The Seven Deadly Sins - Avarice

(Video Clip - 'Greed is Good')

A clip from the movie Wall Street which was released 30 years ago but still manages to sound frighteningly contemporary in today’s world.

According to Gordon Gekko, the character we’ve just been watching, greed is a virtue, not a vice. Something to be cultivated rather than condemned.

It’s greed that propels Gekko all the way to the top of the food chain in his chosen line of work; but ultimately it’s greed that brings his downfall.

And that phrase -‘greed is good’ - has entered our lexicon as a three word summary of the excesses of the 1980’s and 90’s. And it says a lot about where we are today that something the ancients considered a vice is now the engine of the Western Economy.

And Scotland’s partly to blame for that, you know!

Adam Smith, the celebrated 18^th Century Scottish economist, was one of the first to make the argument that self-interest is necessary  for the economy. The brewer, the baker and the butcher put food on our table not because of altruism but because they’re looking after their own interests. Smith’s argument was that as ach of us works to look after ourselves and our own, more goods will be made and sold, and the economy will grow.

David Hume, a contemporary Scottish philosopher was inclined to agree – and went so far as to describe greed as ‘the spur of industry’.

But we need to be a wee bit clearer about those terms, I think. Self-interest, the natural inclination to make sure your own needs and those of your dependents are met, is one thing. Greed is something else. Greed is that restless seeking after more which goes far beyond need and is rarely, if ever, satisfied.

Self-interest can lead to mutual co-operation. Greed tends to lead to competition and aggression. You want an image of that – picture the crowds pushing through the doors of ASDA on Black Friday, knocking each other to the ground to try and get to the discounted televisions first.

For all that Smith and Hume were experts in their field, it seems to me that as Enlightenment optimists they failed to reckon with the realities of human nature.

And since their time, people have realised that vast sums of money can be made by playing on the fears and discontent of the population. Buy this cream, it will stop you ageing. Buy this car – it’ll do wonders for your image! Buy this phone – you don’t want to be left behind, do you?

But what happens in a society that’s lost its moral compass, when you let the advertising people keep stoking the fires of discontent and desire in people? What happens when you cultivate avarice in the population and then let the Gordon Gekkos ride off into the sunset with all the money, having broken the system that we’re all relying on?

This is what happens: (Video of 2011 riots in England)

Those images were from 2011 and around that time it seemed that everywhere we looked we were seeing the naked face of greed. Not just in young folk trashing shops and stealing stuff. In politicians pocketing huge expenses, in fat cats getting paid vast bonuses for presiding over failure. In footballers getting paid more in a week than a carer earns in a decade.

Greed might appear good if it works for you, Mr Gekko. But it doesn’t seem to do much for society.

And maybe that’s why Jesus had more to say about avarice than any other sin. Lust and Gluttony – the fleshly sins - are obvious targets for disapproval; and yet Jesus didn’t say nearly as much about them as about greed, which often goes well disguised in a good suit and a capable manner. Lust turns people into things; gluttony covets food and drink as things. Avarice turns everything into a thing.

Avarice is always about More and More and More, and though the focus might seem to be on possessions, it’s much more to do with possessing.

Greed tells us that if we buy the next thing, we’ll be better for it. Another rung up on the ladder, a bit more secure, a little more happy and fulfilled. People will think more highly of us.

And when you boil that down, greed is really about our need for security and status. The person who’s prone to greed is trying to validate themselves through what they buy, rather than trusting in God for their self worth and their identity.

In one sense, having things isn’t really the issue with greed. You can be wealthy and generous to a fault; you can be poor and totally avaricious. What counts is the attitude of your heart towards material things.

How much do they matter to you? How much does your self-worth depend on them?

Greed exerts power in our lives by making us believe that fulfilment lies in acquiring things, and making us discontent with what we have, even if what we have is already more than enough.

One of our friends loves interior design and although she has a lovely home, she’s always dreaming about ways that she can improve it and make it better. She gets a monthly magazine called Country Living which is full of beautiful pictures of gorgeously decorated houses which scarcely look lived in, though she knows that with four growing kids her home is never going to look that good!

And when the magazine arrives in the post her husband always brings it to her with a wry smile and says – ‘here’s your home porn, darling!’

She’s lusting after these beautiful, unattainable images and when she stops and thinks about it, she knows that all it does is make her unhappy with what she already has, which is more than enough.

Greed promises fulfilment, but it doesn’t deliver because we weren’t made to live on bread alone, on things alone, but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

And it promises security – but no amount of possessions can guarantee that.

I know I’ve read this to you before, but it’s good enough to warrant a second hearing. It’s by Steve Turner and it’s called 500 Million Pounds.

The Earl of Grosvenor has five hundred million pounds.

He is honeymooning in Hawaii.

Five hundred million pounds,

and he still has to honeymoon somewhere in the world….

He has married Natalia. She is not my sort of girl!

Five hundred million pounds,

and he marries someone who is not my sort of girl.

The Earl of Grosvenor carries a heavy black suitcase in his right hand.

He begins to sweat. Damp patches begin to form under his arms,

as if he were a labourer, or an unemployed man,

carrying a heavy black suitcase.

I expect he wishes he’d brought his handkerchief

I expect he worries about flying.

I expect he wonders whether Natalia really loves him.

I expect he wonders what it would be like

to have only 450 million pounds.

The Earl of Grosvenor takes off.

He knows that disaster can come to anyone.

He knows that the sea is no respecter of persons.

Five hours in the air, and he is restless.

Five hundred million pounds, and he is restless.

45% of Lottery winners tell us that their win hasn’t made them happier. 1 in 3 go bankrupt, having spent all their winnings within five years.

Greed promises all kinds of things, but it can’t deliver on them.

And our Bible story this morning illustrates that to perfection.

Ahab was undoubtedly the worst king in Israel’s history. He and his equally wicked wife Jezebel were notorious. And maybe that’s part of the reason Naboth knocks him back when he asks him to sell his vineyard.

And as is the way of it, Ahab’s request sounds perfectly reasonable to his ears. Greed always does to the one who’s being greedy. “Let me have your vineyard; it’s close to my palace, and I want to use the land for a vegetable garden.”

And there are the tell tale words – “I want”. Not “I need” or “I wonder if” or “would you be interested in” but I want.  He’s King. Plenty of other places he might choose to plant his tatties. But he wants this particular piece of land.

For Ahab, this vineyard’s just another thing he wants, and everything has its price.

But for Naboth, it’s more than a thing. It’s his heritage. His kids’ inheritance. He’s got roots and memories here, a long investment of time and effort. And you can’t put a price on that. He’s not interested in moving. And he tells Ahab so.

And look how Ahab responds – it’s an almost visceral reaction, which is usually a sign that something’s become too important to us. He gets depressed and angry, takes himself off home, refuses to eat, takes to his bed like a sulking child.

When we don’t have God to tell us who we are, and we trust our possessions and acquisitions to do that for us, getting a knock back like this feels like a slight on you as a person. It cuts very deep.

And in this frame of mind, Ahab has no thought for the vast resources that he already has. All the other places he could develop. All that’s in view just now is the one thing he really wants – Naboth’s vineyard.

And Jezebel, clearly wearing the trousers in that house, tells him to man up (King-up!) and pull himself together.  She’ll get the land for him, no matter what the cost.

And indeed she does. But look where their greed takes them.

I’d said earlier that part of the reason God’s so against greed is what it does to our societies. Can you imagine what Jezebel’s plan did to the local community as Naboth was taken away and executed? Can you imagine the arguments and the hatred  that would grow up between those who knew he was innocent and those who’d falsely accused him? That village would never be the same.

But things don’t end there. Ahab’s still humming to himself and picking a few grapes off his newly acquired vine when Elijah arrives and chillingly prophesies his death. “In the very place that the dogs licked up Naboth’s blood, they will lick up your blood.”

Greed promises so much. Security, happiness and fulfilment. But the truth is, in the end, it can’t deliver on any of them.

It’s in God that we find those things, at their deepest level. And when our roots are deep in him, we’re freed to operate not out of greed, but its opposite, which isn’t poverty, but generosity.

Some of the wealthiest people I know have been the most generous with what they own, and that’s because they treat what they own as something they have on loan from God – not their own private possession.

It might surprise you to know that the most frequent command to folk with wealth in the Bible isn’t to give it all away – it’s to be generous with what they have.

We’ve never had a lot of money as a family, but when we were down in Glasgow and living in a tied house we bought a bungalow in Arrochar near Loch Lomond as a wee bolthole and to keep a toe in the market. And one of the pleasures of having that place was being able to offer it to people who just needed a day or a weekend away, or maybe a longer break in the summer. Friends and family, yes, but in the areas we worked in there were families who rarely got out of the city and once we’d built up some trust with them, we were able to say to a few of them – here are the keys. Get yourselves up into the hills for a few days. We’re happy to let you use the place. You’d have thought we were giving them the crown jewels.

It was a risk, sure – but in four years it never backfired on us and we had nothing but gratitude in return. We were blessed in blessing those folk, and we got back from them at least as much as we gave.

Greed divides. Generosity brings people together.

Greed is chasing after the next thing that promises to make me happy.

Generosity is being grateful for what I already have and asking how I can use it to make others happy.

Greed says ‘I want more’

Generosity says ‘I already have enough’

Greed springs from our human insecurity.

Generosity flows from a life that’s already secure in God.

There’s a story told about a monk who was sleeping under a tree outside a village. When he woke up the next morning a man rushed up to him and said ‘the stone – the stone. You have to give me the stone!”

“What stone?”, said the monk.

“I had a dream last night, and in my dream I met an angel who told me that I’d meet a monk today and he’d give me a stone that would make me rich beyond my wildest dreams!”

Monk fished around in his backpack and pulled out a large rock. “Here,” he said. “it must be this one. I found it up in the mountains a while back. You can have it if you like. It’s a diamond”

And sure enough, it was a huge rough diamond, about the size of your fist. And the man went back into the village thanking God and jumping for joy.

Later that day, after the monk had gone several miles on his way, he heard footsteps behind him, and turned round to discover the same man running after him.

He fell panting at the monk’s feet, dug the stone out of his pocket and gave it back to him. And then he looked up at him and said: “I want you to give me the inner riches that make it possible for you to give away this stone”.

May we all know more of those inner riches, and the generosity, that flows from a life that’s secure in God.