Honor God With Your Shopping!

Many times in the Old Testament the Israelites were taken to task for their worship of false gods.  Sometimes they were called idols.  And they were worshipped ... given roles of prominence in society and in the lives of the people.  Each and every time this happened, God was angry.  It was identified as sin.  And always it had dire consequences. 

Americans have had false gods for some time.  I'm not sure what they all are, but it's easy to identify some of them.  The first one that I noticed (or that God pointed out to me) was the god of sexuality.  Elements of our society worship sex.  They say that "sex sells," and so we seem to accept that it's okay.  It seems to have some purpose, so we seem to think it isn't that bad then.  But it leads to all kinds of sexual dysfunction.  (Don't worry, I won't discuss those kinds here.  That's another blog on its own!)

I personally think this god of sexuality is losing some of its grip on our society.  Oh sure, there are elements of our society that are deeply mired in pornography, swinging, prostitution, and other elements of sexual perversion.  But I notice that today's young people aren't nearly as impressed by it as they were even in my day.  I see TV shows and even advertisements that are using other things to sell besides sex.  At least it's fair to say that the god of sex has found some serious competition.

Another false god that I've recognized in America is the god of entertainment.  Seriously.  Americans like to be entertained.  And we justify it.  It seems to serve a purpose.  Back in the days of the Great Depression and the two major World Wars, Americans described going to the movies as an escape.  People thought that was okay, because heck, Americans needed and deserved an escape.  Right?

In more modern times, we seem to be using entertainment for everything.  I mean there doesn't seem to be a part of our lives where we escape to entertainment.  Instead, we live there!  We walk around with ear buds in our ears, listening to music.  We never turn off the radio, never turn off the cell phone.  In some homes people have several televisions - which never get turned off.  And even in a bad economy, we spend a ton of money going to the movies, attending concerts, buying songs, etc. 

But lately, I'm seeing another false god emerge in our society.  This one is equally as troubling as the others.  I call it the god of the lowest price.  I'm watching TV advertisements talking about getting "the best price."  We see people setting up tents outside of electronics retailers several days before the start of a big sale --- just so they can be sure they'll be the first in line to get "the best price."  They do this, of course, at the expense of their families.

Perhaps the most shameful worship of this god of the lowest price happened on Thanksgiving this year.  Our government has set aside a national holiday for all Americans to take time out to consider how incredibly blessed we are.  We're to turn to our one true God (however we happen to see Him), and thank Him for blessing us so.  But people are happy to set that aside, sacrificing that solemn occasion so they can chase the lowest price on more crap that they don't need.

Recently someone I know posted that he found the prices on-line to be lower than the prices at local retailers, so he was swearing off retail shopping because he must have the lowest price on everything he buys.  I was saddened to see several people who I know to be Christians weigh in, declaring their own allegiance to the god of the lowest price.  Why did this sadden me?  Because it's ungodly.  Put another way, Jesus would never go out of His way to insist on the lowest price all the time on everything.

In the Bible, 1 Timothy 5:18 says, "... The worker deserves his wages."  How should we understand this?  The worker deserves to be paid for his work.  This is true even if it's expensive to pay him.  Now before you decide to rise up against me, let me say that price gauging would be equally ungodly.  I'm not talking about letting someone take advantage of you.  But let's say that there is quite a margin between the lowest price and a fair price. 

What's godly is good stewardship of the financial resources that God gives us, minus the greed and selfishness, plus a fair price.  This allows us to meet our needs, and the other guy to make an honest living.  All in all, not a bad way to do business really.  I remember when I was in college and sold new cars.  People would walk into the dealership and brutally bludgeon us on price.  I even sold some cars by giving up some of my own commission.  Let me tell you, I didn't feel very good about those sales.  Instead I felt resentment and bitterness that the customer was so focused on the lowest price that they would obtain at my own personal expense. 

In Matthew 22:39 and Mark 12:31 Jesus told us to, "Love your neighbor as yourself."  What does this mean?  It means to love your neighbor as you would yourself like to be loved.  We've culturally taken those verses to write the oft quoted Golden Rule, which says simply that we should treat others as we ourselves would like to be treated.  So here's the question, how would you like to be abused, mistreated and discarded like some piece of trash for your hard work?  Just so someone could get the lowest price?

If you're a Christ-follower, and you're ready to get serious about walking the talk, then maybe you could start by tossing that god of the lowest price out to the curb this holiday season.  Keep being a good steward of the money that God gives you.  But I promise you, the Lord will be pleased when you start paying fair prices for goods and services that you buy.  He will be well pleased when your commerce empowers and provides for other people. 

You may never have considered this before, but when we set that false god aside, we can actually honor the one true God with our shopping!

False Gods

When I first really gave my life to Jesus Christ, I began to read my Bible earnestly. I mean I read it daily, and spent time seeking understanding of its truths. I'll confess that I found the most relevance in the New Testament. I'd occasionally make a visit to the books Psalm or Proverbs. But for the most part, that was the extent of my interest in the Bible.

A few years ago, I started to intentionally spend a bit more time in the Old Testament. As I went, I began to see some fascinating truths. It seemed that the true nature and character of God were being revealed me in so many new ways. Even today, I believe the Old Testament is probably the best place to get to know who God really is ... and has always been (since He never changes).

It's been said that those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it. I'm finding real tangible evidence of that simple truth as I read the Old Testament. Seriously, I've probably been spending most of my daily Bible time in the Old Testament now for a few years. And it's fascinating the connections that I find between ancient history and modern times. It's also been said that things don't really change that much over time. I'm discovering evidence that would indicate this is especially true when it comes to the human race.

When you read through the Old Testament you find that the Israelites ... God's chosen people ... had a recurring problem with false gods. They encounter the one true God. He would reveal Himself to them in magnificent ways - often accompanied by some incredible miracles. They would of course fall on their knees, worship Him, commit themselves to Him, etc. But over time, they drift off to their own versions of God or just abandon Him altogether and go worship someone or something else.

This pattern was repeated time and time again. Real God. False gods. Real God. False gods. It was like some cycle that they were doomed to repeat. Now the thing is, I'm finding incredible relevance between that pattern and what happens in modern American culture.

Since the time of Abraham, there's been Judao-Christian religious movement. Unfortunately, it has spawned a plethora of religions and even denominations within religions. But just as unfortunate is what they've done. A surprising number of them have ended up worshipping false gods. Seriously.

They start with the one true God who revealed Himself to Abraham. But then they add to Him or subtract from Him. What's left is not who God is. Nevertheless, it's the god they're now worshipping. So they think they're still worshipping the one true God. They don't even know that they've abandoned that God in favor of another god that they apparently find more suitable.

So how does this happen? Recently someone asked me if a Baptist could be equally yoked in a marriage to a Jehovah's Witness. Now I know the Jehovah's Witnesses are the religion that Americans like to make light of. Many of us have chuckled at a Jehovah's Witness joke ... usually about what we find to be their annoying method of door-to-door evangelism. But they say they believe in God and in Jesus. Let's consider then what it is that they believe about God and Jesus.

Jehovah's Witnesses have religious beliefs that are in many ways similar to other Protestant religions. They believe, for example, in the authority of the Bible. They trust in Jesus' death and resurrection for their salvation. But the similarities probably end there. For example, even though they believe the same things about the Bible that the rest of us believe, Jehovah's Witnesses have their own translation of it ... the "New World Translation." (I've never read it, so can't say what's different about it.)

The Jehovah's Witnesses don't believe in the doctrine of the Trinity. They point to the fact that the Bible never actually uses the word Trinity. But they ignore the fact that Jesus said He is God and Jesus said the Holy Spirit is God. So this is a God who reveals Himself to us as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit with distinct personal attributes - but without division of nature, essence or being. It became known as the trinity ... three in one. But the Witnesses don't accept that.

Interestingly enough, the Witnesses accept Jesus death for their salvation, but they don't believe He is God. Instead, they say He is God's "first creation" - as opposed to being the Creator. Now think about that for a minute. They are taking the definition of God as He has revealed Himself to mankind ... and they are subtracting certain aspects from it. The result is not the God who is. They end up worshipping a false god --- a god who isn't.

But let's not blame Jehovah's witnesses. They aren't alone. Islam believes that Jesus was a prophet --- and not the Messiah. Jews believe the Messiah is yet to come. They're all subtracting from the true definition of who God is. Then too we have the Catholics, who add to the definition of God. Catholics, for instance, give deity to the Virgin Mary and to dead people whom they determine post mortem to be saints. That is not who God is. So they end up worshipping a false god --- a god who isn't.

These are all monotheistic faiths who trace their origins to Abraham. But even though monotheistic faiths believe in only one god --- we can see that they are not all believing in the same god. And there are many other differences in what they believe - which end up being perversions of what's actually true. Jehovah's Witnesses don't believe that hell exists, for example. Catholics believe there's another spiritual place --- besides heaven and hell.

So the key thing here is that Jehovah's Witnesses, along with Jews, Muslims, and even Catholics refuse to accept the one true definition of who God is. Let's be clear here. God defined Himself when He revealed Himself. And He continues to do so today. So if any religion adds or subtracts from that definition ... this one true God is not who they're worshipping. They're worshipping false gods - and they don't even know it.

It would appear that history does tend to repeat itself. More importantly it appears that if modern day Christians are ignorant of the patterns of behavior that the ancient Israelites displayed in worshipping God or false gods, we are doomed to repeat their same mistakes.

So, who is the God that you're worshipping today? For you see, it isn't enough to believe in God or even worship God. It matters very much how we define him. It matters very much that we get God right.

Man of Faith

It would have been hard to miss. It was tucked away in the RELIGION section of yesterday's paper, next to the obituaries. But as I flipped the page, I recognized his profile. It was a photo of Jack Graham, seated on the stage of Prestonwood Baptist Church with Roger Staubach and Pat Summerall. Now if you don't know these guys, let me introduce them to you.

Jack Graham is the senior pastor of Prestonwood Baptist Church here in Plano, Texas (my home town). It is one of the largest, if not the largest, Baptist church in America. I imagine it epitomizes the modern mega-church.

Roger Staubach was a celebrated football player with the Dallas Cowboys team. His post-football years have been so successful in real estate that other Dallas Cowboys players are out trying to emulate him and copy his success in their own retirement from football.

Pat Summerall played college football, and then played with the Detroit Lions, Chicago Cardinals and the New York Giants. As he got older (he's in his 80's) Summerall's had a lucrative career as a sports broadcaster and has invested in production companies to produce sports segments, etc. He's become as famous for being famous as he was for playing football.

That may be more information than you need on these gents, but knowing who they are sets the stage for what I have to say. So please bear with me.

The photo in this morning's paper accompanied a news story with the headline that read, "Staubach remains man of faith." Now you might think this was an article about religion. After all, it was in the that section of the paper! But the article was more focused on Staubach's faith in the Dallas Cowboys despite their poor performance recently. Curiously, the on-line edition of the paper had a completely different headline for this article --- that went straight to Staubach's faith in the Cowboys.

The article in question did say something about Staubach and religion though. When referring to Staubach's religion and appearance at Prestonwood Baptist Church, it said that Roger Staubach "spoke at length about how his religious beliefs have influenced his family life, his business endeavors and, of course, his football career."

The article continued, quoting Staubach as having said, "I accept that Jesus Christ is someone who is really going to give me another shot. He died for all of us. He gave us a chance for salvation."

Later on, it reported that Jack Graham said that Staubach "must have had Christ" on his side during his many come-from-behind (football game) drives. Oddly, Staubach didn't apparenty affirm this point. This is as religious as the article gets. And this is as specific about Staubach's faith as it gets.

You may be asking yourself why I'm picking on Roger Staubach and the Dallas Cowboys. I've labeled myself a modern-day prophet more than once. It's one of the many things I believe about myself --- really. And the role of a Biblical prophet is to identify sin and poor doctrine, as well as exhort the people to more godly living. So here goes.

I'm more than a little fatigued with celebrity preachers - like Jack Graham - who are happy to share the stage in what they consider to be their mega-churches - like Prestonwood - with celebrities - like Staubach and Summerall - who are clearly outside of their faith. In fact, I believe that it is sin on their part.
There are many places in the Bible (i.e., Ezekiel 3:1, Matthew 25:15-30, Luke 12:47-48, 2 Corinthians 5:10, Ephesians 4:1, Hebrews 13:17, James 3:1, and 1 Timothy 2:2) which make clear the fact that men (or women) who are called, anointed and ordained to be God's chosen leaders for His people will be held to a higher standard. In fact, they are held to the highest standard of any human being. So God holds preachers highly accountable for the feeding of the sheep He's put them in charge of. They're responsible for making sure that what is preached is theologically sound and that the sheep not get misled or confused about God's truth.

Let's remember that no matter how mega the church may be, the Bible still calls it a house of prayer that belongs to the Lord, Jesus Christ. So it seems to be with flagrant disregard for the sacred and the holy that movie stars, sports stars, business moguls, motivational speakers and other cultural celebrities are welcomed to the stages of American churches. Like I said earlier, this is sin. In that context, it might also be good to remember that sin gets judged.

There are actually two sins at work here. One is this welcoming of celebrities to the stage or pulpit. The other is the welcoming of other religions to the stage or pulpit. Both are equally poisonous to the sheep that the proverbial shepherd has been called, anointed and ordained to lead. So I'll let Dr. Graham, Mr. Summerall, and Mr. Staubach rest a bit, while we go examine those sins.

Celebrity Problem

I took exception this past summer when Bill Hybels of Willow Creek Community Church outside Chicago put Jack Welch on stage at the annual Leadership Summit hosted by his Willow Creek Association. Jack Welch is not known to be a man of any particular faith. He is known as a ruthless businessman.

During his years as head of General Electric (GE) the company delivered handsome profits to its shareholders. Not surprisingly, it also made Jack Welch a very rich man. But among his business strategies, Welch became known for his flagrant disregard for people in general. To put it bluntly, the love of Christ has not been evident in Jack Welch. Whatever religion he may profess, Mr. Welch has lived --- and championed the values of a fallen, perverse world.

So I thought it was inappropriate for Bill Hybels to ask the thousands of churches around the world that belong to his Willow Creek Association to spend God's money to come and get leadership advice and wisdom from Jack Welch. To my way of thinking, the only plausible reason for having Welch as a speaker would be if he were going to tell of a miraculous conversion to Jesus Christ and repentance of his ungodly ways. Needless to say, that didn't happen.

There've been other incidences in local church services and at religious conferences or events. Maybe they only get publicized because of their nature (of celebrity). I mean, the Dallas Morning News doesn't typically cover - with a separate news story complete with a photo - what happens in the pulpit of Prestonwood Baptist Church. That this particular event, with Staubach on stage, was an exception, is perhaps evidence that the celebrity was the story - and not the religion or the church or even what the celebrity had to say.

So the problem we have now is that anointed, ordained, called men of God have become infatuated with rich and famous people of celebrity. They've learned that a celebrity on your stage or in your pulpit gets you and your church in the news. They tend to make your church look more relevant. They're so infatuated that I'm quite certain most pastors are not going to like this blog. They'll dismiss me as being a radical and justify or defend their position. People don't like other people to tell them about their sin.

But look, our culture already makes gods out of celebrities. They are our false gods - the modern day equivalent of the golden calves and other false gods of ancient times. It's understandable, this perverse influence on our society. Celebrity has the power to move people. Celebrity books and speeches sell out. If you've held some political office, been on a TV show or played on professional sports team, everyone will want to hear what you have to say. Everyone believes that what you have to say matters. Just because of your celebrity. And sadly, if you put a celebrity on the stage or in the pulpit of a church, more people will show up.

This isn't a new revelation from God for me. He showed me a long time ago. I think the first time I noticed it was when I tuned in to watch Robert Schuller, the senior pastor of the Crystal Cathedral (a church which just filed bankruptcy this week --- which is another blog topic for the future). It was a televised service from his church, Dr. Laura Schlessinger, the famous physiologist. She is a Jew --- who denies that Jesus is who He says He is. But we'll get to that later. The point is she's not a famous psychologist or psychiatrist. Dr. Laura is famous for dispensing advice - without being qualified to do so. We call it celebrity. Does she belong in the pulpit of an influential American church?

It's a cultural thing, really. And that is precisely why it's so inappropriate for Christianity. Let's face it, the only reason Roger Staubach was on stage at Prestonwood Baptist Church was because he's a celebrity. They could easily have welcomed to the stage other former football players, other commercial real estate investors, and other Catholics. (Screech!) Did I just say that? Catholic? In the same context as real estate investing or sports? Yes, I really did So let's get to the second issue, Dr. Laura's Jewishness and Mr. Staubach's Catholicism.

Faith Problem

The news headline said that "Staubach remains (a) man of faith." Don't automatically assume that means he is a man of our faith. He isn't. He's a Catholic. Oh, I know. You're going to point out that the Catholics believe in Jesus Christ. And of course they do. So do the Mormons and other false religions. The problem is that Catholics give equal deity to mere humans after they're dead. They started with the Virgin Mary (Jesus' mother). She is deified and prayed to. So are a host of so-called "saints" of the Catholic faith.

The problem with other faiths is that they don't worship the same God we do. The Catholic faith is a good example, although the Jewish faith (as referenced above) is similar. Let me explain.

The Christian God is defined as a Trinity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. That's it. He's no more than that. There isn't room in there for Jesus' earthly mother, Mother Teresa or anyone else. Not even Elvis could fit in that Trinity!

So let's be clear. Anyone who tries to define God as being anything but the Trinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit isn't defining the one true God that Christians worship. The Catholics are guilty of adding to that Trinity. And the Jews are guilty of subtracting from that Trinity. Are you following me here?

The Catholics are a little more insidious than the Jews. Because they acknowledge the Trinity, we tend to assume that Christians and Catholics are the same and that our differences are no greater than the differences between various Protestant faiths (i.e., Methodist, Baptist, Lutheran). But that may just be a lie that we're believing.

The Catholics believe that their definition of God is the only accurate definition. Ironically, they keep redefining Him every time they make another dead human being a "saint." Still they insist that their constantly changing definition of God is the only accurate definition of God.

And the Catholics believe that they are so right in their definition of God that they consider other Christ-based religions to be counterfeit, illegitimate? Did you know, for example, that the Catholics won't allow a Baptist, Presbyterian, Methodist, Lutheran or anyone else who is not a Catholic to take communion with them?

Mind you, I'm not picking on Catholics here. We've got a lot of religions in America that appear to be legitimate, but they're worshipping a god that they've defined differently than this Holy Trinity that Christians know is the one, true God. Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Unitarians, Mormons ... the list of these religions goes on and on.

Conclusion

There's a guy in my church, who runs a non-profit ministry called Changing the Face of Christianity (http://www.changingthefaceofchristianity.com/). Frankly, I couldn't have put it better. He's precisely pin-pointed the problem of Christianity in America today hiding behind masks. As we've just explored, Christianity is happy to put on the masks of celebrity or false religions if it thinks that will draw a crowd, build their "brand," sell some books, etc. This is sin. Unfortunately, it is the face of Christianity in America today.

When we Christ-followers go to a church service or related function, we should expect a fresh encounter with the Holy Spirit. We should expect to hear an anointed word from God - delivered through called and ordained men and women of the one true God. It is a house of prayer, people. And God's chosen men or women should be the only people speaking to me there. And they should only be speaking God's message to me there.

So let's pray that America's Christian leaders will be healed of their infatuation with unqualified celebrities and stop welcoming them to the stage or pulpit. And let's pray that America's Christian leaders will learn to recognize the false religions around them - and understand how dangerous and toxic it is to welcome them to the stage or pulpit. That, my friends, would change the face of Christianity --- and produce real men and women of faith!