Video Transcript: Generosity vs. Materialism

In the previous lecture, I read from Deuteronomy 6, which includes in its child  rearing advice to Israel's parents and community, this council about the dangers  of materialism. When God blesses you by giving you a home and many other  good things to go with that Moses says, Do not forget the Lord who brought you  out of the land of slavery. This warning is repeated in Deuteronomy 8. Here are  some excerpts from verses 10 to 18. Moses says, when you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. Be  careful that you do not forget the Lord your God failing to observe His  commands His laws and decrees that I'm giving you this day. Otherwise, when  you eat and are satisfied when you build fine houses, and settle down, and  when your herds and flocks grow large, and your silver and gold increase, and  all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud. And you will forget  the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery, he  goes on, you may say to yourself, my power and the strength of my hands  produces wealth for me. But remember, the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant which he swore  to your father's forefathers, as it is today. Now, Moses wants God's people to  understand that as it is with worship, what we do with our possessions, is a  matter of the heart. Even though this passage doesn't give a lot of specifics on  how we are to manage wealth, the basic principle is as clear for us as it was for  Israel. We're called to remember that everything we have possessions, covers a lot of things as well as the ability to increase them,everything good, is a gift from the Lord our God. If we remember that single thing, which is the thrust of this  and many other scripture passages, then we have a chance at pleasing God  with how we handle the resources He's given us. But if we forget that God is the  source of all our blessings, including the wealth we have, then we're certain to  stumble and fall. Israel became a case in point. In later years, the hearts of  Israel's kings and people did in fact, become proud. And they did in fact, forget  how dependent on God they were for their land and their lives, with the result  that God eventually allowed Israel to be overthrown by her enemies and the  people sent into exile. I indicated that the thrust of this scripture passages  duplicated many other places in the Bible, and indeed the scriptures are filled  with instructions, promises, warnings and threats, regarding money, and its  uses. Central among these are many warnings against greed, which is closely  tied to materialism. According to one of its most simple, biblical definitions,  greed is the love of money. Of course, money refers to more than cash to its any material possessions. To be sure, we're allowed to acquire possess things  they're important to sustain and enhance life. But neither possessing nor  possessions are what life is all about. Nor is the act of loving, appropriate to be  applied to these things. These possessing or possessions. Despite the  goodness and helpfulness of money. Love should really only be used where two  way relationship is possible. As between two people or between God and 

people. Money can't love you back. So to love things is to let appreciation for it  go beyond what is proper. And when this happens in possessions or money  having some place have in some sense replaced God as one's master. And  that's why the love of money. Greed is a form of idolatry. The love of money is a  love without proper boundaries and a proper focus. One of the reasons one of  the ways greed is manifested in our society is in the tendency to accumulate  irresponsible debt. This is the debt which the borrower has no reasonable  expectation of being able to repay. But other debts can also be irresponsible  over large home mortgages for example, or or the use of credit cards to finance, household furniture and entertainment equipment and finance contracts on  vehicles. Some might say all finance contracts, but certainly those that are  drawn out so long, long that the vehicle ends up being worth less than the  balance of loans. And to be financially responsible, you need to live within your  means. And to live within your means you must both spend less than you make  and set aside money for emergencies and future needs. By this measure, many  Americans fail since almost half of us have more credit card debt than we do  emergency savings in our government certainly failed, since we continue to pile  up debts that will inevitably burden future generations even more than they do  our own. Such piling up of debts that one cannot repay is a form of wickedness.  according to Psalm 37;21, the wicked borrow and do not repay, but the  righteous give generously. But even those who do intend to repay may find that  they can opt for the end up in a sort of slavery. Psalm 22:7 puts it like this, the  rich rule the poor and the borrower is slave to the lender. However, even those  who never spend more than they can afford can still be led astray by the love of  money. The author of Ecclesiastes observes this. So listen to this excerpt from  chapter 5:10-17. Whoever loves money, never has money enough. Whoever  loves wealth, is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless as  goods increase, so do those who consume them, and what benefit are they to  the owner except to feast his eyes upon them. The Sleep of a laborer is sweet  whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of a rich man permits him no  sleep. I've seen a grievous evil under the sun, wealth horded to the harm of its  owners, or wealth lost through some misfortune, so that when he has a son,  there's nothing left for him. Naked a man comes from his mother's womb. And  as he comes, so he departs he takes nothing from his labor that he can carry in  his hand. This too is a grievous evil. As a man comes so he departs and what is  he gained since he toils for the wind, all his days he eats and darkness with  great frustration, affliction, and anger. Here is biblical wisdom on the matter of  greed. Those who love money more than they should never have as much as  they want to have. Furthermore, the more possessions one accumulates, the  more attention, one has to give to how those possessions will be kept and used.  The extra responsibility may be a bad trade off for extra possessions. This is  especially the case when, as it often does, increased anxiety accompanies 

increased abundance. You see, the more you have, the more you have to worry  about losing. And then in the end, even if you manage in your life to escape the  misfortunes that accompany the hoarding or loss of wealth, your children  probably won't. And regardless, you still can't take any of what you've  accumulated with you when you die. Even so, not too many people criticize  greed, so long as it does not exceed what's legal. In fact, greed called by nicer  names is often touted as something good it's a motor that drives our economy.  Nor is it only the rich who are affected. Because greed is found in every social  class, driving the poor to be rich and the rich to be richer, and too often to the  self inflicted harm of both. Course this not the end that our society likes to  imagine. For those engaged in the unrestrained pursuit of wealth or their  substitutes fame and power. Before I leave this topic of greed, let me mention  one more problem with it, namely, that it's a major cause of injustice in our  world. biblical examples abound. Remember Achan, a man who contrary to  God's command, coveted and took some of the spoils of Jericho for his own. His greed led to the death of 36 men in the failed attempt to take a little town of Ai  and eventually to the death of his entire family? King Ahab's greed for the  vineyard of Naboth led to the deception of his people the perversion of the  judicial system in the very law of God, and thereby to the death of an innocent  man, and finally to God's judgment on his household. And then there are  examples from the prophets who were particularly hard on those who had the  position and power to take the most advantage of others. Jeremiah 6:13, from  the least to the greatest, he criticizes all are greedy for gain prophets and priests alike all practice deceit. to see Micah 2:2 and 3:11. they covet fields and seizee  him and houses and take them they defraud a man of his home, of fellow man of his inheritance. And then her teachers judge for a bribe her priests teach for a  price and her prophets tell fortunes for money. And yet they lean upon the Lord  and say, is not the Lord among us, no disaster will come upon Isaiah 56:11.  They are dogs with mighty appetites. They never have enough. They are  shepherds who lack understanding, they all turn to their own way each seeks his own gain. Some biblical examples, but we could add many modern examples as well. No profession is immune to greed, police on the take allow criminals to  flourish. Because of the greed of some contractors, buildings and bridges  collapse. And then there are savings and loan scandals and drug sales and so  on, and even pastors and church treasurers who skim money for greed. And  even if laws are never broken, the truth of Proverbs 15:27 has been seen too  often, a greedy man brings trouble to his family. By God's grace, there are a  couple of strategies that will help people to escape the lure in the fallout of  greed. The first is already been alluded to in the opening segment of this lecture  in some it says. don't forget the Lord your God, the source of life, and every  good blessing you enjoy. God has a plan for this world and you're part of it make his priorities your own. That's the only way you'll be able to participate fully in the

life he has made possible for you. Don't get sidetracked by God's gifts to you.  But accept them and use them to help you fulfill your purpose. Now, at the best  of times, this shouldn't be that difficult to remember. But God has an opponent  who persists in trying to undermine God's work with us, Satan. He also has a  plan and a purpose. He's out to get us in money because faith is one of his  favorite ways to do it. Unless we're careful, we'll get just like the Israelites in the  wilderness. If I don't get it in my hands in my mouth right now I'm leaving and  going back to Egypt. God is not real unless I get my belly filled on my terms. So  tempting God means Satan is behind the scenes to make us worry about our  wealth to worry about what we have, and what we wish we had. So don't worry.  When you worry about wealth, you reveal that you don't believe God who  promised to provide your needs and when you don't believe God does not, does that not affect your soul. Don't underestimate Satan. Also, do not underestimate  your own vulnerability to the love of money and things. Don't underestimate how resistant you are to overestimate how, how resistant you are to swallow the  lures of the world and forget God if anything, be overcautious about your  vulnerability. There's a story in Genesis 14 about Abraham going to the rescue  of Sodom and Gomorrah. cities that were later destroyed by God. But this was  before that Abraham's intervention saved these cities. Ans so in gratitude, they  tried to give him a big reward of money and possessions and Abraham said, No, I don't want it. Why? Most likely, because Abraham wanted everyone to know  that he was dependent for his life and livelihood upon the Lord God and upon  nobody else. Our vulnerabilities to the idolatry of greed extends beyond how we  pursue wealth to how we use it. Remember this, there's not a dime in your  pocket or bank that's not regulated by the scriptures and to be used in God's  service. You and I have no right to say this money is mine, even after your tithe,  you know, everything you have belongs to God, and its use is all regulated by  Scripture. Now some of that money is certainly to be used to purchase the  necessities and enhance the joys of everyday life. But even such things are  subject to God's approval and reevaluation in the face of other needs in the  kingdom of God. In the Prophet Haggai's day the returning exiles had their  hands full providing for themselves in a ravaged land and among unfriendly  neighbors, so much so that they neglected work on the Lord's temple, the  symbol and testimony to God's presence and help with them and so God sent  Haggai to warn them. Haggai writes, Give careful thought to your ways. you've  planted much but harvested little you eat but never have enough. You drink, but  never have your fill. You put on clothes but are not warm. You earn wages, only  to put them in a purse with holes in it. What you have brought home I blew away. Why declares the Lord Almighty because of my house which remained the ruin  while each of you is busy with his own house. After the people heard this, they  rededicated themselves to work on God's house, by which we are to understand that they worked not only on their temple rebuilding efforts, but also were were 

rededicate themselves to all that God wanted to do in and through them,  including his reclamation of a world lost in sin. Now, one particular practice  which helps immensely in keeping priorities straight and keeping greed at bay is  the cultivation of generosity. God had commended this from Israel's earliest  days. For example, a few a couple of verses from Deuteronomy 15::7. 8. and  10. God says, If anyone is poor among your fellow Israelites in any of the towns, the Lord your God is giving you do not be hard hearted or tight fisted toward  them. Rather be open handed and freely lend them whatever they need. He  goes on, give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart. Then  because of this, the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in  everything you put your hand to. I'll mention a couple other scriptures about  generosity. Psalm 112:5, for example, good will come to those who are  generous and lend freely who conduct their affairs with justice. In Proverbs  11:25, a generous person will prosper. Whoever refreshes others will be  refreshed. Nor was generosity to be extended only to Israel's native born, but  also to the foreigners living with him. Leviticus 19:34 instructs, the foreigner  residing among you must be treated as your native born love them as yourself  for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God. True generosity is  unselfish, and so counteracts the excessive self concern that lies at the heart of  greed. Such sharing doesn't come naturally. Either to children or grownups, it's  more natural that we think of ourselves more generous than we are. And that  our generosity all often involves giving from leftovers. What's more, our concept  of what's essential whats leftover constantly changes to reflect our own  circumstances. Typically, if we have a little we think we would be satisfied with  so much more, and could then afford to be generous. But when we get there, we find that we aren't satisfied after all. And we recalculate that mythical  contentment figure once again, putting God off until our greed is satisfied. We  may be like the man in John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, who looked no way  but downward. This poor creature was groveling on his knees in the dirt and filth  working constantly with a rake trying to unearth some choice jewel that would  enrich his life and all the while a bright crown of great worth was in reach just  above him. The truth is that the only way we can conquer the sin of greed is to  keep looking up at God. Remembering how generous he's been with us. This  business of Christianity as someone so aptly Put it is just one continuous give,  give, give. Indeed, that's what Jesus modeled. And then for keeping our eyes on Him, that's what we will practice, a lifestyle of thankful giving of time, money,  health and prayers the world gives, in order to get, we give, because we already got, we got everything we have. It's a gift. And so keeping that truth in front of  us, as well as remembering that we can't take anything with us when we die. We can live a life characterized by generosity and so also be helped to be delivered  from slavery to the deadly sin of greed. True Christians never askhow much do I have to give to keep God off my back. But where can I find additional resources 

with which to praise God and serve him and contribute to his work? If you're not  giving richness toward God from the heart your an idolater, you'll perish until you repent and return from that you can't serve God and money you've got to do one or the other. And if you're faithful in the little, you'll be faithful in the great. If  

you're not faithful, your you will be unrighteous. You can have it both ways. Our  attitude to and use of possessions directly affects the glory that God receives,  and our Christian testimony, what you do with your money, when you spend it on food, movies, and entertainment, cars, Bible, CDs, or whatever you do with your money, whether you save it waste it, spend it, give it, how you earn it, your  attitude about how you earn it, your resentment against those that give it to you  when you earn it, all of that bears witness to the battle between materialism and  generosity within you and directly affects your Christian testimony, as well as  your eternal destiny. Well, this brings us to the end of the time we have for this  course and my prayer for you is that God will continue to help you grow in the  understanding and application of His word, so that you may bless others and  that he may be honored