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STEWARDSHIP 102: THE DISEASE CALLED AFFLUENZA
Luke 6:20-26
Pughtown Baptist Church
October 10, 2010
There is a comedian that says, “Money talks, but all it says to me is ‘Goodbye’!” What
does your money, your wealth, say about you?
To begin this morning, let me ask this question: “Are you pursuing goods, or God?” Too
many of us pray, “Father, give us this day, our daily bread,” but in actuality we seem to be living
on daily cake, served with ice cream and fresh strawberries artistically arranged in china bowls,
preceded by at least a three course steak dinner served with the latest Martha Stewart dining
room fashions! As Christians, somewhere along the way somebody has misinformed us—we
should not be asking, “How much shall we give to Christ and His Kingdom, but how much shall
we keep for ourselves?”
And yet, so many of us feel “poor!” We “feel” poor because we adore and want so many
things we do not own. Instead of being thankful for the things we have, we adore the things we
do not possess. Instead of seeking more of God and His righteous Kingdom goals, we seek the
next big thing we want and do not have. Will buying a giant screen TV make you a better
Christian? If not, why buy it? What are you feeling when looking at it in the store? Are you
like an addict that needs a fix? Do you crave it? Do you just gotta buy it? If so, you may be
suffering from a spiritual disease called “affluenza!”
We do not even recognize that in having this kind of attitude, we are serving two gods:
Jehovah, and money—or the things it buys (Luke 16:13). This idol has its own scripture, called
multi-media advertising; and it promises its own rewards—happiness and security. Satan, as
prince of this world system, has us running around in a frenzied state on a lifetime shopping
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spree greedily grabbing for the latest, trendy “thing.” Remember, Jesus said, “You cannot serve
both God and mammon.” Beware—you are on dangerous ground!
We don’t seem to understand that as long as we are in this race for the things of this
world Satan is manipulating us like rats in a maze. We know what influenza is—a highly
contagious virus that can sicken and incapacitate us, even kill us. What we don’t understand is
that many of us have a spiritual disease called AFFLUENZA! It too is a highly contagious
disease that can sicken and incapacitate us, even kill us. However, it not only attacks the body,
but even worse, it attacks the eternal soul, as well. The flu germ gains access into your body and
then uses your own body to feed itself so that it can multiply and take over. Affluenza acts in
exactly the same way: this spiritual germ tempts you to want this, then that, and this, and that—
soon it multiplies and crowds out the spirit of God in your life. You are left penniless, in debt,
spiritually empty, lifeless, and dead! Instead of being a faithful steward, you using your
possessions, they have used you!
The words of Jesus in Luke 6:20-26 are shocking: “Woe to you who are rich, for you
have (already) received your consolation (reward),” is a complete opposite to the first beatitude
which says, “Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” We put ourselves in a
safe, little cubbyhole and do not even begin to apply these words to our self because we certainly
do not see our self as rich! But this is exactly what condemns us—you are rich.
Luke 12:15 reminds us that “Life doesn’t consist in what we possess,” but in what
possesses us! Again, Luke 12:20 teaches us that “we cannot take our worldly riches to the grave
with us,” therefore, we should seek the heavenly riches that we can take to the grave with us! In
Matthew 19:24 Jesus said “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a
rich man to enter heaven.” Why? What is the potential problem with riches?
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1 Timothy 6:10 does not say that money is not the problem— “the love of money is (the
problem) the root of all evil.” Having more money than everyone else has a tendency to make us
think we are “better” than everybody else. The love of money is what keeps us from tithing—it
is our love for our money! James 5:3 says that wealth erodes character like fire eats your flesh.
Psalm 62:10 counsels us, “if riches increase, don’t set your heart on them.” So, you see—riches,
wealth, prosperity can be a blessing, or it can be entrapment and death! Our wealth can work for
us and the Kingdom of heaven, or it can work against us. Indeed, money can talk—it will be a
witness for us, or against us, on Judgment Day. It will testify to the good it has done, or to the
good it could have done—and did not!
Jesus, in His message of the Kingdom of Heaven, did something unexpected—he did
what we call a “reversal of values.” Let’s now measure the scale of that reversal. The
expectation of much of first century Judaism was the exact opposite of what Jesus taught in this
first beatitude. To preach, “Blessed are the rich, for yours is the kingdom of heaven” was the
popular understanding. The corollary was, “Woe to you poor, for you lack the consolation.”
The origin of this “prosperity gospel” goes all the way back to a “selective reading” of
the Old Testament—they interpreted God’s Word to mean that the blessing of God produced
health and wealth, and the curse of God produced sickness and poverty. Deuteronomy 28 said if
you obeyed the Lord your basket would be full, and if you refused to obey the Lord your basket
would be empty. Therefore, a simple cause and effect formula was wrongly implied: if you
happened to be rich, you were being blessed by God because of your righteousness; and, if you
were poor, you were being cursed because of your disobedience. Instead of being assisted, the
poor were despised on grounds that they must have sinned to deserve their bad fortune; therefore,
they “deserved” their plight, and the rich would do wrong to help them.
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But along comes Jesus, who attacks the social stereotypes that sustained the economic
class system—these stereotypes of poverty and wealth gave people a false idea of their standing
before God. The rich felt that they had God in their hip pockets; and the poor felt that God hated
them. Jesus came to open the door to the kingdom of heaven to the very people whom society
had excluded—and to close the door shut to those that thought they had “earned” God’s favor.
To announce a “woe” on them was to burst the balloon of their moral smugness and self-
satisfaction. Only by destroying their wrong theology could the rich be taught proper stewardship
for the resources they had been given—then they would be free to receive “real blessings!”
Blessed are you when you suffer the loss of all things and can still call life blessed. Blessed are
you when you can be rich and not fall prey to feelings of superiority; blessed are you when you
can be poor and not feel that God has deserted you. Yours is the kingdom of heaven!
It is good to have the things money can buy, if you first have the things that money
cannot buy! Do not allow your riches to be a “lost opportunity.” What good is it to have a $1
million house, if you do not have a home? What good is it to have a 10 carat diamond if you
have no love? What good is a $10,000 fur coat if you have a ten cent character? What good is a
six figure income if you are a two cent husband or father, if you become a slave to the company
and the clock? It is possible to be poor in this world and be rich in the next. And, it is possible
to be rich in this world, and poor in the next! Matthew 6:21 assures us that, “Where our treasure
is, there will our hearts be also.”
Do you know how truly blessed you are to be born where you were, when you were, and
the “circumstances” of how you were? The writer of Proverbs 30:8 said, “Lord, give me neither
riches nor poverty.” God has chosen your circumstances, and with both riches and poverty come
opportunities and responsibilities! In Philippians 4:11 Paul wrote, “I have learned, in whatsoever
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state I am, therewith to be content.” Do we really need Calvin Klein jeans, or just a no name
brand? Do we need new sneakers, or do we really need Reeboks, or Nike, or New Balance?
You see, we could take the difference in cost and do something “good and worthy” with it. Do
we need a cup of coffee or a $5 Starbucks cup of coffee?
Consider the world as if it were shrunken down to a village of 1,000 people. In this town
18%, or 180, live high on a hill called the developed, western world while 82%, or 820, live in
the dingy, poverty stricken valley below. The 18% own 80% of all the wealth and resources.
They have 85% of all the automobiles, 80% of all the televisions, and 93% of all telephones.
The 82% own 20% of the wealth and resources. The 180 live in homes averaging over two
rooms per person. The valley people average five people to every room, and make about one-
tenth the income of the hill people. Now I ask you, “Are YOU economically poor?”
How do the hill people spend their incredible wealth? As a whole, they spend less than
one percent to aid the valley people! For example, a few years ago a survey was done and here
is what was found out. In the United States, every $100 is spent in the following manner:
$ 18.30 food
6.60 recreation and amusement
5.80 clothes
2.40 alcohol
1.50 tobacco
1.30 religious and charitable uses
$ 35.90 Total
The remainder, $64.10, is spent on housing, taxes, utilities, transportation, etc. This
means that as a whole in the United States of America, for every $100 spent, we spend $98.70 on
our self and $1.30 on the Kingdom of Heaven! This is a travesty. What does your budget say
about your commitment and dedication to Christ and His Kingdom of Heaven? How much do
you keep for yourself and how much do you give to Christ?
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A good rule to try to follow for good financial and stewardship practices is the 80-10-10
rule. Ten percent comes first for the Kingdom of Heaven. It comes first, not last—it is the
firstfruit, not the leftovers! Ten percent comes next for savings. This means that in our day-to-
day budget, we will actually live on only 80% of our annual income. If in the future, you can get
it to 70-15-15 that is even better. God help us, America is in debt up to our eyeballs—we spend
100% of our incomes, and then charge another 25% on our credit cards! This is the terminal
condition of affluenza!
Is there good news about money? It often doesn’t seem that way, living as we do in a
world that revolves around needing it, earning it it, fighting about it, keeping it, managing it,
spending it, borrowing it, and saving it. But there is good news and here it is: God is on the
throne and prayer changes things! Knowing that God is in control of all things gives us a reason
to crawl out from under our subjection to money. In spite of what our affluent culture tells us,
“consumerism” is not the highest good. Keeping up with the Joneses, and even surpassing them,
will not bring us lasting joy! Despite what the glossy magazines, billboards and TV says, our
worth is not based on the square footage of our house, the number of zeroes on our paycheck, the
automobile we drive, the labels in our clothes, or where we go to eat out.
Best of all, even in the face of low numbers in our bank account and high numbers on our
bills, we can face the future with confidence and hope. Money is not our god—it can become
our servant, if we fasten our eyes, and our spirit-filled wallets, on our true God. You may be
born-again, but is your money?
What we keep for our sakes, we lose; but what we lose for Christ’s sake, we keep—with
interest compounded eternally! This is the good news. Amen.