The Encourager
“Consumers - by Steve Peeler”
Consumers
by Steve Peeler
“The customer is always right” is a business motto we have all heard. We, as consumers, have become more powerful with the popularity of social media. Long ago, a business did not have to worry as much about a disgruntled customer. Who were they going to tell? Now, Fortune 500 companies have been forced to make big changes in their business models because of what customers posted with their phones. The power of the consumer has grown to drive change in a profound way.
How has consumerism affected religion? In one way, families are “shopping” for a congregation. They want the one that fits their needs. Theology, how a group teaches, or if they even teach the truth has become less important to the perceived needs of the family unit. Instead of searching for truth, they are looking for what they can get out of it. Congregations are picking up on this and are marketing themselves to shoppers.
The preaching gets softer and the lines in the sand get replaced with broad ideas of acceptance in the name of God’s grace. They feel that the consumer is always right, and God, well, He understands. When it is brought down to its most basic element, consumer Christianity is nothing new. It is just packaged differently.
The Bible talks about it this way: “Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them. For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting” (Rom. 16:17-18).
Paul also wrote, “Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things” (Phil. 3:17-19).
Those who follow their appetite rather than the pattern are consumers.
· If I make worship about what I get out of it instead of what I am
offering to God, I am a consumer.
· If I make my service to Him about who sees me doing it instead of genuine service, I am a consumer.
· If the church must serve me and my needs instead of me looking out for others, I am a consumer.
The cry of the consumer in judgment will be, “Didn’t we do great things and didn’t we glorify You Lord!” He will say, “I never knew you; depart from Me.”
