Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Gehazi The Servant Who Got Greedy │ Msg 1314 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

Transcript

Gehazi The Servant Who Got Greedy │ Msg 1314 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: We're involved in a series on great stories from the
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Old Testament in our days together around God's Word, and
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: this evening, I would like for us to focus attention
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: on the helper who got greedy before we look at
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Second Kings Chapter five. Together, I want to say some
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: words that will sort of set the stage for this
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: tragic story of this particular man. Among the unruly and
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: untamable monsters of our minds is secret greed. It's bad
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: enough to do battle with overt demonstrations of greed, but
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: it is almost unbearable to squelch the smoldering embers of
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: secreted The deception of it is that it is secret.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: It is not something one talks about. We don't look
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: greedy very often, and we certainly do not hear many
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: people stand to their feet and confess I am a
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: greedy woman or I am a greedy man. Let me
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: go back many years in my life, when I was
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: first getting underway in ministry. It was my choice privilege
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: to work alongside a very gifted man of God. He
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: was all the things I was not. He was scholarly,
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: he was well versed in the scriptures. He was seasoned
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: as a preacher, and profound as a teacher. He was
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: a man who was therefore in great demand. His popularity
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: was strong. Wherever he went, it seems there were crowds,
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: though I never once knew him to deliberately attempt to
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: draw a crowd. His reputation had earned the respect of
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: the public and Christians and interestingly, non Christians alike would
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: come to places where he would minister, and most often
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: to the church that he pastored, where I worked alongside him.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: I was on his staff, and mine was an enviable position.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: As his assistant and as his helper, I had access
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: to him and was given virtual carte blanche entrance into
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: his life. We on occasion traveled together, and it was
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: always my privilege to be near him and to serve him.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: I might add it was a heady opportunity. For example,
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: when I would preach in his absence, I enjoyed crowds
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: that his reputation had earned, not mine. When I would
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: be in small groups where various things were shared about ministry.
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: The fact that I was on his staff and assisting
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: him gave me entrance into people's lives that I would
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: otherwise not have had. He was a prolific writer and
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: a profound thinker. Mine was a borrowed popularity in those days,
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: and I enjoyed the blessings of serving a alongside this
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: man as a ministry partner. And I never lost this
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: sense of gratitude which I have to this day. But
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: I remind you it was a heady opportunity and privilege.
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: I'll never forget the occasion when a layman who loved
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: me enough to talk to me in words of truth,
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: gave me a warning. He watched us work in tandem
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: with each other, and he saw how my senior colleague
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: loved me and trusted me, and he saw our relationship
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: which was healthy and wholesome. And he told me privately
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: on an occasion when we were in his car, that
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: I should watch out for the enemy. He said that
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: I should guard myself against name dropping, against attempting to
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: gain attention because of the man that I had been
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: selected to work with. Mine was a privileged position, he
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: reminded me, and I should never take it for granted
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: or ever take unfair advantage of it. Very wise and
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: pointed counsel wasn't said to me with suspicion. In fact,
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: he said to me as he began talking, so honestly
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: with me, he said, I have no reason to think
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: that those things have happened or will happen. I just
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: want you to know, as an onlooker, as an officer
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: in the church, and as a friend of both of you,
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: yours is the more precarious of the two. You enjoy
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: many of the benefits that you have not earned over
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: the years. He has earned them, and his is the
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: role of significance. Yours is a role of assistance. And
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: again he didn't mean that to put me down. It
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: was a wise, necessary and reliable piece of counsel. What
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: he was concerned about was secret greed. What do I
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: mean by greed. Let's analyze the word. We toss it around.
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: We see a lot of it written, a lot of
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: things written about it in our yuppy generation. But what
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: exactly is greed? Greed is covetousness. It is an inordinate
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: desire to acquire more and more. It is an eagerness
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: to have something now, whether or not I have spent
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: the time to earn it. It is always in a hurry.
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: It knows little of patience or integrity or appropriateness. It
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: is seldom admitted, and it is often rationalized. I'll say
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: more about that in a moment. Now having identified it,
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: let's discuss manners in which it is expressed. How does
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: it come out in our lives. As I analyze greed,
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: both in scripture and in life, I find there are
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: four very common areas for greed. Evidence is itself. First,
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: and perhaps most obvious, is in the realm of money,
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: color greed, green, more money, excessive amounts of money, in
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: whatever possible manner to have more, a sense of discontentment
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: with what one earns. A greed for more we see,
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: and it's now common to hear about it. We see
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: in the world of professional athletes, a never ending upward
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: spiral toward more and more, to where an individual can
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: play a game of baseball or football or basketball, making
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: multiple millions of dollars a year because of that unique
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: skill of being able to hit a ball, or run
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: with a ball, or drop a ball through a hoop.
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: The greed for more money. Second is in the area
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: of things. Tied in closely with money is the greed
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: for things like the license plate bracket that always brings
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: a chill up your spine and mind. He who dies
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: with the most toys wins that's a greed for things,
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: wanting more and more. Nothing is wrong with having things
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: when things have us and things have us. When what
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: we have never satisfies, we must always acquire more toys,
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: more things. Third is greed for fame. This is an
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: inordinate desire to be known, to be quoted, to be seen,
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: to be recognized in public, to be popular, influential, powerful,
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: to have one's names, one's name in the news, to
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: have one's picture sought, one's autograph sought. A desire for fame,
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: agreed to be known. I know a young man who
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: cannot rest until he is in the political scene. He
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: can hardly rest and wait for the Lord to open
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: the doors. So driven is he to be in a
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: place of political and governmental influence, he has to watch
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: for the greed for fame. Fourth is the greed for pleasure.
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: In certain parts of the country, this realm of greed
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: knows no bounds. Southern California is perhaps the worst. The
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: desire for satisfying one's sensual delights. In the hedonistic category,
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: it can be described in Hugh Hefner's lifestyle in the
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: Playboy Philosophy, Wine Women Song, the whole glitzy surface but
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: evidence is itself in the emptiness that follows the greed
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: for pleasure. Now, let me caution all of us at
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: this point, there is perhaps no more subtle temptation than
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: secret greed. It's easy to feel smug when you hear
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: my words and to think, well, that's not me. Well
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: I'm not there. Well I certainly will have to make
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: millions knocking a ball out the park. I'm doing good
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: to catch play catch with my son. I won't have
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: to worry about greed for money, but watch for secret greed.
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: For we entertain excessive and inordinate desires for the good
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: things of life because of another's achievement. And now I
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: want to get specific and address a small group of
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: people who listen. Right now. I realize it's a smaller group,
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: but it's a group of people. And in our vast
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: United States and across the around the world, there's a
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: larger number of people. Of course, I'm speaking especially to
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: you who assist to you who work alongside as I
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: did for a number of years in my own past.
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: You who serve as helpers, as vice presidents, as associates,
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: as assistants, as managers, as foreman or whatever you work
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: alongside a person who has made the work what it is,
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: and yours is a supportive role. Yours is, if I
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: may use the word in a dignified sense, a servant role.
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: I never forgot counsel that I received from one of
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: my mentors who heard of my taking the position that
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: I took for several years. He told me, you have
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: one job, and that is to help make that man
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: you serve far more successful than he ever would be
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: without you. Your purpose is to make him successful. And
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: I remembered that that was wise counsel. I deliberately worked
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: against attempting to draw a following or break the loyalty
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: was that he had cultivated and earned over the years. Now,
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: with all of that in mind, I want you to
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: look at a story that appears at the end of
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: Second King's Chapter five. It is It is an account
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: of a helper who got greedy. It's a wonderful chapter,
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: this fifth chapter. We've looked at the early part of
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: it in days past. The early part of the chapter
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: is the story of a man who was cleansed of leprosy.
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: His name is Naeman. He was a captain of the
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: Syrian host and a high ranking military officer who lived
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: with the dread disease of leprosy, and through a series
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: of very interesting events, he finally wound up dipping himself
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: seven times in the river Jordan, and coming up the
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: last time experiencing a miracle. In fact, you will see
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: in verse fourteen he went down and dipped himself seven
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: times in the Jordan according to the word of the
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: Man of God. That's a reference to Elisha the Prophet,
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: the Man of God. And Naeman's flesh was restored like
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: Magnificent miracle. The leprosy was gone, and he had the
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: flesh like a little baby. And the chapter doesn't stop there,
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: nor does the story. The man doesn't simply look at
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: himself and look up into heaven and say thank God
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: and then go on his way. He, of course not.
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: He returns to the individual who had told him what
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: to do, Elisha the Man of God, and let me
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: show you what he did. No need to spend a
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: lot of time in verses fifteen to nineteen, but it
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: does give us a little bit of a historical backdrop.
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: He returned to the Man of God with all his company.
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: He had brought with him. You remember several in this
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: entourage of a powerful peace from Syria. And he came
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: and stood before Elisha, and he said, behold, now, I
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: know that there is no god in all the earth
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: but in Israel. So please take a present from your servant. Now.
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: In case you wonder what the present was, you'll have
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: to go back to verse five, because earlier he had
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: thought he could buy his cleansing. And he brought with
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: him ten talents of silver and six thousand shekels of gold.
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: Probably not a person in shouting distance who could tell
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: you how much that would work, because we don't deal
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: in talents and shekels today. So let me translate it
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: for you about four million dollars in silver, gold, and
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: ten new suits of clothes in today's language. Not bad
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: for a quiet, obscure man of God who lives in
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: the distance away from the city. He brought him these things,
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: and he said, here, back to verse fifteen, take a
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: present from your servant. Now he calls himself Elisha's servant.
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: He said, here, I've got something I want you to have.
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: Meant nothing to Nam, and he had plenty of those things.
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: Silver and gold meant nothing to him. Suits of clothes
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: were and new robes I'm sure were as common as
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: they could be in the world in which he traveled.
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: But when you've been living on a prophet's salary, that's
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: enough to make your eyes bug out of their sockets.
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: You look and you see four million dollars worth of
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: silver and gold and all of these beautiful garments. And
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: if you're not careful, you could be tempted. I mean,
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: why not pick and choose? No need to take everything
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: the man brought, But there's no crime in taking him
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: up on his offer. He said, take a present. You see.
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: That's how all of this starts. Look at Elisha's answer
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: verse sixteen. He said, as the Lord lives before whom
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: I stand, I will take nothing. Now why he said that,
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: we are not told. Probably lest the man think in
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: some way he could buy what God gives as a gift.
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: Lest he leaves some impression that behind the scenes, hidden
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: away from the surface, was a desire to make something
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: out of this deal. When he came for cleansing. Perhaps
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: the man, on his way back, though he had plenty,
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: could think interesting Elisha took a couple of the very
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: best suits. Isn't it interesting? That he did take the
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: offer of gold. I wonder if all along he didn't
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: want that, so Elisha to keep it clean, said nope,
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: I don't want any of it. And look there's a
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: little bit of a bantering Nayelmann urged him to take it,
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: but he refused. Come on, come on, man, look at this.
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: Take whatever you want. I'm cleansed, I'm a new man.
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: This means nothing to me. I want you to I
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: want you to know how much I appreciate it. No,
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: I won't take it. Secret greed starts at this point.
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: It becomes a mental playground, and Elisha turns it away,
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: turns it off and says verse nineteen, go in peace shallom.
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: So he departed. He left, but gehyes, I the servant
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: now Here. The plot thickens here. The story takes a
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: turn standing along side Elisha through this whole series of
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: events as a servant, a man who has been working
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: alongside Elisha for who knows how long. He said nothing.
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: In fact, none of the words were ever addressed to him.
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: He's working in the limelight created by Elisha's fantastic godly ministry.
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: His is a borrowed popularity. His is significant because Elisha's
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: anointing was so powerful miracles flowed from him. Now Geheesi
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: begins to reason in his mind, his imagination begins to
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: take over Verse twenty. Gehesi thought, he thought, behold, my
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: master has spared this Naman the Syrian by not receiving
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: from his hands what he brought. As the Lord lives,
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: I will run after him and take something from him.
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: I'm interested, especially in the phrase, as the Lord lives,
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: aren't you? I mean, maybe my master wasn't led to
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: take some of that, but I think the Lord is
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: leading me to take some of that. Rationalization runs down
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: several paths. Track with me for a moment, because we
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: have all been there, even though all of us look
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: pretty pious right now. In this message, my goodness, the
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: man's been cleansed of leprosy. He simply wants to see
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: thank you. Not to accept his gift could seem discourteous.
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: He even urged us we could seem ungrateful. Here's another rationalization.
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: The man has millions now. If he didn't have plenty,
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: he wouldn't offer such lavish gifts. It's only right that
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: we accept something of what he brought. He had to
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: carry it. All the way here. That much money is heavy,
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: he doesn't need to carry it all back. Third, it's
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: amazing how God leads. Who would have ever thought that
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: such abundance could come through the hands of Assyrian Or
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: my master has plenty, but I have virtually nothing, and
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: Elisha hasn't given me a raise for years. I've served
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: him fair, faithfully and diligently. Maybe he doesn't have a
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: need for these presents, but my family and I do
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: see how it works. None of it could be called
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: wrong thinking. That is rationalization. However, it makes plausible wrong conduct.
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: It removes the guilt, it takes away the integrity of soul,
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: and it gives you permission to move inappropriately. And you
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: have nothing to confess. After all, what's wrong with accepting
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: someone's offer? Oh? What's wrong here? First of all, Gehesi
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: was never offered the presence. The man of God was
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: offered the presence. The joy that came from the cleansing
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: was returned to the man who brought the cleansing, humanly speaking. Furthermore,
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: Elisha had deliberately chosen not to accept it, which was
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: a lesson to be learned by the assistant. You follow suit,
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: you work alongside a person. He sets the pace. You
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: follow along. When you cannot, you become someone else's servant. Furthermore,
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: Gehesi deliberately chose not to discuss it with his superior.
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: Do you find it interesting as I do that he
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: doesn't pull Elisha aside and say, Master, I have thoughts
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: regarding this offer. Would it be possible? Would it be
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: permissible for me to follow up and ask if I
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: could take something from his offer? What is your feeling
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: on that? You see? The tragedy here is that it
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: is all in the mind. It's secret. There's not an
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: accountability between the two. Now. The result is a study
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: and tragedy. It looks so plain, looks so shameful, looks
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: so obvious on paper, but it has acted out probably
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: every day of our lives in someone's heart. Track with me.
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: Watch Gehesi as he convinces himself that it's worth the risk.
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: Look at verse twenty. But Gehesi thought verse twenty one,
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: So Gahesi pursued, That's how it works, That's how greed
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: reveals itself. It's a smoldering secret only to surface as
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: a result of rationalization. Verse twenty one. So Gahesi pursued
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: naemen I count one, two, three, four volitional acts in
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: this passage and versus two twenty one to twenty five.
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: First he pursued the source of the goods, all on
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: his own, by the way, not one word of prayer,
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: not a passing thought given to what might be thought
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: by the Syrian or by his lord. He pursues the
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: source of the goods. Second, he lied to cover his tracks.
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: Look at verse twenty two or verse twenty one. Continue.
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: When naem And saw one running after him, he came
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: down from the chariot to meet him and said, it
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: is all well? And he answered, all is well. And
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: then he worked up the courage to lie. My master
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: has sent me, saying, behold, just now, two young men
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: of the sons of the prophets have come to me
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: from the hill country of Ephrium. Please give i'm a
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: talent of silver and two changes of clothes. Wow. Now
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: you see the guy is creative, and by now his
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: imagination has given him room to build a story. All
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: was not well. The Master had not sent him. There
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: had not been two needy profits or sons of prophets.
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: These things were not going to be for someone else.
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: Sounded so spiritual by the way, to say that these
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: were seminary students. These are sons of the prophets. And
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: you know how those guys are. They never have enough.
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: You see, the whole story is reprehensible because he uses
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: his office, his spiritual role, to play on the heart
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: of a secular mind, and that often works. You know
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: how needy these sons of the prophets can be, right, Hey,
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: why not give them some of the silver and some
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: of the gold? And my, wouldn't a new sport code
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: look great on those young men. I have to talk
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: directly now about something I love very much, and that's
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: the ministry. Those of us in ministry need to learn
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: that it is a convenient place to prey on people's emotions.
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: It is easy to play up the sacrificial part of
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: our calling, to secretly have our handout, always expecting the
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: other person to pick up the tab, to buy lunch,
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: to pay for the ticket, to get the gas, to
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: bankroll the weekend. The ministry is a great place to
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: manipulate goods and money from other people. Beware of that tendency.
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: Always beware of the possibility of secret greed, even though
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: you may at the moment deny it. Remember it is
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: a smoldering ember ready to burst into flame. Now, the
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: third thing I noticed when we come back to the
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: story is that he acted deceitfully. Watch what happens. Naeman said,
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: be pleased to take two talents, And he urged him
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: and bound two talents of silver in two bags and
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: two changes of clothing, and gave them to two of
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: his servants, two of Naeman's servants, and they even carried
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: them before him. Here here, men take this. That man
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: has lived long enough under the burden of need. Let's
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: serve him, Let's give him. And I'm sure, I'm sure
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: Gehesi had spiritual sounding words of how grateful he was
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: and how pleased these sons of the prophets would be
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: once they saw this surprise gift that was brought back
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: to them, and on and on. By now he's beginning
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: to believe his own stuff. That's the way deception is.
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: Elisha would never approve of what was happening. And you'll
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: catch a note of that as you read on verse
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: twenty four. When he came to the hill, he that's
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: Gehesi took the presence, that is, those things that were
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: given from the other men's hands. You see, he said,
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: I'll take it from here. Interestingly, when he came to
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: the hill, why because Elisha might see them, somebody might
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: notice the transfer of goods, and he's deceitfully covering his
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: try acts. He took them from their hand, and I'm
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: sure he embraced them, and I'm sure he thanked them
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: and gave him a blessing. And they left and noticed
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: what happens. He deposited them in his house. There's no
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: sons of profits that will ever get these things. He
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: sent the men away and they departed. He knew, beyond
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: the shadow of a doubt, that Elisha would never approve
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: of what was done. He knew that would bring a
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: frown and castigation, so he carried it all out secretly.
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: Another word of application. Being an assistant, being a partner
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: or a team member with someone whose influence is widespread,
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: carries with it a trust, a loyalty, so that whether
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: he or she is absent, there would be no reason
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: to suspect you of deception or taking unfair advantage of
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: your position. It's another reason to live an accountable life.
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: It's another reason to keep short accounts. It's another reason
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: for staying very close to the one you're serving for
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: checking your motive, analyzing reasons why you're doing what you're
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: doing now. Fourth, in the fourth act his volitional Acts,
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: he finally denied the truth before one who had trusted him.
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: He went in and stood before his master, and Elisha
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: said to him, where have you been? GEHEYESEI oh, reminds
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: me of my mother years ago when I came back
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: from a wild evening with two friends, and I learned
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: how to open the door without making the little latch
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: snow because she she could awake with the falling of
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: a feather. And so I learned how to come in.
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: I take my shoes off, and I would turn the
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: back door and I would slip in. Sometimes I'd slip
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: in and sleep in the living room so she wouldn't
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: hear me walk down the hall to drop in bed.
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: And I came in one evening I had, well, it
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: was it was Halloween night. I might as well confess
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: it all since we're into this. And a couple of
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: friends of mine and I had had an English teacher
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: that we could have gotten along a lot better without,
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: we felt, and she lived only two blocks away, and
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: so we bought a half a dozen eggs down at
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: the local convenient market, and we it's hard to confess
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: this before the whole world here, but I'm doing it.
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: We hid out in a field across the street from
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: this our English teacher's house, and we counted to three
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: and we jumped up and we we slung those eggs
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: and it was a direct hit. It was wonderful window
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: front door, two on the roof, two on the side,
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: and to my amazement, her husband was lying in wait,
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: and he came out the front door and I heard
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: the blast of a shotgun. Yeah, I set a new
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: record in the one hundred meters. That night, I jumped
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: a fence. The next day, I couldn't even climb over,
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: and I came panting in the house and my mother
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: said to me, Charles, where have you been, which was
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: sort of like the fourth member of the Trinity asking
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: me that same question. I knew that she knew I
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: had been up to no good. It's that kind of
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: statement there. Now you're wondering what happened, and I know
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: that I'll have to say it later on. So the
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: next day she made me go back and with bucket
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: and scrub brush and hot water, to wash down the
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: eggs that had begun to dry on the house. Humiliating experience.
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: I'll never forget it. I wish that had ended all
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: of my escapades, but it didn't. Of course, she's dead now,
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: so I have a way. I can go on to
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: live my life. But every once in a while I
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: still hear her words, where have you been, Charles, Where
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: have you been? Gehees e? And he said, me nowhere.
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: That's the same thing I said that night, me nowhere.
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: I just took a walk around the block. Servant went nowhere.
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: He had the gall to lie to Elisha. How could
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: he do that? Listen to me. Once a man to himself,
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: he can lie to anybody. Lying to a superior is
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: not difficult if you have learned to lie to yourself.
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: That's why rationalization does such a terrific work within us.
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: That's how secrets are cultivated. That's how ministers of the
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: gospel can preach on Sunday and sleep around during the week.
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: That's how you can play with the treasury of the
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: company and at the same time give an account for
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: all of its financial dealings. It's all part of the
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: process of secret, lies and deception and greed. We have
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: the ability to do that, and our mouths can say
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: things that our minds know in fact are lies, and
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: some get so good at it they could pass a
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: polygraph with their lives. But Elasha is not fooled. The
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: consequences that follow are tragic. Your servant went nowhere, I'm
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: sure Elisha put his hand up as if to say,
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: be quiet. Did not my heart go with you when
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: the man turned from his chariot to meet you right now?
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: Can you imagine the feelings of geheese? I mean it
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: was as if the Goodyear blimp had been up taking
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: pictures of this whole thing all the while and transferred
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: it back as Elisha watches. But this was in the
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: day when there were no blimps and there were no
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: electronic devices. This was the ability to see, which was
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: a prophet's unique gift. He is a seer. He is
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: able to envision things where he was not at the time.
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: And Elisha saw it all. He had played it in
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: review and was waiting for guys to return. Did not
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: my heart go with you when the man turned from
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: his chariot to meet you? Is it a time to
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: receive money and to receive clothing, and olive yards and vineyards,
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: and sheep and oxen, and male and female servants gays.
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: I is this what our ministry is about? Hold on tight,
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: final curtain drops, and the leprosy of Naemon shall cleave
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: to you and to your descendants forever. So he went
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: out from his presence, a leper as white as snow.
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: Aren't we grateful that all greed does not result in
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: the same consequence? Every time I read the story in
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: the Book of Acts, chapter five, of Anonias and Saphara,
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: who gave the impression they sold it all. But they
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: only had sold a part of their land. And I
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: see that one was killed right there at the door,
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: and when the other came into the presence of the corpse,
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: that other partner died. I remember the words of Vance Havner,
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: who said, if God still dealt with hypocrisy today as
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: he did, then every church would need to be built
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: with a morgue in the basement. How many of us
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: would be lepers, how many of us would have been killed?
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: Looking back over this tragic story, I want to address
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: the issue of greed with some practical lessons that I learned.
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: Let me give you three or four I've thought of three,
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: and since putting three thoughts together, come up with a fourth.
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: Let me give you four lasting lessons that I think
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: come out of this story. First is this imagination allows
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: greed to grow. Imagination allows greed to grow. When I
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: say that, I think there's a need to identify or
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: at least define imagination. Webster says, it is forming a
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: mental image not present into the senses and never before
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: wholly perceived in reality. It's forming a mental image not
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: present to the senses or never before wholly perceived in reality.
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: Interesting the second definition Webster gives, and some of you
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: with artistic ability will appreciate this one creative ability. It
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: seems as though those blessed with creative abilities are equally
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: blessed with vivid imaginations. We can envision things, we can
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: act out scenes, we can weep, we can laugh, we
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: can feel nostalgic, we can feel grief just in the
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: mental images that come through our imaginations. The same creativity
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: that helps us dream wonderful dreams can also assist us
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: in forming destructive nightmares. That's what Gehesei has done. He thought,
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: he imagined, and in his imagination, he allowed his greed
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: to grow. The secret in the Christian life is, of course,
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: putting a check on our imagination at proper points, remembering
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: our role, remembering what is appropriate, remembering what is godly,
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: remembering what is best, what is wise, not just what
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: is available. Now. The second thought comes from the same
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: section of scripture. Rationalization encourages greed to surface. What is rationalization?
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: It is providing applausible but untrue reason for conduct. That
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: makes sense. Oh, that's logical, you see. Rationalization talks us
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: into intensifying our action. It removes the constraints of an
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: inappropriate process, and some are very good at it. I've
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: heard the most incredible rationalizations for leaving one's mate, the
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: most incredible rationalizations for living a licentious life, life style,
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: amazing rationalizations for walking away from one's commitment. Rationalization encourages
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: greed to surface. You know, it takes discipline to stop
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: those rationalizations. Takes the discipline the discernment to see through
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: them and to call a spade to spae. Okay, imagination
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: allows greed to grow. Rationalization encourages greed to surface. Third,
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: deception gives greed courage to persist. If I just keep
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: it a secret, I can go on in it. Deception
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: gives greed courage to persist. We lie to ourselves, and
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: so we lie to others, even those who were once
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: close to us. I've had colleagues and years past lie
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: to me, and when pursuing them, I have had them
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: look me right in the eyes and continue their line,
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: persist in the line. I've been amazed at the ability
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: to do that until I realized that the same tendency
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: is latent within me, and it's also within you. Deception
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: gives greed courage to persist. And finally, the good news
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: is confession brings greed to a necessary and abrupt halt.
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: Confession brings greed to a necessary and abrupt halt. We
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: need to call it what it is. It is ugly,
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: it is nasty, It is inappropriate. It is naked avarice.
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: It is discontentment with life. Worst of all, it stays
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: hidden beneath the surface, and it's covered with a spiritual
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: veneer that can even be impressive. The best way to
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: deal with it is to face it, admit it, and
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: through the power of Jesus Christ as Lord, stop it.
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: You know, I don't know or who needed to hear
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: this message besides me, I always need to hear what
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: I share. I just let other people listen in. And
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: I don't know who else needs something like this. I
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: don't know where the thorny places are in your life,
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: but I have a feeling that it's that the timing
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: of God's word is such that there are a few
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: who needed the warning. You may serve in a wonderful capacity.
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: You may be in a place of enviable delight and joy,
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: But with it comes a very thin wire on which
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: that privilege hangs. And that's a wire of trust. You
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: serve in a group. The group is no stronger than
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: your integrity. You serve on a team. The team is
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: no closer than your loyalty. You minister alongside others, and
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: that ministry is only as strong as its weakest link.
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: Serious thought, so serious that God in the days of Elisha,
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: would cause a man to die a leper for lying
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: and covering his greed. I'd like us to bow for
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: a few moments of personal analysis. Serious message, I realize,
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: but a needy one. You may in fact be the
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: person at the top. You may be the one who
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: is the more greedy of the two of you. You
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: may long for the limelight and demand. Being the one
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: who is the object of attention, you may find yourself
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: jealous of that and unwilling to share the overflow of
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: your world. Greed is found under all possible circumstances. Greed
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: is obviously a sin, and that's the kind of thing
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: for which our Lord died. And if he died for it,
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: he has overpowered it, and he will give you the
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: ability to deal with it, to face it, and to
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: stop it, if you will turn the controls over to him,
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: confessing its presence and dealing openly with the truth. I
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: invite anyone who this very moment is struck with the
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: Spirit's conviction and his penetrating a conscience rending presence, to
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: deal directly with it. If you're living a lie, to
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: come out of the closet, to confess it, to call
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: it what God calls it, and to move toward a
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: direction that will give you full repentance. Father, thank you
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: for words of such warning. In a day of such
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: rationalization and wholesale deception, it is easy to fall into
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: that lifestyle. Help us with our imaginations, check our rationalizations.
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: Use this message to deal with deception, and Lord bring
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: about confession, cleansing, and relief. Thank you for truth that
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: comes from such stories as this one, and may the
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: truth be evident in a changed life, or we ask
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: it in the name of Jesus Christ, Our Lord. Amen.
• 48:36
  Speaker 2: The preceding message, Gahazi The Servant Who Got Greedy, was
• 48:40
  Speaker 2: copyrighted in nineteen ninety nineteen ninety two, two thousand and six,
• 48:44
  Speaker 2: twenty twelve, and twenty twenty four, and the sound recording
• 48:48
  Speaker 2: was copyrighted in twenty twenty four by Charles R. Swindall Incorporated.
• 48:52
  Speaker 2: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
• 48:57
  Speaker 2: commercial use is strictly prohibited.