1 Uproot: The Attitude of Avarice Chris Altrock - 8/26/18 My Greed [VIDEO] When I was a young boy in elementary school my family took an annual trip in the summer to visit grandparents in Pennsylvania, Nebraska and Missouri. Grandma O Donnell in Missouri lived on a farm. Each summer when we pulled up the quarter mile gravel drive to her farm house we would jump out of the car after the long drive and hug her waist. She was so happy to see us. And at some point that first day she always said, Boys let s go into town and get your presents. She had us go with her into the nearest town, Marysville. We d go to the big store in Marysville. It wasn t a Walmart or a Toys R Us or anything like that. Marysville was just a small farming town. But it was the biggest store there. And grandma O Donnell would steer us to the small toy section in the store and she d say Boys pick any toy that you want and I ll buy it for you. In those early years I remember trying to squeeze Grandma O Donnell for more. I remember begging and pleading for two toys rather than one. And when she wouldn t budge I would always find the biggest and most expensive toy in the store and bring it to her and she would always buy it. Something began to happen within me after just a few years of that. After rolling up that quarter mile drive to her house each summer and jumping out of the car, I found that my first question was not How are you Grandma? but When can we go to the store Grandma? My desire for the toy began to overshadow my desire for my grandma. Even at that young age I began to notice the effects of greed. Of course these days as a grown adult I ve got much larger stores to go to and much bigger toys to think about buying. I can go to the mall and I can spend hundreds and thousands of dollars. In fact many of us do just that. One study finds that most of us in America spend about 11% of our consumer spending on stuff we don t need. 1 That s a lot of spending! Another study finds that the average trip that we make to Target cost $62. 2 Even if we re just stepping into Target to pick up some toothpaste we walk out and look at our receipt and we've spent $62. That s because we ended up seeing all this stuff that we wanted and didn t really need but we bought it anyway. It s called greed. It s a disordered desire for stuff. It s one of those deadly sins that were looking at in our series. The Foundation of Greed 1 https://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2011/04/23/number-of-the-week-americans-buy-more-stuff-they-dontneed/ 2 https://www.womenshealthmag.com/life/a19944926/target-impulse-shoppers/
2 This Sunday and next Sunday we re exploring two sins that are cousins of one another: gluttony and greed.next Sunday we ll look at gluttony. Gluttony is the sin of excessive pleasure of food. This morning we ll look at greed. Greed is the sin of excessive pleasure of funds. Greed is also known as avarice. As we ve noted on our series graphic, sins like avarice are foundational. They give rise to all sorts of other sins. As this graphic makes clear, a sin like avarice or greed is like a main branch on a large tree. It can grow all other small branches and leaves. From this one sin can grow other kinds of sins. Paul acknowledges the foundational nature of greed avarice in this text: 6 But godliness with contentment is great gain, 7 for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. 8 But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. 9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.(1 Timothy 6:6-10 ESV) Paul does not say that money is the root of all kinds of evil. Money is not the root of all kinds of evil. There is nothing wrong with money in and of itself. This is where some Christians have gone wrong. Some have overreacted and detached themselves from money. If greed is the over attachment to money and possessions, then some have overreacted and detached themselves from money and possessions, believing that they are evil in and of themselves. This is not what the Bible warns, however. Do you remember a few weeks ago when we explored a text about several women in the life of Jesus? We saw how, in Luke 8, these women were providing for Jesus out of their means. They were using their money and all they possessed to serve, to minister to, others. In that text, money was the source of all kinds of good. It was the root of blessing. Money is not evil in and of itself. What Paul writes about here is the love of money. The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And this is the critical issue with all of the capital or deadly sins. What the seven deadly sins have in common is that they are all disordered loves. Each is a disordered love for something that, to a degree, is OK in and of itself. It s OK to love self, but when self-love becomes disordered, it turns into pride. It s OK to love food to a degree, but when it becomes disordered, it turns into gluttony. And it s OK to appreciate money. But when it becomes obsessive, it turns into greed. Greed is a disordered love for money. In fact, this text initially led early Christians to propose that it should be avarice or greed, rather than pride, that lies at the root of the deadly
3 sins. As I mentioned last Sunday, since the 6th century, Christian thinkers have proposed that pride is like the trunk of the tree on which the seven deadly sins are the main branches. Pride, they believe, is the most foundational sin from which all other sins spring. But some have believed, because of this text in 1 Timothy, that the love of money, greed, should have been that trunk--because Paul says that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evils. That s how dangerous greed is. Greed s Covert Nature And the difficult thing about greed is that we are so submerged in wealth that it s hard for us to recognize when we ve been hit by greed. Compared to the rest of the world, we who live in America are so surrounded by wealth and possessions, that it s difficult for us to know when greed hits us. The wealth of our American culture desensitizes us to the presence of greed. One way of sensitizing us to this is through websites like this one. 3 You enter your income. Let s say you make $50,000. It takes that income, and it then generates information based on that income which allows you to see how you compare with certain people around the world. The point of this exercise is not to make us feel guilty for living in America. The point is to help us realize that we are more surrounded by wealth and money and possessions than many people in the world. And this makes it all the more difficult for us to recognize greed in our own lives. It s likely that we are afflicted with greed and we may not even know it. Even I, as a young boy, became afflicted with it. And all it took was a few trips each summer to the toy section of a basic store in an American farming town. Greed s Effects Back in our text Paul points to two things that happen when the love of money enters our bloodstream. The love of money leads to two things: wandering faith and pangs. Some, Paul says, have wandered away from the faith by this craving. And some, he says, have pierced themselves with many pangs--a word meaning pain, distress, or sorrow. We see both of these illustrated in these two texts: No one can serve two masters, for 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 God and money. (Matthew 6:24 ESV) He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity. (Ecclesiastes 5:10 ESV) 3 www.globalrichlist.com
4 Jesus warns, as Paul did, that money, can lead a person away from God. You cannot serve God and serve money. One will lead you away from the other. Greed has an intense impact on our spirituality. Why? Jesus believes that our hearts are incapable of double devotion. The human heart can only be truly devoted to one passion. It cannot be split among passions. You might be able to multi-task (although some studies actually debate this). But you cannot multi-devote. Thus, the more passionate we become about stuff, about income, about possessions, about our careers, the less so we will become about God. In addition, greed leads to sorrow. One of the reasons is that greed can never be satisfied. The person who loves money will not be satisfied. What do you think the answer to this question is: How much would it take for you to have enough money? Studies show that most people, regardless of income, answer the question the same way: We need about 10% more to feel comfortable. 4 Whether we earn $30,000 per year or $60,000 or $250,000, 10% more is what we want. When people are asked the same question over time, Loyola Marymount University Professor Christopher Kaczor reports "when they do get that 10%, which typically happens over the course of a few years, they want just another 10%." In 2015 seven art museums in New York and Connecticut collaborated on a massive project. For four months each of the seven museums would host a collection featuring works that highlighted one of the seven deadly sins. 5 The Neuberger Museum of Art in Purchase, NY presented a series on the sin of greed. Most of the pieces were done in gold, literally. One piece by Sylvie Fleury was a gold-plated trash can. 6 The piece was called Yes to All. It imagines a life so greedy, so focused on possessions, that even our trash is golden. We live in a society in which this is possible. We live in a culture so filled with wealth that it s possible to say yes to all, at least for some. But doing so will lead us away from God. Because our hearts are not capable of double devotion. And doing so will lead to sorry. Because greed can never be satisfied. The Antidote to Greed What is an antidote to avarice? One antidote is given by Paul in this text: 6 But godliness with contentment is great gain, 7 for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. 8 But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. (1 Tim. 6:6-8 ESV) 4 Ted Scofield, "Everybody Else's Biggest Problem, Pt. 5: You're Gonna Need A Bigger Boat," Mockingbird blog (9-8-15) 5 https://brucemuseum.org/images/news/the_seven_deadly_sins_announcement_press_release.pdf 6 https://www.neuberger.org/superfile/art_large/fleury400.jpg
Contentment is an antidote to avarice. Paul urges us to practice contentment. Contentment is a choice. It s a state we choose. This week, practice contentment. Instead of purchasing something new, chose to be content with something you already have. Be more proactive in giving thanks to God for items you do possess. Celebrate what s already in your possession. Take the time to savor and enjoy what s already yours. Many of us are too busy to actually enjoy what s already in our possession, much less to enjoy something new we go out and buy. So learn to enjoy what you already have. Practice contentment. In her book Glittering Vices Rebecca DeYoung suggests that tithing is an antidote to avarice. Tithing, literally giving away at least ten percent of our income, each Sunday, can be a practice that keeps us from greed. Tithing allows us to practice detaching ourselves from a significant amount of wealth. Tithing empowers us to let go of resources and possessions and turn them over to God. And when practiced sacrificially, it not only becomes a blessing to the church and helps fund ministry, it also becomes formative in our own lives. It begins to translate to other parts of our lives. We find it easier to let go of money and resources in other ways as well. We re not so desperate to cling to possessions. This weekly habit helps us become generous and just once more. 5