Message Notes

Series Intro: There are many, many factors shaping who we are and how we answer questions like, “Who am I?” “Why am I the way that I am?” And, “how will I live?” In this series, we are exploring what Scripture says about these questions of identity: who we are and who God made us to be.

• There are often too many choices when it comes to what we consume, whether its fare from our local coffee shop or something else entirely. And it's great that we have so many options for what to eat, drink, wear, and buy. But at some point, it all gets a little overwhelming and unnecessary.

• We live in a consumerist culture that influences who we are and how we think—our habits of consumption shape our identities.
• In contrast to a consumerist mindset, Scripture tells us that we are made for measured consumption.

Scripture describes measured consumption as wariness about wealth.

• You lie on beds adorned with ivory and lounge on your couches. You dine on choice lambs and fattened calves. You strum away on your harps like David and improvise on musical instruments. You drink wine by the bowlful and use the finest lotions, but you do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph. Therefore you will be among the first to go into exile; your feasting and lounging will end. (Amos 6.4-7 NIV)
• Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you. (James 5.1-6 NIV)

Measured consumption means wariness about saving beyond what you need.

• Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12.15-21 NIV)
• The heart of the issue in this parable is accumulating wealth while NOT being rich toward God.

Measured consumption means taking breaks from normal consumption patterns.

• The Lord said to Moses at Mount Sinai, “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a sabbath to the Lord. For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops. But in the seventh year the land is to have a year of sabbath rest, a sabbath to the Lord. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards. Do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. The land is to have a year of rest. Whatever the land yields during the sabbath year will be food for you—for yourself, your male and female servants, and the hired worker and temporary resident who live among you, as well as for your livestock and the wild animals in your land. Whatever the land produces may be eaten. (Leviticus 25.1-7 NIV)
• “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work,  but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. (Exodus 20.8-11 NIV)
• How we produce and consume should be guided by how God has created us, as people who are supposed to regularly stop consuming and producing.

Apply

• Be intentional with what you consume.
• Limit your consumption.
• Rest from consumption.

Suggested Resources

• Image of God, The Bible Project (video)
• The Freedom of a Christian, Gilbert Meilaender (book)
• An Introduction to Theological Anthropology, Fuller Seminary (article)
• Whatever You Do, Luke Bobo (book)
• My Body is Not a Prayer Request, Amy Kenny (book)
• On the Soul and Resurrection, Gregory of Nyssa (book)

For Reflection

• How does today’s message resonate with you?
• What questions does this message raise for you?
• What actions does this message encourage you to take?
• How can you dig deeper into today’s message?

Take Your Next Steps

Remember: Jesus loves you right where you are, but He loves you too much to leave you there.

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