Ecclesiastes
2:4. I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards:
5. I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all
kind of fruits:
6. I made me pools of water, to water therewith the wood that bringeth
forth trees:
7. I got me servants and maidens, and had servants born in my house;
also I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that
were in Jerusalem before me:
8. I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of
kings and of the provinces: I gat me men singers and women singers,
and the delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments, and that
of all sorts.
9. So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in
Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me.
10. And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld
not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and
this was my portion of all my labour.
11. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on
the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and
vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.
Now I want you all to remember
the passage of scripture I just read you as I go into this study, because
Solomon nailed down the value of worldly riches in the aforementioned
passage. Many of you I’m sure have heard statements like this:
“God wants you to be rich or financially prosperous” or
the even worse statement “If your living in poverty your living
outside the will of God.” or one of my personal favorites “If
your living in a trailor/mobile home you can’t truly serve God.”
These kinds of statements
are made day after day on the radio and TV, but the question is are
they Biblically sound? I do not care what big named preacher supports
them and I do not care how large his church is, if the aforementioned
statements can not be backed up from the Bible they are bold faced lies,
and I say that completely without apology.
First off lets look at some
of the verses these men claim support this theology. The most popular
is of course 3John 2 :
3John 2. Beloved, I wish
above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as
thy soul prospereth.
Now lets look at this verse
and see what it is saying. First off we know that John the Apostle was
writing this letter to Gaius, a man that John had a great deal of love
for. Now upon further examination of the entire third letter of John
we see that there is no single iinstance where John promised Gaius or
anyone else financial prosperity. More to the point the only thing we
do see is John’s WISH that Gaius may prosper and be in good health.
You can ask any historian who knows anything about that period of time
and they will tell you that this was a common greeting among friends
when writing a letter. Much like we would say “I hope this letter
finds you well” today. It is a wish from one friend to another
it is by no means a promise of financial prosperity.
Next Psalm 37:4 where David
speaks of the Lord giving us the desires of our hearts, but once again
this is no promise of financial prosperity. And if you look at the entire
verse you will see that David said, “Delight thyself also in the
Lord” Now if a person is in fact delighting themselves in the
Lord the desires of there heart are not going to be material things.
Moreover if we look further in that particular Psalm we see David say
this:
Psalm 37:16. A little that
a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked.
17. For the arms of the wicked shall be broken: but the Lord upholdeth
the righteous.
Or perhaps you have heard
someone quote Mark 10:30 “But he shall receive an hundredfold
now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and
children, and lands” Now there is more to the verse but I want
to point out that when using this verse to promote the prosperity gospel
they obviously do not use the whole verse because without even looking
at the context we can see that it obviously does not. Now let me finish
the verse “with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal
life.”
Notice the word persecutions.
More than once in the New Testament the Lord warned that we would be
hated and persecuted for our faith. It was blatantly apparent in the
early church as the pagan Romans persecuted our brethren. Then Christians
were persecuted by the Popes for not swearing allegiance to them, burned
at the stake during the Protestant Reformation and in our day and age
our brothers and sisters are tortured and killed for there faith in
places like Sudan and Indonesia where the Muslim governments have made
it illegal to be Christian.
I’m sure if you know
anything at all about our ministry that you know we have spoken on the
importance remembering our Brethren so I do not need to get into that
at this time. My point is simple Jesus promised us persecutions and
tribulation in this life not wealth. Now if we do indeed look at the
context in Mark 10 we see that Jesus is speaking of someone who has
lost all there things for His sake(Jesus) and the sake of the Gospel.
Now Jesus was not saying that a missionary in the field would receive
a hundred houses or a hundred mothers, brothers, sisters etc... in a
physcial sense but in a spiritual sense. When one is born into the family
of God he joins a large family and when one goes into the mission field
and leaves behind all that they have they will find, as many faithful
missionaries can atest, that they have been blessed with a large family
of mothers and brothers, sister etc who are willing to open up there
homes to them. It is not a promise of wealth it is a promise of help.
Now remember something brothers
and sisters the best commentary on scripture that anyone can ever own
is scripture. Now with that in mind lets look at what the Lord has to
say about worldly riches.
Matthew 6:19. Lay not up
for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt,
and where thieves break through and steal:
20. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth
nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
21. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
24. No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and
love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other.
Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
I think it is fairly plain
to see that the Lord has no use for worldly riches. Now lets take a
look at what the Lord has to say about the poor.
Luke 6:20. And he lifted
up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor: for yours
is the kingdom of God.
There are countless incidents
in the New testament where the Bible says that the poor shall be blessed,
never in one place does it say the rich shall be blessed or that the
poor shall receive financial blessings in this life. Lets look at what
Paul says in:
2Corinthians 6:10. As sorrowful,
yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing,
and yet possessing all things.
Now lets analyze what Paul
had to say, “as poor, yet making many rich” there have been
few men who ever walked the Earth that lived such a self sacrificing
life like the Apostle Paul did. Paul knew that his rewards were not
of this world so he did not concern himself with obtaining wealth. He
was concerned with preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those who
were lost without Him. You see Paul knew that by living a godly life
and not concerning himself with worldly riches that he could reach many
people with the Gospel message. Hence “as poor” he himself
did not posses much of anything physically, “yet making many rich”
leading many to Christ there by making them spiritually rich. Hear again
what the Apostle has to say in:
Philippians 4: 11. Not that
I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state
I am, therewith to be content.
12. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where
and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry,
both to abound and to suffer need.
Notice in verse 11 that Paul
says we should be content. There is nothing wrong with being rich or
affluent, if the Lord has blessed you in such a way be thankful and
use your abundance to serve God. My point however is the Bible does
not promise us that all Christians will be financially prosperous. This
is far from the truth.
Many Christians around the
world are called upon to give their all, dieing a martyrs death. It
happens everyday brothers and sisters don’t be fooled. Everything
is not alright, we are not in the midst of a great endtime revival,
the Bible speaks of no such thing. Thousands upon thousands of Christians
die every year for their faith and sadly it will remain so until the
Lord returns.
So I wonder how men, who
claim to be Gods man, can stand up in the pulpit and say God wants you
all to be financially prosperous when so many Christians have absolutely
nothing. There doctrine is a product of of Western ideals. The thought
did not arise out of the poverty ridden jungles of Africa, where Christians
have much to fear for there faith. This theology did not arise out of
the burning sands of the Middle East where it is a crime punishable
by death to convert to Christianity. It did not come from the far east
where the governments turn a blind eye as radical groups do all they
can to wipe out the Christian faith. No this thought arose from the
“Whats in it for me attitude” of the west. Because when
you compare it to Christians around the world it falls utterly short
of anything even remotely close to the truth. And I will admit that
when I hear one of those false prophets stand up and promote the prosperity
gospel it angers me to no end.
I say to those men, “How
dare you sir, how dare you say to a Christian brother or sister that
might be called to give there life tomorrow and has suffered more than
you can ever begin to comprehend that they are living outside the will
of God.” I know one thing I’m glad I don’t have to
stand in your shoes come judgement day.
It’s really simple
brothers and sisters if someones doctrine can not be applied to every
single living Christian on the planet, then it is false, such as the
gospel of prosperity is. Remember always brothers and sisters that the
Bible tells us to be content with what we have, more over hear the words
of the Apostle Paul again.
1Timothy 6: 3. If any man
teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words
of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to
godliness;
4. He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes
of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings,
5. Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the
truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.
6. But godliness with contentment is great gain.
7. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can
carry nothing out.
8. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.
9. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and
into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction
and perdition.
10. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some
coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves
through with many sorrows.
Notice a few things from
the aforementioned passage of Scripture. 1. Men that suppose gain is
godliness are destitute of the truth and should be avoided. 2. Godliness
is what us gain. 3. It is only gain however if you are content with
what you have. 4. You cant take it with you, why bother wasting your
time trying to pile it up, Solomon already tried it, learn from his
example. 5. Those that try to be rich fall in a snare and drown in destruction
and perdition. 6. The love of money IS the root of all evil and those
that do so have erred from the faith. 7. But most importantly notice
that it is important to be content with what you have and not spend
your time trying to accumulate wealth, spend it serving God.
There is no inheirant godliness from being poor or rich. It is the status
of your heart that God is concerned about not the status of your checking
account. Remember what the writer of Proverbs 30 says:
Proverbs 30: 7. Two things
have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die:
8. Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches;
feed me with food convenient for me:
9. Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord? or lest
I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.
and always remember what Paul said in Hebrews 13:5
Hebrews 13:5. Let your conversation
be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have:
for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.