Got Greed?

You can be sure that no immoral, impure, or greedy person will inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of God. For a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. [Ephesians 5.5]

This passage contains days worth of discussion.

First, immorality, impurity and greed are deal breakers with God. Anyone holding onto these things will NOT inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of God. It is that simple. I know, I know, "grace" is the cry of the Church. However, grace is not passive, but actively replaces immorality, impurity and greed with good. In other words, the evidence of having received grace is that these things no longer control us. If they do, one can declare, "grace" all day long, but grace comes by faith that, without works is dead (useless). The very scripture most people shortsightedly quote "grace" from is the very same scripture that disputes the continuation of sin after receiving grace:

God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. [Ephesians 2.8-10]

Most people proudly declare Ephesians 2.8-9 but ignorantly fail to consider verse 10. Grace changes us to do good things (and that was the plan all along).

Moving on, notice that Paul cited immorality, impurity and greed, but then clarified his statement  mentioning only greed. This is because immorality and impurity in a person's life are driven and exist by greed. Such self-centeredness is idolatry. 

It should not surprise any Christ-follower that the world's unrelenting invitation to all is self-gratification. The majority of all marketing campaigns across the world, solicit self-centered greed in those they reach out to. In fact, the world teaches us to be infatuated with "self" in direct contradiction to Jesus' words and teaching:

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. [Matthew 16.24]

For clarity, let's look at Matthew 16.24 in another translation:

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. [Matthew 16.24 NKJV]

I will digress to multiple articles over the course of this past year that effectively point out that the world's systems of debt, insurance, medicine and technology ALL revolve around self-preservation. While everyone is content to talk about "what is wrong" with this, few it seems, are willing to do anything about it. Why? Because doing something about it requires making decisions that are contrary to the greedy preservation of life and self-fulfillment. Greed wins...

But no greedy person will inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of God. Not my words... this is pure Bible.

Paul's words, "You can be sure" furthermore grammatically assure us that this topic is important. Not inheriting the Kingdom of Christ and of God is the greatest mistake any person can make. Greed is the deciding factor. Grace DOES NOT incubate or pander to greed in any way. Greed, in fact, prevents us from doing the good things He planned for us long ago.

Greed is pandemic in its presence. Greed must be removed. Unfortunately, the Church has been seriously affected with greed (evidenced in so much self-focus). There is only one solution as Jesus clearly stated: give up your own way (or, deny yourself)...

Father, may we take the opportunity today to evaluate ourselves for greed. Forgive us for attempting to justify and allow greed in our lives by mindlessly declaring "grace." May we take Jesus' words seriously that we must give up our own way to follow Him (taking up our cross - the symbol of death). Help us shut out the noise of the world's marketing (Satan's deception) and listen to the voice of Your Holy Spirit as You speak to us through Your Word! So be it!