Greed Grace & The Gospel

Date: 10.03.21 Speaker: Kris Martens Texts: Luke 12:13-34 Title: Greed, Grace & The Gospel "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." - Jesus Luke 12:15 NIV 'Greed is good' - Wall Street (1995) Jesus talks about money, riches & greed more than any other subject - and the Bible references the poor & oppressed over 2100 times. His disciples had little question as to His priorities: kingdom living - freeing the poor, oppressed & those in slavery - pushing back the darkness of sin, religion & idolatry - and eventually making all things new. Many of His stories involved a contrast between rich & poor - haves & have-nots - with Jesus almost always siding with the poor while likening the rich to camels squeezing through needles. I wonder today... if the church addressed money as often & as forcefully as Jesus did with his disciples - if it would lead to empty pews or full-on revival? Maybe we should find out...In this mornings text, Jesus will address money & greed specifically - warning us of its power, & deception over our hearts. He'll brazenly confront our comfortable western culture - where few even acknowledge greed as an 'issue' - while we spend time & energy worrying about clothes, housing & food. Jesus will call for generosity, good works and being rich towards God. We will then look at the only thing able to break the power of money over us: the Gospel itself. note: credit to pastor Tim Keller (Redeemer Presbyterian Church in NYC) for some of the main points & Gospel-application. Specifically, his sermon entitled 'treasure vs money' (May 1999).