Greediness

God is Generous Even To Greedy Sinners

10.17.21 [2 Kings 5] River of Life (22nd Sunday after Pentecost)

I have five coins: a penny, a nickel, a dime, a quarter, and a fifty-cent piece. They are all different weights and sizes. Most of us can tell just by feel which coin is which. But just because these objects are familiar, doesn’t mean there aren’t details you’ve missed.

For example, the edges of the three more valuable coins: the dime, quarter, and fifty-cent piece are all ridged or reeded. Why? Greediness.

Before the 20th century, most coins were made of a precious metal like silver or gold. Clever thieves devised all kinds of ways of harvesting a bit of silver or gold and still passing the coins. Some thieves would clip coins—carefully shaving off the edges so that the coins were almost unnoticeably smaller. Others would punch a hole in the center and fill it with some cheaper metal, or heat it and then pound the coins slightly to fill in that gap.

Coin minters tried to stop this. They printed text as close to the edge of the coin as possible. They gave coins raised or ridged edges. Yet, with all their advances, they couldn’t stay ahead of the criminals.

So in 1415, England declared coin-clipping “high treason”—punishable by death. The message was clear. Crime doesn’t pay.

In 2 Kings 5, we meet a man who was quite eager to get his cut. Much like a coin-clipper, Gehazi thought no one would notice. Elisha’s servant convinced himself it was a victimless crime. And it was—almost. Yet his greediness forever changed his life.

The story begins and ends with leprosy. Naaman is the powerful commander of the Aramean army, the king’s right hand man. (2 Kg. 5:1) But he had leprosy. So he secured a letter from his king and went to go see the prophet Elisha. He took with him ten talents of silver, 6,000 shekels of gold, and 10 sets of clothing. (A talent was the largest measurement in those days—somewhere around 50-75 pounds. To give us some modern perspective on this, the silver was worth somewhere around $300k; the gold around $3 million; and the clothes must have been quite valuable too.) Naaman brought a fortune with him, because he was desperate. Leprosy was a slow, painful and scary death. Your limbs rot and fall off. You die alone because everyone is too afraid of the disease to be near you.

So Naaman was desperate and ready to reward Elisha with a king’s ransom if he could cure him. But, when Naaman arrived at Elisha’s house, he was not greeted the way he expected. Elisha didn’t make a big production. He didn’t even come out and meet him face to face. (2 Kg. 5:10) Instead he sent a messenger to tell Naaman to wash in the Jordan River. Eventually, Naaman did as the man of God told him and his flesh was restored. Not just back to normal, but as clean as a young boy. Even the battle scars were healed.

Physical healing also came with spiritual renewal & regeneration. Naaman’s confession of faith is stirring. (2 Kg. 5:15) Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel. And Naaman wanted to put his money where his mouth was. Please accept a gift from your servant.

But Elisha refused. (2 Kg. 5:16) As surely as the Lord lives, whom I serve, I will not accept a thing. And even though Naaman continued to urge him, Elisha refused.

To us this seems strange. Naaman had a sincere love for the Lord. Why would Elisha refuse? Elisha made a faith-fueled commitment to not profit from healing Naaman.

If that confuses you, then you get where Gehazi was coming from. Gehazi was likely the messenger who greeted Naaman and told him to wash in the Jordan River. He had seen the wealth at Naaman’s disposal. To him, Elisha (2 Kg. 5:20) was too easy on Naaman, that Aramean. Perhaps it seemed wrong to Gehazi for the Arameans to be so well off and God’s people struggling to make ends meet. Perhaps he thought the way a man of war made his fortune should not be rewarded. Perhaps he told himself that that money would be better used by the servant of an Israelite prophet than an Aramean army commander. Greediness cloaks itself in noble intentions and fine-sounding goals. You can put lipstick on a pig, but no matter how you dress it up, greediness is still a gluttonous sow.

Gehazi reveals three things about greediness. First, do you notice how Gehazi (2 Kg. 5:21) hurries after Naaman? He runs. One way that greediness disguises itself is in hard-work. We like to think greediness and laziness run in the same circles. But they don’t. Greediness can be the driving motive for hard-work & ingenuity.

But look at how greediness works. Almost immediately, Gehazi starts lying. Greed begets all kinds of other sins. Gehazi’s lie is bald-faced, but it’s believable. It’s manipulative, yet effective. Gehazi knows Naaman is an easy mark. He’s loaded and he’s motivated. In fact—and it’s a small thing—Gehazi only asks for a single talent of silver. Naaman urges Gehazi to take two talents, which was more than one man could carry. When Gehazi gets back, he quickly hides the loot and sends Naaman’s servants away. Then when Elisha confronts him, he lies again and gets more than he bargained for from Naaman. He did just get some silver from that Aramean, he also got leprosy.

We see in Gehazi some of the most brazen greediness—but this is for our good. Greediness can prompt hard-work, but hard-work doesn’t justify greediness. Greediness often produces other sins—like lying. And greediness always generates guilt. That’s why Gehazi hides the silver and the clothes.

We can so easily recognize the corruption in coin-clipping and the greed in Gehazi, but it’s harder to see in our own hearts and lives. Because like Gehazi we often cloak our greed in hard-work. Like Gehazi, we are adept at the mental gymnastics necessary to try to justify what we know to be wrong. Like Gehazi, when we’ve secured what our greedy hearts covet, we may even try to hide what we have so that we don’t feel so guilty.

So how do we know if we struggle with greed? We might think that greediness is only a rich person’s problem. But you can’t suss out greed by examining someone’s finances. You can’t detect greed just by walking through someone’s house. Because greed afflicts poor people just as much as rich people. That’s why Jesus says: (Lk. 12:15) Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed. There is a materialistic greed—the greed that keeps amassing wealth and stuff. But there are other kinds of greed that fly under the radar. A kind of greed that prompts us to purchase more than we need, to hunt and scour to score the very best deals. Another kind of greed that is always curious or calculating how much someone else spent on this or that. Another kind of greed that is always looking to gain the upper hand in negotiations. Another kind of greed that meticulously follows the ups and downs of the market and the impact of potential legislation. It is not sinful to clip coupons or shop around or invest wisely. It can be good stewardship.

But which is of greater worth to you—a lost coin or a lost soul? Which do you celebrate more: saving 50% or seeing sinners saved from hell? What good is it if you gain the whole world at bargain basement prices, but forfeit the souls of all those around you?

Now, I know you know the right answer to all these questions. But audit how you invest your time, your energy, and yes, your money. Are you investing in the things of God or the things of this world? Greediness can be a problem of having too many possessions. But at its root, greediness is a preoccupation with wealth, power, and security. When what you have is what’s most important, you may work hard, but you may also worry a lot about people taking what you have or taking advantage of you. If what makes you most anxious—most worried— are financial or material matters—you have a bigger problem with greediness than you likely realized.

Greed infected Gehazi’s heart and caused him to be afflicted with leprosy. Like leprosy, greed rots us from within and always ends in death.

God has no tolerance for greed because it goes against his very nature. is not like Gehazi, giving desperate people what they want, only so that later he can run them down and get something from them later. God is unbelievably kind and generous. Nothing like Gehazi, but much more like the unnamed servant girl in 2 Kings 5:3.

We know so little about this young girl, but we can learn so much about generosity through her. She had been kidnapped and sold into slavery. Ripped from her home and pressed into service. When her master was infected with leprosy, she did not celebrate that a bad man was finally getting what he deserved. She did not even sit on the prophetic reference that could restore him. She freely urged Naaman to go to Samaria to be cured. Not because she would be rewarded, but because it was right. Her kindness and benevolence put us to shame. Yet even that pales in comparison to our Christ.

Christ had it all. The power, the glory, the honor, the affluence of heaven itself. (2 Cor. 8:9) Though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor. He humbled himself in every conceivable way. He was born to lowly parents and lived in a little town. His life had (Is. 53:2) no beauty or majesty. Though he had the ability to turn water into wine and to feed the masses, he never used his divine power to line his pockets. Jesus never performed a miracle for his own benefit. Jesus never healed anyone and then had his disciples collect a co-pay. Throughout his public ministry, Jesus lived meagerly. (Mt. 8:20) Foxes have dens. Birds have nests. Jesus had no place to lay his head. Yet, the Son of God was exceedingly generous.

That is why he came. To earn for us what we could not buy for ourselves. To give to us what we could never secure. Consider what Christ has done for us. He has the thing that everyone craves most—life to the full. He has purchased and won the one thing that everyone desperately wants most—an eternal life of joy and satisfaction in paradise. No more tears, no more sadness, no more disappointment, no more brokenness. He secured all this through a lifetime of obedience, through the shedding of his holy, precious blood. He went through hell for us and yet he isn’t looking to get anything from us. He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. He rejoices when people repent. He celebrates each time a sinner is rescued from eternal condemnation. He pursued us to tell us that crime doesn’t pay, but that he paid for all of our sins. He knew each of us was lacking treasure in heaven. So he earned it for us and gives it to us freely.

And he even provides a subtle reminder of his generosity. More valuable coins have ridges on their edges to curb greediness. Jesus bears marks that encourage generosity. When Christ was crucified, his body was scarred by his suffering and death. But when Jesus rose from the dead, he was glorified beyond what Naaman experienced. And yet, Jesus’ flesh was not fully restored. His glorified body did not look like he did when he was a young boy. No, his body still bore the marks of his crucifixion. He still carries around the nail marks in his hands and feet, the spear wound in his side. Why? Not because he wants us to feel ashamed, but because he wants us to be secure. He wants us to be certain that all of our sins have been paid for. Only when we have experienced his generosity will we be moved to be generous. Only when we have seen how his hard work—his perfect obedience and innocent suffering and death—has earned our salvation will we be prompted to pick up our cross and follow him. Only when we have come to know the superabundance of his mercy, his grace, and all his blessings, will we have peace that passes material understanding. Then we will declare, As surely as the Lord lives, whom I serve, I am content and I can be generous. Amen.