Our scripture reading this morning is taken from the gospel of Luke chapter 12. I invite you to turn there to Luke 12. We'll start reading at verse 13. It says verse three, that's my mistake. I didn't push the number one key hard enough when I sent the information to the bulletin secretary. So it's 13, not three. If you look at three, you're gonna say, why did he start there? Therefore, now we're starting at verse 13 of chapter 12, Gospel of Luke. Pastor Baker, sometime back, wanted me to do a series on the seven deadly sins. It goes back to some fond memory he had from ethics class, where I treat briefly the seven deadly sins. So I obliged him and put myself through the effort of writing sermons for this. which I connect up to the parables, not the parables, the Beatitudes of Jesus. So that's kind of the origin of all of this. So you're getting a double whammy, the deadly sin of greed in the morning and the deadly sin of gluttony in the evening. So watch out how you spend your lunch time. Starting at verse 13, Luke 12, someone in the crowd said to him, teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. But he said to him, man, who made me a judge or arbiter over you? And he said to them, take care and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. And he told them a parable saying, the land of a rich man produced plentifully. And he thought to himself, what shall I do for I have nowhere to store my crops? 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. And I will say to my soul, soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years. Relax, eat, drink, be merry. But God said to him, fool, this night your soul's required of you and the things you have prepared, whose will they be? So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich. toward God. Such is our reading this morning, the Word of the Lord. May the Lord bless His Word to us this morning. You might remember the Egyptian pharaohs, thought they could take it with them. You know, they find these tombs in the pyramids, and lo and behold, they find the pharaoh with all his earthly goods, hoping to bring it with them to the afterlife, the next life. I never saw this movie myself, so I'm not commending anything here, but apparently the movie Wall Street has a very famous line in it. Greed is good. Greed makes the economy go. Greedy people buy more stuff. Greedy people want more stuff. We make more money, more profit. Greed is good. Or for the oldsters, you might remember that TV show Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous with Robin Leach. Come join me, Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. And you'll watch people in their fine mansions and large estates with their Their barns with horses and all sorts of extravagances, pools with their own self-portrait mosaic at the bottom, all kinds of wild, crazy lifestyles of the rich and famous. But you know, you don't have to be rich or famous to be greedy. And if you could take a big drone shot, over the compounds, because that's what they really are. You look at these fine mansions of the rich and famous. They're gated. They're guarded. They're compounds, almost like a drug lord. It's people living in a box. But, you know, you can just be a regular middle-class American. You can be poor, for that matter, and be greedy, and also live in a box. cordoned off from everyone else, cordoned off from concern for anyone else. It's easy to, I have what I need. I've made my little castle. It can be a little man cave you call a shed in the backyard. It's my turf. I'm safe. I have just what I want. Stay out, stay away. I live in my box. And when you live in a box, you're not concerned about what's outside of it. You're not concerned about my only comfort in life and in death is that I'm not my own, but I belong body and soul in life and in death to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. And because I'm filled with him, I'm given his spirit, I go forward to live for him. I go forward to live outside the box. And what's going on with my neighbor, my church neighbor, my family neighbor, my friend neighbor, my lost neighbor? Life outside the box. And then we open our garages and We still live in a box with wills. And some people, that's their favorite box to live in. Their car, its status, its brand, what it symbolizes, what it means. And you know, once preachers start mucking around with greed and money, and you know, they need money too, and they can be greedy too, And they can live in boxes too. And churches can become boxes to keep the world out. And we can huddle. And it's for us. And we got Jesus. And we got our middle class life. Stay away world. Life in a box. A life of greed. But greed needs new kingdom life, needs kingdom come of Jesus, needs to show mercy. Now when you think about Jesus and showing mercy, you might just think about being kind and forgiving and learning to forgive your mother-in-law for that remark or something like that. But showing mercy isn't only affronts to us. Showing mercy is extending and offering yourself to help the needy. So the needy and the greedy. The first thing we want to look at this morning is living in the box of greed. And then the second part, breaking out of the box and showing mercy. to a world in need. Now, it's important to get straight here. There's a difference between greed and self-interest and ambition. Greed is inordinate love of worldly things, the goods, it can be money, it can be things, the obtaining of things, it can be the greed of hoarding, the greed of being a spin thrift, there's all sorts of it. Self-interest is it can be tied appropriately to taking care of yourself. You need to properly love self, take care of self in order to be able to help others. And of course, self-interest can become selfish and greedy, but it need not be that. And then there's ambition, which likewise can be poisonous or simply proper getting onward forward. You need a little ambition to get out of bed and listen to boring lectures in college and then work really hard to do well on exams and papers or what have you. It takes ambition. You can ask one of your students here, John. It takes some ambition to make it through seminary with any success. You gotta work at it. So there's a wholesome sense there, but greed is something else. Here in Matthew 12, there is a fellow who comes along, crowds pressing in, practically stepping on each other and so on, and one shouts out, divide the inheritance, decide this for us, Jesus. And it's like, that's not my business, but I detect here that you think life is stuff. And most people do, by the way. Life is stuff. Take care and be on your guard. Now, if Jesus says, hey, I want you to take care of something, I want you to be on guard about something, are you going to listen? Jesus said, hey, I want you to be on guard now. Are you ready? Be on guard against all covetousness. That's the little hiding sin in our hearts. No one gets to know about it but us, ourselves, by ourselves. It floats around in your head. For one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. Americans say, yes it is. You're wrong, Jesus. The abundance of possessions is the guy who wins. They're the best people. And Jesus says, what does it profit a man to gain the whole world? The whole world! Forfeit his soul. That's one of the temptations the devil gave Jesus. Bow before me and all the kingdoms, you can have the whole world, you're here to be king, here's the route to it. Worship me, the devil. There's no profit in that. Americans are wrong about that. So Jesus comes and he offers a parable. There's this fellow who's a rich man. He's rich, he's already rich. He produced a plentiful crop, plentiful harvest. He has a problem. I don't know if you've ever seen where there's huge abundant harvest by co-ops and grain. Sometimes they just have to store it for a time outside in huge piles. But that's no way to really store grain like that. So this is his problem. I don't have any room. I'm already full. So he tears down his barns and builds bigger ones. Unseemly here, he plowed, he planted, he reaped, even-handed, above board, legal, fair, nothing devious. But now he has this abundant harvest, more blessing, and he doesn't have storage, so he builds bigger, better barns, that makes sense, all makes sense. Nothing's wrong so far, until he starts thinking to himself, soul, he said to my soul, soul, You guys do that all the time, right? Soul. You know, we talk to ourselves all the time, don't we? And what does he say to himself? You have ample goods laid up for many. You've worked hard, man. Relax. It's time to eat, drink, enjoy your wealth, be merry. Take life off. Live in your box. It's a luxurious box. It's marvelous. It's fantastic. Come on, man. Live it up. This is the American dream. Retire and enjoy yourself. See, once preachers start mucking around with money, oh, careful now. You're getting old, too. You're going to have to retire. That's right. And we are to be responsible and have forethought. We do need daily bread, we do. But you know what you never get done with even when you retire? Loving your neighbor as yourself, loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. First. You never retire from that. This guy did. That's why, but God said, fool. The deadly sin of greed, remember what deadly sins are. They're the kind of font sins, the starters, like pregnant mothers that give birth to more and more sins. They're kind of down at the root and they bear all kinds of fruit. You have this sin, but it has a harvest of much more problems, more other type sins. They're deadly not because they're mortal and unforgivable, they just create so much havoc and misery and sorrow. And, you know, you'd like to go through the seven deadlies, pride. Oh, yeah, that's a pride. Envy, yeah, it's a, ooh, ooh, ooh. Okay. Anger, ooh, yeah. Some people are living with anger all their lives. Sloth, kind of a spiritual apathy, whatever, nothing's good. I don't care. Oh. Well, finally, greed. I don't have that one. Really? And for the trim fit folks, we'll find out whether gluttony counts because it's not about being fat, although that's in there too. Greed, covetousness. This farmer wants to take life off, bask in his money, sip his drink, get his tan, enjoy his toys, satisfy and hapify himself, forget about everyone else, live in his box, eat, drink, be merry, selfish, self-centered, life is mine, it's for me, I don't belong to God or his Christ. I have my box. Fool! You realize how many neighbors you have who are, in the words of the parable, fool? Now with greed and living in a box, so much of it is from fear. We've known people like this. They scrimp, they save for everything so that they can finally live life in retirement. They never live life while they're living it. They're waiting. They're waiting to live life and then one of the partners gets a terrible disease and they never take the wonderful trips they planned on and all the rest. Fear. Living for tomorrow but never living for God today, never living for neighbor and loving neighbor as self while they're in front of you. There's no blessing life in a box. Jesus calls us not to worry about tomorrow. The day, live for each day, it has its own stuff, plenty to deal with each day and trust yourself in God's hands. Some of us have seen a TV show called, I don't know what it's really called, but you find these people that suffer with hoarding. Some sort of psychological damage in their background. They'll even save and hoard trash. And then their homes become unlivable. It's hard to understand what breaks people and what harms people, the fears that drive people. But just as some can hoard stuff that's just useless, other people will hoard things that are valuable, but it's hoarding nonetheless. It's accumulation to have. Here's my rock on which I stand. Here I'm safe. I'm invested right. I'm fortified. I have more than enough. So you get the kind of greed that's miserly, the Ebenezer Scrooge greed. And you're in a little, you're in this magnificent house, but you only use little rooms, and you keep everything dark with a single candle. Ooh, it's cheap, I love it. And you know, the jokes about stretching a penny, and that's where copper wire comes from, and whether it's a Scotchman or a Dutchman, one of those two. That's how they often talk about it. Stingy, miserly. But greed can also be extravagant. Lifestyles of the rich and famous. It can also be take life off. And then, like I said, it can be middle class. Well, I have these kinds of cars. I remember a fellow who had probably 30, 40 vintage cars. And he was a very nice, godly guy. I'm not sure, I mean, you could call it an investment. He could get his money back out of it, sure. But his own life still had troubles. And it's sad, a daughter who was anorexic, and it killed her. Money didn't make his life better. And there's those, as I already said, nice middle class people living for a tomorrow that never comes. Dante, the medieval poet, described the greedy like this. in purgatory, so it's Roman Catholic. But our eyes would never seek the height, never look outside the box, if you will, being bent on earthly matters. Love of all true good was quenched in us by avarice or greed, and our works were left undone. What neighbor? Mercy to whom? It's so important that we face up to the way we can live in a box. Love misdirected not to neighbor, not to God, but misdirected then to things, and bank accounts, and investments, and homes, and houses, and vacations, and all of those things can be fine until we make idols of them. This is how I'm happy. This is what life really is. These things are most important. My life pivots around my things and my activities and my aspirations, around my greeds, and not around the needs outside the box. And we live in a culture in which being greedy is good, And we have a culture of greed. But James would remind us that the source of, or Paul reminds us, it's a root of all kinds of evil. And James calls greed the primary obstacle to peace on earth. And the gospel writers remind us that Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver He liked to steal from the money bag, he was greedy. And then you go down a little further and you're introduced to a lawyer and to a rich young ruler. Now if you think about, here's the rich young ruler, we know this one. What must I do to inherit eternal life? Now Jesus gives him mostly the commandments on the second part of the law, you know, love neighbor as yourself and all that stuff. I've done all this since I was a boy. No doubt he had. That doesn't mean he fulfilled the law. One thing you lack, you know, a one thing can be a big thing. You don't love your neighbor as yourself. and maybe you don't love God first and most, go sell what you have. You're gonna lose everything. But now, come follow me, and you're gonna gain everything, so much more. He went away sad. How hard it is for rich folks, says Jesus, to enter the kingdom of heaven, it's really tough. How tough? Well, maybe some of you ladies have a needle in your purse, and I don't see any big camels here, but, you know, try to get one through the eye of a needle. That's pretty tough. Now, what the uncomfortable part is, is we're rich folks, most of us. We're really well off. We're not worrying and grubbing about our next meal tomorrow. We're not worried about shelter. In fact, we have a Christmas list coming up and we're trying to stay within budget with family and friends or something. We're well off. Greeds versus needs. The Gospels want us to take seriously that greed, the greed of nations, is the cause of most wars. And when Jesus comes along and says life does not consist in the abundance of possessions as part of an answer that we find here, as part of an answer to the Good Samaritan Because there too, there's someone who could be greedy and stingy and no mercy, and it's all about me, and that's an inconvenience, and that's a headache, and that's a hassle, and this is dangerous, and people are messy, and I prefer my box. But the good Samaritan, and in Jesus' day, that would have sounded really, that's what we call it now, the Samaritan, that's the villain. That's the Iranian terrorist. That's the woke person who loves transgenderism and wants to blow people up if need be. I mean, you got, how would you hear what they heard when they heard Samaritan? Ooh, not that, not him, and that's the one who's the neighbor to the man beaten and left half dead. I mean, this hits all of us. The preacher preaching it, it hits him too. And that's what brings us to part two. You gotta get out of the box. Blessed are the merciful, they shall be shown mercy. So go practice some. Go live out some. Look for neighbors that need what they don't have but you have to give. Practice mercy. Don't worry about taking life off. Maybe you don't need to make a living anymore, so now you can make time to be a servant in ways heretofore you did not have opportunity. Jesus gives us a portrait of life lived in the box and now one outside the box when he says, That's a big stop, warning sign, you know, buzzers are going off, a siren's in our ear, wake up, pay attention. You don't get to take life off from service of God and love of neighbor. The deadly sin of greed is deadly. It will consume us, we'll make it an idol, and then we're chasing it and serving it. One author I read has a very good, at least in my mind, way of thinking about Christian living. Anything that lives, breathes. He breathed into Adam's nostril the breath of life and he became a living soul. And to breathe, you have to inhale and you have to exhale. I once witnessed someone very nervous speaking in public, and he kept inhaling without exhaling. And before you know it, you're out of breath inhaling. And I'm really nervous, and I'm more nervous. I felt sorry for the man, but you have to exhale. Now some Christians only know how to inhale. Give me blessing. Give me, Lord. Bless me, Lord. Help me, Lord. I'm getting dizzy. But if we're given blessings from much who have received, much is expected. More blessed, more gifted, more to give. You've inhaled, now you have to exhale. You've received mercy, give mercy. Give mercy, receive mercy. Now you have a vital Christian life. Vital, which means life. It's living. The deadly sin of greed only inhales. Oh, I'm so blessed of God. I know. Now, spread it around. Use it. I don't know how many times I've seen very godly, wealthy people give all their wealth to their unbelieving children. Sadly and unbelieving. I'm not saying they should ignore their children, but exhale blessing for God's kingdom cause. Don't give it to unbelief, or certainly not all of it. Exhale. The rich young rulers sell everything you have. You've inhaled. Time to exhale. Come, follow me. Inhale. I'll give you true life. Exhale. Deny yourself. Take up your cross. Follow me. Inhale. Exhale. Judas and the rich young ruler both stand there in front of Jesus. Money on the one side, and his wealth in his box. Unboxed, following Jesus. Where's that gonna take me? I don't know, but there's neighbors that need help out there. Come follow. Sell what you have and gain Jesus. the pearl of great price, or stay in your box. We face the same things. Judas faced the same thing after the fact. He kind of realizes my 30 pieces of silver are a bad bargain for one's soul. We have to get out of the box. Kingdom come living in Jesus Christ. Kingdom reign living in Jesus Christ. Kingdom victory living in Jesus Christ. Mercy receiving, inhaling, mercy extending, exhaling life in Jesus Christ. It's called an abundant life. It's called eternal life. It's a life that Paul As he faced the same question of the lawyer and Judas and the rich young ruler, he counted it rubbish to obtain Christ. Not a greedy life, a life offered in service. And so, dear brothers and sisters, we're recipients of mercy. Blessed are the merciful. Now go be merciful. Receive mercy. Be merciful. Receive mercy. Be merciful. Inhale. Exhale. For God's kingdom cause, a man's life does not consist in abundance of possessions. Amen. Lord, bless your word to us. May we know your love and grace to provide for us, even as we're taught to pray for daily bread, because you know our needs. And Lord, whether we have great abundance, which brings a calling and responsibility and the use and stewardship of that, or whether we can consider ourselves rather meager or ordinary, Lord, we're still stewards of what we have. May we not make gods. of our possessions, but trust you in everything, and may we be abundant and generous to help others, not only with monies, but with our lives. For we ask this all in Jesus' name, for your glory, amen.