Greed

Grace, Mercy and Peace to you from God our Father and His only Son, Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.

        It seems that the divide between those who have and those who have not is growing. Much of the political landscape in the current run-up to the next presidential election is focusing on economic justice.

        We have candidates competing with proposals for the distribution of wealth among all people in the country. Their argument is that the very rich should give up some of their massive wealth in order for everyone to have health care, or housing, or food, or all of the above.

        These justice warriors see this type of action as ‘leveling the playing field’ so that those who were not born into ‘privilege’ can have an equal opportunity of the bounty of those who created it. The proponents of ‘equality-for-all’ see the rich and powerful as greedy oligarchs.

        As Christians, we believe that a worker should be paid fairly and promptly for his/her work. We believe that being blessed by God with wealth is not a bad thing. We even believe that no matter what a person’s economic position is in life, we are to give to God what is God’s; specifically – to tithe 10 percent of the first-fruits of our labor.

        As Christians, we believe that we are to help the poor, help the sick and to regard all people as our neighbor and fellow human being no matter what their social or financial condition. As Christians, sometimes we fail.

        As human beings, we fail. Sometimes people gain so much wealth and power that the scales of equality and justice are tipped in the favor of those who own the scales. This is not something that has come about recently, or because new and larger amounts of wealth have been created. In this country’s recent history, the lawmakers saw the monopolization of business to be unbalanced and ruled it to be unfair. Laws were put in place to break up existing imbalance and to prevent future tipping of the scales.

        Going back even further, to the time of Amos, we see the same type of injustice happening. It is written in the book of Amos of the market traders who criticized and bemoaned the Sabbath because it interrupted their buying & selling and their ability to increase their wealth through deceitful practices.

“When will the new moon be over that we may sell grain? And when will the Sabbath be over that we may offer wheat for sale, that we may make the ephah small and the shekel great and deal deceitfully with false balances?” [Amos 8:5]

These merchants became so avaricious that they even marketed human beings as commodities

        We see selfishness and covetousness in more than just the financial or business institutions. Whether it is fame, power, glory or money this need for more has invaded all aspects of our lives. We justify our actions in order that we may sleep at night while knowing we are breaking the very first command of God, which is, ‘You are to have no other gods before me.’

        Oh, we are clever. In order for our selfishness and greed to be more palatable, we have ever so slowly chipped away at the very foundation of our faith. This is why we see a decline in attendance in our churches, and those that are growing have often modified the truth in order to fit our selfish greed.

        If this greed was for God, that is to hear His word and give thanks for His grace and mercy, then we would be a well-balanced people. Sadly, this is a very small portion in churches today. It seems the greed is for more popularity, more fame and recognition, and yes, more money.

        We see our youth indoctrinated not in the ways of God but in the ways of worldly avarice. We cheat, rob and steal from what is God’s so that we may reward ourselves with earthly pleasures. “I can’t come to church on Sunday because I have out-of-town guests visiting.” “I can’t come to church on Sunday because my daughter has a volleyball tournament that day.” And so on.

        What did Jesus say about the love of money? This story of an unjust steward who shrewdly manipulates his master’s wealth in order to gain money from the labor of others may sound a bit confusing. He lays out the parable in order for the Pharisees to hear but also for his disciples.

[Luke 16:8-9] “The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.”

It sounds like Jesus is telling us to use our acumen to gain as much money and friends so that we will be taken care of when it is lost. However, we see in the next few verses what is the true meaning behind his words:

“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?

“No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” [Luke 16:10-13]

        Jesus is relating to us what is truly important, and it is not the wealth of this world. He is saying that if what is most important to you is not God, then you cannot serve Him. When we move the subject of our love from God to money, we cannot help but despise God and will only look upon Him as an interruption in our lives, or as an inconvenient moral belief.

        We may think we have it all figured out. We may think that we can gain riches for ourselves first and put God second; but it doesn’t work that way. Jesus is showing the Pharisees where they have erred in their thinking. The Pharisees were robbing and cheating their neighbors in a most deceitful way. They were presenting themselves as followers of God’s laws and statutes. They were raising up their piety as symbols of righteousness; all the while taking money and property from the people.

        These Pharisees were supposed to be the leaders of God’s people, yet they were just as unrighteous as the unjust servant in the parable. They were entrusted with the word of God and the responsibility to care for God’s people. In the grand scheme of things, it was very little that was entrusted to them, yet they were not able to handle their duties in accordance to God’s will. They were actually leading people away from God and risking their eternal salvation.

        You may be thinking to yourselves, “Yeah! Those Pharisees and that unrighteous manager were real scoundrels! They surely got what was coming to them. You tell them, Jesus.” Remember when I said Jesus was also speaking within the hearing of his disciples? He was speaking to them and to you and me.

        What has God entrusted to us? What are our responsibilities and duties on this earth in the eyes of God and how have we managed them? The greatest commandment in the Law, as Jesus tells us, is:

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

[Matthew 22:37]

Well? Are these commands important to you or are they an afterthought in your lives? And what about the great commission of Christ? Are you actively seeking out people to witness to them the Gospel of our Lord? Are you bringing all nations into the body of Christ through baptism? Or are these things only thought about on Sunday afternoons?

        Unlike the stockbroker who trades with the wealth of this world, we are more than valued commodity to our Creator. In His mercy, grace and unfathomable wisdom, He has made the greatest trade of all. He has traded the souls of billions of His people for one single sacrificial lamb. One man, flesh and blood and bones, who is also fully God, traded his perfect innocent life for the all the sin-filled, unrighteous, worthless souls.

        He did this with his death on the cross. He descended into Hell to pay in full the contract of sin. His rise from the grave and victory over death and the devil completed the trade for our eternal life. In a way, one might say that God was greedy for His people. One might say that He gave everything in love so that He would gain everything He loved.

        Because we are children of the light, we have the consolation that we will not be judged as the children of the world will be judged. However, because God knows that we fail in our own sinfulness, He covers us with the white robe of grace and forgiveness.

        This is the same clothing cleansed and purified by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. We need that grace and for this grace, we must be greedy. The salvation that has been bought for us through the sacrifice of God’s only Son, is not only what we desire for ourselves but also for those who have yet to hear the Gospel.

        Our responsibility and duty to all people is to give the words of eternal life in the proclamation of Christ’s death and resurrection for the forgiveness of all sins. We are to seek out all nations in order to baptize them into the death of Christ so that they will also be made alive again in the kingdom of God.

        This is the trade that God has made for our salvation. He has taken the scales which weigh out our sin and eternal destruction, scales that have been deceitfully altered by the devil, and has balanced them in our favor with the crucifixion of His Son. Christ’s defeat of sin, death and the devil was a payment made by God so that we may enjoy the profit of eternal life in His kingdom.

        By the Holy Spirit, we are able to be trusted with the Words of salvation. It is the Spirit’s work in us that guides us in handling not only earthly wealth, but also spiritual treasures. I exhort all of us to serve our true master in heaven.

Amen