(upbeat music) - Happy Labor Day everyone. I know many of you had the day off, but it's not a day off for the Ask Pastor John podcast. And today is a good day to reflect on the luxuries that surround our lives. We have a question from Rick Siegel, who serves as the Vice President of Advancement and Distinguished Lecturer of Commerce and Vocation at Bethlehem College and Seminary.

Rick writes in to ask this, Pastor John, how are we to think of luxuries? For example, people were once required to buy ice from an ice man to chill and preserve their food. Eventually a fellow invented an electric refrigerator, but at its original price point, only the very wealthy could own this luxurious then non-essential product.

But as more wealthy people bought a refrigerator, a greater demand enabled greater supply, driving down the cost of manufacture and making the product more widely available. Today, a refrigerator would be considered one of life's essentials, even for those who have adopted a wartime lifestyle. So are luxury purchases made by those with means to do so to be frowned upon even when the products meet a need that only someone with such sufficient means can afford?

What do you say, Pastor John? - Well, what I say is yes, a luxury, the term luxury is relative, isn't it? It's relative to time and it's relative to culture. Clearly it is. So what I look for is a possible definition for me that works, that helps me to discern what would a sinful luxury be so that I could avoid it.

And here's my best shot to guide John Piper in what to avoid as a sinful luxury. That would be a non-essential that one shouldn't buy, which raises the question, well, how do you decide what you should buy if some non-essentials are okay to buy? And here are the questions that I ask myself.

I've got about four or five of them and I'm sure there are more, but these are the ones that I use as I try to think through. Number one, is it good for my soul or for your soul and the souls of the people around you? And I'm thinking here of beauty and various kinds of say artwork that you would hang on your walls that you could live without, but you hang a picture up or flowers that you plant in your garden.

We are more than biological, physical people. We're created in God's image. We're made to see and know and love beauty. And it's possible to surround yourself with beauty without being rich, but it is in one sense a non-essential. And in that sense, you could live without it. That would be a kind of survival.

So is it good for the soul of your family and yourself? Number two, is it good for efficiency in life ministry? So freezer, car, computer, you could spend most of your time walking or riding your bike or typing on a typewriter or making more trips to the store if you don't have a freezer or a refrigerator, but you may conclude efficiency for the sake of using your time more productively is wiser.

And therefore those purchases are warranted for that kind of reason. Third question, is it affordable without saying to the world that you love things and are into the pride of possessions? That's a phrase from 1 John. So what's gonna be the impact to the world as they watch you buy something?

So I listened to a news thing the other day where a manuscript of Bob Dylan's song, I forget which song it was, "The Times They Are a-Changin'" maybe, sold for $1.2 million. - Wow. - One little piece of paper. (laughs) And I thought, I don't think I would buy that even if I could afford because it just would say the wrong thing about where my, I think where my priorities are.

So what you say to the world by what you do with your money, I think is also a significant factor. And here's a fourth one. Is it affordable without replacing or hindering good deeds? This is a tough one, but I think it's relevant. In other words, is the money you just spent on this non-essential hindering you from a lifestyle of an act of love?

And you could always say, well, I could have given that money to the missionary, and that's true. Every ice cream cone you buy, you could have sent to somewhere else. But I'm thinking of, would you have? Has it gotten in the way of heartfelt calling to do a good thing, but I'm not gonna do that good thing.

I'm gonna bless me and not them. Then you wouldn't wanna do that. And the last question would be, is it an occasional, expensive, non-essential that would say an extraordinary, I love you? 'Cause I'm talking about something pretty expensive here. Is it good for making special celebrations? Now, I'm not thinking of very expensive.

So the first one would be like an engagement ring. We talked about that once before. You don't have to buy the most expensive or the biggest. It doesn't even have to be a diamond, but it will be more expensive than your usual purchase because there's a big, glorious, beautiful, I think God-ordained, I love you to be said here, and I'm committed to you, and I want you that our culture recognizes as a beautiful and sweet thing.

In the other category, marking special celebrations, I'm thinking of a Butterfinger Blizzard for John Piper on his birthday at Dairy Queen because I don't eat these but once a year. And so I pay for the biggest one or somebody who is buying for me pays for the biggest one, and I love every bite to the glory of God, I hope.

Or one other example, we got home from Tennessee a few weeks ago in Minneapolis. The house was totally empty, boxes everywhere. I had to go out and get some milk 'cause we didn't have anything for breakfast the next morning, and I was at CUB, and as I was walking to the counter, there was this display of flower bouquets, and one of them was orange daisies.

Well, now, my wife loves daisies for reasons we won't go into, and oranges tell us his favorite color, and I said, "Perfect, a welcome home bouquet." I think it cost $6. Now, I didn't need that. They would not have missed it, but I took it home. I handed it to Noelle.

I said, "Welcome home. "It's good to be home." So that, I think, fits into the occasion of is there something precious? Is life big and beautiful, and you're not getting rich in doing this. You're not living off luxuries in doing this, but you know it's nonessential. So those are some of the questions that I would ask in trying to decide if something is a sinful luxury or not.

- That's very good. Thank you, Pastor John. And this brings up two related questions. First, about hobbies. What do we do with hobbies, especially expensive ones? That was the center of episode number 270. You can find that in the archive, episode number 270. But this episode also raises a question about wealth.

Should wealthy Christians hold on to wealth as a way of generating future income, or should they simply give the excess wealth away to charity? That's a follow-up question we will address tomorrow on the Ask Pastor John podcast. I'm your host, Tony Reinke. Thanks for listening. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)