CRCF””8/16/09
How to Remove the Leech of “More”
Colossians 3:1-14 ((*5b)
Introduction”” “Greed is good. Greed is right. Greed works” (Gordon Gekko in Wall Street).
So says the world in which we live. So says the human heart. I”™ve lived it, and so have you.
Men who trap animals in Africa for zoos in America say that one of the hardest animals to catch is the ringtailed monkey. For the Zulus of that continent, however, it’s simple. They’ve been catching this agile little animal with ease for years. The method the Zulus use is based on knowledge of the animal. Their trap is nothing more than a melon growing on a vine. The seeds of this melon are a favorite of the monkey. Knowing this, the Zulus simply cut a hole in the melon, just large enough for the monkey to insert his hand to reach the seeds inside. The monkey will stick his hand in, grab as many seeds as he can, then start to withdraw it. This he cannot do. His fist is now larger than the hole. The monkey will pull and tug, screech and fight the melon for hours. But he can’t get free of the trap unless he gives up the seeds, which he refuses to do. Meanwhile, the Zulus sneak up and nab him.
(Bibliographic Reference is Uncertain: Charles Swindoll, Living Above the Level of Mediocrity, p.150ff.)
Greed can easily be the death of you and me!
Colossians 3:5b””“Don”™t be greedy for the good things of this life, for that is idolatry.” (NLT)
Proverbs 30:15””“The leech has two suckers that cry out, ”˜More! More!”™.” (NLT)
*Every Christ-follower must learn how to remove the leech of “more”, lest we betray Jesus for the “stuff” of this world.
HOW do we remove the leech of “more”?
1. You and I must understand that greed is the deadly worship of the “stuff” of this world.
Colossians 3:5b””“Don”™t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.”
Jesus explained this in a great story about a farmer.
Luke 12:13-21
“Then someone called from the crowd, ”˜Teacher, please tell my brother to divide our father”™s estate with me.”™ Jesus replied, ”˜Friend, who made me a judge over you to decide such things as that?”™ Then he said, ”˜Beware! Don”™t be greedy for what you don”™t have. Real life is not measured by how much we own.”™ And he gave an illustration: ”˜A rich man had a fertile farm that produced fine crops. In fact, his barns were full to overflowing. So he said, ”˜I know! I”™ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I”™ll have room enough to store everything. And I”™ll sit back and say to myself, ”˜My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!”™ But God said to him, ”˜You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get it all?”™ Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.” (NLT)
Why did God take this rich man”™s life? Because he worshiped and trusted in his “stuff” instead of God.
He loved satisfying/pleasing himself more than he loved satisfying/pleasing God.
“Greed is the logical result of the belief that there is no life after death. We grab what we can while we can however we can and then hold on to it hard.”
(Sir Fred Catherwood, Evangelicals Now, September, 1994.)
What are you willing to do for $10,000,000?
Two-thirds of Americans polled would agree to at least one, some to several of the following:
Would abandon their entire family (25%)
Would abandon their church (25%)
Would become prostitutes for a week or more (23%)
Would give up their American citizenships (16%)
Would leave their spouses (16%)
Would withhold testimony and let a murderer go free (10%)
Would kill a stranger (7%)
Would put their children up for adoption (3%)
(James Patterson and Peter Kim, The Day America Told the Truth, 1991.)
Proverbs 30:7-9””“O God, I beg two favors from you before I die. First, help me never to tell a lie. Second, give me neither poverty nor riches! Give me just enough to satisfy my needs. For if I grow rich, I may deny you and say, ”˜Who is the Lord?”™ And if I am too poor, I may steal and thus insult God”™s holy name.”
1 Timothy 6:9-10””“But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is at the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.” (NLT)
NOTE the deceitfulness of greed””“trapped by many foolish and harmful desires”, “plunge them into ruin and destruction”, “pierced themselves with many sorrows”.
Does anyone who goes down the path of greed intend to be trapped and to be foolish and bring harm to themselves””even ruin and destruction, and pierce themselves with sorrows? No! Greed deceives!
Greed is the deadly worship of the “stuff” of this world!
2. You and I must rip the leech of “more” from our hearts.
Colossians 3:5a””“ So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you.”
Now, in my life, the suckers on the leech of greed are strong and latch on hard! How ”˜bout for you? So . . .
How can we rip greed loose from our hearts?
a) Focus your thoughts on your true “home”! (1-3)
Colossians 3:1-5a, 6, 9-10–“Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits at God”™s right hand in the place of honor and power. Let heaven fill your thoughts. Do not think only about things down here on earth. For you died when Christ died, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your real life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory. So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you . . . God”™s terrible anger will come upon those who do such things . . . for you have stripped off your old evil nature and all its wicked deeds. In its place you have clothed yourselves with a brand-new nature that is continually being renewed as you learn more and more about Christ, who created this new nature within you.”
1 John 3:2-3””“Yes, dear friends, we are already God”™s children, and we can”™t even imagine what we will be like when Christ returns. But we do know that when he comes we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is. And all who believe this will keep themselves pure, just as Christ is pure.” (NLT)
1 John 2:15-17””“Stop loving this evil world and all that it offers you, for when you love the world, you show that you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only the lust for physical pleasure, the lust for everything we see, and pride in our possessions. These are not from the Father. They are from this evil world. And this world is fading away, along with everything it craves.” (NLT)
We can rip the leech of greed from our hearts focusing on our true home, remembering how short-lived the stuff of this world really is!
b) Replace the selfishness of greed with practical love for others!
Colossians 3:12-14
“Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance for each other”™s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony.” (NLT)
Back to Jesus”™ story in Luke 12””
Luke 12:21””“Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.” (NLT)
What does Jesus mean practically by the phrase, “a rich relationship with God”? What does that kind of relationship with God look like?
Luke 12:31-34””“He will give you all you need from day to day if you make the kingdom of God your primary concern. So don”™t be afraid, little flock. For it gives your Father great happiness to give you the kingdom. Sell what you have and give to those in need. This will store up treasure for you in heaven! And the purses of heaven have no holes in them. Your treasure will be safe””no thief can steal it and no moth can destroy it. Wherever your treasure is, there your heart and thoughts will also be.” (NLT)
The antidote to the poison of selfishness and greed is God”™s love flowing through us to others as we serve them practically!
“What does it say to those of us who follow the One who had no place to lay his head, when our combined incomes””the income of American Christians””exceeds $5 trillion a year? What does it say to a people who spend more money on pet food and weight loss products each year than we give to education, poverty and health relief organizations combined? What does it say to those of us who buy $5 billion of Christian products a year, when the largest Christian organization feeding the world”™s hungry gets less than a quarter of that amount?” (McBrayer, ibid., 48).
By the way, the Gilmer Food Pantry still needs our donations and time, as we can give it. Also, there”™s a new ministry that Don Talbert and I are going to visit hopefully this week called Bread and Bowl Ministries that gives free lunch to folks almost every day (see postcards on the counter).
1 John 4:7-12””“Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is born of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God””for God is love. God showed how much he loved us by sending his only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love. It is not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love has been brought to full expression through us.” (NLT)
“Serving others will remind us of our identity and call us out from this self-absorbed, selfish world to be the people of God on a journey following his Son, Jesus” (McBrayer, Leaving Religion, Following Jesus, 51).
We can rip the leech of greed from our hearts by replacing it with practical love for others!
Conclusion””“In the days following September 11, 2001, reports of the remarkable story of the New York City firefighters in Ladder Company 6 began to circulate. This small group of men entered the World Trade Center One after it was struck by the first hijacked plane. They assisted the wounded and the traumatized, working their way up the building”™s stairwells. On the fifteenth floor, Port Authority Police handed over to them a sixty-year-old bookkeeper named Josephine Harris. She had descended some seventy floors already and slowly began to climb down the last few stories. They talked to her about her kids, her grandkids, and her work, anything to keep her moving. But at the fourth floor she could go no further. She had to sit down and rest. The men of Ladder Company 6 refused to leave her. They sat down with her in the stairwell. It was then that more than a hundred floors of burning steel and concrete began to crash down on top of them. Each one quickly said their prayers and prepared for death. But death did not come. The fourth-floor stairwell of building one was one of only a few places that did not collapse. When they emerged from the rubble a few hours later, they were alive, and, for the most part, well. ”˜You saved our lives,”™ the firefighters told Josephine. ”˜But you saved mine,”™ Josephine responded. And it was all true . . . in finding those in need of material and spiritual grace and offering it to them freely, we find our own souls rescued from selfishness and corruption. In serving others we find ourselves. We discover the reason for our existence: not to be served but to serve, and to give our lives to others just as Jesus did” (McBrayer, ibid., 51-52).
What good would it be
Fm
If you had everything
E
But you wouldn’t have
Fm E
The only thing you need
This is the good life
C#m
I’ve lost everything
Fm
I could ever want
E D
And ever dream of
A
This is the good life
C#m
I found everything
Fm
I could ever need
E D
Here in Your arms