The Ferengi Factor

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