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Becoming A Person of Simplicity in a Culture of Materialism

!!! Restoring the Savour of our Salt Series               Message # 8

 

 

We’ve been thinking together about restoring the savour of our salt as we confront the culture in which we live in this day.

And we’ve been talking about the concept from Romans 12:1-2 that we are being molded either by the Word of God or by the culture around us.

We are either listening to what God says or we are listening to what our peers say.

I’d like to read Romans 12:1-2 again very quickly.

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

2  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

We are either being molded by the Word of God or by the world around us.

Today I want to think about an issue that I think is very close to us as Americans because of the culture we live in.

And that is the issue of being a person of simplicity in a culture of materialism.

Being a person who is able to live very simply, who is not driven to have more, even though we live in a culture of materialism.

I believe God’s opinions about material things and about money are in stark contrast to the opinions of our culture about money and possessions.

In fact, I don’t think God could disagree any more sharply than He does with the American mindset about money and material things.

I’d like to take the time to read Luke chapter 12, starting at verse 13, and going on down to verse 34.

This is the passage we’ll be looking into today.

Luke chapter 12, verse 13, and please follow if you will in your Bibles as I read.

The Lord Jesus tells a parable here, and the parable was motivated by a question that was asked to Him.

“And one of the company said unto him, Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me.

14  And he said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you?

15  And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.

16  And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: 17  And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?

18  And he said, This will I do: [I will give all the excess to people in need and help them …  NO!

That’s not what it says!

Verse 18 ] 18  And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.

19  And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.

20  But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?

21  So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

22 ¶  And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on.

23  The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment.

24  Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls?

25  And which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit?

26  If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest?

27  Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

28  If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?

29  And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind.

30  For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.

31  But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.

32  Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

33  Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth.

34  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

I don’t think it takes a rocket scientist to understand that we live in a culture of greed and runaway materialism.

The basic belief is, more is better, and much more is much better.

In thinking about this, I realized that there are a lot of athletes in our nation who want more money.

There are a lot of school children who want more software, students who want more clothes, adults who want more gadgets, collectors who want more trinkets, sportsmen who want more guns.

Museums that want more art.

Entrepreneurs who want more companies.

In America the basic philosophy is, more is better and much more is much better.

In fact, I think one of the most successful agencies in America is the entire advertising industry.

The advertising industry is probably the most successful endeavor in America, because advertising has dovetailed into the incredible personal hunger in people’s hearts and it has driven us to be collectors and gainers and people who want more and more.

It is remarkable to see the history of the Nike shoe company and to observe how well they have done.

They have done incredibly well, both in sales and in advertising.

It would be easy to find articles of clothing and items that have that Nike symbol on it.

It’s almost omnipresent.

It’s almost become a symbol of the greed in America, of runaway materialism.

As you think about your life in a culture of greed and runaway materialism, I want to ask you to think about some other questions.

In the face of this kind of materialistic society, I believe here are the key questions for us to think about.

Number one, how do I escape greed and the addiction to materialism?

Number two, how do I as a believer break the lock for owning more and more and more and more.

Number three, how do I break free from the anxiety about, do I have enough?

And number four, how do I live within my means when every fiber of my society is motivating me to live at the limit of my credit?

I think in the passage we just read there is a pretty simple solution.

Not easy, necessarily, but very straightforward.

Very simple.

Very profound solution to how we can be people who get victory over greed and over anxiety and over collecting.

Look at Luke chapter 12 with me, 13 to 34.

Notice one very simple, personal decision that brings me to deliverance from greed and freedom from materialism.

One simple decision.

One simple act in my life that makes me a person who is able to have victory over greed and collecting.

I want to begin by looking at Jesus’ story in verses 13-21.

I think His basic message in that first section is, windfall material expansion does not equal soul satisfaction.

Windfall material expansion does not equal soul satisfaction.

The Lord Jesus told the story about a farmer who is doing just fabulously well.

Things could not have been going better for him.

In fact, he had so much harvest, so much produce, he didn’t have enough barn space, and he was going to have to tear them down and build bigger barns to be able to save everything that he had.

Verse 19, “And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.”

The ultimate goal of this man was to have a satisfied and rested soul.

He had this huge amount of money, this huge amount of material gain and he was saying to himself, I am going to gain with this money a satisfied and rested soul.

But the Lord Jesus goes on to say that material expansion, no matter how great it is, can never satisfy a soul.

It can never help the spiritual part inside of a person.

There are two significant pieces of evidence for that.

Number one, the Lord Jesus said so, which is certainly reason enough.

Drop back to verse 15, please.

“And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness [there’s a key phrase]: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.”

Even if I am extremely wealthy, wealthy beyond imagination, I still don’t find fulfillment in wealth.

The Lord Jesus was saying to every entrepreneur out there, I don’t care if you get another million.

Your soul won’t feel any better.

It just won’t work.

Second piece of evidence that material expansion doesn’t help my soul is the countless real life cases of people who have incredible wealth but have no soul satisfaction.

If wealth brought to me satisfaction for my soul, that would mean that the wealthiest people in the world would be the most content, the most spiritually happy, the most truly blessed, the most satisfied people.

And it would mean that someone who was poor, and in fact, everyone who is poor, would have to be miserable!

It means that you would not know a poor content person.

All of us probably know or know of people with terrific amounts of money who are miserable, and people with very little who are very content.

Incredible material expansion does not equal soul satisfaction.

As I said earlier, I think there is one very key idea in this passage that helps me to escape from greed and materialism.

And I believe that idea comes out of verse 21.

The simple key to escaping greed and materialism is being rich toward God.

Verse 20. “But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?

21  So is he that layeth up treasure for himself [And I think there is an emphasis on for himself, and then listen to this final phrase], and is not rich toward God.”