WEBVTT 00:00:04.400 --> 00:00:06.780 Hello, and welcome to this week's episode of 00:00:06.780 --> 00:00:09.640 Trinity Sermons. This week we are continuing 00:00:09.640 --> 00:00:12.199 our series on the S -word, where we are diving 00:00:12.199 --> 00:00:14.460 into the seven deadly sins and their impacts 00:00:14.460 --> 00:00:17.679 on our lives today. Today we're going to be learning 00:00:17.679 --> 00:00:20.140 about greed, something that we all struggle with 00:00:20.140 --> 00:00:22.559 in many ways that maybe we don't even recognize. 00:00:23.000 --> 00:00:26.320 We value security, we plan for the future, and 00:00:26.320 --> 00:00:29.100 we keep striving for more. And while that's not 00:00:29.100 --> 00:00:32.200 all bad, greed keeps us trapped in cycles of 00:00:32.200 --> 00:00:34.880 wanting that ultimately hurt us and everyone 00:00:34.880 --> 00:00:42.880 around us. Today's reading is from the Gospel 00:00:42.880 --> 00:00:50.020 of Luke, chapter 12, verses 13 to 21. Someone 00:00:50.020 --> 00:00:53.420 in the crowd said to him, Teacher, tell my brother 00:00:53.420 --> 00:00:57.579 to divide the inheritance with me. Jesus replied, 00:00:58.399 --> 00:01:02.000 Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between 00:01:02.000 --> 00:01:06.819 you? Then he said to them, Watch out, be on your 00:01:06.819 --> 00:01:10.599 guard against all kinds of greed. Life does not 00:01:10.599 --> 00:01:15.439 consist in an abundance of possessions. And he 00:01:15.439 --> 00:01:18.760 told them this parable. The ground of a certain 00:01:18.760 --> 00:01:22.719 rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought 00:01:22.719 --> 00:01:26.010 to himself, What shall I do? I have no place 00:01:26.010 --> 00:01:30.730 to store my crops. Then he said, This is what 00:01:30.730 --> 00:01:34.769 I'll do. I'll tear down my barns and build bigger 00:01:34.769 --> 00:01:37.629 ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 00:01:38.870 --> 00:01:42.209 And I'll say to myself, You have plenty of grain 00:01:42.209 --> 00:01:45.310 laid up for many years. Take life easy. Eat, 00:01:45.489 --> 00:01:50.409 drink, and be merry. But God said to him, You 00:01:50.409 --> 00:01:53.799 fool. This very night your life will be demanded 00:01:53.799 --> 00:01:57.159 from you. Then who will get what you have prepared 00:01:57.159 --> 00:02:01.439 for yourself? This is how it will be with whoever 00:02:01.439 --> 00:02:04.879 stores up things for themselves but is not rich 00:02:04.879 --> 00:02:10.240 toward God. The gospel of Christ. Hey, I want 00:02:10.240 --> 00:02:12.719 you to take a look at this. This image here. 00:02:13.020 --> 00:02:17.219 Behold, cast your eyes upon this. This is Apophis. 00:02:17.770 --> 00:02:22.289 Apophis is named after the Egyptian god of chaos, 00:02:22.610 --> 00:02:25.289 which doesn't sound too promising. Apophis is 00:02:25.289 --> 00:02:29.490 an asteroid about the size of three hockey arenas. 00:02:29.490 --> 00:02:32.909 And in the year 2029, it is going to have a really 00:02:32.909 --> 00:02:36.889 close call with... planet Earth. It was just 00:02:36.889 --> 00:02:40.569 a few weeks ago, we were being told that there 00:02:40.569 --> 00:02:44.069 was a 3 .7 % chance that Apophis was going to 00:02:44.069 --> 00:02:46.469 strike Earth. And then NASA changed their mind. 00:02:46.550 --> 00:02:48.189 And they said, actually, no, no, it's going to 00:02:48.189 --> 00:02:50.389 miss Earth completely. And then they've kind 00:02:50.389 --> 00:02:52.629 of put a little asterisk besides that. And they 00:02:52.629 --> 00:02:55.150 said, well, it could still hit Earth if it got 00:02:55.150 --> 00:02:59.590 nudged by another asteroid. Cue the nervous laughter. 00:02:59.789 --> 00:03:01.969 Ha ha ha, that won't happen. That won't happen, 00:03:02.069 --> 00:03:05.759 right? Because if it hit us, it would be devastating 00:03:05.759 --> 00:03:07.580 this thing is going to come so close it's going 00:03:07.580 --> 00:03:11.080 to pass beneath some of our satellites for sure 00:03:11.080 --> 00:03:15.080 right but if it hit us it would be disastrous 00:03:15.080 --> 00:03:18.620 it would be like a thousand megatons of tnt going 00:03:18.620 --> 00:03:22.099 off all at once 20 times the size of the largest 00:03:22.099 --> 00:03:24.500 nuclear device that's ever been detonated on 00:03:24.500 --> 00:03:27.340 earth the impact would actually have ripples 00:03:27.340 --> 00:03:30.000 the first thing if it were to hit water of course 00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:32.379 it would create tsunami that would devastate 00:03:32.379 --> 00:03:35.539 coastlines if it were to hit land And the blast 00:03:35.539 --> 00:03:39.039 radius would be hundreds of kilometers, could 00:03:39.039 --> 00:03:41.979 flatten entire cities just like that. And then, 00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:44.060 of course, there's the dust cloud that would 00:03:44.060 --> 00:03:46.620 be ejected into the air. That would affect everything 00:03:46.620 --> 00:03:50.539 from climate to crop production. And then, of 00:03:50.539 --> 00:03:53.520 course, we have to add the whole economic consequence 00:03:53.520 --> 00:03:58.020 of it. The economy would surely crash as well. 00:03:58.599 --> 00:04:02.289 But don't worry. NASA's got their eye on it. 00:04:02.310 --> 00:04:05.449 They're monitoring Apophis very, very closely. 00:04:05.629 --> 00:04:08.330 What we should be worrying about and what we 00:04:08.330 --> 00:04:11.449 should be looking at is the asteroid that we 00:04:11.449 --> 00:04:15.550 can't see. The one that we're not. And that's 00:04:15.550 --> 00:04:18.670 right. There is something else out there, a danger 00:04:18.670 --> 00:04:22.209 much harder to spot. In fact, it's not out there 00:04:22.209 --> 00:04:26.329 at all. It's in here. It's in our lives. It's 00:04:26.329 --> 00:04:29.870 in our hearts and our habits. And we call it 00:04:29.870 --> 00:04:33.889 greed. We've been working through this teaching 00:04:33.889 --> 00:04:35.910 series now throughout Lent called The S Word, 00:04:36.069 --> 00:04:37.949 looking at the seven deadly sins. We started 00:04:37.949 --> 00:04:40.930 by looking at pride, and then we looked at envy, 00:04:41.029 --> 00:04:43.750 and then last week we looked at sloth, and today 00:04:43.750 --> 00:04:47.509 we come to greed. This is going to be a real 00:04:47.509 --> 00:04:49.870 tough one for us, actually, because the thing 00:04:49.870 --> 00:04:54.389 about greed is you just don't see it. Like Apophis, 00:04:54.410 --> 00:04:56.569 I dare you, go out and look into the night sky. 00:04:56.709 --> 00:04:59.800 Look up there. You will not see it. You won't 00:04:59.800 --> 00:05:03.120 see it. It just blends into the sky. It's shrouded 00:05:03.120 --> 00:05:05.379 in darkness. Is that a star or is that Apophis? 00:05:05.379 --> 00:05:08.779 I don't know. But it's there. And it's deadly. 00:05:09.720 --> 00:05:14.220 And it's coming for us. And greed, too, is really, 00:05:14.279 --> 00:05:16.500 really hard to see. We don't see it. We don't 00:05:16.500 --> 00:05:18.199 see it when we look at our world. I don't see 00:05:18.199 --> 00:05:21.759 it when I look in my own life. But it's there. 00:05:22.199 --> 00:05:24.040 And here's why we don't see it. By the way, I've 00:05:24.040 --> 00:05:26.819 given you some notes today to follow along because 00:05:26.819 --> 00:05:28.360 there's lots of important stuff I want to share 00:05:28.360 --> 00:05:31.300 with you about greed. But here's the first reason 00:05:31.300 --> 00:05:34.100 why we don't see greed. And that is because we 00:05:34.100 --> 00:05:37.680 have rationalized it. Greed, we say, is what 00:05:37.680 --> 00:05:43.060 makes the world go round. Greed is good. Greed 00:05:43.060 --> 00:05:47.560 works. Our capitalist consumer culture depends 00:05:47.560 --> 00:05:51.420 on greed to function. It drives innovation. Greed 00:05:51.420 --> 00:05:55.019 fuels the economy. It rewards ambition. We need 00:05:55.019 --> 00:05:57.220 greed. You need greed for your own security, 00:05:57.399 --> 00:06:00.300 for your own success. For the system to work 00:06:00.300 --> 00:06:02.759 the way that we have set it up, we need greed. 00:06:03.260 --> 00:06:06.600 Greed is the spur of industry. It's how the world 00:06:06.600 --> 00:06:09.259 works. That's why we don't see it. We rationalize 00:06:09.259 --> 00:06:13.100 it. But secondly, we also normalize greed. We 00:06:13.100 --> 00:06:16.360 say, oh, greed, I think it's just the way things 00:06:16.360 --> 00:06:18.660 are, right? I mean, it's like the wallpaper. 00:06:18.879 --> 00:06:20.879 It's like the stars in the sky. It's just in 00:06:20.879 --> 00:06:23.250 the background of everything we do. right and 00:06:23.250 --> 00:06:25.750 we don't recognize we just say oh it's saving 00:06:25.750 --> 00:06:29.649 up i'm just buying more i'm just growing my wealth 00:06:29.649 --> 00:06:32.110 that's not greed no no no no that's just good 00:06:32.110 --> 00:06:34.870 financial planning right it's it's common sense 00:06:34.870 --> 00:06:38.410 this is just what everyone does no greed is not 00:06:38.410 --> 00:06:41.829 a sin it's just it's just my lifestyle choice 00:06:41.829 --> 00:06:45.290 right and then the third reason we cannot see 00:06:45.290 --> 00:06:48.889 greed is because it's commercialized this is 00:06:48.889 --> 00:06:51.899 the strategy of modern advertising create some 00:06:51.899 --> 00:06:54.860 discontentment in you, and then sell you the 00:06:54.860 --> 00:06:58.860 solution. Greed in this way is completely manufactured. 00:06:59.660 --> 00:07:01.699 Advertisers spend billions of dollars telling 00:07:01.699 --> 00:07:03.720 you you need this, you gotta have this, this 00:07:03.720 --> 00:07:06.180 will make you happy, you deserve the upgrade. 00:07:06.779 --> 00:07:08.879 And commercialism, it's funny, it doesn't just 00:07:08.879 --> 00:07:12.439 say you need to buy this, it says you gotta build 00:07:12.439 --> 00:07:16.420 your identity around this. We don't go shopping 00:07:16.420 --> 00:07:21.040 just to... Because we need something. We go shopping 00:07:21.040 --> 00:07:24.699 in order to feel something. That is commercialism 00:07:24.699 --> 00:07:26.420 at work. It's just everywhere. You don't even 00:07:26.420 --> 00:07:29.620 see it anymore. But the fourth way that we kind 00:07:29.620 --> 00:07:32.500 of... greed is invisible to us is that we have 00:07:32.500 --> 00:07:35.100 baptized it. Greed is not just something that 00:07:35.100 --> 00:07:37.939 exists out there. It also exists right in here, 00:07:38.040 --> 00:07:42.399 right in the church, right? It's the preacher 00:07:42.399 --> 00:07:45.399 who says, right, God wants you to be rich or 00:07:45.399 --> 00:07:48.720 wealth is God's blessing or the more you give, 00:07:48.800 --> 00:07:51.240 the more you're gonna get. This is some kind 00:07:51.240 --> 00:07:55.120 of spiritual investment plan, right? Greed can 00:07:55.120 --> 00:07:58.560 be baptized by religion. I've came across this 00:07:58.560 --> 00:08:00.959 Will Willimon quote. It said, greed is no longer 00:08:00.959 --> 00:08:04.379 a sin, it's a strategy. It's preached from the 00:08:04.379 --> 00:08:07.399 pulpit. Yikes! I'm the guy who usually stands 00:08:07.399 --> 00:08:09.620 here and preaches from the pulpit. So what does 00:08:09.620 --> 00:08:12.779 this mean? It actually kind of scares me. Is 00:08:12.779 --> 00:08:14.939 he talking about people who preach some kind 00:08:14.939 --> 00:08:18.480 of prosperity gospel? Or perhaps he's talking 00:08:18.480 --> 00:08:20.220 about the fact that sometimes we don't even want 00:08:20.220 --> 00:08:22.639 to touch this topic with a 10 -foot pole, and 00:08:22.639 --> 00:08:25.740 so we avoid it at the risk of offending people. 00:08:25.839 --> 00:08:28.899 Well, guys, Guys, today we're going to talk about 00:08:28.899 --> 00:08:31.399 it at the risk of offending people. Because when 00:08:31.399 --> 00:08:33.659 you stare up at the night sky, you will not see 00:08:33.659 --> 00:08:36.740 Apophis. It's hidden. And you look around our 00:08:36.740 --> 00:08:38.580 world and look inside yourself, you will not 00:08:38.580 --> 00:08:41.480 see greed because we rationalized it, normalized 00:08:41.480 --> 00:08:45.179 it, commercialized it, and baptized it. The man 00:08:45.179 --> 00:08:47.700 in Jesus' parable today, he didn't see greed. 00:08:47.779 --> 00:08:50.200 He didn't look greedy. Look at this guy. He's 00:08:50.200 --> 00:08:53.100 not stealing, right? He's not cheating. He's 00:08:53.100 --> 00:08:56.360 just building some bigger barns, right? This 00:08:56.360 --> 00:08:58.440 looks like good financial common sense, don't 00:08:58.440 --> 00:09:02.000 you think? Economic wisdom, right? We don't see 00:09:02.000 --> 00:09:09.000 greed. Jesus does. Jesus says, watch out. Watch 00:09:09.000 --> 00:09:12.879 out. When do you say watch out to someone? You 00:09:12.879 --> 00:09:14.960 say watch out when you see something that they 00:09:14.960 --> 00:09:16.840 don't. They're about to step into traffic. Watch 00:09:16.840 --> 00:09:19.259 out. They're about to step over a cliff. Watch 00:09:19.259 --> 00:09:23.580 out. Right? Some sins we can see. Greed is not 00:09:23.580 --> 00:09:27.139 one of those sins. Jesus says, watch out. You 00:09:27.139 --> 00:09:31.980 don't see it. I see it. But you don't. Like Apophis. 00:09:32.539 --> 00:09:35.759 just because you can't see it doesn't mean it 00:09:35.759 --> 00:09:41.899 won't kill you. And when greed breaks in to the 00:09:41.899 --> 00:09:46.720 atmosphere of our lives and makes impact in our 00:09:46.720 --> 00:09:51.360 hearts, there are ripples of devastation. The 00:09:51.360 --> 00:09:55.450 first... ripple of impact is personal unhappiness. 00:09:55.629 --> 00:09:58.529 It totally sounds strange, but research shows 00:09:58.529 --> 00:10:00.269 that greedy people, while they may have more 00:10:00.269 --> 00:10:03.029 income, they are no more satisfied. In fact, 00:10:03.029 --> 00:10:06.250 they have lower life satisfaction. And that's 00:10:06.250 --> 00:10:08.330 because greed always wants a little bit more. 00:10:08.409 --> 00:10:10.350 A little bit more money, a little bit more house, 00:10:10.529 --> 00:10:14.110 a little bit more in my closet, right? One more 00:10:14.110 --> 00:10:17.389 upgrade, one more step. Greed works this way. 00:10:17.409 --> 00:10:20.549 You get the raise. You buy the upgrade, you get 00:10:20.549 --> 00:10:23.009 the new toy, you enjoy it for a bit, but then 00:10:23.009 --> 00:10:26.330 something happens. The goalposts shift. Now it's 00:10:26.330 --> 00:10:28.750 a little further. You got to get one more thing 00:10:28.750 --> 00:10:31.590 to get to that point. And then you get that. 00:10:31.669 --> 00:10:33.470 And then the goalposts shift again. See, greed 00:10:33.470 --> 00:10:37.090 is not satisfied by getting. It is only satisfied 00:10:37.090 --> 00:10:41.009 by getting more and more. Look at the man in 00:10:41.009 --> 00:10:44.529 our story. Look, when his barns were full, did 00:10:44.529 --> 00:10:46.769 he say, oh, I've had a really successful year. 00:10:46.830 --> 00:10:49.200 I achieved my goal. No, he said, I better build 00:10:49.200 --> 00:10:52.179 bigger barns. And I'll tell you what, once those 00:10:52.179 --> 00:10:55.220 barns are full, he won't say, I'm satisfied now. 00:10:55.259 --> 00:10:57.740 No, he'll say, I better build bigger barns to 00:10:57.740 --> 00:11:00.860 hold on to more and more wealth. Greed will not 00:11:00.860 --> 00:11:04.980 let you be happy with what you have, only with 00:11:04.980 --> 00:11:09.940 having more. You know, I remember when we moved 00:11:09.940 --> 00:11:11.759 into one of our first houses, it was this old 00:11:11.759 --> 00:11:14.120 house, I want to say 75, maybe 100 years old. 00:11:14.399 --> 00:11:17.039 And I remember looking at the closets. And the 00:11:17.039 --> 00:11:18.960 closets were like tiny. There were these little 00:11:18.960 --> 00:11:20.940 compartments. They were like two feet deep. Like 00:11:20.940 --> 00:11:24.360 one of my shoes like fit the depth of that closet. 00:11:24.539 --> 00:11:28.080 And I think one of those closets held just my 00:11:28.080 --> 00:11:31.200 sweaters. And I was like thinking, what did people, 00:11:31.379 --> 00:11:34.740 where did people 75 years ago keep all their 00:11:34.740 --> 00:11:38.100 clothes? And then it dawned on me. 75 years ago, 00:11:38.179 --> 00:11:42.340 people didn't have as many clothes, right? They 00:11:42.340 --> 00:11:46.590 had a couple of dresses, not 25. They had a couple 00:11:46.590 --> 00:11:50.309 of pairs of pants, not 14. Today, though, we 00:11:50.309 --> 00:11:53.090 don't ask, you know, when is enough? We just 00:11:53.090 --> 00:11:55.629 build bigger barns, bigger closets, walk -in 00:11:55.629 --> 00:11:57.730 closets, walk -in closets with, you know, walk 00:11:57.730 --> 00:12:00.370 -in closets within them, right? You know, Jim 00:12:00.370 --> 00:12:02.230 Carrey said that I think everybody should get 00:12:02.230 --> 00:12:04.769 rich and famous so that they know that it is 00:12:04.769 --> 00:12:09.480 not the answer. right? Freddie Mercury once said, 00:12:09.480 --> 00:12:11.259 you can have everything in the world and still 00:12:11.259 --> 00:12:13.519 be the loneliest man, and that is the most bitter 00:12:13.519 --> 00:12:17.279 type of loneliness. Or how about the Roman poet, 00:12:17.700 --> 00:12:20.940 Horace, who, you know, was around Jesus' time. 00:12:21.100 --> 00:12:24.240 He said, the one who is greedy is always in want. 00:12:24.399 --> 00:12:26.519 That is the first point of impact, my friends. 00:12:26.960 --> 00:12:30.779 Personal unhappiness is where it starts, but 00:12:30.779 --> 00:12:32.860 then it ripples out from there, ripples out. 00:12:33.320 --> 00:12:36.799 The second ripple that greed has isn't just personal, 00:12:36.860 --> 00:12:40.480 it's planetary. There's an environmental crisis 00:12:40.480 --> 00:12:43.559 that comes with greed. Put simply, here's how 00:12:43.559 --> 00:12:47.320 it works. Greed fuels overconsumption, which 00:12:47.320 --> 00:12:51.500 drives environmental degradation. If greed is 00:12:51.500 --> 00:12:54.799 never satisfied, then the earth can never rest. 00:12:55.659 --> 00:12:59.779 Our need to possess more, faster, cheaper, inevitably 00:12:59.779 --> 00:13:03.279 leads to the depletion of the world's resources. 00:13:03.759 --> 00:13:08.340 Life will become unsustainable at some point 00:13:08.340 --> 00:13:11.259 because of greed. So there is this connection. 00:13:11.440 --> 00:13:14.309 You don't see it. you never see it between sheen 00:13:14.309 --> 00:13:17.970 and tmu and you know the next iphone uh and there's 00:13:17.970 --> 00:13:19.690 a connection between that and the rainforest 00:13:19.690 --> 00:13:22.990 and coal reserves and species extinction and 00:13:22.990 --> 00:13:25.750 global warming and sea levels it is actually 00:13:25.750 --> 00:13:30.509 an open question how long our planet can survive 00:13:30.509 --> 00:13:34.509 our greed You know, Gus Speth said, you know, 00:13:34.529 --> 00:13:36.769 I used to think the top environmental problems 00:13:36.769 --> 00:13:39.470 were biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse, and 00:13:39.470 --> 00:13:41.409 climate change. I thought that within 30 years 00:13:41.409 --> 00:13:43.470 of good science, we could address these problems. 00:13:43.629 --> 00:13:47.190 I was wrong. The top environmental problems are 00:13:47.190 --> 00:13:51.450 selfishness, greed, and apathy. And to deal with 00:13:51.450 --> 00:13:56.370 those, we need a spiritual transformation. So 00:13:56.370 --> 00:14:00.179 that is the second ripple. It's an economic crisis. 00:14:00.220 --> 00:14:02.299 But another ripple comes, and even more destructive 00:14:02.299 --> 00:14:04.399 than this. It doesn't just hit our happiness. 00:14:04.500 --> 00:14:07.220 It doesn't just hit our environment, but it hits 00:14:07.220 --> 00:14:11.320 the poor. Greed keeps whole populations in poverty. 00:14:11.639 --> 00:14:16.440 Global supply chains rely on things like sweatshops 00:14:16.440 --> 00:14:21.080 and unjust wages and exploitation. Why? To satisfy 00:14:21.080 --> 00:14:25.200 greed. Man, oh man, prophets like Amos, they 00:14:25.200 --> 00:14:28.240 railed against this. They sell the innocent for 00:14:28.240 --> 00:14:31.200 silver and the needy for a pair of sandals. They 00:14:31.200 --> 00:14:33.259 trample on the heads of the poor as on the dust 00:14:33.259 --> 00:14:36.159 of the ground and they deny justice to the oppressed. 00:14:36.480 --> 00:14:41.200 When we have too much, others have too little. 00:14:42.440 --> 00:14:45.059 Look, the rich guy in our reading today, he is 00:14:45.059 --> 00:14:48.710 not thinking about others. Just look at the language. 00:14:48.889 --> 00:14:52.769 He thought to himself, what shall I do? I have 00:14:52.769 --> 00:14:56.570 no place to store my crops. And I'll say to myself, 00:14:56.950 --> 00:15:01.710 you have plenty. Thomas Aquinas said that greed 00:15:01.710 --> 00:15:06.590 is actually a sin that is directed at one's neighbor. 00:15:07.470 --> 00:15:12.490 You can't have so many riches without another 00:15:12.490 --> 00:15:16.590 person lacking them. So greed turns us inward 00:15:16.590 --> 00:15:21.669 and we ignore our responsibility to others. Now 00:15:21.669 --> 00:15:24.809 the final and most dangerous ripple from the 00:15:24.809 --> 00:15:28.710 impact of greed is spiritual emptiness. This 00:15:28.710 --> 00:15:32.169 is the deepest devastation of all because greed 00:15:32.169 --> 00:15:36.039 becomes our God. Something that takes the place 00:15:36.039 --> 00:15:38.259 of the one true God. You see, God is meant to 00:15:38.259 --> 00:15:40.399 be our hope. He's meant to be our comfort. And 00:15:40.399 --> 00:15:42.559 he's meant to be our protection. But greed sneaks 00:15:42.559 --> 00:15:44.460 in and says, hey, I can do those things for you. 00:15:44.519 --> 00:15:47.580 Come on, right? I can give you hope. I can give 00:15:47.580 --> 00:15:50.279 you comfort. I can give you protection. You don't 00:15:50.279 --> 00:15:53.139 need God. You just need this and this and this 00:15:53.139 --> 00:15:57.379 and this. You see, wealth and possessions become 00:15:57.379 --> 00:16:02.509 our God. The rich guy in Luke 12, He turned, 00:16:02.649 --> 00:16:05.610 not to God, but to money for his security and 00:16:05.610 --> 00:16:08.590 his future. He says, I've got plenty laid up 00:16:08.590 --> 00:16:11.149 for many years. I can take it easy now. I've 00:16:11.149 --> 00:16:14.129 looked after myself. I've got enough stuff. We 00:16:14.129 --> 00:16:16.769 say, that guy's a great financial planner. God 00:16:16.769 --> 00:16:21.570 says, he's a fool. He put his faith in barns, 00:16:21.570 --> 00:16:26.669 not in God. His barns are his God. So yeah, greed. 00:16:27.269 --> 00:16:30.529 You may not see it coming, but when it hits, 00:16:31.370 --> 00:16:33.850 It's going to be an extinction -level event in 00:16:33.850 --> 00:16:37.269 your life, in this world, right? Justice will 00:16:37.269 --> 00:16:41.090 be extinct. Your happiness will be extinct. Faith 00:16:41.090 --> 00:16:43.750 will be extinct. And even this world probably 00:16:43.750 --> 00:16:46.809 won't survive it. So, are you feeling depressed 00:16:46.809 --> 00:16:51.129 yet? How are you feeling, right? You probably 00:16:51.129 --> 00:16:54.559 feel like Jesus' disciples. I'm reminded of the 00:16:54.559 --> 00:16:57.340 time that Jesus once told his disciples, he says, 00:16:57.399 --> 00:16:59.580 it's harder for someone who is rich to enter 00:16:59.580 --> 00:17:02.899 in the kingdom of heaven. It's actually easier 00:17:02.899 --> 00:17:05.279 for a camel to go through the eye of a needle 00:17:05.279 --> 00:17:06.920 than for someone who's rich to enter the kingdom 00:17:06.920 --> 00:17:09.299 of God. And his disciples, like us this morning, 00:17:09.380 --> 00:17:13.220 probably said, oh my gosh, then who can be saved? 00:17:13.299 --> 00:17:16.299 So depressing. But listen, with a twinkle in 00:17:16.299 --> 00:17:19.019 his eye, Jesus looked at him and said, you know 00:17:19.019 --> 00:17:21.759 what? Yeah, it's kind of impossible for a man. 00:17:22.299 --> 00:17:27.940 But with God, all things are possible. We can 00:17:27.940 --> 00:17:33.599 deflect the asteroid of greed. We can, in fact, 00:17:33.660 --> 00:17:38.779 destroy the asteroid of greed. Let me tell you 00:17:38.779 --> 00:17:43.619 about DART. NASA's... Double asteroid redirection 00:17:43.619 --> 00:17:47.539 test. This is amazing. In 2021, NASA launched 00:17:47.539 --> 00:17:51.700 a rocket at a very small asteroid called Dimorphos. 00:17:51.779 --> 00:17:54.940 And they wanted to see whether that rocket could 00:17:54.940 --> 00:17:58.519 actually change the trajectory of a smaller asteroid. 00:17:58.819 --> 00:18:03.500 A year later, DART collided, as it was supposed 00:18:03.500 --> 00:18:08.720 to, with Dimorphos. Boom! And... Success, actually. 00:18:08.900 --> 00:18:12.220 The trajectory of that little asteroid changed. 00:18:12.779 --> 00:18:15.539 And they even blew some of it to pieces. In fact, 00:18:15.579 --> 00:18:17.859 in 2029, we're going to have a meteor shower 00:18:17.859 --> 00:18:21.319 because of some of the debris from the DART project, 00:18:21.480 --> 00:18:25.140 right? Well, guess what? There is good news for 00:18:25.140 --> 00:18:27.339 the problem of greed. If we act soon enough, 00:18:27.539 --> 00:18:30.799 we can deflect it. We can destroy it. And we 00:18:30.799 --> 00:18:33.500 can avoid the devastation that comes with it. 00:18:33.559 --> 00:18:41.099 And all it takes is for us. to launch a new way 00:18:41.099 --> 00:18:44.579 of thinking and all our lives will be saved. 00:18:45.099 --> 00:18:47.119 So what is this new perspective? What is this 00:18:47.119 --> 00:18:50.599 new way of thinking? It is simply this. You got 00:18:50.599 --> 00:18:53.079 to start thinking this way, that everything we 00:18:53.079 --> 00:18:58.740 have is not owned, but loaned. Everything you 00:18:58.740 --> 00:19:03.140 have is not owned by you. It's loaned to you. 00:19:04.000 --> 00:19:09.490 Everything, your money, your house, Your job, 00:19:09.670 --> 00:19:14.089 your car, your time, your body, your opportunities, 00:19:14.170 --> 00:19:17.690 it's all on loan. What do you mean? Well, first 00:19:17.690 --> 00:19:21.240 of all... It's loaned to you from God. You know, 00:19:21.240 --> 00:19:24.579 scripture tells us over and over again that we 00:19:24.579 --> 00:19:29.519 don't truly own anything. Every good gift is 00:19:29.519 --> 00:19:34.640 from above. Psalm 24 says, the earth is the Lord's 00:19:34.640 --> 00:19:36.759 and everything that's in it. Why don't we just 00:19:36.759 --> 00:19:38.160 say that together? Because that is one of the 00:19:38.160 --> 00:19:40.640 most powerful statements I came across this week. 00:19:40.680 --> 00:19:44.680 Let's say this. The earth is the Lord's and everything 00:19:44.680 --> 00:19:48.549 in it. God has just loaned us this stuff for 00:19:48.549 --> 00:19:51.089 a while, and one day we're going to have to give 00:19:51.089 --> 00:19:56.190 it all back to the true giver. When we become 00:19:56.190 --> 00:19:58.829 followers of Jesus, we actually acknowledge something. 00:20:00.109 --> 00:20:03.230 Nothing we possess is really ours. You know, 00:20:03.250 --> 00:20:05.670 that's why Jesus says crazy things like this. 00:20:05.730 --> 00:20:08.670 He says, any one of you who doesn't give up everything 00:20:08.670 --> 00:20:11.390 he has can't be my disciple. We say, well, what 00:20:11.390 --> 00:20:14.200 is Jesus saying? Jesus saying I have to be poor 00:20:14.200 --> 00:20:17.660 and live on the street? No. He's just saying 00:20:17.660 --> 00:20:20.079 you got to open your hands and you have got to 00:20:20.079 --> 00:20:24.640 acknowledge that none of it is yours. God is 00:20:24.640 --> 00:20:27.460 the owner of everything you have. That's the 00:20:27.460 --> 00:20:31.839 shift. That's the rocket, right? But we say, 00:20:31.880 --> 00:20:34.599 oh my gosh, Rob, I earned it, right? It's mine. 00:20:34.700 --> 00:20:37.079 I worked for this. I sacrificed for this. Yeah, 00:20:37.160 --> 00:20:40.980 you worked hard. But to say it's mine because 00:20:40.980 --> 00:20:45.099 I earned it fundamentally ignores countless variables 00:20:45.099 --> 00:20:47.079 that were outside of your control. The health 00:20:47.079 --> 00:20:48.880 you didn't create, the doors you didn't open, 00:20:48.960 --> 00:20:51.759 the economy that you didn't engineer to get your 00:20:51.759 --> 00:20:53.759 wealth, the breath in your lungs that you didn't 00:20:53.759 --> 00:20:56.099 generate, the place you were born, the family 00:20:56.099 --> 00:20:58.480 you were born into, right? Your opportunities, 00:20:58.700 --> 00:21:01.099 the strength, the skill, that door that was open 00:21:01.099 --> 00:21:02.980 at just the right time. Did you have anything 00:21:02.980 --> 00:21:06.220 to do with that? No. Your paycheck, your business, 00:21:06.400 --> 00:21:09.420 your savings. You didn't create any of those 00:21:09.420 --> 00:21:12.660 things out of nothing. They're not yours. They're 00:21:12.660 --> 00:21:18.819 not mine. God warns us not to say, oh, my power 00:21:18.819 --> 00:21:22.359 and my strength has produced this wealth for 00:21:22.359 --> 00:21:25.839 me. He says, instead, instead, remember the Lord 00:21:25.839 --> 00:21:28.980 your God, for it is he who gives you the ability 00:21:28.980 --> 00:21:31.619 to produce wealth. You're not a self -made person. 00:21:31.759 --> 00:21:34.799 Neither am I. You may have filled the barns. 00:21:35.210 --> 00:21:37.410 But God gave you the seed and the soil and the 00:21:37.410 --> 00:21:40.890 sunlight and the seasons. Everything we have 00:21:40.890 --> 00:21:48.029 is loaned from God. That's a big rocket. But 00:21:48.029 --> 00:21:52.210 not only is everything we have loaned from God, 00:21:52.289 --> 00:21:56.539 but it is borrowed from God. You see, Christians 00:21:56.539 --> 00:22:00.200 have always insisted that wealth and resources 00:22:00.200 --> 00:22:03.500 are to be used for the common good. So you see, 00:22:03.519 --> 00:22:05.680 your wealth wasn't just loaned to you to bless 00:22:05.680 --> 00:22:07.680 you. It was loaned to you to bless others too. 00:22:07.759 --> 00:22:12.960 Meaning, get this, the extra that you have is 00:22:12.960 --> 00:22:16.740 probably meant for someone else. Basil the Great, 00:22:16.839 --> 00:22:19.759 who was this bishop in the 4th century, he actually 00:22:19.759 --> 00:22:23.859 called accumulation theft. Theft, who am I stealing 00:22:23.859 --> 00:22:27.259 from? He says, It's the hungry one's bread that 00:22:27.259 --> 00:22:30.819 you're hoarding. It's the naked one's cloak that 00:22:30.819 --> 00:22:32.779 you're retaining. It's the needy one's money 00:22:32.779 --> 00:22:34.720 that you withhold. Let me put it in modern language, 00:22:34.839 --> 00:22:37.700 right? The money for the expensive coffee that 00:22:37.700 --> 00:22:40.180 you purchased this morning, you borrowed that 00:22:40.180 --> 00:22:42.799 from the child who's going to school this week 00:22:42.799 --> 00:22:47.900 without breakfast, right? The winter coat, the 00:22:47.900 --> 00:22:49.720 new winter coat you have in your closet beside 00:22:49.720 --> 00:22:51.720 the four other ones that you don't wear, that 00:22:51.720 --> 00:22:54.369 was borrowed. From the homeless person that you 00:22:54.369 --> 00:22:57.049 passed on your way to work. The money that you've 00:22:57.049 --> 00:23:00.369 saved for retirement, some of that was borrowed 00:23:00.369 --> 00:23:02.609 from the sweatshop worker who made your hiking 00:23:02.609 --> 00:23:07.690 boots that you've only worn two times. Greed 00:23:07.690 --> 00:23:11.829 isn't about what I keep. It's about what I keep 00:23:11.829 --> 00:23:17.869 from others. What we borrow from others. And 00:23:17.869 --> 00:23:19.809 I know, oh God, well what if I don't have enough? 00:23:20.490 --> 00:23:25.049 What if I need it later? What if I run out? Greed 00:23:25.049 --> 00:23:28.430 often hides behind these fears. It's rooted in 00:23:28.430 --> 00:23:34.210 fear, greed. There might not be enough. But the 00:23:34.210 --> 00:23:37.569 Bible says God will supply your needs. Not all 00:23:37.569 --> 00:23:40.809 your wants, but God will supply your needs in 00:23:40.809 --> 00:23:45.170 Christ Jesus. You know, Jen Hatmaker, she wrote 00:23:45.170 --> 00:23:47.789 this book called Seven. It's an interesting little 00:23:47.789 --> 00:23:50.470 book. And what she did is she decluttered her 00:23:50.470 --> 00:23:54.509 closet, like I need to do, pairing down everything 00:23:54.509 --> 00:23:57.630 to seven items. And she said, I'm just going 00:23:57.630 --> 00:24:00.529 to wear these seven items for a month. Why? To 00:24:00.529 --> 00:24:04.410 change my perspective. And then she wrote, she 00:24:04.410 --> 00:24:06.269 said, I used to look at my closet and think, 00:24:06.369 --> 00:24:10.210 what if I need this someday? Now I try to ask, 00:24:10.349 --> 00:24:14.970 what if someone else needs it today? This is 00:24:14.970 --> 00:24:18.250 the shift, people. This is the shift. This is 00:24:18.250 --> 00:24:21.670 the thinking that we must launch in order to 00:24:21.670 --> 00:24:25.089 divert the asteroid of greed. Everything we have 00:24:25.089 --> 00:24:28.349 is loaned from God. Everything we have is borrowed 00:24:28.349 --> 00:24:32.410 from others. You start thinking that way, and 00:24:32.410 --> 00:24:36.210 the trajectory of the asteroid of greed will 00:24:36.210 --> 00:24:41.279 change. Now once we've made that shift, Not just 00:24:41.279 --> 00:24:43.619 to deflect greed, we can actually destroy it. 00:24:43.680 --> 00:24:45.559 And so in closing, let me just share with you 00:24:45.559 --> 00:24:50.400 four other very practical rockets that you can 00:24:50.400 --> 00:24:54.220 fire at greed to eliminate its power in your 00:24:54.220 --> 00:24:56.019 life. You ready? Here they go. First racket, 00:24:56.140 --> 00:25:02.200 first rocket. What a racket. Track your spending, 00:25:02.299 --> 00:25:04.880 right? Your budget is a theological document. 00:25:05.420 --> 00:25:08.640 It shows what you believe about security and 00:25:08.640 --> 00:25:11.500 about God and joy and all that stuff. You see, 00:25:11.539 --> 00:25:14.160 greed loves to stay in the shadows. But when 00:25:14.160 --> 00:25:16.160 you bring it out into the light, bring your budget 00:25:16.160 --> 00:25:18.099 out into light, record what you spend your money 00:25:18.099 --> 00:25:20.220 on when you spend it. Record what you save your 00:25:20.220 --> 00:25:22.519 money for when you keep it, right? Do that for 00:25:22.519 --> 00:25:25.160 a month, right? Because to destroy greed, we 00:25:25.160 --> 00:25:27.859 got to pay attention, right? And you actually 00:25:27.859 --> 00:25:30.759 might be shocked what you discover. That's the 00:25:30.759 --> 00:25:32.700 first rocket. Just track your spending. Here's 00:25:32.700 --> 00:25:35.940 the second rocket. Avoid temptation. Right? Don't 00:25:35.940 --> 00:25:37.619 go to the mall if you don't need to go to the 00:25:37.619 --> 00:25:40.640 mall. Right? Don't go into any environment that 00:25:40.640 --> 00:25:43.339 makes you feel discontent and greedy. You know, 00:25:43.359 --> 00:25:45.500 maybe you got to unsubscribe from those marketing 00:25:45.500 --> 00:25:48.160 emails. Maybe you got to unfollow that influencer 00:25:48.160 --> 00:25:50.420 who is always trying to sell the latest thing 00:25:50.420 --> 00:25:52.819 to you. Right? Greed is fueled by comparison. 00:25:52.880 --> 00:25:57.059 So cut it off. Cut it out. Starve it. And just 00:25:57.059 --> 00:26:00.720 avoid those temptations. The third rocket, this 00:26:00.720 --> 00:26:03.039 is going to sound like a strange one, but practice 00:26:03.039 --> 00:26:06.710 Sabbath. Sabbath is a crucial antidote to greed, 00:26:06.829 --> 00:26:09.529 and here's why. Because every week, Sabbath reminds 00:26:09.529 --> 00:26:12.710 you that the purpose of your life is not to consume, 00:26:12.910 --> 00:26:15.410 it's not to earn, it's not to accumulate. On 00:26:15.410 --> 00:26:17.910 Sabbath, what we do is we disconnect from the 00:26:17.910 --> 00:26:22.390 whole consumer system, and we rest in God. Oh 00:26:22.390 --> 00:26:27.289 my gosh, greed hates Sabbath. Greed wants to 00:26:27.289 --> 00:26:30.670 keep you accumulating, keep you acquiring. Sabbath 00:26:30.670 --> 00:26:32.940 says, no, no, no, I'm not going to do that. My 00:26:32.940 --> 00:26:36.940 worth and my security come from God, not stuff. 00:26:37.960 --> 00:26:40.000 And the fourth rocket, I'm going to say this 00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:42.359 is the big one, so I'm just going to say it. 00:26:43.259 --> 00:26:49.160 Tithe. Tithe intentionally. This is perhaps the 00:26:49.160 --> 00:26:51.440 oldest advice that we have on record about how 00:26:51.440 --> 00:26:56.880 to handle money. Tithing. is when you decide 00:26:56.880 --> 00:27:00.500 ahead of time to give away one -tenth of your 00:27:00.500 --> 00:27:05.319 income to those in need, to the church. What 00:27:05.319 --> 00:27:09.700 better way to remind you that everything belongs 00:27:09.700 --> 00:27:12.599 to God than to habitually give him back that 00:27:12.599 --> 00:27:16.059 first portion? Tithing says, God, you gave me 00:27:16.059 --> 00:27:20.809 100%. God, you're going to let me keep. 90%, 00:27:20.809 --> 00:27:23.569 but God, the very least I can do is offer back 00:27:23.569 --> 00:27:26.230 to you that 10 % that was yours in the first 00:27:26.230 --> 00:27:29.309 place, right? If we spend on ourselves first 00:27:29.309 --> 00:27:31.089 and then give away what we have left over, then 00:27:31.089 --> 00:27:33.650 we're still in the mindset that it's ours to 00:27:33.650 --> 00:27:38.049 do with as we please, but giving it away, right? 00:27:38.089 --> 00:27:41.710 It loosens our attachment to the stuff and increases 00:27:41.710 --> 00:27:45.630 our attachment to God. And if you're tithing 00:27:45.630 --> 00:27:47.789 now, you know what I'm talking about. You know 00:27:47.789 --> 00:27:51.259 that there is nothing, like tithing, to reorder 00:27:51.259 --> 00:27:55.400 your loves, to reorient your heart, to liberate 00:27:55.400 --> 00:28:01.200 your soul from the grip of greed. The only antidote 00:28:01.200 --> 00:28:06.099 to greed is generosity. And you can't think your 00:28:06.099 --> 00:28:09.140 way into generosity. You have to give your way 00:28:09.140 --> 00:28:14.059 into generosity. So friends, that asteroid is 00:28:14.059 --> 00:28:17.799 real. But so is the solution. Greed may be invisible, 00:28:17.880 --> 00:28:21.819 but Jesus saw it, named it, and warned us to 00:28:21.819 --> 00:28:24.839 watch out. So don't just go home tonight and 00:28:24.839 --> 00:28:28.119 stare into the night sky. Let's do something. 00:28:29.640 --> 00:28:33.539 Let's shift our perspective from ownership to 00:28:33.539 --> 00:28:37.339 stewardship, from mind to God's, from self to 00:28:37.339 --> 00:28:40.140 others. And if we do those things, we will not 00:28:40.140 --> 00:28:44.309 only divert, But we will destroy the power of 00:28:44.309 --> 00:28:49.970 greed in our lives and in our world. Thanks be 00:28:49.970 --> 00:28:55.089 to God. Amen. Thank you for listening to this 00:28:55.089 --> 00:28:57.490 week's episode of Trinity Sermons. This sermon 00:28:57.490 --> 00:29:00.170 was recorded at Trinity Church Streetsville on 00:29:00.170 --> 00:29:02.009 March 30, 2025.