God’s generosity overwhelms our greed and makes us grateful, content, and generous.

Transcript

October 12-13, 2019

Pastor Joe Wittwer

Overwhelmed!

#2—Generosity instead of Greed

The Big Idea: God’s generosity overwhelms our greed and makes us grateful, content and generous.

Opening:

True confession: there are some foods that I don’t have an “off-button” for.  My wife’s homemade lasagna.  More, more!  Tillamook Mudslide ice cream.  More, more!  Just about any kind of chips—Laina teases me that I always have 4 or 5 bags of chips open.  More, more!  Anybody else have some foods you just can’t say no to? 

But it goes deeper than food.  We have the “more” disease, the inability to say “enough” in other areas too: clothes, cars, vacations, toys.  More, more!  Is there a way to keep from being overwhelmed by consumerism and greed?  Yep!  I’m going to tell you today!

Introduction:

ILL: Let’s start with a story.  A little boy who was visiting friends with his parents managed to get his hand stuck in a very expensive Asian vase, worth hundreds of dollars.  His embarrassed parents and their hosts tried everything to free the tearful boy’s hand.  They tugged and twisted, even lathered him up with soap and then with Vaseline.  All to no avail.  Finally, the awful decision was made, and the vase was broken. That’s when they discovered that the little guy couldn’t get his hand out because he had it balled up in a fist, curled around a penny he had seen in the bottom of the vase.

Greed is like that.  We grasp a penny and lose something much greater. 

Do you believe that God has something bigger and better than a penny for you?  Me too.  Instead of being overwhelmed by greed, God wants to overwhelm you with His generosity!  God wants to bless you.  He wants to give you life to the full!  He wants you to thrive and flourish!  And when you are overwhelmed by His generosity, you can let go of the penny! 

The Big Idea: God’s generosity overwhelms our greed and makes us grateful, content and generous.

1. Overwhelmed by my greed.

Do you think of yourself as greedy?  Yeah, me neither.  Most of us don’t think of ourselves as greedy—I sure don’t.  So maybe we need to define greed.  Webster defines greed as “a selfish and excessive desire for more of something (as money) than is needed.”  And the Greek word that is translated “greed” in your Bibles means “a desire to have more, irrespective of need.” 

“Greed is a selfish and excessive desire.”  Of course, that implies that not all desires are wrong; not all desires are selfish or excessive.  It’s not wrong to desire to have your needs met.  You’re hungry; it’s not wrong to desire food.  You’re thirsty; it’s not wrong to desire drink.  It’s getting cold; it’s not wrong to desire warm clothes or shelter.  It’s also not wrong to desire to thrive, to flourish, to do well.  I believe it’s what God wants for us.  Jesus came to bring us life, life to the full.  He wants you to thrive and flourish!  We should desire that for ourselves and for others. So, I want to emphasize that not all desire is wrong.  There is healthy ambition.  There is a healthy desire to thrive and succeed.  So when does right desire go wrong and become greed?  When it becomes a selfish and excessive desire for more.

“Greed is a selfish and excessive desire for more.”  That word “more” is key.  Greed cries, “More, more!”  It is never satisfied.  No matter how much you have, it’s never enough.  Greed always wants more, more, more.  The Romans had a proverb that said that money was like sea-water: the more a man drank, the thirstier he became.

ILL: In her book, My Father’s Daughter, Tina Sinatra, recalls her famous father’s unceasing drive to make money even when his health was at risk:

“His health was in tatters, but my father (Frank Sinatra) refused to stop giving concerts. “I’ve just got to earn more money,” he said. His performances became more and more uneven. After seeing one too many of th