Consumerism in the Pew

Our economy lives and dies by the consumer mentality - the winners provided the consumers what they want to consume, and the losers somehow failed to. Our politics also depends on a consumer mentality, and for the same reasons - the winners provide the consumers with what they want, and the losers don't. Consumerism is so integral to the modern Western mindset that we have trouble imagining anyone ever thinking differently. It's practically a God-given right! Just listen to how we complain when the cheese isn't melted just the right way on our readily-available burgers.

More than any other culture, more than any other period of time in history, we carry that consumer mentality into the church. The churches that "win" provide the consumers what they want to consume, and the "losers" don't.

The most obvious form of a consumer mentality in the church is "church shopping" - going beyond the normal process of finding the right place to serve and be served into "shopping" mode, finding the best "bargain," and choosing a church that most serves my wants rather than equipping me to serve those who are in want. Find the church with the best "bang for the buck," and you've got a deal! Until a better deal comes along...

A more subtle form is just the attitude carried into a church. There can be a lot of good consideration about finding the right church, but this insidious attitude rides in like a parasite on a host animal. Everything about the church is evaluated based on personal wants rather than mission, vision, integrity, priorities, and authenticity. Yes, it's important to find a church that has what you need in a church, and some churches are a better fit than others. But this parasitic attitude that demands the church fit my way and my wants is found no where in Jesus' teachings about what the church is for.

But the most subtle form of consumerism in the church, I think, actually changes our theology. Because we can pick and choose our potato chips and our politicians, and because we think we can pick and choose our churches in the same way, we can end up with that deep-seated, modern, Western idea that we can pick and choose our theology, too. And it can seem no natural to us that we have trouble imagining anyone ever thinking differently. It's practically a God-given right!

God's truth is revealed to us. It's not a menu. It's not a salad bar. God has no jingle that says, "Have it your way."

We have a responsibility to investigate and determine what we honestly believe what exactly has been revealed, but that responsibility is different than an attitude that presumes to pick the parts we like and leave the rest. If God's Word truly does say, "Love your neighbor" and "Make disciples of all nations," I have no God-given right to follow the one I like and ignore the other.

As modern, Western thinkers, we have a greater tendency than people from other places and other times to adopt this mentality. Most likely, we're unaware of just how much we have that mentality. When we are aware of it, we may not realize how heavily our mindset has been influenced by our culture and times.

We just saw the movie "Wall-E" again. There's an early scene that helps introduce the robotic main character, who finds a diamond ring in a ring box among the discarded trash. He looks at the ring, tosses it aside not understanding its value, but is so fascinated by the box that opens and closes that he tosses it into his lunch box to keep in his collection. Every time we ignore part of God's Word, we are tossing aside a diamond ring, not understanding its value.

If you're not willing to be God's steward of it, don't buy it

In last week's message, one of the principles was, If you're not willing to be God's steward of it, don't buy it. Everything we buy, we should understand that we're volunteering to be God's steward of whatever it is. If we're not willing to fulfill the role of being God's steward over something, we have no business buying it. Am I crazy?!? What was I thinking? Am I serious?

I have to admit, this is a tough thought for me. I certainly have not had this attitude for most of my thing-buying career. For those who helped us unpack a year and a half ago, you can verify that we have more things than two people should. We never thought of ourselves as out-of-control shoppers or being caught up in rampant consumerism. And yet, a big truck and a POD were almost not enough to haul our stuff. Ridiculous. And embarrassing. (I take a little solace in the fact that we don't have many nice things, just too many of them. In other words, we've got a lot of junk.)

Asking the stewarding question before buying is an admittedly new thought for me, relatively speaking. But I can't get around it. I can't ignore it, argue against it, or throw it away. It's still there. Kinser, if you're not willing to be God's steward of it, don't buy it. Yeah, I'm crazy. But I'm pretty sure I'm right.

Being God's steward of something does not mean that we need to go to the temple, perform an animal sacrifice, sprinkle it with blood, and dedicate it to the Lord. Neither does not mean that it can only be used for church functions or evangelism.

What does it mean to be God's steward of something, then?

First, it means that I won't use it for sinful purposes. I won't use it for activities that go against God's will or God's mission. But that's pretty obvious (and sadly, not enough to stop us from using things we buy for sinful purposes). Using an object for sinful purposes also includes buying it in a vain effort to draw security, comfort, or meaning out of it, rather than from God alone.

Second, it means that I will use it for things that advance God's purpose. Of course, this can include using something directly for ministry, such as using your car to bring visitors to church. But this also includes "normal" things that God expects us to do - feed and clothe our kids, have guests in our home, give gifts generously, support those in need, educate our kids, keeping informed of what's going on in the world, and a whole host of things.

In short, being a steward of something is to use it as your Master would use it. While on earth, Jesus did a lot of "normal" things with possessions. He wore clothes and sandals that someone had to buy, including during those times when He wasn't actively ministering. He ate food and drank wine. He stayed in homes, both modest and expensive. He ordered take out food once (sort of). He read books, went to weddings, and walked on stone paved roads. Before His ministry began, we assume that he worked in his father's "secular" business. Luke gives us the idea that there was a lot of normalcy during Jesus' upbringing.

But here's the key: all of it contributed somehow to advancing God's Kingdom, directly or indirectly. Everything Jesus did, and therefore everything He did with stuff, He did to advance God's purpose. Even just growing up and being well-fed and healthy allowed Him to minister more effectively. I think it's a fair assumption that Jesus didn't own anything of which He didn't consider Himself to be God's steward.

This is not the same thing as just doing what we want, making sure it's not sinful, and then baptizing it as "consistent with God's purpose." It's a mentality that everything I possess as a steward I use for the purpose of advancing God's will in my life and in the lives of others. Furthermore, if I can't use it to advance God's will, then I have no business buying it. As a citizen of God's Kingdom, why would I want to bother with something that does His Kingdom absolutely no good? Why would God want me to have something that does nothing to advance His purpose?

I want to personally explore this idea more. I know I'll be thinking about it the next time I buy something, big or small. And it may mean I need to ... gasp ... throw out some junk.