Satisfaction Without Greed     [“Faith at Work”, sermon #X]

 

                                                                                                            3/14/48

 

Scripture:  Exodus 20: 1-20  (Same as read with I)

 

Text:  Exodus 20:  17;  “Thou shalt not covet ..... anything that is thy neighbor’s.”

 

I wonder how many people, learning the Ten Commandments by memory for the first time, come to the last one with a sort of vague relief -- “There, that is the last one -- not so important as some of the others, like the ones dealing with murder, adultery, stealing and lying, but at least convenient for rounding out the ten.”  I confess that the depth of the tenth has often evaded me -- or I have evaded it!  Perhaps there are others like me who would profit by another look.

 

The first article of an ethical creed has the advantage of priority; the last article has the advantage of finality.  Actually, in importance the tenth commandment merits the advantage of finality, and much more.  It has to do with greed.  And greed is a power we shall probably never erase as finite people.  We can learn to recognize it and combat it.  And the best way to combat its power seems to be to organize life with an equal or greater and opposite power.

 

The universality of greed, and its pervasiveness, we can hardly doubt.  The laughing comment of a farm woman that she is “green-eyed with jealousy” over her neighbor’s new washing machine is, however well controlled, evidence of a very real desire.  She wouldn’t think of wanting the machine for herself instead of her neighbor --- or would she?

 

“I wish I had a car of my own - if only a junk heap like Jim’s,” moans a high school boy.  “His Dad gives him everything he wants.         “If I could have that salary, that position, that academic degree, that skill that everybody admires, that popularity that Wilbur Jones has -- my, what a glorious difference it would make to me!”

 

Greed is particularly evident in the desire for money because of the material things that money can purchase.  But this is only one form of the many forms which covetousness takes.  The ancient law enumerates some of them:  “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s.”  And the list could be lengthened interminably.

 

There are many who have the greed for money pretty well under control who nevertheless covet power, or standing and prestige, or adulation and praise.  The greed for praise is often a stronger desire than that for wealth.  It is usually desired not for its own sake, like some collector’s item, but for the relative power over others which it makes possible.

 

It is inherent in the human situation that we are deeply concerned with station.  We want to stand well in the eyes of others and we will go to some length to secure that standing.  One of the easiest ways of securing the flattery and service of others is to have some sort of ascendancy over them.

 

The Bible is sophisticated enough to carry this recognition.  Probably this is the reason why the tenth sin of the Decalogue is reserved for last treatment; it may be the most difficult sin.  Like so many of the insights of the Old Testament, this one is underlined by Jesus in the New Testament:  “Take heed and keep yourselves from all covetousness; for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.”  [Luke

12: 15].

 

There is a positive moral law underlying all the specific moral laws concerning the sacredness of life, of marriage, of ownership and of veracity.  There is also a temptation which underlies all other temptations, bringing the good life into constant jeopardy.

 

The pervasive fact of human greed constantly endangers life itself, because men will constantly endanger the lives of others to achieve their own greedy ends.  It endangers the sacredness of marriage in that unbridled lust is but one of the possessive forms taken by the love of power, often involving much more than mere physical desire.  It constantly endangers the dignity of ownership because we covet the possessions which other people have, and therein find subtle ways of justifying ourselves when we take them.  It endangers the structure of mutual trust because greed will make us distort the truth in order to degrade our competitor or elevate ourselves in relation to him.

 

The importance of the 10th commandment lies in the fact that it goes beyond all overt actions to the source of our actions -- it puts final emphasis beyond deeds, on motives.

 

Both theoretically and practically, the recognition of the power, the universality and the pervasiveness of greed is especially important in the construction of our political and economic systems.  Here on this rock, the authoritarian systems finally break themselves.

 

The system of the late Benito Mussolini gained much of its initial success from a realistic estimate of human nature.  It maintained that men are weak and self-regarding.  They cannot be trusted, but must be controlled - even for their own good.  They are too stupid to be trusted to vote.  The only way to get a stable society is to regiment them both physically and psychologically.  You must have thought control.  You must keep them in line with terror.  The purpose of the concentration camp is not so much the punishment of evil doers as the control of all others by fear of the camp.  Once ruthless power is established, men are such cowards that they will never seriously challenge that power, for men are afraid to run the risks involved.

 

We’ve seen the shrewdness of this policy recognized and adopted repeatedly in one unhappy country after another even to this day.  The dictators’ estimate of human nature has proved not altogether accurate as indicated in the range and strength of resistance movements.  But much of it does justify the dictators’ assumption.

 

However, there is a fatal flaw in the system.  It fails to recognize the necessary implication that the leaders themselves will exhibit the very traits they expect in the rest of humanity!  The doctrine of the sinfulness of mankind overlooks no one!  If all men are actual or potential sinners, this must also include the leader, since the leader is also a man!

 

The authoritarian system is condemned in the assumption that men cannot be trusted, including the leader; and yet there is no check or balance on him in case he becomes untrustworthy.  His only escape from the position of sinner among sinners is to be considered divine - which move is sometimes attempted - and with little success.

 

Here becomes evident the fundamental reason why democracy is more than a passing political fashion, and why it is the best way in which the political life of a people can be ordered.  The most profound argument for political democracy is not in the rationality, trustworthiness, goodness, or equality of men.  For men are not universally rational, trustworthy, good nor equal except in certain particulars and times.  They are full of prejudices, errors and sharp contrasts.

 

The most profound argument for democracy lies in the realization, originating right at this point in the Bible, that the love of power is so strong and pervasive that a system of mutual checks, even upon the ruler, is the only known alternative to injustice and oppression!

 

Democracy, though not perfect, is the best known way of life, not because all men are virtuous and reasonable, but because all men are greedy; and what virtue and reason men do possess must have its chance to checkmate greed.  The government exists to curb the wanton exercise of power, in faction or in individual --- governed or governor.

 

Trueblood remarks that “Democracy is necessitated by the fact that all men are sinners; it is made possible by the fact that we know it!”

 

Democracy, then, is the best form of government we have seen upon earth.  And yet even democracy is not “fool-proof” --- nor “knave-proof.”  Consequently it must continually be supported by what amounts to moral and spiritual revival.  No machinery of government suffices without men of trustworthy character.  Mere government without cultivation of good will eventually suffers from secession.

 

The problem of greed, then, seems to require two answers.  One necessary answer is to recognize that existence of greed in all men and arrange for the necessary curbs on the worst abuses to which it leads.  The other answer is to bring on all our lives the power which most mitigates greed - that of genuine conversion!

 

Men can have such a sense of the love of God that much of their natural selfishness is purged away.  When this occurs -- we are still men, with continuing temptations -- but we become new men.  The power of greed, so great in us all, is handled in the end by a power greater than ourselves -- the redemptive power of God!

 

If we could find in our day even a few men who had the gift of leading other men to the completely transforming power of God, as Saint Francis led thousands to give up oppressive luxury, and as John Wesley encouraged common men to become honest citizens, we would be wise to give them every facility and loyal support possible.  A dozen such men would accomplish more for world reconstruction than a thousand policemen could, or whole divisions of occupation troops.

 

As we seek a really valid counterpart of greed -- its controller and conqueror -- we are driven to a surprisingly simple answer.

 

The counterpart of greed is none other than that which the New Testament calls in the Greek “agape” and which we usually translate “charity” or “love.”  Scholars tell us that “agape” should perhaps not be translated, for there is no English word quite like it, and it takes a whole chapter of the New Testament to describe it; that is the 13th chapter of I Corinthians. 

 

            Agape envieth not, vaunteth not itself, seeketh not its

            own.  It is not something of this natural world, but is

            something which comes only of God’s grace.  And from

            God’s grace only, it has to come into this world to save us

            before it is too late.

 

Love completes the law.  Jesus:  “Think not that I have come to destroy the law” -- the commandments -- “I came not to destroy but to fulfill.”

 

And then he gave a new commandment spiritually inclusive of all of them.  “A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; even as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.”

 

We say truly that the need of our time, and of our lives, is religion.  Yes, but there are many kinds of religion: what kind of religion?

 

There is only one kind of religion which has been proved equal to the making of new men and to inspire men to support new and cleansed society.

 

And that is the religion of Him who lived love and with it, in other lives made good, laid the only foundation of a good world.

 

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Dates and places delivered:

 

            Wisconsin Rapids, March 14, 1948

            Waioli Church, March 16, 1975