Greed is the inordinate desire to have more. An attitude of greed says, if some is good, more is better and still more is best. More, more, more, more is the motto. Soon the desire to accumulate more totally crowds out everything else. As Jesus put it in Matthew’s account of the Sermon on the Mount, "You cannot serve God and Money." There isn’t enough room in one life for both.

I found myself with a knowing smile on my face recently when I read a sermon by Mark Copeland on the passage we’re going to consider today. Mark wrote:

"It is amazing sometimes how spiritually dense and worldly minded people can be…. I’ve known some to habitually fall asleep, not during a long sermon, but at the beginning [of the sermon]! On one occasion, I was sharing the gospel of Christ with a person. After presenting the gospel message and reviewing examples of conversion in the NT, I asked if he had any questions. He only had one: ‘In that passage where the Spirit caught Philip away [Acts 8:39], do you think that could have actually been a UFO?’"(1)

Some folks just don’t get it. A teacher of the gospel works and works to bring across an important Biblical truth that is a matter of spiritual life and death and someone pops up and says something totally unrelated and unimportant as though he hasn’t heard a thing. The truth is that he probably haven’t.

In Biblical terms, such a person is, to borrow words from the writer of Hebrews,(2) "dull of hearing" - spiritually obtuse – oblivious to spiritual reality. Interested only in his or her little sphere of concern, issues of the spirit are totally lost in the fog of selfish indifference that blankets the heart. Such a person has become anesthetized to God’s truth.

But it’s nothing new. Jesus had to deal with it, too, which brings us to the portion of Scripture that will be our text this morning.

My message is called, A Serious Warning from Jesus about Greed and Possessions. The text is Luke 12:1-21. In it Jesus was teaching some very important lessons to His disciples. A huge crowd – thousands of people – so many, Luke tells us, that they "were stepping on one another"- was listening intently to His weighty words. Then suddenly, without warning, someone in the crowd rudely interrupted Jesus with something totally unrelated. He wanted Jesus to settle an inheritance dispute between himself and his brother. Jesus’ response to the man was curt. He refused to help him. Then He used the occasion to give His disciples a warning about the problem the interrupter had - greed and love of possessions to such an extent that he was blind to everything else. Understanding Jesus’ warning and how it affects us will be the aim of today’s bible lesson. We’ll begin with a quick look at:

Notice that the Lord was speaking primarily with his disciples, i.e., the twelve. I point that out because not everything we read here applied directly to the crowd, though those within earshot were certainly giving their attention to His words. He continued:

I won’t elaborate on these verses here, though there is much that could be said. I just want you to notice that Jesus was doing some very serious teaching. The gravity of His words should have had all those within earshot giving Him their utmost attention. But not everyone listening. Seemingly out of the blue, somebody popped up with something totally irrelevant, which we’ll call:

Some years ago I preached one of the most serious messages on the subject of hell that I have ever preached. Even the title was grim: "Eighty Words of Terror from the Depths of Hades." Some of you might remember that sermon. When the service was over, as people were going out, some were shaking my hand, as is usually the case. Some understandably just went out quietly. Then this one guy came up to me and wanted to tell me a joke about hell! I was dumbfounded! How could anyone sit through such a serious message and the only effect it had on him was to remind him of a joke?

The only explanation I have for that kind of dullness to spiritual things is what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2:14:

Someone lacking the Spirit of God, focused only on self, will not understand spiritual things. Elsewhere, in Romans 8:5, Paul tells us why that is: 5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

The problem isn’t necessarily supernatural. The trouble is the mindset. It takes two things for the effective communication of spiritual truth: An authentic spokesman and a willing, attentive hearer. You won’t get a more authentic spokesman than the Son of God. But this man wasn’t listening.

No one can force a person to listen as long as we are still within God’s appointed time for free will. Of course that time will end one day and then no amount of willingness to listen will recover the lost opportunity.

Jesus didn’t spend any time that I can see trying to straighten this man out. He didn’t even rebuke him for his dullness. Perhaps He knew that to do so would have been futile. Rather, He spoke briefly to the man to cut him off.

This man had the same opportunity as everyone else. In fact, he had more opportunity than many others. He was privileged to see Jesus in person.(3) Yet because of his mindset he squandered his opportunity.

Jesus saw straight through to this man’s heart and diagnosed his problem without another word. Greed was consuming his life. With this short sentence, the Son of God turned back to His disciples and used the occasion to warn of the blinding effects of greed. That is what we see next in the text:

Greed is the inordinate desire to have more. An attitude of greed says, if some is good, more is better and still more is best. More, more, more, more is the motto. Soon the desire to accumulate more totally crowds out everything else. As Jesus put it in Matthew’s account of the Sermon on the Mount, "You cannot serve God and Money."(4) There isn’t enough room in one life for both.

Notice in passing that greed can take many forms. Jesus said, "be on your guard against every form of greed…." In this case it was a man so consumed with getting his fair share from his brother that he interrupted a sermon before several thousand people with the only thing that mattered in his life at the moment. His greed had totally blinded him to a fundamental truth about life, which Jesus now clarified.

Even if the greedy person "arrives" at his financial goals he won’t find life. He thinks he will, but he won’t. Ah, but you won’t be able to convince him of that. He’ll argue until the cows come home that you don’t know what you’re talking about – and that’s the problem. Few greedy people will recognize or admit their problem. Greed is such an ugly word! And it blinds its victims to the truth. That’s what stands out in bold relief in this story. This man who interrupted Jesus didn’t have a clue as to the untimeliness and inappropriateness of his demand.

But somebody asks, "So what’s wrong with having nice things? What’s wrong with working to get ahead so I can live a comfortable life? Money is good. Having plenty of it brings me security. What’s so wrong with that? Do I have to go bankrupt in order to be spiritual?"

The problem isn’t you having money. The problem is money having you. It can take over your life and crowd out God and everyone else to the extent that if people still count in your life, it is only as possessions. The greedy person may have wealth in excess here yet be falsely secure, not knowing that he’s headed for that "great and sudden bankruptcy in the sky."

Even if you do arrive at that illusive level of comfort and "security," you’re still not prepared for what is coming. Life is not made of money. Life is not made of things.

When you talk about greed though, people under its spell just don’t get it. So Jesus’ quickly followed his warning with a parable.

Had this guy lived in modern day America he would be living what we call "The American Dream." Through his shrewd financial choices in purchasing productive land – or perhaps through an inheritance – probably along with lots of hard work, the money was now pouring in. He had hit what one radio investment expert likes to call "critical mass."(5) He figured his worries were over. He could relax and enjoy the fruit of his labor. A rich, retired lifestyle was at his fingertips. "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry."'

This man didn’t have enough space in his barns for all the grain. What should he do? Tear them down and big bigger ones, of course!

But look at who was at the center of this man’s world.

If I counted right there are thirteen references to self in these two verses. There is no mention of God. There is no mention of any other human. That is one of the by-products of greed. "It’s all mine. I worked for it." It produces self-centeredness. Everything is evaluated on the basis of me – what I get out of it. There is no room for others.

My wife made an observation recently that I think says it quite well – better than I could. She said, "Some love people and use money. Others love money and use people."

The greedy individual believes his money can buy whatever he needs. Most of us have probably heard the quip, "I have everything money can buy. What money can’t buy, I don’t need." That is a foolish assessment.

"Time is money. Money is time," says the greedy person – and that is true in this life. If you have the money you can purchase someone else’s time. You also have more control over your own time. Yet there is coming a point when no amount of money will purchase even another second of time.

Even when you get all you want you can’t keep it. You have to give it up. Someone else will own it. Someone else will spend it. What you have worked for will become nothing to you.

The person obsessed with earthly wealth and possessions is a fool according to the Son of God. Why? Because it’s wrong to have money? No! The problem is that such a one has no room for the things of God.

Many people who are rich in this life will be worse than paupers the first second after their last breath! Worse than the crash of ’29 on so-called "Black Friday" where the stock market lost 50% of its value, they will go instantly from privileged to penniless. It will be a 100% loss and there will be no way to recover. There are no investment opportunities in hell.

So should we all go out and sell all we have and give it to the poor? Should we take vows of poverty, shun the world, and go live in monasteries?

The key to understanding the proper handling of wealth is implied in that last verse. Let’s read it again:

How does a person become "rich toward God?" The Bible addresses the issue in several places. We have time for only a couple of them. Matthew 6:19-21 says:

You can’t take it with you but you can send it on ahead.

Obviously there is no Western Union for wiring money to heaven. Besides, paper money, gold, stocks and bonds cannot enter that realm, anyway. Even if they could they would be worthless in a place where gold is used instead of asphalt for paving streets.

Before World War II the Japanese government confiscated all the money from its citizens and exchanged it for pre-war Japanese yen. People who were wealthy continued to be so until Japan lost the war. At that point the pre-war yen became worthless and the Japanese government refused to honor it. Millionaires became paupers overnight. Their loads of money became worthless. That is what is about to happen in the lives of all rich people who collect only the coin of this realm. One day soon their money will be worthless.

So how can we be become rich toward God in the coin of the next realm? Paul gave a refreshingly clear answer to this in 1 Timothy 6:17-19:

From these verses we can distill practical instruction on how to be rich toward God.

First, notice that Paul didn’t say "give all your money away to the church or the poor or to somebody else." That is surprising to some, which is why I note it here. He did tell us that well-to-do people should:

See, that wasn’t so painful! By doing these things a person who is rich in this world exchanges the coin of this realm for the coin of the next and becomes "rich toward God."

To the well-off but lukewarm church at Laodicea, the risen Christ spoke these words to the rich in Revelation 3:17-18:

The "I am rich and have become wealthy and have need of nothing" is the conceit was mentioned earlier. The "gold refined by fire" could be a reference to trusting God in trials rather than trusting money. The "eye salve to anoint your eyes that you may see" probably has to do with treating the spiritual blindness that people who love money tend to develop, as we’ve seen throughout this sermon.

I don’t know about you but I’m really glad I could go all the way through this sermon without it affecting me - because I’m not rich! I’m off the hook. I live in a 35 year old house. I drive used cars. I don’t have a huge bank account or lots of stocks and bonds. I only have three computers and two TV’s in my house. (But I do have high speed Internet access!) I live in an older subdivision on the same street with 12 other houses. The street and curbs where I live are in need of repair and I’m not independently wealthy. I usually work six days a week. I pay someone to change my oil but I mow my own lawn. I’m so glad I live like I do and that none of the things I’ve preached this morning have anything to do with me, because I’m not rich. How about you? Are you poor like me?

The following is from a man named Steve Williams. I’ll leave it with you to ponder…

I’m not rich. Nope - not me. And neither are you. Feel free to forget everything I said in this sermon. It doesn’t apply.

Or does it?

Footnotes: Please use your back button to return to your place.

1. http://www.ccel.org/contrib/exec_outlines/pa/pa_22.htm
2. Hebrews 5:113.
3. See Luke 10:23; John 20:294.
4. Matthew 6:24 (NIV)
5. Bob Brinker on Money Talk.

Dave Redick is Minister of the Hwy 20 Church of Christ in Sweet Home, Oregon and Editor of The Preacher's Study. He may be reached at pstudysupport@comcast.net.

Copyright © 1996-2008 by The Preacher's Study. Permission is granted to subscribers to use this document in total or in sermon preparation in the context of the local congregation only. Publishing it in a book, on the Internet, or anyplace beyond the local congregation is prohibited.

All Scripture quotations and references are from the New American Standard Version unless otherwise stated.

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