The “weed of greed” is seen in the natural man and woman without having been planted there – it grows from the seed of a broken world.  The nature of the church is to follow after the example of Christ as our Head, and greed is destructive to the health of the church.

Greed is a weed, growing in the garden of your effectiveness for ministry on earth it will choke the life out of your fruit bearing ability.”

Everything in our world today slowly, sometimes subtly, and consistently moves the individual towards pursuing the achievement and satisfaction of our desires.  But the reality is the more stuff we own, the more that stuff owns us.  Cars need routine and accidental maintenance, houses need cleaning and costly updates, clothing needs to stay clean and in style, phones need to be updated and upgraded, and computers need virus updates, software updates, and hardware updates.

A helpful compass of greed is this: The direction of your heart’s attention.  God sees greed as a sin, and He see it as nothing short than the emphasis that produces the “root of all evil.”

Luke 20:46-47 (NIV)

46 “Beware of the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. 47 They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely.”

Two Categories for Greed
#1 – [Those who] LOVE TO BE SEEN
“flowing robes” / “greeted in the marketplace” / “lengthy prayers”

#2 – [Those who] LOVE TO HAVE
“most important seats” / “places of honor” / “devour widows houses”

With these two conclusions reached to categorically see the realm of greed in our lives we must:
#1 – Leave people impressed with Jesus and not with you
#2 – Learn to downsize our stuff

Proverbs 30:7-9 (NIV)