Luke 12:13-34
I bet you are expecting me to condemn shopping: to give it the good old Puritan thumbs down. Well I hate to disappoint you but we are going to start with a question you never expected me to ask; what is good about shopping?
For a start, shopping drives the economy. If we all stopped shopping today there would be a recession tomorrow.
For many people shopping is a relaxing hobby. I know a lot of people who spend very little money but get a huge amount of pleasure just walking ‘round the shops. People go shopping together and have a great time. This is good.
At a deeper level, people enjoy the process of providing for their family. In a sense, shopping is a modern substitute for blood sports. I heard Cathie say recently, “I saw those shoes in a shop for £80 but I’m gonna get ‘em for a fiver!” Shopping can be an outlet for competitiveness and aggression we have not had since our hunter-gatherer days.
So what is the problem with shopping? I think we all know the answer to that one.
Shopping can become an addiction: this leads to debt and relationship problems. From the perspective of spiritual health and fitness, shopping can become our main source of joy: a substitute for God. In short, it can become a physical problem, and emotional problem and a spiritual problem.
Jesus addresses this directly, in Luke 12:31-34
We are going to look at the Lord’s words closely by asking four questions.
Who are you? In our culture the answer is clearly, ‘You are what you buy’. You have no value to government, business or the financial world unless you are spending money. The more you spend, the higher your value. Jesus hits this issue right on the head, ‘A person’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions’ (15).
So who are you? Jim Packer put this powerfully:
I am a child of God. God is my Father; heaven is my home; every day is one day nearer. My Saviour is my brother; every Christian is my brother too'. Say it over and over to yourself first thing in the morning, last thing at night, as you wait for the bus, any time that your mind is free, and ask that you may be enabled to live as one who knows it is all utterly and completely true.
That is who you are! Knowing this changes everything – wealth no longer matters, it is a servant and not a master. You will never again depend on spending money for your joy, your image or your security. This small shift in perspective will bring enormous changes.
What are you doing? The rich guy in the story felt that he knew the future (17-18); so do we; everything in our society is built on our belief that the future is about increasing wealth and affluence. But we don’t know that, and history shows that our expectations are so often dashed.
Few of us would say that we are wealthy, or ever expect to be rich. Is this true?
Raise your hand if you have anything other than a dirt floor in our home. We are among the 50% wealthiest people in the world. Who has a roof, and doors and windows in their home? We are in the top 20%. Who has a fridge? We are in the top 5%. Finally, hands up if you have a car and a microwave. Now put your hand down if you don’t have a door on your toilet. We are in the top 1%.
We are all wealthy. The drive for greater and greater affluence is making us both wealthy and crazy. What are we doing?
Why are we doing it? Jesus gives us a vital insight into what is driving us crazy (19). It is the search for security. We only really relax when we feel safe – the rich fool settled down to a peaceful night’s sleep and never woke up! If we learn another way of feeling secure, so that we know we are safe whatever happens, then we will be saved from the madness.
This brings us to the final question.
What is the alternative? Let’s listen to Jesus spelling it out (21) the alternative is ‘… a rich relationship with God (NLT). How do you get that?
First, you trust him to look after you (30-32), and you go on trusting him for the rest of your life. Trusting him daily, telling him about your worries and trusting him to work things out, enriches your walk with him and draws you closer to him.
Second, you make his priorities into your own priorities (31). The kingdom comes when ‘…his will is done on earth as it is in heaven’ (Matthew 5:10). Living actively as a servant of the king enriches your relationship with him.
Finally, re-deploring some of your money from shopping to giving away makes your friendship with God rich (33-34)