The Offense of the Prosperity Gospel

 

The prosperity gospel is an offensive teaching. What is offensive about it is not that it is wrong to be rich. It is not, riches can come to someone through hard work, entrepreneurship, inheritance, and just plain luck, and none of this is wrong, inherently. What is offensive about it is not the idea that God can make someone rich, of course he can. We read in Genesis 26 how God blessed Isaac and made him wealthy,

“12 And Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. The Lord blessed him, 13 and the man became rich, and gained more and more until he became very wealthy. 14 He had possessions of flocks and herds and many servants, so that the Philistines envied him… 24 And the Lord appeared to him the same night and said, “I am the God of Abraham your father. Fear not, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham's sake” (Gen. 26:12-14, 24).

God can and has made his servants wealthy in this world for a variety of reasons. So it is not the idea that God can make people rich that is offensive. 

What is offensive about the prosperity gospel is that some turn the love of money into a righteous thing, and worse, they turn godliness into a means of gain, and get the gospel backwards as a result. The gospel is not about the material things that you get in this world, it is about the riches of God's saving mercy to us as sinners. Saying you will be blessed with wealth if you live righteously is just another way of saying godliness is a means of gain, and it misses the point of the gospel. Paul rebuked this severely. In 1 Timothy he says,

“9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.”

I have personally observed this happen in so many different ways. We probably all have, to one degree or another. But again and again I find Christians who believe that they have unlocked the key to pursuing wealth, in a way that will not lead them into snares. They are almost certainly wrong. 

Godliness is not a way of getting rich. It is not a means of gain. You can live a righteous and godly life in this world and end up with nothing to your name, or not very much to your name. Do you remember what Paul had towards the end of his life? He tells us in 2 Timothy,

“9 Do your best to come to me soon. 10 For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. 11 Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry. 12 Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus. 13 When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments. 14 Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds. 15 Beware of him yourself, for he strongly opposed our message” (2 Tim. 4:9-15).

A cloak, some books and paper for writing on. To be fair these were not as cheap in Paul’s day as they are in ours, but it is still a paltry collection.

Can you honestly say, or do you honestly believe that God has more reasons to bless you than Paul? Have you been more righteous in your life than one of the chief Apostles? Of course not.

If you are rich Paul says we should use this generously to bless others. But if you are one of the majority of Christians that are not wealthy, this does not mean God has not blessed you, it does not necessarily mean something is wrong. It places you alongside many great Christian names in history, who did not gain much materially from this world, because the gospel is not about that. But they didn't lose out, at all, they will be vindicated and so will all who have this hope in Jesus.