The Choice Before Us - Part 2
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
September 9, 2012 - Pastor Dale
Scripture Reading: Matthew 20: 20 – 28
Key Text: verse 20: “...just
as the Son of Man did not come to be served,
but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for
many.”
Theme: The Choice Before
Us.......Consumerism or Discipleship
This past week Pastor Adam and I were sharing
about last Sunday’s message and this present series. I shared with him the
tremendous weight I felt regarding what I am presenting to you, and that I feel
as if I am vision casting but that it is not vision casting in the sense of
planning ministry functions etc.. He suggested that it is more a matter of
vision casting with respect to values. In other words what is being presented is
a vision of the values we feel are essential to the life of this community. And
regardless of what we do in ministry these are the values that must define our
activities. That made a great deal of sense to me and helped to put into proper
perspective what I am feeling and doing at this time. Perhaps we should call it
“value casting.”
Concerning the value I am presently casting
it should be clear why I have been reading for the past several Sundays from John’s record of the prayer of Christ.
And I would remind you again that what
He prayed for is the very thing He died for just hours after that prayer.
Based on that prayer we must understand that the purpose of the gospel goes far
beyond personal salvation and heaven by and by.
We discover that the present purpose is not
believers of the earth going to heaven. Rather it
is heaven coming to earth through the believer – and the only place on this
planet where that is truly happening is where there is a true covenant
relational community that reflects the covenantal unity and oneness of the
Godhead Himself.
When I use the term – Christian
discipleship– I am not talking about some abstract, undefined or mystical
idea; I am talking about Christian discipleship worked
out, walked out and demonstrated in the very practical, nitty-gritty realities
of relational covenant
community.
Whatever Christianity may or may not be it is authentic
relationship – true, transparent, open and honest relationship.I can tell you exactly the measure to which I
am a true disciple of Jesus Christ – its measure is equal to the grace and
character of Christ I demonstrate in my
relationships.
The core reality I am trying to address in
this series is spiritual
formation. Every person on the planet is being
spiritually formedinto something and
none of it is happening in a vacuum. There are definite forces at work in us and
around us, and those forces are shaping and forming us spiritually. That primary
force in North American culture is consumerism. And
regrettably, it is the number one defining reality at work in the culture of the
North American church.
Let me back up to the final comments from
last Sunday’s message: We have come to the place now where to even
suggest – much less preach – that to make a
decision based on anything other than how it benefits me is seen as
countercultural at best and heretical at worst. It is impossible to create
authentic Christian community with people whose commitment is dependent on
having their perceived
needsperpetually and continually
met
The core of Christian
discipleship is serving Christ through our service to others. Christ
came not to be served, but to serve. The
core of consumerism is perceived
personal need.This is as old as Gen.3: 1 – 6.
Try to imagine the state of our first
parents. Each was directly created, fashioned by God Himself. God personally
breathed into them and gave them life and existence. They were bearers of the
very image of the God who created them. He set them down in a garden paradise
that provided for all possible needs. He personally visited them and had
fellowship with them.
How complete do you think they must have
been? What was their state of perfection? What was their state of innocence?
Into whatever their reality was there
slithered a serpent. And notice with care his first question: “Has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree
of the garden’?” Apart from the fact that he
deliberately twisted what God had said, we need to clearly see what his question
was designed to create in the mind of Eve. And again, apart from accusing God of
withholding, we need to understand how that translated in the head of
Eve.
Last week I suggested that the purpose of
advertising is not to sell product; its purpose is to create the perception of
need. That’s exactly what’s going on in Genesis 3. Satan
is creating a perception of need. To accomplish
this he must convince Eve that she lacks something, that she is less than she
can be, that she is insufficient as she is and that she is incomplete in her
present state.
Once he gets her there it is a small step to
move to the issue of blame:
‘Eve, you are lacking, insufficient, incomplete and less because God
deliberately made you that way.’ Out of
our consciousness of lack (perceived need) it becomes easy to move to accusing
God for that perceived lack.
This perception of need was based entirely
upon a lie. Eve, as God had created her, had no real needs at all, but by the
end of a single conversation with the enemy she was conscious
of lack. That consciousness of lack was all smoke and mirrors – the
deception of Satan. Paul told us that Eve’s mind was beguiled and now
we understand why it was beguiled –
it
was beguiled by a lie concerning personal identity built upon a consciousness of
lack.
That same beguiling lie is at the heart of
consumerism. If I just had that I would be complete. If I just looked like that
I would be a real person. If I could just accomplish that I would be significant
and fulfilled.
We need to carefully discern any voice that focuses upon and builds
in us a consciousness of lack; a consciousness that we are perpetually less
than, and that we continually need more to be a whole person and to find our
true identity. This same voice will also focus you on
religious works: If you just prayed more, believed more, studied more, witnessed
more and on and on. All of this is as old as Gen.3:5.
Follow the process in this. First he
creates a consciousness of need.
He does this by arguing that we lack, we are
incomplete, insufficient and less than. Secondly,
he assigns blame and accuses God for
that sense of lack
– God is withholding from us. And in verse 5 we find the third step:
this
is the first self-help experiment in human history.
And as the term suggest, it centres in self – self effort, as opposed to
centring in God and His sovereignty. The
first position centres in works – the second position centres in
trust.
Notice the phrase: ‘...in the day that you...’ It does not matter
what comes after the word ‘you’;
the lie is that through what you do,
through your works and self-effort you can make yourself
God-like.
And from that point forward in human history man has been playing at being
God.
In a very real sense when Eve extended her
hand and took the fruit of that tree (however that looked and whatever it
actually was) she became a consumer, and the deception was that by this means
she could meet her own perceived needs and complete herself; she would no longer
live in lack.
I don’t know what it does to you – but I find
it amazing and very fearful that the spirit of consumerism that defines North
American culture, that defines our whole economic system, as well as the culture
of the North American church – is as old as Genesis
3. It is no less demonic. It is no less a lie. It is no less anti-Christ.
Lk.12:15... Then
He said to them, “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for
not even when one has an
abundance does his life consist of his
possessions.”
‘Every form of greed’ and we all know the forms of greed are many
and varied. But no matter what form it takes at
its heart is the old lie of lack; that we are not sufficient or complete,
and therefore God is not to be trusted. And all the while the Bible makes it
clear that our
life is hidden with Christ in God. Our true identity is in Christ alone. In
Christ I am complete. In Christ I am a whole person. In Christ there is all
sufficiency. In Christ there is no lack – and I lack
nothing.
Consumer or disciple: a disciple lives out of and by his trust in his teacher. A
consumer lives out of and by his own effort to meet his perceived need.
Discipleship is all about the teacher. Consumerism is all about self. And
as long as church is about me and my perceived need there can be no lasting
community – no in-depth relationship.
Scripture Reading: Matthew 20: 20 – 28
Key Text: verse 20: “...just
as the Son of Man did not come to be served,
but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for
many.”
Theme: The Choice Before
Us.......Consumerism or Discipleship
This past week Pastor Adam and I were sharing
about last Sunday’s message and this present series. I shared with him the
tremendous weight I felt regarding what I am presenting to you, and that I feel
as if I am vision casting but that it is not vision casting in the sense of
planning ministry functions etc.. He suggested that it is more a matter of
vision casting with respect to values. In other words what is being presented is
a vision of the values we feel are essential to the life of this community. And
regardless of what we do in ministry these are the values that must define our
activities. That made a great deal of sense to me and helped to put into proper
perspective what I am feeling and doing at this time. Perhaps we should call it
“value casting.”
Concerning the value I am presently casting
it should be clear why I have been reading for the past several Sundays from John’s record of the prayer of Christ.
And I would remind you again that what
He prayed for is the very thing He died for just hours after that prayer.
Based on that prayer we must understand that the purpose of the gospel goes far
beyond personal salvation and heaven by and by.
We discover that the present purpose is not
believers of the earth going to heaven. Rather it
is heaven coming to earth through the believer – and the only place on this
planet where that is truly happening is where there is a true covenant
relational community that reflects the covenantal unity and oneness of the
Godhead Himself.
When I use the term – Christian
discipleship– I am not talking about some abstract, undefined or mystical
idea; I am talking about Christian discipleship worked
out, walked out and demonstrated in the very practical, nitty-gritty realities
of relational covenant
community.
Whatever Christianity may or may not be it is authentic
relationship – true, transparent, open and honest relationship.I can tell you exactly the measure to which I
am a true disciple of Jesus Christ – its measure is equal to the grace and
character of Christ I demonstrate in my
relationships.
The core reality I am trying to address in
this series is spiritual
formation. Every person on the planet is being
spiritually formedinto something and
none of it is happening in a vacuum. There are definite forces at work in us and
around us, and those forces are shaping and forming us spiritually. That primary
force in North American culture is consumerism. And
regrettably, it is the number one defining reality at work in the culture of the
North American church.
Let me back up to the final comments from
last Sunday’s message: We have come to the place now where to even
suggest – much less preach – that to make a
decision based on anything other than how it benefits me is seen as
countercultural at best and heretical at worst. It is impossible to create
authentic Christian community with people whose commitment is dependent on
having their perceived
needsperpetually and continually
met
The core of Christian
discipleship is serving Christ through our service to others. Christ
came not to be served, but to serve. The
core of consumerism is perceived
personal need.This is as old as Gen.3: 1 – 6.
Try to imagine the state of our first
parents. Each was directly created, fashioned by God Himself. God personally
breathed into them and gave them life and existence. They were bearers of the
very image of the God who created them. He set them down in a garden paradise
that provided for all possible needs. He personally visited them and had
fellowship with them.
How complete do you think they must have
been? What was their state of perfection? What was their state of innocence?
Into whatever their reality was there
slithered a serpent. And notice with care his first question: “Has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree
of the garden’?” Apart from the fact that he
deliberately twisted what God had said, we need to clearly see what his question
was designed to create in the mind of Eve. And again, apart from accusing God of
withholding, we need to understand how that translated in the head of
Eve.
Last week I suggested that the purpose of
advertising is not to sell product; its purpose is to create the perception of
need. That’s exactly what’s going on in Genesis 3. Satan
is creating a perception of need. To accomplish
this he must convince Eve that she lacks something, that she is less than she
can be, that she is insufficient as she is and that she is incomplete in her
present state.
Once he gets her there it is a small step to
move to the issue of blame:
‘Eve, you are lacking, insufficient, incomplete and less because God
deliberately made you that way.’ Out of
our consciousness of lack (perceived need) it becomes easy to move to accusing
God for that perceived lack.
This perception of need was based entirely
upon a lie. Eve, as God had created her, had no real needs at all, but by the
end of a single conversation with the enemy she was conscious
of lack. That consciousness of lack was all smoke and mirrors – the
deception of Satan. Paul told us that Eve’s mind was beguiled and now
we understand why it was beguiled –
it
was beguiled by a lie concerning personal identity built upon a consciousness of
lack.
That same beguiling lie is at the heart of
consumerism. If I just had that I would be complete. If I just looked like that
I would be a real person. If I could just accomplish that I would be significant
and fulfilled.
We need to carefully discern any voice that focuses upon and builds
in us a consciousness of lack; a consciousness that we are perpetually less
than, and that we continually need more to be a whole person and to find our
true identity. This same voice will also focus you on
religious works: If you just prayed more, believed more, studied more, witnessed
more and on and on. All of this is as old as Gen.3:5.
Follow the process in this. First he
creates a consciousness of need.
He does this by arguing that we lack, we are
incomplete, insufficient and less than. Secondly,
he assigns blame and accuses God for
that sense of lack
– God is withholding from us. And in verse 5 we find the third step:
this
is the first self-help experiment in human history.
And as the term suggest, it centres in self – self effort, as opposed to
centring in God and His sovereignty. The
first position centres in works – the second position centres in
trust.
Notice the phrase: ‘...in the day that you...’ It does not matter
what comes after the word ‘you’;
the lie is that through what you do,
through your works and self-effort you can make yourself
God-like.
And from that point forward in human history man has been playing at being
God.
In a very real sense when Eve extended her
hand and took the fruit of that tree (however that looked and whatever it
actually was) she became a consumer, and the deception was that by this means
she could meet her own perceived needs and complete herself; she would no longer
live in lack.
I don’t know what it does to you – but I find
it amazing and very fearful that the spirit of consumerism that defines North
American culture, that defines our whole economic system, as well as the culture
of the North American church – is as old as Genesis
3. It is no less demonic. It is no less a lie. It is no less anti-Christ.
Lk.12:15... Then
He said to them, “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for
not even when one has an
abundance does his life consist of his
possessions.”
‘Every form of greed’ and we all know the forms of greed are many
and varied. But no matter what form it takes at
its heart is the old lie of lack; that we are not sufficient or complete,
and therefore God is not to be trusted. And all the while the Bible makes it
clear that our
life is hidden with Christ in God. Our true identity is in Christ alone. In
Christ I am complete. In Christ I am a whole person. In Christ there is all
sufficiency. In Christ there is no lack – and I lack
nothing.
Consumer or disciple: a disciple lives out of and by his trust in his teacher. A
consumer lives out of and by his own effort to meet his perceived need.
Discipleship is all about the teacher. Consumerism is all about self. And
as long as church is about me and my perceived need there can be no lasting
community – no in-depth relationship.