To define greed we will start with a leper; Naaman. The commander of the army of the king of Syria, Naaman is described by God Himself as a valiant man.

The account is as follows, 2 Kings Chapter 5; this man heard that there was a prophet in Israel who could heal his leprosy, so Naaman came to the door of the house of Elisha for healing.

The prophet, however did not even bother to go out to this famous man and his entourage, but sent a messenger to him telling him to wash in the Jordan River seven times for healing.

Well, Naaman was furious at this slight and only after some histrionics (it is kind of funny, you need to read this) he followed Elisha’s instructions.

Upon being healed, he returned to Elisha with great joy and offered him a reward (up to about 15,000 ounces of silver and 3,000 ounces of gold and clothing). The prophet Elisha refused all of this and sent him on his way.

Where was the greed? This comes in the form of a man named Gehazi.

“But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, ‘Look, my master has spared Naaman this Syrian, while not receiving from his hands what he brought; but as the Lord lives, I will run after him and take something from him.’ So Gehazi pursued Naaman. When Naaman saw him running after him, he got down from the chariot to meet him, and said, ‘Is all well?’ and he said, ‘All is well. My master has sent me, saying, “Indeed, just now two young men of the sons of the prophets have come to me from the mountains of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of silver and two changes of garments.”’ So Naaman said, ‘Please, take two talents.’ And he urged him, and bound two talents of silver [about 3,000 ounces, 187.5 pounds!] in two bags, with two changes of garments, and handed them to two of his servants; and they carried them on ahead of him. When he came to the citadel, he took them from their hand, and stored them away in the house; then he let the men go, and they departed. Now he went in and stood before his master. And Elisha said to him, ‘Where did you go, Gehazi?’ and he said, ‘Your servant did not go anywhere.’ Then he said to him, ‘Did not my heart go with you when the man turned back from his chariot to meet you? Is it time to receive money and to receive clothing, olive groves and vineyards, sheep and oxen, male and female servants? Therefore the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and your descendants forever.’ And he went out from his presence leprous, as white as snow.” 2 Kings 5:20-27.

“But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” 1 Timothy 6:6-10.

Notice in this last sentence, it is the “love of money”, not money that is the, “root of all kinds of evil”.

Rebellion is, any resistance or defiance to authority, tradition or control (consider parental authority here).

The communists are pretty smart in this; after getting people to rebel against their government they execute the rebels along with any other perceived threats to their new regime.

The logic; if a person will rebel against their own established government then they may very well rebel against the new communist government.

“An evil man seeks only rebellion; therefore a cruel messenger will be sent against him.” Proverbs 17:11.

However we are only concerned about rebellion against God and this is what He has to say:

“Then Samuel said [to King Saul]: Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king.” 1 Samuel 15:22-23.

The first two sentences of this passage show how much God values obedience; yet that is at the center of Adam and Eve’s sin, they did the one thing that God had told them not to do.

Christians too are guilty of disobeying God at times. Do we love others, do we lie, steal, cheat, lust, even when we see the wrong we are doing?

Are you an unbeliever? You too disobey God when He says to you:

“…Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” Acts 16:31.

And then go ahead and reject Christ anyway.

Do not point at some weak Christian and say that you certainly do not want to consort with the likes of him; what a ridiculous reason to consign yourself to hell for eternity!

Did it ever occur to you that the Christians you despise may not be Christians at all? Was Al Jolson black, or just a disgusting parody?

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them. Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.” Matthew 7:15-21.

And what is the will, or work of God?

“Then they said to Him, ‘What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?’ Jesus answered and said to them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him [Jesus] whom He sent.’” John 6:28-29.

People who mouth Jesus words and join the church without accepting Jesus Christ as their Savior are still hell-bound sinners! Take that to heart.

“Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. For I know this, that after my departure [Apostle Paul’s death] savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse [misleading] things, to draw away the disciples [Christians] after themselves.” Acts 20:28-30.

Do you suppose that priests that molest children are actually serving Christ? Do you suppose those who traffic in children will escape their punishment?

“Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me. But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes!” Matthew 18:4-7.

None can escape the hand of God, every last sex trafficker, every pedophile; every pedophile priest will be cast into the lake of fire with a millstone around their neck forever! Not one shall escape, not one!

Is it not odd that God compares rebellion to the sin of witchcraft? Witchcraft is a desire to seek independence from God.

A witch can manipulate circumstances through hexes and spells to gain advantage over a given situation or person, sometimes to the victim’s great harm, without worry of reprisal.

Still, this comes at great cost to the witch because the source of their power is demonic, and demons, the ultimate rebels, seek only to enslave their victim (witch).

The witch will argue that their power comes from certain pagan gods, but Scripture tells us otherwise.

“What am I saying then? That an idol is anything, or what is offered to idols is anything? But I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons.” 1 Corinthians 10:19-20.

“They [the Jews] even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons, and shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; and the land was polluted with blood.” Psalm 106:37-38.

Pride, greed and rebellion; what is the answer?

“Then He [Jesus] said to them all, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.’” Luke 9:23.

Jesus warned all who would decide to follow Him that they were to weigh the cost of discipleship.

Though it seems such an austere discipline it is not the ridiculous extremes that monks, hermits, and many true Christians have turned their freedom in Christ into.

If you consider kindness and living a peaceful life austere; if you think doing without drug and alcohol abuse, lying, cheating, stealing, and phony social climbing is austere, then true discipleship will be a difficult task.

Any dead fish can float downstream, but it takes a live one to swim upstream.

“If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself…”, denying yourself is to die to your old life with its agenda and aligning yourself with the cause of Christ.

Following Jesus is no easy task since the entire world rejects Him and His followers. The impact of this decision is emphasized in the next verse.

“For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.” Luke 9:24.

This verse is not dealing with immediate death as can be seen by the context, but the warning here is for those who choose the world and its pleasures over Christ, whose end will be in hell.

On the other hand those who choose to lose their lives in Christ over the world will reap everlasting life. Realize this, everything you have is a gift from God and that even the ability to use your gifts is a gift from God.

It is difficult to be proud if you realize these things and forsake all to follow Jesus.

“Take up his cross daily” and follow Jesus throughout your life. The cross is an instrument of pain and shame, this is a hard path to take, so “daily” is to refocus on the journey continually.

Greed is excluded because you are reaching for a prize that God Himself has promised.

“And follow [Gr. akoloutheite, a persistent action] Me”, Jesus’ life was a life of humility and concern for the will of His Father. If we are to follow Him we too will be concerned with the will of the Father, even over our own will.

There is hardly room for rebellion against God if we are sincere in our desire to live a full and meaningful life in Christ.

God lays these things before us and the success we will judge our lives to be is directly related to our desire to follow the lead of our gentle Shepherd.

Pride, Greed and Rebellion, Part 2 taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 8-18-15, updated on 9-5-23.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.