The Seven Deadly Sins – Greed

Proverbs 23:4-5 

“Do not wear yourself out to get rich; be wise enough to desist. When your eyes light upon it, it is gone; for suddenly it takes wings to itself, flying like an eagle towards heaven.”

Ecclesiastes 5:10 

“The lover of money will not be satisfied with money; nor the lover of wealth, with gain. That is vanity.”

Greed is the of good!

1 Timothy 6:9-10 

“But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.”

Luke 16:13 

“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

You can God with your money! 

Money is not the root of all evil. The love of money is. 

We can accomplish great things for the kingdom of God with our money. 

Luke 12:13-21 

You can be poor and generous, or poor and greedy. 

You can be rich and generous, or rich and greedy. 

It’s a heart thing.

God’s definition of a greedy person: someone who stores up things for themselves but isn’t rich towards God.

Being rich towards God means being generous towards those in need. 

A greedy person is the person who saves carefully but gives sparingly.

How do I conquer the deadly sin of GREED?

The only way to cure greed is with . 

Malachi 3:10 

“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this, says the Lord Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be for it.”

1 Timothy 6:17 

“Teach those who are rich in the world, not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and generous to those in need., always ready to share with others.”

• In light of what you’ve heard today, is there a possibility that you are more greedy than you think? 
• Am I ready to be cured of the deadly sin of greed?

Here are some practical steps you can take to move towards being free from the deadly vice of greed.

1. Give systematically, rather than emotionally. 
   1. For instance, a tithe is 10%. Start tithing to support our church or whatever church you go to.
2. If 10% scares you try 5% or 3% and work your way up.
3. Pay for lunch or dinner next time.
4. Buy coffee for the person in back of you.
5. When you see a need, take care of it. 
6. Save money or put it in your budget to give away to your favorite charity. 
7. Make a choice to live a more simplistic life so you can be more generous.
8. Give stuff away you are not using. 
9. Go on a missions trip.