What Do You Value?

- Valuables are protected & locked up

- Luke 12:15 (AV)

— 15 And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.

Luke 12:15 (My Translation)

— 15 Beware! Watch out! Guard yourself! Don’t always be wishing for what you don’t have. For real life and real living is not about having a lot of material possessions.”

PBS shows a program called "Affluenza"

Affluenza (Af-flu-en-za n.)

• The bloated, sluggish and unfulfilled feeling that results from efforts in the pursuit of pleasure & possessions .

• An epidemic of stress, overwork, waste and indebtedness caused by dogged pursuit of stuff

Test Your Consumption Quotient

1. Which of the following is comparable to the size of a typical three-car garage?

a. a basketball court

b. a McDonald's restaurant

c. an "RV" (recreational vehicle)

d. the average home in the 1950s.

Answer: d. Many of today's three-car garages occupy 900 square feet, just about the average size of an entire home in the 1950s. Many people use the extra garage space to store things they own and seldom use Americans are buying more luxurious items, partly by working more and going deeply into debt

2. The percentage of Americans calling themselves "very happy" reached its highest point in what year?

a. 1957

b. 1967

c. 1977

d. 1987

Answer: a. The number of "very happy" people peaked in 1957, and has remained fairly stable or declined ever since. Even though we consume twice as much as we did in the 1950s, people were just as happy when they had less.

3. How much of an average American's lifetime will be spent (on average) watching television commercials?

a. 6 months

b. 3 months

c. 1 year

d. 1.5 years

Answer: c. In contrast, Americans on average spend only 40 minutes a week playing with their children, and members of working couples talk with one another on average only 12 minutes a day. They watch 180 min. of TV commercials a week = 3 hrs.

Instant Gratification

Judges 10:13 (AV)

— 13 Yet ye have forsaken me, and served other gods: wherefore I will deliver you no more.

Jeremiah 2:13 (AV)

— 13 For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.

Philippians 2:21 (AV)

— 21 For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s.

Debt Our Broken Cisterns ---- Debt.org

- Credit card debt is the third largest source of household indebtedness

- More than 160 million Americans have credit cards.

- The average credit card holder has at least three cards.

- On average, each household with a credit card carries more than $15,000 in credit card debt.

USA Today

- 1/3 of Americans are delinquent on debt

- They are committing a felony

- LA Times - Yes, America, we have returned to debtor's prisons

- CBS news - As economy flails, debtors' prisons thrive

- EQUALS - Misery, Depression, Sickness of heart

Problem is our values are out of whack

The store manager knew something was wrong when a customer stepped up to the cash-register with a claw hammer and it rang up for $199.95. The customer’s jaw dropped and asked: “What’s this hammer made of, Platinum?”

An employee noticed that a big screen TV was priced at $14.95.

- Many items for sale had their values out of sorts.

- We need to be careful that we don’t get values in our life switched

- Creating chaos of price tags for things we value most.

- Paul makes it clear what we should value most:

- Philippians 3:7–8 (ESV) — 7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ

Philippians 3:10 (ESV) — 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,

- If our pursuit is for self-satisfaction we are ruined

If wealth and possessions are the measure of a man, then Jesus is out of the running!

- He was born in a stable

- Mary was a nondescript humble Jewish mother

- Joseph worked as a poor carpenter.

- He Himself said in Matthew 8:20 (AV) — 20 And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.