NT Guidelines: Give sacrificially

Paul describes the Macedonians using this description --

... for during a severe ordeal of affliction, their abundant joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For, as I can testify, they voluntarily gave according to their means, and even beyond their means - 2 Corinthians 8:2-3

 King David said these words --

“No, but I will buy them from you for a price; I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing.” - 2 Samuel 24:24

Sacrificial giving is parting with what we'd rather keep.








A Program To Encourage Sacrificial Giving

What does the New Testament say about giving?

Giving God’s Way

Biblical Perspective on Giving – Giving Cheerfully and Sacrificially

Eleven Giving Guidelines to Fight the Pull of Materialism

Materialism: The Church

People were amazed that the apostles were plain, ordinary men, with no great education or social status --

Peter said, “I don’t have any silver or gold for you. But I’ll give you what I have. In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, get up and walk!”  -  Acts 3:6

To see God's power and truth coming through uneducated men who weren't wealthy challenged the observers' most basic beliefs.





Problems in the Church (III): Materialism

Materialism & Consumerism

Mega-Churches, Emergent Christianity, Spirituality and Materialism

Materialism in the Church

The Stairway to Heaven: Materialism and the Church

Materialism meets Jesus

When Christ walked the earth, religion had been turned into big business in Jerusalem by money changers who make their profits exchanging currency and selling 'convenience' animals for sacrifice in the temple.  They charged an excessive price and probably engaged in loud haggling that destroyed the climate of worship.  Jesus was outraged that people would see the community of saints as an opportunity to make a profit.  After driving the salesmen and their animals out with a whip and overturning the money tables, the strong-armed carpenter from Galilee rebuked the stunned materialists with words that could be heard in the streets --

“Get these things out of here. Stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace!” - John 2:16

Lewis and Tolkien Debate Myths and Lies

Jesus Is Better Than Materialism

jesus rejected materialism

Materialism: Leaders

 A number of Christian organisations have been called to account for their financial improprieties and unreported or exaggerated revenues.  These infractions are particularly disturbing when one considers that God's first disciplinary act in Church history was striking dead Ananias and Sapphira for deliberating misrepresenting their financial transactions.  Although we should be thankful that God is not striking dead large segments of His Church today, we should not be lulled into thinking He's lowered His standards of financial integrity.

11 Giving Guidelines to Fight the Pull of Materialism

Materialism, Heresy Plague Churches

Christian Business Leaders and Materialism

Even Pastors Can Be Sidetracked by Materialism

Materialism: Distracts

Wesley noted that in the old days of Methodism, the people were poor. But, he observed, in the 20, 30, or 40 years since they joined the society, many Methodists had become 20, 30, or even 100 times richer than they were at first. With this increase in wealth had come a decrease in godliness. It seemed to him the more money the Methodists had, the less they loved the Lord.

Jesus described the various kinds of people who respond to the gospel --

"Other seeds fell among thorns that grew up and choked out the tender plants."  -  Matthew 13:7

He later explained to the disciples --

"The seed that fell among the thorns represents those who hear God’s word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life and the lure of wealth, so no fruit is produced."  -  Matthew 13:22

Notice the clear relationship between wealth and worry.

Paul told Timothy --

"Soldiers don’t get tied up in the affairs of civilian life, for then they cannot please the officer who enlisted them."  -  2 Timothy 2:4

Notice that Paul did not say civilian concerns are wrong, just that they are distracting.





Materialism in Slovakia - Moments that Impact with Dr. David Ireland
Materialism

Don't let materialism distract the Church, pope tells bishops

Materialism: Power

James, the writer of the book of James, condemns the rich, virtually assuming that anyone who is rich practises injustice to the poor and will come under God's judgement as a result.  The OT prophets spoke out so consistently against the oppression of the poor by the rich that they left the distinct impression that a righteous rich man is rare.

In Philippi, Paul was permitted to preach the gospel openly, until he cast out a fortune-predicting demon from a suffering slave girl, who --

... earned a lot of money for her masters by telling fortunes.             Acts 16:16

The girl was freed from a horrible burden, but her owners didn't care about her. They'd lost their meal ticket --

Her masters’ hopes of wealth were now shattered, so they grabbed Paul and Silas and dragged them before the authorities at the marketplace. - Acts 16:19

The High Price of Materialism

Materialism on the Playground: Study Shows Power of Consumption Starts Early

Materialism: Proud and thankless

The Bible is full of references proving that our tendency in prosperity is to believe we deserve the credit for what we have and to grow proud and thankless.  Paul asks the prideful Christians of Corinth --

For what gives you the right to make such a judgment? What do you have that God hasn’t given you? And if everything you have is from God, why boast as though it were not a gift? - 1 Corinthians 4:7

Paul tells Timothy --

Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. - 1 Timothy 6:17

 After all, God is the one who has given us our intellect, our abilities and our capacity to earn money.

Paul reminded the proud Corinthians that the Church is made up of the dregs of this world.  Elitism boosts our egos by making us think we are somehow more worthy than others.  Few things are more repugnant to the Lord than the rich despising the poor.  Yet our clubs and social circles, sometimes even our churches, foster this very attitude.






Recognizing Materialism, and Understanding its Dangers

10 ways materialism brings us to ruin

The Thankless Persuasion

Pope Francis in South Korea: Anti-materialism message a tough sell for pope

Materialism: "If only"

"If only I had more money, I'd give more."  Unfortunately, those who give little when they have little almost never increase their percentage of giving when they become wealthy.

In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis builds a great story about this around Edmund sampling and getting carried away with the Turkish Delight.

An August 2013 article entitled, "The Poorest Rich Kids In The World," Rolling Stonemagazine's Sabrina Rubin Erdely exposed the horrific details behind two teenagers who are the heirs to one of the United States's largest family fortunes. Patterson and Georgia Inman, age fifteen, are the children of Walker Inman, the nephew of tobacco heiress Doris Duke. The Inman twins are set to inherit a trust fund worth one billion dollars when they turn twenty-one, yet both teens recently spent three months in a mental hospital to deal with the trauma of their horrific childhood.

Christina Crawford was less than a year old when she was adopted by a glamorous movie star, actress Joan Crawford. One of four adopted children, Christina grew up in the lap of luxury, however she claims to have been a victim of physical and mental abuse at the hands of her mother for most of her life. Her tell-all memoir, Mommie Dearest, was published two years after her mother died. It was later made into a movie starring Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford and Diana Scarwid as Christina.

Anthony Marshall is the only son of renowned socialite and charitable philanthropist Brooke Astor. The Astor family is one of the richest and most respected blue blood families in the United States. Sadly, their family history of parental abuse and neglect is a long legacy that still sends shockwaves throughout New York City high society to this day.

Casey Johnson is the daughter of a socialite mother, Sale Johnson, and Woody Johnson, the owner of the New York Jets, and the great-grandson of a Johnson & Johnson founder. Casey grew up surrounded by wealth and opulence. She attended the best private schools, rubbed elbows with childhood friends Nikki and Paris Hilton, drove expensive cars, and got her first Chanel handbag at age ten. Yet underneath all of the wealth dwelled a sad child whose mother largely ignored her, and who started using hard drugs by the time she was barely in her teens.

Leigh Horowitz is the daughter of fashion giant Tommy Hilfiger's Chief Executive Officer, Joel Horowitz. Leigh grew up with staggering wealth, attended posh private schools, and took lavish vacations. Unfortunately, her father worked long hours and travelled extensively, so by the time she was just sixteen, Leigh was totally addicted to drugs.

Mackenzie Phillips is the daughter of John Phillips, a member of The Mamas & the Papas, and his first wife, Susan Adams. Mackenzie got her start when she was just twelve years old, when she earned a role in American Graffiti, which then lead to a role on the popular sitcom One Day At A Time. Though she achieved financial and professional success at a very young age, she was unable to appreciate her fame due to her additions to drug and alcohol. She claims to have tried drugs with her musician father when she was just eleven years old, and that her dad had actually helped inject her with cocaine when she tried it for the first time as a child.

Materialism is the mother of anxiety. No wonder Christ's discourse on earthly and heavenly treasures is immediately followed by His admonitions not to worry about material things.  People lay up treasures on earth rather than in heaven not only because of greed and selfishness, but also because of fear and insecurity.

The hopes of a person with primary investments in the stock market will rise and fall with the market.  In contrast, the one whose hope is in God will be devastated only if God fails - and He never does.

Paul said we should --

Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment.    1 Timothy 6:17

Solomon made a profound observation when he noted --

People who work hard sleep well, whether they eat little or much. But the rich seldom get a good night’s sleep. - Ecclesiastes 5:12

The more we have the more we have to worry about.






MATERIALISM: BLOWING THE WHISTLE

Materialism and Its Discontents

Materialism: Self-destructive

Jesus rebuked the Laodicean Christians because although they were materially walthy, they were desperately poor in the things of God.  Materialism blinds us to our own spiritual poverty.  Puritan Richard Baxter said --

“When men prosper in the world, their minds are lifted up with their estates, and they can hardly believe that they are so ill, while they feel themselves so well.”

In his Confessions, Augustine writes --

“Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.”

Along the same lines, philosopher Blaise Pascal made the following observation --

   What is it then that this desire and this inability proclaim to us, but that there was once in man a true happiness of which there now remain to him only the mark and empty trace, which he in vain tries to fill from all his surroundings, seeking from things absent the help he does not obtain in things present? But these are all inadequate, because the infinite abyss can only be filled by an infinite and immutable object, that is to say, only by God Himself.

Materialism is a fruitless attempt to find meaning outside of God.  When we try to find ultimate fulfillment in a person other than Christ or a place other than heaven, we become idolater.  Materialism is not only evil - it is tragic and pathetic --

Has any nation ever traded its gods for new ones,
even though they are not gods at all?
Yet my people have exchanged their glorious God
for worthless idols!
The heavens are shocked at such a thing
and shrink back in horror and dismay,”
says the Lord.
“For my people have done two evil things:
They have abandoned me—
the fountain of living water.
And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns
that can hold no water at all! - Jeremiah 2:11-13

New Monastic Shane Claiborne Answers The Question, Is it a Sin to be Rich?

SD3 Materialistic

Every person has a price

"I spoke just now of the struggle for success. What is success? Is it money? Some of you have all the money you need to provide for your wants. Who is the poorest man in the world? I tell you, the poorest man I know of is the man who has nothing but money, nothing else in the world upon which to devote his ambition and thought. That is the sort of man I consider to be the poorest in the world. Money is good if you know how to use it. - John D. Rockefeller

Satan works under the assumption that every person has a price.  Many are willing to surrender themselves and their principles to whatever god will bring them the greatest short-term profit.

Israel is portrayed in the OT as abandoning her rightful husband, God, and sells herself to the highest bidder. The prophets develop this metaphor to embarrassing extents.  The nauseating descriptions of Israel's waywardness exemplify God's hurt and horror at the spiritual adultery of His people as they chase after other gods.

 The NT tells us that --

"... a greedy person is an idolater, worshipping the things of this world." Colossians 3:5

Idolatry is worshipping and serving anything other than the one true God.

The idolatrous nature of materialism: The common expression that describes such a value system as “the pursuit of the almighty dollar” is soundly based in the recognition that the exaltation of possessions to the level of ultimacy is the end of a religious quest, one that seeks and ascribes ultimate meaning. Like all idolatries, it finds ultimate meaning in an aspect of the creation rather than in the Creator. And like all idolatries it finds outlet in destructive pathologies that wreck human lives. - Herbert Schlossberg, Idols for Destruction

 Scripture speaks of these destructive pathologies --

"But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction.  For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows." - 1 Timothy 6:9-10

 Jesus said the  rich are at a spiritual disadvantage.  The problem, of course, is not that God doesn't love the rich.Who needs God, we think, when we've got everything?  This is why Jesus said --

“No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money". - Matthew 6:24

 Why? For the same reason a man cannot have two wives.

Materialism consists of the two things God hates most - idolatry and adultery.  A voice from heaven pleads with God's people - a voice that we would do well to heed today --

“Come away from her, my people.
Do not take part in her sins,
or you will be punished with her.
For her sins are piled as high as heaven,
and God remembers her evil deeds.
Do to her as she has done to others.
Double her penalty for all her evil deeds.
She brewed a cup of terror for others,
so brew twice as much for her.
She glorified herself and lived in luxury,
so match it now with torment and sorrow.
She boasted in her heart,
‘I am queen on my throne.
I am no helpless widow,
and I have no reason to mourn.’ - Revelation 18:4-7

 One day, God will bring down all centres of human achievement and prosperity that do not humble themselves before Him.  When financial Babylon comes down, the merchants who gained their wealth from this corrupt materialistic philosophy will say --

“How terrible, how terrible for that great city!
She was clothed in finest purple and scarlet linens,
decked out with gold and precious stones and pearls!
In a single moment
all the wealth of the city is gone!” - Revelation 18:16-17

Why is prayer important when the gospel is being shared?  Because there is a battle over ownership and lordship of our lives that's just as intense as the battle for salvation.  The grace that has freed us from bondage to sin is desperately needed to free us from our bondage to materialism.