Christian, Flee Obsession With Worldly Prosperity!
Biblical Christianity:
In 1 Timothy 6:3-5, Paul describes false teachers who do not promote godly doctrine and ultimately describes them as those “who suppose godliness is a means of gain” or as the NLT translates it, “To them, a show of godliness is just a way to become wealthy.” Since the apostolic era, the church has had to contend with wolves who are not interested in righteousness, but rather in material prosperity. As John Stott describes them: “They have no interest in godliness itself, but only if it proves to be financially profitable.” However, this desire for wealth isn’t just limited to grifters, but to many who desire a message of material prosperity. In our culture, the “health and wealth” or “prosperity gospel” is alive and well. The reason it thrives is due to those who do not desire to love the Lord God with all their heart, mind and strength, but who suppose “godliness” is a means of financial gain. That is, “God wants believers to always be physically healthy, materially wealthy and personally happy.” But this is not the message of the gospel, nor is it any consistent theme found in the New Testament. Rather, like many immoral teachings people accept, this is an application of 2 Tim. 4:3, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires.” Returning back to 1 Tim 6, I now implore the reader to carefully examine what Paul tells Timothy in the verses following the description of false teachers…
“But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment. 7 For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. 8 If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content. 9 But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. 11 But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness.” -1 Tim. 6:6-11
Note the themes present:
Godliness is gain if it means spiritual gain and being content with basic food and clothing/shelter.
Those who desire to get rich fall into ruin and destruction.
The love of money is the root (or cause) of all sorts of evil.
Longing for wealth can lead to wandering from the faith and being pierced with many griefs!
The command is to flee from those things and instead pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness.
Paul certainly understood these truths, for he himself says in Phil. 4:11-13, “…for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. 12 I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. 13 I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” Paul learned to be content in Christ regardless of his situation in life. He states that he can be content in being hungry and lacking basic needs, or even when God allows a “thorn” in his flesh that torments him (2 Cor. 12:7-10)! Why? Christ is his strength! Having a full belly and an abundance also doesn’t lead Paul astray (as prosperity often does for many), for he does not find contentment and fulfillment in those things, but in Christ. He can thrive in any situation he finds himself in, not because he unlocked some secrete inner peace, but because Christ is His peace! In fact, as a former Pharisee with the “prestige” that came with it, Paul counted it as garbage compared to having Christ. He did not come to Christ to gain health, wealth and all the earthly blessings he was “owed” as a child of God. On the contrary, he gave up those things to suffer for Christ. “More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ” -Phil. 3:8.
The call of Christ to the Christian is not “follow Me and you will have health and wealth all the days of your life.” The call of Christ is this: “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. 25 For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?” (Matt. 16:24-26) and to “seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matt. 6:33). It should be noted that what will be “added” to those who first desire God's kingdom and righteousness is basic food and clothing, not extravagant wealth. Consider Craig Keener’s remarks on the Matt. 6 passage: “Faith is not an intricate ritual to get what we want for ourselves; faith is obeying God‘s will with the assurance that he will ultimately fulfill for us what is in our best interests. That kind of faith grows only in the context of an intimate relationship of love between the heavenly father and his children. Some people today associate faith with being able to obtain possessions from God, but Jesus did not even associate it with seeking basic needs from God. Pagans seek those things, he warned (v. 32; compare 5:47; 6:7); we should seek instead God‘s kingdom and his righteous will (6:33).” In fact, if pursuing wealth is an idol (like the young, rich ruler), the call of Christ is to “sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me” (Matt. 19:21).
With kindness, I ask those who preach or affirm the “prosperity gospel,” what happens when Christ allows persecution of His people (to include theft of possessions)? Would we accept it joyfully as did those in Heb. 10:34? Or what do we make of James’ statement: “did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?” -James 2:5? What do you make of Job 21:7-15 in which Job laments that the wicked who do not desire God “spend their days in prosperity.” Does this mean they are favored of God? What of Psalm 73 where the Psalmist also laments at “the prosperity of the wicked” while the faithful of God enjoyed no such prosperity in this life? What of the faithful Christians in Rev. 2:9 who were entrenched in material poverty and suffered persecution, yet God considered them rich? Albert Barnes has this to say of those Christians in Smyrna: “Poverty is no hindrance to the favor of God, and there are some things in it which are favorable to the promotion of a right spirit toward God which are not found where there is abundant wealth. The Saviour was eminently poor, and not a few of his most devoted and useful followers have had as little of this world’s goods as he had. The poor should always be cheerful and happy, if they can hear their Saviour saying unto them, “I know thy poverty - but thou art rich.””
Consider, then, the Laodicean church in Rev. 3:17 who thought themselves blessed of God due to their wealth and prosperity, but in reality were miserable and poor… “Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.” Smyrna, in Rev. 2, were those that stored up their treasures in heaven, thus God was declaring them rich. Laodicea, in Rev. 3, were amassing for themselves material wealth at the expense of spiritual matters, thus they were miserable and poor (cf. Matt 6:19-21)! Barnes comments again in regard to the Laodiceans: “People may think themselves to be rich, and yet, in fact, be miserably poor. They may have the wealth of this world in abundance, and yet have nothing that really will meet their needs in disappointment, bereavement, sickness, death; the needs of their never-dying soul; their needs in eternity. What had the “rich fool,” as he is commonly termed, in the parable, when he came to die? Luke 12:16.”
Paul drives home the point that to experience tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, or even murder does not mean Christ does not love us or is not for us (Rom. 8:35). Yet, many who focus on the so-called “prosperity gospel” would have you believe that to experience such things means that a Christian isn’t “walking in the blessings of God” or that they “need bigger faith to claim the promises of prosperity.” This is not biblical, nor what the Christian is exhorted to focus on in their life. As John Chrysostom proclaimed: “There is only one calamity for a Christian: disobedience to God. All the other things, such as loss of property, exile, peril of life, one does not even reckon to be a grievance at all. And that which is dread, departure hence to the other world–this is to him sweeter than life itself.”
What we as Christians should be concerned with is growth in holiness (1 Peter 1:15-16), giving thanks in all situations (1 Thess. 5:16-18), doing good works (Eph. 2:10, Titus 3), serving others (Gal. 5:13, 1 Peter 4:10) and growing in the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-25). Passages that speak of the Christian life such as Rom. 12, Eph. 4:17-32, and Eph. 5:1-21 give no attention to any desire for health or wealth, but rather living as a sacrifice to God and in service to others!Our concern is as Paul says in 2 Cor. 5:9, “to be pleasing to Him.” And so this takes us back to our passage in 1 Tim. 6. The man or woman of God ought to flee from the desire for wealth and the love of money and “pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness.” The prosperity gospel (which is really a false gospel) teaches nothing of self-denial, of humility, of service to others, of growth in holiness, of seeking His righteousness, or of sharing in Christ’s sufferings. Christ becomes a means to a material end, an end that is the comfort, health and wealth of “ME.” It’s nothing but narcissism and epicureanism wrapped up in biblical sounding language. Nowhere in the Beatitudes do we find exhortations to wake up and declare that we will be wealthy or prosperous by worldly standards. In fact, Christ says that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are the ones who will be satisfied (Matt. 5:6).
Am I saying that it is wrong for a Christian to be wealthy? This certainly isn’t the case. Even in 1 Tim. 6:17-19, Paul exhorts those Christians who are rich not to be conceited or to put their hope in those things (like the church in Rev. 3). Rather, they are to be “rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share” (cf. Lydia-Acts 16). In fact, the house churches we read about were likely those big enough to accomodate a local assembly of people, thus the fairly well-off patrons among them. Scripture also exhorts us to be wise with our resources (Prov 21:20). The problem becomes when the gospel is wholly centered around wealth and carnal prosperity. It fundamentally distorts why Christ died. This message, we must reject. Waking up in the morning and “declaring” prosperity, health and wealth over oneself and even using Scripture out of context to do so is a far cry from the gospel the apostles delivered. Flee from those who only preach a message of self-gratification and self-magnification, or who preach “Americanized” concepts of “prosperity” and “abundance” in all that you do. The life of a Christian is about serving our Lord, serving fellow believers, and growing in holiness. As we see in 2 Cor. 12:7-10, sometimes that might involve a “thorn” in the flesh for our growth in character by God’s grace, something this world would certainly not view as “prosperity” by its standards, but something that works for our good and for our conformity to Christ (Rom. 8:28-29).
Examples of How Prosperity Teachers Distort Scripture:
This aberrant theology fundamentally ignores Scriptural context and routinely twists passages beyond their meaning. Below are three representative examples of this:
Galatians 3:14- I’ve heard this verse used to support the idea that included in the blessings of Abraham that Gentiles now receive is the material wealth Abraham also had (Gen. 24:35). The first half of Gal. 3:14 says, “in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles…” However, the second part of this verse clarifies what is meant by this, “…so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” What Paul is speaking of here is that through faith, Gentiles receive the spiritual blessing of not only being justified before God and adoption as sons of God, but also the indwelling of the Spirit! The guarantee of material wealth is not in view here, nor is it in the context of Gal. 3 in general.
2 Corinthians 8:9- Another verse that lights up the eyes of those seeking worldly riches is this passage found in 2 Corinthians. “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.” -2 Cor. 8:9. Again, Paul is talking of spiritual matters in hopes that out of gratitude for what Christ has done for them, they would be willing to share with fellow believers who are experiencing destitution! As R.V.G. Tasker states: “The Lord was manifested in human flesh in order to take away sin (see 1 John 3:5); and the taking away of sin involved His taking upon Himself the role of the suffering Servant, and being the Son of man who had nowhere to lay His head (Luke 9:58), and who was to die without a single possession; even the clothes He wore were stripped off him by the soldiers responsible for his execution. Here was poverty, indeed, and all for our sakes.” What Christ gave up for us was His very transcendent glory with the Father (John 17:5, cf. Phil. 2:5-8) in order that we, who were dead in our sins, would be set free from the bondage of sin and death by faith in Him! On top of that, as with our passage in Galatians, we have the very Holy Spirit living inside of us! This is the wealth that believers have. “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” -Luke 11:13. Ultimately, the point Paul is making with this statement is that Christ should be our example when it comes to our generosity and willingness to share with fellow brothers and sister in Christ who are in need. Paul also uses the churches in Macedonia as an example who, despite their “deep poverty” gave to the needs of others with great joy and eagerness (2 Cor. 8:1-4). This very fact refutes the idea that God “has” to bless us with material wealth so that we can be a blessing with others. David E. Garland states, “The Macedonians had not prospered and given from their surplus. Instead, they gave out of their poverty more than could be expected or even thought wise. Paul emphasizes that they did this of their own accord.” Garland also notes that the Macedonian churches were, like Smyrna, “members of a specially blessed category in the eyes of the Lord: rich poor churches.”
Mark 10:29-30- The irony of this verse being used to promote the prosperity gospel is tragic. It comes directly after the rich, young ruler was unwilling to give up his wealth and possessions to follow Christ. This verse is a response from Jesus to Peter after Peter had declared that he and the other disciples had “left everything” to follow Christ. Jesus responds by saying: “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel’s sake, 30 but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life.” Prosperity teachers read this and assume Jesus means that to follow Him will result in a harvest of riches “in the present age.” Is that what Jesus means by stating believers will receive a hundred times as many mothers, sisters, brothers, etc? Before we answer that, it’s important to understand that in Jesus’ day (and throughout history), becoming a disciple of Christ often meant completely giving up one’s life. As we’ve already established, this was very true of the apostle Paul. Many first century Christians would have been disowned by family members and most were expelled from the synagogues. Even in Gentile areas, former pagans who forsook their life of debauchery to follow Christ were ostracised from their community (1 Peter 4:3-4).
As Jesus said: “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. 37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” -Matt. 10:33-38 (ESV). Peter had pointed out that they all had done these very things. The meaning of Jesus’ response then, as Walter Wessel explains, “is to be understood in the context of the new community into which the believer in Jesus comes. There he finds multiplication of relationships, often closer and more spiritually meaningful than blood ties.” It should also not be missed that in addition to this new family, Jesus adds that the present age will also come with “persecutions.” Wessel continues: “It is through trials and persecutions that the new relationships as members of the Christian community develop and flourish. The promise is for a full, though admittedly difficult, life here and now, but not only here and now. Jesus promises eternal life in “the age to come“”
Conclusion:
The Bible knows no such message of guaranteed earthly health, wealth and prosperity for those who follow God. In fact, whether in the gospels, Acts, Romans, Philippians, James, 1 Peter, or Revelation, Scripture constantly prepares the follower of Christ for suffering in this life. However, “we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. 17 For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, 18 while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” -2 Cor. 4:16-18. Therefore, let us not pursue earthly prosperity as if it’s what we are owed, but instead, as Paul exhorts us in 1 Tim. 6:11, pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness.
Bibliography:
Barnes, Albert- Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible (Rev. 2:9; 3:17)
Chrysostom, John- Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, New Testament Vol. 9 (p. 212)
Garland, David E.- 2 Corinthians, NAC, Vol. 29, 1999 (p.367-68)
Keener, Craig- Matthew, IVPNTC, 1997 (p. 154)
Stott, John- The Message of 1 Timothy & Titus, BST, 1996 (p. 148)
Tasker, R.V.G.- The Second Epistle to the Corinthians, TNTC, 1977 (p. 115)
Wessel, Walter- The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol. 8, 1984 (p. 717)
*Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible 1995 (NASB1995): New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.