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Hillside O’Malley SDA Church

David Shin

Possessed by Possessions

Our message today is entitled Possessed by Our Possessions.

And there was about 20 years ago, a photographer that went on a project throughout the world and his intention was to take a photograph of individuals in different parts of the world with all of their earthly possessions parked outside of their home.

You can see this picture here, very austere, as you can see, as you go to different parts of the world.

And I was amazed living as a Westerner in a land of plenty where you can go to Walmart and Costco and buy things.

And I'm just amazed when I go into these warehouses, I'm like, where did all this stuff come from?

And you acquire things and before long, you have a lot of stuff.

But you can see that different parts of the world, people don't have a lot of things.

And I'm just gonna go through these pictures that this photographer took on this project of all of individuals' possessions.

You can see this entire family, multiple children in the home with all of their earthly possessions on their roof.

I'm just gonna go through very quickly here.

This is, I believe, in Mongolia, another photograph of all of the earthly possessions of this couple.

This is another place in Asia, all the earthly possessions there.

Another place in the east with all of their earthly possessions.

And this earthly possession seems mostly corn there outside with some baskets.

And I was struck as I saw, I was like, you mean that's all you own?

Now in the West, we have another problem.

They actually have reality television shows called hoarders, where individuals accrue all these things and they just can't get rid of it.

Now, I remember when I graduated from the seminary, I moved out of graduate school to my first district, all of my earthly belongings in my two-door Nissan Sentra.

Everything I owned in this little two-door hatchback.

Finally, my neighbor felt so sorry for me she gave me her futon and we have that futon to this day.

Then I got married and we crammed ourselves into a two-bedroom apartment and we were very happy And then we bought a home.

And we're like, what are we going to do with all this room?

So we filled it And we stayed in our last district in Michigan for about 8 years, and we moved from Michigan to Alaska.

And then we started going through our stuff for the move.

And when we moved up here, we filled a semi-trailer with our stuff.

Now part of that semi-trailer was our car so I feel a little bit better but it was amazing.

As I pulled out boxes I had not touched in years and I'm thinking to myself why did I buy this?

I wish I hadn't bought this but then the thought comes I shouldn't give it away.

I shouldn't sell it because maybe someday I will use it.

And so it went on the journey from Michigan to Alaska.

And we still have many of those things today and just stuff begins to accumulate.

And, you know, owning things is not inherently wrong.

In order to function and be productive you have to have things and the Bible says that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were very wealthy and had many things.

You see, in the New Testament, Jesus didn't own much of anything.

The Bible says that he didn't have a place to lay his head and when he died, the most valuable thing that Jesus owned was the robe that he wore.

The Bible says it was in 1 piece without seam and the soldiers looked at it and said, this is a nice garment, we shouldn't rend it.

So the Bible says they cast lots so that 1 person could take that.

Only thing that Jesus had was a shirt on his back.

So the Bible does not inherently say that there's something wrong with owning something or having many things or less things, but there is something about our association with things and how we relate to things when something goes from a utilitarian and functional role to something else, that is where the true issue lies.

Because the Bible says in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew chapter 6 verse 20 and 21, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

When something goes from functionality to being treasured, that is where the issue lies.

Now many of you know from my past sermons that I'm a hobbyist photographer.

It is therapeutic And here in Alaska, it has been a photographer's dream.

You just drive south and it's just pristine, beautiful, like National Geographic.

And I'm taking pictures and just taking this all in.

And photography can be a very expensive hobby.

There's these forums where people get into arguments, Canon versus Nikon, and it's just this subculture.

And there was this 1 lens that I had been eyeing for years.

Now if you know anything about photography, 1.2 aperture, that lets in just so much light.

You know, 1.2 aperture, and it takes out, takes these photographs that just blow out the background into this creaminess that photographers call bokeh.

1.2 aperture and I saved and I saved and I saved and I bought this lens used on eBay because I could not afford the full price and it came in the mail.

And I still remember to this day, when I opened that box, it was like, ta-da, you know, just the euphoria.

And I picked it up and it was heavy it was like 2 pounds so much glass in there to make that 1.2 aperture now if you're not a photographer you're like whatever but just just imagine you know this beautiful lens and and the rationale was this is for baby pictures expensive lens I'm gonna tell you the price it was like $900 expensive you know I saved up for it you know just bought it cash pulled it out I remember when I put it on the lens and I took the photograph it was just dreamy Post on on Instagram check my Instagram every 5 minutes to see how many likes were on there.

Oh You know what I noticed about that lens?

Every time I used it, I was so worried that there would be some dust on the front of that element.

Every time Hudson sneezed 3 feet away, I would turn.

That lens was in a secret location in my house, behind some books.

Every time I would leave the home on a trip, I would make sure that lens was hidden away, because we live in Anchorage.

I did not want someone coming into my home and stealing my most prized possession, my 50 millimeter 1.2 that was hidden behind there.

And so I would make sure it was tucked away.

And it stayed there for the majority of the time that I owned it on the shelf.

Oh, every now and then I would go into that room, pull it out, and admire it, shine it up, and then I would put it back.

And then the realization through the Holy Spirit came upon me that I did not own the lens.

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

When something goes from a utilitarian focus to idolatry, which is what that was.

That is where Jesus says, that's the rub.

Do you have something in your life that you don't own but owns you.

You have something that you treasure, your most prized possession.

Jesus says, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

And I sold that lens and it was hard, but it was so liberating.

I remember when I packaged that thing off and sent it off to some dear soul, I said, you're gonna enjoy this.

I hope you can use it in a functional way because for me, my relationship with this item was idolatry.

I had a friend of mine in college, told the testimony.

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Possessed by Possessions

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