This past week I heard the news report about the Wall Street Journal
being sold, and thought of the movie from the 80's called “Wall Street”.
There is a line from that movie that goes like this, “Greed, for lack of
a better word, is good.” The story revolves around an ambitious young
stockbroker, played by Charlie Sheen, and his ruthless, greedy mentor,
played by Michael Douglas. Douglas’ character, Gordon Gecko, involves
the young stockbroker in an illegal insider trading scheme that
ultimately leads to his downfall. The movie reveals the consequences of
greed, lust, lying, and cheating.
The most famous scene in the movie occurs when Gecko is addressing a
stockholders’ meeting of Teldar paper, a company he has taken over. He
is about to “save” it by “downsizing it,” a euphemism for getting rid of
many longtime employees. He addresses the stockholders with these words,
“Greed,” he says, “for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right.
Greed works. Greed clarifies, Greed cuts through and captures the
essence of the evolutionary spirit.
Greed, in all of its forms--greed for life, for money, for love,
knowledge– has marked the upward surge of mankind, and greed, you mark
my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning
corporation called the USA.”
The irony of the movie Wall Street, is that Gordon Gecko was supposed to
be a villain, but instead, he has become a source of inspiration for
countless numbers of investment bankers around the world. It has often
been suggested that the movie Wall Street turned out to be a most
effective recruitment tool for the investment banking industry.
Thousands of young people suddenly wanted to become Gordon Gecko. “Greed
is good,” says Gordon Gecko.
His last name is suggestive. A gecko is, of course, a lizard--not to be
confused with certain insurance company. A lizard. A reptile. In the
same family as a snake. The sort creature that tempted Eve. Even on Wall
Street, most people will tell you that if greed is your ultimate value,
you will eventually pay the price.
I’m not a super Whiz when it comes to the workings of the Stock Market.
I know that there is what they call a Bull Market - which is when the
market is aggressive; and there is a Bear Market -which moves a little
slower. I checked out a saying I heard with a friend of mine who is
involved in the Stock market. I asked him if he ever heard the saying:
Bulls make money. Bears make money.... and before I could even continue,
he finished it by saying: “Pigs get slaughtered.” Bulls make money.
Bears make money. Pigs get slaughtered.
Jesus said somewhat the same thing. He told a parable: “The ground of a
certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, ‘What
shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ Then he said, ‘This is
what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there
I will store all my grain and my goods. And I’ll say to myself, “You
have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat,
drink and be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘YOU FOOL! This very night
your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have
prepared for yourself?’ This is how it will be with anyone who stores up
things for himself but is not rich toward God.”
Jesus didn’t say it as indelicately as a Stock Market Broker might, but
the message is the same. Greed can be our undoing. “Pigs get
slaughtered.” Don’t worry so much about Earthly treasures, if you
haven’t spent any time addressing your Heavenly Treasures. We worry more
about what we can’t take with us, than we do about what we can - our
Promise of Salvation and the gift of Eternal Life!
Jesus didn’t say that this Rich man was a bad man - or lazy, or that he
didn’t deserve what he had, or that he did anything wrong. He simply
said he was a FOOL! He had his priorities in the wrong place. He wanted
to store up his wealth and Eat - Drink - and Be Merry! He wanted to be
piggish. And as we’ve learned - Pigs get slaughtered. And Jesus says
it’s foolish to spend all of your time working on the wealth of this
life and not pay any attention to your after-life.
Now if you’re like me you might think, “Well at least his family had it
made.” Really?
And what are they going to do with all that stuff? His wife would have
rather had him with her, than all those possessions in the Barn. His
kids would have benefitted more learning about
how to lead a quality life than a life of quantity! And if they just
took those possessions and made more possessions - then Jesus would be
saying to them, “You FOOLS!”
This entire topic was brought up because someone went to Jesus - as
their wise Rabbi -to address an inheritance. Inheritances - money
dropped in our laps - are not always a blessing.
Two old friends bumped into one another on the street one day. One man
looked very sad and discouraged, almost on the verge of tears. His
friend asked, “What has the world done to you, my old friend, that has
made you so sad?” The sad fellow said, “Three weeks ago, a rich uncle of
mine died. To my surprise, he included me in his will. His lawyers sent
me a check for $40,000!” “That’s terrific,” said the friend. “That’s a
lot of money.”
“Yes, but two weeks ago, they sent me another check —this time for
$100,000!” “Wow, that’s incredible!” said the friend. “You’ve really
been blessed!” “You don’t understand,” the man whined. “Last week I got
another check in the mail that was larger than the first two. It was for
a quarter of a million dollars!” The friend was getting very confused.
“You’re right, I don’t understand. Why then are you so unhappy? Why do
you look so glum?” “Because this week I haven’t received anything.”
Sometimes we are so blessed that we begin to think we’re entitled to all
the good things that come our way. Perhaps it’s human nature. If you
give a small child a gift, he’ll treasure it.
But if you give him two gifts, he might start to wonder why he didn’t
get a third. We have become accustomed to having the possessions we have
- to the point that we no longer view them as Blessings from God - but
as things we feel entitled to have.
Take air conditioning for example! We have been noticing that many more
of our older members are attending worship during this time of Air
Conditioning Free worship, than our younger members. My guess is that
you remember there were more summer Sundays when you did not have Air
Conditioning that Sundays when you did. You realize that cool air on a
90 degree day is a blessing. People who have always had Air Conditioning
in their churches have come to expect it! It has become more of a
privilege.
None of us deserve the blessings we have. We have so much while there
are people in the world who are suffering trying to have the basics. Now
Jesus never said it was bad to the Rich man to work hard and become
successful. What made that man a Fool is the Attitude he had. He had a
selfish attitude that he could store up his stuff so he could sit back,
eat, drink, and be merry. Jesus is saying we need an “Attitude of
Gratitude.” Instead of hoarding our stuff as ours. We need to constantly
look at what we have as blessings from God to be used as God would have
us use them while we live on this earth.
We are about to sing a New Hymn. It’s an easy tune and the words are
very appropriate. “How small our span of life, O God, our years from
birth to death.” You know, that in the whole scheme of things, we are on
this earth for a very short time. Jesus was only on earth for 33 years,
and yet he is still remembered and has changed many lives. Jesus is not
remembered for what he had. He is remembered for what he did! Likewise -
as with the man with the larger barns, filled with what he had, Jesus is
more concerned with what we do with what we have. After all, the things
we have are not ours. They are Blessings from God and they belong to
God. Let’s not be piggish. We can’t take them with us. Let’s use them
wisely as God would have them used. Amen.