Consuming or Serving?
By Tierce Green
All of us are born consumers. We come into the world needing food, water, clothing, and shelter. Nearly everything we do involves consumption, but not just the basics for survival. Global economies depend on consumers. Businesses grow, jobs are created, and countries make money when people purchase things from an endless list of products and services.
Advertising is everywhere—on phones, billboards, TV, games, and social media influencer marketing. Companies spend billions each year creating messages that make consumers feel they need the latest smartphone, car, fashion, or trend. Shopping is entertainment. For some, it’s therapy. People identify with brands as part of their personality or social status. As a result, they are often defined not by who they are, but by what they own, or what they don’t own.
Somewhere along the way, what we think we need gets tangled up in what we want. It’s shaped by the culture during adolescence and into a person’s twenties. With mobile devices used as pacifiers and techno-babysitters, it begins as soon as a child can hold an iPad. It’s cultivated on birthdays and Christmases with an excessive amount of gifts. Opening them is like a feeding frenzy. And the next year has to be bigger and better.
We’ll always be consumers, but God wants us to think and act like servants, to take what we consume and flip it around for the benefit of others. There’s nothing wrong with enjoying God’s good gifts. Psalm 128:1-2 says,
Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in obedience to him. You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours.
It says that this will be the blessing for the man who fears the Lord. Ecclesiastes 2:24-25 says,
A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This, too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?
Some people twist those principles into a prosperity-gospel gravy train. That’s not what we’re talking about, but Jesus did say God delights in giving good gifts to His children. Generosity flows from Him, and He wants us to model His sacrificial generosity and freely give to others, to enjoy everything He gives us, and use it to bless others.
The Apostle Paul wrote The Letter of Philippians to the First Century Church in Philippi while he was in prison, encouraging them to think and act like servants as they modeled the life of Jesus. In this message, Tierce pulls four words from Chapter 2 that describe the behavior of true servants: Unity, Humility, Community, and Obedience. [WATCH THE 30-MINUTE MESSAGE]
