Roots of the Prosperity Gospel

[00:00:02] Father, we confess that your word is absolutely true and that your word clearly presents the truth. [00:00:18] But we also must confess that we live in the midst of of a generation of unclean lips, that we, from before we were born, were under the curse of sin. [00:00:43] But through Jesus Christ, Father, you have delivered us from the ultimate punishment of that sin. [00:00:55] That we shall never see that final judgment depart from me because of what Christ has done. [00:01:10] And so, Father, we look for your Spirit to illumine our minds, that we might clearly understand what you would teach us from your Word, and that we would take these words to heart and apply them in our lives in such a way that we will be an honor to our Savior, that we will bring glory to you, Father, and that the Spirit would not be grieved by our thoughts, our words, or our behavior. [00:01:52] We ask all these things in Jesus name. [00:01:55] Amen. [00:01:59] I'm going to ask you to be seated because our reading this evening is a rather long one. [00:02:05] And I also have a bit of an introduction to it. I'm going to be reading some things in chapter four and five of Job, some things that may sound very familiar to you, some things in those two chapters that may sound pretty good, especially if you have bought into the prosperity gospel. [00:02:36] I think all of us have been exposed to that at one time or another. It's very popular in our age. [00:02:47] But to have a proper perspective on this, I'd like to read the a few verses here from chapter 42. [00:03:03] So if you'll turn to Job, chapter 42, and beginning with verse 7, chapter 42, verse 7. [00:03:17] After the Lord had spoken these words to Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, my anger burns against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. [00:03:37] Now therefore, take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves. And my servant Job shall pray for you. And I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. [00:04:00] So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did as the Lord had told them. And the Lord accepted Job's prayer. [00:04:16] So what you're going to hear, read from me this evening, it's God's word. It is very faithful. [00:04:23] It presents the truth as it is. [00:04:26] But we all know that you can take things out of context, can't you? [00:04:33] And imagine that that's appropriate to apply it. [00:04:41] I think the ultimate example of that was the story I heard years and years ago about someone who's flipping through the Bible and kind of putting their finger on a verse to decide what they're going to do that day. And he comes to this verse which says, and Judas went out and hanged himself. And he thought, oh, no, that can't be right. So he closed the book back up again, opened up, closed his eyes, put his finger down the verse. And the verse said, go, do thou likewise. [00:05:11] And he thought, oh, no, this cannot be right. So he closes the book one more time and opens it again with his eyes closed, puts his finger down, and it says, what thou doest, do quickly. [00:05:25] You cannot use the Scriptures that way. [00:05:28] And so though some of the things that Eliphaz says here, taken out of the context of his message, are true words, his message is wrong. Here. [00:05:48] We've been looking at Job, the book here, and we noted that Job didn't, and pastor this morning mentioned it, that Job did not know all that stuff that went on in heaven. All he knew was the experience of the loss of his children, of his houses, of his property, and then the loss of his health. [00:06:11] But we noted that Job did not curse God. [00:06:20] And we noted last time I preached that what we would be missing if Job had never been born. [00:06:33] God may call some of you to, in this life, go through things like Job went through, and you had better have a clear notion of how God works. [00:06:49] Otherwise you may be misled and you may find yourself discouraged unnecessarily. [00:07:03] Job is not misled by these things. [00:07:07] We'll see later in the book if I ever get that far in preaching it. But we'll see later in the book that Job does come to realize certain things about God, but Job doesn't get an answer to all his questions. But the thing that we need to keep in mind is Job's friend's answers are wrong. [00:07:32] Job, chapter four, beginning with verse one. [00:07:39] Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said, if one ventures a word with you, will you be impatient yet who can keep from speaking? [00:07:53] Behold, you have instructed many, and you have strengthened the weak hands. Your words have upheld him who was stumbling, and you have made firm the feeble knees. [00:08:04] But now it has come to you and you are impatient. It touches you and you are dismayed. [00:08:14] Is not your fear of God, your confidence and the integrity of your ways, your hope? [00:08:22] Remember who that was innocent ever perished, or where were the upright cut off, as I have Seen those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same. [00:08:37] By the breath of God they perish. And by the blast of his anger they are consumed. The roar of a lion. The voice of fierce lion. The teeth of the young lions are broken. The strong lion perishes for lack of prey. And the cubs of the lioness are scattered. [00:08:57] Now a word was brought to me. Stealthily my ear received the whisper of it. Amid thoughts from the visions of the night when deep sleep falls on men. Dread came upon me. And trembling, which made all my bones shake, A spirit glided past my face. The hair of my flesh stood up. I stood still, but I could not discern its appearance. A form was before my eyes. There was silence. Then I heard a voice. [00:09:28] Can mortal man be in the right before God? [00:09:34] Can a man be pure before his Maker? [00:09:39] Even in his servants he puts no trust. And his angels he charges with error. How much more. Those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed like the moth between morning and evening they are beaten to pieces. They perish forever without anyone regarding. It is not their tent cord plucked up within them. [00:10:08] Do they not die? And that without wisdom call. Now is there anyone who will answer you? To which of the holy ones will you return? Will you turn? Surely vexation kills the fool and jealously slays the simple. [00:10:27] I have seen the fool taking root, but suddenly I cursed his dwelling. His children are far from safety. They are crushed in the gate, and there is no one to deliver them. The hungry eat his harvest, and he takes it even out of the thorns and the thirsty plant after pant after his wealth. For affliction does not come from the dust, nor does trouble sprout from the ground. [00:10:56] But man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward. [00:11:03] As for me, I would seek God, and to God I would commit my cause, who does great things and unsearchable marvelous things without number. He gives rain on the earth, and he sends water on the fields he sets on high. Those who who are lowly and those who mourn are lifted to safety. He frustrates the devices of the crafty so that their hands achieve no success. He catches the wise in their own craftiness. And the schemes of the wily are brought to a quick end. They meet with darkness in the daytime and grope at noonday as in night. But he saves the needy from the sword of their mouth and from the hand of the mighty. So the poor have hope and injustice shuts her mouth. [00:11:53] Behold, blessed is the one whom God reproves. [00:11:58] Therefore despise not the discipline of the Almighty. For he wounds, but he binds up, he shatters, but his hands heal. He will deliver you from six troubles in seven, no evil shall touch you. In famine, he will redeem you from death, and in war, from the power of the sword. You shall be hidden from the lash of the tongue and shall not fear destruction. When it comes at destruction and famine, you shall laugh and shall not fear the beasts of the earth. [00:12:32] For you shall be in league with the stones of the field, and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you. You shall know that your tent is at peace, and you shall inspect your fold and miss nothing. [00:12:50] You shall know that your offspring shall be many and your descendants as the grass of the earth. You shall come to your grave in ripe old age, like a sheath gathered up in its season. [00:13:03] Behold this. We have searched out. It is true. [00:13:09] Hear and know it for your own good. [00:13:21] You ever get advice from somebody for your own good? [00:13:25] That wasn't good advice. [00:13:29] Did you ever have someone say something to you at the wrong time? [00:13:38] That in the midst of a loss, someone assures you that, oh, there's hope for replacement somehow? [00:13:50] I worked as a volunteer chaplain in the hospital, got to engage with a lot of people who were not my parishioners. It's a little different when you're dealing with complete strangers, someone you just met. [00:14:04] But often when they know you're a preacher, they have interesting questions they'll ask you. [00:14:12] And one of the most foolish things that can be done is for someone to tell something without being clear as to where that comes from and what they're talking about. [00:14:29] Eliphaz is making an assumption here. [00:14:34] You kind of. You almost have to read it between the lines in a way, because if you read the surface of it, it sounds pretty good. [00:14:42] But he's making an assumption. Job, you must have done something terrible bad to get this affliction. [00:14:57] And Eliphaz is not a compassionate person here because you don't say to someone who just lost all of their children, you shall know also that your offspring shall be many and your descendants as the grass of the earth. He hasn't got a descendant left at this point. [00:15:18] Now we know the rest of the story. We know that in the end, God blesses him. [00:15:28] But right here and now, this is the message this man brings. And the message this man brings is the message. [00:15:50] It's the message of the false gospel of prosperity. [00:16:08] I looked up the gospel of prosperity and I discovered that there's this lady with a PhD. She has a PhD in the gospel of Prosperity. That's actually what her dissertation was based on. [00:16:28] Listen to a little bit of her. [00:16:31] I wouldn't uphold her as a. [00:16:35] As a believer. I don't. I have my doubts about the woman. She's an assistant professor at Duke Divinity School. [00:16:44] And just, for example, she wrote a book called Everything Happens for a Reason and Other Lies that I've Loved. [00:17:04] But she has some interesting things to point out, and I'd kind of like to read that book. [00:17:19] But the thing behind this Gospel of Prosperity is that we want to believe that we can shape our life's course as human beings. And particularly, I think, as Americans living in this century and the previous century or two have got the notion that we're in charge. [00:17:56] I have heard quoted at funerals of politicians and quoted by politicians. For instance, Bill Clinton. This is. I understand his favorite poem is Invictus. Familiar with it. [00:18:18] Listen to a little bit of this poem. [00:18:21] Beyond this place of wrath and tears looms but the horror of the shade and yet the menace of the years finds, and shall find me unafraid. [00:18:35] It matters not how straight the gate, how charged with punishment the scroll. I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul. That could have been written by Satan himself. [00:18:54] And people read that quote it approvingly. [00:19:02] As a matter of fact, there are references in there to the Bible. That straight gate. We know what the straight gate is, don't we? [00:19:10] Matthew 7. [00:19:13] Turn with me to that passage. [00:19:21] Matthew 7, 13, and 14. [00:19:29] And it's interesting that this. Let me read verse 12 as well, because verse 12 will be far more familiar in our culture, I'm sure, because it's the golden rule. [00:19:42] So whatever you wish others would do to you, do also to them. [00:19:47] For this is the law. And the prophets enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy. That leads to destruction. And those who enter by it are many. [00:20:04] But the gate is narrow and the way is hard. That leads to life, and those who find it are few. [00:20:27] Eliphaz would give you the impression that anyone who suffers and dies. The way Job seems to be going, I think the expectation was Job wasn't long for this world, that somehow the wrath of God is on that individual. [00:20:52] I had a very strange experience on my way to church one Sunday morning. I was going to be preaching in Kansas City some years ago. You may have heard about this incident on the plaza. [00:21:15] There was a gathering in this place, a hotel, and they had a skywalk across and There was a large ballroom there. People were dancing in the ballroom, and. And people were at the bar just below the skywalk. [00:21:38] And a lot of the people on the skywalk were swaying. [00:21:45] And the skywalk collapsed, and it killed a lot of people. [00:21:54] And on my way to church, I'm listening on the radio, and there's some local preacher, and he's saying that that skywalk collapsed on those people because they was drinking and dancing. [00:22:12] Of course, we all know God doesn't approve of drinking and dancing. [00:22:16] That was his approach. And that struck my spirit in such a way that I can't remember what I was going to preach on. I ended up preaching on a passage in Luke chapter 13. [00:22:37] Turn with me to Luke chapter 13 in the beginning of that chapter. [00:22:53] And speaking of the hymn, here is Jesus. [00:22:59] There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. [00:23:09] And he answered them, do not think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered in this way. [00:23:19] No, I tell you. But unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. [00:23:25] Or those 18 on whom the tower in Philoam fell and killed them, do you think they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? [00:23:37] No, I tell you. But unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. [00:23:46] That because something bad happens to someone else does not mean that God is focusing upon them in a special way to punish them. But these tragedies that come into life, whether they're personal with us or whether they're big public tragedies, should cause us to come and think and ponder. [00:24:16] We kind of make that silly assumption that because the sun came up this morning, that we're going to see it come up tomorrow. [00:24:26] And the sun may very well come up tomorrow, but there's no guarantee that you will be a witness to it. [00:24:37] There's a notion that when something is repeated over and over again, you gain a certain confidence that it's going to go on. [00:24:50] One of my seminary professors who grew up on a farm said, you know, the turkeys believed that not fed them every day, and every day they got fatter, and there was plenty to eat, and it was always there until that day came. [00:25:16] We're not here forever. [00:25:19] Job realized that he wasn't going to be here forever either. [00:25:28] But his friend. I put that in quotation marks. Friend had to believe that Job had done something bad. Why? Why does he have to believe Job did something bad? Because he imagines that as Long as he's a good boy and he doesn't do this bad thing that Job did, whatever it was, that he's safe, that he's fine, that everything will go well. [00:26:20] Turn with me to John 9. [00:26:39] John 9, beginning with verse 1. As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. [00:26:47] And his disciples asked him, rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind? [00:26:56] Jesus answered, it was not that this man sinned or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me. While it is day, night is coming when no one can work as long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. [00:27:19] Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with saliva. And then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud and said to him, go wash in the pool of siloam, which means sent. [00:27:38] So he went and washed and came back. [00:27:42] Seeing that kind of assumption, it went on in the Old Testament where people got thinking that way. In the New Testament, Jesus was constantly dealing with this assumption that bad things happen to bad people and good things happen to good people. [00:28:06] There was a. There was a man who wrote a book that was called When. When Bad Things Happen to Good People. And I remember someone criticizing it. And if you're a good Calvinist, you know where I'm headed with that. There aren't any good people. [00:28:22] There's nobody who's perfectly innocent. There's no one who deserves nothing but roses and lollipops and whatever else. [00:28:39] I think the more difficult question to answer is, why do good things happen to bad people? [00:28:47] And I don't mean that they're worse than anyone else, but I'm saying there's some people that are pretty outstanding in the evil that they do, and some of them die of old age. [00:29:13] And you see that this life is not the judgment. [00:29:28] My father was not a believer, so I was growing up. I remember him telling me one time, he said, bobby, because I asked him about heaven and hell. He said, bobby, I think you make your heaven or hell right here on earth. [00:29:45] That's not true. [00:29:47] I knew when he told me that that it wasn't true. [00:29:55] This life is not all that. There is one last passage I'd like us to look at, and that's In Romans, chapter 8, a passage which is very familiar to all of us. [00:30:17] It has that golden chain of salvation in there, all these things that are tied together. [00:30:25] It's interesting that that lady who wrote that book Everything Happens for a Reason was talking about this particular verse which says, all things work together for good. [00:30:43] And of course her assertion is they don't. [00:30:48] But again, that's taking Scripture out of context. Notice the context of that particular little verse. [00:30:57] If you're ever tempted to share that verse with someone who's suffering and having difficulties and everything, be careful. Share the whole context. Please don't give it out of context, or else it will just throw them completely off and they'll think, well, what good is going to come from this? [00:31:21] Romans 8:26 likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know what to pray for as we ought. [00:31:37] But the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. [00:31:46] Have you ever been through one of those experiences where you want to pray? [00:31:53] The desire is there, and you may have a fantastic vocabulary. Many of you do, but the words just won't come. [00:32:08] And it's not because of old age. And you can't remember the particular word you were trying to think of, which sometimes I find myself doing. [00:32:20] Do you realize what a wonderful promise this is here? [00:32:24] That when you are experiencing that grief, when you are experiencing that longing, when you are praying for that loved one who seems so far from God that the Spirit intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words? [00:32:52] And he who searches hearts knows what is in the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. [00:33:05] And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. [00:33:15] Or an alternative translation here is and we know that for those who love God, God works all things together for good. I kind of like that because it's God. [00:33:33] It's not God taking bad things and twisting them until they look good. [00:33:42] It's God at work in the midst of this. [00:33:49] But here's the context. [00:33:52] For those who are called according to his purpose, have you been called according to his purpose? [00:34:00] Have you heard the voice of Jesus? [00:34:04] Have you recognized him as your Lord and Savior and your only hope in this life and in the life to come? [00:34:17] For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son in order that he that is the Son might be the firstborn among many brothers? [00:34:37] And those whom he predestined, he also called. [00:34:45] And those whom he called, he also justified. [00:34:53] And those whom he justified, he also glorified. [00:35:04] Glorified. [00:35:08] Have you been glorified yet? [00:35:11] I haven't. [00:35:14] It's interesting that the text Here puts that in the past tense as if it's already accomplished. Because it's good. It's accomplished. [00:35:21] What is glorification upon death? [00:35:27] The souls of those who are in Christ Jesus do go immediately to be with him in glory and are absolutely free of sin, its consequences, its temptations. [00:35:52] If anyone ever tries to sell you on the notion of total sanctification in this life, don't buy it. Because there's only one way there. It's called death. [00:36:03] You don't accomplish it here. [00:36:07] We can't live above sin. [00:36:09] Had a guy ask me that one time. He asked me, he says, pastor, do you think we can live above sin? And I said, no. He said, do you think you can live above sin? That's the way he put it to me. And I said, yeah, but it wouldn't be a good testimony. [00:36:25] He looked at me, he says, what do you mean it wouldn't be a good testimony? And I says, I think I could probably rent a room upstairs over a brothel. [00:36:35] I'd be living above an awful lot of sin. [00:36:39] But me coming and going from that place wouldn't be a good testimony. [00:36:44] No, no, you don't accomplish that here. [00:36:48] God accomplishes that. [00:36:51] But notice that's the end of that chain. It's a chain that is unbroken. [00:36:58] If you have been called, if you have been justified, you will be glorified. [00:37:13] But do you notice in that chain, there's no mention of that? [00:37:22] Everything's going to go just easy, because it doesn't. [00:37:33] If this notion of the prosperity gospel were true, Jesus would have never suffered. [00:37:51] Job is suffering there because he lives in a sinful world. [00:37:57] Job is suffering just like the man who was born blind suffered all those years with blindness until Jesus. And this again. There's so many things in the Bible that when I was a little boy, I just delighted in hearing the story. And. And I thought that was so cool that Jesus spit in the dust and then took that gooey stuff and just smeared it on that guy's eyes and then told him to go wash it off. [00:38:31] But he did, he obeyed, and he was healed. [00:38:41] Jesus didn't heal all the blind people on the earth when he was here. Do you realize that? As a matter of fact, Jesus pointed out one time to the Pharisees, and they got rather upset about it. He said that when the prophet healed Naaman the Syrian, that there were many lepers in Israel that God did not heal. This foreigner, this non Jewish person that God had called, he chose to heal. That's God's sovereign choice. [00:39:22] And we're going to see that Job is going to struggle with a lot of these things. He's going to be very upset with Eliphaz, and you can understand why, because he knew that what Eliphaz was saying wasn't true. [00:39:40] But he's going to struggle with these things, but he is going to maintain his faith in God in spite of what he sees. [00:39:56] We can really get burdened down by this world and all of its cares, all of its sorrows. [00:40:08] But we need to keep our eye on the author and finisher of our faith, Jesus Christ, who's gone before us and suffered and died in our place, that we might know the forgiveness of sins. [00:40:30] Job longs to see his redeemer. [00:40:39] We have seen the redeemer in Christ Jesus. [00:40:45] And if you're his, you know him, and you know him to be a companion who never forsakes you and would never judge and belittle you the way that Eliphaz does his friend Job. [00:41:07] Let's look to God in prayer. [00:41:17] Father. How easy it is for us human beings to see the world in black and white and imagine that everything is predictable. And especially having the notion that we are in control of our lives and we decide what happens to us. And when we see others suffering, we are tempted to judge them and imagine that they must have done something terribly wrong. [00:41:47] Or on the other hand, foolishly like Jesus disciples who imagined that the rich were so blessed by God they must be right with him and were shocked to hear Jesus say that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom. [00:42:13] Father, help us to see, to see clearly that narrow gate that one way through Jesus Christ and to put our hope in him and not the shifting world that we live in that can one day be encouraging us and the next day cursing us. [00:42:39] That can one day be such a wonderful material blessing and the next day facing grinding poverty and difficulties and being buried in debt. [00:42:57] Help us to see that your spirit is at work in our lives to conform us to the image of your son, Jesus Christ. [00:43:09] And just as he was required to suffer many things for our sake, we are called now to suffer for his sake, that we might bring glory and honor to our Savior in all that we do and say. Help us, Father, to be a witness to those relatives that do not yet believe, to neighbors, to co workers, even strangers that we run into on the street, that we might be ready to give a reason for the hope that is in us and an encouragement to others to seek that one and only way to you, Father, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, Amen.