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Pastor Jeremy Schultz
August 1, 2010
In the 1987 movie, Wall Street, main character Gordon Gekko declared, "Greed is good." He was the kind of guy that was on the cover of every business and fortune magazine...the kind of guy that all young traders and brokers wanted to be...the kind of guy that purchased companies on the dime, broke them up into little pieces and then sold them off for a profit. Gekko lived by the motto "Greed is Good." And in the following screen shot, you'll see a portion of the speech that Michael Douglas's character gives before Teldar Paper shareholders, the fictional company he's looking to take over.
"The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed -- for lack of a better word -- is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms -- greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge -- has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed -- you mark my words -- will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA. Thank you very much."
It's interesting...in the movie, that speech prompted a standing ovation and yet by the end of the movie, his greed wound him up in prison for two decades! Gordon Gekko says that greed is good. And yet, as followers of Jesus Christ, we listen to His voice that is stronger than any other in the world and instructs us on what life is really all about! Jesus says, "Take care and be on guard against all kinds of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."
In today's Bible lesson, a man approaches Jesus because he wants the Lord to settle a financial dispute between him and his brother. Undoubtedly he believes that he is being treated unfairly. To follow up His earlier admonition, Jesus then shares the parable of the rich fool.
"The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17 and he thought to himself, 'What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?' 18 And he said, 'I will do this: I will tear 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, 'Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' 21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God."
Jesus calls the man with such a life foolish because he could not think beyond Himself. Did you notice how often he used the word "my"? He only spoke of "my crops, my barns, my grain, and my goods." He never once gave any thought to the Giver of all these things. He never once acknowledged that God caused the rain to fall and the crops to grow. He never once thanked God and He never once thought to do anything good or useful with his possessions.
There is an old Aesop fable about a Miser who used to hide his gold at the foot of a tree in his garden. And every week the miser used to go and dig it up and gloat over his gains. A robber, who had noticed this, went and dug up the gold and decamped with it. When the Miser next came to gloat over his treasures, he found nothing but the empty hole. He tore his hair, and raised such an outcry that all the neighbors came around him, and he told them how he used to come and visit his gold. "Did you ever take any of it out?" asked one of them. "Nay," said he, "I only came to look at it." "Then come again and look at the hole," said a neighbor; "it will do you just as much good."
The foolish man in the parable is sort of like that. Since he's not going to do anything good with what God has given him, he'll simply tear down his barns and build bigger ones and store all his grain there and quit working and simply live the life of luxury.
What subtly scares me about this parable is that I believe we identify a little too closely with the rich guy. After all, he's not a cheat, or a thief. He's just a guy that's worked hard and made a lot of money, kind of like most of us dream about. We're not a congregation that necessarily has a lot of "rich people." No, we're just a bunch of people that have worked hard in life and who also have maybe had our share of struggles. So maybe you have found yourself thinking...if only I had an extra 200 bucks! If only I had a better paying job. If only I had a new car. Then I'd be set. Then I'd be secure. Then...I'd almost be on easy street!
Let me be clear. The man's mistake does not have to do with wealth or possessions. No, he goes astray and we go astray if we believe that his wealth can secure the future. The man's foolishness was highlighted by the fact that he had many years of wealth laid up, but only a few hours to live. His motto seems to be "eat, drink and be merry." But he forgot the rest which says, "for tomorrow I may die." So what was it all for?
Jesus says, "Watch out! Be on guard against all forms of covetousness!" The word here means "an insatiable appetite for more." Be on guard against that. In other words, greed is not good. Jesus lists coveting as one of the vices in Mark 7 of those that have rejected God. And in our epistle lesson for today, covetousness is called idolatry. But there is an alternative to all of this. Contrary to living a life of laying up one's treasures for oneself, a better way is found in actually being rich toward God.
Jesus Christ had all the riches and treasures of the universe at His feet. 2 Corinthians 8:9 says, "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich." So all the riches that Christ Jesus had, He laid aside when He took on human flesh in the womb of His mother, Mary. And the reason that Jesus laid aside His riches and became so poor and lowly as to assume our human flesh was for you! For you, Jesus became poor. God of God came down from heaven for the sole purpose of bearing all of your sins and mine in His body on the cross. And having died there for all of our sins and having risen to life again on the third day, a great transformation took place in all of us. We, who were poor, became rich! Yes, we are the richest of the rich, I would say because we have the forgiveness for all of our sins. We have been given faith in our baptisms to believe that Jesus is our Lord and Savior and we have true riches in the promise of heaven!
Friends, you might not be the wealthiest congregation in the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. You might have to be working a few years longer than you wanted to. You might have lost a lot in the last few years. Do you know what? You're rich! You're the richest of the rich! Because you have Jesus. You have the forgiveness of sins! You have the promise of heaven! And that makes you rich! So don't feel bad if troubles have come upon you. Remember your baptism. That's what's real. That's what's lasting. And that's what gives you security for all eternity!
No, greed is not good. God's truth today teaches us to be rich toward Him. Because of His claim on our lives, we now are rich toward God as we use our possessions consistently with His will.
The story is told of Marquis de Lafayette, who helped the American colonists during the Revolutionary War. When he returned home to France, he lived on his big estates and did very well. He was in the same social class as the rich man in Jesus' parable, but acted very differently. In 1783, after a poor harvest, Lafayette's workers were still able to fill his barns with wheat. "The bad harvest has raised the price of wheat," said one of his workers. "This is the time to sell." Lafayette thought about the hungry peasants in the surrounding villages. "No," he replied, "this is the time to give."
So it is with those that are rich toward God. For a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. Amen.
© St. Paul Lutheran Church 2010