LIFESTYLES OF THE RICH AND FAMOUS
IDOL SERIES 2: POSSESSIONS, PARONOIA, & PROBLEMS
INTRO: Last week we used the American Idol theme to discuss some idols Americans often times put in front of the Lord, and it turned out to be pretty passionate. The three we discussed were: Pride, Popularity, and Power. Today, we have three more P words that interfere with our walk with the Lord, some of them pretty dang serious, some of them sort of funny.
1. POSSESSIONS
BIBLE VERSE: Matthew 4:8-10
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you bow down and worship me.”
If the Devil uses possessions, materialism to tempt Jesus, how much more do you think he will use it to tempt you? In America, where we are surrounded by possessions and materialism, we have this to a massive degree.
A. Debt Questions:
“Consider the following two scenarios in evaluating the intelligence of using plastic:
1. Ellin is 30 years old. She has a $3,500 balance on her Citibank credit card at 18% interest. She makes the minimum payment each month. How old will she be when she has her credit card paid off?
2. Susan and Tom needed a new washing machine, so they went to Sears and found one for $299. They got a Sears charge card and made the minimum payment each month. By the time the washing machine was paid off, how much did Susan and Tom actually pay for that washing machine?
(Answers: 1. 70 years old; 2. $1,199)”
B. Howard Hughes Example:
“All he ever wanted was more.
1. He wanted more money so he turned inherited wealth into a billion dollars worth of assets.
2. He wanted more fame so he broke into the Hollywood scene and soon became a film producer and star.
3. He wanted more thrills so he designed, built and piloted the fastest airplane in the world.
4. He wanted more power so he secretly dealt political favors so skillfully that two presidents became his pawns.
5. All he ever wanted was more…He was absolutely convinced that more would bring him contentment.
6. Unfortunately, history shows otherwise. He died emaciated, weighing only 95 pounds. His fingernails resembled grotesque long cork screws. His teeth were rotting, and countless needle marks covered his body from his drug addiction.
You probably know that I’m talking about Howard Hughes.
1. Howard Hughes is most famous for the last years of his life, when his mind faded and he lived the life of a wealthy, paranoid recluse.
2. But earlier he had been a dashing and innovative businessman.
3. Inheriting the Hughes Tool Company at age 19, Hughes became a Hollywood movie producer, aircraft inventor, mining mogul, casino owner and ladies’ man.
4. He dated Ava Gardner and Katharine Hepburn among many other starlets.
5. An avid and daring pilot, Hughes set a handful of aviation world records, including one for a 1938 flight around the world in just over 91 hours.
6. In the 1960s his business dealings paid off handsomely and his wealth reached one billion dollars, a staggering amount for the era.
7. In the 1950s certain personality quirks began to dominate and Hughes grew increasingly unbalanced.
8. He dropped from public view and became famous for his wealth and his mysterious hidden ways, surfacing via telephone in 1972 to say that a biography written by Clifford Irving was a hoax.
9. The gossip and confusion about his whereabouts and lifestyle continued after his 1976 death, when various parties contested his will amid much-publicized legal wrangling.
10. Leonardo DiCaprio played Hughes in the 2004 biopic The Aviator, directed by Martin Scorsese.”
C. Plastic Surgery: You know your nation is materialistic, when your country is in the middle of the worst recession in 3 decades with a 10.2% unemployment rate, but a local Chesterfield plastic surgery place is advertising a 5 FOR 5 deal (meaning, your next 5 operations are ONLY $5000 apiece). Folks we don’t get it.
D. Ted Turner Quote (we cannot assume Youth know who CNN/TBS magnet Ted Turner is, remind them):
Even billionaire Ted Turner struggles with dissatisfaction with his income. He said, “It’s all relative. I sit down and say, ‘I’ve got $10 billion, but Bill Gates has $100 billion; I feel like a complete failure in life.” (People 6.12.00, p. 62).
2. PARANOIA
Paranoia actually can be an idol. Establishing yourself with a classified fear, labeling yourself with something that you would NOT do, can be dangerous. For example, I really do not like enclosed places, I know that. When we had our earlier house in a different city, we had a crawl space for the AC unit under the house. It was terrifying to go under there (I actually use to sing the God is Bigger Than the Boogie Man from the Veggies Tales while I was down there). But I didn’t let the fear control me. God says do not worry.
A. Actual Phobias:
Going to phobialist.com, I found an extensive list that is unbelievable! There are literally tens of thousands of fears.
Common Phobias:
Claustrophobia: Fear of enclosed places.
Arachnophobia: Fear of spiders.
Aviophobia: Fear of flying.
Ophidiophobia: Fear of snakes.
Odd Phobias:
Androphobia: Fear of men.
Batrachophobia: Fear of amphibians like frogs (I actually saw a person at Cub Scouts freak out on this). Bufonophobia is actually more directly related, it’s the fear of toads.
Gamophobia: Fear of getting married (like the movie Runaway Bride).
Bogyphobia: Fear of the boogeyman (just cause you think someone is out to get you doesn’t mean they won’t).
Lyssophobia: Fear of rabies, or becoming insane.
Peladophobia: Fear of bald people.
Phthiriophobia: Fear of Lice (I plan to itch my head a lot of stating this one).
Pteroonophobia: Fear of being tickled by feathers.
Automatonophobia: Fear of Ventriloquist dummies or wax statues.
Defecaloeisophobia: Fear of painful bowel movements.
Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliaphobia: Fear of long words.
B. Classroom Examples: Over the past 2-3 years, I have heard some really interesting excuses on why someone cannot do something. Now, I am not talking at all about an IEP plan, some type of medical problem, or anything related to special education. I am talking about random things people have mentioned I have found to be odd.
OCD: I have heard about a dozen times in the last year, a student saying, “My OCD won’t let me look at that.” Or, my OCD is in the way. I put an overhead up there, cover a couple of words or don’t have it perfect in order, and I have students begging to fix it. It’s kind of funny, but it is a small thing.
Feet: I seriously had a girl last year beg a person to put their sandal back on (they were itching their foot), because feet bothered her. What?
I Asked a Random Class: One girl said heights, okay. Another said Grasshoppers (which I found to be interesting because she had freaked out the day before when I taught about the Grasshopper Plague of 1874). She also said fear of circulation. She said like tying a rubber band around a finger and stuff like that.
Bad Test Taker: Year after year, I hear students tell me they have the information, but just can’t answer it on the test. And I do understand that. But, is that really the case? Or is it because they really don’t know it?
Example, follow along here. A, B, C, D, E, F, … (students respond G). Now, is there any chance any of you can get that wrong on the test? No way! Why, because you know it. It’s been my experience people who say they know something, that get it wrong, really don’t know it.
How does this relate? Well, how well do you know the Bible? Name 10 Commandments? How much bread and fish were used to feed the 5000? How long did it rain for the flood? Where in the Bible does God give us the Great Commission? Do we really know it?
Now, I know there is a certain personality that desires order more than most people. Of course, you understand that I am not of that personality. But that order/control/obsession can become an idol if you let it control your life.
C. One Good Fear
But there is one fear that drives out all the others. And that is Fear of the Lord.
BIBLE VERSE: Psalm 112:1
Praise the Lord. Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who finds great delight in his commands.
FEAR OF THE LORD AND FEAR TO KEEP COMMANDS IS HUGE AND NECESSARY. IT IS THE ONLY FEAR ACCEPTABLE. THE WHOLE POINT OF THIS SECTION IS TO POINT OUT THAT THE ONLY FEAR THAT IS ACCEPTABLE IS FEAR OF THE LORD!
3. PROBLEMS
BIBLE VERSE: Matthew 6:28-32
"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, ’What shall we eat?’ or ’What shall we drink?’ or ’What shall we wear?’ 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
Worry stems from problems. And as our head pastor has been stating, worry is sin. Worry is not something that we are supposed to do, it’s just not. Putting it another way, check out this verse.
BIBLE VERSE: 1 John 4:4
You dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.
A. Worry is Like a Fog Example:
“According to the Bureau of Standards in Washington, a dense fog covering seven city blocks to a depth of 100 feet is composed of less that one glass of water. That amount of water is divided into about 60 billion tiny droplets. Yet when those minute particles settle over a city or the countryside, they can almost blot out everything from your sight.
Many Christians today live their lives in a fog. They allow a cupful of troubles to cloud their vision and dampen their spirit. Anxiety, turmoil and defeat strangle their thoughts. Their lives are being "choked by the cares of this world" (Luke 8;14). But "God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline" (II Tim. 1:7). Let’s not let the fog get us down! "Let’s live in the Sunshine!
The Paper Pulpit. “
B. Clever Way to Solve a Problem Example (As Always, Have a Sense of Humor with it):
“A young couple decided to start their own business. He was an engineer and she was an advertising copywriter. They wound up buying a small salmon cannery in Alaska. They soon discovered they had a problem. Customers opening a can of their salmon discovered that the fish was gray. Sales sagged. Investigation revealed that the problem was a result of the way they processed the fish. "This is a technical problem," said the wife, "and you’re an engineer. You have to find a way to fix this."
A month later, the husband announced that they would have to replace some machinery and make other changes. It was going to take at least 10 months to do the job and it was going to cost a lot of money. "We have to do something sooner than that," said the wife, "or we’re going to go under." For the next two days she pondered the problem and came up with this solution: There was nothing wrong with the salmon--it tasted fine. The problem lay in its looks. So she changed the label on the can. In bold letters, right under the brand name, the labels thereafter announced, "The only salmon guaranteed not to turn pink in the can."
Bits and Pieces, June, 1990, p. 9-10. “
C. Dog Sitting on a Nail Example:
A man walks into a hotel, and when he begins to pay his fee, a dog sitting on a cushion near the register howls in one of the worst howls the visitor has ever heard. Since the man working the desk doesn’t seem to be bothered, the two go back to their own business. A bit later, another howl roars, this one seemingly worse than the first. Puzzled, the visitor looks at the dog who appears to be in a small amount of pain, but notices the dog put his head back down and return to a position of rest.
Finally, the dog hollers a third time and the visitor can’t stand it anymore. He asks the front desk, why is the dog howling like that? A man at the front desk responds very casually, “oh, he is just sitting on a nail.”
“Sitting on a nail? Sitting on a nail?” exclaims the man checking in. “Why in the world doesn’t he just move?” The owner of the dog responds in all sincerety, “because the dog is hurting enough to complain about it, but not hurting enough to do anything about it.”
The same is true for us. When it comes to problems, all we typically do is complain, and complain, and complain. When it comes to our walk with Christ, when it comes to our idols, do we care enough to do something about it?
Sources:
Butcher, Jim. The Two Most Sacred Words in the American Religion of Materialism, New Point Church, West Virginia, June 2000.
Fritz, Paul. What American Idol Do We Follow? Trinity College, Florida, July 2006.
Owens, David. Avoiding the Mistake of Materialism. Church of Christ, New York, May 2007.
People Magazine, 6/12/2000, page 62.
Sermonillustrations.com. Keyword: Problem.
NAME: _____________________________________________
LIFESTYLES OF THE RICH AND FAMOUS
IDOL SERIES 2: POSSESSIONS, PARONOIA, & PROBLEMS
INTRO: 3 Possible Idols from Last Week: ______________ _____________ ______________
1. ________________________________________________
BIBLE VERSE: Matthew 4:8-10
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their _______________. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you bow down and worship me.”
Debt Question #1
How old? ______________________
Debt Question #2
How much? ____________________
Howard Hughes: ______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Plastic Surgery & Quote
2. _______________________________________________
Common Phobias:
Odd Phobias (May Want to Write These Down):
Classroom Examples:
What is the One Good Fear: _____________________________________________________
BIBLE VERSE: Psalm 112:1
Praise the Lord. Blessed is the man who fears ______________, who finds great delight in his commands.
3. _______________________________________________
BIBLE VERSE: Matthew 6:28-32
Examples:
Fog
Salmon Business
Hotel Dog