This past Sunday I encouraged my congregation to
consider how the Ferengi Factor is affecting our lives. Possibly you are
unaware of the Ferengi Factor. That is probably because I just made it up this
week. In FACT there may be the few of you who don’t know what a Ferengi is and
may be unfamiliar with this fictional civilization invented by the creators of
Star Trek.
Way back when it first appeared on television, I became
a fan of Star Trek. Not the type of fan who goes to Star Trek conventions and
has a room full of Star Trek toys (Though I wouldn’t mind having a model of the
Star Ship Enterprise for my desk.) and a Star Trek uniform. But I enjoyed the
show and watched it at every opportunity. The acting wasn't particularly good. And the special effects left much to be desired. What I liked was the social criticism many of the scripts contained. The writers were encouraging to take a look at what we do and how we think.
I haven’t followed through the years
as it morphed into Star Trek “Whatever” with new cast members and different
characters. But there were a few episodes that stuck in my memory. One of those
included the Ferengi.
The Ferengi were a species of super-capitalists that shaped
an entire culture around the pursuit of self-interest… sort of like Americans
on vacation. Their simple rules of acquisition resemble a dark-side core
discipling process:
- Infatuation
- Negotiation
- Acquisition
- Obsession
- Resale
In addition to these core values, the Ferengi have
some basic rules for life - almost 300 of them. They are not laws or religious
tenets, but just guidelines for living life the Ferengi way. Let me share a few
of them with you.
- Rule 006 - Never allow family to stand in the way of opportunity
- Rule 010 - Greed is eternal.
- Rule 012 - Anything worth doing is worth doing for money.
- Rule 016 - A deal is a deal. (until a better one comes along).
- Rule 021 - Never place friendship before profit.
- Rule 033 - It never hurts to suck up to the boss.
- Rule 039 - Friendship is temporary; profit is forever.
- Rule 041 - Profit is its own reward.
- Rule 042 - What's mine is mine, and what's yours is mine too.
- Rule 058 - There is no substitute for success.
- Rule 060 - Keep your lies consistent.
- Rule 097 - Enough is... never enough.
- Rule 106 - There is no honor in poverty.
- Rule 202 - The justification of profit is profit.
- Rule 266 - When in doubt, lie.
These rules would be funny and the Ferengi would be
ridiculous if they didn’t sound so eerily familiar. It sounds like the American
culture with the veneer stripped off. I believe what I call the Ferengi Factor
has powerfully impacted how we view:
- Our possessions
- Our money
- Our work
- Our families
- And thus our daily lives and our relationships
We need to stop and rethink some of our basic
suppositions. Why and how do we make decisions? What in our lives are important
and deserve our time and attention?
- People
- Relationships
- Family
- Friends
- Serving God in Ministry
- Making a difference for eternity
What is our answer to this problem of wanting so much
and being willing to do most anything to get it? How do we fit in the things we
know are more important? We never seem to consider giving up something we are
already doing. Instead, we cram more into our schedules and try to go faster. And
it is killing us and our relationships. Everyone is yelling at us and urging us
to do more. It is not sin, but busyness that keeps us from developing
meaningful relationship, having time to develop our relationship with God, and
time to include meaningful ministry in our daily lives. We don’t have time for growing
spiritually. It is not some much that we reject God and doing the important
things in life, we just don’t have the time. We struggle less with the Bible
and more with the clock and the calendar.
Take a look at this story Jesus told.
He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God
with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with
all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” “You have answered correctly,”
Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” But he wanted to justify himself,
so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” In reply Jesus said: “A man was
going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They
stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A
priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he
passed by on the other side. So too, a
Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But
a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he
took pity on him. He went to him and
bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own
donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out
two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and
when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ “Which
of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands
of robbers?” The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.” Luke 10:27-37 (NIV)
What strikes me about this story is not that the
priest and the Levite are bad people. Instead, I think they are busy people.
They are important and they have places to be and things to do. They were so
busy doing good things they ignored the things God had for them to do. They
almost tripped over the needy man but managed to ignore him.
We don’t feel guilty because of sin, though we
probably should. If we feel guilt, we feel guilty because we don’t have time
for our spouses, our children, our friends and our God. We don’t come home
staggering drunk, we come home staggering tired. And voices all around us: our
bosses, our pastor, our parents, our wives, our husbands, even ourselves all
telling us to do more and run faster.
Might I suggest that our lives would be better, fuller
and more meaningful if we removed the Ferengi Factor? What would life be like,
what would the church be like if we dropped the idea that success in life is
having more, better, newer, faster. Instead of seeking to be successful – we
were to seek to live lives of significance.
Let’s look at what Jesus simply asks of us: “Come, follow
me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” Matthew 4:19
(NIV)
Let’s be real people. What we are doing is not working.
Acting like a bunch of Ferengi is neither meaningful nor fulfilling. While we
are living our lives at warp speed, while real life is passing us by like a
blur. We are constantly frustrated because we don’t get to be with the people
who really count because we are doing things that really don’t count. To change
things we are going to have to decide to crank it down a couple of notches. When
someone starts yelling that you need to do more perhaps you need to ignore
them. We need to begin making some difficult, Godly decisions.
Think again: “Where am I going in such a huge hurry?” “Does
what I am doing really matter?”
Copyright © 2014, William T. McConnell, All Rights
Reserved
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