Introduction:
A. One of the biggest mistakes we can make in life is to buy into the myth that more is better and that money and the things it can buy will make us happy.
B. All he ever wanted was more.
1. He wanted more money so he turned inherited wealth into a billion dollars worth of assets.
2. He wanted more fame so he broke into the Hollywood scene and soon became a film producer and star.
3. He wanted more thrills so he designed, built and piloted the fastest airplane in the world.
4. He wanted more power so he secretly dealt political favors so skillfully that two presidents became his pawns.
5. All he ever wanted was more…He was absolutely convinced that more would bring him contentment.
6. Unfortunately, history shows otherwise. He died emaciated, weighing only 95 pounds. His fingernails resembled grotesque long cork screws. His teeth were rotting, and countless needle marks covered his body from his drug addiction.
C. You probably know that I’m talking about Howard Hughes.
1. Howard Hughes is most famous for the last years of his life, when his mind faded and he lived the life of a wealthy, paranoid recluse.
2. But earlier he had been a dashing and innovative businessman.
3. Inheriting the Hughes Tool Company at age 19, Hughes became a Hollywood movie producer, aircraft inventor, mining mogul, casino owner and ladies’ man.
4. He dated Ava Gardner and Katharine Hepburn among many other starlets.
5. An avid and daring pilot, Hughes set a handful of aviation world records, including one for a 1938 flight around the world in just over 91 hours.
6. In the 1960s his business dealings paid off handsomely and his wealth reached one billion dollars, a staggering amount for the era.
7. In the 1950s certain personality quirks began to dominate and Hughes grew increasingly unbalanced.
8. He dropped from public view and became famous for his wealth and his mysterious hidden ways, surfacing via telephone in 1972 to say that a biography written by Clifford Irving was a hoax.
9. The gossip and confusion about his whereabouts and lifestyle continued after his 1976 death, when various parties contested his will amid much-publicized legal wrangling.
10. Leonardo DiCaprio played Hughes in the 2004 biopic The Aviator, directed by Martin Scorsese.
D. The desire for more and more is such a dangerous and destructive trap.
1. Most of us don’t think of ourselves as wealthy.
2. Surveys have found that people tend to look at those who make exactly double of whatever they make as rich, regardless of their income level.
3. So someone who makes $25,000 a year think of the wealthy as those who make $50,000.
4. And those who make $50,000 think of wealthy as those who make $100,000.
5. Even billionaire Ted Turner struggles with dissatisfaction with his income. He said, “It’s all relative. I sit down and say, ‘I’ve got $10 billion, but Bill Gates has $100 billion; I feel like a complete failure in life.” (People 6.12.00, p. 62).
E. Now, don’t get me wrong. Money in and of itself is not bad.
1. We need money to survive. We have to pay the bills. We have to feed our families. We have to have transportation and housing.
2. Money is necessary, but the Bible tells us that money can become a problem.
3. As we heard in the Scripture reading from 1 Timothy, Paul says, “People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” (6:9-10)
4. So, it is the love of money that is the issue.
5. It is the all-consuming pursuit of it. When getting more money and things becomes our chief aim in life, then we are headed for trouble.
6. When we have that mindset, then we will stop at nothing to get as much of it as we can, and along the way we compromise our beliefs, and stop serving the Lord.
7. Jesus told us that we cannot serve God and money at the same time.
F. So, let’s spend a few minutes looking at biblical stories of people who fell into the trap of materialism.
I. Example #1 – Achan’s Mistake
A. Our story is found in the book of Joshua.
1. In chapters 5 and 6 we read about Israel’s first victory in the conquest of Canaan.
2. They had moved against the great walled city of Jericho and easily took the city as they obeyed God’s instructions.
3. Unfortunately, in the midst of that great victory, one man named Achan made a terrible mistake that would bring consequences for everyone initially, and then for himself permanently.
B. After the great defeat of Jericho, Joshua sent spies to the city of Ai, their next target.
1. The spies returned and reported that not everyone will have to be involved in the attack at Ai, for only a few men are there.
2. So Joshua sent only 3000 men into the battle, but they were routed by the men of Ai, who forced the Israelites to retreat like whipped dogs.
3. As you can imagine the hearts Israelites melted and they were confused.
4. How could this have happened after all of God’s promises and after such a great defeat against Jericho?
5. So Joshua and the elders fell facedown on the ground before the ark of the Lord until evening.
6. God’s answer came, “Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the devoted things…” (7:11)
7. One of the commands that God had given them when they went up to Jericho was that nobody was to take any of the plunder. Everything was to go into the treasury of the Lord.
C. We are told that Achan was the one who had sinned.
1. Achan didn’t confess until it was impossible to hide what had happened.
2. God made the people come forward tribe by tribe, clan by clan, family by family, then man by man.
3. Imagine how uncomfortable that must have been for Achan as the circle narrowed with each step. First, his tribe was chosen, then his clan, then his family, and then he was chosen.
4. Joshua then said, “Fess up. Tell us what you have done.”
5. Then Achan told the truth, “It is true! I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel. This is what I have done: When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.” (7:20-21)
D. Certainly we can all relate to the pull of things.
1. We can relate to how something can catch our eye and then consume our thinking until we have it. Whether that thing be the latest computer, car, dress, or CD.
2. It starts with the GAZE, which leads to the GREED, which leads to the GRAB.
3. Obviously, Achan knew that what he had done was wrong, so he hid the goods in his tent.
4. Otherwise, he would have walked around the camp in his new Babylonian robe, decked out with silver and gold.
E. As we all know, we can’t fool God; we can’t hide from God.
1. In the end, Achan was punished. He and his family were taken out and stoned, and then the bodies were burned, and a large pile of rocks covered them to act as a reminder that the mistake of materialism is certainly one to avoid.
II. Example #2 – Ahab’s Mistake
A. This story is found in 1 Kings 21 and the two good, bad examples are King Ahab and his wife, Jezebel.
1. The other character in the story is a man named Naboth from Jezreel.
2. Naboth owned a vineyard that had been in his family for generations.
3. Unfortunately, the vineyard happened to be right next to the King’s palace in Samaria.
4. The king needed a good place for a vegetable garden and decided that Naboth’s vineyard would suit him just fine.
5. So, he went to Naboth and said, “Let me have your vineyard to use for a vegetable garden, since it is close to my palace. In exchange I will give you a better vineyard or, if you prefer, I will pay you whatever it is worth.” (21:2)
6. Sounds like a pretty good offer, wouldn’t you say? The kind of offer you can’t refuse, right?
7. Wrong. The Bible says that Naboth replied, “The Lord forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers.” (21:3)
8. Now, Naboth wasn’t just trying to be difficult. He was trying to obey God.
9. For Naboth to sell off the land that his ancestors passed on to him would be the same as Esau selling his birthright to brother Jacob for a bowl of soup.
10. Keeping the land of one’s ancestors meant not only that one honored the family, but also that one was keeping covenant with the Lord.
B. So, what did Ahab do in the face of denial and defeat? He went home and pouted.
1. The Bible says that he went home sullen and angry; lay on his bed sulking and refused to eat.
2. When Jezebel came in and found out why he was so upset she said, “Aren’t you the king?”
3. In other words, you can have anything you want, and no one can stop you.
4. Jezebel did not share the religious traditions of Israel. She had no spiritual commitments to God.
5. What she did know was how to get what she wanted through dirty tricks.
6. She immediately set in motion a plan to falsely accuse Naboth and have him executed, and once Naboth is out of the way, then Ahab can have the silly vineyard he wants.
C. So, everything went according to the plan, and when Naboth was gone, Jezebel went to Ahab and basically said, “Stop moping. Get up and take possession of the vineyard that Naboth refused to sell you, for Naboth is no longer with us…he had an ‘accident’ and is dead.”
1. So, Ahab got up and went down to take possession of Naboth’s vineyard.
2. But as you could probably guess, God is not going to let him get away with that.
3. So, God sent Elijah the prophet with this message: “Have you not murdered a man and seized his property?...In the place where dogs licked up Naboth’s blood, dogs will lick up your blood…(And no only his, but Jezebel’s as well)…“Dogs will devour Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.” (21:19, 23)
4. The mistakes of materialism can be so costly.
5. Let’s finish out this survey with two stories that Jesus told to illustrate the devastating effects of materialism.
III. Example #3 – The Rich Fool’s Mistake
A. In Luke 12, starting at verse 13 we are told that someone in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”
1. Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or arbiter between you?” (vs. 14)
2. He said to everyone, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed: a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” (vs. 15)
3. Then he told a story to drive home the point.
B. Jesus told about a certain rich man who had a great harvest and wondered what to do with more than he could store.
1. Rather than give some away, he decided to tear down his barns and build bigger ones to store all his grain and his goods.
2. Then he said to himself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” (vs. 19)
3. But God said to the man, “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?” (vs. 20)
4. Jesus finished this teaching session with these words, “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.” (vs. 21)
5. The mistake of materialism is costly!
IV. Example #4 – The Rich Man’s Mistake
A. Just a few chapters later in Luke 16, Jesus tells another story with a similar theme.
1. He tells about a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury, while at his gate sat a poor beggar named Lazarus who was covered in sores and was so hungry that eating the scraps from the rich man’s table would have been a considered a feast.
2. Both men died, but they went to very different places.
3. Lazarus the beggar went to Abraham’s side, but the rich man went to hell.
4. The rich man who was in torment could see that Lazarus was not and requested some relief from Lazarus.
5. The Bibles says that Abraham replied, “Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received only bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.” (16:25-26)
Conclusion:
A. So, there we have it. Four stories. Two stories of actual people and their mistakes with regard to materialism, and two stories used by Jesus to illustrate the same.
1. Will we learn from their mistakes?
2. There is great danger and destruction from coveting more and more; never being satisfied.
3. And there is great danger and destruction from hoarding what we have and not sharing it.
B. Paul’s instructions in 1 Timothy are just the right prescription for what ails us with regard to money and materialism. Paul gives us three keys.
1. Paul says that two of the keys are godliness and contentment.
a. That means we must focus on the spiritual, and learn to be content with the material.
b. The Hebrew writer said it well in Hebrews 13:5, “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.’” (God is our greatest possession! Right!)
c. In the parable of the sower, Jesus explained, “The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.” (Mt. 13:22)
d. I am instructed by Solomon’s words in Ecclesiastes 5:10, “Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income.”
e. Godliness and contentment are two keys!
2. The other key is generosity.
a. Toward the end of 1 Timothy 6, we read, “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasures for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.” (6:17-19) Wow! Isn’t that good!
C. Let’s keep these simple but profound principles in mind. These are from Randy Alcorn’s book: God, Money and Possessions.) (I wish I had time to develop these principles, but I think they are a good summary of what we are trying to learn today.)
1. God owns everything.
2. My heart always goes where I put my money.
3. Heaven, not earth, is my home.
4. Giving is the only antidote to materialism.
5. God prospers me not to raise my standard of living, but to raise my standard of giving.
D. Professional golfer Paul Azinger was diagnosed with cancer at age 33.
1. He had just won a PGA championship and he ten tournament victories to his credit.
2. He wrote, “A genuine feeling of fear came over me. I could die from cancer. Then another reality hit me even harder. I’m going to die eventually anyway, whether from cancer or something else. It’s just a question of when. Everything I had accomplished in golf became meaningless to me. All I wanted to do was live.”
3. The Azinger remembered something that Larry Moody, who teaches a Bible study on the tour had said to him, “Zinger, we’re not in the land of the living going to the land of the dying. We’re in the land of the dying trying to get to the land of the living.”
4. Paul Azinger recovered from chemotherapy and returned to the PGA tour.
5. He’s done pretty well, but that bout with cancer deepened his perspective.
6. He wrote, “I’ve made a lot of money since I’ve been on the tour, and I’ve won a lot of tournaments, but that happiness is always temporary. The only way you will ever have true contentment is in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I’m not saying that nothing ever bothers me and I don’t have problems, but I feel like I’ve found the answer to the six-foot hole.”
E. In other words, he’s found the answer to death and the grave. Have you?
1. Paul said, “For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.” (I Tim. 6:7-8)
2. Billy Graham said, “If a person gets his attitude toward money straight, it will help straighten out almost every other area of his life.”
3. Let’s look to God and do our best to avoid the mistake of materialism by being learning to be content with what we have and by learning to generously share what we have.
