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#5 Christians Will Be Healthy and Wealthy

This idea, often called the “prosperity gospel,” is that if you’re really living for God the way he wants, you’ll be physically healthy and financially prosperous. Many people believe that health and wealth are God’s way of rewarding those who are faithful in this life, and conversely, sickness and poverty are punishments for a lack of faith or sinful behaviors. This idea sets up the expectation that good Christians will be spared of difficulties in this life while weaker Christians will be forced to endure hardship for their unfaithfulness.

— (The error of this teaching is displayed in the following scriptures.) (Luke 12:15-21; Matthew 6:19-25; John 15:18-20; Acts 12:1-5; 2^nd Corinthians 12:7-10; 1^st Timothy 6:6-12; James 1:2-4.)

Digging further into scriptures to find truth…

First, let’s look at Luke 12:15-26 And He told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully,  (17)  and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’  (18)  And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.  (19)  And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’  (20)  But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’  (21)  So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

— Q1/ What is the point Jesus is trying to make with this story? (Hint: Vs.20-21)

— Q2/ How can we become “rich toward God”? (GNB reads: “but are not rich in God’s sight.”)

Now see what Jesus went on to explain to His disciples… (Vs.22-26)  And He said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on.  (23)  For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.  (24)  Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds!  (25)  And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?  (26)  If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest?

–Q3/ Is Jesus saying we should not work, but simply live like the ravens do?

— Q4/ What malady of mankind does Jesus speak about in Vs.25-26? (Is that important here?)

— Q5/ Do we not find the same theme repeated by Jesus in Matthew 6:19-27? (19)“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,  (20)  but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  (21)  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  (22)  “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light,  (23)  but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!  (24)  “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.  (25)  “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?  (26)  Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?  (27)  And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?

— Q6/ How does Vs.21’s “the treasure of our heart” relate to the “light and darkness” of Vs.23?

— Q7/ Again, what is Jesus telling us to avoid in Vs.25-27?

— Q8/ What do you think Jesus is saying is the answer to this all in Matthew 6:33? …But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Jesus moves on to teach of hardships in John 15:18-21… “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.  (19)  If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.  (20)  Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.  (21)  But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.

— Q9/ If we face hardships, what does that have to do with the “Prosperity Gospel”?

Then we see how God is above man’s persecutions, in Acts 12:1-11… About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church.  (2)  He killed James the brother of John with the sword,  (3)  and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. This was during the days of Unleavened Bread.  (4)  And when he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out to the people.  (5)  So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.  (6)  Now when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison.  (7)  And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his hands.  (8)  And the angel said to him, “Dress yourself and put on your sandals.” And he did so. And he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.”  (9)  And he went out and followed him. He did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision.  (10)  When they had passed the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord, and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel left him.  (11)  When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.”

— Here we glimpse how Peter thinks he’s dreaming, as God sends His angel to deliver him…

— Q10/ What is Peter’s new-found knowledge that he speaks of in Vs.11?

— Q11/ Does this truth have any application to us as well? (*God overrules even the people’s expectations.)

Reading 2^nd Corinthians 12:7-10… So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.  (8)  Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.  (9)  But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  (10)  For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

— Q12/ What does this say to you about believers who may be going through hardships?

And in Ephesians 2:8-9 we read… For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,  (9)  not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

— Q13/ Does the prosperity doctrine lead to prideful thinking?

— Here I turn to the Good News Bible version, as I find it clarifies some old-english language for me… Philippians 3:7-11 (GNB) But all those things that I might count as profit I now reckon as loss for Christ’s sake.  (8)  Not only those things; I reckon everything as complete loss for the sake of what is so much more valuable, the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have thrown everything away; I consider it all as mere garbage, so that I may gain Christ  (9)  and be completely united with him. I no longer have a righteousness of my own, the kind that is gained by obeying the Law. I now have the righteousness that is given through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God and is based on faith.  (10)  All I want is to know Christ and to experience the power of his resurrection, to share in his sufferings and become like him in his death,  (11)  in the hope that I myself will be raised from death to life.

— Q14/ What righteousness is Paul referring to when he says, ”I no longer have a righteousness of my own, the kind that is gained by obeying the Law.” (in Vs.9)?

— Q15/ So what are we to do when life gives us times of prosperity and of hardship?

— Does Paul tell us the answer in Philippians 4:11-13? Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.  (12)  I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.  (13)  I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Close with further discussion, praise, and prayer…

Close with ‘Consider the Lillies’ sung by Sampaguita