Those of us who live in America, one of the wealthiest
nations on earth, may struggle with these words of Jesus. I know I do.
Materialism is probably the second most popular “religion” in America. If you
watch much television, you will be bombarded by the message of materialism.
Except for the rare PSA, every commercial is an invitation to partake of the
elixir of happiness: ownership or use of things. Most Americans worship at its
altar; even many Christians join in.
I have struggled to rid myself of materialistic urges all my
life. As a young boy, I was a kleptomaniac. I must have been pretty good at
shoplifting because I don’t recall ever being caught for my many crimes.
However, I was caught stealing fifty cents from a fellow student in fifth
grade. When my dad got home that night, he took me to my bedroom and slipped
his belt out of his trousers. He then said what may be a cliché to some, but to
me it was epic: “This is going to hurt me more than it hurts you.” After laying
the leather to my backside, Dad sat with me on my bed and we both cried. Soon
after that experience, I turned from my life of juvenile crime.
The material impulse that drove me to steal never left me. I
think I know where it came from. Mom and Dad were brought up through the Great
Depression and the privations of WWII. That made them extra conscious of how
money was spent. My four sisters and I were always well fed and clothed. We
always lived in nice houses. But I saw things, and I wanted them. My parents
wouldn’t buy them for me, so I stole them. I’m not blaming my parents; I am
saying that the demon of materialism fed on my unmet desires.
When Jesus said you must renounce all your possessions to be
His disciple, the word He used, renounce, means to separate from or take leave
of. Notice it does not necessarily mean to be rid of – to give it all away. He
did tell one rich young man that was the only way for him, but that is not
a universal truth. Another time, Jesus
spoke of leaving family and possessions behind to follow him. The word He
used for leaving (ἀφίημι) is translated “forgive” as often as
“leave.” It is also translated forsake and let alone.
To understand this, picture how God forgives
us so that our sins are put completely out of His mind – as far as East from
West. God leaves our sins behind. They have no effect on our relationship with
Him. Similarly, renouncing or leaving our possessions means they no longer
control us. We may still own things, but, as Jesus pointed out, our life does not
consist of things. Things are merely a necessary part of our earthly existence.
When we seek things more earnestly than seeking Jesus, we have fallen into
idolatry.
There is a more subtle form of materialism that infects many
who aren’t kleptomaniacs. Because we exist bodily in a material universe, it is
difficult to believe that there is something more important, more real than
what we know as the “real” world.
Paul reminded the Corinthians that the world we live in is temporary – it
is passing away. He
told the Colossians to lift their eyes from this earthly plane to the
heavenly realm where Christ is. When the things we have (or don’t have) here
consume our thinking, our mindset is earthly – materialistic.
The call to spirituality is repeated throughout the New
Testament. Just before He ascended into Heaven, Jesus
told His disciples to wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit. They did, and
when the
Spirit came upon them, the church was born. When those who believed the
first gospel sermon asked what they should do, Peter
said, “Repent and be baptized… and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
The book of Acts and the letters of Paul stress the importance of being filled
with the Spirit, being led by the Spirit, walking, singing, praying in the
Spirit.
I used the upper case “S” for Spirit intentionally. This
signifies Holy Spirit. However, there is a subtle shift that occurs in the use
of the word throughout the New Testament that leaves open the possibility that
many times spirit (small “s”) is referring to our
own human spirit or the realm of spiritual things generally, not the third
person of the Trinity. This suggests that thinking spiritually is the opposite
of thinking materially. A person who recognizes the superiority of spiritual
things can easily renounce or leave behind material things.
In business, people often do a cost-benefit analysis to
determine whether to proceed with an enterprise. They ask if the project will offer
more benefit than it costs to produce it. This is what Jesus asks of His
disciples. The cost of renouncing material things in favor of spiritual things
is negligible compared to the benefit of gaining eternal life. There is even
more to Jesus’ promise: He said that those who leave material things behind
to follow Him receive benefits both in eternity and here and now. Here is the
real cost-benefit analysis: think of all you lose if you remain tied to
material things.
Several years ago, Philip Yancey wrote a book called Rumors of
Another World: What on earth are we missing. In the book, Yancey
challenges Christians to come to grips with the fact that the material world
and the immaterial world – the spiritual realm – coexist, and it is imperative
that we learn how to navigate this dual reality. The cost of truly following
Jesus is taking
up a cross daily to crucify our fleshly, material desires and then laying
our lives on God’s spiritual altar so we can be conformed
to the image of Christ. That is costly, but it is worth it.
Related Posts: Despising
the Downpayment; The
Christian Parody, Part One; Part
Two
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