Making The Most Of My Life: Six Ways We Waste Our Day
Part 4 of 6: Idle Spending
Luke 12:13-21
"Walmartitits"-accumulating unnecessarily
We have a tenacity to accumulate what we don’t need. We have an over-enjoyment of shopping for the sake of shopping.
Leads to a mis-perception that our wealth/life is average
[Those with gross assets of $600,000 or more represent 2.5% of the US population, but own more than $6.7 Trillion in assets or 27.4% of the total U.S. wealth. After a debt of $660.4 million their net worth equals $6.1 Trillion, or almost 29.5% of the total U.S. wealth.] [Http://www.irs.gov.]
[According to a survey of the USA Today newspaper: Of those whose assets range from $1 million to $5 million, 55% don’t consider themselves wealthy.] [USA Today, November 11, 1991.]
We get accustomed to 2 or more cars, 2+ TV’s, a bed in every room, A/C-Heating, running water, a complete dining room set, a computer in nearly every home, etc. We become so accustomed to having these amenities that we believe this is how life is. Our life is "normal". This is an ethnocentric viewpoint.
[From the standpoint of material wealth, Americans have difficulty realizing how rich we are. Going through a little mental exercise suggested by Robert Heilbroner can help us to count our blessings, however. Imagine doing the following, and you will see how daily life is for as many as a billion people in the world.
1. Take out all the furniture in your home except for one table and a couple of chairs. Use blanket and pads for beds.
2. Take away all of your clothing except for your oldest dress or suit, shirt or blouse. Leave only one pair of shoes.
3. Empty the pantry and the refrigerator except for a small bag of flour, some sugar and salt, a few potatoes, some onions, and a dish of dried beans.
4. Dismantle the bathroom, shut off the running water, and remove all the electrical wiring in your house.
5. Take away the house itself and move the family into the tool shed.
6. Place your "house" in a shantytown.
7. Cancel all subscriptions to newspapers, magazines, and book clubs. This is no great loss because now none of you can read anyway.
8. Leave only one radio for the whole shantytown.
9. Move the nearest hospital or clinic ten miles away and put a midwife in charge instead of a doctor.
10. Throw away your bankbooks, stock certificates, pension plans, and insurance policies. Leave the family a cash hoard of ten dollars.
11. Give the head of the family a few acres to cultivate on which he can raise a few hundred dollars of cash crops, of which one third will go to the landlord and one tenth to the money lenders.
12. Lop off twenty-five or more years in life expectancy.] [Steve Williams. Http://www.sermonillustrations.com.]
We hold great bonds to our belongings. The rich man says, "Let’s build bigger barns."
[personal experience as a mover in Kansas City.]
We are a nation of collectors. We support a large industry of storage facilities for the sake of keeping our "stuff". We have the disease of "Walmartitits".
Listen to these statistics: Walmart, net sales for 2001 $191,329 million [Annual Report. Http://www.walmartstores.com.]
Venture, net sales for 2000 $36,903 million [Latest figures, Annual Report. Http://www.targetcorp.com/investor-relations/news.htm.]
K-mart, *website wouldn’t work.
We love to spend. We are a rich, consuming nation.
There are two perspectives on our situation of wealth. Two extremes of how to view wealth.
1. Wealth is totally Good.
"And all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of you. And the LORD will make you abound in prosperity, in the fruit of your body, and in the fruit of your cattle, and in the fruit of your ground, within the land which the LORD swore to your fathers to give you. The LORD will open to you his good treasury the heavens, to give the rain of your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hands; and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. And the LORD will make you the head, and not the tail; and you shall tend upward only, and not downward; if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day, being careful to do them, and if you do not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them." Deuteronomy 28:10-14 (RSV)
According to those who use this and other scriptures, God is blessing our nation, because of faithful Christians/ Christian obedience.
The second view comes from the opposite extreme.
2. Wealth is totally Evil.
"And Jesus said to his disciples, "Truly, I say to you, it will be hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."" Matthew 19:23-24 (RSV)
According to those who use this and other scriptures, Wealth is a mere indication of our greed- lust for gain.
This morning we do not look at wealth from an ethnocentric viewpoint. Nor, do we look at it with an egocentric viewpoint. But, rather from a Bibliocentric viewpoint.
There are six clear teaching about wealth which come from the Bible.
1. All Is God’s
"The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters." Psalm 24:1-2 (NIV)
"To the Lord your God belong heaven and the highest heavens, the earth and all that is in it." Deuteronomy 10:14 (NASB)
2. Wealth Comes From God
"There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God; for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment?" Ecclesiastes 2:24-25 (RSV)
"Go, eat your bread with enjoyment, and drink your wine with a merry heart; for God has already approved what you do." Ecclesiastes 9:7 (RSV)
Crops were good-Did he make them to grow?, Could he make it rain?-doubtful if he even worked the fields.
3. Wealth Comes From God For A Purpose
"Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth; that he may confirm his covenant which he swore to your fathers, as at this day." Deuteronomy 8:17-18 (RSV)
4. Wealth Has The Ability To Distract Us From What’s Really Important
"But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and hurtful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all evils; it is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced their hearts with many pangs." 1 Timothy 6:9-10 (RSV)
"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." Matthew 6:19-21 (NIV)
5. Wealth Is Never To Be Amassed For Our Own Glory Or Benefit
"Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God." Hebrews 13:16 (RSV)
"Tell those who are rich not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which will soon be gone, but their pride and trust should be in the living God who always richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and should give happily to those in need, always being ready to share with others whatever God has given them" I Timothy 6:17-18 (Living)
"All day long the wicked covets, but the righteous gives and does not hold back." Proverbs 21:26 (RSV)
6. The Greatest Wealth Is Not What’s Kept, But What We Give Away.
Investing in others lives.
"Be generous, and someday you will be rewarded. Share what you have with seven our eight others, because you never know when disaster may strike." Ecclesiastes 11:1-2 (CEV)
"Give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For the measure you give will be the measure you get back." Luke 6:38 (RSV)
Unjust steward of Luke 16
As Christians we need to be good stewards with what God has given us. We shouldn’t spend foolishly or mindlessly. Here are three simple questions to help you make the right choices with God’s wealth.
1. Do I Need This?
Is it really a need?
[Sales experience] -create the need to make the sale.
2. Am I Going To Use It? And, How Often?
[exercise equipment bought, but never used]
3. Will This Distract Me From God
Spending foolishly is to waste God’s resources
