Series;
David Leavell – The Low Down on greed
David Moore – 7 Fatal Flaws – Enough is Enough
Books: Tony Campolo – The Seven Deadly Sins
PREACHED
Date: 12/4/05 @ FBC White House
