Last month we observed that as Americans it is tempting for us to think that something
we have done or some intrinsic virtue in us has resulted in our enduring material
prosperity. This sense may be heightened by a seductive strain of contemporary Christian
thought which teaches that it is God’s plan for believers to be wealthy and that
American Christians, especially, are rich because we deserve to be so. (Not surprisingly,
this line of thinking has not yet caught on in much of the rest of the world.) The
“prosperity God” is like having a rich, doting grandparent who is mostly concerned
with your happiness and who can hardly be restrained from giving you stuff. You
draw Him a bad picture, He gives you a bicycle. On a grander scale, be a good Christian,
maybe say a certain prayer, apply the principles outlined in a book, and voila,
“pressed down, shaken together and running over shall men give into your bosom.”
After all, our God owns the cattle on a thousand hills so why shouldn’t
we have the leather interior in our Lexus as we drive to the steakhouse? In fairness,
I don’t know anyone who would put it in quite those terms, but our stubborn clinging
to material things belies our sense of entitlement to them. But guarantees of wealth
for believers are false and the oft-quoted “proof text” (Lk 6:38) has nothing
to do with money at all! C.S. Lewis said that many “new” ideas are simply old ideas
that were trotted out, found to be false, and rejected long ago The prosperity gospel
is a specific example of this. There was a prevailing belief among First-Century
Jews that “Whom God loves He also makes wealthy.” But Jesus assailed this thinking
when he said “...a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”(Lk
12:15) Faithfulness should never be equated with material wealth.
There simply is no ironclad relationship between spiritual condition and financial
status. God endows some people with wealth, good health, artistic talent, favor,
or beauty for the same reasons He bestows chronic illness, obscurity, poverty, persecution,
or homeliness on others. A scene from the last winter of Jesus’ life illustrates
this:
As He (Jesus) went along, He saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked Him,
“Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither
this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work
of God might be displayed in his life.” (Jn 9:1-2)
Rich, poor, famous or obscure, we are what we are so that the work of God may be
displayed in our lives as well.
That is where Calvary Bible Church comes into the story. To go back to where we
started, it is true that God has blessed American Christians. We are rich, free,
and able to pursue opportunities unknown to the righteous in most all other times
and places. Having been given much, much is expected of us in return. But take note:
“Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful
to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. But land that produces
thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it
will be burned.”(Heb. 6:7-8)