Whenever you use the words “prosperity” alongside the word “Gospel” it can be toxic! For those of you who are astute in modern world church lingo, the phrase “Prosperity Gospel” is almost a curse phrase, and for good reason. Let me give a simple explanation.
There have been many over the years who have abused the point of the Gospel when it is shared with the world. Some have taken truths, and strained them out to use only partial truths to try to get something from people. Essentially, the ‘prosperity gospel’ is one of those. There are some that have taught that if you believe hard enough, pray long enough, give out of your pocket deep enough, then God will ‘bless you’ many times over. And being ‘blessed’ is equated with a bigger bank account. With this perverted theology it could be translated that giving and prosperity is ‘God’s great stock tip and God’s great investment account!’ If you give $100 dollars to a church (and I use the term ‘church’ loosely here), you will find $1000 in your bank account the next week. God wants you rich in personal property, toys and wealth! Honestly, this is one of the great black marks and shames on the 19th & 20th (and now 21st) century theologies that is being taught out there. It is actually a cult and leads to idolatry.
Now… all that said… The Bible does indeed speak of prosperity. But it is often hard to teach about because of all the ridiculous and perverted stuff that is taught about money, property accumulation and prosperity. It also can be difficult because it is equated often with the ‘preacher’ trying to raise money for a project.
But indeed the Bible speaks to prosperity. I find that prosperity is a chapter in our life that often does take place. We know of chapters of loss, but we rarely think of seasons of prosperity as chapter that God sometimes gives us. The difference is that this chapter of prosperity can either be one of great victory and Gospel usefulness, OR it can be one of the greatest downfalls spiritually in our lives.
As you come to worship with the family and participate with this message on Sunday morning, be aware that I will be using many different passages of Scripture. I will also be challenging each of us to spend time post-service reviewing and meditating on some of the verses I will use. But in order to prepare yourself for this message I ask you to read over and meditate on 1 Timothy 6:9-19. It is powerful and loaded with truth about the Gospel in our prosperity chapter of life.
See you Sunday morning.
