The Sin of Greed in Today's Church
The April issue of Everyday Gospel Magazine featured an article written by Dr. Marc LaMont Hill who touched on the subject of the epidemic of prosperity teaching in the church. I’d like to add my views to the discussion. I feel compelled to talk about this because of the overwhelming number of television preachers and evangelists who are preaching about prosperity. The preaching of the prosperity message in today’s church boils down to one thing: greed.
Most of the preachers, who preach about prosperity, preach about nothing else. Instead of centering their messages on salvation, serving the Lord, Christian living, and the like, they instead center all or most of their messages on money. They entice people into joining their churches by luring them with the promise that they will get rich if they faithfully and consistently give money to the church. The subject of the day is not Jesus; instead the subject of the day is “the hundred fold blessing,” or how to get a big house, or how to get a fancy car. They teach that Christians are supposed to have more material possessions than the average person does. A Honda won’t do, we must have a Bently. If we wear a watch, it must be a Rolex. If we live in a house it must be a mansion. It’s not that these prosperity preachers haven’t been criticized for their message; they have. But what they’ve done in order to combat the criticism is to teach that Christians must have money in order to proselytize and promote the gospel. They’ve convinced their congregations that the only way to spread the gospel is to be rich. They ignore that fact that Jesus and the apostles left their worldly occupations in order to preach the gospel and that they depended on the financial assistance of others, others who were not materially rich. Jesus and his disciples did not gain material wealth from the financial assistance that was given them along their journeys. They only accepted what they needed. The aim was not to get rich. The aim was to preach the word of God.
Prosperity preachers often quote certain passages of scripture in an effort to support their teachings. However, they fail to reveal the true meaning of the word “prosperity” as it is used in the Hebrew. Prosperity is mainly spoken of in the Old Testament and mentioned only sparingly in the New Testament. In an effort to support their views, prosperity preachers frequently quote the following passage of scripture:
“If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God: You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed. You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. The Lord will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven. The Lord will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The Lord your God will bless you in the land he is giving you. The Lord will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the Lord your God and walk in his ways. Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they will fear you. The Lord will grant you abundant prosperity—in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock, and the crops of your ground—in the land he swore to your forefathers to give you.” (Deuteronomy 28:1-11 NIV)
Prosperity preachers also frequently quote the following scripture as well; “Misfortune pursues the sinner, but prosperity is the reward of the righteous.” (Proverbs 13:21)
In both of the passages of scripture cited above, the Hebrew word used for “prosperity” is “tob” or “tobah” (a derivative of tob) which basically means to be allotted good things, to be favorably disposed, to be happy and pleased with life. With this said, we can clearly see that to prosper in the Lord does not necessarily mean to be rich. A more fitting definition might be “to live comfortably.” Furthermore, although we can learn from the text and apply the principles of the text to our lives, the passage of scripture in Deuteronomy cited above specifically applied to the nation of Israel at that particular time. It must also be emphasized that we should not conclude that a Christian who is living a less than comfortable life is somehow unrighteous or lacks faith. We must remember that Job, a man who was perfect in all his ways, lived very uncomfortably for a season and that Paul, the apostle was often thrown in prison for his preaching of the gospel. There is no doubt that prison, especial during Paul’s times, was a very uncomfortable setting indeed. Despite this, we cannot overlook the fact that Paul said the following:
“I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you have renewed your concern for me. Indeed you have been concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.” (Philippians 4:10-12 NIV).
When taking the preceding passage of scripture into account, we see that being comfortable or uncomfortable with one’s circumstances has to do with one’s spiritual state of mind; one’s spiritual maturity. A spiritually mature person can therefore be prosperous (content, happy, favorably disposed, and pleased) even in circumstances where food is not plentiful; even when they are living in want (when they are poor). This is certainly a passage of scripture that you’ll never hear quoted by prosperity preachers.
Greed is a sin. Although a greedy person has what they need and much of what they want, it is not enough for them. They always want more. They always want something bigger, something more expensive, a multiplicity of everything. They are hard to satisfy. Greedy people are materialistic. They rationalize their greed by convincing themselves that they are entitled to the things that they want, or worse yet, that it is God’s will for them to have what they want. It is not always God’s will for us to have the things that we want. Just think: Jesus wanted the “cup” of crucifixion to pass from him, but it was not the Father’s will. After praying three times for what he wanted, Jesus yielded and accepted the Father’s will over his own. (Matthew 26:36-45 NIV)
The sin of greed is so displeasing to the Lord that the word of God tells us not to associate with people who call themselves Christians, yet are greedy. This particular admonishment is found in 1 Corinthians 5:9-11 which says, “When I wrote you before, I told you not to associate with people who indulge in sexual sin. But I wasn’t talking about unbelievers who indulge in sexual sin, or who are greedy, or are swindlers, or idol worshippers. You would have to leave this world to avoid people like that. What I meant was that you are not to associate with anyone who claims to be a Christian yet indulges in sexual sin, or is greedy, or worships idols, or is abusive, or a drunkard, or a swindler. Don’t even eat with such people (NLT).”
If we are not to associate with people who say they’re Christians, yet indulge in greediness, then we should not support prosperity ministries because prosperity ministries are based on greed. It is not necessary for us to have a fleet of cars or a yacht or a jet or a mansion or whatever else prosperity preachers teach that we should have. This is not to say that there aren’t some people who God blesses with these things. And of course, if he does, then he has a reason for doing so and it’s okay. But the scriptures clearly teach us that we shouldn’t seek to be rich. Greed usually manifests itself in the love of money because in order to acquire things one usually needs money. In turn, the love of money can lead to all sorts of sin, including but not limited to, extortion, embezzlement, misappropriation of funds, stealing, hoarding, overspending, taking advantage of people, fraud, bribery, kidnapping, swindling, deception, and a host of other sins.
Greed is insatiable as attested to in the book of Ecclesiastics, which says, “Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income.” In other words, greedy people are never satisfied with what they have no matter how much money they have and no matter how nice the things are that they have; they always want something more, something better, something bigger. They don’t seek bigger and better things out of need, they seek bigger and better things out of greed.
Greed is also defined as idolatry as attested to in Colossians 3:5 which says, “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry.” Greed is defined as idolatry because whatever the greedy person fixates on (be it gold, silver, money, material possessions, and so on) is put above spiritual matters, which is a form of idolatry.
Consequently, instead of putting most of their energy in tending to spiritual matters and in serving God, greedy people put most of their energy into acquiring things. Greedy Christians focus more attention on acquiring wealth and material possession than they do in serving God. And many of them convince themselves that they are serving God by acquiring wealth and riches. Prosperity preachers have led many Christians to this point after getting to this point themselves. They have somehow merged serving God with getting rich. They have put the two together and teach that riches come along with serving God.
A very popular prosperity preacher whose ministry is located in Darrow Louisiana recently televised a program in which he said that God wants his people to live in prosperity (get rich) in order to be a blessing to others, for the Kingdom’s sake, and to bless the poor. This is as if to say that without being rich Christians cannot do these things. Another television evangelist who has a church in Forest Park Illinois declared that God wants his followers to be rich and that God is “looking for billionaires” (in other words, he’s looking to make Christians into billionaires, never mind thousands or millions). In order to teach these things, prosperity preachers have to completely ignore a plethora of scripture passages that negate such doctrine. We’ll take a look at a few of these scripture passages below.
1st Timothy 6:3-11 says the following: “If anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, he is conceited and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions and constant friction between men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain. But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall in temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.”
In the preceding passage of scripture Paul tells us that those who think that godliness is a means to financial gain have been robbed of the truth. He says that people who want to get rich fall into all kinds of trouble and temptation. He says that people should run from trying to get rich and tells Timothy that instead of pursuing money, he should pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. This is a far cry from the mantra of “money commeth” that has been infiltrated into many prosperity circles.
Proverbs 28:20 says that a faithful man will be richly blessed but one eager to get rich will not go unpunished.” To be richly blessed does not mean to be blessed with material riches but instead it means to be blessed on a spiritual level…to be blessed with God’s gifts and favor. The verse goes on to say that those who are eager to get rich will be punished for focusing so much on money. This then makes it a sin to go after riches.
Jesus said the following about money: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness. No one can serve two masters. 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 both God and Money. Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” (Matthew 6:19-26 NIV)
The preceding passage of scripture teaches us that we are not to concentrate on building a fortune here on earth, but instead, the fortune that we should be building should be a fortune of spiritual rewards that we will gain in heaven for doing good deeds in the name of our Lord. This point is further supported by what Jesus said to the rich man as documented in the following passage of scripture:
“Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?’ ‘Why do you ask me about what is good?’ Jesus replied. ‘There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.’ ‘Which ones?’ the man inquired. Jesus replied, “Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as yourself.’ ‘All these I have kept,’ the young man said. ‘What do I still lack?’ Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’ When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 19:16-23 NIV).
In taking the preceding passage of scripture into consideration, it certainly doesn’t follow that God wants all Christians to be materially rich. This very passage of scripture goes against the message of prosperity that is being taught in today’s church. It is a passage of scripture, among others, that prosperity preachers avoid.
Now, all this is not to say that there are not going to be some Christians who the Lord will bless with material riches (Ecclesiastes 5:19). But from what we have read so far it would appear that these Christians would be the exception, not the norm. To those Christians whom God has blessed to be materially rich, the word of God says this: “Command those who are rich, in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.” (1 Timothy 6:17-19 NIV)
We must keep in mind that Jesus taught a parable in which a poor man went to heaven while a rich man went to hell (Luke 16:19-31). We must keep in mind that Satan tried to bribe Jesus by taking him to a high mountain and telling him that all of the Kingdoms of the world would be his if he would just fall down and worship him (Matthew 4:8-11). We must keep in mind that Jesus asked the question: what good is it to gain the whole world and lose your soul? (Mark 8:36). We must keep in mind that Solomon declared that everything under the sun is meaningless (Ecclesiastes 1:1-18). And maybe if we keep these things in mind we won’t be so easily seduced by the promise of riches and wealth when a prosperity preacher comes a calling. And we might even think twice before placing an offering at the preacher’s feet while he’s delivering a sermon because to do so takes the focus away from the message, if but only for a fleeting moment, and places the focus on money.
God bless.
Most of the preachers, who preach about prosperity, preach about nothing else. Instead of centering their messages on salvation, serving the Lord, Christian living, and the like, they instead center all or most of their messages on money. They entice people into joining their churches by luring them with the promise that they will get rich if they faithfully and consistently give money to the church. The subject of the day is not Jesus; instead the subject of the day is “the hundred fold blessing,” or how to get a big house, or how to get a fancy car. They teach that Christians are supposed to have more material possessions than the average person does. A Honda won’t do, we must have a Bently. If we wear a watch, it must be a Rolex. If we live in a house it must be a mansion. It’s not that these prosperity preachers haven’t been criticized for their message; they have. But what they’ve done in order to combat the criticism is to teach that Christians must have money in order to proselytize and promote the gospel. They’ve convinced their congregations that the only way to spread the gospel is to be rich. They ignore that fact that Jesus and the apostles left their worldly occupations in order to preach the gospel and that they depended on the financial assistance of others, others who were not materially rich. Jesus and his disciples did not gain material wealth from the financial assistance that was given them along their journeys. They only accepted what they needed. The aim was not to get rich. The aim was to preach the word of God.
Prosperity preachers often quote certain passages of scripture in an effort to support their teachings. However, they fail to reveal the true meaning of the word “prosperity” as it is used in the Hebrew. Prosperity is mainly spoken of in the Old Testament and mentioned only sparingly in the New Testament. In an effort to support their views, prosperity preachers frequently quote the following passage of scripture:
“If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God: You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed. You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. The Lord will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven. The Lord will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The Lord your God will bless you in the land he is giving you. The Lord will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the Lord your God and walk in his ways. Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they will fear you. The Lord will grant you abundant prosperity—in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock, and the crops of your ground—in the land he swore to your forefathers to give you.” (Deuteronomy 28:1-11 NIV)
Prosperity preachers also frequently quote the following scripture as well; “Misfortune pursues the sinner, but prosperity is the reward of the righteous.” (Proverbs 13:21)
In both of the passages of scripture cited above, the Hebrew word used for “prosperity” is “tob” or “tobah” (a derivative of tob) which basically means to be allotted good things, to be favorably disposed, to be happy and pleased with life. With this said, we can clearly see that to prosper in the Lord does not necessarily mean to be rich. A more fitting definition might be “to live comfortably.” Furthermore, although we can learn from the text and apply the principles of the text to our lives, the passage of scripture in Deuteronomy cited above specifically applied to the nation of Israel at that particular time. It must also be emphasized that we should not conclude that a Christian who is living a less than comfortable life is somehow unrighteous or lacks faith. We must remember that Job, a man who was perfect in all his ways, lived very uncomfortably for a season and that Paul, the apostle was often thrown in prison for his preaching of the gospel. There is no doubt that prison, especial during Paul’s times, was a very uncomfortable setting indeed. Despite this, we cannot overlook the fact that Paul said the following:
“I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you have renewed your concern for me. Indeed you have been concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.” (Philippians 4:10-12 NIV).
When taking the preceding passage of scripture into account, we see that being comfortable or uncomfortable with one’s circumstances has to do with one’s spiritual state of mind; one’s spiritual maturity. A spiritually mature person can therefore be prosperous (content, happy, favorably disposed, and pleased) even in circumstances where food is not plentiful; even when they are living in want (when they are poor). This is certainly a passage of scripture that you’ll never hear quoted by prosperity preachers.
Greed is a sin. Although a greedy person has what they need and much of what they want, it is not enough for them. They always want more. They always want something bigger, something more expensive, a multiplicity of everything. They are hard to satisfy. Greedy people are materialistic. They rationalize their greed by convincing themselves that they are entitled to the things that they want, or worse yet, that it is God’s will for them to have what they want. It is not always God’s will for us to have the things that we want. Just think: Jesus wanted the “cup” of crucifixion to pass from him, but it was not the Father’s will. After praying three times for what he wanted, Jesus yielded and accepted the Father’s will over his own. (Matthew 26:36-45 NIV)
The sin of greed is so displeasing to the Lord that the word of God tells us not to associate with people who call themselves Christians, yet are greedy. This particular admonishment is found in 1 Corinthians 5:9-11 which says, “When I wrote you before, I told you not to associate with people who indulge in sexual sin. But I wasn’t talking about unbelievers who indulge in sexual sin, or who are greedy, or are swindlers, or idol worshippers. You would have to leave this world to avoid people like that. What I meant was that you are not to associate with anyone who claims to be a Christian yet indulges in sexual sin, or is greedy, or worships idols, or is abusive, or a drunkard, or a swindler. Don’t even eat with such people (NLT).”
If we are not to associate with people who say they’re Christians, yet indulge in greediness, then we should not support prosperity ministries because prosperity ministries are based on greed. It is not necessary for us to have a fleet of cars or a yacht or a jet or a mansion or whatever else prosperity preachers teach that we should have. This is not to say that there aren’t some people who God blesses with these things. And of course, if he does, then he has a reason for doing so and it’s okay. But the scriptures clearly teach us that we shouldn’t seek to be rich. Greed usually manifests itself in the love of money because in order to acquire things one usually needs money. In turn, the love of money can lead to all sorts of sin, including but not limited to, extortion, embezzlement, misappropriation of funds, stealing, hoarding, overspending, taking advantage of people, fraud, bribery, kidnapping, swindling, deception, and a host of other sins.
Greed is insatiable as attested to in the book of Ecclesiastics, which says, “Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income.” In other words, greedy people are never satisfied with what they have no matter how much money they have and no matter how nice the things are that they have; they always want something more, something better, something bigger. They don’t seek bigger and better things out of need, they seek bigger and better things out of greed.
Greed is also defined as idolatry as attested to in Colossians 3:5 which says, “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry.” Greed is defined as idolatry because whatever the greedy person fixates on (be it gold, silver, money, material possessions, and so on) is put above spiritual matters, which is a form of idolatry.
Consequently, instead of putting most of their energy in tending to spiritual matters and in serving God, greedy people put most of their energy into acquiring things. Greedy Christians focus more attention on acquiring wealth and material possession than they do in serving God. And many of them convince themselves that they are serving God by acquiring wealth and riches. Prosperity preachers have led many Christians to this point after getting to this point themselves. They have somehow merged serving God with getting rich. They have put the two together and teach that riches come along with serving God.
A very popular prosperity preacher whose ministry is located in Darrow Louisiana recently televised a program in which he said that God wants his people to live in prosperity (get rich) in order to be a blessing to others, for the Kingdom’s sake, and to bless the poor. This is as if to say that without being rich Christians cannot do these things. Another television evangelist who has a church in Forest Park Illinois declared that God wants his followers to be rich and that God is “looking for billionaires” (in other words, he’s looking to make Christians into billionaires, never mind thousands or millions). In order to teach these things, prosperity preachers have to completely ignore a plethora of scripture passages that negate such doctrine. We’ll take a look at a few of these scripture passages below.
1st Timothy 6:3-11 says the following: “If anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, he is conceited and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions and constant friction between men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain. But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall in temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.”
In the preceding passage of scripture Paul tells us that those who think that godliness is a means to financial gain have been robbed of the truth. He says that people who want to get rich fall into all kinds of trouble and temptation. He says that people should run from trying to get rich and tells Timothy that instead of pursuing money, he should pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. This is a far cry from the mantra of “money commeth” that has been infiltrated into many prosperity circles.
Proverbs 28:20 says that a faithful man will be richly blessed but one eager to get rich will not go unpunished.” To be richly blessed does not mean to be blessed with material riches but instead it means to be blessed on a spiritual level…to be blessed with God’s gifts and favor. The verse goes on to say that those who are eager to get rich will be punished for focusing so much on money. This then makes it a sin to go after riches.
Jesus said the following about money: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness. No one can serve two masters. 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 both God and Money. Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” (Matthew 6:19-26 NIV)
The preceding passage of scripture teaches us that we are not to concentrate on building a fortune here on earth, but instead, the fortune that we should be building should be a fortune of spiritual rewards that we will gain in heaven for doing good deeds in the name of our Lord. This point is further supported by what Jesus said to the rich man as documented in the following passage of scripture:
“Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?’ ‘Why do you ask me about what is good?’ Jesus replied. ‘There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.’ ‘Which ones?’ the man inquired. Jesus replied, “Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as yourself.’ ‘All these I have kept,’ the young man said. ‘What do I still lack?’ Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’ When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 19:16-23 NIV).
In taking the preceding passage of scripture into consideration, it certainly doesn’t follow that God wants all Christians to be materially rich. This very passage of scripture goes against the message of prosperity that is being taught in today’s church. It is a passage of scripture, among others, that prosperity preachers avoid.
Now, all this is not to say that there are not going to be some Christians who the Lord will bless with material riches (Ecclesiastes 5:19). But from what we have read so far it would appear that these Christians would be the exception, not the norm. To those Christians whom God has blessed to be materially rich, the word of God says this: “Command those who are rich, in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.” (1 Timothy 6:17-19 NIV)
We must keep in mind that Jesus taught a parable in which a poor man went to heaven while a rich man went to hell (Luke 16:19-31). We must keep in mind that Satan tried to bribe Jesus by taking him to a high mountain and telling him that all of the Kingdoms of the world would be his if he would just fall down and worship him (Matthew 4:8-11). We must keep in mind that Jesus asked the question: what good is it to gain the whole world and lose your soul? (Mark 8:36). We must keep in mind that Solomon declared that everything under the sun is meaningless (Ecclesiastes 1:1-18). And maybe if we keep these things in mind we won’t be so easily seduced by the promise of riches and wealth when a prosperity preacher comes a calling. And we might even think twice before placing an offering at the preacher’s feet while he’s delivering a sermon because to do so takes the focus away from the message, if but only for a fleeting moment, and places the focus on money.
God bless.
posted by Elreta Dodds at 4:53 AM
3 Comments:
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
I like your point that preachers can get sidetracked on wealth (perhaps because they have so much of it and maybe feel a bit guilty...or greedy?). Anyway, I think you would like my argument relating a pro-wealth Christian attitude with self-idolatry. (if you are interested, here's my text: http://www.amazon.com/Gods-Gold-Shifting-Christian-Profit-Seeking-ebook/dp/B00VJ3ND3S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1428162747&sr=8-1&keywords=god%27s+gold+worden
I think Christian thought shifted from an anti-wealth stance to a pro-wealth stance through the centuries. What does this mean for the future of Christianity? Is this a succumbing to greed? Anyway, I read your piece and thought you might like to read mine.
Nice piece of work. Pastor God bless you. I think you have expediently elaborated the subject matter so well. Greediness now ruins in the church. Pastors wanna be rich at the expenses of members, members wanna be rich at the expenses of their employers. The world's focus now has shift from the coming of our Lord to wealth making. God help us all.
Amen.
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