Materialism--a sin rarely confessed

The Bible warns frequently about the dangers and sin of materialism–the love of “things,” greed, avarice, the obsession of wanting more and more. Jesus taught the following, “And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth” Luke 12:15. Jesus had much to say about people and their possessions. He had much to say about how we deal with our possessions, how we look upon them and value them. In Luke 12:15-34, Jesus taught very clearly about the priorities in one’s life. He taught concerning placing so much value on “what we have” in contrast with the really important matters in life–primarily, the priceless value of one’s own eternal soul. All of one’s life is not composed of his material possessions, according to Jesus. Yet, so many people fail to realize that fact. Their lives revolve around how much land they own or can own; how many vehicles they have or can have, and how much more they can put into their bank accounts and other accounts. Some will even steal or gamble to obtain more money or goods. Some will lie on their tax return to avoid having to part with any of what they have.

As stated above, materialism is a sin rarely confessed, and it is such because the materialist, the greedy person obsessed with what he has or can obtain materially, cannot see himself or herself for the greedy, obsessed vulture that he is. Others can see it in him, but he rarely sees himself as greedy. In fact, if one were to confront him with his sin of evil desire and obsession, he would probably become so angry that he might even try to physically strike one who confronted him about the matter! He is blinded spiritually and is not objective about his own desires. It is a blessing to be able to have material things, but it could also be a curse. Much of it depends on how one obtains what he has, and what one does with what he has. That was what Jesus was saying in the text in Luke 12. The man in the story was so wrapped up in himself and his possessions, and in obtaining more and more that he never once mentioned God. He never considered his eternal soul and its destiny. He never considered his fellowman who might have need of his assistance.

Are we saying that having things or that going through the legitimate process of obtaining things is wrong? No. In First Timothy 6:17-19, the apostle Paul wrote,
17 Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy.
18 Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share,
19 storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.

These verses imply that a Christian may, indeed, have material wealth. But, they also tell us what must be done with such wealth!

The apostle John warns us in First John 2:15-17,
15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

Do you see the warning about “the things that are in the world”?

In all of my years of teaching and preaching (over 40 years), I can only recall one person publicly confessing the sin of greed or materialism, and that occurred immediately after preaching on this very subject. Generally, people who are guilty of this just never can see themselves as being guilty of it, perhaps because they rationalize away what is really in their heart. Maybe they reason within themselves that they are emphasizing material things so they can have much to provide for their adult children after they are dead. Whatever the reason, love of money and obsession with material things is still a sin.

In dealing with this sin and related sins, Paul wrote in First Timothy 6:5-12, the following words:
5 Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.
6 ¶ But godliness with contentment is great gain.
7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
8 And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.
9 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
11 But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.
12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.

Do we see the contrast in the sinful, money-obsessed, things-obsessed person and what God really expects of His people?

Paul also mentions this sin again his writings to the church at Colosse in Colossians 3:5-6,
5 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. (NKJV)
6 Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, (NKJV)

Covetousness is idolatry, according to the inspired apostle. Paul said that this evil desire in our hearts (worship of material things) is something that must be put to death so that we may be true disciples of our Lord Jesus. Many religious people pride themselves on their righteousness and they count their righteousness based upon how often they attend the worship services, Bible study classes, and how much they contribute monetarily on Sunday. True righteousness comes from right actions and right attitudes of heart that are molded and shaped by the proper application of God’s word in our lives.

Jesus again warned in Matthew 16:24-27,
24 ¶ Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
27 For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.

What is your attitude toward money, possessions, lands, etc., and toward how you obtain them? How much time do you spend thinking about such things? How much time do you spend involved in such things?

In contrast to that, how much do you really contribute to the cause of Christ on the first day of the week? How much do you give, personally, to worthy mission efforts? How much do you provide for the widows and orphans on an individual basis? How hospitable are you in opening your home to the needy? How much time, energy, and personal finances do you spend in seeking to help save those who are lost? What do you do more than others to help your fellowman and glorify your Father who is in heaven? Jesus taught, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Matthew 5:16.

SPW

Tell the truth about the candidate and others

I recently received several “forwarded” email attachments from well-meaning people concerning a certain candidate for President of the United States. I do not agree with the particular candidate's political or moral stand, and I do not plan to vote for him/her should that person become the nominee of his/her party. But, I am very concerned about people telling the truth. I may not agree with a person’s politics, but I believe that it is immoral to purposely lie, or tell an untruth, or half-truth in order to turn people against someone. Usually, there is enough clear truth, facts, and evidence to properly use to persuade people not to vote for someone, or to vote in favor of someone.

Some of the email attachments I have received claim that the website “snopes.com” has verified the truthfulness of the outrageous claims made against the candidate in question. The fact is that when I went to "snopes.com" to see if the attachment I received was true, I found that it was NOT true! “Snopes.com” has NOT verified such information, and in fact, “snopes.com” has shown such claims to be false. The statement that "snopes.com" had verified the claims of the attachment was a lie, and the attachment itself was a lie. When people begin to simply “forward” email attachments without checking out the veracity of such claims, it may be said that such “forwarders” have perpetuated a lie, a slander, or a libel. It usually only takes a few minutes to check out a story or a claim to find whether it is true or false.

Politics is bad enough as it is without people thinking they have to lie, smear, and denigrate one candidate in order to have their own choice for candidate win an election.

Many people receive email attachments daily. Some foolishly believe that just because someone sent them an email the contents of the email must be true. After all (they reason), it was on the internet! And, they somehow feel an obligation to carbon copy it and forward it to a few dozen other unsuspecting people. Maybe this comes as news to some people, but the internet is used for all kinds of evil, including lies. Often, the contents of emails are simply the figment of someone’s imagination. A person should always check out the truthfulness of an email before sending it to others. But, remember this, some emails are just not worth sending on to others anyway, even if they are true.

Why not be a truth-seeker and truth-teller rather than a slanderer, or libelous, or a talebearer? Don't you be guilty of forwarding an attachment to a host of email recipients without checking the truthfulness of what you are sending. Check it out before sending it to others! Also ask yourself, is it really necessary to send this on? In the overall scheme of things, what good will it do?

Characteristics of Jesus, Revelation 1:5-6

5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
6 And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

The following points concerning Jesus are found in the above text and need to be "fleshed out" for a full discussion sermon:

Jesus:

1. The faithful witness
2. The first begotten of the dead
3. The Prince of the kings of the earth
4. He loved us
5. He washed us from our sins in His own blood
6. He has made us (Christians) kings and priests unto God, His Father.
7. He is worthy of glory and dominion forever.

The book of Revelation gives us many other figures and characteristics of Jesus. But, this is a good beginning.

SPW

Maintaining true discipleship to Jesus, John 17

Introduction:

1. This text is the prayer of Jesus to God, the Father, shortly before His trial and crucifixion.
2. Specifically, Jesus is referring to His relationship to the God the Father and His relationship to His apostles. However, there are important lessons to be learned by all disciples of Jesus.
3. What are my responsibilities to Jesus Christ, the Son of God, my Savior?

I. Keep (Obey) the Word of God (John 17:6)

II. Glorify Him (John 17:10)

III. Be Filled With Joy (John 17:13)

IV. Not to be Of The World (John 17:14-16)

V. Go Into All the World With the Truth (John 17:17-20)

VI. Be Unified -- Maintain Oneness in Him (John 17:20-23)

VII. Keep the Love of God in Our Hearts (John 17:26)

Conclusion: By following and practicing the above admonitions or requests of Jesus' prayer, we may:

1. Be kept from evil, v. 15
2. Be sanctified through the truth, v. 17
3. Not be lost, v. 12
   

SPW

Have you "transisted" lately?

Several weeks ago I was traveling from Los Angeles to Singapore. While I was in the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) during a period of about 5 hours, I heard numerous Public Service Announcements (PSA’s) over the Public Address (PA) system. One of the PSA’s was the recorded voice of a female who repeated the same message every few minutes. She said, “If you are transisting from the Domestic Terminal to the International Terminal…” or, “If you are transisting through LAX….” The emphasis on the word “transisting” in the quotation is mine. But, that was the word she used in that context. The word “transisting” does not exist!

Words are important. They convey ideas and messages. Choosing the correct words are important for communicating ideas in the right way. An old saying I used to hear was, “A slip of the lip can sink a ship.” We have heard much about the “dumbing down” of America. And, we hear much about people who supposedly have a diploma, but cannot read or write. I do not know if the script given to the announcer was written correctly or incorrectly. I do not know if she was following the script as written, or if she just made up a word. Maybe she was half-blind and thought "transisting" was actually in the script. But, whatever the reason, when she said the word “transisting,” she was in error. One does not “transist” through an airport. Possibly, she was trying to say the word “transiting.” I really think the word she was supposed to be saying was “transiting.” This would have been the appropriate word. But, to hear such a gross mistake in wording was irritating and embarrassing to me. I wonder if anyone from Los Angeles has heard the mistake? I wonder if anyone in L.A. has tried to correct the error? I wonder if anyone in L.A. cares. If I am “transisting” I may be sending out a controlled signal—maybe I am just an electrical conduit.

The above matters have little, if anything, to do with spiritual matters per se. But, in matters that are spiritual, one must choose his words wisely as he tries to communicate the word of God to others, or in normal conversation. We are not to take God’s name in vain, swear, use profanity, tell dirty stories, lie, or slander.

The Scriptures teach, "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned." –Matthew 12:35-37.

SPW

Net-etiquette

I receive many emails--some of them from friends, and a lot of spam. I don't like spam. Spam is very frustrating.

However, one problem I have from time-to-time involves some friends who either do not know, or maybe, do not care very much to learn some basics rules of etiquette (net-etiquette) about emails, attachments, forwards, and other matters involving email.

May I make a few suggestions which can help to stop frustrating me and your friends when you send emails? It takes just a few moments to learn these basic matters, and it can help to avoid having your emails trashed as soon as they arrive in the recipients’ email “Inbox.”

1. Learn how to use the Blind Carbon Copy (Bcc) feature of your email program when addressing emails to more than one person, or to many people. If you do not know what “Bcc” is, ask someone who can explain it to you. There are very clear instructions on how to set up and use “Bcc” in your email program. Please show your intelligence by reading the “Help” section of your email program. Use the “Bcc” category to put in all the email addresses of the recipients of your email. Most folks who receive emails from you do not want, nor do they need, to see the 25 to 50 or more email addresses of other people to whom you send a particular email.

Added to that, some folks do not want other people seeing and knowing their email address when you include it with many other people’s email addresses. It is a matter of personal privacy. “Bcc” helps to avoid other recipients seeing all the other email addresses of the recipients of a particular email. It gives privacy. Also, some underhanded people gather email addresses when the “Bcc” is not used and they abuse the lists that are visible. They spam others, and sometimes they use it to commit crimes against those whose email addresses they have “harvested.” So, if you put 20 to 30 email addresses in the “To” or the “Cc” section of an email, everyone who receives that email sees all the other addresses. It also takes up a lot of extra space in the recipients’ email. I do not particularly like everyone in the world seeing my email address. It is only the business of those whom I wish to have it. So, if you are too lazy (or just don’t care) to learn how to set up and use Blind Carbon Copy (Bcc), then I humbly ask that you not send any emails to me that have numerous email recipients that are visible to all.

2. A second problem with some emails is receiving emails with attachments or messages that have been forwarded several times. By the time I receive it, I have the numerous lists of email addresses of people I do not know. This is the result of previous senders forwarding emails without the use of the Blind Carbon Copy feature! If each person who receives an email and wishes to forward the email would take the time to delete all previous email lists from all the previous “forwarders” prior to sending it to me, then the email would arrive fairly clean.

3. But, that is only one problem with receiving “forwarded” emails with attachments or messages. The other problem in receiving the attachments is that by the time I receive many of them they have been forwarded four or five times. Now, I have to wade through trying open a fifth- generation attachment. This takes a few minutes. If you think an attachment is worth sending to someone else, why not take a few minutes to show me that it is worth having me receive it and open it? Why not take that attachment and stop the “forwarding” of an email that has been “forwarded” to you. Make a new attachment with it directly from your own email program as though it is a new email. Then, when I receive it, I can open it on the first or second click of my mouse. Honestly, when I receive a fourth or fifth generation forwarded attachment, I usually just trash it without opening it! I do not have the time nor desire to mess with it! And, that applies to almost everyone. I just trash it. I feel that if an attachment or message is worth sending it is worth cleaning up and making it look like a first generation message. You can still give credit to the originator of it.

4. Some attachments contain viruses or Trojan horses. This is another reason that I rarely open an attachment that is several generations old. I will trash it without opening it. The only time I might open a new email with a first generation attachment is that I know the sender personally, and know that the attachment is clean.

5. Another problem with forwarded emails is that after so many times of forwarding it, it will have all those “forwarding” symbols on it, such as vertical lines on the left of the email message, or the “>” symbol vertically on the left side of the message. If I wish to use that article or message, then I have to copy it to my document program in Microsoft Word, then go through the process of deleting the symbols and reformatting the entire article to make it suitable for further use. What a waste of time!

6. Another email problem is that of sending attachments that are too big. Many of us live in certain areas of the world (and some even in the USA) who still use a “dial-up” modem to connect to the internet. Dial-up connections are usually quite slow. Not everyone has a high-speed connection that downloads emails with large attachments quickly. When you open the email program in a “dial-up” situation (such as I have), and the new emails begin to enter the “Inbox,” sometimes there may be 10 emails trying to come in. After a few minutes one begins to notice that the new emails appear to have stalled, or are very slow coming in. A check reveals that a second or third email in the list of new incoming emails is still in the process of entering your email program in your computer. This can only mean one thing—“someone” has sent an email with a huge attachment! I have sat and waited for 15 minutes or longer for an email to arrive just because someone decided I needed to have a series of photos or some unique message that was 5 Megabytes (MB) (over 5,000 kilobytes-kb) or larger! This clogs up a person’s emails, and it is very impolite and time consuming. We are talking about “Net-Etiquette” here, right?

An email attachment often does not need to be larger than 300 kilobytes (kb). In fact, that size can be large on “dial-up.” If you start to attach something to an email and your email client/program shows that it is 500kb to 1oookb or more, you need to warn the recipient that it is coming, or find a new way to communicate what is in that attachment. What can one do? One answer is to have one’s own website, free blog site, or free photo site (such as FLICKR) where such photos or other types of attachments can be uploaded by you and viewed by others without using an email to transfer it. Then, all you have to do is just send an email to your friends and say that you have just uploaded some new photos to your site, and you would appreciate it if they would view them when they have time. Give them the URL of your site, and let them go to it and see what you are trying to show them. If they wish to download the photos, etc., they can do so at their own leisure.

7. Another concern is that of sending an email message using all upper case (capital) letters in the email. Such emails are very hard to read. But, as some have said, when using all upper case letters, it is the equivalent of shouting to the recipient. So, let’s not shout, okay?

8. One matter that causes trouble is sending a message that is very private or personal, and expecting that the recipient(s) will not send it to anyone else. It has happened that one has sent emails that contained very private, and personal information, or volatile information to others who they thought were trustworthy, only to learn that such recipients have made public that very private information! Don’t be foolish nor naïve! If a matter is personal, then speak confidentially by phone or in person to those with whom you wish to communicate. The internet is no place to be sending highly classified, confidential information. If it CAN be made public, it just might come back to “bite” you! You might be surprised how fast something can be forwarded around the world! The result can be very embarrassing to you, the sender. It could sow discord among brethren, destroy the good name of another, or be slanderous.

9. Another potential problem with emails is assuming that the sender is trying to say something to you in a harsh or reprimanding tone. We, then, take offense at the email or the sender, when the sender was simply providing information in an objective, sensible, and kind manner. Sometimes we tend to read something into an email, and what we read into it may be based on our own personal feelings, attitudes, or disposition, at the time. And, we may be mistaken! Then, we fire back a quick, harsh retort. Then, a war starts where none was ever intended. Be cool!

We need to be more considerate of one another in the matter of sending emails. Let’s be more thoughtful. Try following the “Golden Rule” in this matter just as you would in other matters.

SPW