Sermon Title: Seven Deadly Sins: Greed" Part 5 of 7
Author's Name: Rev. Alex Knight
"As Jesus went out into the street, a man came running up and greeted Him with great reverence and asked, good teacher, what must I do to get eternal life? Jesus said. Why are you calling me good? No one is good. Only God. You know the commandments, don't murder, don't commit adultery, don't steal, don't lie, don't cheat, honor your father and mother. He said, teacher, I have from my youth, kept them all. Jesus looked at him hard, in the eye and loved him. He said, there is one thing left. Go sell whatever you own and give it to the poor. All your wealth will then be heavenly wealth, and come follow me. The man's face clouded over. This was the last thing he expected to hear and he walked off with a heavy heart. He was holding on tight to a lot of things and not about to let go. Looking at His disciples, Jesus said, do you have any idea how difficult it is for people who have it all, to enter God's kingdom. The disciples couldn't believe what they were hearing. But Jesus kept on. You can't imagine how difficult. I would say it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye, than for the rich to get into God's kingdom. That set the disciples back on their heels. Well then who has any chance at all? They asked. Jesus was blunt. No chance at all if you think you can pull it off by yourself. Every chance in the world if you let God do it."Mark 10:17-27
At the time Jesus was living, there was a prevailing thought among the Israelites: If you accumulated a good deal of wealth and property and things, then you were blessed by God. Wealth and good fortune were tangible, visible signs of God's blessing. This man, who was known throughout the community as having a great deal of stuff...a lot of property, a lot of things, a lot of possessions, . . . this man came to Jesus. This great man asked Jesus, "What does it take to inherit eternal life? Jesus told him, "Keep all the commandments" and the man said, "I've been doing that since my youth." The disciples assumed here is a guy who is going to inherit eternal life because he is obviously blessed by God, he's got all these things and he's keeping all of the commandments, all of the laws. Certainly this is a person who is going to get eternal life.
Jesus said, "There is one more thing you need to do. Give away everything you have and then come and go with me. " Jesus gave the man a choice. He said to the man, what is more important to you, all the stuff you have or the kingdom of God? Choose this day who you are going to serve. What is more important to you? A relationship with God, or all the stuff you have?
That was a hard decision for the man. The witnesses to this conversation said the man's whole face clouded over. Finally, the man turned and walked away from Jesus. He chose to hold on tight to that stuff he had and not walk with God. This man's response to Jesus, is why Jesus says it is hard for people who have a lot of stuff to get into the kingdom of God. Why? Because people tend to put confidence in their stuff. Sometimes, people tend to let their identity, who they are as a person, be defined by how much stuff they have, . . . how much wealth they have. Jesus wanted us to understand that the accumulation of wealth or placing our identity in tangible things, putting our confidence in these things we have, is a form of idolatry. We idolize the things, the stuff, more than we seek after the kingdom of God. When we do so, it is the sin of greed. Today, in our journey through the seven deadly sins, we are looking at the fifth of the deadly sins, the sin of greed.
It's important for us as we think about greed, to not be confused and think greed only has to do with wealth. Greed has to do with an attitude. It has nothing to do with how much money you have or how many possessions you have. It has everything to do with how you feel about how much money you have or how many possessions you have. John Ortberg tells a story about his grandmother who immigrated to the United States from Norway. After she died, his grandfather found in the attic a box that contained some blue dishes. His first thought was to call Goodwill and just give them away. Then he thought maybe his daughter would have an interest in them. He called John's mother and said, "I found this box of dishes in the attic, do you want to look at it before I throw it away?" She did not know what her father was talking about. She did not remember any box of blue dishes her mother had. She went to the house to investigate. She opened the box and found the most fine, porcelain china she had ever seen in her life. Hand-painted. Irreplaceable. In mint condition. Never used.
Greed has to do with an attitude
As they investigated, they found in the community where the grandmother had been raised, the custom was on special events in a woman's life her family would pick out and give to her place settings in a particular pattern of china. So on special birthdays, on a christening, baptism, first communion, graduation, whatever the occasion, family members would give her place settings of this beautiful hand-painted china. John's grandmother took it and put it in a box. It never again saw the light of day. It was placed up in the attic. Not even her own daughter was aware she had the stuff. She looked at that stuff as being so important to her, she didn't think she could share it with anybody. It became so important to her to cherish this gift that had been given to her, the gift was never used. Can you see, great wealth is not involved all the time with the sin of greed. It's the attitude about the stuff we have.
Valerie Cox has a story in "Chicken Soup for the Soul" called the "Cookie Thief,"
A woman was waiting in an airport one night
with several long hours before her flight.
She hunted for a book in the airport shop,
bought a bag of cookies and found a place to drop.
She was engrossed in her book, but happened to see
that the man beside her as bold as he could be,
grabbed a cookie or two from the bag between,
she tried to ignore, to avoid a scene.
She read, munched cookies and watched the clock,
as the gutsy cookie thief diminished her stock.
She was getting more irritated as the minutes ticked by,
thinking if I wasn't so nice, I'd blacken his eye.
With each cookie she took, he took one too.
When only one was left, she wondered what he'd do.
With a smile on his face and a nervous laugh,
he took the last cookie and broke it in half.
He offered her half, as he ate the other.
She snatched it from him and thought, oh brother.
This guy has some nerve and he's also rude,
why he didn't even show any gratitude.
She had never known when she had been so galled
and sighed with relief when her flight was called.
She gathered her belongings and headed for the gate,
refusing to look back at the thieving ingrate.
She boarded the plane and sank in her seat,
then sought her book which was almost complete.
As she reached in her bag as she grasped with surprise,
here was her bag of cookies in front of her eyes.
If mine are here, she moaned with despair...
then the others were his and he tried to share.
Too late to apologize she realized with grief,
that she was the rude one, the ingrate, the thief.No, it does not take great wealth to be greedy, does it? We can have an attitude about us that we just cannot share our cookies and the sin of greed will take a hold of us. And if we let that sin come into our lives and occupy what we're doing, it can become a form of idolatry.
Steven Covey has reached national fame for his management seminars. The seminars develop the principles in his book, "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People". His teaching in these management seminars has not only influenced a lot of major corporations, but also churches as well, including The United Methodist Church. One reason why the seminars are so successful is the principles in his management seminar are very Biblical, very Christ-like. The first three have to do with our own goal setting, and the second three have to do with interpersonal relationships. The seventh principle deals with renewal. Habit number four, according to Covey, is we should adopt a win-win attitude. An attitude that everybody can win. An attitude that says we are not going to be happy if we win at somebody else's expense. That is, I win and you lose. Nobody wants to lose and somebody else wins. Steve Covey takes it further, he says, neither should we have an attitude that it is okay for me to have my way, if you get less than what you want or you need. He has some strategies that talk about how you can implement this attitude, - - - that everybody can win. At the core of this principle is the belief there is enough pie for everybody. God's grace is sufficient to meet the needs of all of His people. As we look at our life as a gift of God's grace, then we have enough to share. God's grace can flow through our lives.
We are not going to be happy if we win at somebody else's expense.
This is a pretty radical way of thinking. Especially in churches. It is revolutionizing several churches that are beginning to implement these strategies in their thinking. Why is this radical thinking? Because these principles fly in the face of the old way of doing business which says "We've never done it that way before" or "we've always done it this way" or "that way will never work here." Before you stop an idea from ever beginning to take root and to grow, before you cut it off, you can begin with this principle that says, "Maybe it will work. Maybe we can find a way to accommodate everybody's point of view and to find what God wants to do in our midst."
One of the reasons this principle is so important to churches is that it identifies sin in our old way of doing business. In a church, when you are having a spirited discussion, the discussion is seldom about the matter being discussed. The discussion is always about control. If you are having a big debate and there are different points of view about what color to carpet the sanctuary, the debate and the hard feelings and all that may come out of it, do not have anything to do with what is the best color for the sanctuary. It has everything to do with who is in control. The disputes, the difficulties that many times happen within a church, have to do with who is in control not the relative merits of what is being discussed, - - - it is a control issue. When people are not willing to let up and let go of control, then control has become a form of greed in their lives. It's an attitude that there is not enough to do in the church for everybody. There is not enough room for everybody's participation. There is not enough room for everybody's input. There is not enough room for everybody to be involved, - - - so we have to control who is. So certain few get their needs met. When we are trying so hard to get our needs met, and we do so at the expense of other people, it is the sin of greed.
Covey has it right. Our God so graciously stands at the door of the church saying He is able to satisfy our every longing, our every hunger with His grace. I like the idea there is enough pie for everybody to be satisfied, because that's what Jesus said over and over. When you come unto Him, you will find your thirst and your hunger is satisfied, because He will give us living water that nurtures our soul as we realize we are loved and accepted by God for who we are. Our God satisfies our desires for love, acceptance and worth. We do not have to get those desires met in external ways through the things we do or the programs we control or the things we accumulate in life.
Those things that do come into our lives, our family, our friends, our church, our possessions or our material wealth, there is enough to share. There is enough to share. God has given all of us enough cookies - - - we can share. Let us pray.
Heavenly Father, we have come on this occasion to this holy place. We have come not only to sing praises to you and to hear your word proclaimed, but we have come here to break the bread together and to share in the cup together. We remember the sacrifice of Jesus was sufficient to bring us into the kingdom of God. Father, we want to rely this morning on nothing but Jesus' blood and Jesus' righteousness to make us right with you. I ask you, Father, by the power of your Holy Spirit, just to search every heart and every mind here today so you can reveal to us, those occasions when we are holding on too tight to our stuff and making it become idols in our life. Where we are so concerned with what is ours, we're not willing to share the very gifts that you have given to us. Oh Father, help us to understand that you have really given your love to us, you have freely provided for us all the blessings we have in life that we may share these with those we come in contact with day by day. Oh Lord, forgive us for the sin of greed and loosen within us this gift of generosity and sharing. We pray, in Jesus name. Amen.