Christian Grandeur

Often we see ascetics and monkish folk decry the luxuries and decadence that Bishops and popular pastors enjoy. The finger of the proverbial John the Baptist in Camel hair points at priests in egyptian silk, with giant gold pectoral crosses with precious gems fashioned in. But is Christian Grandeur really a sin? Are we not to enjoy the good life and nice things? Is the Christian life meant to be drudgerious, with all of us competing to be more lowly than St. Teresa of Calcutta or St. Francis of Assisi?  Is not that simply false humility to seek an austere lifestyle and believe Jesus will reward us for being peasants? Did not Christ accomplish all? Does he really expect us to be paupers? 

The answer is quite complex. On one hand we are told, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.,” (1 John 2:15), but then we have the Scripture, “So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:31-33). For those seeking the Prosperity Message; that if you follow God you will become wealthy shall find disappointment, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.  If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.  Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me.  If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.  Whoever hates me hates my Father as well.  If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.” (John 15:18-25), and so do those who trust in poverty to make them better saints, “These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh,” (Colossians 2:23), and “If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:3). The case for or against Christian Grandeur is not easily made. On one hand Jesus has called us to be enemies of the world (John 15:18-25), and at the same time He prayed, “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.” (John 17:15). To solve the paradoxes we must more fully understand what the world is. The world is a system built by Lucifer (see Ezekiel 28:11-28) that loves only money, expects achievement, and worships success, John the Apostle describes it as, “For everything in the world--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--comes not from the Father but from the world: For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world.” (1 John 2:16 NIV and NLT). The world has an excessive desire, rather than being content with our wealth or station, you seek to gain more even to the determent of others. The issue is not having money or nice things but if we love our treasures more than God and His Kingdom. There were wealthy women who supported Jesus’ ministry (Luke 8:1-3), and yet Christ warned us not to become preoccupied with storing up treasures on earth, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,  but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21). Notice he says  “where your treasure is, there your heart is,” and so our Lord Jesus wants us to have our heart set on Him, “Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”” (Matthew 22:36-40), and then everything will be added to us. The issue is the heart. Is The Holy Trinity the apple of your eye and your heart’s treasure, and all else is second? Or has the treasures of this life usurped the Lord from his place in your heart? 

Christian Grandeur is fine if its second to your whole heart being Christ’s own. For when Jesus comes he will have grandeur, we will walk on streets of gold and have gates of pearl and precious stones, “The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold, like clear glass. The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel. The first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and nthe street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. And oI saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.” (Revelation 21:18-22). Our Lord even has a golden sash around his waist (Revelation 1:13), and shoes shod in bronze (Revelation 1:15). We are not required to live in monk robes eating stale bread as we sing a son of idolatry to Lady Poverty. For in asceticism and voluntary poverty for spiritual reasons is a pride matching those with mitres and golden thrones in Rome! The point is not your attire or station, but the state of your heart. Does your heart thirst for the Lord or loads of treasures and accolades? And if you be pressed by persecution to lose your mansion, gold, and more for your faith in Christ will you bear it mightily because your greatest treasure in Jesus or will you weep and commit apostasy? 

Grandeur is not the issue. Who of us wants a Nativity play, Christian jewelry, book or film to look poorly made? God the Trinity is not against our enjoyment of beauty and well made things; it is the excessive love of these things to the point that we covet them and neglect our God as first and most important in our hearts. We were made for paradise, the passion for opulence is natural; but we must beware it does not tare our relationship with Christ down, nor harm others. We must also be at a place where we count it all as lost in comparison to Christ, “Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ.” (Philippians 3:8). Amen.