My cultural references are admittedly starting to show their age. My parents’ generation loved to quote Andy Griffith and M.A.S.H, much to our chagrin. Now I bury my kids with Seinfeld and Ferris Beuler one-liners. The eyeroll emojis are plentiful.
With that confession in mind, there’s an old 80s movie called Wall Street that birthed a famous catchphrase that, for many, perfectly described the zeitgest of the times: “Greed is good,” claimed the corrupt Gordon Gecko.
Greed has forever been linked to the business world, and understandably so. The marketplace is fraught with stories of people taking horrible advantage of one another in the name of commerce. But should we really define things by their abuse? Is greed what business is really about?
I contend quite the opposite. Greed is not a business problem. Greed is a worship problem. That’s so important I’m going to type it again: Greed is not a business problem. Greed is a worship problem.
“For a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.” (Ephesians 5:5)
The marketplace is part of God’s design for the world. Is it broken by sin? Absolutely. But the Gordon Gecko’s of the world don’t define God’s original design for the business world, they display a broken counterfeit that we are called to redeem as the people of God. Don’t buy the hype. Greed is not a business problem. It’s time to refocus our worship where it was designed to flow: to God alone.
We talk all about greed on the latest episode of the Missional Marketplace Podcast out today! Come hang out with us for a bit and join the conversation. The Missional Marketplace Podcast is available on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, Anchor, and most other podcast platforms!
THIS WEEK ON THE WEBSITE:
PODCAST: Greed Is Not A Business Problem
ARTICLE: Workism and Culture
Accelerating the Great Commission through the Marketplace,
Erik Cooper | The Stone Table
AVAILABLE NOW! The Missional Marketplace Podcast! Available on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and most other podcast platforms!
Don’t forget to pick up your copy of Missional Marketplace: Finding Your Everyday Work in God’s Eternal Plan in your choice of print, e-book, or audiobook by clicking here!
