If you try to beat materialism
only by rejecting it, you will fail. It is too pervasive and subtle-and
unless you replace it with another way of life, you will be drawn back into
it. Notice Paul's emphasis in 1 Timothy 6:11 on not only fleeing
the love of money, but also pursuing righteousness, godliness, faith,
love, perseverance and gentleness. In
Luke 12:22-34, Jesus paints a portrait of this way of life. It consists
of two non-detachable parts . . .
#1 Learn to trust God for
your material needs (Luke 12:22-30)
#2 Pursue God's kingdom
(Luke 12:31-34)
1. Learn to trust God for
your material needs (Luke 12:22-30)
Read 12:22. "For
this reason . . ."
If you pursue materialism,
you will have material anxiety. The two go together, and there is no inverse
relationship between the amount of money you have and the amount you worry.
Those who have very little money can be free of anxiety, while those who
have tons of money can be enslaved by material anxiety.
This is where the rubber meets the road in trusting God. A lot of us talk
about how we trust God, but if we can't trust him here, we do not really
trust him.
Hebrews 13:5 Keep your
lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because
God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."
6 So we say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be
afraid. What can man do to me?"
Why say this here ("I
will not be afraid")?
Anxiety and fear are driving
forces behind avarice
Back to Luke 12
Jesus gives several reasons
why we can trust God in this area:
- Read vs 23. Since God's
purpose for our lives is more than physical existence, he will provide
us with the basics of life needed to fulfill that purpose.
- Read vs 24,27,28. If
God provides for lesser members of his creation, he will certainly provide
for his own children. The point is not that the birds don't work
(they are plenty busy), but that they don't worry ("I may lose
my job, the banks may close, the economy may go south, inflation may
eat up my retirement account, etc.").
- Read vs 25,26. Anxiety
doesn't accomplish anything constructive, so why waste your time worrying?
Anxiety can't lengthen our lives by even a little bit-but it can shorten
our lives by a lot.
- Read vs 30. Anxiety is
understandable for those who don't belong to God--but not for those
who are his children. This leads to the next point . . .
What action steps can we
take to trust God in this way?
- Don't rationalize material
anxiety; judge it as unbelief. Ask God to sensitize you to this, monitor
your thought-life, and nip it in the bud instead of allowing it to grow.
- Recall God's promises
& past record of material faithfulness, & thank him for this.
This is a definite choice, often against your current thoughts and feelings.
- Resist cultural indoctrination
- Choose to be Content
- Focus on God's will
for your life. Discontent focuses on competition
- Learn
to appreciate what we have received rather than focus on what we
don't have
- Waive illegitimate expectations.
Discontent is created by arbitrary expectations.
- Draw identity from your
position in Christ. Discontent draws identity from others
-
| Contentment |
Discontent |
- Issues in happiness
and freedom
- Frees us to
enter deeply into relationships
- Frees us to
enjoy God and be excited about his purposes
- Grows out of
a deep-seated belief that our money is a stewardship
|
- Issues in obsession
and misery (whining)
- Sucks away our
emotional energy from relationships
- Crushes our
zeal for the things of God
- Grows out of
the belief that our money belongs to us
|
- Ask God to meet your
present material needs with the above attitude.
But this is not enough. Unless
you do something else, you will be drawn back into material anxiety, and
ultimately back into a materialistic way of life. This is the expulsive
power of a new affection . . .
2. Pursue God's kingdom (Luke
12:31-34)
Read vs 31. This doesn't
mean spend your whole life trying to get into God's kingdom, because 12:32
says God gladly gives it to those who trust Christ. It means to make God's
kingdom the #1 priority in your life, to put the same kind of intensity
and creativity and commitment that materialists put into amassing material
wealth (12:29 "seek") into advancing God's purpose on earth
and representing him accurately. The rest of the New Testament elaborates
on what this involves.
Invest your time
in God's kingdom.
- Learning God's Word.
- Spending time with God in
prayer.
- Building healthy Christ-centered
relationships with other Christians.
- Befriending people who don't
know God and helping them come to Christ.
- Helping Christians grow
in Christ-including finding your unique role.
If you don't get involved
in spiritual growth and ministry enough to reach your affections,
you will be seduced back into materialism. You may think you can stay
spiritually healthy without being seduced, but you are mistaken. The
stimulation vacuum must be filled by something, and if you don't fill
it with God's way of life, you will fill it with the other way of
life.
Invest your money
in God's kingdom (12:33).
Read vs 33. This is
really another area of serving others, but Jesus singles it out for
special emphasis.
Read vs 34. Where
we invest our money is both a reliable indicator of your true priorities,
and it reinforces your attachment to those priorities in this life.
The idea here is not taking
a vow of poverty and divesting yourself of all personal property. It
is living a simple life and giving away the excess. Don't hoard it-let
it go, give it away to those who need it! If you keep it, it will corrupt
you and seduce you back into materialism. If you let it go, it will
increase your trust in God's faithfulness and your joy in this life
and reward in the next life.
This means giving regularly
and sacrificially to support your local church, help the poor, and spread
the gospel to unreached peoples. And it means giving beyond this when
extra money is available. ALSO: hospitality, travel to fields, etc.
Conclusion
Those who invest enough into
these things to experience the joy and satisfaction that comes from
this way of life are the only ones who escape the peril of greed.
