Throat Punch and BBQ - Greed
Notes
Transcript
Bowl, Marbles, Hungry Hippos.
Bowl, Marbles, Hungry Hippos.
Large bowl
Marbles several small few large
Stack of index cards
cards will give different values to the marbles.
Plastic spoons
Greed - Satan’s hidden sin.
Greed - Satan’s hidden sin.
Scripture isn’t open for four chapters before it gives to us the original sin of Greed. It was eve that first saw the forbidden fruit as good for food.
Let me remind you that Adam was not deceived according to Paul. Adam made a choice to stay with his woman than to walk with God.
Just a few verses and the heirs to this broken kingdom bring their own Greed to bear with Cain murdering Abel for his favor in the eyes of God.
You would imagine a book that opens with three accounts of greed would have much to say on the subject of wanting more than God has provided.
I can never recall someone coming to confess a sin and declaring. “I think I spend to much money on myself…”. “I think my greedy lust from money is harming my family, my soul, and those around me.” Greed hides itself from its victim.
Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Take NO THOUGHT???
He is dealing with the issue of worry, anxiety, or fear in the area of possessions. We will automatically place the application in worrying about the needs for our body so that we don’t die of hunger or starvation. But if we are honest very few times if ever have any of us experienced real destitution.
The issue with materialism is that it is based on worry.
The worry of what others think
The worry of what we have in the bank
The worry of meeting an unspoken expectation.
The worry of not feeling inadequate.
The worry of having more.
Let’s be honest here tonight.
Anywhere I am not satisfied with what God has given me I am greedy. In the area of your thought life.
If you look at porn you are greedy for more than God has provided for you.
You are probably familiar with the statement of Jesus when he calls pornography the same as adultery...
But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
And we are tempted to say wow Jesus went a lot farther than the law did… Problem is that God had commanded this in the law as well.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.
While were on the subject if you have a girlfriend you won’t keep your hands off you are greedy. Sadly you are willing to exchange her soul for you kicks. She will never live down the way you are using her for your gain.
Instead of taking a wife and making her yours and then satisfying your physical needs the way Paul intended.
Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband. Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband.
Men While we are at it… you should teach and train your little boys that the bible is right. Men don’t touch girls that are not their wives.
Don’t be stupid…
Don’t send your son or daughter off on a temptation fest called a date.
It amazes me that men with testosterone in their body can put their daughter alone in a car with a boy that I wouldn’t trust to wash my van.
IF your son comes to claim time with my daughter please know that he will never be alone with her. He will not try her out to see if she’s a good kisser. He’s not going to be with in the ability to feel her skin and get that weird high off of it.
Metsingers won’t date without chaperone and it has nothing to do with being old fashioned. It’s because I respect the lions my boys are. I respect their ability to steal hearts. I respect that these are men and girls fall for good looking, kind, hard working men. I refuse to imagine that my boy would be less inclined to follow his loins than his father. Please know I think a father is a fool who will let his son or daughter run around with a mate and then be shocked when ever moral line has been crossed.
When it is has know that the culprit was less about lust and more about greed. We want more than belongs to us…
Theft, embezzlement, broken contracts… all of these stem from a heart driven by greed.
Miss when a handshake was all it took to make a deal. - Greed
Miss when someone could just give you their word. - Greed
C.S. Lewis takes note of the particular frustration that God must experience as He sees our discontentment with his provision:
He has provided a rich, beautiful world for people to live in. He has given them intelligence to show them how it can be used, and conscience to show them how it ought to be used. He has contrived that the things they need for their biological life (food, drink, rest, sleep, exercise) should be positively delightful to them. All tht things He has given them to be happy with they they turn into occasions for quarreling, and jealousy, and excess and hoarding, and tomfoolery.
And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.
The danger is when we start trying to meet our own needs because our hearts tell us that we need things that may not fit neatly in the needs Christ promises to meet.
According to Maslows “Heirarchy of Needs” we have different types of needs that we feel motivated to meet at different points in our life.
Survival and physiological needs (food, shelter)
Saftey and Security needs (neighborhood, job)
Relationship and belonging needs (spouse, friends, clubs)
Esteem needs (awards, advancement)
Self-actual action needs (fulfillment, legacy)
Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth.
So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
Ambition:
So pastor is it wrong then that we should be ambitious men…
The answer to this is no…
We should be aggressive toward goals that are good. I’ve asked Noah to keep his eyes on the prize of getting great grades and internships and all the things that will give him experiences he will need to give his best for Christ and at the same time take things slow with any girls. In essence he is going to take his time on the relationship and give his ambition to his study.
A man needs to be on his grind…
Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?
Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
Danger of hidden sin is that it can lie just below the surface and never touch at it.
Build daily habits of Gratitude…
Devotions
Build weekly habits of Generosity…
Storehouse Giving
Build monthly habits of Control…
Budget
Build Quarterly habits of Accountability…
Kingdom Call out