I remember a comment by John Piper that I heard a long time ago. He said (and I am paraphrasing), "people in the world are not impressed with Christians who want the same things that they want, but only tack on a superficial 'Thanks God!' on Sundays." In other words, if the Church wants the same things that the unbelieving world wants, the difference being only a matter of means, then the unbelieving world doesn't see God as the greatest Treasure, but only as a means to getting some inferior worldly treasure. Sorry for the long sentence.
Allow me to give some implications:
1. This lifestyle promotes idolatry. This is perhaps the most dangerous implication. Why? Because idolatry is forbidden in the first commandment. But we must not stop here. Breaking the first commandment leads, necessarily, to the breaking of the others. In other words, in breaking other commandments, we ultimately break the first, and vise versa. For the moralist (like me), this is devastating, but needed news. Using God as a means for getting what the world wants without God is not worship of God, but something less than God. Again, this is idolatry. It is wanting something other than God.
When I want something more than God, I am willing to break God's rules to get it. This is called stealing, coveting, and lying. When I want someone else's spouse more than God, then I am willing to break God's rules to get their attention. This is called idolatry, but also adultery.
2. This lifestyle leads people into a greater misunderstanding of human nature. Mankind was made for God. When man fell from God, the separation caused a God-shaped hole in the human heart. The hole is a vacuum that attempts to fill itself with anything it can. This is called human desire. We can call it craving, appetite or longing. This is important to understand so that when we feel a desire we can seek to fill it properly. We are spiritual beings and can only be filled by the God who is Spirit. To try and fill our deepest cravings with earthly things, denies this spiritual nature.
3. This lifestyle leads people into greater bondage. The hole in the heart is too great for small, earthly things. They simply will not fill it. Food won't - that's why we get hungry multiple times a day. Drink won't - that's why we get thirsty multiple times a day. Sex won't - that's why the sexual act satisfies for short periods of time. Money won't - that's why those who have a lot of it only want more. Power won't - that's why those with great power also have the greatest amount of anxiety and fear of losing it. And they will loose it one day. Popularity won't fill the whole - that's why we despair when we think about how fickle the human heart is. People like us one day, and don't like us another. Material possessions won't - that's why we have to have a new phone, car, house, clothes, or whatever, all the time!
In short, trying to fill a spiritual, God-shaped hole, is like trying to fill the universe with water using a squirt gun. We try forever, and get nowhere. This is bondage. We are never satisfied. We never get what we want.
4. This lifestyle keeps us from realizing what we really need. In affluent America, we have the ability to satisfy even the smallest craving. Money allows for this. When we even think we are hungry, we can have french fries within minutes! No need to wait on mommy to cook. We don't like to crave for too long. Fill it now, before the craving gets too strong. Get the new phone NOW. Get the new whatever NOW. What? You don't have the money? That's okay! You want it. Get it. Now. We finance! Who needs prayer when you've got money!
Instead of allowing our wants to become great, we squash them. But as stated before, we have hundreds of cravings; and to keep all of them happy, we become tired people. Hint, hint. And we ultimately, don't get "hungry" enough to realize that only God will fill the cavity. We ignore Augustine who said, "We were created for You Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee."
5. This lifestyle destroys relationships with others (not to mention our relationship with God, which is implied in every point). How can this be? Well, think about it. Our deepest cravings are relational in nature. We don't like to be alone. Even the most materialistic people try marriage. We think we want to be alone so that we can do whatever we want, but we soon find out that what we want is not aloneness. When our house is empty, we sit on the floor, look at all of our possessions and long for the times when we had nothing and when we genuinely laughed with others.
So, we get off of the floor and try a relationship. This lasts for a while. But when we try and fill the craving with a person, we soon realize they just don't fill it either. So we stretch them. We pull them in all directions. We make people bigger than they are supposed to be. This is called abuse. This is why we get angry when people don't do what we want them to. This is why we try sex before marriage. This is why we go into deep depression when people leave us. This is why we can't seem to stay in a relationship.
Side note: have you ever wondered why people stay in abusive relationships? This is why. Often what we want is not what the other wants. We want them and they want something else. So, when we get in the way of what they want, they abuse us. But we ultimately want them, so, in order to keep them, we enable the behavior. We allow them to keep pursuing what they want, which is not God. This is not love - but manipulation. Both are abusive in some way; but definitely in different degrees.
What we really want is God (real need). They (the felt need) are not God. So when they don't fill, we abuse them, and then toss them for something (or someone) else. Simple enough.
Another side note: this is why pornography is so popular. When sex with another doesn't quite do the trick, we twist it and make it into something that it was never intended to be. This is also the reason why those who begin with soft porn, eventually end up pedophiles if they continue in their quest to fill themselves with sex. This obviously destroys relationships.
6. This lifestyle defames God and paralyzes evangelism and missions. Ed Stetzer wrote in Comeback Churches
, "It's ironic that most evangelical churches are filled with people who live very much like the world but look different from it. It should be exactly the opposite. We should look similar to those in our community but act differently."When a person finds the Treasure that fills his greatest desire, he rests. God is the Treasure. And when we have God, we rest. The cavity is filled. We lack no more. Sure, we have small cravings, but those are small indicators that our true fulfillment is in God, through Christ.
You see, if we simply had the Treasure, this would not be enough. First we must know that it is secure. We must know that we can never loose it. Otherwise we live in constant fear of loosing what is most dear to us. This is the sort of feeling I get when I think of loosing my wife, or one of my children. But what if we could have God and know that we could never loose Him! Threats to our lively-hood no longer cary the punch they used to. In Christ, we are safely hidden in God (Col 3:1-4)!! So the next time you think about the tragedy of loosing a loved one, think upon Christ to satisfy your despair.
This leads me to my second point. We must also know why it is secure. Simply put, our Treasure is secure because it was bought with Christ's blood. His blood covers the only thing that compromises our security - our sin. In Christ, we have our Treasure eternally. It is based on His work, not ours.
7. Finally, this lifestyle leads us to a misplaced hope which is insulting to God. Our hope is not on this earth. Our hearts are finally filled with only spiritual things. That is why we must pass all earthly things through the "unto the glory of God" test.
If we eat, sure the food satisfies; more than that however, God, the provider of the food Ultimately satisfies! This protects us from obesity and anorexia in all areas of life - not just food. Place your Ultimate hope in the New Heavens and New Earth, and the Crown of Glory that you will receive on the Last Day! Your best life is not now. You have the down payment for sure - in the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that reminds us that we are spiritual and not earthly. We eagerly await our Heavenly Home.
In summary, ask yourself what you really want in life. How do you find this out? Ask God (Ps 139). Then survey your life to see what situations drive you to anger, despair, depression or other sins. What is it at those moments that is threatened? What is it that you are willing to break God's commandments to get? What is it that causes you to say, "Sunday is for God...THIS does not apply." It is work? Whatever, IT is, it is an idol.
Once located, dethrone the idol. It will not ultimately satisfy. Call a spade a spade. Tell the truth. Repent of idolatry - this simply means, drop the idol on the ground. Empty your hands. Then turn them upwards toward Christ in heaven. Embrace Him by faith and receive fulfillment and satisfaction eternal!
And when the world sees you forsaking its treasures, it will ask, "What is it that you have that makes you so calm during adversity and trials? What do you have that keeps you satisfied so that you don't need a whole bunch of stuff?"
When they ask...tell them about the Truth. Tell them what you really want (Ps. 73:25).
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