In this article we’re not concerned with the “materialism” that refers to the godless theory that physical matter is the only reality, but with what the American Heritage Dictionary defines as: 1. “the doctrine that physical well-being and worldly possessions constitute the greatest good and highest value in life”; 2. “a great regard for worldly concerns.”
Jesus clearly refuted part 1 by stating that “man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Lk. 12:15 NIV). He prefaced His statement with, “Guard against all kinds of greed.” Jesus is saying that this doctrine is false, it doesn’t work; so don’t be deceived by your natural acquisitional instincts.
We Christians know this doctrine is false, but fail to notice ourselves paying tribute to it in terms of part 2, seduced by the materialistic priorities of the world around us. We need to pay closer attention to Jesus’ teaching: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Mt. 6:19-21).
The alternative to earthly values is heavenly values – the protected, eternally-secured inheritance of God’s born-again heirs. Listen to Peter: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade – kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Pet. 1:3-5).
The earthly is vulnerable to damage, deterioration and plunder, and thus, of limited duration or temporary. The heavenly is beyond the reach of all diminishing effects, protected and eternal. The contrast is infinite. How is it possible ever to choose the temporal-material over the eternal-spiritual? But choose we must. Jesus said, “No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money” (Lk. 16:13).
It’s easy to deceive ourselves into thinking that we don’t “serve” anybody. We choose to do our own thing, not realizing that materialism is a bondage. A deliberate choice to submit to God’s authority and serve Him frees us from that bondage, and we find that servitude to God is a joyful, fulfilling lifestyle.
Why would anyone want to enslave him/herself to a mindless, heartless master that is subject to damage, deterioration and plunder, has no power to ultimately satisfy and will finally fail even as a value? Yet, humans stand in line to sign up for such servitude – even Christian humans!
CHRIST, THE ONLY KEY TO CONTENTMENT
Most Christians don’t consciously believe that the physical/material is the highest and greatest value. Yet we breathe the materialistic atmosphere of this world and unwittingly fall into the snare of “a great or excessive regard for worldly concerns.” This only shows that we aren’t really enjoying our heavenly heritage. God, “who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ” (Eph. 1:3), “richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment” (1 Tim. 6:17). He intends that His children find satisfaction in His heavenly/spiritual provisions in the present. We have eternal life now; we’re also meant to live rich lives now, in the enjoyment of God’s eternal/spiritual possessions.
The key, of course, to enjoying spiritual/heavenly/eternal substance in the here and now is found in Romans 8:32: “He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all – how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?” The clause, “along with Him,” echoes the qualifier in Ephesians 1:3, “every spiritual blessing in Christ.”
We are not expected to be thrilled and satisfied with possessions themselves – not even heavenly/spiritual/eternal possessions – but to seek the perfect satisfaction of our souls, our deepest inner longings, in the fellowship of Christ. God gives us everything in our company with Him. God Himself is “well pleased” with Jesus (Mt. 3:17; 17:5). He finds His own heart filled with pleasure as He enjoys His one and only Son. And He wants to share that pleasure with us.
“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’” (Heb. 13:5). God is our guaranteed satisfaction. Things can never fill the heart. For fifty years I have often recited to myself, these lines of poet Francis Quarles: “In having all things, and not Thee, what have I? Not having Thee, what have my labors got? Let me enjoy Thee, what further crave I? And having Thee alone, what have I not? I wish nor land nor sea, nor would I be possessed of heaven itself, heaven unpossessed of Thee.”
So, Christian, our response to materialism is to seek after – accumulate, if you will – more and more of Christ. On the Mount of Transfiguration, God said to a confused apostle, “This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased” (Mt. 17:5). Then He said, “Listen to Him!” (Lk. 9:35). Tune in to Him, focus your heart on Him, let Him flow into you, wash over you, thrill you. The One who is the ultimate, eternal satisfaction of the great heart of the Almighty Creator of all things is equally ours to enjoy!
Luke also recorded these words from God’s transfiguration message: “This is my Son, whom I have chosen” (Lk. 9:35). Not only did God choose His Son before the world’s founding as His precious Cornerstone (1 Pet. 1:20; 2:4-6), who will fulfill all His plans and prophecies, but He also chooses to fix His heart on this amazing and unique Person. Isn’t this our clue to also choose Jesus Christ – not just as Savior, but as the all-absorbing focus of our hearts?
A thousand years before Christ, David did just that: “I have set the Lord always before me” (Ps. 16:8). “One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple” (Ps. 27:4). Mary of Bethany also chose the “one thing necessary” – to sit at Jesus’ feet hungrily listening to Him (Lk. 10:38-42) – and was thus inspired to “waste” her most expensive material possession to anoint Jesus’ person.
Jesus also warned of the effect of materialistic preoccupations on our fruitfulness. In the parable of the sower He taught that “others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful” (Mk. 4:18-19). Materialistic preoccupations choke spiritual productivity.
For this reason the Savior urged: “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? ... The pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these (material) things will be given to you as well” (Mt. 6:25, 32-33).
There is no shortage of material distractions in this world. But it’s truer still that there’s no shortage of satisfaction in the provisions God has made for the needs of our core being, our soul. The mind and body make demands, but the ultimate cravings are of the soul. When the soul is satisfied, the person is satisfied. And only Christ can truly satisfy our soul; He is our ultimate satisfaction just as He is God’s. Augustine was right when he said, “Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee.” The satisfied soul doesn’t feel material lack.
GREED IS THE APPETITE OF SELF, MATERIALISM ITS DIET
Paul wrote, “I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ” (Phil. 3:8). He had given up much but regarded it as nothing but garbage in order to make room in his life for more of Christ. Christ filled his heart and satisfied his craving until there was no room for materialism. A discontented Christian is one who doesn’t really know his Savior. Materialism is temptation: it can’t lead to satisfaction; it leaves us hungry.
Earlier we cited Jesus’ caution that we “be on ... guard against ... greed” (Lk. 12:15). Greed is our real problem; it’s woven into the fabric of fallen human nature, an essential expression of its basic egocentricity. The remedy, again, is to get centered on Jesus. A man once asked Him which is the greatest commandment – the main one! Jesus answered with a common Jewish creed from Deuteronomy 6:5: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” Then He added a new dimension from Leviticus 19:18: “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Mt. 22:34-40).
To get centered on Jesus means first to get centered outside of self. No one questions the command to love God with all our being. But how? It’s best expressed in doing unto others: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Or love your neighbor – in all the ways, in all the places and at all times you normally favor, pamper, love yourself – instead of yourself!
Jesus made it a two-part command in this passage, concluding: “All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” But another time He simply stated the second part: “In everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets” (Mt. 7:12). So the greatest command is really to love your neighbor as yourself. That, of course, is humanly impossible. Only as we get centered on Christ – loving Him with our whole being – are we equipped to do this.
Paul repeats the principle in Romans 13:9-10 and Galatians 5:14, and expands on it in Philippians 2:3-4: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you ... look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”
Those instructions are to help us relate to each other harmoniously. We can’t have interpersonal harmony while we’re egocentric, while each individual is a universe unto himself. When we get focused on Jesus and begin to “consider others better than ourselves,” we step away from our fundamental egocentrism and begin to move deliberately toward other-centeredness.
The best example is Jesus Himself. He did not consider His own dignity a priority to be guarded, but “made himself nothing ... humbled Himself” (Phil. 2:7-8). The operative principle is that when we dethrone our self and give priority to other than self – to God – we find God elevating us according to His plans for us.
And notice that our Lord asks no more of us, in terms of sacrifice and self-denial, than what He voluntarily did for God and for us. He doesn’t say, “Humble yourself because I command it,” but rather, “Watch Me, and let Me help you humble yourself as I did.”
Our susceptibility to materialism is rooted in our fundamental human greed and self-centeredness. When we obey God and step away from that bondage to self toward others, we take a giant step away from materialism.
By Bill Van Ryn
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