7/2 Bible Study Notes
BIBLE JUICE NOTES 7-2-05
Here are Bible Study notes for this week from Laura. Thanks Laura!
This week's topic is the 5th Deadly Sin: Greed.
Some synonyms for Greed are: avarice, covetousness
Greed is the first of the cold-hearted sins because it is calculating, shrewd, cunning, and sneaky.
A greedy person thinks that the positive things in life come from possessions.
They are happy because they have things other people don't have.
They are similar to jealous people, because jealous people are unhappy at what others have.
Jealousy= wants to get what others have.
Greed= wants to keep what others want.
Some qualities of greed:
1- It hoards things, keeps things from others.
2- It scrimps and saves, is a "skinflint", is too stingy.
3- It worries and frets about finances.
4- It never feels like it has enough, it is never satisfied.
5- It gambles and takes risks.
6- It tries to impress others with possessions.
7- It masquerades as worldly wisdom or cynicism
Older people are more susceptible to greed than young people.
A greedy person does not ever think they have "everything they need in life."
A greedy person:
- can never be casual about possessions
- has some level of "angst"
- is never "generous to a fault", they never "hurt themselves with generosity"
- they won't "give you the shirt off their back"
We need to have a casual attitude about this world, because it will go away. Value lies in the eternal, not the temporary.
Matthew was greedy when he was a tax collector, so he gave it up when he followed Jesus. In his gospel, he repeatedly tells of what Jesus had to say about greed, because that was his specific sin.
In the story of the rich man and Lazarus: the rich man was greedy, so he would not help Lazarus even though he had much to spare.
Greed will make you lose hope, security, and joy if you lose possessions. It will make you blind to reality and obscure your objective view. Security comes from God!
You should be sad for people who are greedy, rather than angry. It is unfortunate for them.
They measure their self-importance and self-worth by what they have that other don't have.
Justice, righteousness, and love will die at their hands, because it is necessary for their greed to consume them.
"The person who gives is happier than the person who receives."
Greedy people think this to be insanity. Why would you be happy to give?
These people prefer security to joy, so they will give up happiness for money or possessions.
They go against their impulses of compassion.
If a greedy person is "nice" or "compassionate" it is usually because they are making a calculated move. It is manipulation. They can not see real values from God. They are cold-hearted in the face of joy, Godliness, and prayer.
Since they can not see how "prayer works", they think it to have no benefit. "What good is prayer if it doesn't benefit me?"
Spiritual values are not helpful to them, because they do not make them richer.
America is a very greedy society. We are actually encouraged to be greedy, because possessions rather than spiritual values are what we place value in. Our society makes non-greedy people look foolish and dumb.
People take advantage of generosity. But, it is still better to be generous, even if you get taken advantage of. A greedy person will not allow themselves to get taken advantage of, so they don't risk generosity.
God wants us to be "as wise as serpents, but as gentle as doves." We need to be warm-hearted people.
Greed thinks God is stupid because He gives expecting nothing in return.
There are many verses in the gospel of Matthew about greed:
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroys, and thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroy, nor thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be. " Matthew 6:19-21
"No one can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You can not serve God and money." Matthew 6: 24
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you more important than they? Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span? Why are you anxious about clothes? Learn from the way the wild flowers grow. They do not work or spin. But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them. If God so clothes the grass of the field, which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will He not much more provide for you, O you of little faith? So do not worry and say, 'What are we to eat?' or 'What are we to wear?' All these things the pagans seek. Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righeousness, and all these things will be given you besides. Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil." Matthew 6: 25-34
-- Don't waste your time worrying about what you will have in this world; in the end, it won't matter what you had, but what you did.
"When Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side. A scribe approached and said to him, 'Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.' Jesus answered him, 'Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.'" Matthew 8: 18-20
-- Jesus led an insecure life and had no monetary wealth, but he was still content. We are supposed to want to be more like him, so it doesn't make sense to want security and wealth to be happy.
"The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls. When he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it." Matthew 13: 44-46
-- We have found something of real value (heaven) and we must be willing to give up everything for it.
Nothing is really "ours", it is all God's. So if we turn away from God for our possessions, we will never see His Kingdom.
Our love for God must be unconditional while our love for everything and everyone else is conditional. The condition is what God wants for us.
"Jesus said to him, 'If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.' When the young man heard this statement, he went away sad, for he had many possessions. Then Jesus said to his disciples, 'Amen, I say to you, it will be hard for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.' When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and said, 'Who then can be saved?' Jesus looked at them and said, 'For human beings this is impossible, but for God all things are possible." Matthew 19: 21-26
"Now when Jesus was in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came up to him with an alabaster jar of costly perfumed oil, and poured it on his head while he was reclining at table. When the disciples saw this, they were indignant and said, 'Why this waste? It could have been sold for much, and the money given to the poor.' Since Jesus knew this, he said to them, 'Why do you make trouble for the woman? She has done a good thing for me. The poor you will always have with you; but you will not always have me. In pouring this perfumed oil upon my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. Amen, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be spoken of, in memory of her.'" Matthew 26: 6-13
--The disciples were not really concerned with selling it to give to the poor. Jesus knew that they were more concerned with the idea of "waste". It is absurd to think that any gift given to the Son of God would be a "waste".
Greed will use generosity as an excuse for anger, like what the disciples did.
This is VERY important:
"Then one of the Twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, 'What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?' They paid him thirty pieces of silver, and from that time on he looked for an opportunity to hand him over." Matthew 26: 14-16
-- Greed was the reason for Judas's betrayal of Jesus. He literally exchanged the Son of Man for silver. Do we not do the same each time we choose acquiring wealth over God's commandments?
Judas's greed led him to anger and then to betrayal.
Heaven has been prepared for us from the beginning and it is God's intention for us to be there with Him.
It is "crucial" that we battle temptation and sin until the day that God grants us each deliverance from it. The word "crucial" is derived from "crucifixion". So, "crucial" means we must take up our crosses daily to be able to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
"He came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town. Now a man there named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man, was seeking to see who Jesus was; but he could not see him because of the crowd, for he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus, who was about to pass that way. When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said to him, 'Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house.' And he came down quickly and received him with joy. When they all saw this, they began to grumble, saying, 'He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner.' But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, 'Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over.'" Luke 19: 1-8
-- Zacchaeus is a great example of what we should be willing to give up.
Jesus had people give up their possessions in order for them to rid themselves of sin.
"If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off." That doesn't mean literally to cut off a limb, but rather to cut yourself off from whatever it is that causes you to sin. If that temptation is your possessions, then you should give them up.
God looks at the intent of our hearts, not outward appearances. The poorest man can be greedy and the richest man can be generous. It depends on whether the poor man hoards his single dollar or if the rich man gives and shares his riches.
Thriftiness, ambition, and industriousness can be virtues, but often lead to greed.
"Indeed, religion with contentment is a great gain." 1 Timothy 6:6
--Religion makes us richer than money can.
Christians are not "idealists" in their desire to give up greed. They are not foolish either. It is a perfectly realistic goal to give up a sin that destroys.
Why do we bother to hold on to things? They will all disappear when we leave this world.
Here are Bible Study notes for this week from Laura. Thanks Laura!
This week's topic is the 5th Deadly Sin: Greed.
Some synonyms for Greed are: avarice, covetousness
Greed is the first of the cold-hearted sins because it is calculating, shrewd, cunning, and sneaky.
A greedy person thinks that the positive things in life come from possessions.
They are happy because they have things other people don't have.
They are similar to jealous people, because jealous people are unhappy at what others have.
Jealousy= wants to get what others have.
Greed= wants to keep what others want.
Some qualities of greed:
1- It hoards things, keeps things from others.
2- It scrimps and saves, is a "skinflint", is too stingy.
3- It worries and frets about finances.
4- It never feels like it has enough, it is never satisfied.
5- It gambles and takes risks.
6- It tries to impress others with possessions.
7- It masquerades as worldly wisdom or cynicism
Older people are more susceptible to greed than young people.
A greedy person does not ever think they have "everything they need in life."
A greedy person:
- can never be casual about possessions
- has some level of "angst"
- is never "generous to a fault", they never "hurt themselves with generosity"
- they won't "give you the shirt off their back"
We need to have a casual attitude about this world, because it will go away. Value lies in the eternal, not the temporary.
Matthew was greedy when he was a tax collector, so he gave it up when he followed Jesus. In his gospel, he repeatedly tells of what Jesus had to say about greed, because that was his specific sin.
In the story of the rich man and Lazarus: the rich man was greedy, so he would not help Lazarus even though he had much to spare.
Greed will make you lose hope, security, and joy if you lose possessions. It will make you blind to reality and obscure your objective view. Security comes from God!
You should be sad for people who are greedy, rather than angry. It is unfortunate for them.
They measure their self-importance and self-worth by what they have that other don't have.
Justice, righteousness, and love will die at their hands, because it is necessary for their greed to consume them.
"The person who gives is happier than the person who receives."
Greedy people think this to be insanity. Why would you be happy to give?
These people prefer security to joy, so they will give up happiness for money or possessions.
They go against their impulses of compassion.
If a greedy person is "nice" or "compassionate" it is usually because they are making a calculated move. It is manipulation. They can not see real values from God. They are cold-hearted in the face of joy, Godliness, and prayer.
Since they can not see how "prayer works", they think it to have no benefit. "What good is prayer if it doesn't benefit me?"
Spiritual values are not helpful to them, because they do not make them richer.
America is a very greedy society. We are actually encouraged to be greedy, because possessions rather than spiritual values are what we place value in. Our society makes non-greedy people look foolish and dumb.
People take advantage of generosity. But, it is still better to be generous, even if you get taken advantage of. A greedy person will not allow themselves to get taken advantage of, so they don't risk generosity.
God wants us to be "as wise as serpents, but as gentle as doves." We need to be warm-hearted people.
Greed thinks God is stupid because He gives expecting nothing in return.
There are many verses in the gospel of Matthew about greed:
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroys, and thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroy, nor thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be. " Matthew 6:19-21
"No one can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You can not serve God and money." Matthew 6: 24
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you more important than they? Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span? Why are you anxious about clothes? Learn from the way the wild flowers grow. They do not work or spin. But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them. If God so clothes the grass of the field, which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will He not much more provide for you, O you of little faith? So do not worry and say, 'What are we to eat?' or 'What are we to wear?' All these things the pagans seek. Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righeousness, and all these things will be given you besides. Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil." Matthew 6: 25-34
-- Don't waste your time worrying about what you will have in this world; in the end, it won't matter what you had, but what you did.
"When Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side. A scribe approached and said to him, 'Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.' Jesus answered him, 'Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.'" Matthew 8: 18-20
-- Jesus led an insecure life and had no monetary wealth, but he was still content. We are supposed to want to be more like him, so it doesn't make sense to want security and wealth to be happy.
"The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls. When he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it." Matthew 13: 44-46
-- We have found something of real value (heaven) and we must be willing to give up everything for it.
Nothing is really "ours", it is all God's. So if we turn away from God for our possessions, we will never see His Kingdom.
Our love for God must be unconditional while our love for everything and everyone else is conditional. The condition is what God wants for us.
"Jesus said to him, 'If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.' When the young man heard this statement, he went away sad, for he had many possessions. Then Jesus said to his disciples, 'Amen, I say to you, it will be hard for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.' When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and said, 'Who then can be saved?' Jesus looked at them and said, 'For human beings this is impossible, but for God all things are possible." Matthew 19: 21-26
"Now when Jesus was in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came up to him with an alabaster jar of costly perfumed oil, and poured it on his head while he was reclining at table. When the disciples saw this, they were indignant and said, 'Why this waste? It could have been sold for much, and the money given to the poor.' Since Jesus knew this, he said to them, 'Why do you make trouble for the woman? She has done a good thing for me. The poor you will always have with you; but you will not always have me. In pouring this perfumed oil upon my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. Amen, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be spoken of, in memory of her.'" Matthew 26: 6-13
--The disciples were not really concerned with selling it to give to the poor. Jesus knew that they were more concerned with the idea of "waste". It is absurd to think that any gift given to the Son of God would be a "waste".
Greed will use generosity as an excuse for anger, like what the disciples did.
This is VERY important:
"Then one of the Twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, 'What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?' They paid him thirty pieces of silver, and from that time on he looked for an opportunity to hand him over." Matthew 26: 14-16
-- Greed was the reason for Judas's betrayal of Jesus. He literally exchanged the Son of Man for silver. Do we not do the same each time we choose acquiring wealth over God's commandments?
Judas's greed led him to anger and then to betrayal.
Heaven has been prepared for us from the beginning and it is God's intention for us to be there with Him.
It is "crucial" that we battle temptation and sin until the day that God grants us each deliverance from it. The word "crucial" is derived from "crucifixion". So, "crucial" means we must take up our crosses daily to be able to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
"He came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town. Now a man there named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man, was seeking to see who Jesus was; but he could not see him because of the crowd, for he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus, who was about to pass that way. When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said to him, 'Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house.' And he came down quickly and received him with joy. When they all saw this, they began to grumble, saying, 'He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner.' But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, 'Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over.'" Luke 19: 1-8
-- Zacchaeus is a great example of what we should be willing to give up.
Jesus had people give up their possessions in order for them to rid themselves of sin.
"If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off." That doesn't mean literally to cut off a limb, but rather to cut yourself off from whatever it is that causes you to sin. If that temptation is your possessions, then you should give them up.
God looks at the intent of our hearts, not outward appearances. The poorest man can be greedy and the richest man can be generous. It depends on whether the poor man hoards his single dollar or if the rich man gives and shares his riches.
Thriftiness, ambition, and industriousness can be virtues, but often lead to greed.
"Indeed, religion with contentment is a great gain." 1 Timothy 6:6
--Religion makes us richer than money can.
Christians are not "idealists" in their desire to give up greed. They are not foolish either. It is a perfectly realistic goal to give up a sin that destroys.
Why do we bother to hold on to things? They will all disappear when we leave this world.