The Christian life is no picnic. Granted, having a vibrant relationship with Jesus Christ is full of inexhaustible joy. But suffering and trials can push joy out and invite fear in. On the surface this seems inconsistent with Jesus' words, "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full" (John 10:10); unless, of course, we have misinterpreted the "fullness" of life in Christ. This brings me back to the so-called "health and wealth" gospel of the previous post. I've often heard John 10:10 used in the context of rewards for faithful service by health and wealth preachers. Their logic is simple: if you're in debt, Jesus wants to lift you out because that isn't life to the full. Or, if you have cancer you should have more faith when you pray for healing because living with cancer isn't life to the full. Whether the context is health or wealth the point is that God rewards faithful servants with good things in this life. So, if you're having trouble it must be due to some deficiency in your faith.
What are the present rewards for faithful service? Jesus affirms the exact opposite of the health and wealth gospel: "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world" (John 16:33). Jesus affirms at least three things: 1) the world is full of trouble, 2) you (his followers) will experience trouble and trial, and 3) he has triumphed over the troubled world. Troubles of the world such as job loss, debt, depression, cancer, and the like, are par for the course and not reflective of one's faith, or lack thereof. The point is not that Jesus will spare us from trouble but that he has defeated it on the cross.
Jesus suffered the cross in spite of his faithfulness and we too will suffer in spite of ours. Just like Jesus, cross-bearing is our lot in this troubled world. What are the present rewards for faithful service? Cross-bearing. Discipleship is not about being saved from the storms of life, it is about weathering those storms. The storms will come and our faithfulness determines how we will weather them. It's difficult to see God's glory, trust his plan, and feel his love in the midst of a turbulent storm but we trust Christ when he says he has overcome this fallen world. Although we do not see it we trust in his victory (Heb 2:8).
Many of us are in the midst of financial storms. Theses storms often make us question our faith. Why do I serve God? Why do I contribute at church? Why did I lose my job when that job itself was an answered prayer? Not that I'm God's greatest servant but surely I don't deserve to worry about where my next meal will come from. I don't deserve to fear not having enough money for rent. Why does trusting Christ seem not to pay off? These are honest questions and should be lifted up before God's throne in Jobian cries and laments. But one thing is certain, the NT does not promise economic rewards for faithful service. In this life the Christian is only promised that God will provide for basic material needs - daily bread.
Materialism = idolatry. To expect material rewards for faithful service is fundamentally opposed to the values of the kingdom of God. We live in an idolatrous world that sees wealth as the supreme sign of status. We must not cave in to the idolatrous materialism of our culture by adopting a health and wealth gospel. To expect financial blessing as a reward in this life is to reject Jesus' call to cross-bearing. Cross-bearing, suffering, persecution, however you want to label it, may extend to our finances if God deems necessary to transform us into the image of Christ. We are called to suffer for and in spite of Jesus' name (Acts 9:16; 2 Tim 3:12).
Jesus never promises his disciples economic affluence. He calls them to self-denial, sacrifice, cross-bearing, and even severe suffering for the kingdom of God. God will reward faithfulness in terms of the values of his kingdom and his righteousness which is opposed to the idolatrous kingdoms of the present world. Perhaps we need to be reminded of the painful process of transforming our minds in order to see the world's troubles in the shadow of the cross.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Friday, February 13, 2009
Kingdom Blessings (Part 1)
I was watching a televangelist recently. His sermon was about material wealth and the current economic climate in America. It sounded fairly straightforward and observant until he made a prophetic announcement to his church. He prophesied that if the church would simply be more faithful, God would pour material blessings down from heaven and the church would reap a financial harvest. He prophesied a message of financial profit as the reward for faithfulness.
Some refer to this message as a “health and wealth gospel,” “name it, claim it theology,” or even baldly, “prosperity theology.” It’s a common ideology in many American churches (hardly elsewhere!). Many honest, sincere, conscientious Christians believe that faithfulness is a good business investment and reaps a financial reward. Since we’re talking numbers here let me explain the prosperity theology with a simple mathematical formula: spirituality = financial prosperity.
There are prooftexts that, when flattened, reduced to their least common denominator, and taken out of context, can lend themselves to a prosperity theology. Just like anything, prosperity theology is “biblical” if you know what to look for and where to look for it. If the starting point is that God blesses spirituality in terms of financial prosperity, you can find it in the Bible. I have found that anyone can find nearly anything in the Bible given a certain amount of creativity. But I digress.
The prosperity gospel seems pervasive in Scripture. God himself said, “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this and see if I will not throw open floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have enough room for it” (Mal 3:10). Sounds straightforward huh? Granted, this passage is more about tithing under the old covenant but never mind the context. Or take Deut 8:18: “But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth.” Who can argue with that? God designed work so that we reap a financial harvest as the fruit of our labors. Granted, it is God who ultimately gives but he gives without restraint right? Never mind the context, again. Don’t read what’s written before and after it. Never mind that it was originally a warning to the arrogant regarding prosperity (Deut 8:17-19). And again, never mind that it was originally written to ancient Israel under the old covenant of Moses as God was about to bring the Israelites into the Promised Land. Indeed he made Israel prosperous!
We need to be more careful with our handling of Scripture. I say this with humility since I have my own agendas that Scripture obviously supports;-) Christians today are not ancient Israel. We are not entering a Promised Land in this fallen world. We are not under the old covenant of Moses but are under the new covenant of Christ. God is not promising us riches, prosperity, and a land flowing with milk and honey. Those were his promises to ancient Israel; and he fulfilled them! The ancient, theocratic kingdom of Israel is not the current kingdom of heaven. We should define “blessings” based on the kingdom we belong to. Granted, material blessing was certainly part of the old covenant. Just read the blessings and curses in Deut. The OT passages mentioned earlier should not be rejected simply because they were part of the old covenant. It is not that they do not apply to the church today but it is a question of how they apply, and to what degree. They are reapplied in the new covenant in a more spiritual way – a Christ-centered way. They are indeed part of Christian Scripture but just like the sacrifices and other cultic ceremonies in the OT, they are applied spiritually and symbolically to the church due to their fulfillment in Christ. We now seek to apply the theological principles rather than the specifics.
It’s not just the OT. There are plenty of NT passages that when read as proverbs or as stand alone verses, lend themselves to prosperity theology (Luke 6:38; John 10:10; 2 Cor 9:6-10). Of course, the question is, what do these passages mean in their contexts? Reading the whole context should drive one away from a materialistic interpretation: Luke 6:38 is about judgment and/or grace, not wealth; John 10:10 is about eternal life – life in Christ, right here, right now. “Life to full” is relationship with Christ no matter what our present economic status looks like. Indeed, "life to the full" is as about contentment. Even 2 Cor 9 is a specific admonition to a specific church on a specific occasion for a specific purpose. The principle of reciprocity expressed is more spiritually focused than materially. It speaks of God meeting our needs not our greeds. It’s about sharing material wealth out of love for our siblings in Christ, not about receiving rewards.
Don’t misunderstand; I’m not one who claims that the new covenant is entirely spiritual. Material blessings have a concrete application in the church. When we care for one another’s needs we do so materially (1 John 3:16-18) and spiritually. The NT is full of passages that convey financial responsibility, stewardship, and material blessing. But, and this is the main point, financial blessing is not presented in the NT as a reward for faithfulness. It is true that God blesses us, and finances may play a role, but it is not true that God rewards our level of faithfulness with an accompanying level of material blessing. Rewards in the NT are primarily spiritual. Rewards are viewed as the gracious gift of God, not as wages earned (Matt 20:1-16). Rewards, for the most part, are conferred at the future judgment; and those are given graciously not meritoriously (Luke 14:12-14).
I think it shipwrecks faith to tell a struggling soul that if she just has more faith God will heal her illness, get her out of debt, or make her wealthy. Tell that to Jesus or Paul. Both were persecuted for their faithfulness. God takes care of basic needs (Matt 6:25-34). When we aren’t healed of cancer, heart disease, or depression, when we continue to be weighed down in debt, when we continue to live paycheck to paycheck, is that due to our own spiritual sickness? Not according to the Bible. There’s probably more going on than meets the eye. Perhaps God is revealing his power to withstand, his grace to cope, and drawing us closer to the cross (2 Cor 12:7-10).
Some refer to this message as a “health and wealth gospel,” “name it, claim it theology,” or even baldly, “prosperity theology.” It’s a common ideology in many American churches (hardly elsewhere!). Many honest, sincere, conscientious Christians believe that faithfulness is a good business investment and reaps a financial reward. Since we’re talking numbers here let me explain the prosperity theology with a simple mathematical formula: spirituality = financial prosperity.
There are prooftexts that, when flattened, reduced to their least common denominator, and taken out of context, can lend themselves to a prosperity theology. Just like anything, prosperity theology is “biblical” if you know what to look for and where to look for it. If the starting point is that God blesses spirituality in terms of financial prosperity, you can find it in the Bible. I have found that anyone can find nearly anything in the Bible given a certain amount of creativity. But I digress.
The prosperity gospel seems pervasive in Scripture. God himself said, “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this and see if I will not throw open floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have enough room for it” (Mal 3:10). Sounds straightforward huh? Granted, this passage is more about tithing under the old covenant but never mind the context. Or take Deut 8:18: “But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth.” Who can argue with that? God designed work so that we reap a financial harvest as the fruit of our labors. Granted, it is God who ultimately gives but he gives without restraint right? Never mind the context, again. Don’t read what’s written before and after it. Never mind that it was originally a warning to the arrogant regarding prosperity (Deut 8:17-19). And again, never mind that it was originally written to ancient Israel under the old covenant of Moses as God was about to bring the Israelites into the Promised Land. Indeed he made Israel prosperous!
We need to be more careful with our handling of Scripture. I say this with humility since I have my own agendas that Scripture obviously supports;-) Christians today are not ancient Israel. We are not entering a Promised Land in this fallen world. We are not under the old covenant of Moses but are under the new covenant of Christ. God is not promising us riches, prosperity, and a land flowing with milk and honey. Those were his promises to ancient Israel; and he fulfilled them! The ancient, theocratic kingdom of Israel is not the current kingdom of heaven. We should define “blessings” based on the kingdom we belong to. Granted, material blessing was certainly part of the old covenant. Just read the blessings and curses in Deut. The OT passages mentioned earlier should not be rejected simply because they were part of the old covenant. It is not that they do not apply to the church today but it is a question of how they apply, and to what degree. They are reapplied in the new covenant in a more spiritual way – a Christ-centered way. They are indeed part of Christian Scripture but just like the sacrifices and other cultic ceremonies in the OT, they are applied spiritually and symbolically to the church due to their fulfillment in Christ. We now seek to apply the theological principles rather than the specifics.
It’s not just the OT. There are plenty of NT passages that when read as proverbs or as stand alone verses, lend themselves to prosperity theology (Luke 6:38; John 10:10; 2 Cor 9:6-10). Of course, the question is, what do these passages mean in their contexts? Reading the whole context should drive one away from a materialistic interpretation: Luke 6:38 is about judgment and/or grace, not wealth; John 10:10 is about eternal life – life in Christ, right here, right now. “Life to full” is relationship with Christ no matter what our present economic status looks like. Indeed, "life to the full" is as about contentment. Even 2 Cor 9 is a specific admonition to a specific church on a specific occasion for a specific purpose. The principle of reciprocity expressed is more spiritually focused than materially. It speaks of God meeting our needs not our greeds. It’s about sharing material wealth out of love for our siblings in Christ, not about receiving rewards.
Don’t misunderstand; I’m not one who claims that the new covenant is entirely spiritual. Material blessings have a concrete application in the church. When we care for one another’s needs we do so materially (1 John 3:16-18) and spiritually. The NT is full of passages that convey financial responsibility, stewardship, and material blessing. But, and this is the main point, financial blessing is not presented in the NT as a reward for faithfulness. It is true that God blesses us, and finances may play a role, but it is not true that God rewards our level of faithfulness with an accompanying level of material blessing. Rewards in the NT are primarily spiritual. Rewards are viewed as the gracious gift of God, not as wages earned (Matt 20:1-16). Rewards, for the most part, are conferred at the future judgment; and those are given graciously not meritoriously (Luke 14:12-14).
I think it shipwrecks faith to tell a struggling soul that if she just has more faith God will heal her illness, get her out of debt, or make her wealthy. Tell that to Jesus or Paul. Both were persecuted for their faithfulness. God takes care of basic needs (Matt 6:25-34). When we aren’t healed of cancer, heart disease, or depression, when we continue to be weighed down in debt, when we continue to live paycheck to paycheck, is that due to our own spiritual sickness? Not according to the Bible. There’s probably more going on than meets the eye. Perhaps God is revealing his power to withstand, his grace to cope, and drawing us closer to the cross (2 Cor 12:7-10).
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