Protected from Greed (The Protection of Proverbs #3)
It probably goes without saying, but everybody wants to win.
Whether it’s the lottery or the Super Bowl or someone’s admiration or a game of Chutes and Ladders — we want to win, because winning feels good. And when you win, you often receive recognition. You get a measure of respect. Sometimes you even get perks, or wealth.
The Definition of a Winner
Take Michael Phelps. Over four Olympic Games he won twenty-eight medals, twenty-three of them gold, and set thirty-nine world records over his career — frequently breaking his own. If you want a definition of a winner, that’s it.
He probably commands more respect than any swimmer in history. And consider the context: he isn’t in a sport with enormous ticket sales like basketball, baseball, or football. He’s a swimmer. Ask most Americans to name another competitive swimmer and I doubt they could. His is the only name that comes up.
His winning has also brought him wealth — which is remarkable, because nobody is walking around wearing his jersey. And yet he’s worth somewhere around eighty million dollars, because companies sponsored him and hired him as a spokesman, and he presumably got good investment advice along the way.
Winning brought respect, admiration, recognition — and money. No wonder people want to win.
The Rest of Us Win Elsewhere
Now, the odds of any of us becoming an Olympic champion are vanishingly small. If you ever make the Olympics I want your autograph — you don’t even have to medal. Just making it would be extraordinary. The only way I’m getting there is by buying a ticket.
So we have to win in other arenas.
Most of us want to win at work. We want the project to succeed. We want to go above and beyond, in a way that earns the respect of our boss and coworkers, that puts us first in line for the promotion and the raise. Because when we get those things, we’ve won.
Others want to win at a hobby. Land the big buck. Catch the trophy fish. Hit a certain level in a game. Set a personal record in a half marathon. Because when you become genuinely good at something — the recognized expert on coin collecting, the person who always finds the best campsite — you start getting recognition. People come to you for information and help. And sometimes there are prizes, awards, even income.
But the arena most of us really want to win in is life.
We define that differently. For some, winning at life is a large bank account. For others it’s retiring by a certain age. For others it’s a particular house, or a particular car, or children who turn out a certain way, or recognition — degrees, an award, acknowledgment for years of volunteering.
Whatever the definition, that’s what we want. Because winning at life brings recognition and respect, and often some perks alongside.
Winning Isn’t the Problem
The way I’m setting this up, you probably think I’m about to say winning is bad.
Not at all. Winning is fine. I think it’s wonderful if you win a gold medal. I think it’s excellent if you get promoted. I think it’s worth celebrating if she says yes to your proposal. Wins are good.
And sometimes a win brings attention — which becomes an opportunity to encourage someone, to help someone, and occasionally to become the very avenue God uses to bring the gospel into a person’s life.
The problem is when the desire to win becomes paramount — when it becomes what we’re fundamentally about. Because when that desire gets twisted by our sin, it becomes greed.
Greed is what causes athletes to cheat. It causes coworkers to lie. It causes someone to slander a neighbor, to steal — and in some cases, to kill.
“Greed Isn’t My Problem”
Now, I realize none of you are going to let greed carry you to murder. But don’t make the mistake I made this week and assume greed isn’t a big deal and doesn’t affect you.
For a lot of men there seem to be three great categories that take us down: money, sex, and power. That’s the shape of this series. Today we’re on greed — money. Next week we’ll look at pride — power. Then we’ll finish with lust — sex.
And of those three, greed is not the one I’d have said would topple me. Obviously I’m not money-hungry — I’m in ministry. You don’t plant a church hoping to get rich. This is not my area.
And then, with a single click of a mouse, God showed me the greed in my own heart.
A friend of mine was looking at buying a house, and I went online because I wanted to see it. Right next to the listing was another house that looked like it sat in the middle of the woods. I clicked on it.
I did not know I had a dream home until that moment. And in that moment I found myself mentally selling off everything I owned to try to buy it — because it was well out of my price range, and I wanted it. I went so far as to text it to my wife, who is even less materialistic than I am, and she texted back that she doesn’t really want to drive for work, but she might make an exception for that.
It faded, for the record. I’m content. I like my house. I like this town. I love this church. We’re not looking to move.
But I had genuinely fooled myself while preparing this message, thinking greed wasn’t something I wrestled with. And just like that, greed whispered: if you had that, you’d be happy. You’d be winning.
Greed affects all of us, and it’s far more insidious than we realize.
A Garland and a Chain
We’re in Proverbs 1, picking up at verse 8, where Solomon tells his son to hear his father’s instruction and not forsake his mother’s teaching — because they are a graceful garland for his head and pendants for his neck.
That garland was a wreath of ivy or olive branches formed into a circle and placed on the head. It was the standard award for winning an athletic competition — the ancient Greek equivalent of a gold medal.
The pendant is similar. The Hebrew is actually a chain, though most English translations avoid that word because “being in chains” reads badly to us. It was a chain, likely with a medallion, indicating that a person had been appointed to an office — a marker of esteem and elevation.
Both are for winners.
So in these two verses Solomon is saying: son, if you want to win in life — if you want the medal, if you want the chain of office — listen to my instruction. Listen to your mother. She’s wise. We’ve seen things and experienced things and made mistakes, and we don’t want to watch you lose. We want you to win, and to do even better than we did.
And Here’s How to Lose
Then in verse 10 he immediately pivots to the opposite.
If sinners entice you, don’t consent. If they say, “Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood, let us ambush the innocent without reason. Let us swallow them alive like the grave. We shall find all precious goods; we shall fill our houses with plunder. Throw in your lot among us; we will all have one purse” — my son, do not walk in the way with them. Hold back your foot from their paths, for their feet run to evil and they hurry to shed blood.
And then the warning: in vain is a net spread in the sight of any bird. These men lie in wait for their own blood; they set an ambush for their own lives. Such are the ways of everyone greedy for unjust gain — it takes away the life of its possessors.
Four Things Greed Actually Is
The dictionary defines greed as an intense and selfish desire for something, especially wealth, power, or food. That’s accurate as far as it goes.
But Solomon expands it considerably. In this passage he shows us that greed is four things: a lack of trust and contentment, a focus on self, a destruction of others, and a destruction of self.
One: A Lack of Contentment and Trust
Look at verse 13. The gang of greed says: we shall find all precious goods; we shall fill our houses with plunder.
What they’re really saying is: we are not content with what we have. We believe happiness is on the other side of more. If we can fill our houses with possessions, we’ll be somebody. People will think we’re impressive. We’ll be happier.
Advertisers understand this about our hearts perfectly. Watch how they tease us: you want to be happy? You want to be content? Buy this. It’s especially visible around the big shopping events, but you don’t have to wait for those. There’s always another sale engineered to convince you that you’re not quite content — but you would be, if you had that.
But look deeper and you find it isn’t only discontent. It’s a lack of trust.
If you say you revere God, you’re saying you believe there is a God in heaven who is sovereign, all-powerful, and all-knowing. Which means he knows what you need — and he is fully capable of providing it. So the fact that you don’t currently have something may be precisely what forces you to trust him.
Winning at life — having genuine peace and contentment — requires trust. This gang has none. They don’t trust God, so they conclude they must go take more.
Proverbs 28:25 puts it plainly: a greedy man stirs up strife, but the one who trusts in the Lord will be enriched.
Most of us would like to be enriched. But the enrichment in view isn’t only financial. Jesus said he came to give life, and to give it abundantly — meaning peace, emotional stability, real relationships. That’s what it means to be rich.
Two: A Focus on Self
Read verses 11 through 14 again and count how often the words we and us appear. Depending on your translation you’ll find somewhere between seven and nine occurrences. (The variation exists because the Hebrew doesn’t need to repeat the pronoun — it’s built into the verbs.)
What this greedy gang is really saying is: it’s all about me. My stuff. My desires. Other people don’t matter except as sources of things to take.
That’s where greed leads.
And here’s the problem: if you call yourself a Christian, you can’t live that way. The word “Christian” means little Christ. You’re meant to be like Jesus — to love like Jesus loved and live like Jesus lived.
And Jesus said in Mark 10:45 that he did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. He did not come so people would focus on him. He came and directed the focus onto others. He came to give.
The House My Brother Didn’t Buy
My brother and his wife moved to Arkansas about a year ago and bought a small three-bedroom home, intending to fix it up and eventually turn it into a rental. Meanwhile they kept an eye out for something larger — my brother was starting a home inspection business and needed an office, and with a couple of dogs they simply needed more room.
They found it. A couple was selling privately, so my brother and his wife went over to visit, and the place was perfect. The seller was a photographer with a fully finished outbuilding that would have made an ideal office. It checked every box.
As they talked, they discovered the couple were also followers of Jesus. The husband was about to begin working with a mission agency, traveling the world photographing their work for promotional materials. They connected immediately — on a faith level and personally.
A day or two later, a realtor contacted the sellers: he had a buyer who’d seen the house online and would offer twenty thousand dollars over asking.
Now, this couple genuinely liked my brother and his wife. But twenty thousand dollars, heading into missions work, would help enormously.
They prayed about it — and decided to sell to my brother anyway. When asked why, they said they were content. They didn’t need the extra twenty thousand. They were satisfied with what God had given them, and they wanted to bless my brother’s family.
That’s being others-focused.
But the Story Isn’t Over
My parents visited this past week and told us how it ended. My brother and his wife, in a sense, lost the house.
The sellers’ own situation fell apart. The place they were buying became unavailable. And when they talked to the mission agency, the agency told them that since he’d be traveling constantly anyway, they could simply stay where they were.
Except they had already entered an agreement with my brother — which meant that honoring it would leave them with nowhere to live.
So my brother and his wife talked it over and said: the place is perfect, but what we have right now is fine. And they backed out, so the couple could keep their home.
If greed were running their lives, there is no possible way they back out. This was everything they’d been wanting, hoping, and praying for — an obvious provision from God.
But because they weren’t living in discontent, and because they weren’t scanning the situation for what they could get, they were able to actually see the position that family was in — and decide to serve them instead.
That’s what freedom from greed makes possible. When greed rules your heart, you can’t even perceive what other people are going through, because you’re too busy calculating what you want to acquire.
Three: A Destruction of Others
Look at verses 11 and 12 again. These men are willing to lie in wait, to ambush the innocent without reason, to swallow people alive like the grave.
They don’t care about anyone else. Only themselves. And to get their plunder and fill their houses, they genuinely do not care whether they destroy someone’s life in the process.
We read that and think it’s over the top. What Solomon is doing is showing us greed carried to its natural conclusion. Let it run unchecked and this is where it ends — it becomes purely about acquiring, and if someone gets destroyed along the way, so be it.
If that’s hard to picture, consider the modern equivalent: internet and phone scammers. To them it’s a game. If they can separate you from your money, they win and you lose. And they genuinely do not care that they just emptied your retirement account. They do not care that they just wiped out an elderly widow’s savings and ruined her life. Their greed has carried them all the way to destroying other people.
Four: A Destruction of Self
But Solomon warns that it doesn’t stop at destroying others. Verses 18 and 19: these men lie in wait for their own blood. They set an ambush for their own lives. Such are the ways of everyone greedy for unjust gain — it takes away the life of its possessors.
We watch those two verses play out in the news with grim regularity.
How often do we hear about a politician, a chief executive, a studio figure, a sports celebrity who looks every inch a winner — the wealth, the respect, the constant media presence, everyone’s admiration — and then we learn they were cheating investors, or paying people to stay quiet, or manipulating and abusing people verbally, sexually, or physically, all to get what they wanted?
And once it surfaces, they tumble from the top to the bottom. They destroyed their own lives in pursuit of greed. They didn’t care whom they ruined along the way — and ended up ruining themselves.
Solomon wrote those words nearly three thousand years ago. And here we are, still watching it happen. Which tells me I need to listen — because I had partly absorbed my culture’s assumption that greed isn’t that bad. It’s just an intense desire for something. So I want a taco. What’s the harm?
But let greed fester and you discover Solomon was right. It is a cancer that will consume your soul.
Why Scripture Ranks Greed So Severely
Ask people to name the worst sins and you’ll hear murder first. Probably theft. If someone’s being especially theological, maybe blasphemy.
Nobody says greed. We file it under “not great, but hardly murder.”
And yet when Jesus lists what comes out of a sinful heart, greed is right there. And in Colossians 3:5, Paul uses the word covetousness and calls it what it is: idolatry.
Idolatry is worshiping an idol — telling the one true God, “I’m removing you and putting this in your place.” It could be sports. A spouse. Your children. Your job. Your bank account. Anything you install in that spot and worship.
So how is greed idolatry?
Think about what worship actually is. We gather and give God praise through song. We give him our attention through his word. We give financially. We give him our lives and our hearts. And in the process we hope to give God joy.
Now — what is greed? Most of us would say greed is taking. But think it through: when you take, who are you giving to?
Yourself. And by accumulating and looking like a winner, you’re seeking respect, seeking glory, seeking joy — and directing every bit of it at yourself.
Greed is the worship of self.
That’s why God lists it alongside the worst things you can imagine. Because greed says: God, you’re not enough. I’m removing you and installing myself, and I’ll acquire whatever I need to make me happy.
So How Do You Protect Yourself?
Solomon gives a clue in verses 10 and 15. In verse 10: if sinners entice you, do not consent — stand firm. Then in verse 15 he goes further: do not walk in the way with them; hold back your foot from their paths. Don’t just stand firm — step back. Walk away. Go the other direction.
So take Solomon’s definition of greed and do the opposite.
First: Pray
Greed is a lack of contentment and trust — so pray. Ask God to make you content. Content with your house. Your car. Your job. Your relationship status.
Don’t mishear me. I’m not saying you can never buy a new house or a new car, or that it’s wrong if God moves your relationship status from single to married. All of that can be good.
But when we live without contentment, we tend to lunge at those things — and we make enormous financial mistakes and enormous relational mistakes, because we don’t trust God enough to say, “I’m content here.”
When you are content, and an opportunity comes, you don’t panic and grab the first thing available. You can look at it and think, “That isn’t right,” and let it pass. The next one comes and you can say the same. And then one day an opportunity comes and you know — that’s it — and you can move. And you’ll still be content, still trusting God, and he receives the glory and the joy, because it was never about you. It was about him and what he provided.
And as you pray, give thanks. Thank you, God, for my house. Thank you for my job. Thank you for what I do have. Help me stop scanning for what I don’t have.
Second: Give
Greed is a focus on self — so give. Because when you give, the focus moves off you and onto others.
We talk here about giving your FIST: your finances, influence, skills, and time. These are exactly the things we clench, and God wants us to open our hands.
Since money is so bound up with greed, give financially. Give toward someone’s medical bills. Give to organizations working to free people from poverty or from slavery. Or give right here, into a mission aimed outward — at inviting the spiritually disconnected to find and follow Jesus.
But don’t stop at money. Give your influence. Some of you need to pour into kids this summer — in our children’s ministry, or at the community vacation Bible school. You could shape those children far more than you realize.
Give your skills. God gave you specific abilities. How can you point them outward?
And give your time — which, I’ll admit, is the hardest one for me. Life is full, and when someone asks for my time my first internal reaction is no. So maybe you need to walk across the street and give thirty minutes to an elderly neighbor. Volunteer at the food bank once a month. Serve at a community meal. Because giving time takes the focus off yourself and shifts it to others.
Third: The Gospel
Greed destroys others and ultimately destroys us — and the best defense against that is the gospel.
When you look at Jesus, at the cross and the empty tomb, you see that he did not come to destroy us. He came to give us life. He came to give. And if we’re going to be little Christs, we live the same way. The gospel is the motivation.
Which means if you’re not yet a follower of Jesus, your first step is to give your life to him — to say it’s all about him. Most people mark that moment in prayer, confessing their sin and acknowledging that it kept them separated from God, and handing it all over.
And many of you made that decision long ago, but you’re realizing today that greed has quietly crept in. You haven’t been trusting God. You haven’t been content. Your thoughts orbit yourself far more than they should.
So where is God leading you? What do you need to give up? What do you need to take on? Where do you need to surrender?
I’ll be honest — I can’t do this in my own strength. I’m far too selfish. That’s exactly why I need Jesus. I need to look at what he did for me through the cross and the empty tomb and let that be what moves me to go be a blessing and live for others.
Come and Receive
As you come to the table, I want to ask you to do something slightly different. Don’t come to take. Come to receive.
Imagine it’s Jesus holding the tray in front of you, and as you take it he’s saying: that’s my body. That’s my blood. I give this to you, to ransom you from the clutches of sin.
So if you’re feeling beaten up, guilty about the greed lurking inside — I don’t want you leaving here carrying guilt. I want you leaving free. Because Jesus is the one inviting you to this, and he isn’t saying “don’t touch it until you’ve cleaned yourself up.” He’s saying, “I give this to you so that I can clean you up.”
Jesus wants to free you from your greed. He doesn’t want you worshiping yourself — because he knows that if you’re going to win in this life, the win is found in him.
Father, work in our hearts. Let us not approach this thinking we must somehow be perfect first. We come because you are perfect, and you have already done everything necessary. Let this be a time of surrender, of worship, of giving our hearts and lives to you — so that you can do in us what needs doing, and then do through us what you want to do. There is a world out there in deep pain, and we don’t want to be like this gang of greed, making it all about ourselves and destroying others and ourselves in the process. We want to be like Jesus, who gave himself completely, without a greedy bone in his body. Make us like him. Amen.
