Title: When greed has conceived
Contents
James 1:15 When lust has conceived,
If you ask, “Pastor! What is the standard between greed and non-greedy?” can be answered simply. The normal desire to get what God gives me is not greed, but the desire to forcefully get what God does not give me is greed.
Everyone! We can all have normal wishes. "I want to have a nice house and a nice car. I want to meet a good groom and get married." all good We can open our mouths wide. However, lust, that is, possessiveness that goes against God's will, is forbidden.
There are other similar teachings in the Bible. The Bible says, "Have a dream. Have a vision." But on the other hand, the Bible also says "keep the fountain." In other words, it is said that what God has given is a correct dream and vision, but making a plan for yourself and trying to achieve it is a vain dream.
In other words, we must have good dreams and visions from God, but we must wake up quickly from vain dreams that ignore God's will and try to achieve something ourselves. Everyone! Humanity's calamity stemmed from greed.
God told Adam and Eve to eat everything in the Garden of Eden as they wish, but only one thing, the forbidden fruit. However, the devil approaches Eve and tempts her to eat the forbidden fruit. If you try to take something God has not given you, it is greed. And when lust has conceived, it leads to sin.
Eve stared at the forbidden fruit. The more I looked at it, the more I wanted to eat it. In other words, because lust was conceived, they sinned. And her husband, Adam, also ate the forbidden fruit and sinned. Death came as a result. It became like today's text. “When lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death” (James 1:15).
Everyone! do you like money? Would you like some money? How much money would you like God to give you? How much money would you be satisfied with? And how much money do you think God gives me in my lifetime?
Imagine if God gave you 1 billion won in your lifetime. But if you try to grab more money than the 1 billion won that God wants you to give, will that person be happy? Would you be unhappy? The biblical answer is, of course, unfortunate. No, you must go further and be unhappy. Because that's the truth.
Think about it. How tired must he be when he struggles for money that God does not want him to give? If you are trying to grab money that God does not give you, you have to go beyond your limits. And we have to steal, we have to rob, we have to do human trafficking and even murder. You also have to skip Sundays. In other words, when greed is established, sin is bound to occur.
The same goes for those who believe. If you don't go to worship on Sundays and work, you get more money and more money. Especially if you work on a weekday, your hourly pay is higher. So, if believers don't worship on Sunday and everyone goes to earn money, who comes to worship? Is worshiping God more important than making money?
Check your beliefs. What kind of faith does God really like? Are you a person who skips Sundays because of money greed? Or is it the faith to keep Sunday even if you earn a lot of money?
Everyone! Some money is given by God and some is brought by the devil. It must be well discerned. My father did not believe in Jesus and ran a brewery when he was young. Business has been very good. I made a lot of money. But one day, in a dream, a large snake crossed the brewery wall and disappeared somewhere.
After that, the brewery went bankrupt. Everyone! Through the brewery, Satan wanted many people to fall into drunkenness. To do that, you need to bless the brewery. You have to give a lot of money. But God is well aware that when the brewery goes well and there is a lot of money, that person does not seek God and does not come to God.
So, God takes the money of the people he chooses. When there is no money, when a business fails, and sometimes a big problem or accident occurs, then God can come to Him. From this point of view, it seems that the devil is a good gentleman who gives blessings, and God is a bad person who curses.
Of course, if you don't have money, it's hard. It's very hard. However, you must not follow the money the devil gives you. It's like a fish biting a bait. For Christians, money can never be ahead of God. When money precedes God, money becomes an idol.
And idolatry is a great sin against God. In the end, greed leads to the sin of idolatry, and if you keep going without abandoning that greed, you will eventually die. Destruction. Therefore, no matter how good money is, money should not be followed.
Money has to follow the amount of my faith. My faith has not grown, but if I have enough money, the money will later destroy my faith, the money will destroy the happiness of the family, and the money that makes people proud is the root of evil. becomes
Everyone! God is well aware that we cannot live without money when we live in a foreign land. God does not only give His only begotten Son, but He also gives money. Most of the time, God wants to give you a lot of money.
However, if you have more money than the amount of faith, the mold of the curse grows as much as the amount of money. So, be on the lookout for more money than my faith and my loyalty and devotion to God. The money you grab like that is unusual money. It is the money the devil brings. The fish is biting the bait.
Christians should receive money from God as much as they are loyal to God and as much as they dedicate themselves to God. Only then can that money bring you real happiness. Some people think that if they make a lot of money haphazardly and donate a lot, God will like it too.
no. The Bible tells us not to bring the money earned by a prostitute or the income of a dog-like person, that is, the money earned by a prostitute, to the temple of God. Previously, I watched a movie called 'Two Cops (Two Polices)' in Korea. There, I saw a policeman donating the material he received as a bribe to God and saying, 'Hallelujah!' And he thinks of himself as having a very good faith.
But God said, "Why are you bringing me such lustful substances? Why are you making me an accomplice?" and will not accept the material. Everyone! It is greed to seek not only money but also honor, position, or praise that God does not give.
If you continue to live with such greed, you will eventually commit sins and eventually die. Life becomes unhappy. Everyone! Normal is fine. It's good to know a little bit. It doesn't have to be great. You don't have to donate a lot. Let go of greed.
And trust God first. That is the wisdom to take care of one's happiness. And don't forget this. Anything you tried to get drunk while being so greedy, you have to let go of it later. I can't take any. If you leave a lot on this land, you will only feel more regretful.
And don't forget this too. When Jesus comes again, he says, "Get out and gather!" do. Those who believe well in Jesus will eventually have everything. So you don't have to be greedy. Everything my father owns is mine. The universe and all things are our Father's, and the Father's thing is ours, His children, after all.
However, my sermon today does not mean that Christians live in poverty on this earth. It doesn't mean that you don't have enough money to live in poverty all the time. It doesn't mean that you want to be despised by others. If you believe in God well and do God's work first, God will add all of these things to you. So, don't be greedy, and let God's work come first in this foreign land.
Even in this foreign land, God will surely bless those who do God's work first without being greedy. And he will give them happiness. I pray that all of us will give up greed and be happy while fulfilling God's will.