Introduction:
Moving, all the stuff we acquire is amazing isn't it! Almost everyone bemoans how easily we accumulate stuff. But that tendency nearly killed Patrice Moore, a 43-year-old man living in the Bronx, New York. Moore lived a reclusive life in a 10-by-10-foot room where he compulsively saved newspapers, magazines, books, catalogs, and junk mail.
On December 27, 2003, it all came crashing down on him-literally. An avalanche of Moore's stuff trapped him, standing up, in his room for two days before neighbors heard him moaning and called the fire department. Neighbors and firefighters hauled out 50 garbage bags of paper for an hour just to reach him.
Our fourth fatal attraction is the sin of Greed. Perhaps nothing is as American as the Greed Need. It's almost like Apple Pie and Ice Cream. We want stuff and more stuff and just can't get enough stuff!
Let’s read what Jesus had to say about greed in: Luke 12:13-21
We are going to meet a couple of men in this study; men who I think will help us get a handle on Greed.
Luke 12:13-15
Inheritance - apparently the father had died.
Divide it with me - Normally the older son received 2/3 and the younger son 1/3. This may have been a younger son either trying to get what was rightfully his or may have wanted his older brother to give him 1/2 rather than a 1/3.
He wanted something, specifically he wanted something that his brother had, he a felt a greedy need for money.
Take heed, says watch out, beware means to see, to look, to be on guard. The idea of a sentry or a guard watching out for the enemy. In American culture Greed is out to get you! None of us are immune to its clutches!
Greed is a sin. Jesus warns us about it several times in Mark. We find warnings about greed in Romans, and I Tim.
America's religion is the church of stuff. Its preachers appear on out TV sets every night. Worship services are held regularly at Wal-Mart, Target, and the mall. You can tell a member by the car he drives, the house he lives in, the clothes she wears, and the tithes they pay to MasterCard. Sadly, these worshippers at the shrine of stuff tend to be quite comfortable in our churches.
This guy interrupts Jesus' sermon on eternal life in an attempt to get him to intercede in this disagreement. Jesus' statement in vs. 14
Colossians 3:5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
Greed is idolatry. Greed worships things rather than God. Greed puts stuff before the Savior, getting things in front of God!
Luke 12:14
Life is more than stuff- Our culture and the media spread a message that life is made up of things.
Riches themselves are not evil, but the love of money and stuff can bind us to the physical and temporal and blind us to the spiritual and eternal.
Life is more than toys. Life is more than building your dream house, owning a monster truck, getting that new ski boat. In fact, striving for these things may do you more harm than good!