Affluenza, Part 1: The Real Money Problem

What is "affluenza"? Affluenza is a nifty little word that some clever sociologist created by mixing two different words together. The word affluence means having a great deal of money. Influenza is a highly contagious and potentially fatal disease. When you mash these two together, you get affluenza, which is a useful word for describing the problems generated by a rich consumer culture that has an endless hunger for more and more stuff. Affluenza is the disease of greed. It's the materialistic mindset that says getting more money and possessions is the ultimate aim of life. Affluenza is the spirit of our age, and it has infected all of us.

In this post and the next couple to follow, we're going to read one of the many places in Scripture where God addresses the problem of affluenza. It's interesting to note that 16 of the 38 parables of Jesus deal with money, possessions, their use, and their relationship to us. We're going to be studying one of these 16 parables.

Jesus never condemned wealth in and of itself, but he knows how easily our hearts can make money our god. Jesus knows, and he wants us to understand, that one of the greatest, if not the greatest, hindrances to spiritual life and spiritual growth is material wealth and the temptations that it brings with it.

Luke chapter 12, starting in verse 13, is the parable of the rich fool. We find Jesus teaching a large crowd. The beginning of chapter 12 tells us that it's a crowd of thousands, and in the midst of this, a man calls out, "Jesus, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me."

This interchange is instructive. It shows us that just because Jesus is perfectly righteous does not mean he's Pollyanna. He doesn't say: Oh, your brother's not sharing the inheritance. I'm so sorry. Jedidiah, you share that inheritance.

No—he says, "Man, who made me the judge or arbitrator here?" What are you coming to me with this for?

It's not that Jesus doesn't love this man. He does. But he refuses to become a referee in this squabble over money. Jesus sees the real problem. He sees the real danger for this man's soul, the real danger for our souls. The man is coming to Jesus with a money problem, and his definition of a money problem is that he doesn't have enough money, or he's not getting the money that he thinks he should be getting—which is just like you and me. Whenever we think of a money problem, we think of being in need of money. Jesus says to all of us: You do have a money problem, but here's the real money problem—money has too much of your heart.

God wants us to see that, when it comes to money problems, our greatest concern should be avoiding the pitfalls of covetousness. In the next few posts, we'll see how Jesus seizes this opportunity to help us understand the deceptive work of greed, and three points he teaches us through it.

What is God teaching you as you consider your finances in light of Scripture? In this season so often dominated by consumerism and lavish spending, how are you thinking about the issues of covetousness, possessions, and contentment? In what ways has God's word adjusted the desires of your heart?

(The above content is drawn from a sermon I preached in January, 2006.)