Text: Luke 12:13-21

Topic: How to guard against greed

Introduction:

• Illustration: May begins with a joke about an injured man more concerned with his possessions than his injury to illustrate how materialistic our society has become.

• Illustration: May cites statistics on how often the Bible references money and possessions.

• Since the Bible has so much to say about the subject, it is surprising we have so many misconceptions about money.

• Misconception #1: Money is the root of all evil —l 1 Timothy 6:10.

• Misconception #2: God needs my money or the church will fail —l Psalms 50:10.

• Misconception #3: Having enough money will make me happy.

• Misconception #4: If I had enough money, I could do a lot of good.

• Misconception #5: God doesn't want me to have a lot of money.

• Big Idea: God insists that you have the right attitude toward money.

• Luke 12:15

• If you think only of stockpiling things for yourself, and neglect your relationship with God and your obligation to others, you will ultimately self-destruct.

• Illustration: May uses the example of the advice college football star Peyton Manning received to illustrate how people pressure us into thinking of money above all.

• People who make career choices—or any other choice for that matter—based solely on financial priorities often find these decisions come back to haunt them.

• Instead of thinking about what is missing from your life, be grateful for all you have.

• Illustration: To illustrate how insatiable money thirst can become, May quotes Money magazine's survey of the nation's richest county, in which respondents still thought they needed more.

• Ecclesiastes 6:9

• The key to financial freedom is not to increase your income, it is to decrease your wants.

• Illustration: May tells the story of attending a seminar that encouraged participants to tap into material desire to create motivation, only to encounter a friend who lived so contentedly, he didn't suffer from the desire for anything.

Practice giving to others.

• Luke 12:21

• When you try to hang on to everything, you lose the joy of abundance and miss out on the joy of being a blessing to other people.

• Ecclesiastes 5:11

• Ecclesiastes 11:1

• Proverbs 19:17

• Matthew 6:19

• Illustration: May illustrates the pretentiousness of large public giving by criticizing Ted Turner's $1 billion gift to the United Nations.

• Mark 12:43-44

• Illustration: May briefly quotes C.S. Lewis and John Wesley on proper motivations for giving.

Conclusion:

• Jesus is not against your having money; he just doesn't want money to have you.