(Sermon by Pastor Michael D. Schultz 08/12/07)

INTRODUCTION:

When you hear a warning, do you heed it?  A generation or two ago, it sounded like this: “Calling all cars!  Calling all cars!  Be on the lookout for…”   … and every cop started looking.  Warnings go out today, and maybe an Amber Alert will catch someone’s attention, maybe a warning from the surgeon general still packs a little punch, but people are a little more skeptical these days.  Is it a hoax, is it a joke, or is it for real?  Do you heed warnings?

Would you heed a warning if Jesus delivered it, if Jesus sincerely meant it?  If Jesus delivered the All Points Bulletin, would you put yourself on alert and start looking where danger is lurking?  I hope so.  I pray so, because there’s a sniper perched on the high corner of a building and he’s got his sights set on you.  He doesn’t seem to be so harmful but he’s lethal.  His name is greed and Jesus is sounding the warning:

Be On The Lookout For Greed

I know some of you have, so I don’t mean to open old wounds, but I’ll send this out to everyone.  Ever been involved in an inheritance dispute?  Those can get downright messy!  It’s not surprising that someone called out to Jesus from the crowd, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”  How did Jesus know this request was driven by greed?  Well, he’s God’s Son, so he knows, but Jewish inheritance arrangements were pretty clear cut.  If this fellow had a beef, it’s because he wasn’t happy with his cut.

Jesus used the request to make a timeless statement about greed.  A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.  Why would I feel better about myself in a $60,000 vehicle and a huge house with a lawn service and a cleaning service and every other service under the sun?  Because we so easily think that what we have says something about who we are.  The more I have, the greater I am.  And if I have more than you, I’m better than you.  To such wicked thinking, Jesus said, “No.”  Having a lot, whether you do or not, doesn’t make you who you are or enhance who you are.  The parable shows how susceptible we are to sinful thinking.

Look at “Mr. I’m Going to Build Bigger Barns” and heed the warning about greed.  Money and possessions come from God.  But Mr. Barns had a bumper crop and all he could think was not, “Way to go, God,” but, “Way to go, ground!  Ch-ching!”  Like the investment that hits big: “Way to go, Wall Street,” or the unforeseen inheritance, “Way to go, Uncle Charlie.”  But what about the Lord, the giver?  Mr. Barns’ recognition of God as the giver of all – zero.  You can hear Jesus’ warning, right?  Be on the lookout for greed.  See it.

Mr. Barns, if we might ask, have you given thought to that regular portion of your income that you will gladly return to the Lord?  In view of the Lord’s blessings to you, all those overflowing barns that just aren’t big enough any more, what percentage have you chosen to return to the giver to express your thanks for his gifts?  Uh-oh – zero again.  A good retirement, ample storage space and a place to kick back, but no honoring God through income.  Jesus’ warning kicks in.  There’s a dead give-away for greed.  See it?

There is nothing wrong with enjoying the gifts God gives, but Mr. Barns was turned completely inward.  My things are for me.  I have amassed a sufficient fortune.  Time for me to take it easy.  But, “Eat, drink and be merry,” clashes like dueling locomotives with, “Whatever you do, do it for the glory of God.”  Be on the lookout for greed.  See it.  Sometimes it masquerades as the American dream – financial independence.  Self, you did this; now enjoy it. 

The strongest part of Jesus’ warning about greed is the word of the Lord to Mr. Barns.  He felt so satisfied with himself, that throughout his successful career he’d been so wise, but God said otherwise.  You fool.  All those decades doing all that work, but it only took seconds of a heart not pumping and all of a sudden he’s staring eternity in the face.  As is true of you and me, the Lord had a demand note on his soul.  When the Lord called it in, there was only terror.  And the stuff in the barns – whether through a will or probate or an auction – every ounce went to someone who as Solomon said hadn’t worked for it at all.  A survivor at the Minnesota bridge felt that would have been a horrible way to go.  Perhaps, but this is a horrible way to go – attached to stuff, detached from God.

Be on the lookout for greed.  Listen to the story and see it, and by the grace and mercy and power of Jesus, end it.  I’m not saying that like the parent on the phone when the child is going off like a siren (hand over mouthpiece, glaring – I’m on the phone, Stop it!).  Let it end.  Let God end it, like this: Where has greed crept in?  Where has it taken over?  Mr. Barns has been in me.  Lord, I repent in dust and ashes.  Don’t let me come to the horrible end I deserve.

Old Testament imagery is a fascinating thing.  Wouldn’t it make you squirm or almost reduce you to tears to take to a priest a lamb that had never done anything to you and watch the priest place his hand on the lamb’s head, symbolically transfer your guilt to the animal, slaughter the animal and say that your guilt has been atoned for?  It is not to make you squirm but sometimes it might reduce you to tears to see the greed and materialism and covetousness that have been in you transferred to Jesus the Lamb of God, to see him sacrificed on the cross and forsaken by God, and to hear God say, “Your guilt has been atoned for.”  The oftentimes invisible but nonetheless evil sin of greed – end it through faith that Jesus eliminated it.  He has.

To steer clear of it, hold onto a statement that we quite possibly don’t preach enough.  Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.  Those evil desires for more and more go away when we see them nailed to the cross with Jesus.  They’re replaced with a different attitude that your baptism gives you today.  You’ve been raised up from the dead with Jesus to a new life with a new attitude of contentment. 

It’s a beautiful thing, contentment.  Greed is wanting to have more.  Jesus says, “There’s no more to want.  With me you have it all.”  It’s in our recent readings from Colossians: “You have received fullness in Christ.”  My son moved recently.  So did Vicar.  The Stanfords just moved to Texas – all your worldly possessions in a moving van can be a bit unnerving, but on that day or night when the Lord calls in the soul he gave you, how good will it be to be able to say, “All that stuff can go to someone else.  I belong to Christ and that’s all I need.”  How good will it be to say that?  Leave greed nailed to the cross; in Christ you can say that now.

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