GREED

 

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

How did Christ warn us against covetousness?

“At the same time, he said to them: look, beware of covetousness, for the life of a person does not depend on the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12.15).

 

 

What commandment forbids this sin?

“Do not desire“ (Ex 20.17).

 

 

What does Paul call covetousness?

“Therefore put to death your members on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil lust, and covetousness, which is idolatry“ (Col 3.5).

 

 

What do these sins bring on people?

“For whom the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience” (v.6).

 

 

What two services did Christ say a person cannot do at the same time?

“You cannot serve God and mammon“ (Luke 16.13).

 

 

What principle guided the rich man who had abundance in everything?

“And he said, This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will gather all my bread and all my goods. And I will say to my soul: soul! much good lies with you for many years: rest, eat, drink, be merry” (Luke 12.18-19).

 

 

What did God say to him?

“But God said to him: mad! this very night your soul will be taken from you; Who will get what you have prepared?“ (v.20).

 

 

What conclusion did the Savior draw from this parable?

“So it is with those who lay up treasures for themselves, and do not grow rich in God” (v.21).

 

 

What sin were the Pharisees guilty of?

“The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all this, and they laughed at Him” (Luke 16.14).

 

 

What did Jesus say to them in response?

“He said to them: you show yourself righteous before people, but God knows your hearts: for what is high among people is an abomination before God” (v.15).

 

 

What was the result of Achan's sin?

“Among the booty, I saw one fine garment of Shinar and two hundred shekels of silver and an ingot of gold... I liked this and I took it” (Josh 7.21).

 

 

What did Judas' greed bring to?

“And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went to the chief priests to betray him to them. When they heard it, they rejoiced and promised to give him pieces of silver. And he was looking for a way to betray Him at a convenient time” (Mark 14.10-11).

 

 

How does the Lord treat the greedy?

“For the ungodly boasts in the lust of his soul, and blesses the covetous man, whom the Lord hates” (Ps 10.3-5, English translation).

 

 

What parable did Christ tell to correct the Pharisees' misconception that wealth was a sign of God's special favor?

The parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16.19-31).

 

 

What danger, according to him, lies in wait for those who have wealth?

“And looking around, Jesus said to His disciples: how difficult it is for those who have riches to enter the Kingdom of God !..  Jesus again says to them in response: children! How difficult it is for those who trust in riches to enter the Kingdom of God !” (Mark 10.23-24).

Note. And how difficult it is for those who have wealth not to hope for it!

 

 

What kind of people tend to accept the gospel?

“Listen, my beloved brethren: has not God chosen the poor of the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He has promised to those who love Him?” (Jac 2.5).

 

 

How difficult, according to Christ, is it for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God?

“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” (Mark 10.25).

 

 

Why did a rich young man who wanted to be saved not want to sell his possessions and distribute to the poor, as Christ advised him?

“Hearing this word, the young man departed with sorrow, because he had a large property” (Matt 19.22).

 

 

What is avarice?

“For the love of money is the root of all evil” (1 Tim 6.10).

 

 

What evil lies in wait for those who want to get rich?

“But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and harmful lusts that plunge people into disaster and destruction” (v.9).

 

 

Who gives people the power to acquire wealth?

“But to remember the Lord your God, for He gives you power to acquire wealth” (Deut 8.18).

 

 

How can everyone, rich and poor, honor God?

“Honor the Lord with your possessions and with the firstfruits of all your gains” (Prov 3.9).

 

 

What warning does the Bible give regarding wealth?

“When wealth increases, do not add heart to it” (Ps 62.10).

 

 

Can the collected wealth be to the detriment of a person?

“There is a painful disease that I saw under the sun: wealth saved by its owner to his detriment” (Eccl 5.12).

 

 

What exhortation is given to the rich?

“Exhort those who are rich in this present age not to think highly of themselves and trust not in unfaithful wealth, but in the living God, who gives us everything abundantly for our enjoyment; so that they may do good, be rich in good works, be generous and sociable, laying up for themselves treasures, a good foundation for the future, in order to achieve eternal life” (1 Tim 6.17-19).

 

 

What helps the rich to live without mourning?

“The blessing of the Lord - it enriches, and does not bring sorrow with it“ (Prov 10.22).

 

 

How is true wealth acquired?

“Humility is followed by the fear of the Lord, riches and glory and life” (Prov 22.4).

 

 

How did Moses regard the reproach of Christ?

“And he considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth for himself than the treasures of Egypt; for he looked to the reward“ (Heb 11.26).

 

 

What two groups of rich people are mentioned in the Bible?

“Another pretends to be rich, but he has nothing; another pretends to be poor, but he has a lot of wealth” (Prov 13.7).

Note. Luke 12.16-20 mentions the first group of these people, and Acts 4.34-37 the second.

 

 

Why is life going to be dangerous lately?

“Know that in the last days there will be hard times. For people will be selfish, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, blasphemous” (2 Tim 3.1-2).

 

 

What serious warning is addressed to the wealthy, who in the last days have accumulated wealth and oppressed the poor?

“Listen, you rich ones: weep and weep for your calamities that are (on you). Your wealth is rotten, and your clothes are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their rust will be a testimony against you and will eat your flesh like fire: you have stored up for yourselves treasure in the last days. Behold, the wages you withheld from the laborers who reaped your fields are crying out, and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You lived in luxury on earth and enjoyed; fed your hearts as if for the day of the slaughter” (Jac 5.1-5).

 

 

Can silver or gold save people in the day of the wrath of the Lord?

“Neither their silver nor their gold can save them in the day of the Lord's wrath“ (Zeph 1.18, see Prov 11.4).

 

 

What will the rich do with their money then?

“They will throw their silver into the streets and their gold will be neglected. Their silver and their gold will not save them much in the day of the wrath of the Lord. They will not satisfy their souls with them, nor fill their wombs; for it was an occasion for their iniquity” (Ezek 7.19).

Note.

One story tells that on September 12, 1857, off Cape Hatteras, during a terrible storm, the steamer Central America was wrecked with six hundred passengers on board. Many of the passengers, who were miners returning from the California goldfields, took off their belts to store their jewelry and poured the gold onto the cabin floor to shed excess weight and avoid drowning. Anyone could take this gold. Bags full of thousands of dollars lay untouched everywhere. People, seized by the fear of death, opened their bags and poured the sparkling metal right on the floor. One of the passengers opened the bag and shook twenty thousand dollars worth of gold dust from it all over the cabin. He said that anyone who is thirsty for gold can take it. But it remained untouched, like an unnecessary thing.

It is also said that when the steamer Arctic, about a collision in the ocean that occurred on September 20, 1854, began to sink, one of the passengers was ready to pay thirty thousand pounds sterling or one hundred and fifty thousand dollars so that the lifeboat would return and take him away. Rescuers headed for him, but he drowned before they reached him.

 

 

What are we called to do as stewards of God's gifts?

“And I say to you, make friends for yourselves with unrighteous wealth, so that when you become poor, they will receive you into eternal habitations” (Luke 16.9).

“Serve one another, each with the gift that you have received, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (1 Pet 4.10).