Greed and Gluttony: Practicing Temperance in Life

Greed begins as a disordered attitude toward money, goods, and acquisitions, but it reaches deeper than a bank account. Greed loses the true value of things, and then starts treating people like they matter less than possessions. Greed whispers that more stuff means more worth, and society is often happy to agree. God does not agree. God looks at each created person and says, “good,” and “yes,” not because of square footage, cars, savings, or fancy coffers, but because created life is already loved.

The parable in Luke presses that point with the rich man who stores and stores, gathers and gathers, builds bigger barns, and then dies. The question becomes painfully simple: what good are hoarded things when life is gone? First Timothy adds the needed nuance, because money itself is not evil. The love of money is the danger, especially when it overtakes trust in God’s love and turns resources inward instead of outward.

Greed is not only a temptation for people with too much. Greed can still live where there is not enough, because the desire to hoard, possess, and be made safe by things can exist without a pool of gold coins to swim in like Scrooge McDuck. The vice is not just having; the vice is the bent desire that lets having become identity.

Gluttony grows on a neighboring branch. Gluttony is not only about food, though food is usually where the mind goes first. Gluttony can consume news, social media, negative thoughts, people, or anything else in excess. Gluttony removes the community and spiritual aspect from consumption. For Christians, that matters because eating and drinking are holy acts, from the Lord’s Table to birthday lunch, family dinner, and coffee with friends.

The incarnation keeps bodily desire from being treated as shameful. Jesus came in a body that needed food and drink, so desire itself is part of created life. Gluttony enters when consumption becomes excess, and it can also appear as extreme ignoring of the body. Temperance answers both greed and gluttony through moderation, self control, voluntary restraint, and deep listening. Temperance is not one hard rule for every person in the room. Temperance is a conversation with God, with the body, with desire, and with the people around, so life can bring honor to the Creator and light to the world.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. No vice is an island. Grace Hammond’s tree image matters because greed, gluttony, envy, lust, and pride do not sit in neat little boxes. One disordered desire often feeds another, and spiritual growth requires more than cutting off one visible branch. The deeper work notices how desires wrap together and asks God for wisdom at the root. [16:25]
• 2. Worth is not in possessions. Greed lies by saying that value increases with more goods, more savings, more square feet, or more social regard. God’s judgment over created life comes first: “good,” “yes,” loved before achievement or acquisition. Possessions cannot buy what God has already given as gift. [18:17]
• 3. Hoarding cannot outlast death. The rich man’s bigger barns expose the fragility of a life built around storage. Accumulated goods may promise rest, but they cannot answer the question of legacy before God. Richness toward God begins where possession stops being self-protection and starts becoming outward love. [19:25]
• 4. Consumption can become holy again. Gluttony strips eating, drinking, and consuming of their sacred and communal meaning. The table of Christ teaches that receiving food is never merely private appetite, because ordinary meals can echo communion. Temperance restores attention, gratitude, and relationship to the act of consuming. [23:14]
• 5. Temperance listens before it restricts. Temperance is not the same rule dropped on every person, because greed and gluttony take different shapes in different lives. One person may need restraint, another may need sharing, another may need healing from deprivation. The virtue is a discerning conversation with God about what brings life instead of distortion. [27:37]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [15:29] - Money Outside Stewardship Season
• [15:54] - No Vice Is an Island
• [17:33] - Greed and True Value
• [18:17] - God Gives Worth First
• [19:25] - The Rich Man’s Bigger Barns
• [20:42] - Money, Love, and Nuance
• [21:47] - Greed Without Having Enough
• [22:48] - Gluttony Beyond Food
• [23:44] - Holy Meals and the Lord’s Table
• [24:35] - Bodies, Desire, and Excess
• [25:38] - Temperance Instead of Hard Lines
• [27:37] - Listening as Spiritual Restraint
• [29:17] - Virtue That Brings Life
• [29:59] - Prayer for Temperance

Bible Reading

1. Luke 12:16-21

“And he told them a parable, saying, 'The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, 'What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?' And he said, 'I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.' But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.'” [19:25]

Observation questions

1. In Luke 12, what does the rich man decide to do with his plentiful crops, and what future does he imagine for himself?
2. What lies does greed tell about a person’s worth, and what things are named as false measures of value? [18:17]
3. What are some examples of gluttony that go beyond food and eating? [23:14]
4. What words are used to describe temperance, and what does temperance listen for? [27:37]

Interpretation questions

1. In Luke 12, why is the rich man called a fool? Is the problem that he has abundance, or that he treats stored goods as his source of safety and life? [20:42]
2. If greed is a disordered attitude toward money, goods, and acquisitions, how does that disorder begin to affect the way people see other people? [17:39]
3. If gluttony removes the community and spiritual aspect of consuming, what does that suggest about why meals, shared tables, and ordinary acts of eating matter so much in Christian life? [23:44]
4. Temperance is described as listening rather than one hard rule for everyone. What does that reveal about the different ways greed and gluttony can show up in different lives? [27:37]

Application questions

1. Where is the pressure strongest right now to measure worth by possessions, savings, appearance, or status? How does that pressure shape daily thoughts or decisions? [18:31]
2. What is one place where there is a temptation to hoard for self-protection instead of living with open hands? Would that show up more in money, time, energy, attention, or something else? [21:01]
3. Greed can exist even where there is not enough. When desire starts to say, “If only this were mine, then I would be secure,” how can that voice be recognized before it takes over? [21:55]
4. What is most often consumed in excess right now: food, news, social media, negative thoughts, other people’s attention, or something else? What does that pattern do to the soul and to relationships? [23:00]
5. Eating and drinking can be holy acts, not just private habits. What might help make an ordinary meal this week more attentive, grateful, and connected to other people? [23:56]
6. For some people, temperance means restraint and sharing. For others, it means healing from deprivation or harsh restriction. Which side feels closer to home right now, and what might healthy moderation look like there? [28:28]
7. Temperance is a conversation with God about what brings life. What practice could help with that listening this week: pausing before buying, praying before meals, limiting one form of consumption, sharing something held tightly, or asking someone trusted for honest feedback? [29:17]