Meeting Jesus - The Danger Of Greed

Today, our passage of scripture addresses one of the ugliest and most obnoxious characteristics that a person can display.

Greed.

Not Creed as in the Apollo Creed. Greed as in the Grinch, Ebenezer Scrooge, or Walter White from Breaking Bad. We see Greed on display in almost every song, television show, or video made today. Some videos go viral when they demonstrate the generosity of an individual, and other videos go viral that highlight the gold digging, greedy hearts of people.  

Today, we want to examine our own hearts – not the heart of the person beside us – and ask ourselves if Greed is a common characteristic in our life. As Jesus was teaching about hypocrisy and how to respond when people experience persecution, somebody from the crowd interrupted Jesus with a question…

Luke 12:13-21

13  Then someone called from the crowd, “Teacher, please tell my brother to divide our father’s estate with me.” 14  Jesus replied, “Friend, who made me a judge over you to decide such things as that?” 15  Then he said, “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.” 16  Then he told them a story: “A rich man had a fertile farm that produced fine crops. 17  He said to himself, ‘What should I do? I don’t have room for all my crops.’ 18  Then he said, ‘I know! I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll have room enough to store all my wheat and other goods. 19  And I’ll sit back and say to myself, “My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!”’ 20  “But God said to him, ‘You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?’ 21  “Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.” 

The man that interrupted Jesus had a very specific agenda.  He wanted what belonged to his brother. To understand the context better – we need to know that when the father of a household passed away, it was up to the oldest son to decide how to divide the estate among his family.  

If the son wanted to, he could keep it all to himself.  

If the son wanted to, he could distribute it among his brothers.

For some reason, the oldest son had not yet divided his estate with his brother.  The older brother may have been dragging his feet, he may have been lazy, or…he simply may not have wanted to give anything to his brother. 

When my dad passed away, his six children did not have a problem dividing up his estate – because he didn’t have one!  

When dad died, he was penniless.  The floor of his camper was rotted. His old truck didn’t start. Even his pack of cigarettes was empty. But, as a Pastor, I know I that ESTATE issues after a loved one has died, can really cause division among families today.  Families fight for years over houses, land, bank accounts, and property.

So, maybe you understand how these two brothers felt. The oldest had no obligation to share the estate…and the youngest had no right to claim the estate. We don’t really know who was being greedy in this passage, but we do know this:

GREEDY PEOPLE TAKE FROM OTHERS

One of these two brothers was being greedy – maybe they both were.  Jesus’ response to the man must have left him a little stunned.  Jesus responded to the younger and perhaps to the older brother and said, “Guard against every kind of greed.”

If you are searching for a proper definition for the word “greed” you could call it a “strong desire to have what is not yours.” Jesus is warning about a type of “inner compulsion” a person has, when they desire what other people have…and then, they attempt to take it.

It might be the type of greed or coveting that desires another person’s spouse. 

Or their family.

Or their children.

Or their home.

Or their toys.

Or their title. 

Or their popularity.

Or their recognition.

“Coveting” is this inner compulsion that desires anything that belongs to others – and a greedy heart means you want it so bad, you will lie, steal, or resort to violence to get it. When we struggle with greed we look like kids fighting over a ball on the playground…

Or…Monkeys.  

Sometimes I get lost watching monkey videos on YouTube or Facebook.

I may be lying in bed trying to fall asleep, and I’ll start scrolling through video after video of monkeys fighting over food, snatching things that don’t belong to them, grabbing things from people, or just irritating one another. Confessionally, I have probably watched several hundred videos of monkeys – but I have never seen a generous monkey.  

They are mean to each other. 

They fight over food and shiny objects.  

They slap, pinch, punch, poke, and scream until they get what they want.

They are greedy, selfish, and fun to watch. 

But – it’s not so funny when people who have been created in the image of God, act like a greedy monkey.

So, Jesus then shared a story of a rich man who had so much land and crops, he didn’t have room for it all.  The man “said to himself, ‘What should I do? I don’t have room for all my crops.’ 18  Then he said, ‘I know! I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll have room enough to store all my wheat and other goods. 19  And I’ll sit back and say to myself, “My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!”’

This story that Jesus tells us provides a little bit of insight into the heart of greedy people. 

Jesus reveals to us that:

GREEDY PEOPLE ARE BLIND TO THE NEEDS OF OTHERS

This rich man did not try to discover the needs of the community.  He didn’t say, “I have plenty for myself but other people go to bed hungry. So, I will keep my barn full, and give the extra away.”

No.  

He only wanted to make sure he had plenty of food for today, tomorrow and for his future. He lived focused solely on himself. His FUTURE mattered more than the future of other people. His COMFORT mattered more than the comfort of other people. Growing his real estate portfolio mattered more than growing relationships with PEOPLE.

Greedy people are blind to the needs of other people. And since you are not greedy…How can you and God take care of the people around you right now?

Do you know of a single parent struggling with bills? Write down their name and demonstrate generosity. Write them a check, or hand them an envelope with cash. Be generous with your cash. Do you know of a neighbor with a car that is always breaking down? Write down their name and give them one of the cars that won’t fit in your garage. Be generous with your property.

Or maybe, somebody you know needs some encouragement.  Maybe they are alone, tired, and discouraged by life and they need to know you are praying for them… Write down their name, send them a text right now. Invite them for a cup of coffee and for 60 minutes, let them pour out their heart to you. Be generous with your time,and if people keep coming to your mind, thank God that you are not blind to the needs of others – and seek to love your neighbor through your actions. If you are a follower of Jesus, you have been a recipient of the greatest generosity ever demonstrated.  If you have surrendered your life to Jesus and trusted in Christ as your Savior, God has generously given you forgiveness through Jesus.

God has restored his relationship with you through Jesus.  There is nothing more than God could give than his son. God was not blind to our need for him, so let’s make sure we keep seeing the needs of those around us. If you have grown blind, ask God to open up your eyes to see the needs of others. Then, Jesus shares a hard truth about what God thinks about Greedy people. In the story, the man was patting himself on his back, congratulating himself for amassing and hoarding his property, buildings, and possessions…

He even called himself, “Friend” and perhaps he was his only friend. But God wants us to understand that…

GREEDY PEOPLE ARE FOOLS NOT FRIENDS. 

“My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!”’ 20  “But God said to him, ‘You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?’

We might be tempted to think this man was being wise; he was storing up for a rainy day…he was saving for the future…

He was practicing, “a penny saved is a penny earned.”

Why did God call this man a fool?

God called this man a fool because this man refused to be generous.

He wasn’t being a friend to himself. He wasn’t being a friend to others.

If you truly love and care for yourself, you are going to love and care for others…and that means you will see their needs, talk about their needs, and try to meet their needs. This man was not being a friend to himself by storing up his wealth instead of practicing generosity. When we practice saving, whether it is saving money, or saving stuff in our garage, without practicing generosity, we demonstrate greed. When we live lives filled with greed and focused on ourselves, God calls that foolish.

And, if you have lived up until this moment like a selfish, greedy person, you can change. You can be transformed today. You can experience the extravagant generosity of God’s love. You can surrender your life to Jesus, receive forgiveness for your selfishness and your sin, and be made a brand-new person.

A RICH RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD PREVENTS GREED

So in the story, God called the man a fool.  But as Jesus wrapped up this story, he said to the crowd that was listening, “Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.”

You and I are fools to live our lives with the ability to have a rich relationship with God, and never develop it. We have developed a one hour class called “Grow” that will help you develop a quiet time and “grow” in your relationship with God. It’s a great class for new believers and for old crusty believers. 😊 The class will be offered this fall as part of our Next Steps Ministry.  Pay attention and make sure you sign up for it.

If the words that God spoke to the rich man kind of have kind of poked you in the heart, and you see yourself in that story living as a fool…and, if you would like to begin to live an unselfish life; it begins by dying to your own needs, your own desires, your own life, and acknowledging to God that up until this moment, you have rejected God and lived sinfully and selfishly.  

You can surrender your life to Jesus, receive forgiveness for your sins, and begin to live a brand-new life. If you would like to surrender your life to Jesus, our prayer team will be here at the front of the stage after the close of the last worship song. If you are ready to surrender your life to Jesus, they would love to lead you to a life-changing relationship with Jesus.

Meeting Jesus - Spontaneous Generosity

Are you a generous person? On a regular basis, do you demonstrate generosity in your life?

Now, before you roll your eyes and say to yourself, “Here we go. The Pastor is talking about money.” I am not.

Would your family, friends, and neighbors consider you to be a generous person? 

Are you generous with your time? 

Are you generous with food?  

Here is a story about how I made a decision to be greedy with my time instead of living generously.

On Friday morning around 8:30, I put on my bike helmet and hopped on my bike to ride from my house to the beach. As I was passing the church, I saw cars and tables in the parking lot and remembered that it was “Food Distribution” day. I felt the compulsion, the desire in me to stay…then I heard the voice that said, “Its your day off. Keep riding your Bike.” So I pedaled off on my bike. I rode down to the beach, and up the coast to 48th. I used Google Maps to discover bike paths to ride to River Oaks Elementary.

But instead of taking me down nice, smooth, paved bike paths, my friend Google took me to Mountain Bike trails, with jumps, sudden down hill bursts, tight twists and turns…this was a trail for seasoned Mountain Bike riders, of which I am not!

My hands slipped off the handlebars a few times, I almost crashed. 

I kept peddling, kept pushing, and kept pressing into my near death experience. I was exhausted. Cut through the underbrush and pedaled down the highway that had no bike trail…and you know how crazy the drivers are. By the time I made it to the school, my 50 year old body was worn out. My butt hurt. My legs hurt. My feet hurt. My eyelids hurt.

And I thought, “I sure wish I had been generous with my time and stayed at the church to help out.” 

Today, all of my lower body is in pain! Greed can hurt! In more ways than one. Sometimes, when a loved one passes away, greed steps in and families fight over the property left behind, and relationships are strained or destroyed.

We can all learn lessons from a boy in Luke 9 that demonstrated generosity.

Luke 9:10-13a 

10  When the apostles returned, they told Jesus everything they had done. Then he slipped quietly away with them toward the town of Bethsaida. 11  But the crowds found out where he was going, and they followed him. He welcomed them and taught them about the Kingdom of God, and he healed those who were sick. 12  Late in the afternoon the twelve disciples came to him and said, “Send the crowds away to the nearby villages and farms, so they can find food and lodging for the night. There is nothing to eat here in this remote place.” 13  But Jesus said, “You feed them.” John 6:8-9 (NLT2) 8  Then Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up. 9  “There’s a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that with this huge crowd?” Luke 9:13b-17 (NLT2) “But we have only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered. “Or are you expecting us to go and buy enough food for this whole crowd?” 14  For there were about 5,000 men there. Jesus replied, “Tell them to sit down in groups of about fifty each.” 15  So the people all sat down. 16  Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them. Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, he kept giving the bread and fish to the disciples so they could distribute it to the people. 17  They all ate as much as they wanted, and afterward, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftovers! 

We see in the first few verses that Jesus did not plan on spending his day with this crowd of 5,000. Jesus wanted to spend time alone with his disciples talking with them about what they had just experienced. In the first few verses of chapter 9, Jesus gave his disciples the authority to heal diseases and cast out demons, then he sent them into neighboring towns and village. The disciples came back and they were so excited about what they had been able to do. They cast out demons, they healed people, they were excited, so Jesus pulled them aside to spend time listening to their joy and excitement. But the crowd found out where Jesus was going and followed him. So Jesus, gave generously of His time. 

Jesus WELCOMED them and taught them about the Kingdom of God. While Jesus walked on the planet, his mission was to tell people about God’s love for them. The people were HUNGRY for the words of truth about God.  Everywhere Jesus went, the crowds pressed in around him and followed him. People are still spiritually hungry to hear about God’s Kingdom of Love, forgiveness, hope and peace. Despite what we see on social media, I believe people are hungry to know God and the truth. People are hungry for church to focus on the mission of leading people to a life-changing relationship with Jesus.

LIVING GENEROUSLY SUPPORTS THE MISSION OF JESUS

The mission of Jesus was to teach people about God’s Kingdom and communicate God’s love for them. If it had not been for this young boy willing to be generous with his food, some would not have experienced the mission of Jesus being unfolded in their lives.

Luke 9:12-13 (NLT2) 

12  Late in the afternoon the twelve disciples came to him and said, “Send the crowds away to the nearby villages and farms, so they can find food and lodging for the night. There is nothing to eat here in this remote place.” 13  But Jesus said, “You feed them.” “But we have only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered. “Or are you expecting us to go and buy enough food for this whole crowd?” 

If the disciples had their way, they would have allowed their limited resources to end the dramatic life-change that was happening to the people in the crowd. Like parents of screaming toddlers, it was the end of the day and they were ready for their kids to be in bed. The crowd was tired and hungry. The Disciples were tired and hungry. Maybe they were all “hangry.” Hangry is when you get hungry and angry because there ain’t no food yet.

So, because everybody was hangry and there was no food, the disciples thought “send them away to find food and rest.” The crowd was tired and hungry, but it never dawned on the disciples that the crowd did not need Jesus permission to leave. Each person could have left anytime to go eat and rest.

They chose to stay because they were hearing about God’s Kingdom in a way that made sense. They were being fed spiritually, so they lingered in the presence of Jesus. I am so grateful that when Beach Church walked through the hard a couple of years ago with Covid and division, that the staff stuck it out because the mission of Jesus mattered!

Despite resources being limited, peoples lives were changed, baptisms increased, and the mission of Jesus continued. Similarly, this boy takes his lunch, his limited resources, gives it to Jesus, and the mission of Jesus continued. He could have been greedy, found a shady spot under a tree and stuffed his face. But somehow, this boy knew that if he was generous with his food, Jesus would be able to do something great with it.

Are you living generously like this?

Do you live generously in your home?

Are you generous in your time with your spouse? 

Do you put down the remote, turn away from the television? 

Do you put down your cell phone and live generously with your attention on your children?

You may think, “My time is limited. I do not have time to be generous.”

Let me say this, “You do NOT have time to NOT be generous.”

LIVING GENEROUSLY PROVIDES FOR YOU AND OTHERS

Luke 9:17 (NLT2) 

17  They all ate as much as they wanted, and afterward, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftovers!

The boy, the one had had given away everything, ate as much as he wanted, too. When we live generously, God provides for our needs as well. When we seek to bless those around us, God provides for us as well. Feeding the 5,000 is an example of what Jesus taught in Luke 6:38 about generosity.

Luke 6:38 (NLT2) 

38  Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.”

This boy’s generosity is a clear example of God’s promise to bless those who are generous. He gave away his food. He put it in the hands of Jesus. And Jesus did far more with it than the boy ever could. The boy was fed. The crowd was fed and the mission of Jesus continued.

When we choose to live generously, we are choosing to trust God with our resources. 

So, live generously.

If you have ever received bad service at a restaurant.

If a driver behind you at a light blew their horn when you did not accelerate immediately when the light turned green.

Live generously. 

Bless the servers at your restaurant today with a generous tip, even if your food and service is bad.

Bless other drivers with a generous amount of patience. Instead of tooting your horn because the driver in front of you does not accelerate the second the light turns green, give them 5 seconds. Bless your family with generosity. 

Leave the last slice of pizza for somebody else. 

Do the laundry. Wash the dishes. Practice living generously because…

GENEROUS LIVING OFFSETS OUR INCLINATION TOWARD GREED.

2 Corinthians 9:6-7 

6  Remember this—a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. 7  You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.”

When we are generous, we radiate God’s character.  Think about how God has been generous to you.

God GAVE you life.

God GAVE you family. 

God GAVE up his own son to die on the cross for you.  

God GIVES you blessing after blessing after blessing.

When we are GENEROUS it allows God to BLESS US more.

Generosity says: I will bless others and trust God to bless me.

Greed lies and says: When I have enough, Ill bless others.

Generosity helps fulfill our mission to lead people to Jesus and aligns our heart with God.

Greed is never satisfied and always desires more. The only way to overcome the temptation to live out greediness is to practice generosity.

When we are generous on a regular basis – it opens the door to more of God’s blessings. Whoever sows BOUNTIFULLY will REEP BOUNTIFULLY. WHEN your HAND is OPENED and EMPTY GOD is going to put MORE in it to give to others. BUT there is a CAVEAT. YOU have to WANT to GIVE! God blesses CHEERFUL givers. God is not going to BLESS sour puss givers.  He is not going to bless SCROOGE like givers.  God is going to BLESS GIVERS who GIVE JOYFULLY.  Not out of obligation.  Not out of necessity.

Give joyfully because when we give we are reflecting the character of God.