Day 2
Lisa Scheffler, author
What does greed look like? If you try to picture it in your mind, do you see Ebenezer Scrooge from A Christmas Carol? Or the dragon Smaug guarding piles of gold in The Hobbit? Or maybe a People Magazine spread showing a wealthy celebrity or business mogul lounging on their private yacht?
We tend define greed in terms of the extreme. In his book, Counterfeit Gods, Tim Keller recalls, “As a pastor I’ve had people come to me to confess that they struggle with almost every kind of sin. Almost. I cannot recall anyone ever coming to me and saying, ‘I spend too much money on myself. I think my greedy lust for money is harming my family, my soul, and people around me.’ Greed hides itself from the victim. The money god’s modus operandi includes blindness to your own heart.”[1]
Materialism is not an upper-class problem, but an every-class problem. In our passage for today, Paul warns us to beware.
Read
Luke 12:13–21 (NIV)
13 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”
14 Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” 15 Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”
16 And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’
18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’
20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
21 “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”
1 Timothy 6:6–10; 17–19 (NIV)
6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 9 Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
17 Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18 Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 19 In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.
Ask yourself
- In Jesus’ parable, God calls the rich man a fool? What had he done that was foolish?
- What do you think it means to love money? What does are the consequences of that love?
Reflect
Biblically speaking, greed is an insatiable desire to possess and acquire. To be greedy means to never be satisfied or content with God or what he has provided, but to always want more.
In his Gospel, Luke records an incident where a young man asks Jesus to intervene in a family dispute. “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” (Luke 12:13). You can tell by the way he phrased his request that this man is not looking for arbitration, but for Jesus to take his side. Jesus, more concerned with the heart than the inheritance, issues a strong warning to not only the man, but the entire crowd. “Watch out!” Jesus replies. “Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions” (12:15).
We don’t know what was going on in the man’s life that caused Jesus to issue such a rebuke. There’s nothing inherently wrong with wanting one’s inheritance, having money, or owning things. The Bible gives us examples of wealthy kings and landowners such as Job, Abraham and David who were rich in possessions and in love for God. Jesus is warning against greed and finding our hope in the idol of money or the things it can buy. These false gods have lots of enticements, and as Jesus said, there are all kinds of greed.
The insatiable desire to possess and acquire is encouraged by our consumerist culture. We live in a land of such abundance that — through advertising — a product or service may try to manufacture a “need” for itself. The message comes through our screens, “You are not okay right now. But don’t worry; we can save you!” These products and services offer redemption through consumption.
To be greedy in America is to bow before idols that demand the endless acquisition of possessions and the never-ending search for experiences that can be bought. Yet, we adopt this quest for more in the hope that these things will get us one step closer to wholeness, comfort, and rest. Even when the things we buy fail to meet our expectations, the idol assures that the next purchase will. But idols lie.
Like the man in the parable who builds bigger and bigger barns, the insatiable need for more and more denies the reign of the one true God who holds the ultimate power of life and death. The life we’re living now is temporary; we literally can’t take our stuff with us. Meanwhile, the love of money may be leading us into all kinds of evil.
Greed is a form of pride that only takes one’s own needs and desires into account. Think of how much exploitation comes from human greed? Greedy people exploit other image bearers and use them to enrich themselves. They ignore those in need and justify their disregard — as if somehow the poor deserve their poverty.
The solution? Be rich towards God. Financial prosperity comes and goes with the ebb and flow of the market. Only God is certain, so it is in him we must put our hope.
What better way to demonstrate we have put our hope in God than to be generous with our money? When we use our money to bless others, we are investing in God’s economy which will always deliver on its promises.
When we share our bounty with others, we will be laying up treasures for a future age. Instead of trying to find our lives in the abundance of our possessions, we will take hold of the life that is truly life.
Talk about it
- How are we foolish in the same way as the man in Jesus’ parable? How does our culture promote such foolishness?
Come up with some tangible ways to smash the idol of greed. For example, how could being generous keep us from the love of money?
[1] Keller, Timothy. Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters (p. 52). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
