Cynical Materialism

I confess to you that I am a cultural cynic. In that confession, I must say that cultural cynicism definitely has its downside. Most people in our blissful, gregarious society consider cynicism to be evil, dark and pessimistic with quite negative side effects. "This guy is a disparager of humanity and is like a pesky backside rash - awkward to sooth and not pleasurable to ignore." The imperative of a Biblical worldview must override our tendency to an American Pollyannaism. This requires the work of a certain amount of godly cynicism, for which the pastoral vocation is duly qualified.

It is necessary to take a pointed aim at our here-and-now, get-as-much-as-you-can, Franklin-American, live-for-today lifestyle. I'm increasingly convinced that we are victims of the wrong sort of materialism. Most of us seek treasure that is of this earth - Jesus calls us to seek a treasure that is eternal. Randy Alcorn in his book, "The Law of Rewards" shows the foolishness of seeking our treasure on this earth in this statement:

"When the Lord returns, all remaining money and possessions will burn, like wood, hay, and straw, when it could have been given in exchange for gold, silver and precious stones. Money that could have been used to feed the hungry and fulfill the great commission will go up in smoke."

The American community is all about gaining for the moment and accumulating treasure that will rot and be stolen and burn. Our earthly investments will ultimately fail. It is good to be cynical of those kinds of values.

In two weeks I am planning to show you from the Bible and from the life of Jim Elliot that if we invest our money our time and our lives in the way our cultures invests its money and time and lives we are extremely short-sighted. It doesn't matter if the investment is in Roth IRA's and growth stock mutual funds. That's too short term. The Bible teaches us this. The life of Jim Elliot puts this to the test.

Jim Elliot's life is capsulized in the oft quoted, "He is no fool who gives what he can not keep to gain what he can not lose." This is the lesson we will learn - and must learn tangibly in order to bring greater glory to God on this earth. Of course, Jim Elliot was a martyr and most often his life is thought about in terms of his martyrdom. I would like to take a slightly different approach. I think it's important that we think of his life in terms of investment, so that we can think of our lives in terms of investment, for the sake of a Kingdom. The application and implication of this truth will be absolutely staggering.

Here's my dream: What would happen if the church (i.e., the called out people of God) began to think about all of life and all of their resources and time and money in terms of eternal investment? What would happen if we began to actually view God as the owner of everything and ourselves as mere managers versus God being our own personal consultant to whom we dish 10% for his services? It only takes a slight shift of perspective to radically change everything about our lives.

My prayer is that this message which will kick off our mission conference in two weeks (Sunday, September 19th) will provide this kind of slight but radical perspective shift for our church. The Bible and the life of Jim Elliot teach us lessons that run completely against the grain and tendency of our culture. The Bible and those who follow its teachings tend to do that.

I would qualify that by saying "I don't mean to be cynical", but as a matter of fact and principle, I do.

Comments? Send an email to bernie@fccfranklin.com