Crucifying Consumerism | The Programatic Failure
The core question of consumer Christianity asks “What services does the church provide for me?” It seeks to ask what we can receive from the church and how the church is going to meet my wants and notions of a successful church. Then, when those needs are not met, we become quickly dissatisfied, resort to a constant complaining and bemoaning how the church is failing, and eventually church hopping from one church to the next until they find one that meets their needs, all the while never truly plugging in and become a member or getting involved. So much of our western culture revolves around the instant gratification of what we want and this mentality has seeped into our understanding of how we think churches should work.
Consumerism created the programatic church structure that seeks to plan event after event to fill the time of people’s week where their faith can be successfully contained. While it may see like an attractive way to do church and ministry, the effect has the opposite effect. Consumeristic Christianity communicates to the person of faith that a life pursuing Jesus Christ is all about us and what we need. It misses the heart of the Gospel that calls us to die to ourself and come alive to the new person that God has set apart for us to be. The church is not about giving people what they want, but about pointing them to the glorious God who eagerly desires to be the foundation of every part of a persons life.
Desiring The Mountain Top Experience
Moses encountered the presence of God through a burning bush on the top of Mount Horeb. This moment would permanently alter the trajectory of Moses’ life and begin his return to Egypt to serve as the instrument God would use to free His people. “Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” (Exodus 3:1-4, ESV) We crave the excitement of the Burning Bush type encounters, looking to replicate them in our life, while completely neglecting the fact that Moses spent forty years in monotony in silent dedication to live a quiet life for the Lord. The forty years spent formed and shaped Moses into the person he became and led to that moment. For Moses, he could not skip straight to the burning bush moment, but needed the restoration of finding God in the daily life of chores and quietness.
Event based Christianity misses the formation of finding God in the day to day. While we may think that God’s presence can best be found in the expression of large events, the result is a faith that must continually chase the next spiritual high and finds no fulfillment outside of it. When we create a Christianity based on special events, we neglect that a life submitted to Jesus Christ effects all aspects of our life. The worship night concert events, the conferences, the retreats are all not bad in and of themselves. But when we can only encounter God in these moments, we become a spiritual adrenaline junkie that forgets how to glorify God with our daily life. Consumeristic Christianity chases after the spiritual high of these events but never truly grows outside of these specific events. The focus of faith becomes narrow to getting our wants met. Consumeristic Christians creates a faith where experiencing and hearing from God needs to occur in the most rarest of circumstances when pursuing a relationship with Jesus Christ should become a constant interactive relationship and a constant pursuit of God in all avenues.
Finding God’s Joy In The Mundane
The issue in programatic, consumeristic christianity comes in its failure to bring Christianity out of the special event and into the daily life of the home. Yet, for many of us, our lives don’t revolve around the special events of life but the day to day dedication to the Lord. In Brother Lawrence’s Practicing The Presence of God, Brother Lawrence sought to reshape his life to glorify God in the mundane of His life. Whenever he washed the dishes, he began to do so for the glory of God. When he tended to the garden, he did it for the glory of God. Throughout this process, it began to shape his being and redeem his thinking that everything he has is an opportunity to encounter God. The mountain top events for him did not become the driving force behind his life, but finding God in the daily life. Every thought began to pursue the thoughts of God and glorify Him in all that He did.
Brother Lawrence experienced a total transformation of the soul through the continual dedication of the life to God. While the mountain top experiences may occur, the impetus of growing in our faith comes in daily getting up, dying to the self, and coming alive to Jesus Christ. In our pursuit of relationship with Jesus Christ, we lay down all of our wants and desires to allow for total transformation of our life. When we give up the consumeristic desires that the church exists to feed us and understand that we come to die to ourselves for the glory of God, we take hold of the life that God has set apart for us. Rather than chasing the programs and experiences that will meet our felt needs, we can bow and submit to the Lord in all aspects to enjoy the never-ending well of God’s unending love. We can commit to be a part of a church family during the good times and the bad times because our relationship is not built on mere experiences but on the bond of our unity in Jesus Christ.
About The Author
Daniel Burton is the founder of The Gospel Outpost. He is passionate about discipleship and seeing people grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ. To find out more about him, check out his Author Page.
