Beyond Greed: some final thoughts (part V)

I really appreciated the immensely practical articles from a variety of authors all the way through this book (though I have not commented on them much). The two articles on Christian lifestyle by D.B. Knox and Sandra King in part V were particularly challenging for me. If, as I pray you are, you are thinking through the implications of what we have read on your life, reflect again on what D.B. Knox says here;

"Before we examine what the New Testament says about it [money] we need to ask ourselves whether we are willing to accept God's thoughts on the subject of money when these are clearly announced in the pages of the Bible and particularly taught by Jesus himself. Does God the Creator know more about the management of money than we do, and are we willing to accept his words as the rule for our conduct in this subject to which we give so much of our attention? Christian obedience means complete obedience and not only in those things where we happen to agree with God. Christian faith means trusting God even when our own views seem to suggest the contrary." (p146)

I would like to encourage all of us, as the new year begins, to take time to reflect again on the passages that under-gird this book (p13-14);

Colossians 3:5

"Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry."

1 Timothy 6:6

"Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment..."

Matthew 16:26

"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life?"

Here are some other passages that have been helpful to me as this book has spurred me onto taking this issue seriously.

Matthew 6:19-21

Luke 12:15, 22-34

Deuteronomy 8:10-18; Mark 4:18-19

Psalm 49

Hebrews 13:5-6

Ephesians 1:3-10

Philippians 2:5-11

1 Timothy 6:6-9

John 14:1-6

Poverty for its own sake is either virtuous nor uplifting. But as D.B. Knox exhorts us, "all our contacts and relationships with other people should be with the object of serving them." (p149) This will have an impact on how we use our money. Let me leave you with the following immensely challenging suggestions from Sandra King;

"Why not take one step? Make one cutback, simple but radical. Make one choice that will mean that you step away from your peers. For example, skip the weekly family take-away meal. Drop the year's subscription to the theatre. Get rid of some of your investments. Put off the kids' private education- or scrap it altogether. Don't buy new clothes this year. Walk more and use the car less. Forget the overseas trip. Stop buying CDs for a year. Sell the holiday flat. Move into a smaller house.

Then- and here comes the exciting part- take out your cheque book and give away the money you have just saved.

There is no point in just becoming poorer. We do it for a reason- for the sake of the gospel. Cheerfully give away what you have so that God may use you as an instrument of his generosity." (p159)

Why not spend some time praying about this and, with God's help, make a new-year's resolution?

Beyond Greed: a twist in the tale (part VI)

So by now you have been convinced that greed is "destructive, deceitful and contrary to God ... truly a deadly sin." (p26) You have had a long, hard look at your life and you have to admit that you have worshipped at the idol of greed. You have recognised inordinate love, misplaced trust and forbidden service. And reflecting on contentment and generosity in the midst of the Christmas-silly-season has left you feeling just a little guilty.

And now you read that, actually, greed is good.

What?!!

With this twist in his tale, Rosner shows us that it is not actually the desire for more that is inappropriate, but how that desire is directed. Just as strong-will in a child can either be stubborn disobedience or determined perseverance depending upon how it is directed, our desire for more can either be selfish greed or godly thirst, depending upon how it is directed.

At risk of mixing the metaphor some more, let's consider what Isaiah 55:1-2 says,

“Come, everyone who thirsts,

come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food."

As Rosner explains, the solution to thirst and hunger is not to quash thirst and hunger, but to quench them. The issue is not whether they should be quenched, but with what they are quenched. The problem is not that we are greedy for riches, but that we are greedy for the wrong riches. We do not want what God in his abundant goodness is giving, which is of even more value than gold. Instead of storing up treasure in heaven we heap up riches on earth (Matthew 6:19-20).

Rosner is not being clever or tricky in his use of language when distinguishing between real ( or spiritual) riches and material (or worldy) riches. He carefully shows how Scripture itself speaks likewise. Revelation 3:17-18 is clear;

"For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see."

Rosner describes the gold refined by fire at length in this chapter. Personally, I love they way Paul describes the blessings that God has lavished upon us in Ephesians 1:3-10. The 'salve' for our eyes is to fix them upon Jesus; to set our mind on things above, not on earthly things (Col 3:1-2). Instead of finding pleasure and fulfillment on our possesions, we find joy and pleasure in God; instead of finding confidence and security in riches, we trust our sovereign and gracious God; instead of labouring under the rod of mammon we discover the freedom and liberty of serving Him who died for us (p170-171).

Our battle against greed must be fought on two fronts. First, we must develop the right attitude to worldly possessions; contentment and generosity. Second, we must nuture a right understanding of riches. True riches do not consist of what we can hold and touch and heap up, but in knowing and loving God and being known and loved by him.

I agree with Rosner that those that can sing the words of this verse from the hymn 'Be Thou my Vision', will never think that they have missed out, no matter how much their faith has cost them materially;

Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise

Thou mine inheritance now and always.

Thou, and thou only, first in my heart,

High King of heaven, my treasure thou art.

Beyond Greed - A cure (Parts III & IV)

In Parts III & IV of Beyond Greed we learn the secret of moving beyond greed in our lives: contentment and generosity.

"Giving and contentment are two sides of the one coin. Together they represent the positive alternative to greed. If contentment calls a halt to the grabbing dimension of greed, giving addresses it's keeping aspect." (page 117)

Contentment is being satisfied with what you have. It is the opposite of greed. Hebrews 13:5 says,

"keep your life free from the love of money and be content with what you have".

Rosner helpfully describes three reasons why Christians ought to be content;

• God himself is content. That is, God, in creating and redeeming us, limited himself. In creating, he made something independent of, or other than, himself. In redemption, he became poor, he was content with less.
• God promises his people a secure future. Christians have a glorious destination awaiting. No matter what happens in this life, we, like the martyrs of the past, like Paul and like Christ himself, can be content knowing what joy is set before us.
• We can trust his goodness. God is good, not vindictive, and we can trust that whatever is happening to us is not out of his control, and is actually for our good.

It is interesting here that two of these are the reverse of "misplaced trust", one of the aspects of greed explored in part II of the book. I wonder if contentment can also be found in loving and being satisfied in God (the reverse of "inordinate love") and in obeying and serving God (thus the reverse of "forbidden service".) And just as greed is bound up with pride, so is contentment bound up with humility.

Christmas is a difficult time to be content. Most likely you have been pestered for a wish-list. You have been bombarded with advertisements really stretching your capacity for contentment beyond breaking point. And all that shopping has set you dreaming. Let me ask you a question. If every present this year was a dud, every single one ... The sizes are too small. You already have that book. Don't they know you hate pink?! ... would you be able to respond graciously? Could you be genuinely thankful for the gift, not because the gift matters, but the giver does, and because you are already content.

Giving is not grasping hold of, or keeping, what you already own. It's sharing food and possessions with others. It's relinquishing your legitimate right to them for the sake of the good of others.

This is the most challenging part of the book for me. I may (or may not) have mastered contentment, but I am so content with what I have that I don't want to let it, any of it, go. It was this chapter that opened my eyes to the greedy and mean spirit in my heart. I was particularly challenged by the picture of the early church and by the visibility of their generosity and giving. That a greedy person was recognizable shows that while it is an issue of the heart, like faith, it will show itself in action.

So, be generous. Give. When in doubt, give. And, don't just give what is left over. Don't just match luxuries to yourself with gifts for others. Go without so that you might give. Become poor that you might give. That's what Jesus did.

Because that's the key to all of this. It's becoming like Christ who became poor for the sake of others (2 Cor 8:9). It's the gospel of grace; undeserved kindness. It's knowing all that God has done for me in Christ that enables me to be content and knowing how kindly and generously He has dealt with this sinner that empowers me to be generous. It's the gift of His Spirit; watering, feeding and pruning, day by day to produce this most precious fruit in me.

Let's pray that it will be produced abundantly in all of us.

I would love to hear your stories of learning contentment and generosity.

Beyond Greed - Still thinking

Here are some things I’m still thinking about from part 2 of Beyond Greed. I would love to hear your thoughts.

* greed and enjoyment of possessions

I am a little confused by the quote from Augustine on page 58 which distinguishes between enjoyment of things and use of them. He seems to suggest that it is sinful to enjoy things. We should in fact use them to enjoy God. However 1 Timothy 6:17 says, God… who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. So are we to enjoy them or not? I suspect the answer may lie in the meaning of ‘enjoy’ in both cases… can someone shed light on this for me?

* greed and pride

I’ve been thinking about what pushes me to acquire certain possessions and in my case I think it is pride. I want people to think well of me, think I am “successful”, intelligent, sophisticated, cultured… and so buy things that accord with that image. I would add this to Rosners’s list of things that drive greed: inordinate love, misplaced trust, forbidden service and selfish pride. Do you agree? Would you add anything else?

* business and the economy

I admit that I understand very little about business and the economy and am ill-qualified to comment much on how the economy operates. I am interested to know if there are others out there that can. Would you agree with Rosner’s assessment? Can our present model operate without greed? Are there economic models and practises that do not assume and encourage greed?

Beyond Greed - Greed is Idolatry

This second part of the book (chapters 3-6), which is the toughest part to chew, is an extended reflection on Paul’s comment in Colossians 3:5 that “greed is idolatry”. In chapter 3, Rosner shows that this is not an isolated comment in scripture, but a theme that runs right through it and, a most serious charge indeed. His satirical look at the religion of The Economy which follows suggests that though none of us would bow the knee to a pile of gold, we are, in fact, guilty as charged. In the following chapters (4-6), Rosner explores what it is that drives greed; inordinate love, misplaced trust and forbidden service.

Inordinate love is an admiration or devotion to our things that is misplaced (out of order). We set our hearts upon them when in fact our hearts should be set upon God. I like the quote from Martin Lloyd Jones (pp 60-61)

'Anything that you and I tend to set up as the big thing, the central thing, in our lives, the thing about which we think and dream, the thing that engages our imagination, the thing that we live for, the thing that gives us the biggest thrill, if it is anything other than God, it is idolatry.'

It comes from being 'in love with this present world' (2 Timothy 4:10) and it ‘robs us of something far better’ (p 65) because in the end, money and our possession cannot satisfy.

When we came to leave for Vanuatu and were packing up our house I was confronted with this very inordinate love in my heart. I hate to admit it, but it was my books that aroused such affection. They defined who I was, who I had been and who I hoped to become. My heart was in them.

I wonder what it is for you? What could you do about it?

Misplaced trust is the attitude that money provides security. The more money we have, the more we have behind us, the more secure our future will be. Not just our future, but that of our children. With money we buy a house to live in, food to eat, clothes to wear. With more money we can set aside some for the future, or some to get us through difficult times. Is this not what the rich man says?

'I will tear down my barns and build larger ones… And I will say to my soul, Soul you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink and be merry.' (Luke 12:18-19)

Rosner outlines two problems with this way of thinking. First, God is jealous. Trust in money for our security, and trust in ourselves to provide that money pushes God out of the picture. But, He is the one that provides for us and cares for us. We must trust Him. Second, it doesn’t work; ‘to think that money can provide security is deluded’ (p 75) and I think the recent global financial crisis is a further example of this.

This can be a difficult lesson to learn, particularly if you have lost much.How have you learnt to trust God rather than money?

Forbidden service is working for and obeying one Master when actually, your allegiance belongs to another. Rosner refers to and explains Jesus’ statement in Matthew 6:24 that,'You cannot serve both God and money.'He says,

‘No-one sets out to become a slave of money, and most people do not recognise their servitude until it is too late. People wrongly assume that money is serving them.’ (p 78)

We see this in the way many of us are caught up in patterns of work that are damaging to our families and ourselves in order to provide for particular lifestyles. The more one wants to spend, the more one has to work in order to earn enough money to do so. It has become a form of slavery.

An old school friend of mine recently said that she ‘had no other choice’ than to put her daughter into child-care at six months and return to full-time work, as she could not afford not to. She also felt she could not afford to have any other children. Regardless of what you think of her decisions she expressed it in terms of bondage. There was no other choice. ‘The worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful’ (Mark 4:19). We don’t set out to serve it, but it chokes us until we know nothing else. It’s just what we do.

When have you felt as if you had 'no choice' in your life? What did you do?

Your affections. Your trust. Your obedience. They belong to God. Where are they?

You will be pleased to know that in part 3, Rosner discusses solutions to the problem of greed. Hang in there for the secret … you may have already picked up some hints.

Beyond Greed - Pt 5

On Friday last week I landed once again at Sydneys airport. Before we leave the airport, before we have collected our luggage, before we have even had our passports checked, we must pass through a small but luxurious shopping mall. It is difficult not to have to walk through the check-outs.

On Saturday, I browse the Sydney Morning Herald. There has been an inter-net bust. Hundreds of sites have been deregistered for fraud. The detective explains, 'Fraudsters target the victim’s desire to buy designer goods … the risk begins when your desire to purchase blinds your judgment' …

There is a full-page advertisement for holidays in Malaysia; not for rest or recuperation, not to visit family or experience culture, but to shop. ‘Buy! Buy! Buy!’ it commands.

Brian Rosner spends the first half of the first chapter of Beyond Greed showing how greed, the insatiable desire for more, is as much part of our modern society as flax is of linen. I think he is exactly right. He says:

”Greed may even be said to be a public good, the engine which drives economic progress.”

It is upon this basis that our society now functions.

The trouble is, that even if it is true, and even if it does work, it is sin. In the second half of the chapter, Rosner shows how the Old Testament, the New Testament and Christian leaders throughout history speak with one voice on this matter.

”Over the ages, greed has been recognized for what it is - destructive, deceitful and contrary to God. It truly is a deadly sin.”

Living in Vanuatu has been an enormous challenge for me especially in relation to our abundance of possessions. I had never really considered myself wealthy before, let alone greedy; but in the face of such simplicity of life, I find I am both! Why else am I so obsessed with my son’s matchbox cars that I count them each night to make sure none are missing? Why am I so reluctant to lend a student money for transport to town? Why do we have enough food in our cupboard to feed us for a month?

There are many ways I could justify each of these things but I would be lying if I didn’t admit that greed is a significant motivator in each case.

Many of Rosner’s examples of greed are extreme and involved with how society and corporations function. It would be easy to dismiss them as being far removed from your daily life. But, I want you this week to unmask greed in your own life. How are you caught up in this insatiable desire for more?

Beyond Greed - Pt 4

Why it’s worth reading Beyond Greed with us this month, reason 4

It’s a good chance for us to share together how we have identified and struggled to overcome greed in our lives. Not to justify it to each other but to genuinely help each other to change. For this reason, anonymous comments will be allowed (and in some cases, preferred) so that we, together, with warmed hearts and cleared heads, can work at applying what we have learnt.

Beyond Greed - Pt 3

Why it’s worth reading Beyond Greed with us this month, reason 3

It shows us how to get rid of greed, by not just exposing and challenging it but also by helping us to change the thoughts and attitudes that let it grow fat and ugly.

"The book is an attempt to disturb our pockets, not with practical tips and specific appeals, but rather by warming our hearts and clearing our heads" (page 9).

Beyond Greed - Pt 2

Why it’s worth reading Beyond Greed with us this month, reason 2

It exposes an insidious and destructive sin that is so much a part of our Australian culture that we notice it as little as the air we breathe. Truly a prophetic voice! Lamentations 2:14 says:

The visions of your prophets were false and worthless; they did not expose your sin to ward off your captivity.

Beyond Greed - Pt 1

Why it’s worth reading Beyond Greed with us this month, reason 1

It’s part of your fight for joy. Deuteronomy 28:47 says:

... you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things.

Beyond Greed - Introduction

I first read Beyond Greed in its first edition, How to be Really Rich, a few years ago now but its piercing critique of Christianity in developed and affluent societies has never left me. It had a great and lasting impact on me then and I hope this new edition, Beyond Greed, will again help me to change as I meditate on the parts of God’s word that are the basis of this book. I hope it will not leave you unchanged either! In this first week there'll be some very short posts each day explaining why I think it’s worth reading this book and discussing it together. Then from the 7th of December, there’ll be one post per week based on:

• Preface and Part 1; in which greed is unmasked
• Part 2; which explains how greed is idolatry
• Parts 3 & 4; about contentment and generosity
• Parts 5 & 6; about a Christian lifestyle and true riches

After my post it will be over to you to share your questions, insights, ideas for change, struggles and joys in our fight to put off the old self and live instead by the Spirit.

*(If you have How to be Really Rich, I wouldn't rush out and buy Beyond Greed. Beyond Greed has the same basic argument, only with some articles from the Briefing that also address the issue of greed, an unpublished sermon from John Dickson and an extra chapter by Brian Rosner addressing the prosperity gospel. You will be able to follow all of our discussion if you read How to be Really Rich.)

Meeting Rachael Connor

In December Rachael Connor will be taking us through Beyond Greed. We have previously interviewed Rachael about how she came to Christ and what she loves about reading here and where she is currently serving God here, so you might like to read those interviews before we begin.

Posts in the coming week are largely introductory, so you have plenty of time to get a copy of this book and read along!