Prosperity Gospel

You will probably never hear me say this again, but I am glad that there are no first time visitors with us this morning. You see, the sign on the front of the church has said, “Come find the abundant life with us” for a couple of weeks now. And I believe that is what we are doing – seeking the abundant life. It comes from a promise in John 10:10, “Jesus came so that we might have life abundantly”.

For me, it was a great ‘a-ha’ moment in my faith journey when I came across Dorothy Day’s response to why she decided to give up everything to follow Christ and work in a soup kitchen for the homeless, having a non-stop routine of preparing meals and washing dishes until exhaustion. Day’s response, which you have heard me say before, was that she wanted life and she wanted it abundantly.

So, why am I glad that there are no first time visitors here this morning? Well, this week’s September 18^th issue of TIME Magazine has the cover story “Does God Want You to Be Rich?”. In it, they interview a series of Prosperity Preachers who point to John 10:10 and answer with a resounding yes. God shows God’s favor by blessing you with a nice car, a McMansion, perfect health and kids with straight teeth.

And I just picture some poor unsuspecting TIME Magazine subscriber in Franklin Grove thinking to herself, well, things are a little tight around here, and I just got a Sunday School flyer in the mail from that Methodist Church promising the tools for the abundant life, and I saw on their sign the invitation to come find the abundant life with us – so, maybe I’ll give them a try.

And then I picture this poor unsuspecting soul sitting in the pews, toward the front because all of the good seats in the back are taken, listening afresh to the gospel reading this morning, and hearing “Jesus spoke plainly” about how the Son of man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the Pharisees, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and rise again three days later. And why? So that we could watch our football games on high-definition television? No, Jesus then goes on to say, in an equally plainly, though even more painful way, that if any want to be his followers, let them take up their cross and follow him.

Well, maybe the cross is just a metaphor for a bad habit that you need to break. You know, maybe taking up your cross is that you sleep late, or that you don’t work quite hard enough, or that you harbor too many negative thoughts. But no, although it you might sleep in too late, you might be lazy, and the devil certainly strives on negative thoughts- these are not the cross. These are little stumbling blocks on the way to righteousness. They may need to be conquered with Jesus’ help, but they are not the cross.

Jesus was not a self-help guru. Peter got it right for a change when he said to Jesus, “You are the Messiah.” And then Peter got it wrong because Jesus began to tell him something that didn’t quite gel with his conception of what a Messiah ought to do. The Messiah that Peter was hoping for in Jesus was one who would move to the front of the line. Jesus clearly had favor with God, or how else would he be able to do all of the miracles that Peter and the other disciples witnessed him doing in the previous 7 chapters? And since Jesus had God’s favor, surely he would be a king. Surely he would have a harem like David and Saul. Surely he would become wealthy beyond his wildest dreams. Surely he would have great influence over the nations.

But the truth was something different altogether, wasn’t it. Jesus did certainly have God’s favor – being the second person in the trinity and all. Jesus certainly was king. King of kings to be more exact. But Jesus did not have a harem and he did not have wealth. See, Peter had his thoughts not on divine things, but on human things. And again, Jesus was rather plain about what he had to say about that. “Get behind me Satan!” So, after his shining moment, when Peter correctly recognized that Jesus was the Messiah, it turned out that he was too much a product of the sinful and adulterous generation of his time to understand what that meant.

But actually, I think we need to cut Peter some slack. This was all so new and sudden to him. But what is our excuse? We have had 2000 years to let Jesus’ words set in. We have seen the church do works of mercy that could only be done by the people of God. But we have also seen the church lead wars for the same reason all wars are led, in the pursuit of money, land and power. Over the last 2000 years humanities greatest minds and God’s revelations have given us insight into some of the greatest mysteries of this universe, but we still exploit our neighbor. In fact, last Wednesday when we read this, we wondered if today, after 2000 years of having the truth available to us, in this day, when according to the most recent poll 95% of Americans are Christian, if maybe we aren’t an even more sinful and adulterous generation.

Beth Moore, who the Christian Moms group that Jane and Ann are a part of are studying was asked what the greatest insight she discovered while researching a book she wrote on Daniel was.

She answered, “I was struck by the parallel between ancient Babylon and today. Babylon was a spectacular city, the center of commerce, not unlike our self-absorbed, consumer-oriented culture. Isaiah 47:8 talks about the daughter of Babylon saying, "I am, and there is none beside me." That's the mindset we're surrounded by today. [One of self-absorption].

In other words, in 2000 and some odd years since Jesus gave us the truth, we are still as selfish, self-absorbed and self-possessed as we ever were.

So, two questions remain. What does it mean to take up one’s cross and how in God’s name does this lead to the abundant life?

The answer to the first question is plain, and simple, and so ridiculously hard that we can’t accomplish it on our own without the grace of God.

Jesus said, “If any want to be my followers, let them deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to gain their life will lose it, but those who lose their life for my sake and the sake of the gospel, will save it.”

To take up one’s cross is nothing less than to die completely to oneself. You can’t be a little bit dead. Its like that bad old joke, of the farmer marrying off his daughters, one a little bit cross-eyed and one a little bit pregnant. There are just some things that are all or nothing and apparently being a follower of Jesus is one of those things. “If any of you want to be my followers”, Jesus says, “then let them deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me.”

Next Sunday, we will have two baptisms, Daniel Alexander Devon and Jasmine Marie Coy. In baptism, we die to this world and through the work of the Holy Spirit, are born anew into the new creation. We read in the Didache, a 1900 year old book that describes how the early church did things, that people being baptized in the early church would be held under water until they began to drown. We won’t do that next week. But it really gets across the idea that after baptism, you are not just wet, you have taken part in the mystery of the resurrection. Amen?

Jesus wants all of us. All that is not holy and perfect as the Father in heaven is perfect stays on the cross. All of that is removed and in its place, we put on perfection. We put on Christ. We become the Body of Christ. That is the abundant life. Anything else that this world has to offer is peanuts in comparison. What is a Porshe when you have achieved perfection. Stuff is just relevant to the times. Think about it. How many kingdoms and jewels would Napoleon have given up for a desktop computer from the 1980’s? Today’s hot new $1000 item is yesterday’s Betamax tapes. But the power of the Lord lasts forever.

In Hebrews 13:5, we read “Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for Jesus has said “I will never forsake you.”

Rick Warren, author of A Purpose Driven Life is quoted in that article I mentioned from TIME. He says,

"This idea that God wants everybody to be wealthy? There is a word for that: baloney. It's creating a false idol. You don't measure your self-worth by your net worth. I can show you millions of faithful followers of Christ who live in poverty. Why isn't everyone in the church a millionaire?"

Indeed, what would it profit you to gain the whole world, and lose your life.

The Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father and His angels. To be mistaken about that is to make the biggest mistake of all of eternity. But most of us already believe that. Most of us believe that we will die. There was a time between when I was 16 and 22 that the thought never occurred to me, but I have been cured of that. Most of us believe that there is something after death. What exactly that something looks like, we can only see through a glass darkly, because we ain’t been there yet- but the problem is not that we don’t believe that the time is coming so much as we are experienced at distracting ourselves from that time.

I have been privileged to be with several families after a loved one has died, and in every instance, there is someone, and usually most everyone, who is not only overcome with grief that their loved one has died, but is also overcome with the reality of their own death. Grief can be all that much harder when you’ve suppressed your own thoughts death. Now, healthy people do not spend each moment thinking about their mortality. That is a good thing. We got the business of life, of the abundant life for that matter, to tend to. But to completely separate your current reality from your ultimate reality – that can only be done with the help of Satan.

We have gotten so good at separating our present reality from our ultimate reality, that a nation that 95% of claims to be Christian is as sinful and adulterous as any other. We have gotten so good at separating our present reality from our ultimate reality that we allow ourselves to be comforted by any number of gadgets, gimmicks, false theologies, shysters, instead of allowing ourselves to be made uncomfortable by the word of God.

So, if you came this morning expecting prosperity theology, I am sorry. There is nothing but the Gospel here. I sometimes wish we could go down that path. It is a lot easier to tithe when you are under the assumption that you will get paid back with money plus interest. There are no such promises here. Here, tithing is a sacrificial act. A response to blessings already received instead of a down payment or a bribe for more to come.

But we do share the common faith that Jesus came to give us life, and life abundantly. Indeed, what would it profit a man to gain the whole world, and lose his life.

What is the abundant life?

That is not a question that can be answered in a sermon. I’m sorry. I know that some of you are probably thinking, we’re paying that kid a bunch of money and given his family a roof over their heads and he can’t answer the most important question that we have to ask. But I am sorry, that is the reality. You have to live the question. I can’t describe the abundant life, but I can tell you how to recognize it. The abundant life is not found at the end of a string of arguments because God is not found at the end of a string of arguments. The abundant life develops over time. It is a gift freely bestowed by The God who freely gave of The Son so that we could freely choose the abundant life. The answer is found in the living, in the working, in the celebrating, in the worshiping, in the singing, in the studying, in the sorrowing, in the struggling, and most of all in the dying of oneself, a little more each day, and the accepting of Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, a little more each day. The abundant life is less of me and more of Jesus. Jesus tells us, my yoke is easy and my burden is light. How easy or light depends, of course, upon how much we rely on Jesus to help us. This is the rich blessing that we are given as Christians. A Lord more precious than silver, more costly than gold, more beautiful than diamonds. Nothing that we could desire could compare to the Lord, so why do we waste our time on anything less than perfection? This is the confidence in the abundant life that answers the question of how the Dorothy Days of the world could give up everything to do hard, hard work in a kitchen day in and out and say that she had discovered life and discovered it abundantly. This is the confidence in the abundant life that could allow the Mother Theresas of the world work tirelessly for the forgotten in Calcutta. This is the confidence in the abundant life that brings the Dennys and Karens and Stans and Shirleys and Renes and all of you and me here week after week trying to get a better glimpse of God and leave a little of ourselves behind in the process.

Sisters and brothers, this is the good news this morning, let any who wish to follow Jesus deny themselves, take up their cross and follow him. Not that we have to. We don’t. Not that God is making us. God isn’t. But because we can. We are given the gift, not only of Christ’s death and resurrection, but our own as well. God loved the world so much that he gave his only begotten Son so that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Amen?

I hope that you will give me your attention just a bit longer so that I can share this poem by B.D. Prewer that really moved me this week.

Setting a cross on top of a church may be fine

but it is not discipleship.

Putting a cross on the altar is a worthy sign

but it is not discipleship.

Wearing one on a chain might seem enough

but it is not discipleship.

Getting it tattooed over one’s heart might be tough

but it is not discipleship.

Singing about the old rugged cross may feel okay

but it is not discipleship.

Preaching about the cross can point the way,

but it is not discipleship.

Weeping on Good Friday may seem devout,

but it is not discipleship.

Whipping your own back till blood flows out

is not discipleship.

Following the Christ, not counting the cost,

old bridges burning,

listening and learning,

setting your face, trusting sheer grace,

on the steep track,

not looking back,

loving and forgiving, dying while living:

that is discipleship.

 B. D.Prewer 2002