Sermon on greed as an acceptable sin, drawn from Luke 12, preached at Latimer Church
A sermon by Tim Capill at Latimer Church exploring how greed disguises itself as success and how the gospel frees people from it.
Summary
Tim Capill preaches the second instalment of Latimer Church's sermon series on "acceptable sins" — sins that are culturally tolerated and have therefore crept into the church. Drawing on Luke chapter 12 and material from a Tim Keller sermon on the same text, Capill argues that greed is uniquely dangerous because, unlike sins such as adultery, it is almost invisible to the person committing it. He identifies six signs of greed — two situational, two psychological, and two practical — and argues that greed takes two distinct psychological forms: a greed for security (hoarding) and a greed for beauty and status (lavish spending). His central argument is that both forms represent idolatry — looking to money to do what only God can do. The cure he offers is twofold: a radical experience of grace, grounded in 2 Corinthians 8:9 and 1 Peter 2:9, and the cultivation of a desire for God that is greater than the desire for money.
Key Takeaways
FULL TRANSCRIPT
Introduction: Greed as a culturally acceptable sin
Tim Capill: As has been said, this is a new sermon series thinking about acceptable sins — things that in our culture are really tolerated as being pretty acceptable, and as a result of being in our culture, they've definitely come into the church. You may have heard that slightly cheesy saying: don't point the finger, because when you do, there are three fingers pointing back at you. There's a bit of truth in that — when you point the finger at other people, you often fail to see your own fault. As I've thought about this topic tonight of greed, I've certainly felt that that's the case, and that I'm as guilty of this as anyone. And I think that's a sign of how acceptable it is. It's just the air we breathe, as Ryan said earlier.
I've been really helped in preparing this sermon by listening to a sermon which Tim Keller preached, and I've actually just stolen his — so it's not pleasurable if you tell people, right? He preached an excellent sermon on this text in Luke chapter 12, and I've taken some of the material from it. I recommend it to you.
Greed disguised as success
I think one of the reasons that we accept greed as an acceptable sin is because we disguise it as success — hence the sermon artwork behind me. Success in the eyes of the world is the person who is wealthy. A person who has made a lot of money is a person who's successful, and therefore we take it that the pursuit of money is actually just the pursuit of success, and therefore it's not that wrong. I mean, what's wrong with wanting to be successful?
The rich fool in the parable which Jesus tells in Luke chapter 12 was by all accounts successful. He was a man who had accumulated great wealth. If you heard it read, he wanted to build barns to store it all — he had so much. He's the kind of man that people envy as he gets out of his BMW or his Mercedes in the car park. He's successful because he's rich. He's got everything.
Ivan Boesky was a Wall Street financial advisor who gave a speech to a group of graduating students back in 1986, in which he told this classroom of graduating students at the university: "Greed is alright. I think greed is healthy." And he encouraged these graduating students to give their lives to chasing money and power, because that is success. A year later, he was convicted of insider trading and jailed. So maybe his idea of greed being healthy was not quite right.
Why Jesus warns us to watch out
And yet greed is deceptive. I take it that is why Jesus gives us the warning he does in Luke chapter 12, verse 15. So if you can have a look there — open up a Bible or look it up on your phone — Luke chapter 12, verse 15. Jesus gives this warning: Watch out. Be on your guard against all kinds of greed.
I take it this means that greed is not always easily seen, which is why Jesus needs to say, watch out for it. Be on your guard against it. There is a sense in which we all know greed when we see it. Greed is the insatiable desire for more. The person who overloads their plate with way too much food — we see that and we think, oh, don't be greedy. The person who's amassed a huge amount of money but is stingy with it and keeps wanting more — we think, well, that's a greedy person. The person who never has enough and complains about it — they're greedy. So we kind of recognise greed in other people, but we hardly ever see it in ourselves. Greedy people exist, we know that, but I'm not one of them. Not me. I'm not greedy.
So greed is deceptive like that. It's different to, say, sexual adultery. If you're committing adultery, you know it — I hope you know it, it's hard to do it by accident. But greed is not like that. Greed you don't see. It's a hidden sin, a sin of the heart.
One of the privileges of my job as a pastor is that I often get to speak to people who share with me some sin they're struggling with and are looking for a bit of help to get away from it. It happens often, and I consider it a great privilege that people trust me with that. Over many years I've spoken to hundreds of people who've confessed all sorts of different sin — usually it's sexual sin. I think only once has someone confessed the sin of greed. Because we just don't think it's a problem — at least not my problem.
I read a statistic this week that said only a third of American households who earn over $100,000 a year agree with the statement, "I can afford everything I need." Only a third. They have over $100,000 and they don't really agree that they can pay for what they need. That's two thirds of people in one of the richest countries, at the wealthiest time in history, earning over $100,000 — but they don't think they have enough to buy what they need. That's a sign of greed in our society, isn't it? And I don't think the stats in New Zealand would be any better.
Lotto New Zealand plays on our desires for greed — I reckon they're really clever. Their ad: Imagine. Just imagine what you would do with $20 million. And it just feeds my greed. I'm like, yeah, imagine that. Imagine what I could do. New Zealanders spent just under $4 billion on gambling last year. We're always wishing for just a little bit more.
Someone said to me recently — I have no stats to back this up, but I think it's probably a general truth — he said New Zealand Christians spend more money on our pets than we do on Christian mission. We know greed is a problem, we see it all around us, but it's never my problem. We don't see it in ourselves, which is why Jesus says, watch out, be on your guard — the love of money will deceive you.
Now, if I said to you tonight, watch out, because when you go home a burglar is going to come and break in and steal all your stuff — so be on your guard — what would you do? I take it you'd go home and lock all the doors and lock all the windows and be suspicious of everything. Did I lock the door? Did I double lock it? Are the windows locked? What's that noise? Who's out there? You're on your guard. You're watchful because you know a danger's coming.
And I take it that's the same idea Jesus has in mind when he says, watch out, be on your guard against greed — be suspicious of yourself. Don't trust your heart when it comes to money. Question yourself. Apply yourself with questions like: Do I really need this? Is this really a good use of my money? Do I really need to acquire something else? Or actually, could I simplify my life a bit so that I could be more generous? Pepper yourself with questions — and actually, even better, not just ask yourself, but ask people around you. Ask for help. That's what it means to be on your guard. And if we refuse to ask those kinds of questions and we just spend money willy-nilly and don't really think about it, then I take it we're actually being voluntarily blind to our own greed.
Imagine for a moment people from Africa or Latin America, or even some parts of New Zealand where people live in rural poverty. They've got nothing. And you imagine yourself saying to them, looking them in the face, and saying: I can't really afford to be more generous. I can't really afford to give any more money to the poor. I'd love to, but I really don't even have enough to buy all of the things that I need. And then imagine those in real poverty looking at you as you say that. Are you kidding?
And if you asked them, do you think that wealthy person who just said they can't be more generous is on their guard against greed? No way. We never see greed in ourselves — we see it in other people. One of the reasons for that, I take it, is that we always compare ourselves. We just look at the person who's got a little bit more than we do and think, well, I'm not greedy because I don't have what they have. And so we justify it. And so Jesus says, watch out.
Six signs of greed from Luke 12
So, okay — we're going to watch out, we're going to be on our guard. Now, if that's true, and greed is deceptive, then we need to ask: how are we going to recognise it? What are the signs that actually maybe I am greedy?
Tim Keller points out six signs of greed from Luke chapter 12 in his sermon, and I want to point them out for you because I found them so helpful. He says there are two situational signs of greed, two psychological signs of greed, and two practical signs of greed. Six signs in couplets — two situational, two psychological, two practical — and they come out of Luke chapter 12.
Situational signs: gloating and worry
The first two signs of greed are situational signs. The first is easy and not very surprising. A sign of greed is gloating about your wealth. That's what the rich fool does in Jesus' parable. He hoards all of his wealth and then he gloats about it. Have a look at verse 19. He says, I'll say to myself, you have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy, eat, drink, and be merry. He gloats to himself: oh, I've done so well for myself. Look at what I've done. Oh, I'm set for the future. I'm just going to enjoy life. It's gloating, and it's a clear sign of greed.
But there's a second situational sign of greed which is less obvious, and it's not gloating — it's worry and anxiety. Why does Jesus talk about all of this stuff about not worrying just after the parable of the rich fool who is so obviously greedy? I take it as because Jesus is saying that if you worry about money and you worry about material things — you worry about clothing or food or your body or your living standard — you've set your heart on material things just as much as the person who is rich and boasting.
You see, greed is not just a rich person's problem. You can have almost nothing and still be greedy. And the sign that that is the case is that you worry. You're anxious about money. Jesus says it explicitly in verse 29: Do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink. Do not worry about it. To worry about material things is to set your heart on them, to desire them. It's a form of greed. So the person who has little but worries much is just as consumed by material things as the person who is rich and gloats. Both the rich and the poor can be greedy and materialistic.
Psychological signs: greed for security and greed for beauty
And then there are two psychological signs of greed — things that happen in our mind, things that are deeper, that are within us. It's interesting, isn't it, that in verse 15 Jesus says, be on your guard against all kinds of greed. In other words, there's more than one type of greed. There are different kinds.
Now, I take it there are two types of greed alluded to by Jesus when he speaks about the birds — the ravens — and the wild flowers, the lilies. In verse 24, Jesus says, consider the raven, the birds. They're secure. They've got all that they need — the food that they need — even though they don't have any money, because God provides it for them. And then in verse 27, he says, consider the wild flowers, the lilies. They're adorned with beauty, even though they've got no money, because God adorns them. So the birds are secure and the flowers are valuable because God feeds and adorns them.
Here are the two types of greed. The first is a greed for security, illustrated by the raven. It's the person who sets their heart on money to try to make themselves secure, to get hope for the future. You look to your wealth and possessions to make you safe, and so you hoard it. You build bigger barns like this rich fool. You invest in more shares, you put more money in property, you put more money in the bank account, you hold on to your money with a tight fist because you think it'll make you secure in the future.
And this kind of thinking is deep in our psyche. We see it in the rich fool — verse 19 again. Notice he says, I'll say to myself. It's this kind of self-talk: I'm safe now because I've got a stack of money in the bank. He believes in his heart of hearts that he's secure because of his possessions. The rich fool believes that this is how to have control in this world — have money. This is how to be safe. This is how to avoid hardship. Get rich.
To say that if I have money then I can avoid all the difficulties of life and I'll just eat, drink and be merry — it's just silly. It's a lie. Now, having money is definitely convenient. You can travel, you can go shopping, you can do nice things. But is it really a lack of travel or a lack of shopping or a lack of nice things that makes life difficult? No, of course not. The things that make life really difficult are things like broken relationships, abuse, sickness, death. And money can do nothing to help. Nothing. Money doesn't provide any security. In fact, especially when it comes to broken relationships, money often makes things worse.
That's actually what's going on in this story. The reason Jesus tells the story of the rich fool is because of a division within a family. Do you notice that in verse 13? Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. Now, probably what's happened is there is an older brother who's received the inheritance from his parents and the younger brother is missing out, and so there's this fight between them, and so they come to Jesus: solve it, tell him to share, he's greedy. Money often actually causes division, even in some of the closest family relationships.
So don't look to money to help you avoid the difficulties of life. If you do, you're a fool. It won't work. It won't make you secure. No amount of money can. Only God can — just like he provides for the raven, so he can provide for you.
That's the first kind of greed: greed for money to make you secure. And it's not that you'll necessarily spend lots of money — it's more that you'll save it. It's a kind of saving sickness.
But on the other hand, there are some people who don't look for money so much to make themselves secure, but rather they look to make themselves beautiful. They're not like the ravens — they're like the wildflowers, adorned by God to look beautiful, even though they don't have any money. So only God can secure you, and only God can adorn you, and yet there are some people who look to money to adorn themselves, to make themselves beautiful. They look to money to make themselves attractive to people, to make themselves popular with people. They look to money to bring them a sense of self-worth and affirmation. And these kinds of people don't so much save money as they spend it lavishly. They spend a lot of money on buying nice clothes and nice houses and fast cars and good food and good holidays and experiences, because money is a way of making themselves attractive and desirable. They want people to notice them. They look to money to make themselves beautiful.
But the great irony is that if you look to money and the things that you have to try to win the favour of people, you'll never know whether they actually like you for who you are or whether they just like you because of all the stuff you've got. But not only that — if you look to money to make you look good, it'll actually make you into an arrogant, showy kind of person that nobody likes.
So there are these two kinds of greed. If you look to money to make you secure, you'll have a savings problem — you'll just hoard it, thinking you'll be safe because you've got lots. If you look to money to make you beautiful, you'll have a spending problem — you'll spend it all on yourself to give an impression to people.
And people with this kind of greed — spending lots lavishly — they look at the people who are trying to find security and they go, you greedy person, you stinge, you tight-arse, you don't spend any money, be generous. And then the person over here who's saving up all of their money looking for security, they look at the person who's trying to buy themselves adoration and beauty and they go, you lavish person, you're a show-off, you're self-indulgent, you're ostentatious. And yet in both cases, they're looking to money to do what only God can do. Because it is God who feeds the ravens and makes them secure, and it is God who adorns the flowers and makes them beautiful. They're both looking to money to do what only God can do. They're greedy. You don't see it in yourself because you see it in the other person.
Practical signs: running after money and storing it up
And then lastly, there are two practical signs of greed. The first practical sign of greed is that you just run after money. You chase it. You chase after things which you think will make you happy or secure or beautiful. It's kind of insatiable. We see it in verse 30. Jesus says, for the pagan world runs after all such things. To run after wealth is to work for it. It's to become a slave to the desire for more. It's to think about it all the time. It's to be consumed by it. It's to set yourself financial goals and then be so consumed by trying to achieve them that you fail to do anything good or generous. It's the kind of person who's run off their feet trying to get whatever it is they think will satisfy them. You're chasing after material things, running after them. It's a sign of greed.
But the other practical sign is not just chasing material things, but storing them up. Storing up money is the sign of greed all through these verses. The rich man builds bigger and bigger barns to store all of his wealth. Now isn't that our culture? It tells you to save for the future. We've got a whole government scheme — save for your retirement. And yet storing up money can be a sign of greed.
And Jesus says radically in verse 33, sell your possessions and give to the poor. He says if you're not actually a greedy person, you will give your money away generously. That's the opposite of greed — to be giving your money away. And notice what Jesus says here. It's not just giving out of your income. In Jesus' day, they didn't have money in banks — this is the first century, there's no bank system, they didn't have Sharesies. They had income, they earned a wage. But where was their accumulated wealth? Where was their capital? If they got a bit extra, where would they invest it, where would they put it? They'd put it in their possessions. They grew in net worth by buying things like property and fields and furnishings. And here Jesus says, sell your possessions to give to the poor.
Here's what Jesus is saying, which is so radical. He's saying, I call you not to give a little bit out of your regular income, but even more radically, I call you to give out of your savings. I call you to dip into your savings and sell your investments and be generous. I call you to actually lower your net worth in order to be generous. Give it away to the poor. Give it to those who really need it. Isn't that radical?
And he says, if you can't do that, material things are too precious to you. You have a money problem. You think you're secure because of your money. It's a sign of greed.
Summary of the six signs
So here are these six signs of greed. If you gloat about how much you've achieved or earned or have — and or you worry about money all the time and it causes you great anxiety because you don't have what you want — and or you run off your feet trying to get more — and or you just hoard all of your money and save it up — and or you can't dip into your savings and be generous — then Jesus says we have a money problem. We're greedy. And you're either looking to money to make you secure, or you're looking to money to give you beauty — and you're looking to money to give you things which only God can give you.
So these are the signs of greed which Jesus says watch out for. Look for them in your life. Be on your guard against all kinds of greed. And if we're honest, if we look for some of these signs of greed in us, I take it we'll find them — as I've done this week. And even though it's culturally acceptable, even though we're all doing it, friends, it's destructive. It's soul-destroying. The greedy person is never happy. They always want more. And in the end, the greedy person misses out on the very thing they really want — to be secure, and to be beautiful and accepted. And yet they end up totally insecure and utterly unacceptable. Insecure because death strips all of their wealth away and leaves them with nothing. God is not impressed by money and material possessions.
The cure: a radical experience of grace
So what then is the cure? What's the cure for greed? How do we stop being greedy? How do we become generous? Well, two things as I finish.
First, we need a radical experience of grace. And second, we need a desire greater than the desire for money.
First, a radical experience of grace. Look at the last few verses that were read for us, and notice the order here is important. Jesus doesn't say in verse 33, sell your possessions and give to the poor and then God will let you into his kingdom. He doesn't say if you sell your possessions and give it to the poor, God will forgive you your sins and give you his approval and let you into his kingdom. He doesn't say that. No, he says almost exactly the opposite. Verse 32: Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. God has given you the kingdom. It's already yours. He's given you the kingdom apart from your generosity, despite your greed, apart from your works. You've done nothing to earn it, but God has given you his eternal kingdom. That's the grace of God. And it's only when a person really realises that that is what God has done for them, and they accept it, that they are then freed from greed to be generous in radical ways.
Jesus puts it another way in verse 21. He says, anyone who stores up things for themselves is not rich toward God. Now what does that mean — not rich toward God? Well, 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 9 says this. Peter is writing to believers who are scattered around the world of his day, and he says: You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession — or literally, it's actually God's treasured possession.
Now that verse is saying something astounding. The thing that we treasure is the thing that we love. It's the thing we delight in. It's the thing we want. It's the thing that brings a smile to your face. And Peter says that God has a treasure. And that treasure is you. And that treasure is me. That treasure is us. He delights in us. We're his treasured possession.
And how is it possible that that could be the case? Well, we saw it a few weeks ago in 2 Corinthians, if you were with us in that sermon series — 2 Corinthians 8, verse 9: For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that through his poverty you might become rich.
You see, it is not: give away your treasure and then God will treasure you. It's the opposite. God treasures you, and so he gave up his greatest treasure to make you his, to make you rich, to give you the kingdom. You've done nothing — but that's what God has done for you. He gave up his greatest treasure, Jesus, the precious blood of his Son, spilt for us, who literally became poor, even to the point of being nailed to a Roman cross as a common criminal, so that we might become rich toward God, treasured by him. For as Jesus died on that cross, he paid for all of our sin, including our greed, dying so that we might have life.
And friends, unless you really believe that and delight in it, you'll always be greedy. You'll always be looking for security in savings, or trying to look for comfort in food, or trying to make yourself beautiful by the things you buy. You'll never be satisfied. You'll always want more — until you come to believe that everything you long for is actually found in Jesus and given to you freely by God, because you're precious to him. He treasures you. He delights in you. He's your Father in heaven who loves you. And if he feeds the birds and adorns the flowers with beauty, and he loves you so much more than that — won't he also provide everything you need in this life and in the life to come?
And so the person who experiences this grace doesn't worry about money and material things. They don't hoard and accumulate more and more wealth. They're free to be radically generous because they know that their Father in heaven has given them everything they need and will always do so.
In a moment we're going to sing the song: When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died, my richest gain I count but loss, and pour contempt on all my pride. So friends, do you see that Jesus treasures you for who you are and not for what you have or what you've done? If you see it, you'll be cured of greed.
The cure: a desire greater than the desire for money
But then secondly, we need a desire greater than the desire for money. What was the reason that God says this rich man was a fool? He's made himself a sweet buck and he's saving up these great big barns to put all his wealth in there. But in the end, God says, you fool. Why? Verse 20: You fool, this very night your life will be demanded from you.
One of the reasons greed is so offensive to God is because it is a form of idolatry. This man lived as if there was no death and no God. And so Jesus says he's a fool, because in that moment of death he would lose everything — all of his money, all of his security, all of the grain that he put his hope in — he'd lose it all, because he loved that more than the living God.
Colossians 3, verse 5 says it explicitly: Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry. When we look to money and material possessions to give us security or to make us beautiful, we're replacing God with those things. We're loving those things more than we love God. We desire material things more than we desire God. Greed is a kind of disordered love. It's a form of idolatry. And one day we will go to the grave and we will meet the God that we replaced with money.
So Jesus says, don't be a fool. Don't store up money which won't help you in death. Don't treat money like God. Jesus says you cannot serve both God and money. Or here in verse 34, he says, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. In our greed, we put our treasure in material things — houses and cars and tech and savings. But none of those things last. They wear out. Thieves steal them. Moths eat them. And then we die and we leave it all behind. And the desires of our heart are left disappointed, never satisfied, because we desire the wrong things.
But friends, if your greatest desire is God — to know him, to love him, to treasure him — and your heart is with him and you desire him and you run after him, you'll never lose him. Never. And when you die, you'll be with him forever. You'll see him face to face, and the desires of your heart won't be disappointed. They'll be fulfilled. Completely. Fully satisfied. Forever.
So Jesus says, desire God. Replace the greed for money with a greater desire — the desire for God and his kingdom. Desire a greater treasure than anything this world has to offer, and invest in the kingdom of God by being generous instead of being greedy.
This is what C.S. Lewis wrote about in his famous sermon, The Weight of Glory. I think he preached it in 1947, and it's a quote that many people will know. He says this:
"It would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition, when infinite joy is offered to us. Like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased."
Friends, the problem with greed is not so much that we desire too much, but rather that we look for what we desire in all the wrong places. The God of the universe treasures us, and he became poor so that we might become rich, and he longs that we would treasure him, because he alone can actually satisfy all of our desires — so that we're no longer greedy for more, but free to be generous.
So Jesus says, watch out. Be on your guard against all kinds of greed. Question yourself. Be suspicious of yourself. Don't trust yourself. Life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.