Wordly Thinking in Prosperity Teaching

In 2 Timothy 3.12 the apostle Paul said that "… everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted". Unfortunately I've heard too many prosperity teachers always talk about life getting better, leaving the suffering part out which is fundamental to Christian faith . Andrew Heard commented on the difference between Bible based teaching and the prosperity gospel in an issue of The Briefing. He stated that "the difference doesn't lie in the conviction that God can and does bless his people with physical healing or material prosperity, as this has always been accepted as biblical; the difference lies in the conviction that Christians ought to expect God to bless them physically and materially here and now [prosperity teaching]" (Heard, 2006, p. 10). Personally I get offended when a pastor at a Sunday service tells me that God wants to prosper me, I don't go to church because I want more money. I go simply because God chose me to belong in his kingdom and opened my eyes up to his truth, everything God says makes sense, everything the prosperity teacher says doesn't make sense. I believe Jesus Christ died to save us from our sins and has conquered death, being raised to life by perfectly obeying the law, not massing immense amounts of money to pay off our spiritual debt. Security lies in trusting God's promise of the life to come; not trying to stay alive in this world by material riches, covering our insecurity by saying we'll use it to give to other people. This world may revolve around money, but God's world revolves around Christ.

The apostle Paul didn't appear to lead a life that was getting better after he became a Christian, as he was eventually martyred (Shelley, 1995). This actually raises an interesting question; can prosperity teachers advocate sacrifice for Christ when they keep telling us life will get better ? Surely those who are martyred are godly Christians, but wouldn't that involve suffering? Either those Christians truly died for Christ in the most sacrificial way or they weren't listening properly to prosperity teachers. I think those martyrs were listening to God and leading the way in boldness for Christ.

One man who faced tremendous adversity and trial from the false teaching of the Roman Catholic Church during the 16th century was Martin Luther. He is widely recognised as a major theologian and reformer who stimulated the movement of the Protestant Church towards Biblical doctrine. During this period the Roman Catholic Church taught that indulgences could be bought with money to release one from the temporal penalties of sin. Martin Luther was opposed to such teaching and his argument has striking resemblance today for prosperity teachers: "in our day we are taught by the doctrine of men to seek nothing but merits, rewards, and the things that are ours; of Christ we have made only a taskmaster far harsher than Moses" (Luther, 16th C., p. 41). Let alone the drift from Biblical teaching, the problem with indulgences and prosperity teaching is that it encourages and even attempts to justify greed for money in order to please God.

It is not so much the donation of money itself that pleases God, but rather the desire to give of what one already has. In Luke 18.10-14 Jesus told "two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men – robbers, evildoers, adulterers – or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.' But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.' I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted". From the parable of the Pharisee and tax collector we can see that God takes notice of our heart more than the outwardly actions that we may perform.

As Martin Luther put it; "good works do not make a good man, but a good man does good works" (Luther, 16th C., p. 32). Having Christ as number one in life means desiring to become more like Him. Often a good man who performs good works makes a sacrifice, putting the welfare of others before their own. Christ put our interests before His own, freely dying on the cross for our sake, so that we could be reconciled to God. His heart was in the right place and a prosperous life was not required to purchase our eternity.

As Christ suffered in the world against a culture of hatred and selfishness, we too should prepare for suffering by simply being different, saying "no" to the way things are done. We can be glad that Christ chose us to serve Him and reside in His everlasting kingdom. In Romans 5.4 it says "… rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope". It isn't the promise of a material return on faith that provides hope. Joel Osteen (senior pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas) commented that if you tithe your income, God will "make sure you get promoted. He'll cause you to get the best deals in life" (p. 256). If we're doing things for God for worldly returns then we haven't really matured as a Christian. God's love is pure and is not motivated by selfish greed. We have a decision to make, to listen to the gospel according to Christ, or the gospel according to Joel.

References

Heard, A. (November 2006). A Different Jesus. The Briefing, Issue 338, pp. 10-13.

Luther, M. (16th C.). The Freedom of a Christian. In K. Birkett (Ed.), Classics of the Reformation, 2000, pp. 13-48. Kingsford: Matthias Media.

Osteen, J. (2004). Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential. New York: Warner Faith.

Shelley, B.L. (1995). Church History in Plain Language (2nd ed.). Nashville: Thomas Nelson
Publishers.