I think every single one of us has heard of the seven deadly sins.
They've been around for centuries.
They started in Greek and then moved to Latin.
And, the reason that these are so popular
is not that they are the only deadly sins.
The reason they call them the deadly sins is because
many people believe that,
these sins, if you start there, lead to others.
And many also think they're interesting because
these are kind of
your natural desires on steroids.
Let me give you an example.
If you have a natural desire to eat, that's normal.
But then on steroids, that leads to gluttony.
You have a natural desire, even sexual desire,
that's a normal part of being a human being.
But when you put that kind of on steroids,
you have an unhealthy desire that leads you to bad places.
A desire for your neighbor's spouse.
A desire for images on the TV.
Or a desire for dominance or control.
It leads to bad places.
So, today we're not going to talk about all the seven deadly sins.
I just want to talk about one.
And, originally in Latin they called it Avaritia.
Did I just - I think I just rolled r's.
Normally I can't roll -
Did I - did that count? Maybe it did! But,
Avaritia - you see, I can't do it! -
is what we call
"avarice" in English.
And you're going, "OK.
"I don't know what avarice is."
It's simply greed.
And, usually when we think of greed, we think of the example
how Jesus used it in Luke chapter 12.
It's right here.
Jesus is talking and he says,
That's what he's saying in Luke, chapter 12.
And so we see the normal example of greed for stuff.
But, what I think is more interesting,
is that Jesus says watch out for all
kinds of greed.
Which means,
you could be greedy for more things that just stuff.
You can be greedy for control.
And that leads you to a bad place.
You can be greedy for recognition.
And that leads you to a bad place.
You can be greedy for
possessions, stuff and looks and fame and power.
All of these lead you to a bad place.
So, I've got a serious question.
Are you willing to go with me
to the dark place of the root of your desires?
Are you willing to go to such a dark place
that the only thing that can pull you out
is the light of Christ and His love for you.
If you are, stick with me this week
as we look at all kinds of greed.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, we
know that You want us to watch out for all kinds of greed.
And we know that there's all kinds of greed.
It's just a matter of what we're greedy for.
Help us bring an open heart to You.
And help us bring a way that we can see a
positive way to get rid of these greeds
in our life because they're taking us to a bad place.
Help us get to that root and get rid of it
so that we can be greedy for something wholesome
and pure which is your love
and your affection and your truth.
We ask this in your name. Amen.
The most famous of all greed quotes
comes from J.P. Rockefeller.
This is America's first billionaire,
and many considered the richest man on the planet at the time.
But if you know the story, I've shared it before,
that a reporter came to him and said
this question, asked this question:
"How much money is enough?"
And he answers
"Just a little bit more".
And I'm sure you know that quote.
And when you talk about greed, when I was a kid
I used to think about wanting all of these giant things.
I think of, like,
Ricky Schroeder on the show "Silver Spoons,"
would ride around on a train
inside his house with his dad.
I thought that would be the ultimate.
And I had posters of Lamborghinis on my wall.
But, now as an adult,
when Jesus says this in Luke chapter 12.
and then he goes on to say
I'll be honest.
This doesn't hit home on this level.
I don't want more stuff.
I don't. Most of us are trying to get rid of stuff.
And, do you want a bigger house that you have to clean and insure?
Do you want a nicer car that you have to worry about when you
park, you have to park way at the end at Costco?
I'll pass.
But what I do want
is nicer stuff.
And I found that the more money I make,
I want things that are
a little bit better.
We went shopping for a car.
It's a Subaru.
And 20% of Subarus are sold in Colorado.
So, I went shopping for a Subaru with my wife.
They had the larger engine
and the smaller engine.
Which engine do you think we came home with?
Now I could justify.
Right, we're going to go the mountains
and we're going to have all the kids and we've got to be able to go up the hills.
And I want, you know, dangerous situation
we have to be able to accelerate out of that.
But did I really need a bigger engine?
No.
My guess is
that if you think about all the stuff you're thinking about buying
right now, and I know we're all thinking about buying stuff.
All that list, just go through it in your head.
The 20 or 10 or 30 things you're thinking about.
How many of those things are upgrades
and how many of those things are necessities?
If you want to see, just kind of a window
into our greed about wanting more stuff,
a little bit better,
just think about the last things you searched on the internet.
The last things you fantasized about.
The last things you thought about,
just trying to get in your possession.
Why can't we be greedy about something
that's a little bit better?
Why can't we have a greed for understanding who God is?
Why can't we have, kind of a desire to know
who he is and what he's done for us
and all those things.
How much
Bible study do you think's enough?
How much prayer, how much open-heartedness to God?
How much
understanding of what Jesus has done?
I think the answer is,
just a little bit more.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, you've given us so many blessings.
It's almost disgusting
how much stuff we have and we just push it to the side.
We want better and nicer and faster and prettier.
Help us have a contentment
with the things that you've given us.
Help us have a heart
that's not content when it comes to knowing you.
Turn our hearts
so that we have a desire to know more of you.
More of your love and a desire to share this love with other people.
Give us a greed for that.
We ask this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
I just heard this story about
an elderly gentleman in a Mexican fishing village.
And he was sleeping late,
taking siestas with his wife,
playing guitar and playing with his grandchildren.
And then a Harvard MBA shows up and says,
"Do you have any idea what you could do with your business?
"If you had plans and you had goals and you stretched yourself
"and you did the VTO and all this other stuff.
"And you read the book, 'Traction.'"
And then he said,
"And then what?"
I think that's a question.
And then what?
How many people have you seen
trying to balance all this success
of this greed for more and more and more
and striving and striving.
And people tell us, "Be the best version of yourself."
And people tell us to have ambition and goals
and do all these things in your business and life.
But, what are you willing to give up to reach those things?
Would you give up your weekends?
Maybe.
Would you give up extra time with your family?
Maybe.
Would you give up money?
Probably.
But, would you give up
your family?
Would you give up
your faith?
Here's what Jesus says when it comes to greed for some of these things.
It's kind of a longer section.
This is in 1 Timothy.
What we see in this section is that there is a
whole lot more to greed than just wanting stuff.
Do I think that you can get what you want?
Yes.
Do I think if you give up the right kinds of things,
you can reach success?
Maybe celebrity?
Do I think that you can get money and a nice house and cars?
Yeah, I do.
And then what?
What Jesus is telling you, through Paul, is simply this.
Its godliness
and contentment.
Then you have great gain.
It's not about what you have,
it's about being content
with what God has given you
and staying close to Him.
And then you are truly rich.
Let's pray.
Heavenly father, we pray for a greed to know more about you.
We pray for contentment.
And, not just a contentment in what you've given us as earthly blessings.
But give us a desire to know more of you
so that we can have godliness that goes along with contentment.
That leads to generosity
in the world that we live.
We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.
I think most of us know that one of our most basic
human needs is to be loved.
And, along with security and shelter, we want to be loved.
There is a famous study that showed this very thing.
When children were not held and did not have contact
before six months old, they had problems when they were adults.
Why? Because they didn't feel loved.
That's a big, big deal.
And I think all of us know
someone who is an adult,
who has such a deep desire to be loved
that they stay in an abusive relationship.
I think that all of us know someone who
has such a desire to be loved
that it compromises what they believe and what they think.
And I think that we all know someone who
has miscommunicated physical contact
and sexual contact as what love really is.
Why? Because they have this deep desire to be loved.
Sometimes, just like, you're hungry, you need food.
Sometimes you just need to be loved.
Well, I've got two girls.
And, my dream always with my girls
was every year at their birthday
I wanted to film them.
And I didn't do this, I did it a couple times. But,
my dream was this.
I would film them and I would ask them this question:
Who do you want to marry when you grow up?
And I wanted to hear what they would say.
They would say, I want to marry someone funny,
or maybe someone like daddy.
Someone who's handsome
and nice and who is a believer.
Who is generous.
And then I could put all these films together
on their wedding day.
And you could see this little girl grow up
into an adult and find that very perfect someone.
And it would fill my heart with joy.
What if they did find the exact right person?
Do you think, even if you find the perfect person,
that it's fair to that person to think
that they can really fill your heart?
Is it fair to put all these hopes
and these dreams, that a singular person
can actually fill up your heart?
That hole that's in your heart that makes you feel so empty?
The answer is no.
That's not fair.
Because there's only one person.
When we talk about this greed to be loved.
There's only one person who can do that.
There's only one person who is uncompromising.
There's only one person who loves you without doubt.
There's only one person who's perfectly faithful.
There's only one person who you don't have to change who you are.
There's someone who loves you, who you are.
Not because of who you are but because of his own heart.
And that's our Savior who went to a cross that said,
"Come to me, you who are weary and burdened.
I will give you rest.
That beautiful picture that I think of is in Isaiah 61.
And he compares what it's like
to be with a bridegroom.
He says,
Christ has wrapped you in his righteousness. Amen.
My world-famous acting career started
in late kindergarten class
when I played the pig in "Old McDonald Had a Farm".
Mostly because I had the loudest snort.
But you wouldn't believe how proud I was
when Mrs. Myer stood with me
and said that in front of the whole class.
And this was the beginning of like hundreds of times of this great joy of being recognized, right?
It could be a star on top of your math paper.
It could be athletics.
It could be involved at school or could be involved at work.
When someone recognizes your work.
For so awesome it feels when someone says that
and someone recognizes you,
it feels even worse when someone doesn't.
Have you ever like cleaned the house and someone else gets the credit?
Did you ever do something at work and someone else gets the credit?
My kids are in high school and they are involved in a lot of group projects.
And their favorite meme of all time, as they show it to me,
is
"When I die
I want to be lowered into my grave by my group
project team so they can let me down
one last time.
What are they saying?
They're frustrated that they do the work
and it's not being recognized.
So, is this a big deal?
As you transform from a person
who is standing with an apple or you can snort the loudest,
to an adult who needs to be recognized.
Harry S. Truman says it this way,
"It's amazing what you can accomplish
if you do not care who gets the credit."
Here's my question.
Are you a person that desires to be recognized?
Are you a person that almost has an insatiable
desire for people to talk to you and recognize
the things you've done?
Does it bother you when someone else gets the credit on a project?
Some greeds aren't for stuff.
Some greeds
are, maybe, to be loved.
Some greeds are for control.
Are you controlling people with this insatiable
desire for them to recognize you?
You say, "Why is that a big deal?"
It's a big deal because of this.
In your desire to control people,
you're also misrepresenting who you're working for.
It says this in Colossians,
In that moment to be recognized,
in kind of an exhausting, unfillable bucket,
you just might be greedy
and you might just be pushing God to the side
because you want other people to recognize you.
Have you changed your master, in other words,
from God to people?
What does the Bible say?
Maybe it's time
that you lay this on the table and say
"God, I desire to serve other people more than I desire to serve you."
Let's get back on track
and start seeking and loving a God
who has done so much for us.
Loved us and forgave us and
brought us to heaven so that we can praise him
with a whole heart.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, There's so much stuff
that happens in our life that we want credit for.
It feels so good when people tell us that we're needed.
But maybe it's time we recognize that we really need you.
And we need to recognize that the gifts you've given us are to serve you.
And it doesn't really matter who sees these things.
What matters is that people are being served
and that you are served with all we do.
Give us that kind of heart
that lets the praise and recognition go to you:
the one who gives us our gifts.
We ask this in your name.
Amen.