S5 E35 - The Great Glass Bear Phenomenon

Starbucks released a limited edition collectors item in a glass iced coffee bear cup. People went nuts over them, because each store only got a few each. But others saw this also as an opportunity to fool others, setting up fradulent sites to con others into purchasing what they thought was the real thing. 

We need to see the Kingdom and the Gospel in this way as well. We must search high and low and be willing to do anything to gain entrance into the Kingdom. Yet we also must be wise, because many have gone out to deceive the unsuspecting so that they fall for what is not the real thing. 

#SetYourMindAbovePodcast

Transcript

What if I told you that God could be seen in the most ordinary things every day? 

What if I told you that every day, ordinary events could teach us extraordinary eternal truths? Would you believe me? 

 Welcome back to season 5 of the Set Your Mind Above Podcast! My name is BJ Sipe, and I am a Christian, a preacher, a husband, and a father. And I’m excited to share a few moments together with you learning some important lessons from the simplest things. Let’s grow together! 

At this point, I would assume that 99% of our listening audience is well aware of my love for coffee. You will almost never catch me working from the comfort of my office throughout the week but instead frequenting one of our local coffee shops on a regular basis. While my usual haunt is in downtown Danville at Dry Stack Coffee, occasionally when I need to be on the other side of town I’ll pop into our local Starbucks as well – where we have made a lot of good friendships with the team that works there. Well, last week was a big and busy week for that team as Starbucks dropped their holiday cups and line of drinks on the seventh of November. But there is something that Starbucks did this year that made it even busier and more chaotic – they released a limited addition promotional item of these cute glass iced coffee cups shaped like a bear in a stocking cap. I’ve got to say, when I first saw them advertised, I had it in my mind that I might try to snag one myself. That is until I talked with the staff on hand. “Oh, you’re gonna need to be here early,” they said, “We open at 5 am, you’re gonna need to be lined up at the door at least by 4 am most likely.” I laughed, that’s a no go for me. A cute glass bear cup is fun, but I’m not dragging myself out bed at 3 am to go stand in the cold and freeze for an hour for a coffee container. 

As it turns out, I made the right decision. After the release, reports started coming out of just how limited these cups were going to be. Each store received a grand total of only 1, possibly 2 cups at the most. Unless you were literally the very first person in line, you would have not left with the coveted collector’s item. While this is a clever marketing tactic on the part of Starbucks, seeing as it gets people in the door to come buy coffee, it left customers in a frenzy and upset all across the nation. People were angry, even fighting in some places – all over a $30 glass bear cup. After market value of these cups sky rocketed as some of the lucky few put their bears up for sale to the highest bidder. Some cups were being sold second hand for well over $500. One delusional recipient listed their glass bear for $50,000 on eBay – not including a charge of $8.27 for shipping and handling. While I highly doubt anyone will be stupid enough to pay $50k for a glass bear, it does not surprise many that people are paying nearly a 2000% markup for the item. 

Given this item was so coveted, unfortunately for the corrupt and greedy heart, someone saw this as an opportunity to take advantage of desperate, unsuspecting hopeful customers. I can’t even remember the name of the website, but across my social media screen came an advertisement for a company claiming to have acquired a large number of glass bears, and were selling them for $60 a piece – a relatively small amount in comparison to other aftermarket values. Sounds too good to be true…right? Turns out, with just the slightest bit of research and digging, one could have discovered that it was. The website boasted of all 5 star reviews, with customers claiming they stood in line for hours and didn’t get a bear – but now they were so happy to find this site and get their glass cup after all for such a low price! The only problem was an ever so slight time discrepancy…all of these reviews were dated to mid to late September. Why is this a problem? Because these promotional items were not even released to the public until November 7. Clearly these were fraudulent reviews and a fraudulent website, established in order to take advantage of desperate customers thinking they had found what they were looking for – but not taking enough time to ensure that it was actually the real thing. 

As I’ve sat back and watched as a casual observer over the Great Glass Bear Phenomenon, I could not help but to stop and consider a couple of very striking parallels between what is happening with the demand for these bears and what is happening with the gospel of Christ. One of these applications is positive in nature – something we need to come to understand about our search for the truth. The second is negative in nature – a warning that we must heed about those who want to take advantage of those desperately searching for the truth. 

For starters, we must realize the worth and value of the kingdom of God, and what we must be willing to do in order to obtain it. In Matthew 13:44-46, Jesus will speak to the nature of the kingdom of heaven – and what one’s search for it should resemble. He would teach, “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure, buried in a field, that a man found and reburied. Then in his joy he goes and sells everything he has and buys that field. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls. When he found one priceless pearl, he went and sold everything he had and bought it.” Look at the effort that people went to simply to acquire a little coffee trinket over the past week – they lined up early, they paid astronomical prices above retail value, they scoured the internet just to obtain this one little item. How much more so should our efforts be to come to know the truth and enter into the kingdom of God? We cannot even begin to comprehend the immense value that the Kingdom actually has – it is beyond anything we could ever imagine in this life. In his illustrations, Jesus makes it clear that the one who truly understands this will be willing to do or sacrifice anything in order to enter the kingdom. There is no cost to great, no task to large, no sacrifice too demanding. It is why Jesus would ask the rhetorical question in Matthew 16:26, “For what will it benefit someone if he gains the whole world yet loses his life? Or what will anyone give in exchange for his life?” What does it profit a man to gain the whole world but lose his soul & miss out on the kingdom? Nothing. It profits him nothing. But what does it profit us to lose the whole world, even our own lives, in order to gain entrance into the kingdom? Everything. To quote the words of an old friend since gone home to his reward, “If you miss heaven, you’ve missed all there is.” 

Understanding this, however, we need to take heed that there are some that will set out to take advantage of those who are desperately seeking entrance into the kingdom. How will they do this? By putting forth false teaching, a false gospel, and a fraudulent kingdom for their own personal gain that the simple and unsuspecting will fall for if they do not do their own study and careful inquiry of the Word. We are warned in 2 Peter 2:1-3, “There were indeed false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, and will bring swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their depraved ways, and the way of truth will be maligned because of them. They will exploit you in their greed with made-up stories. Their condemnation, pronounced long ago, is not idle, and their destruction does not sleep.” I was just having a conversation with a friend this week about the way men have exploited religion for their own personal gain for centuries. They offer Christ without cost, discipleship without discipline, redemption without repentance, forgiveness without faithfulness, and salvation without sacrifice. When something sounds too good to be true, one need only do the slightest digging into God’s Word to discover that it most likely is. John warns us himself 1 John 4:1, “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” To test the spirits, we must measure what men offer and say next to the Scriptures. John would continue in vv. 5, “They are from the world. Therefore what they say is from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Anyone who knows God listens to us; anyone who is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deception.”

My friends, the kingdom is worth more than anything else in this life, and we must desperately seek it and be willing to do anything God asks in order to gain entrance into the kingdom. But be aware, many false teachers will seek to take advantage of unsuspecting truth seekers for their own personal gain. They promise the truth, but what they actually offer is fraudulent. May we seek entrance into the kingdom of God, and may we be on guard to ensure that what we buy stock into is truly the real thing. 

This has been the Set Your Mind Above Podcast, season 5 episode 35 – and I’m so thankful that we had this time to grow together! A new episode is dropped each Friday, so be sure to tune in next week.  Also, if you’re able to, go ahead and like and subscribe to the podcast, give us a good rating or most importantly share it with someone else – it would help to reach others that I never could alone.  And more than anything, always remember the following: know that I love you, that God loves you, and may we all each and every day set our minds above.