"Transforming Minds: Consumerism to contentment"

G'day. Thanks for joining the Heights Church Podcast today. We hope you enjoy our message.

If you're in the Sydney area, be sure to join us at the Heights Church at Goldstone

Road, Hornsby Heights, Sydney, Australia.

Good morning, everyone. Our Bible reading this morning is from Romans,

Romans 12:1

chapter 12, verses 1 and 2.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy,

to offer your bodies is as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.

This is your true and proper worship.

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—His good,

pleasing, and perfect will. This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks, Leanne. Well, it's good to be back.

I was asked that this morning. Isn't it good to be back from holidays?

Yeah, yeah, it is good to be back from holidays.

It's fantastic. Mainly because I'm well and I started my holidays starting to

get sick and spent two weeks sick.

But I did get to sleep and sit in front of a fire a lot and went out for a couple

of waves and all those things that you try to do when you're sick and float around.

The good part about it was that the surf was quite crowded and as I was coughing

my lungs out, everyone just spread apart and just let me have waves.

So it was great. It was a good time.

Now, I continue on a bit of a sermon series, sort of, that we started off before

I went away, and now we continue on.

And it really is, in some sense, a vision, the vision of the church.

So we have to know Christ, to grow in Christ, to show Christ to each other in the world.

And part of that journey is to understand the Holy Spirit's work in our life

and what he does in our life and how he does his transformative work within our life.

The first part, obviously, is to know Christ and the Holy Spirit's at work in

convicting the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment.

And therefore, he comes to us and we're able to then understand our position

before him and accept Jesus and the offer of salvation from him.

In other words, we know Christ intimately. It's not just about knowing him in

our mind, but it's also about knowing him in our heart and walking with him

in our heart as Christian people.

So that's the first thing that happens within the work of the Holy Spirit.

But then he doesn't stop there.

He goes on. And as we give our life to Jesus, as we sit under his word,

as we walk with him, we begin to learn how to grow. We begin to grow.

Now, there's many different aspects of growth. And this morning,

I'm going to talk about one aspect of it.

But as we become more mature as Christians, we start to exhibit more about who

Jesus is and what he's like in our life.

And the transforming work of the Holy Spirit works in a whole lot of different ways.

One is through his word and predominantly, I think, through his word as he convicts

the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment, but he also is able to address

the thoughts and intentions of our hearts and transform us to be more like him.

How do we become more like him? From our heart, from our change,

but also, as our passage says, from the renewing of our mind.

So we have a different mindset than what we had at the very beginning in our

sinful state. And as we put on a new person of Jesus, well, then we put on our new mindset as well.

So in other words, he changes our worldview, the way we see things,

the way that our world looks and how we interact with our world and how our

lives had transformed in that.

And part of the transformation is that we become left self-centered.

And so we want to show Christ to each other in our world by reaching out to

our world with compassion, love, and generosity in our heart.

And so that's our vision of our church. It's always been our vision since I've

been here, at least anyway.

And I don't think visions change much within churches, but that's what it is,

is to know Christ, is to become mature in Him, and that immaturity will not

be just part of what we do, but it's part of what we do as a church as we reach out into our world.

And as I said this morning, we're going to look at one aspect of more growth in Jesus.

So let's pray that the Holy Spirit will be at work in our life,

that he will speak to us where we need to be listening and he might do his transformative

work within our life. So let's pray.

Lord, I pray that as we open up your word and as we look at very briefly this

morning, just one aspect of growth in our life and how you're at work,

I pray, Lord, that you would be at work in our heart,

that you might enable us and equip us to stand different from our world so that

we might walk in a way that honors you and glorifies you because that's what you're on about, Lord.

That your people would glorify you in their lives.

So I just pray this in your name. Amen.

To quote a very old movie, it's a very old movie, it sort of dates me back from

Wall Street. This is a quote, greed, for the lack of better words, is good. Greed is right.

Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit.

Greed in all its forms, greed for life, greed for money, for love,

for knowledge, has marked the upward surge of mankind.

That's a quote from the actor Gordon, the character Gordon Gekko from the movie

Wall Street. And that quote encapsulates the worldview of consumerism,

that greed drives progress.

That we're better off because we always want more.

We want more success. We want more money. We want more experience.

We want more love. And let's be honest, the message is everywhere.

We live in a world that's addicted to more.

We're constantly bombarded with messages that say you're missing out.

FOMO is everywhere. You've got the fear of missing out, of having more and more and more.

And in fact, we're even told within our world, in order for you to be satisfied,

you've got to have more to be satisfied.

And sadly, in our world, contentment actually feels like a rare commodity.

And there's a paradox. Contentment is both starved and measured.

We chase something that by definition is about not needing more.

A strange world we live in.

So how do we live with peace in a world that tells us we're never enough?

Well, there's two ways of dealing

with it. One, either we escape from our world or we engage our world.

Throughout history, throughout Christian history, there's been a lot of people

who have tried to fight consumerism or their consumerism of their day through total withdrawal.

And you've read about some of the

funny things like Beerson the monk who refused to lie down for 40 years.

He slept while standing up, just so he could get his body in line.

Or Marcus the Younger, who sat naked in a swamp infested by mosquitoes for six

months, and the mosquitoes just ravaged his body.

Or this guy called Simon Stylas, or Simon the Pole-Sitter, where he sat on top

of a 60-foot pillar for 30 years to escape temptation, to get himself or themselves out of the world.

Their devotion was sincere, I think, but their solution was pretty flawed,

as you probably can imagine.

Because even though you can remove yourself from the culture around you,

you can't remove yourself from you.

The heart goes with you and your desire for more, your craving for control,

your craving for comfort and recognition.

They're inside of us and God is doing a work inside of us to transform us to be more like him.

So if the answer is an escape, then what is it? Well, our passage talks about

it. It's about transformation.

And instead of running from the world, we let God reshape our hearts within us, within our world.

And let me tell you, it takes more courage for you to give your heart in transformation

to God in this consumer-driven world than it does to sit on a pole for 30 years.

Although, you know, it'd be okay sitting on a pot for 30 years. We're hooked on more.

We live in a society that is constantly selling that message.

You're just one purchase away from happiness. You're just one click away from fulfillment.

If you only had that new 2025 Samsung flip phone, that renovated kitchen,

that created wardrobe, if the Wallabies actually won.

If Manly didn't get that referee call that probably shouldn't have happened.

Then you'd finally be content. But that's a lie.

If you had everything, if everything was provided for you, if you had all the

possessions in the world, all the pleasures in the world, and all the position

in the world, would you finally be content?

I think Satan seals us that lie because we wouldn't be.

In fact, the whole system, the cycle of craving and comparison is just exhausting,

but it's also deceptive.

I mean, are we really the top priority of corporations when they try to sell us those lines?

Let's put it to the test. We'll ask Google. Google, is HCF really a not-for-profit health fund?

This is what they say. We want to make a positive difference.

As a not-for-profit fund, we've paid out more benefits than the industry average.

Doesn't that sound great?

Hey, Google, how much did HCF make last year? $4 billion in revenue.

Great. That means that as a not-for-profit, that that would mean that our premiums

for members would have gone down or even free, right?

Let's ask again. Google, how much did HCF premiums increase in 2025?

HCF, Hospital Contribution Fund Australia premiums increased by an average of 4.9% in 2025.

The increase took effect on 1st of April 2025. The increase is part of a broader

trend of premium hikes across the private health industry and insurance industry in Australia,

where the average increase was 3.73 approved by the government.

HGF put up their funds after $4 million profit for a non-profit organization

by 1.5% more than the industry average.

That's just one company. But it begs the question, doesn't it?

How do we live in a world that's shaped by that?

How are we transformed by the renewing of our mind? I think our passage from Romans addresses this.

We are formed or shaped by what we consume.

I know that my waistline is formed and shaped by what I consume.

But our mind is also formed and shaped. Our worldview is formed and shaped by

what we consume in our life.

And this is what Romans 12 verse 2 says.

Romans 12:2

Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

And the word conformed in Greek means being molded.

It means to be shaped by the external pressures.

It's like liquid that's being

poured into a container it's just not randomly in some kind of shape the container

that is there is mold the mold that's there will be what you look like at the

end of it so whatever mold you're holding whether it's the world's mold of consumerism,

whatever you're pouring into it will eventually become

like that mold the pattern

of the world tells us that you are what you own you are how you look you are

of whatever others think of you success is visible achievement accumulation

and social media just magnifies it all the time,

You don't need to be told what you want. You're already being shaped by our world.

But Paul says, don't be discipled by the culture.

Be discipled by Jesus. Don't let the world define your mold, but let God reshape you.

Whatever you're pouring into your life, whatever it finishes off like,

your contentment in life will be shaped by what God provides for you.

So let God transform you from the inside out. And that word transformed is metamorphosis.

It's where we get that word from. It's like that caterpillar becoming a butterfly.

It's deep. It's lasting change. It's not behavior modification.

It's spiritual renewal. So here's the grow part. How are we spiritually renewed?

Well, I think first of all, the scripture replaces truth, replaces lies and

gives us the truth of God.

I'm loved and secure in Christ.

And that replaces that I need more to matter in my life.

I need more to fulfill me in satisfaction in the life.

I need more to be content in my life. It replaces that lie with,

I am loved by Jesus and secure in him.

That's what God's word does. How much are you getting into God's word?

That will determine your growth, I think, throughout the whole of your life.

As you develop a hunger and a thirst for God's word, the Holy Spirit will be

doing a work within your life. So he starts to transform your heart into your

mind that works out into your attitudes.

And one of the attitudes is that I'm content in Jesus just the way I sit.

Of course, the Holy Spirit works and appropriates God's word in our life through prayer.

We surrender our desire to control and tune into God's voice because as we're

listening to God's voice through his word,

then we can speak to him about our desire for him to bring that into our life

and to transform us and to change us. And we do that through prayer.

And we do that as we look at verse one of that passage through worship.

And it's not just worship up here in singing, it's worship as in the whole of

our life committed to glorify God.

That is the chief purpose of you and the chief purpose of me,

if you want to get into the Westminster Confession and Spurgeon is to glorify God in all that we do.

And in glorifying God, it will be how we hold his priorities,

how we work with him, how he is our everything.

It's worship of him. And that is all of our life and what we give.

Here, and what we do in singing and worshiping and listening to God's wording,

giving and fellowshipping and connecting together is all a microcosm of all of your life.

And hopefully we're taught through church about how we're to worship God in

everything that we do, whether it's our family in singing songs,

although probably we don't want to sing songs in my car because it's just out

of tune and everything. It's certainly not like Jason and the team, that's for sure.

But it's like that, isn't it? Our life is part of a reflection of who we view

Jesus and where we place him in our life.

And as we get into our community, as we join with others, as we get into connect

groups and we allow people to challenge us and to stretch us and to support us and encourage us.

All those things that happen within the connect group as we join together as

community, we journey with others who are also being transformed and that's

such a blessing in our life.

So there's, I think, part of the growth.

We're under God's word. We're immersed in prayer. where we worship as we re-center

our hearts, not on ourself, but on Jesus.

And as we journey with others, we're able to support each other in transformation.

Our minds are being renewed as our perspectives shift.

We go from scarcity where we feel as though we don't have enough to sufficiency

where God has provided everything.

We go from envy of what someone else might have in their life to gratitude of what God has given to us.

We go from serving ourselves to serving others.

We go from comparison of what our world has and what each other has to contentment

about what we are and who we are in Christ.

And when we grow in that and when we grow in maturity, we're able to test and

approve what God's will is in our life, his good, pleasing, and perfect will.

We will see that clearly.

We'll become wise and you'll know what matters most in your life. But it's not just Paul.

Jesus teaches that, of course, but in a different way.

He says, watch out, be on your guard against all kinds of greed.

Life does not consist of an abundance of possessions.

So Jesus constantly flipped the script on what we value.

He praised the poor widow who gave the two coins.

He praised, like we saw in our thing, the person who poured the expensive oil on his feet.

He told the rich man not to give it all away. He taught his disciples to trust

in God for their daily bread.

And Jesus is constantly flipping that script.

He doesn't condemn wealth. He does confront our attachment to it.

And I think it's because chasing more often leads us away from him rather than toward him.

But it's not just a one-off experience, isn't it? All of a sudden now we're content.

We know that. We know that it is learned through trust throughout all of our life.

And Paul talks about that in Philippians chapter 4.

Philippians 4 · chapter mention

He says, I've learned to be content in whatever the circumstances.

I can do all of this through Christ who gives me strength.

And as we know that Paul did not have an easy life.

He was beaten, shipwrecked, imprisoned, misunderstood, everything that we probably

won't be shipwrecked, maybe.

Probably not beaten. Maybe not imprisoned.

We might sometimes be misunderstood. But whatever circumstances we find in our

life, God can give you strength to not view the circumstances from the world's

perspective, but from his.

And that's what Paul talks about. He says, I have learned to be content. It isn't natural.

It's a learned posture of the heart. It's choosing to trust that Jesus is enough

regarding our circumstances, whether they're positive or whether they're negative.

It is so easy sometimes, I think, to trust God when we have negative circumstances in our life.

But how hard is it to trust God when we have positive circumstances in our life?

Because I think that's what's happening with the whole contentment and consumerism of our world.

It tries to get you to the point of your mind where you think you're self-sufficient.

You don't need to trust God anymore. Why? Because I have an income and I have

you know, all the things I've built my life, the circumstances of my life so that I've got,

basically the downside, I've minimized the downside, I've done my risk assessment,

so therefore I don't need God anymore.

How hard it is to trust God in the positive aspects of our circumstances.

It's easier in the negative to put our trust in him because quite often the

solution can only be provided by him.

But let me say, I think even in the positive aspects of life,

the solution can only be found by him in that.

We need to give it to him to say, my temptation, God, is to just become consumeristic

in my mind and discontent with what I have. Help me with that.

True contentment sets us free from the chains of our culture that is pressing

upon us and allows us to release ourselves to God in everything.

What's one way in which we'll see that? Well, generosity will become evident in your life.

Paul and Timothy says this, command those who are rich not to put their hope

in wealth, but to be rich in good deeds and to be generous and willing to share.

See, the sisters of contentment is generosity and compassion.

In a world that's obsessed with getting, giving is a revolutionary act,

but it will be a sign to you as

you become generous of heart that you've presented your body as sacrifices,

to give every time you can, to maybe give away your time.

Everyone says that they're time poor, but do we give all of our time to Jesus?

To give away the energy that you have or the resources that you have,

you declare that my trust isn't in stuff, it's in the security of Jesus,

so therefore you're generous.

Imagine a church not known for wealth and trendiness, but for generosity,

where our needs are met, where our tables are open,

where people matter more than the possessions that we have.

It's compelling, isn't it? That's what it means to look like Jesus.

Because ultimately, we're not consumers. We're disciples.

We want to become more like him. and our churches should reflect more of him

in everything that we do.

So Paul says to the church of Colossians or Colossae, set your minds on things

above, not on earthly things, for you died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

Consumerism tells you, you are what you buy. But Jesus says,

you are mine, you are chosen, you are loved, you are free.

You are not defined by your clothes, by your car, by your job,

by the social media image that's presented to you.

You are defined by the cross.

So, what's our conclusion? Let's be a church marked by enough, not by more.

Let's be a church that's not marked by consumerism but by contentment as we

freely give of ourselves as we stop competing and start serving,

where we find joy not in the more but in Jesus,

as we're not conformed to the pattern of this world but we are transformed by

the renewing of our mind that we will be people who grow in Christ who live

the deep down soul truth of God's word that we are enough in him.

Amen? Let's pray.

Lord, the pattern of this world, the mold that this world is trying to put us

in, is to eliminate our need for you,

to drive us to the point to say we're not enough unless we have stuff,

and whether we are somebody or whether we have the pleasure of this world,

and you say that we are all that we need to be in you.

So lord help us to present ourselves our

complete selves to you as sacrifices to

you so that you might do a work in our

hearts and mold us to be more like you and that that transformation might come

from the inside out and that we might be people who are generous we might be

people who are compassionate and we might be people who are content in you.

And I pray this in your name. Amen.