Pastor Brian's Article for 01/06/2008

We all tend to be collectors of stuff.  I remember when we moved into our house some nine years ago.  The unfinished side of the basement seemed cavernous.  I could not imagine ever filling it up.  Today it is hard to walk from one end to the other.  Sometimes we just don’t throw stuff away, or sometimes we just buy too much stuff. 

One does not have to go far to understand that consumerism is god in the United States.  I was watching the news report about Christmas sales, and a reporter was saying that retailers were looking at a disappointing two percent increase in sales over last Christmas.  How many things have you taken back?  How many gifts did you get that you didn’t really need?

Jesus was a businessman, and He understood profit/loss ratios.  He also knew that if He allowed the pursuit of money to be His god that He would miss what the one true God had for Him.  His disciples listened in shock as Jesus gave warnings to the rich.  He said, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” (Matt.19:24).  He told a story about a rich man landing in hell.  Was not wealth a sign of God’s blessing?  Jesus contradicted everything they had been taught about wealth.

The problem of wealth and possessions comes back to Jesus’ demand of self-denial.  We are people of two kingdoms:  the kingdom of this world and the kingdom of God.  Jesus said that we cannot serve both kings.  We have to serve one or the other.  As we make our way through this world, we have to ask, toward which kingdom are we moving? 

I want to buy a radio for my office.  I know which radio I want, but I can’t justify the money for the amount of use it would get.  I want to indulge and have something nice, when I don’t really have the need for it.  When I am studying or working, I prefer silence.  In my desire for a radio, which kingdom am I pursuing? 

People often quote Psalm 37:4 saying that God wants us to have the desires of our hearts.  I hear that verse quoted when someone is trying to justify material excess.  If you read the passage carefully, you will see that God grants the desires of your heart when your heart is set on Him. If our desire is to have intimacy with our Savior, then God is going to grant that desire.  If our desire is to win the KMAJ cash call, God is not so inclined to grant us that desire.

Since American culture is consumeristic, some churches are doing what they can to cater to that habit.  There is no demand for self-denial.  Rather, God exists to meet our needs and whims.  People are lead to believe that Bible study and limited contributions will make them joyful, diseaseless, and rich.  No pain required.  One pyramid-style corporation makes every praying Christian a limited partner and shares the blessings and the profits with them.  They proudly espouse Matthew 6:33 with the emphasis on “these things.” 

It is part of the human condition that we would rather own things than be owned by Christ.  We believe we will be respected by the world if we succeed.  If that be true, what kind of Christ are we showing people? Are we showing them the Christ that sacrificed all to save us from our sin or are we showing them a Christ that lets us glory in our possessions?  The love of money plagues the poor, the middle class, and the wealthy, but we who are followers of Christ must adore Him more than stuff.

That Jesus May Be Revealed,

Brian

Taken from A Hunger for The Holy, Calvin Miller, chapter 3.

Scripture References:

Ephesians 4:11-13 – Christians are expected to grow, and various leaders have been provided to help us mature in Christlikeness.  Spiritual growth usually has an outward expression.  For most Christians, at some point, spiritual growth is expressed through growth in giving.

1 Corinthians 1:18-25 - For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.  For it is written, "I WILL DESTROY THE WISDOM OF THE WISE, AND THE CLEVERNESS OF THE CLEVER I WILL SET ASIDE."  Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?  For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.  For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.  Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.