Are you on the bandwagon?
If you are familiar with the modern Christian church at all, you have probably heard the term "prosperity gospel" or something similar. There is a debate in Christianity about whether the prosperity message preached by many pastors and teachers is truly biblical. But more than that, the prosperity message has gotten a bad wrap for its tendency to be taught as THE reason we are enticed to come to faith. I have listened to a few of the preachers who would likely be placed in the "prosperity gospel" category, but I can't say that I've heard much bad teaching. Maybe I'm just not hearing the right stuff, but it seems to me that the prosperity message is unhealthily rejected by many because they've heard a respected preacher or teacher criticize those who teach it. But this is just my perspective. When I hear messages that emphasize God's promises of prosperity, I generally find them biblical, relevant, and challenging. My opinion is this: if you haven't been diligent to study it for yourself, get off the anti-prosperity bandwagon and study to clarify the points that you find questionable. Then disagree with what you will.
The Prosperity Gospel
Generally speaking, my current understanding of the "prosperity gospel" is that if we will come to God with our needs, he will meet them and then bless us with plenty more. He will give us financial wealth, material blessings, miracles, and great faith to overcome all the hardships of life. So because we are promised spiritual and material blessing, we should then easily believe what God said. The problem with this is that while the prosperity spoken of is generally biblical, God is not trying to bribe anyone. He doesn't need to promise you anything to manipulate your carnal nature toward loving him. All He needs to do is love you first, which He has ultimately shown you through Christ. Your response then is to love Him in return. (1 John 4:19) The prosperity that comes from an obedient relationship with God is the natural result of that obedience. It is not your weekly "allowance" because you did your chores, but rather God's hand of blessing and protection when you have made Him Lord over your life and obeyed His commandments. The church often leaves Satan and his kingdom out of this equation as well. Obedience to God's commandments is to say "yes" to His way of doing things and "no" to Satan's way. You cannot serve two masters. God will allow you to be ruled by whichever one you choose. Enough about that. A few further points about biblical prosperity:
1) Biblical prosperity is not only spiritual, but relational and material.
Deuteronomy 28 lays out blessings and curses that God set before the nation of Israel through Moses. In them, material blessing is clearly stated. There is nothing inherently wrong with material blessing. The point is that you will be provided for. Even in Christ's ministry, he was not without. He may not have had material abundance, but He also did not have lack. I get tired of people saying that because Jesus was "poor," that we should be too. We are called to be LIKE Christ, not to be Christ himself. We are not called to the same exact ministry as Christ, so if you are called to own a ranch with cattle and sheep (Duet 28), and you have plenty of them and are "wealthy," that does not make you unlike Christ. Again the problem comes when we think of or teach the blessing as a primary motivation to come to God.
2) Biblical prosperity has further purpose than your own pleasure.
Psalm 1:3 (KJV) says: "3 And
he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth
forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and
whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." The "blessed" man in Psalm 1 is blessed because of his obedience to and love for God's law. Note here that he is like a tree which yields FRUIT. That fruit has purpose - it will provide for someone else. The prosperity of what this man does is there to aid him in blessing others. If God's people are not prospering, how is it that they can bear good fruit for others who are in need?
3) Biblical prosperity is tied to obedience to God's Word.
As in both the scripture passages mentioned above, the bible is very clear that obedience is the pathway to blessing. If we are serving other gods, and being disobedient to God's law, He is not going to prosper us because we aren't allowing His rule, but the devil's. In fact, allowing the devil to rule through disobedience and sin will gain us his blessing, which the bible calls a curse (Deut 28).
4) Suffering with Christ does not mean you need a disease to participate.
We are told in scripture (Romans 8, 2 Corinthians 1) that we are to share in the sufferings of Christ. That does not mean that ANY suffering is equivalent to the suffering of Christ. Christians err when they attribute disease to the suffering that we are called to in the New Testament. Christ did not have disease and God does not need to take life from you through disease so that you can serve him better. In fact, it is His desire to bless you with good health (Deut 28 again, also Isaiah 1). The reason I mention this point is because I've heard folks include this type of suffering into the anti-prosperity idea, but I do not believe that we need to be poor, weak, and frail in order to accomplish any of God's work on this planet.
5) "Prosperity" is not a bad word, nor does mentioning the concept mean that you agree with the "prosperity gospel."
Hopefully, it is clear that I am against the "prosperity gospel," but I am not against the message that God desires to bless and prosper His people. I do believe that scripture is clear in that God absolutely desires good things for you, including material blessing, but that is only a piece of the whole. Again, the blessing of God is tied to our obedience to His Word. Not only that, but James says we do not have what we ask for because we do not ask with the right motives, but with selfish gain in mind. So we must take the message of prosperity within the whole context of the scriptures, while not limiting God to a formula.
We should not, in our rejection of an unbalanced message from some, relinquish ourselves to the other extreme of the unbalanced message and so remain unbalanced ourselves. Do not simply and blindly reject everything you hear pertaining to God's blessing because some may have perverted the message overall. Finally, don't assume that just because someone talks, teaches, or preaches about "prosperity" that they are preaching the prosperity gospel. Listen and study for yourself, then judge.
Til next time...
