Materialism and America or What Is the Chief End of Man?

Over and over on our summer HMA, Brad and I were asked what we thought of America and Americans, or what we noticed about America or Americans after having lived in Germany for a year.

I think Francis Schaeffer said it best when he wrote that:

“Christianity is not just a mental assent that certain doctrines are true — not even that the right doctrines are true.

This is only the beginning. This would be rather like a starving man sitting in front of great heaps of food and saying, ‘I believe the food exists; I believe it is real,’ and yet never eating it.

It is not enough merely to say, ‘I am a Christian,’ and then in practice to live as if present contact with the supernatural were something far off and strange.

Many Christians I know seem to act as though they come in contact with the supernatural just twice — once when they are justified and become a Christian and once when they die. The rest of the time they act as though they were sitting in the materialist’s chair.”

As Christians, we are called to live in this world but not be of this world. We live to serve the purpose of God. We are a peculiar people within the larger community of mankind. Our priorities, however, should be distinguishable from those of the world.

I fear that American Christians have lost this claim to uniqueness within the larger culture. Christians have forgotten the chief end of man (”Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever.” - The Westminster Shorter Catechism). American Christianity seems to have become infatuated with physical well-being and worldly possessions.

This attitude is contrary to the teachings of Christ. “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for He has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’” (Hebrews 13:5, ESV)

Ancient contemporary Roman and Greek historians wrote about the early Christians as being committed to virtue and indifferent to material matters. Christians were perceived as being preoccupied with spiritually living out their faith rather than temporal materialism.

I doubt the same observation would be made about our generation of Christians. For Example: Much of Christian television in our country reflects the philosophy of materialism rather than our need for holiness and Christ.

Materialism is, ultimately, the denial of God’s existence. Wayne Grudem writes, “Christians today who focus almost the entire effort of their lives on earning more money and acquiring more possessions become ‘practical’ materialists in their activity, since their lives would not be much different if they did not believe in God at all.” (Systematic Theology, p. 268)

I do not think we can say it any better than that. In fast, I know we can't.