Men's Traps - Greed Pt.1

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.

This speech by Gorden Gecko in the movie “Wall Street” in 1987 mysteriously predicting the kind of failed leadership fortune 500 business would have in the 90’s and culminating in the Enron scandal of 2001 , which at the time was the largest single bankruptcy in the USA. These business leaders failed because of greed.

Is Greed good and does it work?

As companies wanted to test and see if greed indeed brought better performance of its employees there have been many university and corporate studies on greed and its performance enhancing potential in the work place.

Interestingly the studies all defined two elements must be present for greed to be active

 Always wanting more

 Never being satisfied

In summary they found always wanting more provided motivation to word hard however never being satisfied work against the employees performance/team building capabilities and had a huge negative net effect on the company’s workforce. (imagine that)

A recent article in Phycology today presented greed as destructive force in our culture . Greed can arise from early negative experiences such as parental absence, inconsistency, or neglect . This leads the person to fixate on a substitute for the love and security that was lacking. The pursuit of this substitute distracts from negative feelings, and its accumulation provides much needed comfort and reassurance.

So in this regard we use greed (materialism) as a substitute for loving relationships

However have you noticed as soon as you get whatever is you wanted so badly , its enticement fades and you want something else.

God works on different ideas. Not self-serving principals.

The basic underlying premise of Gods involvement in our lives is his never ending love for us. He loves us no matter what and unconditionally gave his Son for us as a justifying replacement to take his wrath for sin. Because God is also a just God , due penalty had to be paid for our sin.

Jesus willingly offered himself as a sufficient sacrifice for our sins.

Greed goes against all this because it is self serving, not God serving- it fits well with our flesh. Our flesh says we are the master , not God . Greed serves the flesh well.

Jesus condemned the religious leadership at the time for their greed

Matthew 23:25

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside

of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.

And Paul condemns greed as well

1 Corinthians 5:11

But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a

brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard

or swindler. Do not even eat with such people.

Ephesians 5:3

But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of

impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.

The 2 elements of greed- always wanting more and never being satisfied is a endless

black hole, never to be filled up. Paul said he had learned the secret of contentment

Phillipians 4:12

I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the

secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether

living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

Jesus is the secret to contentment

So we find that greed is not good, its not right and it doesn’t work. And the only thing it

clarifies and captures is self idolatry- and in its path it will you leave a tornado of

destruction

There is a better choice than our flesh and its servant greed- I choose Jesus.