The Danger of Bounty

The Danger of Bounty
Deut. 8:1-11

I think we are all familiar with the stories of children born into vast wealth, and more often than not, these are sad stories – just do some research on Christiana Onassis and you’ll see what I mean. As the sole inheritor of the Aristotle Onassis shipping fortune, she died when she was 38 years old after years of excessive living and drug abuse.

Another particularly sad story is the story of Huntington Hartford. The fortune he inherited was from the A & P Grocery Store chain. At one time, A & P was the Wal Mart of the world – it was the world’s largest grocer and second only to General Motors in sales of goods. Since it was money he inherited and not money he had worked hard for, he blew through multiple millions of dollars and died as an alcoholic drug addict living in squalor in Greenwich Village. You can read his life story in the book Squandered Fortune, written by Lisa Gubernick.

We could go on and on with examples like this, but the biblical principle these stories illustrate concerns the danger of bounty. When you have a lot of something, there are some very specific dangers you have to be on the lookout for that you don’t have to be concerned about in other circumstances. For instance, if you are snorkeling in the ocean, do you have to be on the lookout for deer ticks? No. When you come out and dry off, you don’t examine yourself minutely to make sure there aren’t any crawling around on you. Why not? Because Lyme Disease is not a danger associated with snorkeling. It is a danger associated with hunting and hiking, but not snorkeling. In the same way, there are some dangers specifically associated with bounty.

We see this in Deut. 8. As I think about the nation of Israel and how God blessed them when they went into the land He had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – I see some parallels with how God has blessed us today. Last Sunday we heard many testimonies about how much God has blessed us with. We live in a land of bounty, and there is a warning in this passage that is very pertinent to us today.

"All the commandments that I am commanding you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD swore to give to your forefathers. 2 "And you shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. 3 "And He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD. 4 "Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years. 5 "Thus you are to know in your heart that the LORD your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son. 6 "Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him.
7 "For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills; 8 a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; 9 a land where you shall eat food without scarcity, in which you shall not lack anything; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. 10 "When you have eaten and are satisfied, you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land which He has given you (this was last Sunday’s service). 11 (Here is this Sunday’s message) "Beware lest you forget the LORD your God.

Bounty, as wonderful as it is and as much as we enjoy it, is very fertile ground for breeding all kinds of unbiblical attitudes. There are multiple passages in the Bible we could appeal to to show this truth, but think about Jesus’ teaching that it is easier for a camel to get through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into heaven. Why would He say that? Because bounty (in this instance, a bounty of money) has a tendency to breed all kinds of bad behavior, and this morning I want to share four of them with you.

First of all, bounty can foster a sense of autonomy – Mt. 6:11 “give us this day our daily bread.” Jesus’ point in this statement is that we need God’s direct involvement in our lives for our physical sustenance on a daily basis. When we have a lot – whether it is health, or food, or clothing, or money, or friends, or work, or property - we tend to forget our total dependence on God. We start to become autonomous – we get these feelings of independence.

We know we need Him in a general sense, in the large scheme of things, but not on a daily basis. I had a man in my church one time who never came to prayer meeting – until he was diagnosed with cancer. He had a hectic work schedule as a state inspector and on Wednesday nights at 7:00 he always had something more important to do – until he was diagnosed with cancer. Suddenly he discovered that he did have time for prayer meeting and that corporate prayer by the body of Christ was important. What was going on in his life? Bounty fosters a sense of autonomy. And when God took away his bountiful health he woke up to his need of God’s daily sustenance. I can’t tell you how many men I’ve know who have suddenly gotten serious about the Lord after their wives have walked out on them. What was going on? When they had a bountiful marriage they didn’t need God quite as desperately as they did when the marriage started to unravel.

So the first danger we need to be on the lookout for is that bounty fosters a sense of autonomy. The second danger we need to be aware of is that bounty can foster a sense of ingratitude.

Bounty can foster a sense of ingratitude – In Phil. 4:11 - 13, Paul alerts us to a very important lesson when he says, “I have learned how to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

When we have a lot we tend to think that our bounty is normal, and we get unhappy with less. Why do so many newly married couples get so deeply into debt? Because they think that the standard of living their parents have achieved is the norm. And because they think it is the norm, they get dissatisfied with what they have. But instead of saving to acquire what they want, they go into debt to get it. What is happening is that the bounty they grew up in makes them ungrateful for the little bit they do have.

I can remember being at a church dinner and watching a child fuss with his mother because he didn’t want to eat his applesauce. He wanted to throw his plate out and go get a new bowl of applesauce because some gravy had gotten into the applesauce on his plate. What was going on here? Bounty can foster a sense of ingratitude.

Several years ago our family was going through a very difficult time financially, and we were literally down to our last few dollars. Because of this we were taking some pretty drastic steps to cut our living expenses and were by no means living the American Dream. During this time my brother and his family came to visit us, and they wanted to go to the city and do some sightseeing. That evening, they took us out to dinner at the Olive Garden, and I can’t even begin to tell you what a treat that was for us after a year of marginal living. Also at the restaurant that evening was a group of young people all dressed up and enjoying themselves because they were
going to a show on Broadway. When I was done with my meal, I went to the restroom and had to walk through their area of the restraint. The wait staff was clearing their tables and as I walked past the large plastic tubs of dirty dishes, I saw multiple plates of untouched meals and many plates with only a few bites taken out of them. It just about sent me through the roof. Why was there so much waste? Because of the bounty these children had been living with. Bounty fosters a sense of ingratitude. Why did I have such a negative response? Because of the lack of bounty I had been living with. If those children had lived through a war or the Great Depression, their plates probably would have been licked clean.

When someone leaves the church because the pastor preaches too long, or they get overlooked after doing something special for the church, or they have a conflict with a Sunday School teacher, or because a Deacon reprimands their child, what is going on? The bounty of churches in a single county has bred a spirit of ingratitude in the body of Christ.

If you don’t like this church, go to Pastor Quick’s church in South Cairo, Will Balta’s in South Westerlo, Pastor Green’s in Westerlo, Greenville Christian Church, First Baptist in Catskill.

If you were a member of an underground house church in North Korea, and the Sunday School teacher was dry, and uninspiring, and always seemed to focus on the same few topics, how quickly do you think you would leave that church and find another one? You probably wouldn’t! North Korea doesn’t have bountiful churches, and the parishioners are grateful for what they have. Bounty had a tendency to foster a sense of ingratitude.

So the second danger of bounty we need to be aware of is that of ingratitude. The third danger I want to share with you is that of focusing on the temporal. Not only can bounty cause us to be autonomous and ungrateful, it can cause us to lose our focus on the eternal and become preoccupied with the temporal.
Bounty can foster a sense of the temporal – In Luke 12, Jesus tells a story about a rich farmer who had a very productive year, so he tore down his existing barns and built bigger ones to hold all his produce. He calculated that he had enough produce for many years to come, so he sat back to take it easy for a while, and in verse 20 Jesus said, “You fool, this night your soul is required of you, and who will own what you have prepared?” When we have a lot, we tend to forget about eternity. Our stuff tends to become the focus of our lives.

When we are living in bounty, it is imperative that we remember what John teaches us in 1 John 2:17. “The world is passing away as well as its strong attractions, but the one who does the will of God will abide forever.” John is referring to what Peter elaborates on in 2 Peter 3:10-12. “But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment. 11 Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live, 12 looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along. On that day, he will set the heavens on fire, and the elements will melt away in the flames.”

Here is a very good exercise to do every once in a while. I want you to envision your most treasured physical asset – maybe it is your car, your house, your savings account, your photo albums – your most treasured physical asset. Not your spouse, or your family, or something like that. Do you have that in your mind? Now, picture that thing as a pile of ashes. That is the reality of our situation! That Honda Odyssey, with heated leather seats and a GPS is one day going to be a lump of molten metal. All those silver coins that you have been accumulating and stashing away to carry you when the economy crashes is one day going to be a pool of liquid silver.

This is why Jesus tells us not to lay up treasures here on earth. In Mt. 6:19-21 He says, “Don't store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. 21 Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.” Bounty has a tendency to foster a preoccupation with the temporal,

So as we are considering the dangers associated with bounty, we have looked at autonomy, ingratitude, and a preoccupation with the temporal. The final danger we need to be aware of is that bounty can foster a sense of spiritual myopia. Myopia is the term given to defective vision. It’s when you can’t see an object clearly, and bounty has a tendency to cause myopia, not in the physical sense but in the spiritual sense.

Bounty can foster a sense of myopia – In Rev. 3:17 we read about a group of believers in a church in Laodicea, and God’s assessment of them is this. “'Because you say, "I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing (do you see their bounty?)," and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.” Do you see the connection there? What kind of people are blind to their real condition? The rich, the wealthy, and the self-sufficient. When we have a lot we tend to be blinded to the reality of our condition.

We have talked before about the truth that all is not well in the church in America! Last summer I spoke to you about the matter of discipleship and I gave you the startling statistics about the condition of Evangelicalism, and it isn’t a pretty picture. Yet if you were to interview the average Evangelical this morning after he has attended his church, he would tell you that everything is going great. Why? Because of this truth – bounty fosters a sense of myopia.

I want to close this morning with a question. Why is it that the only place where the church is exploding with new converts is in countries where Christianity is illegal? Because of these truths about bounty. Bounty is very fertile soil for all kinds of bad behavior: autonomy, ingratitude, a preoccupation with the temporal, and spiritual myopia. Is there a solution? God has blessed us tremendously, how do we deal with our bounty?

1. Acknowledge its source – 1 Cor. 4:7 – What do you have that you did not receive?
2. Spread it around – 2 Cor. 9:7 – God loves generosity!
3. Strive for balance – Prov. 30:7-9 – Excess in either direction has its dangers.
4. Hold on to what you have very loosely – Job 1:21

As we come to the Lord’s table, I want us to appreciate the example of Jesus who left the bounty of heaven for our sake. He gave up the riches of heaven and became poor for us. Aren’t you glad that His bounty didn’t have the negative impact on him that it usually has on us?