Debt, White Elephant & Temple of Consumerism
The Rev. Edgar De Jesus
Nov 6, 2011

Scripture Reading:
Mark 8:36-37; Luke 12:15                 

God cares about our finances. He isn’t concerned so much about our money, at least not in the same manner that we are. But God cares about our finances because He cares about us. He knows that money affects what we think of ourselves, how we handle life, the decisions we make and even how we relate to Him. Our relationship with money inextricably winds its way through our thoughts, our attitudes, our feeling and about almost everything. The way in which we acquire it, how much we have, and what we do with it not only impacts who we are, it reflects who we are.

I would like to invite you to bring your checkbook. The bottom line of what I am talking about is in this checkbook. This is where the rubber meets the road. This checkbook will reveal what we want and what we need. This checkbook will determine what is important and what is not important in our lives This checkbook will show what’s keeping us motivated or what is holding us back. This checkbook will determine who we are and whose we are. As we keep on holding our checkbook, I would like to bring to your attention three enemies of extravagant generosity…three enemies or sins affecting us as Christians or non-Christians.

First: Debt

How many of you have at least one credit card in your wallets or purses? How many have two credit cards…How many have three or more? According to one of the most recent reports the average American household holds 12 Visas, MasterCards and various other cards. The average American is addicted to spending! Millions of American families are struggling under oppressive levels of debt that strain marriages, destroy happiness, and intensify conflict and anxiety.

Schnase says, “Forty percent of the American people spend 110 percent of our annual income each year through ever-increasing auto loans, credit card debt, and mortgages. We are immersed in a materialistic culture our appetite for more, bigger and better that fosters the myth that self-worth is found in material wealth and that happiness is found in possessing. The Dave Ramsey Show radio host one says, “We buy things we don’t even need with money we don’t even have to impress people we don’t even know”! Apostle Paul warns those with material means not to set our hopes on the uncertainty of riche but rather on God, who richly provides everything. (1 Timothy 6:17-19)

Christians are not exempted from this bondage in debt. Many Christians struggle to give gifts and offerings to God and to reach out to the poor because they are in debt. God wants His people to be in a position where they aren’t engulfed in debt. Look again with me at Deuteronomy 28:12, “The LORD will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations BUT WILL BORROW FROM NONE.”

God apparently has NEVER wanted His people to live in a constant state of debt. In fact, He asked Israel to set their economy up on a 7 years cycle. In Deuteronomy 15:1-3 God commanded His people: “At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts. This is how it is to be done: Every creditor shall cancel the loan he has made to his fellow Israelite. He shall not require payment from his fellow Israelite or brother, because the LORD’s time for canceling debts has been proclaimed. You may require payment from a foreigner, but you must cancel any debt your brother owes you.”

Are you being held captive by this sin called debt? Are you upside down in a car loan, mortgage, credit cards maxed out. Lord forgive me for poor decisions I made in the past about money. I know that debt is not your best for me, so pls. help me get out and stay out. When I feel like drowning in expenses, pls. help me multiply my paycheck to meet my needs and have some left over.

Second: White Elephants

You may be hear about white elephant gift. There’s a folk lore that in some Asian countries, white elephants were once considered holy beings. They were thought to bring fertility, prosperity and power. If this rare and sacred creature die, there’s certain disaster that will happen to the owners. And so they would spend enormous amount of time and money caring for the animals, giving them every necessity and luxury. And so, receiving  a white elephant, whit it may seemed to be a good fortune, would have slowly crippled that own. So white elephant came to symbolize a gift whose maintenance cost exceeds its worth.

Today it seems that our lives are filled with white elephants and they keep on multiplying—maintenance of our homes, yards and cars, insurance they all demand our time and drains us financially. We want the latest fashion trend or the newest electronic gadget.

The Gospel of Mark warns us, “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul”  Jesus had no need for 300 channels, 4 phone numbers or twitter or FaceBook accounts. He don’t need those stuff.  Let’s just pray. Lord, I don’t want to accumulate a bunch of possessions and lose my soul in the process. Its not worth the cost. Help me resist the temptation to chase after things that are trendy, exotic, or just enticing, but will be a drain to maintain. Free me with the truth of your Word; free me with the help of the Holy Spirit; free me to have a new understanding of money and material things so I will have more time to invest in people.

Third: Temple of Consumerism

Our economy could be described as econo-me— self-serving, self-indulgent-self-satisfying and self-protecting. Its all about what I want and what I need; what I deserve and what I don’t have.

Somewhere at this moment, brilliant marketing minds are meeting to strategize about one thing; persuading you to spend money. Spend money online. Spend it at the mall. Spend money you don’t have. We always want something better, bigger, faster and with all the features and we should have bought it yesterday.

Adam Hamilton told about a disease that most of us are suffering with. He called it RHS—Have you heard RHS before? It stands for Restless Heart Syndrome. We suffer from this kind of disease wherein we are never satisfied with anything…constantly discontent. How many times we changed our cell phones, TV, clothing, shoes…our cars…many material things…?  And at worst, we tend to be discontent with the wrong things— we have been ungrateful for the gifts God has given to us. We’re unsatisfied with our spouse, unsatisfied with our children, unsatisfied with our parents, unsatisfied with our home or our cars or our healthcare or our jobs, unsatisfied with just about everything... We’re trapped in this disease called RHS, and its about to destroy us.

Contentment is an illusive commodity today! Tragically, Christian and non-Christian alike fall for the world’s lies about the secret of contentment. Never, it seems have so many wanted so much and found so little contentment once they got it. This is hardly surprising when we consider that we are bombarded on a daily basis with advertisements whose sole purpose is to breed discontent so that we will buy their product. How tragic it is that we live in one of the most prosperous nations on the face of the earth and we still struggle with contentment. We seem to live in a culture that is not content, ever, with little or with much. It appears that the more people have the more discontent they are.

Here this church, while we are all consumers, we don’t have to worship in the temple of consumerism. With the mind of Christ, we can align ourselves to God’s money management principles, not man’s Our lives are not summed up by what we own, but rather by whom we are owned! Luke says, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” (Luke 12:15)

Invitation…

I am not defined by what I own; less can be more. Lord, instead wanting to get something better materially, I want a better understanding of Your love for me. Lord, instead of wanting something bigger like house or car, I want a bigger vision of who You are. Instead of wanting faster like cards, I want a faster response to your voice. Lord, help me not be a victim of consumerism. Give me wisdom to spend and save wisely so that I can keep the finances I have. Help me Lord to live simply and love you completely…Amen.