WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.280 So, in our study in Proverbs, we're looking today at the theme of greed. 00:00:05.280 --> 00:00:09.080 We read a couple of verses from Proverbs that speak of that. 00:00:09.080 --> 00:00:12.160 We know Proverbs is a book that is full of themes. 00:00:12.160 --> 00:00:16.800 You don't necessarily read it chapter by chapter to get the themes. 00:00:16.800 --> 00:00:19.679 They appear in different places throughout Proverbs. 00:00:19.679 --> 00:00:26.400 And it's a book that was given probably originally to a young prince, to a young person from 00:00:26.400 --> 00:00:27.400 the King. 00:00:27.399 --> 00:00:35.560 And of course, under God, it becomes God's book of common sense in many ways for us as 00:00:35.560 --> 00:00:42.239 Christians seek to find the practical realities of trusting Jesus and what that means for 00:00:42.239 --> 00:00:43.239 our day-to-day living. 00:00:43.239 --> 00:00:47.320 And so, it's quite a challenging theme. 00:00:47.320 --> 00:00:53.840 It's one that we maybe don't often think about, but I hope you'll find it both challenging 00:00:53.840 --> 00:00:56.920 and encouraging at the same time. 00:00:56.920 --> 00:00:59.399 That certainly will be my intention. 00:00:59.399 --> 00:01:00.399 No one really likes... 00:01:00.399 --> 00:01:06.519 I think it would be fair to say that no one really likes greed or greedy people as we would 00:01:06.519 --> 00:01:08.159 define them. 00:01:08.159 --> 00:01:16.120 Greed or avarice, the word themselves are kind of ugly words and we associate them with 00:01:16.120 --> 00:01:17.960 not with ourselves. 00:01:17.960 --> 00:01:20.240 Maybe put it that way. 00:01:20.240 --> 00:01:25.680 No one really likes these words very much, maybe except those who benefit from them. 00:01:25.680 --> 00:01:31.840 But when we think of greed or avarice or it's cousin or brother or sister, covetousness, 00:01:31.840 --> 00:01:38.360 which we read about also in Luke's Gospel, then we tend... 00:01:38.360 --> 00:01:44.400 Maybe I'm wrong, but I suspect we tend to think of these characteristics as belonging 00:01:44.400 --> 00:01:45.920 to other people. 00:01:45.920 --> 00:01:51.160 It's not something we would recognize in ourselves very much, maybe a little bit, but not very 00:01:51.160 --> 00:01:52.160 much. 00:01:52.159 --> 00:01:58.000 We tend to think of maybe corporate greed, greed that we see in business or the excess 00:01:58.000 --> 00:02:04.000 of the billionaires that we hear about on the news, or indeed the wealth inequality in 00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:10.400 society and injustice and the greed that causes poverty for so many people. 00:02:10.400 --> 00:02:19.680 Or we read with shock about the Euro million lottery and its highest payout of 185 million 00:02:19.680 --> 00:02:27.960 pounds to one person, or the American version of that Powerball lotto where 1.5 billion 00:02:27.960 --> 00:02:33.400 is the highest payout to three particular individuals. 00:02:33.400 --> 00:02:39.920 And we sense the unfairness and the kind of ugliness of that, maybe sometimes we're a 00:02:39.920 --> 00:02:45.120 bit envious or jealous of that, I would hope not. 00:02:45.120 --> 00:02:47.120 But it's good and it's right, isn't it? 00:02:47.120 --> 00:02:52.480 That inequality and that greed that sometimes we see in society and outside of ourselves, 00:02:52.480 --> 00:02:58.200 and maybe we see sometimes in our relationships and in our neighborhoods, that we sense that 00:02:58.200 --> 00:03:00.159 injustice of it. 00:03:00.159 --> 00:03:04.920 And that's a good thing and a right thing and an important thing. 00:03:04.920 --> 00:03:12.080 But what I want to do this morning for a few short minutes is move beyond what we see outside 00:03:12.080 --> 00:03:19.400 and what we see in the world around us and what might be the case of social injustice, 00:03:19.400 --> 00:03:22.160 which is a real and important thing. 00:03:22.160 --> 00:03:27.240 And look at the deeper motivation that's in our own hearts, the spiritual genesis and 00:03:27.240 --> 00:03:36.520 the crisis that lies within each of our hearts that may cause us also to no grief in our 00:03:36.520 --> 00:03:37.520 lives. 00:03:37.520 --> 00:03:44.800 But we're moving into difficult economic days personally in our lives and maybe there will 00:03:44.800 --> 00:03:49.920 be a greater temptation to accumulate or to become embittered at the poverty that we're 00:03:49.920 --> 00:03:53.160 facing or the bills that we have to pay or the bills we can't pay. 00:03:53.160 --> 00:04:02.760 And maybe it will evoke within us some feelings that are new to us and difficult for us. 00:04:02.759 --> 00:04:11.039 But it is interesting that in the Bible, particularly in the New Testament, where Jesus or the apostles 00:04:11.039 --> 00:04:16.480 make lists of different sins that we are to deal with in our lives and to resist and to 00:04:16.480 --> 00:04:21.399 overcome and to repent from, that greed is always there. 00:04:21.399 --> 00:04:23.319 It always is part of these lists. 00:04:23.319 --> 00:04:29.039 There's six or seven different lists in the New Testament that list different practical, 00:04:29.040 --> 00:04:37.720 real sins and challenges that we face in our lives to deal with as new people, as Christians, 00:04:37.720 --> 00:04:41.040 whose hearts and lives crisis transforming. 00:04:41.040 --> 00:04:44.000 And greed is always among them. 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:47.680 And so as Christians today, I want us to consider that. 00:04:47.680 --> 00:04:52.240 Jesus found it important enough to mention in the apostles of the New Testament, mentioned 00:04:52.240 --> 00:04:53.240 greed. 00:04:53.240 --> 00:04:57.439 And so it's obviously something that if we're honest with ourselves, maybe something we 00:04:57.439 --> 00:05:00.120 struggle with at one level or another. 00:05:00.120 --> 00:05:03.120 And if you're not a Christian today, if you're just visiting, if this first time you're in 00:05:03.120 --> 00:05:10.120 church or you're maybe just looking at, thinking about the gospel and the truth of Christianity, 00:05:10.120 --> 00:05:16.600 then I encourage you just to hear God from His Word and look into your own heart and 00:05:16.600 --> 00:05:21.759 see what might be there because these are massive issues and they are significant and 00:05:21.759 --> 00:05:24.159 important for us. 00:05:24.160 --> 00:05:31.439 So by way of introduction, I think if we look at a broader kind of perspective of Scripture, 00:05:31.439 --> 00:05:41.280 I think it would be fair to say that greed really translates or greed relates to glory. 00:05:41.280 --> 00:05:44.320 Greed is about glory in many ways. 00:05:44.320 --> 00:05:51.600 And glory in the Bible is about to whom we attribute worship, who comes first in our 00:05:51.600 --> 00:05:54.060 lives or what comes first in our lives. 00:05:54.060 --> 00:05:58.399 So there's a link between greed, I think, and between glory. 00:05:58.399 --> 00:05:59.839 Greed is about wanting more. 00:05:59.839 --> 00:06:04.240 It's about biblical, it's about wanting what belongs to others. 00:06:04.240 --> 00:06:10.120 It's about being envious of what others have and grasping of what we can get and when we 00:06:10.120 --> 00:06:15.800 can get it, even if, especially if or because it will damage us. 00:06:15.800 --> 00:06:19.279 It will damage our relationship with God and with other people. 00:06:19.279 --> 00:06:25.439 At a foundational level, it resonates with the deepest need that we are all challenged 00:06:25.439 --> 00:06:31.839 with, we all face, which is that we are image bearers of God, but we are not God. 00:06:31.839 --> 00:06:37.479 That's the biggest challenge we face, that as image bearers of God we are, but we are 00:06:37.479 --> 00:06:39.959 not God ourselves. 00:06:39.959 --> 00:06:43.359 Now you look around the world and you look into your own life and you look around as 00:06:43.360 --> 00:06:51.439 when you see incredible ability, incredible beauty, creativity, intelligence, desire, 00:06:51.439 --> 00:06:56.240 way beyond anything else in the creation around us. 00:06:56.240 --> 00:07:02.360 We see that in humanity and we see in ourselves, but we hate the fact that there is someone 00:07:02.360 --> 00:07:07.040 greater than even humanity than ourselves. 00:07:07.040 --> 00:07:13.120 We struggle that the foundational reality of sin in our lives is we struggle with being 00:07:13.120 --> 00:07:23.240 image bearers of God, giving glory to God rather than seeking glory for ourselves, so 00:07:23.240 --> 00:07:30.060 that greed becomes the outworking of our fallen human nature, the human condition of every 00:07:30.060 --> 00:07:35.079 single heart, which is by nature that we are rebels against God's glory. 00:07:35.079 --> 00:07:38.399 We greedily seek that glory for ourselves. 00:07:38.399 --> 00:07:43.679 We want that independence and we want to live without Him. 00:07:43.679 --> 00:07:50.120 In our lives without Christ we deny the glory that God alone is due. 00:07:50.120 --> 00:07:52.279 We want it for ourselves. 00:07:52.279 --> 00:07:54.079 And we see that. 00:07:54.079 --> 00:07:59.519 We see that being at work both in the paradox I was praying about, about beauty, but about 00:07:59.519 --> 00:08:02.479 brokenness in the world in which we live. 00:08:02.480 --> 00:08:09.560 Every loveless act and every grumble of our hearts and every irrational prickliness that 00:08:09.560 --> 00:08:19.840 you sense in a conversation when God's name is brought up, it's that deep-seated rebellion 00:08:19.840 --> 00:08:27.640 against His Lordship and His glory, because our desires, we fight against our desires 00:08:27.639 --> 00:08:34.919 coming first, and it's the outworking of this disordered love where we start with ourselves 00:08:34.919 --> 00:08:42.720 and we are dissatisfied, always craving for more, which is really where greed comes into 00:08:42.720 --> 00:08:43.720 its own. 00:08:43.720 --> 00:08:52.240 So if I were to define greed with a biblical perspective, I would say that greed is looking 00:08:52.240 --> 00:09:01.600 for value and security and abundant life in the wrong ways and in the wrong places that 00:09:01.600 --> 00:09:04.860 don't face God. 00:09:04.860 --> 00:09:12.639 So that greed is looking for value and security and abundant life in the wrong ways, in the 00:09:12.639 --> 00:09:15.960 wrong places that are not facing God. 00:09:15.960 --> 00:09:24.440 And so we're going to look at that for a few minutes as we go through the Bible. 00:09:24.440 --> 00:09:28.600 So they're looking for these things in the wrong way. 00:09:28.600 --> 00:09:34.440 Proverbs 28, 25 says, and it's one of these great opposites, you know, that we've spoken 00:09:34.440 --> 00:09:40.160 about that, that there are couplets, very often there's a negative and a positive right 00:09:40.160 --> 00:09:43.639 through the book of Proverbs, and Proverbs 28, 25 is one of them. 00:09:43.639 --> 00:09:49.399 The greedy stirs up conflict, but those who trust in the Lord will prosper. 00:09:49.399 --> 00:09:55.600 And so we find that greed, the core of greed is that thing, it's not trust, initially it's 00:09:55.600 --> 00:09:57.559 not trusting in the Lord. 00:09:57.559 --> 00:10:03.919 It's ignoring God and not trusting in Him and His will and in His provision for your life. 00:10:03.919 --> 00:10:09.600 It's looking for that satisfaction, meaning, worth, through wealth, through accumulation, 00:10:09.600 --> 00:10:16.320 through luxury, through having power over others in a kind of self-centered way that 00:10:16.320 --> 00:10:20.200 may provoke itself in being unjust. 00:10:20.200 --> 00:10:22.000 And it inevitably leads to conflict. 00:10:22.000 --> 00:10:27.320 The greedy stirs up conflict, but those who trust in the Lord will prosper. 00:10:27.320 --> 00:10:34.720 So there's the great tension James 4 in the, almost in the New Testament version of Proverbs, 00:10:34.720 --> 00:10:39.399 James that very practical, shorter book in the New Testament, says, what causes fights 00:10:39.399 --> 00:10:40.799 and quarrels among you? 00:10:40.799 --> 00:10:43.720 Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? 00:10:43.720 --> 00:10:45.679 You desire but you do not have. 00:10:45.679 --> 00:10:48.799 So you kill, you covet, but you cannot get what you want. 00:10:48.799 --> 00:10:50.879 So you quarrel and fight. 00:10:50.879 --> 00:10:52.720 You do not have because you do not ask God. 00:10:52.720 --> 00:10:58.759 And when you do not receive because you ask for the wrong motives that you may spend it 00:10:58.759 --> 00:11:00.439 or what you get on your pleasure. 00:11:00.439 --> 00:11:06.639 So there's that great New Testament parallel of greed, of not trusting in God. 00:11:06.639 --> 00:11:10.039 The actual word in the Hebrew is interesting. 00:11:10.039 --> 00:11:19.319 It kind of, it means to cut off or to break or to grab by violences, this kind of underlying 00:11:19.319 --> 00:11:21.399 image that we get from the word. 00:11:21.399 --> 00:11:28.799 It's grasping what's not meant for you, cutting it off from someone else and taking it for 00:11:28.799 --> 00:11:33.519 yourself unjustly without consideration of the pain that might cause other people. 00:11:33.519 --> 00:11:41.519 And interestingly, the root of that word that that verb is used in Job 27 of God says, 00:11:41.519 --> 00:11:47.399 Job 27 verse 8, for what hope have the Godless when they are cut off, when God takes away 00:11:47.399 --> 00:11:48.399 their life? 00:11:48.399 --> 00:11:54.240 So there's that sense in which if we are grasping and taking without reference to God, we're 00:11:54.240 --> 00:12:01.480 actually not only separating ourselves from God, but we are not grasping onto the life 00:12:01.480 --> 00:12:04.519 that He is offering. 00:12:04.519 --> 00:12:09.320 It's denying God His rightful place who offers us true life, which is only found when we 00:12:09.320 --> 00:12:16.600 face Him, which is only found in His company, which is only found in relationship to Him. 00:12:16.600 --> 00:12:20.039 So the wrong way it's not taking, it's not trusting in the Lord. 00:12:20.039 --> 00:12:25.960 And it's also the wrong way because it takes, greed takes advantage of other people. 00:12:25.960 --> 00:12:29.440 We read that in the second proverb that we looked at, Proverbs 15, whoever is greedy 00:12:29.440 --> 00:12:36.960 for unjust gain brings ruin to their society, to the city, to the powers that be, to their 00:12:36.960 --> 00:12:37.960 boss. 00:12:37.960 --> 00:12:42.680 No, brings ruin to their household. 00:12:42.680 --> 00:12:46.440 Brings ruin to their household, but He, the one who hates bribes will live. 00:12:46.440 --> 00:12:52.560 Whoever is greedy for unjust gain brings ruin to their household, to those closest to them. 00:12:52.559 --> 00:13:00.519 And so we recognize that seeking an abundant life and seeking wholeness in life, security 00:13:00.519 --> 00:13:07.959 and love, by grasping and being greedy without reference to God and taking advantage of others 00:13:07.959 --> 00:13:14.599 will be destructive because we will be in relationship with people, but seeking only 00:13:14.600 --> 00:13:22.759 our own good and our own self-interest. 00:13:22.759 --> 00:13:22.920 Coveting hurts other people. 00:13:22.920 --> 00:13:27.519 Being greedy hurts other people. 00:13:27.519 --> 00:13:30.080 It's the bookend of the Ten Commandments. 00:13:30.080 --> 00:13:34.159 The first bookend talks about putting God first. 00:13:34.159 --> 00:13:41.360 The last commandment talks about not coveting, not grasping after your neighbor's house, 00:13:41.360 --> 00:13:46.720 not coveting your neighbor's wife or his male or female servant, his ox or his donkey or 00:13:46.720 --> 00:13:48.960 anything that belongs to your neighbor. 00:13:48.960 --> 00:13:57.960 So you've got this recognition that if you updated that command to whatever happens to 00:13:57.960 --> 00:14:08.759 be our neighbor's belongings and relationships, if we seek these things in a way that is greedy 00:14:08.759 --> 00:14:16.840 and selfish, there is great damage done, taking advantage of who they are at their expense. 00:14:16.840 --> 00:14:23.240 In many ways, you can broaden the whole concept of greed as the commandment does itself, to 00:14:23.240 --> 00:14:28.120 lust, to illicit love, to rape, to enslavement, to control. 00:14:28.120 --> 00:14:33.279 You think of Nathan the prophet when he confronts David and he gives him that picture, that 00:14:33.279 --> 00:14:38.200 parable of the poor man who has one lamb and the rich man who has a whole flock of sheep 00:14:38.200 --> 00:14:42.879 and he goes to the poor man, takes his only lamb to sacrifice. 00:14:42.879 --> 00:14:49.200 And it's just, it's accusing and mixing a practical picture and a picture of greed with 00:14:49.200 --> 00:14:53.320 a picture of lust and a picture of self-centeredness. 00:14:53.320 --> 00:14:57.560 And it kind of all mixes in together, so it's kind of hard to separate out. 00:14:57.560 --> 00:15:04.960 But it's looking for abundant and full life the wrong way by leaving God out and by taking 00:15:04.960 --> 00:15:08.180 advantage of others. 00:15:08.179 --> 00:15:14.239 So it's looking for value security and abundant life in the wrong way. 00:15:14.239 --> 00:15:19.719 But it's also looking for value security and abundant life in the wrong places. 00:15:19.719 --> 00:15:27.879 And I think we would recognize that one of the great ways that greed reveals itself is 00:15:27.879 --> 00:15:32.559 in a desire for being rich financially, financially wealthy. 00:15:32.559 --> 00:15:40.279 James 5 in the next chapter, and I'm going to read this because it's fiery, it's beautifully 00:15:40.279 --> 00:15:42.719 fiery and powerful. 00:15:42.719 --> 00:15:47.119 Come on, you rich weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. 00:15:47.119 --> 00:15:51.959 Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten, your gold and silver have corroded 00:15:51.959 --> 00:15:55.359 and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. 00:15:55.359 --> 00:16:00.000 But you have laid up treasure in these last days, behold the wages of the laborers who 00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:04.960 mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud or crying out against you. 00:16:04.960 --> 00:16:08.559 The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. 00:16:08.559 --> 00:16:12.240 You have lived on the earth in luxury and self-indulgence. 00:16:12.240 --> 00:16:14.360 You've fattened your hearts in the day of slaughter. 00:16:14.360 --> 00:16:17.000 You've condemned and murdered the righteous person. 00:16:17.000 --> 00:16:19.080 He does not resist you. 00:16:19.080 --> 00:16:25.399 Really strong words, not against wealth per se, but against that hoarding and that abusive 00:16:25.399 --> 00:16:31.039 wealth that has crushed other people, that has denied justice and has taken wealth as 00:16:31.039 --> 00:16:39.759 a right that their own goodness and grace has enabled them to have. 00:16:39.759 --> 00:16:43.840 So looking for abundant life in the wrong places financially. 00:16:43.840 --> 00:16:48.159 So much of Proverbs speaks about bribery, even the passages we read speak about becoming 00:16:48.159 --> 00:16:56.159 rich through bribery and through oppression and Habakkuk, 2 verse 5, Lichens financial 00:16:56.159 --> 00:16:58.639 greed to death itself. 00:16:58.639 --> 00:17:00.919 It's never satisfied. 00:17:00.919 --> 00:17:02.439 It's always looking for more. 00:17:02.439 --> 00:17:08.519 And so it's always linked to injustice and to foolishness. 00:17:08.519 --> 00:17:13.159 Jesus says, no servant can serve two masters for either he will hate one and love the other, 00:17:13.160 --> 00:17:18.480 or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other, you cannot serve God in money. 00:17:18.480 --> 00:17:21.800 Or Mark 8, 36, 4, what does it profit a man? 00:17:21.800 --> 00:17:29.759 Very famous words to gain the whole world, 4 feet of soul, 1.5 billion on the lottery. 00:17:29.759 --> 00:17:31.880 The whole world. 00:17:31.880 --> 00:17:33.720 What does it gain if he loses his soul? 00:17:33.720 --> 00:17:41.440 The reading in Luke, of course, exposes that, as I mentioned in a minute. 00:17:41.440 --> 00:17:49.840 But it's important to recognize, isn't it, that one day, maybe in this life, it may come 00:17:49.840 --> 00:17:57.840 before we die, or certainly the moment that you draw and I draw my last breath, no more 00:17:57.840 --> 00:18:06.320 financial withdrawals, no more financial deposits. 00:18:06.319 --> 00:18:12.039 It all stays behind, every last penny. 00:18:12.039 --> 00:18:17.639 It bears no credit value, no currency, the moment we die. 00:18:17.639 --> 00:18:26.359 And so to look for stability and meaning and value in life, in financial security, abundant 00:18:26.359 --> 00:18:32.839 life in financial security, is looking not only in the wrong way, but it's looking in 00:18:32.839 --> 00:18:36.720 the wrong place, financial security. 00:18:36.720 --> 00:18:43.759 And connected, obviously, with that, parallel and alongside that, is the accumulation of 00:18:43.759 --> 00:18:50.519 material possessions, not just financial wealth in and of itself, but material possessions. 00:18:50.519 --> 00:18:58.839 And Luke 12 speaks, the passage we read, where Jesus speaks about the rich, the rich businessman 00:18:58.839 --> 00:19:03.319 who is doing wealth, it's interesting, isn't it, that he says, oh, my fields have produced 00:19:03.319 --> 00:19:04.319 a great amount. 00:19:04.319 --> 00:19:12.119 You know, it's not even really his greatness, it's nature has produced this great gift of 00:19:12.119 --> 00:19:17.720 nature has produced tremendous harvest for him and his barns can't hold it. 00:19:17.720 --> 00:19:21.199 So he says, I'm going to build bigger barns and I'm going to make a great investment and 00:19:21.199 --> 00:19:24.959 I'm going to sit back and I'm going to have a life of luxury. 00:19:24.959 --> 00:19:27.319 I'm going to eat, drink and be merry. 00:19:27.319 --> 00:19:30.839 And of course, Jesus says, well, you fool, or God says you fool. 00:19:30.839 --> 00:19:35.399 Tonight, your soul will be demanded of you. 00:19:35.399 --> 00:19:37.480 You've not been rich towards God. 00:19:37.480 --> 00:19:42.679 And so there's this recognition and not only the wrong way by not trusting in God or taking 00:19:42.679 --> 00:19:47.240 advantage in others and not just the wrong place, financial wealth, but also material 00:19:47.240 --> 00:19:57.279 possessions, stuff, storing up luxuries, lots and lots of things, taking pride in them. 00:19:57.279 --> 00:20:05.599 And making our status be reflective by what we own, by the car we drive, by the house 00:20:05.599 --> 00:20:13.440 we live in, by all of these material reflections of our character. 00:20:13.440 --> 00:20:21.279 What we spend our money on and what we spend our time on will be reflective of where our 00:20:21.279 --> 00:20:26.759 heart lies, presuming, because there can be a great presumption in all of us that we presume 00:20:26.759 --> 00:20:35.079 that our health and our time, our gifts from God, or not gifts from God rather, are things 00:20:35.079 --> 00:20:37.799 that we can presume on. 00:20:37.799 --> 00:20:42.119 And none of us here can presume on these things, none of us. 00:20:42.119 --> 00:20:50.480 And so there's a great recognition of what greed is exposing in Proverbs and throughout 00:20:50.480 --> 00:20:56.680 the Bible is that we're looking for life and abundance and meaning and satisfaction in 00:20:56.680 --> 00:21:00.640 the wrong places and in the wrong way. 00:21:00.640 --> 00:21:03.680 The antidote is the old message. 00:21:03.680 --> 00:21:04.680 It doesn't change. 00:21:04.680 --> 00:21:07.839 Any of you could get up here as Christians and preach the rest. 00:21:07.839 --> 00:21:10.000 You can probably preach the first bit as well. 00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:15.920 But the rest of it you could all preach, because it's the positive side of Proverbs chapter 00:21:15.920 --> 00:21:23.640 28, verse 25, the greedy stir up conflict, but those who trust in the Lord will prosper. 00:21:23.640 --> 00:21:29.360 The antidote is trusting in the Lord and all that that means biblically. 00:21:29.360 --> 00:21:32.200 And maybe, well, what does it mean to trust in the Lord? 00:21:32.200 --> 00:21:34.400 What are you asking when it says to trust in the Lord? 00:21:34.400 --> 00:21:36.320 Is it just a cold command? 00:21:36.320 --> 00:21:40.080 God is there, trust in Him, and just get on with it. 00:21:40.079 --> 00:21:47.199 No, it's about giving our whole heart and our whole soul to God as our Savior and as 00:21:47.199 --> 00:21:55.599 our Lord, because of His great character and His great love. 00:21:55.599 --> 00:21:57.759 Who is God? 00:21:57.759 --> 00:22:03.319 Because we're called to give Him glory in and of Himself, just for who He is. 00:22:03.319 --> 00:22:08.199 We speak and we've spoken of when we preach to you about the glory of God that He is rich 00:22:08.200 --> 00:22:12.720 in every way you can use that word. 00:22:12.720 --> 00:22:21.400 He's rich in His perfect love and His completeness and the beauty of the inter-trinitarian relationships 00:22:21.400 --> 00:22:28.519 of love and service for one another and His infinite wealth of justice and being right 00:22:28.519 --> 00:22:37.279 and being good and being loving as the genesis and the source of every single atom and part 00:22:37.279 --> 00:22:46.839 of this world that we see is creative and His, just His character is so infinitely rich. 00:22:46.839 --> 00:22:51.559 So He's worthy of being trusted in and of Himself. 00:22:51.559 --> 00:22:58.079 But of course, the greatest manifestation of His riches, of His everlasting and eternal 00:22:58.079 --> 00:23:09.359 riches is the overflowing and superabundant grace where He actively takes on the poverty 00:23:09.359 --> 00:23:11.119 of humanity. 00:23:11.119 --> 00:23:16.519 So the words of 2 Corinthians 8 verse 9 are so important here for you know the grace of 00:23:16.519 --> 00:23:24.720 our Lord Jesus Christ that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor so that you 00:23:24.720 --> 00:23:29.440 through His poverty might become rich and that's the essence of the gospel and that 00:23:29.440 --> 00:23:35.600 speaks right into our greedy hearts and the temptation of our hearts to be greedy because 00:23:35.600 --> 00:23:40.759 of what He did in His glory. 00:23:40.759 --> 00:23:47.799 He emptied Himself, made Himself nothing as a human being, uniquely poor, denying His 00:23:47.799 --> 00:23:55.919 rightful glory, emptying it, worse than that becoming spiritually bankrupt in our place 00:23:55.919 --> 00:24:03.159 and for us, taking our bankruptcy spiritually, our lostness, our poverty, we've been looking 00:24:03.159 --> 00:24:09.279 at poverty and the beatitudes and what it means spiritually, so that we might not remain 00:24:09.279 --> 00:24:14.519 separated from Him, that our sins might be dealt with that separate us from and that 00:24:14.519 --> 00:24:21.960 we might know real life and real abundance and real meaning and find what we have been 00:24:21.960 --> 00:24:30.440 created to live as worshipers, as image-bearers who are not greedy to become gods, who are 00:24:30.440 --> 00:24:37.680 not greedy to ignore God and keep Him out but who in humility accept all the riches 00:24:37.680 --> 00:24:42.879 of His grace and salvation and no true fulfillment and peace. 00:24:42.880 --> 00:24:50.640 So it's recognizing that and then recognizing an understanding, His generosity to us as people, 00:24:50.640 --> 00:24:57.400 as individuals, as believers, both in the grace that allows us all to be here today, 00:24:57.400 --> 00:25:05.320 to breathe, to be healthy enough to be here, to go back to homes, to have all the common 00:25:05.319 --> 00:25:12.960 evidences of His love for us but also His saving grace for us in Jesus Christ, which 00:25:12.960 --> 00:25:19.679 is remarkable that all of us as believers today are transported back to Calvary 2,000 00:25:19.679 --> 00:25:26.639 years ago where He died in our place and took our death so that we might deal with it, the 00:25:26.640 --> 00:25:35.600 greed and all the different battles that we face which deny Him His Lordship and His love. 00:25:35.600 --> 00:25:39.560 So it's important for us to test where our desires lie. 00:25:39.560 --> 00:25:47.280 It's important for us to test whether we're maybe trying to bribe God to accept us, I'll 00:25:47.280 --> 00:25:49.320 be really good this week Lord. 00:25:49.320 --> 00:25:50.320 I'll go to church. 00:25:50.320 --> 00:25:52.480 I might even go to church twice. 00:25:52.480 --> 00:25:54.880 I'll read more than one verse of the Bible. 00:25:54.880 --> 00:25:58.360 I'll pray when I can, will you accept me? 00:25:58.360 --> 00:26:08.920 Bribe Him with what we try to do or will we simply accept His gift and know His overwhelming 00:26:08.920 --> 00:26:16.680 righteousness covering us and simply follow Him for that reason, trusting in the Lord and 00:26:16.680 --> 00:26:20.800 knowing a prospering in life as a result. 00:26:20.799 --> 00:26:26.559 It's allowing Him to transform our hearts and our appetites, the wonderful power of 00:26:26.559 --> 00:26:30.559 His forgiveness that doesn't let us stay away from Him because we're doing and failing 00:26:30.559 --> 00:26:35.119 and struggling and tripping up and falling, but going back to Him because He loves us 00:26:35.119 --> 00:26:44.359 and because He forgives us and just knowing the true riches of His company. 00:26:44.359 --> 00:26:51.399 You know, in some ways it's all about obedience and in other ways it's got nothing to do with 00:26:51.399 --> 00:26:58.599 obedience if I can say that because it's all about His company. 00:26:58.599 --> 00:27:04.479 And when we're in His company and when we know Him as He is known, His provisions, His 00:27:04.480 --> 00:27:16.519 care, His justice, His purposes, when you recognize you're His child then obedience follows. 00:27:16.519 --> 00:27:23.079 It's recognizing these things and therefore as we finish becoming rich towards God. 00:27:23.079 --> 00:27:25.599 Jesus says that it doesn't need to be the rich man. 00:27:25.599 --> 00:27:28.000 He says that that's the problem. 00:27:28.000 --> 00:27:30.120 It wasn't that you weren't... 00:27:30.119 --> 00:27:35.359 The accumulation of these things doesn't seem to be what He exposes, what Jesus exposes 00:27:35.359 --> 00:27:38.639 is that in His heart He wasn't rich towards God. 00:27:38.639 --> 00:27:45.799 It's a problem with every wrong motivation in our lives. 00:27:45.799 --> 00:27:51.079 It's not being rich towards God and we're called as Christians and you and I are called 00:27:51.079 --> 00:27:53.759 today to be rich towards God. 00:27:53.759 --> 00:27:57.000 That is to give Him preeminence in our lives. 00:27:57.000 --> 00:28:06.160 First place, first place in our lives when we get up in the morning to thank Him that 00:28:06.160 --> 00:28:14.559 our last breath hasn't been drawn, that His mercies are new every morning, coming to Him 00:28:14.559 --> 00:28:23.160 because we have great needs and because He's our Father and He provides for us and dealing 00:28:23.160 --> 00:28:28.200 with the selfishness that would keep us from Him. 00:28:28.200 --> 00:28:40.800 Becoming rich towards God and then the parallel to that is always also being generous towards 00:28:40.800 --> 00:28:41.800 others. 00:28:41.800 --> 00:28:46.720 That's the polar opposite of greed, isn't it? 00:28:46.720 --> 00:28:52.600 It's interesting that the passage we read in Corinthians about Jesus being rich and 00:28:52.599 --> 00:28:58.159 becoming poor so that through His poverty we might become rich, it's in the context 00:28:58.159 --> 00:29:08.480 of asking the Corinthian church to be generous practically with helping the poor in Macedonia, 00:29:08.480 --> 00:29:09.480 the Macedonian church. 00:29:09.480 --> 00:29:16.439 So it's recognizing the spiritual value of what we've received and letting it transform 00:29:16.440 --> 00:29:25.160 how we think of others in generosity, yes, and financial, but just generally being generous 00:29:25.160 --> 00:29:30.080 in the way we think of others, helping those in their need, whether it's practical, financial 00:29:30.080 --> 00:29:39.799 or spiritual, the grace of giving is the opposite of generosity. 00:29:39.799 --> 00:29:48.079 Generally generous, putting the needs and the luxury of others before our own so that 00:29:48.079 --> 00:29:54.720 greed is really the opposite of love. 00:29:54.720 --> 00:29:59.480 And it's about being thankful for other people and for what they have, even if we don't have 00:29:59.480 --> 00:30:04.480 it, and not demanding it or stealing it or grasping it for ourselves, whether it's their 00:30:04.480 --> 00:30:11.599 partner, whether it's their house, whether it's their job, whether it's their gifts, 00:30:11.599 --> 00:30:18.279 whatever it is, it's having a magnanimity, a generosity towards others because of who 00:30:18.279 --> 00:30:25.079 they are, a thankfulness for who God has made us and a contentment and a satisfaction that 00:30:25.079 --> 00:30:27.440 He will provide all that we need. 00:30:27.440 --> 00:30:31.920 And if He has given us wealth and if He's given us many gifts and many blessings, we 00:30:31.920 --> 00:30:37.279 will bless others with them, we will share them out because of what Jesus has done for 00:30:37.279 --> 00:30:40.120 us and how He has shared for us. 00:30:40.120 --> 00:30:48.680 So we look for value and security and abundant life in the right way, in the right places 00:30:48.680 --> 00:30:50.759 that are facing God. 00:30:50.759 --> 00:30:53.880 And we'll not go that far wrong when we do that. 00:30:53.880 --> 00:30:54.880 Let's pray. 00:30:54.880 --> 00:31:02.960 Father God, we ask and pray that You would help us to understand who You are, that You're 00:31:02.960 --> 00:31:13.320 an outward-facing, generous, abundant, patient, loving, but also just God. 00:31:13.319 --> 00:31:26.000 And Your love and generosity is even overwhelmed or subsumed Your justice on the cross, and 00:31:26.000 --> 00:31:28.559 both are satisfied there. 00:31:28.559 --> 00:31:34.319 And may we find our trust in the Christ who died for us, for our sin and our separation 00:31:34.319 --> 00:31:43.960 and our greed that separates us from You and makes us not image bearers in the right sense, 00:31:43.960 --> 00:31:53.720 but envious of what God has and wanting that independence and that isolation from Him. 00:31:53.720 --> 00:31:59.319 So draw us to Your love and draw us to Your grace and help us to live today and tomorrow 00:31:59.319 --> 00:32:06.839 in the light of Your generosity, and may we fight against the temptation to be greedy 00:32:06.839 --> 00:32:12.839 either financially or relationally or spiritually in our lives. 00:32:12.839 --> 00:32:14.919 We ask it in Jesus' precious name. 00:32:14.920 --> 00:32:30.920 Amen.