Our Minister – Aston Presbyterian Church

Aston Presbyterian Church

Sunday, March 19, 2023

Rev. Christine Callaway

Luke 12:15-21 ¹⁵ And Jesus said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” ¹⁶ Then he told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly. ¹⁷ And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ ¹⁸ Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. ¹⁹ And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ ²⁰ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ ²¹ So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.”

2 Chronicles 31:5-10 ⁵ As soon as the word spread, the people of Israel gave in abundance the first fruits of grain, wine, oil, honey, and of all the produce of the field; and they brought in abundantly the tithe of everything. ⁶ The people of Israel and Judah who lived in the cities of Judah also brought in the tithe of cattle and sheep, and the tithe of the dedicated things that had been consecrated to the LORD their God, and laid them in heaps. ⁷ In the third month they began to pile up the heaps, and finished them in the seventh month. ⁸ When Hezekiah and the officials came and saw the heaps, they blessed the LORD and his people Israel. ⁹ Hezekiah questioned the priests and the Levites about the heaps. ¹⁰ The chief priest Azariah, who was of the house of Zadok, answered him, “Since they began to bring the contributions into the house of the LORD, we have had enough to eat and have plenty to spare; for the LORD has blessed his people, so that we have this great supply left over.”

Generous Living

When I say the word greed who do you think of? I think of Scrooge from a Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. A greedy miser hoarding his gold while people around him suffered. I don’t think that’s who any of us want to be.

As we continue to take a lively look at the seven deadly sins you can see that the color today is yellow. The color for greed is yellow. It makes sense since yellow, the color gold, reminds us of the desire for money, material wealth.

Greed is defined as an excessive desire, especially for wealth or possessions. Greed is a desire to have more and more. A strong yearning to possess. No matter how much a greedy person has they still want more. Greed is insatiable. A greedy person is never satisfied, never content; it is a driving force in their life. It is not just a fondness for wealth but a driving, consuming hunger, a monster that will eat them alive.

Another word close to greed is covet. The Ten Commandments tell us not to covet. Exodus 20:17 tells us “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” Coveting is desiring something another person has simply because they have it.

Have you ever known a greedy person who was happy? I haven’t. They are so caught up in their greed there is no happiness, no enjoyment of what they have. As soon as one thing is acquired they go on to the next. This is not a good way to live. Greedy people put their trust in their money and their things. They are not trusting God.

Sometimes greed is driven by fear. A fear of not having enough, of running out of money. A fear of not having enough to survive. As our lives last longer and longer and retirement can last for up to thirty years how do we know if we have saved enough? I don’t have the answer to that but I do know that Jesus does not want us to live in fear.

Have you ever watched the TV show, “Hoarders”? I’ve seen a few episodes, it’s sad. On the show you see people who have kept so much stuff that their houses are filled to overflowing with what most of us would call junk. These people live in fear. They are afraid to get rid of anything, their life has become their possessions to the point that their possessions endanger their lives. In a sense this is an extreme form of greed,

Let’s turn to our passage from Luke and listen to what Jesus has to say about greed. “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” Jesus is clearly warning against our current culture of materialism. Life does not consist in the abundance of possessions. Just about every advertisement we read or hear tells us the exact opposite. Much of the advertising that surrounds us every day try to convince us that we are unhappy or unfulfilled without whatever they are trying to se.. The marketing also tries to convince us that other people already have this excellent product or experience and they are happy because of it, so we should have it as well, and then we will be satisfied as well.

Have you ever heard the expression, “He who dies with the most toys wins”? It’s not true! Jesus said, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”.

We live in a consumer-driven society. We are constantly bombarded by advertisements to buy more things, newer things. It’s hard to live in our country without turning into a greedy person. On the surface the rich man in the parable we heard this morning seems quite sensible. He needed more space to store his abundant crops so he decided to build larger barns. Makes sense to me. Then he says to himself, ‘I have ample goods laid up for many years; I will relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ The problem is that he is trusting in himself, and he is not showing any interest in sharing his abundance with others. God takes his life that night and all his possessions are for nothing. Jesus warns, “So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.” This is only one of many places that Jesus talks about money. Approximately 15% of Jesus’ preaching was about money, it was in 11 of the 39 parables. Why does Jesus say so much about money? He knew this was an area where we would struggle.

A greedy person is often called a miser, one who is extremely stingy with money. The derivation of the words miser, misery and miserable comes from a Latin word meaning “wretched” or “unfortunate.”

I know I have an abundance of possessions. Take books for example. I have filled the bookcase downstairs with books. There are built in shelves on the third floor. These too are filled with books. These aren’t fiction books but theology and books by Christian authors. I still have boxes of books I haven’t opened since I got here. Those are my fiction books. I really don’t need any more books but I still buy new ones sometimes. Perhaps at this point I should give two books away for every book I buy.

As we grow older my friends and I talk about the need to rid ourselves of our possessions. I have so much I don’t need. I think of just my dishes. I have my everyday dishes, a set of glass dishes someone gave me, my good china and a set of Audubon china with birds on the plates. I’ve actually never used those but they do look pretty in my china cabinet.

Greed is a sin because it means desiring more than we need and not trusting in God to provide. In Matthew 6 Jesus says, “No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” He goes on to tell us not to worry about our lives, what we will eat, what we will drink or what we will wear. He tells us to look at the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. God feeds the birds and clothes the lilies of the field. If God does this for them how much more will He do the same for us. Jesus points out that we cannot add a single hour to our lifespan by worrying so we are not to worry. He reminds us that our heavenly Father know what we need. Jesus concludes by saying, “But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” To sum this up in three words, Trust in God.

The opposite of greed is generous living. Rather than live self-centered and greedy lives, God calls us to generous living. Now we come to our second passage, an example of a people living generously.

In order to understand this passage from 2 Chronicles it needs some background. After the conquest of Canaan the land was divided among the twelve tribes of Israel. The priests were not given any land for they were to devote themselves to worshipping God and they were to receive a tithe from those with land for their support. At this point in 2 Chronicles we are after the conquest of ten northern tribes of Israel by the Assyrians and before the exile of Judah to Babylon. King Hezekiah has ascended the throne of David and has called for a spiritual revival. The temple is restored and the priesthood renewed. The people gather and keep the Passover together for seven days. There was a great celebration and at the end of the seven days they decided to celebrate for another seven days. It says they rejoiced with great gladness; and the Levites and the priests praised the LORD day by day, accompanied by loud instruments for the LORD. Perhaps they had drums in their service! At the end of the celebration King Hezekiah commanded the people to give their tithe so the Levites could devote themselves to God. Now we come to our passage.

The people gave abundantly and freely of their first fruits and the tithe of their cattle and sheep. They gave with a thankful spirit, a worshipping spirit and a generous spirit.

In 2 Corinthians chapter nine, Paul said, “Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

We are told to give generously yet generosity can be scary. How do we know if we are holding on to enough for us? If we give away possessions, what if we end up needing them? This was drilled into me by my parents, I think especially my father. Squeeze that penny! At the basis of this is fear. Fear usually involves not trusting God or others. The Great Depression had a great influence on my father. His parents lost their house and they had to move in with his great-aunt. My father never lived in a house owned by his parents. He remembered being poor. He taught his children this fear of not having enough. I know I keep far too much stuff just in case I need it again someday.

How do we decide how much is enough? The answer is different for each of us. Perhaps it would be good if each of us went through our stuff and gave away what we don’t actually need or use. Perhaps we should think about whether or not we actually need something before we buy it. Let us commit to this during this season of Lent. Maybe we will develop lasting habits beyond Lent.

There is a difference between giving out of guilt and giving because God calls us to generosity. How many of us have given to one charity and then been bombarded by requests for money from ten more? God does not want us to give out of guilt but out of conviction and joy.

I think if we try it we will find that generosity is better. Generous people who trust in God have less fear. They also have less ‘stuff’; our stuff can distract us from God. Many of us have found a need to reduce what we have as we grow older. When we have less possessions we have less to dust, less to clean, less to take care of. Having less can actually be freeing.

Giving to help others can bring us joy. Knowing we have given something to others, whether it is money, possessions or time can bring a good feeling inside. When I lived in Waynesboro I delivered Meals on Wheels. When I started I knew it was a good thing to do but what surprised me was the sense I got that I was doing what God wanted, I was walking in His will. It wasn’t a chore to deliver these meals it was a privilege. It is a humbling experience to help others.

I know members of this church founded the Learning Center. They gave of their time and talents in service to others. I know many of you visit our homebound members giving of your time and energy.

Let us remember that our God is a generous God. He has given us our world and everything in it. He has blessed us with air and water, food and natural resources from which we build things. Everything we have comes from God out of His generosity.

This is how we are to be, not giving grudgingly or sparingly but with generous hearts trusting in God for the future. Let us pray.