Greed these days, at least in some circles, is almost a virtue, not a sin. And yet greed is such a destructive force in this world. That's why greed is one of the seven deadly sins. And it's still deadly.

One of the most fascinating creatures alive on this earth is the stock market because it's a place where people trade shares in companies and it behaves so irrationally.

During the so called "dot com" boom, a few years back, people were paying exorbitant amounts of money for shares in companies that were losing money, hand over fist. It was all about getting a stake in the new economy, it was all about greed.

And then, during the huge boom that followed, people behaved as though there's no tomorrow. Eat, drink, be merry, they couldn't imagine another recession. But as surely as God made little green apples, it came. And billions, no trillions of dollars were wiped off the stock markets of the world in a matter of days.

Now, don't get me wrong, I believe very much in hard work and free enterprise. But if there were ever a beast that was like a massive neon sign advertising humanity's greed, it would have to be the stock market.

Fortunes made and lost. It seems that in the good times, greed isn't a sin or a vice, it's almost, well we applaud it. But when the bad times come, as surely they do, what we discover is this; greed is a sin and it's still deadly today.

Berni: Keith Henry, what do you think about greed?

Keith: Greed is one of those things that is very little understood because what you just described there could also be gluttony, where you want more money at the stock market. Greed, in this context, in terms of our personality, is not so much about wanting more; it's more about hoarding what you have.

It's being greedy and not sharing it because you don't think you'll have enough, right. So greed actually, is not gluttony, it's the opposite, it's actually hoarding. The problem here is, greed brings about fear or it's related to fear and with this greed, you hoard it so that you don't give it away, that you'll be able to survive.

Berni: Okay, not sharing nicely with the other children.

Keith: That's right.

Berni: Interesting, some proverbs, Proverb 15:27 says:

A greedy man brings trouble to his family but he who hates bribes will live.

And Proverbs 28:25:

A greedy man stirs up dissention but he who trusts in the Lord will prosper.

So it's interesting, it's what you're saying, it's this hoarding mentality that "I won't share and I won't give away" because God does call us to give a lot of what we get away.

Keith: That's right and that's where we hold onto it, I know I'll only give ten dollars in the plate today instead of a hundred because I might need the rest, I'll go for lunch, right, I need it for that. So it's not gluttony, greed is something, is based on fear, it's a fear that I won't have enough. It's a fear that actually, in the Bible, says, "if you doubt and have fear, you just won't prosper."

Berni: Fear's a destructive thing.

Keith: Totally destructive, one of the most destructive things and this is what greed's referring to, the destruction of fear and doubt.

Berni: So who, what sort of personality type, because over the last few days, what you've been telling us is, each of these particular 7 deadly sins is kind of hooked to one of the particular personality types. Some people are more prone to this than others. Who's the person who's most prone to greed?

Keith: The server.

Berni: Now that surprises me. (Keith laughs) Why the server?

Keith: Well the server is, comes from thinking, right. First of all they think a lot, more than any other type of personality and when you think, it's very easy to have fear because you think of what could go wrong. It's also, the server's not always the most extraverted people and they're a bit quieter.

And some servers need to actually, might be at a party but they need to get away from that, they need to have time alone, in other words, greed to get alone, so they can recharge the batteries. They're just not extraverts; they need to hoard themselves away from everybody for a time.

Berni: It's kind of weird because again, I mean yesterday we were talking about the encourager and I made the point, we love having encouragers around and I tell you, I love having servers around too because people who want to serve you, they're a delight to be with are they not?

Keith: Oh they are, they make our life easy don't they?

Berni: Yeah.

Keith: They do have a fear, they come from anxiety and worry. A server is looking at what can go wrong.

Berni: That makes sense.

Keith: Right, they can see things that we don't see, the potholes and things like that and so, they are looking from a fear perspective all the time.

Berni: Okay. And so that's what spills over, when you let that fear grip you too much, that's what spills over into the greed thing?

Keith: It does and then you start hoarding yourself, "I can't give anymore of myself. I can't give anything else away because I might need it. The stock market might crash tomorrow. I'll put my money in a bank." Or the parable of the talents, the person who buried the money in the soil.

Berni: Because they wouldn't put it at risk.

Keith: No, they don't want to risk anything. These are anti-risk people.

Berni: So the sort of person you want as an accountant maybe.

Keith: A lot of the people are accountants.

Berni: Oh really?

Keith: They're very analytical type people, they use their mind and analyse.

Berni: Okay. So okay, lets say I'm a server, I'm not but lets say I'm a server and let's say this fear is gripping me and let's say I've been listening to Keith Henry today and I'm thinking, "You know something, that thing that he's talking about is exactly what I go through". So now what Keith? What can the person who suffers from this do about it?

Keith: There is an answer in the Bible. In 2 Peter 1, which we mentioned before, the virtue is there, that you'll actually gain knowledge because, if you gain knowledge of the word of God, it's got to be the right knowledge, the knowledge can set you free.

Berni: Okay.

Keith: Right. So they have to actually see what Gods word says. Then the other part, of course, is (we're talking about faith now), how do you get faith? You get it through the word of God, right, knowing more about the word of God.

Berni: I seem to get faith dangling off a cliff every time, you know (Both laugh) that's where I get my faith from brother and the word of God. Sorry to interrupt you.

Keith: That's all right but once you get the faith, you then set, the Bible says you must put into action; faith without action is dead.

Berni: But that's good for a server because a server is an action person, right?

Keith: Well they only action to serve you but in their own world, they're fearful or anxiety people, they hoard, the Bible says, 'now have faith and go out and do it'. So buy those shares or go out and see that person or go to that party or go to whatever. So, it has to be faith with action based on knowledge.

Berni: Okay, give me a really practical example. I'm struggling to grasp this one.

Keith: Take for instance a person who wants to invest in a company or want to start their own company. So what they have to do, they have to have a lot of faith to do that. So often they will analyse and gain more and more knowledge, become more fearful, see all the problems that they can fall into. They actually have to take the step, they have to have faith and take the step. It's not until they take the step that they can overcome their fear.

Berni: That's good. That's good, so fear kind of paralyses doesn't it?

Keith: Very good way of putting it, yeah.

Berni: Fear stops you like (Berni suddenly inhales) and you freeze. We all experience that sometimes and yet, what you're saying for the person who is the server, they just step out, use their gift; take the risk because the risk is not a risk if it's done in faith.

Keith: That's right. They analyse enough, they think about it enough but they think about it too much.

Berni: This is the "just do it".

Keith: Yeah, just do it and so greed is actually, comes from a basis of fear.

Berni: That's good. That was really good. Thank you for that Keith. Well tomorrow we're going to look at the next one in the list of the 7 deadly sins and that next one is laziness.