When Dreams Become Nightmares
Prayer for Enlightenment
The scripture that was just read about the sower and the seeds – I’d like you to put that in the back
of your mind as we talk this morning and in the coming days. As you ponder that parable,
remember each of you has been sown on good soil. So ask yourself, how much are you yielding for
yourself and for God. OK? Just keep that question right here.
Have you ever thought about what it is that characterizes the greatest hopes, desires, and dreams
of most Americans? … that Great American Dream?
The Great American Dream is a set of ideals in which freedom includes the opportunity for
prosperity and success, and upward social mobility, achieved through hard work. In the definition
of the Great American Dream by historian James Truslow Adams in 1931, “life should be better
and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement,”
regardless of social class or circumstances of birth. The idea of the Great American Dream is
rooted in the United States Declaration of Independence which proclaims that “all men are created
equal” and that they are “endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights" including "Life,
Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”1
The Great American Dream is an ideal that has been present since American literature’s onset.
Typically, the dreamer aspires to rise from rags to riches, while accumulating such things as love,
high status, wealth, and power on the way to the top. The dream has had variations throughout
different time periods, although it is generally based on ideas of freedom, self-reliance, and the
desire for something greater. The early settlers’ dream of traveling out West to find land and start
a family has gradually transformed into a more materialistic vision of having a big house, a nice car,
and a life of ease as indications of attaining success. In The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby is a self-made
man who started out with no money — only a plan for achieving his dream. But he is so blinded by
his luxurious possessions that he does not see that money cannot buy love or happiness.2 This is
exactly what the Kohelet, the “teacher,” who was the son of King David and the author of
Ecclesiastes, was saying when he wrote: 10The lover of money will not be satisfied with money;
nor the lover of wealth, with gain. This also is vanity. (Ecclesiastes 5:10 NRS)
1
Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, American Dream, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American Dream
2
Auth. Unk. http://www.unc.edu/~jwladyb/Gatsby.pdf
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I guarantee our advertising agencies are acutely aware of our increasing materialism and actively
market to it – just look at the ads on TV or in newspapers and magazines. Many people in this
country have a subconscious desire for achieving success. And we tend to measure our success by
the “stuff” we possess, whether it is our sleek, stylish new car; a soft, imported leather purse;
expensive clothes for the season; or the newest electronics and cell phones.
This love of money and the things money can buy is a primary or secondary motive behind much of
what we Americans do. We want to consume, to acquire, to buy our way to happiness — oh, and
we want it right now. But now has become a problem. Please watch this short video clip by Dr.
William Black, Associate Professor of Economics and Law at the University of Missouri in Kansas
City, and Dr. Stephen Pruitt, Chair of Business, Economics, and Finance at the Henry Bloch School of
Business, also at the University of Missouri in Kansas City.
Video “The Economic Crisis”
The Great American Dream has become the Great American Nightmare due to two distinct, yet
related, diseases we have contracted, illnesses that impact us both socially as Americans, and
spiritually as the Children of God. Let’s look at those diseases: first Affluenza
Affluenza is the constant need for more and bigger and better stuff — as well as the effect that this
need has on us. It comes from the virus called desire to acquire, and most of us have been
infected by this virus to some degree. This virus is as old as the history of humanity. We need only
look back to the second chapter of the Book of Genesis to see the first inkling of the power of this
virus. Beginning in verse 16 we read …16And the LORD God commanded the man, “You may freely
eat of every tree of the garden; 17but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not
eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.” (Genesis 2:16-17 NRS) Remember what
happened? God gave us almost everything in the world, certainly everything we needed to live,
but we wanted more. And we still do today.
 The average American home went from 1,660 square feet in 1973 to 2,392 square feet in
2010.3
 But the size of our houses is not enough! Even with two-car garages that often have no room
for cars, the average American can’t store everything in their house, so we rent additional
space in self-storage facilities. “Total self-storage rentable space in the US is now 2.3 billion
square feet (as of Q4-2012)…. That figure represents more than 78 square miles of rentable
self-storage space, under roof.”4 That is more than seven times the combined land area of
Universal City and Randolph AFB with room left over for the Forum and Rolling Oaks Mall.
3
Median and Average Square Feet of Floor Area in New Single-Family Houses Completed by Location.
http://www.census.gov/const/C25Ann/sftotalmedavgsqft.pdf
4
Self Storage Association: Your Not-For-Profit Trade Organization of the Self Storage Industry.
http://www.selfstorage.org/ssa/content/navigationmenu/aboutssa/factsheet/
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And, second –
Credit-itis
Credit-itis is an illness brought on by the opportunity to buy now and pay later. It feeds on, and is
driven by, our desire for instant gratification. Advertisers and marketers recognize our weakness
and that is why our current economy is built on the concept of Credit-itis. It exploits our lack of
self-discipline and allows us to feed our Affluenza, wreaking havoc with personal – and national –
finances.
Average credit card debt in America in 1990 was around $3,000. As of September 2013, based on
an analysis of Federal Reserve statistics and other government data, the average household owes
$7,084 on their credit cards, a growth in indebtedness that equals 2.36 times our 1990 level.
Looking only at indebted households that don’t pay off their balance each month, the average
outstanding balance rises to $15,185.
The U.S. household consumer debt profile as of last month also included

Average mortgage debt of $147,133, and

Average student loan debt of $31,509.5
When we buy with a credit card, we often spend more. The average credit card purchase is about
125% higher than the average cash purchase. Perhaps paying with plastic makes it seem less like
spending. And Credit-itis is not limited to purchases made with credit cards; it extends to car loans,
mortgages, home equity loans, etc. The length of car and home mortgage loans continues to
increase, while the average American’s savings rate continues to decline.
But there is a deeper problem within this Great American Nightmare that now envelopes us. It is a
spiritual issue just under the surface of Affluenza and Credit-itis, and it involves our God-given soul.
Our souls were created in the image of God, but from the very beginning they have become
distorted so that what was meant to desire God has now been turned into a virtually unlimited
desire for possessions. Think of it like this:
 We were meant to find our security in God, but we find it in amassing wealth.
 We were meant to love people, but instead we compete with them.
 We were meant to enjoy the simple pleasures of life, but we busy ourselves with pursuing
money and things.
 We were meant to be generous and to share with those in need, but we selfishly hoard our
resources for ourselves.
5
Tim. “nerdwallet.” http://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/credit-card-data/average-credit-card-debt-household/
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Let me say this another way, using Rev. Adam Hamilton’s phrase: There is a “sin nature” within us.
I prefer to think of it as the reverse side of one of God’s greatest gifts to us. God gave us free will;
that is, the freedom to choose between the paths God would have us travel, and paths that reject
God. And understand this very clearly, the Devil is all over those paths that reject God, working to
pull us onto them and away from God.
When we look at John 10:10, we step into a conversation where Jesus is talking to His disciples and
the Pharisees. Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they
may have life, and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10 NRS) The devil doesn’t need to tempt us to do
drugs or to steal or to have an extramarital affair in order to destroy us. All he needs to do is
convince us to keep pursuing the Great American Dream — to keep up with the neighbors, borrow
against our futures, enjoy more than we can afford, and over-indulge. When we do that, Satan
robs us of joy, makes us slaves, and keeps us from doing God’s will.
BUT! – It doesn’t have to be that way. The Bible offers us the solution.
 First, we need a change of heart. But you say “Wait a minute, preacher. I had my heart
changed when I accepted Jesus and was baptized.” For those who have, GREAT! You’ve made
the right first step. But remember our sin nature. We still need a heart change at the
beginning of each new day. We need to get down on our knees (at least mentally) and say,
“Lord, help me to be the person You want me to be today. Take away desires that shouldn’t be
there, and help me be single-minded in my focus and my pursuit of You.” As we do this, God
will cleanse us, from the inside out, and purify our hearts.
 And, second, we must allow Christ to work in us. Christ works in us as we seek first His kingdom
and strive to do His will. As this happens, we begin to sense a higher calling — a calling to
simplicity, and faithfulness, and generosity. We begin to look at ways we can make a difference
with our time and talents and resources. By pursuing good financial practices, we free
ourselves from debt so that we are able to be in mission to the world. A key part of finding
financial and spiritual freedom is found in simplicity and in exercising restraint.
So, with God’s help, we can:
 simplify our lives and silence the voices constantly telling us we need more and we need it right
now;
 live counter-culturally by living below, not above, our means;
 build into our budgets the money to buy with cash instead of credit;
 build into our budgets what we need to be able to live generously and faithfully; and
 ultimately, increase how much we yield for ourselves and for our God.
With God’s help, we can do this! Amen? AMEN!
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