THE BLESSING OF ABUNDANCE, THE MYTH OF SCARCITY

(Preached on Sunday, May 16, 2004)

So it is for those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich towards God.                  -Luke 12:21

 

No matter who we are, no matter what we do, no matter how much we have or don’t have, the worry that we don’t or won’t have enough quickens our hearts.

Even those of us with more than we need for five lifetimes fret that we don’t have enough.

 

This is not a new problem for humankind.

The ancient philosophers even had a word for it: concupiscence.

Concupiscence is the desire to possess — especially the things that others currently possess.

It is a hunger to acquire that is driven by the attacking armies of anxiety to set up a citadel of psychic safety constructed out of possessions: ever larger and more luxurious homes, increasingly prestigious professional positions, the most profitable stock portfolio, political influence, and so on.

It is concupiscence that drives us to keep up with the Joneses whatever the cost.

It is concupiscence that leads us to collect “stuff.”

 

Concupiscence grows in us as it is watered and fertilized by several attitudes.

First is the attitude that stuff makes you happy.

Feeling sad?  How about a new outfit!

Feeling left out and unnoticed? Get one of those trendy gadgets and you’ll be a new person.

Watch enough commercials and you’ll believe that the happiest people on earth are those who have purchased the right stuff.

Second is the attitude that stuff defines who you are.

Advertisers tell you that you are what you own.

Do you want to be a Mercedes-Benz-and-Ralph-Lauren-sweater person or a new-Volkswagen-Bug-and-Gap person?

You can be like those you admire if you just own the same stuff they do.

Buy the jacket that Britney Spears wears — you’ll be more like her!

Get the tennis shoes like Michael Jordan’s and you’ll be a part of his club.

 

But most important for growing concupiscence is the attitude that there is not enough “stuff” to go around.

In ways both intentional (to get us to buy more “stuff”) and by accident (just by all our focus on “stuff”) our society tells us that there is not enough “stuff” and we had better get ours before it is all gone.

Our lives are controlled and driven by the myth of scarcity.

We live in the richest nation on earth and yet none of us ever feels like we have enough.

We have to have more and more, and this insatiable desire destroys us.

A person consumed by “stuff” is similar to a person who has too much to eat.

That which ought to bring health causes un-health.

When “stuff” controls people, a blessing turns into a curse.

We are struck by the disease “Affluenza.”

 

So was the man in the story Jesus told.

“There was a rich man whose land yielded heavy crops.”

This man seems to have had the advantages of wealth; owning the best quality of land, probably able to employ the best farming practices, and also having the good luck of a few bumper seasons of crops.

Notice, there is no suggestion in the story from Jesus of this man doing anything wrong.

There is no hint that he exploited his workers, or that his wealth was the result of criminal activity.

There is no hint that he is trying to manipulate the market by building bigger barns to hoard the produce and finally force up prices.

This is an honest man.

But it is also the picture of a man whose entire focus all his life was on gaining more and more “stuff.”

And in the process he missed the entire point of life.

 

For it was his attitude towards life that led him to strive for more and more stuff, never feeling like he had enough until it was too late, that led God to declare him a “fool.”

There is no harsh judgment here condemning the man to eternal torment as punishment.

It is more a statement of sadness at a life wasted.

He had been bit by the “affluenza” bug which led him to believe in the myth of scarcity, that there would never be enough in life for him to be able to relax, eat, drink and be merry, to enjoy life and the blessings of life, until it was too late.

There is no condemnation of his desire to enjoy life.

The problem was that he never actually did it.

He didn’t allow himself to relax or be merry.

Not yet, he thought.  First, I’ll build bigger barns.

Apparently this man had been rich for some time.

The new bumper crop had only increased his surplus to overflowing.  The barns he had were not enough to hold it.

This foolish man could have started enjoying life long ago, but he didn’t.

He thought, “Let me get just a little more.”

And then he died.

 

But there is an antidote to “affluenza.”

It is the attitude of being rich toward God.

What does it mean to be rich toward God?

First of all, it does not mean that “stuff” is bad.

God wants us to have stuff.

God gives us life and the elements in nature with which to create, enjoy, and share stuff.

After all, Jesus was a carpenter, and he made stuff, so stuff can’t be bad.

How people relate to stuff is the problem.

Focusing on material things as central to life is a constant temptation.

Jesus believed that love of God must come first in life, before all our other loves — especially our love of stuff.

 

Central to loving God is trusting God.

If you love someone you trust them.

If we love God we will trust God.

If we trust God, then we will not worry about “stuff”.

To help us trust God Jesus wants us to remember that there is enough stuff.

God has created a great big, glorious, beautiful, rich and bountiful world, filled to overflowing with blessings and life and fruitfulness.

In Genesis we read how God created the world and filled it with all sort of good and wonderful things, all manners of plants and animals and fish and birds and humankind and God commanded all those creatures to be fruitful and multiply.

It is an orgy of fruitfulness that is guaranteed.

 

Second, Jesus wants us to remember that God is good.

God will provide the “stuff” we need.

He points to the birds who do not hoard yet always have enough provided by God and to the flowers who are more beautiful than an designer label and reminds us that we are God’s favorite children and God will provide all we need for life.

Third, Jesus wants us to remember that stuff is for sharing.

Life is for loving — God and each other — and that is where the meaning and richness of life is found.

God has blessed us richly with an abundant world because God loves us and that entire world and so God shares God’s stuff with us and the world.

There is plenty for everyone when we all trust that God will continue to provide and when we share with one another.

God gives us stuff to spread love.

We are invited to use our stuff to alleviate suffering and to make life full of love, relationships, joy, peace.

 

Few of us decide to make stuff the center of our lives.

Instead, bit by bit stuff begins to take up our lives: We get a television; we want a new DVD player; we upgrade our computer; we decide on a new car.

Soon most of our waking time is spent thinking about, maintaining, and interacting with stuff.

That is why Jesus reminds us “For where you treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

In other words, whatever we think about, worry about, spend time with, and long for will become the focus of our lives.

Jesus understood that it is very, very easy for stuff to get in the way of our true focus, loving God and loving each other.

 

It is, of course, easier to talk about these things than it is to live them.

If you are like me, while you read the Bible you keep looking over at the screen to see how the market is doing.

If you are like me, you read the Bible on a good day, but you watch television commercials every day.

Changing our attitudes and our orientation to living is very, very difficult

It is a spiritual exercise.

So I want to share with you an exercise that will help you begin to shift your attitude and orientation in relation to money.

It is called the Soul of Money.

It is not about turning away from money or simplifying expenditures, budgets or financial planning, although the wisdom gained will be relevant to all those activities.

It is about living consciously, fully, and joyfully in relationship with money in a way that aligns it with your soul and your relationship with God.

 

This approach will be a way for us to begin to consciously let go of the myth and mind-set of scarcity — the assumption that more is better, there’s not enough, and that’s just the way it is.

Letting go of this attitude is not easy, as we have already explored.