25th May, 2006

RUSSELL STUBBINGS

We live in an era of great paradox. Prosperity and wealth on the one hand, poverty and severe lack on the other. The Western world in particular is marked by a continual quest for accumulating material possessions, money and wealth. One only needs to scan the shelves of any book store to be convinced of our obsession with becoming rich. Church leaders inform us that we need more money and need to orient our thoughts towards accumulating wealth. But is this merely a reflection of the culture in which we live or a Biblical mandate? Do we have a God-given right to dream of wealth and riches, even if it does mean we can then “bless others”?

PICTURE: Sanja Gjenero (www.sxc.hu)   "Even a cursory reading of the Gospels and the book of Acts reveals Jesus warning against the dangers of wealth, exhorting his disciples to look after the poor, and modelling a lifestyle of contentment without affluence."

Those of us who belong to the community of God need to seriously consider our response to this message of consumerism and wealth. What does the Bible teach us about money, materialism and consumerism? It is easy to blindly accept what we hear and see, and sometimes we can fall victim to the subtle infiltration of worldly values and attitudes into the church. As a counter-cultural movement, the church must firstly be aware of the gods of the age, and secondly resist their entry into the very culture and fabric of the church. Without this level of discernment, God may hold against us that for which He judged the church of Pergamum - compromise with the pagan gods of the day (Revelations 2:12-17). While we may not specifically identify with the type of immorality described as occurring in Pergamum, we should not think ourselves immune to the subtle influences of our culture on individual believers, and the church in general.

Walsh and Middleton in their insightful book The Transforming Vision. Shaping a Christian Worldview identify consumerism - the idea that one can have whatever he or she desires - as one of the gods or idols of our Western society. This idol is of great danger to the church. Without wanting to sound alarmist there is a very real perception that we have embraced this concept already. The teachings of many in our churches encourage believers to seek more money and possessions, to give so that they can receive in abundance.

Is this consistent with the teachings of Jesus? Did Jesus and the early church model a lifestyle of wealth and affluence? Even a cursory reading of the Gospels and the book of Acts reveals Jesus warning against the dangers of wealth, exhorting his disciples to look after the poor, and modelling a lifestyle of contentment without affluence. By contrast believers are told not to accumulate possessions, but rather focus on building heavenly wealth (Matthew 6:19-24). Similarly, Paul describes his circumstances as fluctuating from plenty to lack, and nowhere in his writings does he encourage believers to aggressively seek wealth and possessions, even if they do desire to bless others.

It is easy for us as Christians in the Western world to pursue wealth and possessions. But, what about the thousands of Christians who live in poverty and lack in the third world? How does this reconcile with the notion that all Christians can be wealthy because it is God’s plan? Are they poor because they haven’t asked God to bless them, or not given enough to the latest prosperity-preaching evangelist? We need to see this whole issue in perspective. Wealth is not our right simply because we are Christians, rather our prosperity is in large part due to the fact that we live in a prosperous, affluent culture. Yes, God does provide. Yes, God does answer prayer, and He does meet our needs. But, let us not live such a paradox. Thousands of hungry, poor believers are living evidence that the principle of materialism and wealth popularly espoused as a Biblical precedent is a flawed position based on cultural rather than Scriptural presuppositions.

Even in our supposedly affluent society I know many Bible-believing, generous, committed, fervent believers who struggle financially, further under-mining the wealth Gospel. In particular, I can think readily of specific believers who give generously to international ministries promising riches in return, while struggling to pay bills and meet their own daily needs. This is a contradiction of vast proportions.

The Bible clearly teaches that the love of money is the root of all evil (1Timothy 6:9-10). Yet, we cleverly justify our search for prosperity by noting that we don’t love money, nor are we controlled by it, nor does it dominate our thinking. However, as Jim Reiher correctly points out in his confronting book The Eye of the Needle, teaching from verse 10 alone gives a limited understanding of the text. Verse nine provides the context by illustrating that the love of money can be identified in someone’s life by a desire to become rich. Simply put, if we want to become rich and desire wealth, then we love money. Paul goes on to describe the potential negative consequences of such an attitude.

Alain de Botton describes the Western world quest for possessions, wealth, and status in his book Status Anxiety. He proposes that surrounded by success, wealth, and materialism, we get caught up in a state of anxiety, wanting desperately to achieve a level of status based on our work, possessions, and wealth. We in the Western church are not immune to this. We too can be influenced by the culture in which we live. Often without realising it we adopt the practices and attitudes of our culture. Those around us are accumulating wealth, driving new cars, taking expensive holidays, and the like. While “keeping up with the Joneses” has long been recognised, it is only recently that this devotion to consumerism is causing concern.

The term “affluenza” has been coined to describe this pre-occupation with consumerism. Hamilton and Dennis, in their book, Affluenza: when too much is not enough, conclude that, “Since the early 1990s, Australia has been infected by affluenza, a growing and unhealthy preoccupation with money and material things”. They argue that our sense of identity is measured against our consumption activities, with the results of affluenza being over-consumption, luxury fever, consumer debt, overwork, waste, and harm to the environment. It seems to me that the church, as an alternative political and counter-cultural philosophy, needs to become part of the answer, rather than simply a part of the problem.

Recently my wife Rhonda was able to witness the phenomena of affluenza firsthand. She had the opportunity to take my two teenage daughter and four teenage, female friends, on a birthday shopping extravaganza to a direct factory outlet in Melbourne. (Meanwhile, I was able to kick back and relax with my two boys catching fish, and enjoying a hot milo!). Rhonda was overwhelmed by the sheer volume of people relentlessly searching, trying, buying and consuming. It struck her how easy it is for people to lose themselves in the quest for material goods and possessions. Also, the sense of responsibility one needs to correctly warn our own children of the dangers of getting caught up in such a lifestyle of consumerism became apparent. She returned home exhausted, as if she had spent a gruelling session in the gym, or run a half-marathon. Consumer culture, affluenza, on display, with hundreds of people caught unwittingly in it’s grip.

In the long term possible negative consequences of the affluenza epidemic include psychological disorders, alienation and distress. To remedy this situation Hamilton and Dennis propose the development of “an alternative political philosophy” (page 193). Given this conclusion, and the position of the church as a counter cultural movement, let alone an entity that teaches a radically different philosophy, should we not be standing against the tide of culture as distinct from merely adopting the dominant mindsets and practices of our culture? More so given the evidence of social dysfunction, stress, and illnesses such as depression increasingly linked with the quest for status and prosperity.

It is all too easy to be caught up in this quest for status and materialism, despite the negative consequences. The burning question is how can we avoid it? Part of the solution is to learn to be content with what we have. To adopt Paul’s attitude of being content in all circumstances (Philippians 4:11-13). We also need to realise that there is nothing inherently wrong with being rich as such, and God does bless many Christians with large monetary resources. It would be an equal error to assume that God wants all Christians to exist in poverty. But, our attitude needs to be one that sees money as a servant, not our master. Jesus instructs us to “seek first the Kingdom of God”. We would do well to meditate on this and ask God how we can do this in our lives. It is a matter of focusing on the things of God rather than the cultural preoccupations of our Western world. Further, as Christians we need to learn to measure our success and status against Biblical standards, and not in terms of how much money we have, the size of our home, or the type of car we drive. A community mindset, similar to the one described in Acts 2, where we actively seek to bless and care for others, is releasing and essential if the church is to combat the infiltration of the idol of consumerism.

If this appears harsh, it is not to condemn. Rather, we who call ourselves Christian need to be prepared to stand against the cultural tide and not allow the gods of our age to infiltrate our worldview. The church, as the community of God, needs to recapture the essence of Biblical teaching, and reject popular, yet errant teachings and principles. Our mandate is clear - search the Scriptures, use God’s word to instruct and correct, and reject false teaching that is more reflective of our culture than Scriptural principles.

Russell Stubbings is a husband, father (of 4 children), teacher, sports coach, and part-time lecturer for the Year in the Son program at Tabor College, Ocean Grove. He has a keen interest in contemporary missional church planting, the future of the church in Australia, and the intersection between faith and culture.

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