Eric V. Snow, Christian speech Club, 11-07-04, Ann Arbor,
Michigan
Jesus once proclaimed (Matt. 16:24-26): “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. for what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” What we have to consider is whether we’re partially selling our souls for a whole lot less than the world. We have to consider the insidious, stealthy influence of materialism and consumerism may be having on our real values, as revealed by our emotions, our beliefs, and our actions. For material blessings from God may become a spiritual curse if we don’t react to them correctly.
S.P.S. The
corrosive, subtle influence of materialism on our daily priorities constitutes
one of the Church’s greatest challenges at this time.
During this past Feast, I heard a sermon dealing with the
dangers of materialism as represented by the end time system of economic
Babylon. For although Babylon is also a
religious system, i.e., Roman Catholicism, it’s also an economic system. So for the people there, going home was
going back to Babylon, a colorful but sobering metaphor that repeatedly came
from the pulpit during the Feast.
Scripture plainly pictures Babylon as an economic system,
not just a religious one.
Revelation 18:15-16:
“The merchants of these things, who became rich by her, will stand at a
distance for fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, and saying, ‘Alas, alas,
that great city that was clothed in fine linen, purples, and scarlet, and
adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls.”
The problem isn’t the material things per se. After all, we know Abraham, Job, and David
were all rich, yet still normally faithful, spiritual men. Rather, the problem is whether we’re
pursuing economic goals so strongly on a daily basis that cause us to neglect
our relationships with God, our families, and/or the brethren. It’s very easy to slowly and gradually get
sucked in emotionally and physically into economic Babylon’s values. This makes it so dangerous, much like the
live frog being slowly boiled in water.
Here we need to come down to brass tack specifics. Making a general attack on materialism will
get nods of acceptance. But making
specific statements will get more far more attention, although we each have to
judge our own situations in light of the general principles of God’s word.
For example, how we spend our time reveals what we really
value in life, since our lives are composed of so much time.
Do we regularly work (say) over 50 hours a week? Do we still manage to get in (say) a half
hour of prayer and a half hour of Bible study or spiritual reading in
daily? Could we restructure our lives
so our wives don’t have to work while we have young children at home?
Have we economically structured our lives that (say) both
the husband and wife have to work full-time to pay the mortgage? Did we really “need” a house of 2,500 square
feet when 1,500 square feet will do? Do
we have to live in a fancy area, like (say) Bloomfield Hills or one of the
Grosse Pointes when Ferndale or Redford will do? Do we have to have two new cars when one new, one used, will
do? Or how about downsizing from a
fancy Ford Expedition to a lowly Chevy Cavalier if it “has” to be new? Or how about (even) two used cars, and so
avoid a lot of insurance costs and monthly car payments?
How much of a “need” is there to be entertained? How many hours do we spend watching TV or
listening to music without doing other more productive activities at the same
time? Do we have to have cable TV? How many movies or videos (which are often
spiritually rotten) do we have to watch each month? How many cell phones do we really need to have, if any? (We did manage to survive without them at
one time, if we remember back a few years, somehow!) How many set monthly payments could we avoid?
Are we addicted to debt, especially to using high interest
rate credit cards to carry the costs of discretionary expenses month after
month? Do we have a good handle on our
“needs” as opposed to our “wants”? Do
we think we have to be in the rat race to save a lot of money for our kids to
go to a fancy Ivy League college when (say) a community college followed by a
state school may be good enough? Or,
let’s speak some heresy here, how about (say) trade school followed by
apprenticeship for the non-academically inclined? After all, somebody has to be the plumbers, electricians,
building contractors, welders, barbers, carpenters, etc., right?
Do we have to eat out so much? $5-10 a day for lunch and/or dinner even at fast food restaurants
can quickly add up. For example, if we
work 250 days a year, and spend $5 a day on fast food meals and/or coffee in
the morning, that comes to $1250 in after-tax, after-tithe income. We should consider brown-bagging it mostly
until we get out of non-mortgage debt.
Do we let ads, commercials, and catalogs increase our
“wants” so they become needs? Do we
feel a need to take on a second job or to put in overtime or to (say) push the
wife to work in order to pay for our “wants”?
In conclusion, we have to consider whether economic Babylon
is increasing our material desires and wants such that we end up neglecting our
relationships with God, with our families, and with the brethren. How we spend our time indicates what our
values really are. For our lives are
composed of so many hours each day we can spend various ways. We should prioritize our time, which is what
our lives are composed of, to avoid emphasizing getting stuff compared to
improving relationships. After all, do
we really believe, as shown by our emotions and our actions, Jesus was right
when He said (Matt. 6:19-21): “Do not
lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where
thieves break in and steal: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and
steal. For where your treasure is,
there your heart will be also.”