The Great Con | Materialism - James 5 1-11 - Clint Leavitt

Sermon Resources: Scripture References: James 5:1-11; Luke 12:15; Luke 6:20; Mark 10:24-25; Matt. 6:19-21; Proverbs 23:4-5; Proverbs 6:8 1. "God and Mammon in America," by Robert Wuthnow; additional study: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-09-24-me-42320-story.html 2. “We live in a materialist culture, we want money and possessions, and very few people have heard a powerful voice telling them to resist those impulses, or how to resist those impulses. Organized religion has not done a good job of challenging people to examine their lifestyles.The point isn’t that we are all just strapped. It’s a matter of making moral choices about how we use our resources.” -Robert Wuthnow, "God and Mammon In America" 3. Data on the wealth of Americans: https://www.sportofmoney.com/how-rich-are-americans-on-a-global-scale-very-rich/#:~:text=39%25%20of%20the%20world%27s%20millionaires,share%20is%20at%20%24145.8%20trillion. 4. “Upward mobility often ends not in satisfaction and peace, but in exhaustion, disappointment, and emptiness.” -Robert C. Roberts, "Just A Little Bit More" 5. “When success is equated with excess, the ambition for excess wrecks us.” -Jon Foreman, "American Dream" 6. “Riches are, from a biblical point of view, an affliction, a massive obstacle in entering the Kingdom of Heaven.” -Alasdair MacIntyre 7. “I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. In other words, if our expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusements, etc., is up to the standard common among those with the same income as our own, we are probably giving away too little. If our charities do not at all pinch or hamper us, I should say they are too small. There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot do because our charitable expenditure excludes them.” -C.S. Lewis, "Mere Christianity" 8. “God has not appointed gold for rust, nor garments for moths; but, on the contrary, he has designed them as aids and helps to human life.” -John Calvin