Prosperity And The Gospel

The Bible teaches that it is normally God’s will to prosper us materially and give us good health.

That is true in the Old Testament: “Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits—who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s” (Psalm 103:2-5).

And Saint Paul clearly teaches a connection between generous, sacrificial giving and our experiencing increasing financial blessing: “Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. . . And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. . . Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God” (2 Corinthians 9:6-11).

While we should not limit this blessing to material things, material things certainly are at least somewhat in view: “ . . so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work” (verse 8). “You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion” (verse 11).

That is the teaching of the 31 chapters of the book of Proverbs. But I said, normally, because Job reveals the fine print in the contract, as I will attempt to lay out below.

First of all, consider health. Essentially, I believe that a person is “immortal” until God’s purpose for his life is completed. That doesn’t mean that we won’t get sick; we will, and unless somebody shoots us or runs over us with a car or something like that, one day, sooner or later, every one of us is going to get sick from something that’s going to kill us: “It is appointed for men to die once” (Hebrews 9:27). We see that in the life of one of the three greatest workers of miracles in the Old Testament, Elisha. “Now Elisha was suffering from the illness from which he died” (2 Kings 13:14). Amazingly, even in his death, this type of Christ brings life: “Elisha died and was buried. Now Moabite raiders used to enter the country every spring. Once while some Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a band of raiders; so they threw the man’s body into Elisha’s tomb. When the body touched Elisha’s bones, the man came to life and stood up on his feet” (2 Kings 13:20, 21).

I believe that it is normally God’s will that we have sufficient health so that we can go about doing what he’s called us to do, not that we don’t ever get tired, feel bad or have a bout with illness. Due to sickness, I have only missed preaching in our Sunday morning services two times in the past 32 years. But I will let you in on a little secret, if I’m going to feel under the weather when I get up, it’s almost always on Sunday morning. Time and again, my fever has broken while I was preaching. I’m usually ready for a nap after the second morning sermon, but I almost always feel better after I preach than before. Back on Monday, January 26, 2004, I was diagnosed with Bell’s Palsy which left the left side of my face paralyzed to the point I could neither completely close my left eye or the left side of my mouth. I had been eating lunch with a man in my congregation and I realized that the onions in my liver and onions kept falling out of my mouth. Within three weeks I was completely healed, but on two Sundays I had to use my left hand to push my lips together every time I used a bilabial plosive, otherwise I couldn’t pronounce words like “pastor” or “bad.”

As indicated above, the Bible teaches that it is normally God’s will to prosper believers materially, but we must hold fast to certain truths, lest we twist this biblical truth to our own destruction.

1. It belongs to God alone to define what prosperity is.

1.1. Prosperity is not having everything we desire—so much of what we desire is bad for us, afterall, like a little child stuffing himself with candy at holiday time. If I went through my list of desires, let’s see . . . on second thought, I don’t think I want to go there.

1.2. Prosperity varies from place to place, culture to culture and time to time. Having an automobile in modern suburban America is probably a necessity, and one that we may humbly expect that God will provide as we seek to do his will. But having a dirt-floored, log cabin, vegetables and cured meat, homespun clothing, a mule and tools would have met these criteria a couple of hundred years ago.

1.3. Prosperity is having enough “money” so that we are able to provide food and shelter for those for whom we are responsible and to have enough left over to give to advance God’s kingdom in the lives of others.

2. Our ultimate “prosperity” in Christ means that God will sometimes orchestrate the events of our lives in such a way that we find ourselves bewildered by our circumstances. That certainly was often the experience of the Apostle Paul as he describes it in 2 Corinthians 11:21-29: “I have . . . been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?”

2.1. Saint Paul teaches us that God is directing everything in the life of believers so that they will become more and more like the Lord Jesus: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers” (Romans 8:28, 29).

2.2. Joseph could look back on the trials of his life, the hellish events unleashed by the murderous deeds of his brothers, and confess: “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Genesis 50:20).

2.3. It wasn’t because of Paul’s sin or lack of faith, that our heavenly Father ordained that an angel of Satan would cause Paul to suffer with his thorn in the flesh; it was to produce growth in grace and increasing humility before God: “And because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me—to keep me from exalting myself” (2 Corinthians 12:7)!

Paul experienced real pain from this attack and earnestly sought relief from his Father, “Concerning this I entreated the Lord three times that it might depart from me” (2 Corinthians 12:8).

But his prayer was not answered the way that he wanted, and this wasn’t due to Paul’s lack of faith or the presence of unconfessed sin in his life: ‘And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

The end result of this was Paul’s joyful submission to God’s good providence, not a bitter, stoic resignation: “Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9, 10).

3. Because we do not yet see all things under the feet of our Mediator (Hebrews 2:8), even though everything is under the sovereign plan of God (Ephesians 1:11), life in this world is often marked by futility and frustration. Heaven and the return of Christ are where we will experience things the way they should be in keeping with our inheritance We see that in 2 Corinthians 12, above, but it is profoundly expressed in Ecclesiastes and in one of my favorite Psalms, Psalm 73. The Psalmist is quite overwhelmed with his own trials and this situation is exacerbated as he observes how well off the God-hating, immoral people around him are:

“But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked” (Psalm 73:2, 3).

Trying to understanding life from the perspective of “under the Sun” (Ecclesiastes) leads us to false conclusions; it is only when we factor in the unseen world and the future beyond that we can make sense of things: “When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny” (Psalm 73:16, 17).

Even though it is a cliché and often mocked, we do live for our “pie in the sky,” because our “pie in the sky” is being in the presence of Jesus now and perfectly so in the future. “Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. . . But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds” (Psalm 73:23-28).

4. Psalm 73:23-28 underscores the heart of the matter: it isn’t gold, not even the streets of gold in the new Jerusalem, that brings true joy and fulfillment; it is knowing and loving our blessed, Triune God, and living for his glory, set to the purpose of his kingdom . . .

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field” (Matthew 13:44).

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it” (Matthew 13:45, 46).

To a real Christian, Christ is the Treasure hidden in the field, our Pearl of great price. For him we give up everything and count it but skybalon (Philippians 3:8). Yet, wonder of wonders, we are Christ’s treasure, too, his pearl of great price. For us, he gave up the joy and glory of heaven. He who is and always remains fully God in every way, became a real human being, just like you and me in every way, except he did not have a sinful nature and he never sinned. For us, he endured the shameful, agonizing death of the cross.

A focus on material wealth in preaching, then, is wicked. Our focus must be the glory of God and people coming to enjoy him. We are to seek the Lord and his righteousness and leave to him to order the things in our lives for our good and his glory in the advancement of his kingdom. To be sure, God “richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment” (1 Timothy 6:17), but these things add nothing to our lives apart from our loving the Lord Jesus and delighting in him. Indeed, apart from a life lived in devotion to the Lord, these things become sinful snares and deadly poisons, as our Lord warned: “The worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke (the Word), making it unfruitful” (Matthew 13:22).

Finally, health and wealth are never ends in themselves, they are means to an end: the advancement of God’s kingdom. A kingdom centered approach sees material wealth as a trust from God to be used to advance his kingdom in the lives of others—the same goes for good health. I do not believe in the private ownership of property, a damnable lie; the Bible teaches the private stewardship of property. All that I am, all that I have, be it time, energy, spouse, children, parents, money, houses, lands, rights, respect, or what have you—it all belongs to God, and I am called to use it for his glory and the good of others, as he directs by his Word and Spirit in his good providence. That is the happy life. That is the free life. That is the true Christian life.

Terrorism as Jihad

This truly is a time for prayer. With so much naive speculation about how the government of the United States should have made some preemptive move to stop this, we need to remember that such acts by suicidal terrorists cannot easily be prevented, not even by revoking the Bill of Rights. Though such things as tighter airport security may surely help, even extremely regimented states such as the former Soviet Union and China have not been able to prevent all air hijackings. This fact should give us pause, and move us prayerfully to seek sober and wise responses. Terrorists may be insane, but they are anything but stupid. How essential it is, then, that we buckle down to the discipline of the chessboard, rather than let emotion lead us to make the kind of foolish moves that they are calculatedly seeking to provoke.

Guerilla forces, particularly those that do not share a central command, are very effective in waging war against civilized nations by means of acts of terrorism. When those guerilla groups are influenced by demonic religious ideas and are willing not only to die but to kill thousands of innocent people in carrying out jihad because they have been taught that this will bring them to a carnal paradise with beautiful houris, we face a formidable foe indeed.

People raised in powerful, affluent nations, especially in times of peace, do not comprehend terrorism, but terrorism is often the only means that an occupied, oppressed people, lacking sophisticated matériel, has to use against a militarily powerful, occupying force. History is replete with examples of the psychological effectiveness of terrorism.

The Sicarii were ancient zealots who engaged in random assassinations of Roman citizens and their collaborators in the streets and markets of Roman occupied Palestina. The assassin carried a short dagger, called a sicarius, which was hidden until the moment to strike. These unpredictable acts were not ultimately effective in driving out the Romans, but they did succeed in provoking a Roman response that galvanized a massive uprising on the part of the occupied people.

The purpose of the terrorist is not always simply to cause the superior force to lose its will to control the less powerful group; it is to provoke the superior force into acts that provoke, in turn, a wider and more intense rage on the part of the less powerful group against the superior force. In other words, terrorist acts are often done to provoke their enemies to act in such a way that the terrorists’ own people are moved from complacency to radical involvement in their cause. We must pray that the decision makers of the United States do not fall into that trap.

Among many Arab peoples in the Middle East, Israel is generally perceived either as a satellite of the United States, or the United States is viewed as being under substantial control of “Zionists.” Because of their perception, the violence that has intensified in the wake of Ariel Sharon’s campaign and subsequent election has profound ramifications for the United States.

To many morally conservative Muslims, the United States is viewed as the chief purveyor of global decadence through our entertainment industry—we are the “Great Satan.” The Industrialized World’s thirst for oil is seen as a major cause of exploitation of native populations, and U. S. oil interests are seen as a major reason why oppressive tyrants are still in power in certain countries of the Middle East. Mindless rage leads people to believe that terrorist acts are morally justified as the only effective way to wage jihad against what they view as the enemies of God.

Now is not a time for self-righteous, mindless rage, in turn, against an easily identifiable scapegoat: all Arab peoples; it is a time for soul searching and a humble seeking of divine wisdom. Those who were behind these horrific acts of terror must be effectively punished. We must pray for the President of the United States to act with great wisdom. He must refrain from acts of vengeance that simply satisfy a pressing, political need; he needs to take action that is effective in bringing the perpetrators to justice.

Fast

From a newsletter at church today:

Do you fast? Give me proof of it by your works. If you see a poor man, take pity on him. If you see a friend being honored, do not envy him. Do not let only your mouth fast, but also the eye, and the feet, and the hands and all the members of our bodies. Let the hands fast, by being free of avarice. Let the feet fast, by ceasing to run after sin. Let the eyes fast, by disciplining them not to glare at that which sinful. Let the ears fast by not listening to evil talk and gossip. Let the mouth fast from foul words and unjust criticism. For what good is it if we abstain from birds and fishes, but bite and devour our brothers? – St. John Chrysostom

People Like Me

The thing that frightens me the most about the Nazi Era is that it involved people like me.  It isn’t the concentration camp victims that I’m talking about; it’s the Nazis themselves.

We don’t like to think of ourselves that way; we like to imagine that the insanity of the Third Reich was an aberration, an odd exception in human history.  Because the Nazis did monstrous things, we tend to think of them all as monsters and distance them from the rest of humankind.  But they were people like me.

By and large, they loved their children; they worked hard, were brave and patriotic.  Many went to church.  The society that gave birth to Nazism was not a medieval throwback.  No country was more scientifically advanced; no people better educated.  They were patrons of the arts.  The German Protestant Church was the most liberal church in Europe.  That’s what frightens me:  the people that did these barbaric things were not barbarians.  They were cultured and enlightened.  They were people like me.

What’s so frightening about that is that it can happen again, that in spite of multiplied Holocaust Memorials, in spite of people crying, “Never Again,” it can happen again.  Indeed, it probably will happen again.  That’s the lesson of history.  Our species is notorious for singling out scapegoats to purge from our ranks, whether it’s the Jews of Warsaw, the Palestinians of Hebron, or the Muslims of Sarajevo.  It can always be justified by the mesmerizing demagogue.

I am a descendant of slaveholders.  As far as I can tell from my family history, they were decent, loving people.  How did such people justify so brutal an institution as slavery?  I do not know.  I only know that I, too, am capable of blindly rationalizing great evil.  What amazes me about history is not all the bad things that bad people did; it’s the bad things that good people did, people like me.

That’s why I fear Nazism—because it’s not so far away.  It’s always lurking, not just out there, but inside me, too.  To believe that those who are different from me are less than human is not a thought that is foreign to our species.  It is a thought that embraced in desperate times leads to death camps and ovens.  It is a thought that can be embraced by people like me.

Board

When the first ergonomic keyboards came out, I did not get it. I learned to type on an actual typewriter, albeit electric. In high school I would spend several hours typing a day. We never really worried about carpel tunnel.

When I started using a computer keyboard I had no problem, and again I could spend many hours a day without any problems. I have actually had more problems with my mouse than with the keyboard.

Then, one day, I saw an ad for a cheapy ergonomic keyboard. Reading all the literature at the time I figured I would give one a whirl. Worst case scenario, I’m out $50. Best case – I save my self a lot of pain and maybe surgery.

The switch was weird, one of those split keyboards angled to allow for a “more natural” alignment of the hands. Mine even had the little feet at the top AND bottom so I could put the high end of the keyboard closer to my body. After getting used to it though, it was not that I noticed a huge benefit in my wrists but in my shoulders. The reverse tilt though is what I noticed first that seemed to help the most.

Unfortunately I dumped tea into that keyboard. I went out and got another, even picked one up for work out of my own pocket. Never did find one of the reverse angle keyboard again, but even just the split keyboard left me feeling, relaxed I guess, at the end of the day.

I have been without an ergonomic keyboard at work for a couple of months. I broke yet another hard drive, so the IT powers that be decided it was time to get me a new computer. Unfortunately the new computer only has USB ports. My old keyboard was PS2. Since the keyboard was a big harry looking it was decided that I should get a new one. It finally came in today.

The keyboard is huge, which I LOVE! I do not have huge hands, but big enough that some keyboards are a problem. The keys are responsive but not too clicky. Lots of bonus keys to pull up the web, mail, adjust volume, pause Windows Media Player, etc. It even has a piece to do the reverse angle that I loved in my first ergo-keyboard.

Downsides? If you looked at the picture the keys have a that wave configuration of modern keyboards. I am not used to that. The mouse that comes with it is VERY sensitive and may need an adjustment. There is an extra button on the side that I may need to disable. I use my mouse left handed and the button is not in a good location. The only thing that I can’t change about the mouse that I would like to is the wheel. The wheel is nice and smooth, but I am used to something that has clicks, for lack of a better word. Since I have used it for all of 15 minutes though, I will wait to pass judgement on it.

Out of Touch

Have you ever lost track of a friend? My guess is that most people have. Some of the best friends I’ve ever had — or so I thought at the time — have simply disappeared beneath the sea of passing time.

I didn’t try to lose them. We didn’t have any falling out that I was party to, most of them. One day I got up and decided we hadn’t connected in a while and they just weren’t there anymore — phone disconnected, mail returned to sender, email bounced back undeliverable. Was it me? Did I do something?

I’m not so paranoid as to think they went into witness protection just to avoid me. I would rather fault the currents of life that swept us in different directions until we became lost in our own worlds. John Lennon said that, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans”.

We’re all leading our own lives — jobs, mortgages, kids, finances…. It can be all too easy to let slip away the people you once thought you would never be without. I can count on the fingers of one hand the friends I still keep from high school. There used to be more — a lot more.

I’m reminded of a quote from Tequila Sunrise, written by Robert Towne: “I don’t know what it is about going to high school with someone that automatically makes you feel like you’re friends for life. Who says? Who says friendship lasts forever? We’d all like it to, maybe. But maybe it just wears out like anything else — like tires. There just so much mileage in them and then you’re riding around on nothing but air.”

I’m sure that’s true sometimes, but I believe the ones who are supposed to be in my life find their way back — or me to them. I sleep better at night trusting that it works that way.