What Luxuries in My Life Are Sinful?
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:02.580 | - Happy Labor Day everyone.
00:00:06.780 | I know many of you had the day off,
00:00:08.600 | but it's not a day off for the Ask Pastor John podcast.
00:00:10.800 | And today is a good day to reflect on the luxuries
00:00:13.840 | that surround our lives.
00:00:15.240 | We have a question from Rick Siegel,
00:00:17.240 | who serves as the Vice President of Advancement
00:00:19.500 | and Distinguished Lecturer of Commerce and Vocation
00:00:22.280 | at Bethlehem College and Seminary.
00:00:24.600 | Rick writes in to ask this, Pastor John,
00:00:26.760 | how are we to think of luxuries?
00:00:28.740 | For example, people were once required to buy ice
00:00:31.280 | from an ice man to chill and preserve their food.
00:00:33.440 | Eventually a fellow invented an electric refrigerator,
00:00:36.680 | but at its original price point,
00:00:38.280 | only the very wealthy could own this luxurious
00:00:41.120 | then non-essential product.
00:00:43.800 | But as more wealthy people bought a refrigerator,
00:00:45.720 | a greater demand enabled greater supply,
00:00:47.800 | driving down the cost of manufacture
00:00:49.480 | and making the product more widely available.
00:00:52.200 | Today, a refrigerator would be considered
00:00:54.380 | one of life's essentials,
00:00:55.440 | even for those who have adopted a wartime lifestyle.
00:00:59.040 | So are luxury purchases made by those with means to do so
00:01:02.780 | to be frowned upon even when the products meet a need
00:01:06.020 | that only someone with such sufficient means can afford?
00:01:09.960 | What do you say, Pastor John?
00:01:11.420 | - Well, what I say is yes, a luxury,
00:01:18.180 | the term luxury is relative, isn't it?
00:01:20.820 | It's relative to time and it's relative to culture.
00:01:24.540 | Clearly it is.
00:01:26.140 | So what I look for is a possible definition for me
00:01:31.820 | that works, that helps me to discern
00:01:34.820 | what would a sinful luxury be so that I could avoid it.
00:01:39.820 | And here's my best shot to guide John Piper
00:01:43.860 | in what to avoid as a sinful luxury.
00:01:49.660 | That would be a non-essential that one shouldn't buy,
00:01:54.660 | which raises the question,
00:01:57.980 | well, how do you decide what you should buy
00:02:01.540 | if some non-essentials are okay to buy?
00:02:05.940 | And here are the questions that I ask myself.
00:02:09.580 | I've got about four or five of them
00:02:12.220 | and I'm sure there are more,
00:02:13.460 | but these are the ones that I use
00:02:16.420 | as I try to think through.
00:02:17.980 | Number one, is it good for my soul or for your soul
00:02:22.980 | and the souls of the people around you?
00:02:25.700 | And I'm thinking here of beauty
00:02:28.660 | and various kinds of say artwork
00:02:32.360 | that you would hang on your walls
00:02:34.220 | that you could live without,
00:02:35.340 | but you hang a picture up
00:02:36.740 | or flowers that you plant in your garden.
00:02:40.500 | We are more than biological, physical people.
00:02:44.700 | We're created in God's image.
00:02:46.100 | We're made to see and know and love beauty.
00:02:50.900 | And it's possible to surround yourself with beauty
00:02:53.760 | without being rich,
00:02:55.580 | but it is in one sense a non-essential.
00:02:58.620 | And in that sense, you could live without it.
00:03:02.180 | That would be a kind of survival.
00:03:04.320 | So is it good for the soul of your family and yourself?
00:03:09.320 | Number two, is it good for efficiency in life ministry?
00:03:16.060 | So freezer, car, computer,
00:03:19.520 | you could spend most of your time walking
00:03:22.000 | or riding your bike or typing on a typewriter
00:03:26.020 | or making more trips to the store
00:03:29.740 | if you don't have a freezer or a refrigerator,
00:03:33.100 | but you may conclude efficiency
00:03:35.860 | for the sake of using your time more productively is wiser.
00:03:39.740 | And therefore those purchases are warranted
00:03:42.260 | for that kind of reason.
00:03:44.140 | Third question, is it affordable
00:03:47.100 | without saying to the world that you love things
00:03:53.100 | and are into the pride of possessions?
00:03:56.180 | That's a phrase from 1 John.
00:03:58.320 | So what's gonna be the impact to the world
00:04:03.320 | as they watch you buy something?
00:04:05.720 | So I listened to a news thing the other day
00:04:08.340 | where a manuscript of Bob Dylan's song,
00:04:12.620 | I forget which song it was,
00:04:14.580 | "The Times They Are a-Changin'" maybe,
00:04:17.500 | sold for $1.2 million.
00:04:19.220 | - Wow.
00:04:20.780 | - One little piece of paper.
00:04:22.260 | (laughs)
00:04:23.420 | And I thought, I don't think I would buy that
00:04:27.260 | even if I could afford
00:04:29.460 | because it just would say the wrong thing
00:04:32.080 | about where my, I think where my priorities are.
00:04:34.660 | So what you say to the world
00:04:37.140 | by what you do with your money,
00:04:39.060 | I think is also a significant factor.
00:04:41.540 | And here's a fourth one.
00:04:42.940 | Is it affordable without replacing or hindering good deeds?
00:04:47.940 | This is a tough one, but I think it's relevant.
00:04:51.340 | In other words, is the money you just spent
00:04:53.520 | on this non-essential hindering you
00:04:56.900 | from a lifestyle of an act of love?
00:04:59.720 | And you could always say,
00:05:00.740 | well, I could have given that money to the missionary,
00:05:02.500 | and that's true.
00:05:03.620 | Every ice cream cone you buy,
00:05:05.380 | you could have sent to somewhere else.
00:05:07.400 | But I'm thinking of, would you have?
00:05:11.260 | Has it gotten in the way of heartfelt calling
00:05:16.100 | to do a good thing,
00:05:17.260 | but I'm not gonna do that good thing.
00:05:18.620 | I'm gonna bless me and not them.
00:05:21.380 | Then you wouldn't wanna do that.
00:05:23.620 | And the last question would be,
00:05:25.980 | is it an occasional, expensive, non-essential
00:05:30.980 | that would say an extraordinary, I love you?
00:05:36.100 | 'Cause I'm talking about something pretty expensive here.
00:05:39.380 | Is it good for making special celebrations?
00:05:42.780 | Now, I'm not thinking of very expensive.
00:05:44.320 | So the first one would be like an engagement ring.
00:05:46.500 | We talked about that once before.
00:05:48.200 | You don't have to buy the most expensive or the biggest.
00:05:53.140 | It doesn't even have to be a diamond,
00:05:55.420 | but it will be more expensive than your usual purchase
00:05:58.900 | because there's a big, glorious, beautiful,
00:06:02.820 | I think God-ordained, I love you to be said here,
00:06:07.580 | and I'm committed to you, and I want you
00:06:10.300 | that our culture recognizes as a beautiful and sweet thing.
00:06:15.300 | In the other category, marking special celebrations,
00:06:19.260 | I'm thinking of a Butterfinger Blizzard
00:06:21.300 | for John Piper on his birthday at Dairy Queen
00:06:27.580 | because I don't eat these but once a year.
00:06:30.500 | And so I pay for the biggest one
00:06:33.380 | or somebody who is buying for me
00:06:36.260 | pays for the biggest one,
00:06:37.740 | and I love every bite to the glory of God, I hope.
00:06:42.740 | Or one other example, we got home from Tennessee
00:06:48.380 | a few weeks ago in Minneapolis.
00:06:51.260 | The house was totally empty, boxes everywhere.
00:06:54.180 | I had to go out and get some milk
00:06:55.380 | 'cause we didn't have anything for breakfast
00:06:56.580 | the next morning, and I was at CUB,
00:06:59.320 | and as I was walking to the counter,
00:07:03.020 | there was this display of flower bouquets,
00:07:06.780 | and one of them was orange daisies.
00:07:09.940 | Well, now, my wife loves daisies
00:07:11.660 | for reasons we won't go into,
00:07:13.380 | and oranges tell us his favorite color,
00:07:15.760 | and I said, "Perfect, a welcome home bouquet."
00:07:20.760 | I think it cost $6.
00:07:22.700 | Now, I didn't need that.
00:07:25.780 | They would not have missed it, but I took it home.
00:07:29.820 | I handed it to Noelle.
00:07:30.980 | I said, "Welcome home.
00:07:32.580 | "It's good to be home."
00:07:34.160 | So that, I think, fits into the occasion
00:07:37.580 | of is there something precious?
00:07:40.180 | Is life big and beautiful,
00:07:42.580 | and you're not getting rich in doing this.
00:07:45.420 | You're not living off luxuries in doing this,
00:07:47.340 | but you know it's nonessential.
00:07:48.820 | So those are some of the questions that I would ask
00:07:51.780 | in trying to decide if something is a sinful luxury or not.
00:07:54.980 | - That's very good.
00:07:57.200 | Thank you, Pastor John.
00:07:58.220 | And this brings up two related questions.
00:08:00.020 | First, about hobbies.
00:08:01.060 | What do we do with hobbies, especially expensive ones?
00:08:03.660 | That was the center of episode number 270.
00:08:06.060 | You can find that in the archive, episode number 270.
00:08:09.140 | But this episode also raises a question about wealth.
00:08:11.940 | Should wealthy Christians hold on to wealth
00:08:14.060 | as a way of generating future income,
00:08:16.340 | or should they simply give the excess wealth
00:08:18.580 | away to charity?
00:08:20.740 | That's a follow-up question we will address tomorrow
00:08:22.660 | on the Ask Pastor John podcast.
00:08:24.140 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke.
00:08:25.060 | Thanks for listening.
00:08:26.100 | (upbeat music)
00:08:28.680 | (upbeat music)
00:08:31.260 | [BLANK_AUDIO]