Sunday September 30, 2007

Therapeutic Christianity
Ephesians 4:17-24

I. Introduction

Recently, I read a book entitled Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture by
Vincent Miller.

While the book is extremely difficult to read, it also has some amazing observations regarding the impact of our consumer culture on faith and practice.

In light of that, I would like to share a few thoughts with you specifically about the reconfiguration of Western Christianity over the last 150 years into a therapeutic enterprise.

One of the observations Miller makes in his book is that “People no longer hunger for salvation or an era of justice, but for the feeling, the momentary illusion, of personal well-being, health and psychic security.” (Page 85)

Obviously people have been self-centered since the beginning of time; what has changed is not human nature, but how
we choose to deal with the insecurities, fears and irrationalities of our nature.

Before the rise of consumerism in the West, human nature was tempered primarily through community and faith.

Work was more closely related to your sense of self when you built your own home, planted, prepared and cooked
your own food, and worked together as a family to do so.

Obviously there are few who do this today.

Now, many of us are but a small cog in a big wheel; often we are disconnected from the finished product.

We no longer have a direct benefit from our work, so now we work for money so that we can buy the things we no
longer make for ourselves.

Our homes, which used to be the center of our productivity, are now simply places of consumption.

People were more connected in community and usually had some realization that there was a God who was over the universe, which led to a sense of security and well-being.

I understand that I am speaking in broad generalities, and this is not a message about returning to the “good old days.” There are, however, verifiable cultural realities that clearly reveal a shift in how we view and feel about ourselves.

Advertising has had a huge impact on this shift. The proverbial homemaker is made to feel inferior – your canned peaches may become easily contaminated, therefore buy our peaches. And to make your job easier, purchase the new whiz bang chopping machine that slices, dices, crushes, chops, blends and on and on it goes.

Now, because we need so much stuff to make our lives easier, and the home is no longer a place of production, and the kids are not needed to run the farm and can go to school, mom is free to go to work in order to make more money so
that we can consume more stuff.

Again, this is not a statement about whether women should work outside the home or not. It is a statement about the cultural shift that has occurred and has accelerated over the last 50 years.

This shift has not just affected women, but men (through advertising) are made to feel like they can only be a real man if they smoke a certain kind of cigarette, drink the right kind of beer, have the physique of a body builder, have two
beautiful women hanging all over him and make lots of money!

The bottom line is that in order to sell more stuff we are made to feel bad about ourselves; but as we are made to feel
bad about ourselves we are offered a solution – just buy this product and you will feel better about yourself. (Round and round the mulberry bush…)

All of this has brought on increased social insecurities and promotes a strong relationship between consumption and fulfillment.

This brings us back to the opening quote by Miller, “People no longer hunger for salvation or an era of justice, but
for the feeling, the momentary illusion, of personal well-being, health and psychic security.”

This understanding leads to three further issues.

First, people come to church or listen to religious instruction primarily from the perspective of “What’s in it for me?”

They come with a consumer mentality and if they don’t get what they want, they are out of here – either to go to another church or perhaps even try another religion, or to stop looking to religion to meet their therapeutic need.

Second, Christianity has become one of a vast multitude of “advertisements” offering to meet the needs of the
disconnected self and therefore “forcing” us to compete with all the other products offering the same solution.

Finally, because the pursuit of faith is actually centered in our need for personal well-being, health, and a sense of security, there is a tendency to look for a religion of abstract sentimentality that is divorced from practice.

We want a Jesus that fits into our consumer lifestyle – someone who makes me feel good, but does not require me to change.

We empty the meaning of our most sacred religious symbols like the cross or communion and relegate them to just
another commodity to be consumed in my desire to feel good about myself.

Thus Madonna can be quoted as saying, “Crucifixes are sexy because there is a naked man on them.” Now there is a
Jesus to fit a particular lifestyle!

Or we come forward to take communion hoping this will ease some of our guilt or shame, making no connection to the sacrifice that was made in order to make forgiveness possible.

We are offended and leave the church if the pastor, another leader or even a close friend actually dares to challenge our lifestyle or the choices we make.

How dare I challenge your selfishness and sin! How dare I call upon you to make sacrifices to live for something more
than just yourself! Am I trying to make you feel bad?

Often it seems to make no difference that the leaders’ hearts are motivated by love for you. That our desire is for you to
be at peace with God first, which THEN will lead you to be at peace with yourself.

Why am I saying all this? My concern is that we have bought into the consumer culture; that we come to Jesus or to
church primarily for therapy – hoping that this Jesus thing will help us feel better about ourselves and the world we live in.

And so often the church caters to that mentality. We say things like, “If you just receive Jesus into your heart then all
your troubles will soon be a thing of the past.”

And doesn’t Jesus Himself say: “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will
give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30, NRSV)

In truth, I believe that God, as He has expressed himself through Jesus Christ, is the greatest therapist in the universe. He can restore your sense of self, provide the security and purpose you need, and bring healing to all your mental, physical
and emotional needs.

But this is not the issue. The issue is do we approach Jesus (Christianity, the church) as another commodity to be purchased and consumed, or do we come to Him as the Creator of all things and Lord of the universe?

The key in the above passage is found in the phrase “come to me.”

II. Therapy Jesus Style

If what I propose is correct, and the key to finding rest and relief from our burdens is contained in the phrase “come to
me” – what does that mean?

Jesus said, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for
their life?” (Matthew 16:24-26, NRSV)

Listen to how the Message translates the above verse: “Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the driver's seat; I am. Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I'll show you how.
Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self. What kind of deal
is it to get everything you want but lose yourself? What could you ever trade your soul for?”
(Matthew 16:24-26, The Message)

Now this is a countercultural message! It may not be what everyone wants to hear, but it is still the truth.

Everything you truly need can only be found in Jesus Christ, but He does not offer you a self-centered therapy.

His offer is this: turn away from your pursuit of self-fulfillment, self-realization, and self-focus – give yourself completely
to Jesus Christ and He will give you the life you have been seeking all along.

To truly follow Christ there must be a connection between what you believe and what you practice – let me read to you again our Scripture verse for today from The Message:

“And so I insist — and God backs me up on this — that there be no going along with the crowd, the empty-
headed, mindless crowd. They've refused for so long to deal with God that they've lost touch not only with God
but with reality itself. They can't think straight anymore. Feeling no pain, they let themselves go in sexual obsession, addicted to every sort of perversion. But that's no life for you. You learned Christ! My assumption is
that you have paid careful attention to him, been well instructed in the truth precisely as we have it in Jesus.
Since, then, we do not have the excuse of ignorance, everything — and I do mean everything — connected with that old way of life has to go. It's rotten through and through. Get rid of it! And then take on an entirely new way of life — a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you.” (Ephesians 4:17-24, The Message)

We have grown to resent anyone or anything that says we need to follow certain rules or principles (even those that have been established from the beginning) in order to become the people we were created to be.

It is clear to me that even those who consider themselves to be Christians may resist this message, but it is the message of Jesus Christ. I am not packaging it for sale or for mass production.

We need to realize that we must come to God on Christ’s terms. To do otherwise is an attempt at therapeutic Christianity – to modify Christianity and make into a convenient form of self-help or a commodity that we “purchase” in order to feel better.

If you approach Christ as a commodity (something to be purchased or bargained for) you will at some point be sorely disappointed, just like you eventually grow tired of everything else you buy.

III. Application

One of the many problems we face today is that the media is more persistent than we are, and the message of Jesus
gets drowned out among the cacophony of voices all proclaiming the same result – “You will feel better if you buy this product.”

And all you need is money to get it – you do not need to change how you live, just take this pill and …

But has that special brand of make-up truly made you feel more beautiful on the inside? Has that certain brand of
cigarette made you feel like a real man? Has that pill solved all your problems?

The world tries to tell you that if you pursue self-realization, you will be happy – but are you satisfied?

“People no longer hunger for salvation or an era of justice, but for the feeling, the momentary illusion, of
personal well-being, health and psychic security.”

If this is what you are searching for – I cannot promise that you will find that here.

What I do hope you find is the revelation that Jesus Christ is Lord of all. He is the Creator and we are the created. He is worthy to be served – not for what He can do for us – but because He is worthy.

If along the way, you find purpose, healing, love, joy and fulfillment, that will come as no surprise to me because that is what God does with those who have truly handed their lives over to Him.