Jay-Z and Kanye West have this song called “Who Gon Stop Me,” where they critique the excess of American Consumerism at the cost of its own people. That is the current state of individualistic paradigm. It’s prevalent in our attitudes, views and our so-called altruism. Here’s what Jay-Z and Kanye say in their critique: “so many watches I need eight arms/One neck but got eight charms” Yes, it is extravagant and wasteful, but we’re no different than these rappers. All we have to do is open our closet. All we have to do is look in our trash can. All we really have to do is look at our credit card statements. We are consuming so much by ourselves and nobody is stopping us to question where this is all going. We forget the cost behind the money being spent. We forget that while we make ourselves overflow with stuff, people fade into the periphery of society, devoid of life. But I want us to imagine: what would happen to our culture if we shifted that paradigm? If we altered that mentality and stopped thinking about us and how we can be saved – and asked, rather, how can God be glorified, celebrated and adored by our neighbor – our lives may be radically different. Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor. – 1 Corinthians 10:24 The Apostle Paul writes this directive knowing that the Christians of Corinth have taken the communion and fellowship with God, and their life of the gospel unfolding before their eyes, and made it into a consumerist ideology where their personal salvations stem from seeking an ultimate longing for eternal happiness. In plain English, the churchgoers in Corinth only went to church because they were trying to consume eternal life. They didn’t really care about God or His glory. They had an ulterior motive and were caught pretending. Perhaps that was too strong: the Corinthians did have strong inclinations towards God’s glory, but had lost that passion. They didn’t really care about God and His glory anymore, because they began to consume the Christian religion like we consume Big Macs. They were alienating people (Christians and non-Christians alike) in their quest for whetting their appetites for the good things of God through an astonishing act of selfishness, thus corrupting the original intention of Christ’s sacrifice. What they were interested in was how to get into the promised land, and what it was going to cost. In response to that, Paul says, “I’m gonna stop you.” He changes the paradigm of salvation completely. When I talk about salvation here, I’m talking about the work of God that continues to save us from ourselves daily, moment by moment: the grace of God on our lives in the process of sanctification. He directs our attention away from ourselves and focuses it on the salvation of somebody else, that is, he wants to know whether our actions are self-interested motivations or if they are concerned with the purification of people around you. He begs the question, “what if your salvation is not really about your salvation but really about the other guy’s salvation?” Our reflection this morning is simply difficult; it is easy to say, but hard to fulfill. The thing that stops us from consuming for ourselves is the physical presence of our neighbors. Our neighbors are people whose lives are affected by our living: starting with the homeless person on the street you stare down in sadness, to the hungry crying child on the subway, and on to the people you work with in the office. Their presence should stop us from doing things just for ourselves, for the sake of consumption. Their presence should compel us to consume their needs, fulfill them. Underlying this idea is the fact that when we all fulfill each other’s needs, we all get taken care of in a circle of gospel-centered life. In seeking the good for our neighbors, we glorify God, celebrate His love, and become mindful of Jesus’ actions of seeking the good for humanity on the cross. God’s good doesn’t abound in our consumption, when our needs are satisfied and we are blessed; on the contrary, it abounds and floods out when His people seek the good and bless the world at large.