(upbeat music) The comforts and the wealth of our Western world can be a blessing, and they can become a deadly curse to us as well. So how can we be freed from the clutches of Western materialism? It's a question Pastor John took up in a sermon 27 years ago on Hebrews 10, a chapter with an incredible text in verse 34, which says, "You joyfully accepted "the plundering of your property "since you knew that you yourselves "had a better possession and an abiding one." Amazing text.

Hebrews 10, 34, it's a text with a key lesson relevant to all of us today who live in the Disneyland of Western affluence. Here's Pastor John. - The Christian church in America suffers from about 350 years of dominance and prosperity. What I mean by dominance is that for almost all of this country's history from the Puritans on, the Christian ethos has been the dominant one, and to be a Christian is to be a person who's accepted and viewed as normal, and even one who has some traits that are beneficial to the country.

What I mean by prosperity is that being a Christian and fitting in to that ethos has for a long time resulted in things going well for us. And so to be a Christian has been a plus. And what I mean by the church suffering from that, suffering from this dominance and suffering from this prosperity, is that this has resulted in a massively ingrained and unbiblical mindset.

If you act like a Christian, you will probably work hard and be thrifty and probably will succeed in business, and that's better for you. If you act like a Christian, you'll probably be kind and generous, and at least then a few people will think well of you, and that'll be better for you.

So we can all say, "Well, what's wrong with that? "What's wrong with things going better for you? "Why do you say it's a suffering "that has come upon the church "that we have grown to feel that this is the way it is, "this is the way it should be, "and we're at home here, things go better with Christ." The problem is that we have gotten things so out of proportion that we can't really even imagine what the New Testament church was like, I think.

The little simple spin-offs out here at the edge of Christianity, and we've made them the cherished treasure of the middle, and we've elevated them to the point where, well, if things don't go better for us, then what's the use of being a Christian? And therefore, it becomes almost impossible for us to imagine what happened in this text.

What it was like to be a Christian when there was no Christian America, no ethos built up over 300 years of Puritan Protestant work ethic. This text, Hebrews 10, 32 to 36, fills me. Every time I go back to it, and it's one of my favorites, it just fills me with a longing to be set free from domesticated, comfort-seeking, entertainment-addicted American Christianity.

I just want to be so free. And this text, when you read it, mm, it just makes chills run up and down your back, saying, "Now that is authenticity. "If I could be like that, I'd be real." And everybody wants to be real. Nobody wants to be phony. Nobody wants to just have a little glaze of Christianity over an ordinary secular life, pursuing the same goals that everybody pursues who doesn't believe.

Verse 34b, I've said it, let's read it again. "You accepted joyfully the seizure of your property." How? Where did that come from? Here's the next phrase. "Knowing that you have for yourselves "a better possession and an abiding one. "Therefore, don't throw away your confidence "or your boldness, which has great reward." Now right there, I think I see the key, or a key, to the anemic nature of the American church.

My analysis is that one of the reasons is, and I think it's one of the main ones, is that we are at home in Disneyland. This is Disneyland. This room is Disneyland. This suit is Disneyland. This electronic device here is Disneyland. The cars you came in are Disneyland. The meals you will eat and buy today at who knows what per shot will be Disneyland.

We live in Disneyland compared to where everybody else lives. Almost everybody. There are few other Disneylands in Western Europe. And we're at home. We're addicted. We don't even know we live in Disneyland. We use words like "me," "me," for the most ridiculous accessories. We do. And I'm not about to tell you which ones you must get rid of.

(audience laughing) We've been through this before as a church. When I wrote the chapter on money and desiring God, and we talked about the house at the lake. The lake. It's that spot in Minnesota where all these houses are. (audience laughing) And I didn't say you couldn't have one.

But if you're at home, if you're at home in this Disneyland, so that if they burned down that house, or they smashed your car, or they took all your heirlooms, or they fired you from your job, there would be this rip. The reason the American church is weak is because we're at home in this Disneyland.

Now I think it's always gonna be a Disneyland, okay? 'Til Jesus comes. But you know why God has created this Disneyland? For missions. And for the poor. Paul said, we have nothing, and yet we possess everything. If you believe that, that will make you free. Free. Free. - Amen, true freedom.

Indeed, freedom from the enslavement to the comforts and wealth of this world. That clip was taken from a 27-year-old sermon preached on May 9th, 1993. The sermon is titled, "You Joyfully Accepted the Plundering of Your Property." And you can find the entire recording at desiringgod.org. Thanks for listening. And speaking of freedom, we are citizens of our countries.

And this week here in the States, we celebrate Independence Day. We want to reject the clutches of material comforts, and yet we can also voice our patriotism and our love for our fatherland too. We can do both of those things. And with July 4th here in a few days, we can begin to ask the important question, how much patriotism is too much patriotism?

That's the question on the table when we return on Friday with Pastor John. I'm Tony Reinke. We'll see you then. (upbeat music)