Truly,
I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will…say to this
mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' it will happen. And whatever
you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.
Matthew 21:21-22
One of the risks in teaching personal finance from a
Christian perspective is being labelled ‘Prosperity Gospel’. This is especially
so when the principle of sowing and reaping is taken seriously. So to avoid any
misunderstanding, this weekend I hope to clarify a few points.
By the term ‘Prosperity Gospel’, I mean the belief
that Christians have a right to good health and material wealth as part of
their Christian heritage and that they can be experienced by spoken
declarations of faith and generous giving. Although this belief developed in
the mid-20th Century from elements of the Holiness Movement that
began 100 years before, today it can be found to varying degrees in many
churches.
The passage at the start of this Reflection is central
to the Prosperity Gospel. It records one of the occasions when Jesus of
Nazareth authorised his disciples to ask God for anything in his name (see also
John 16:24). But using Jesus’ name means much more than simply mentioning it at
the end of a prayer! To use somebody’s name, especially an important person’s
name, infers that it is being used for a purpose and in a way that the person
would approve of. For Christians to use Jesus’ name is a great privilege, not a
free pass!
Many Christian prayers seem to be unanswered. In his
circular letter to churches, probably the earliest of the letters included in
the New Testament, James explains one of the reasons for this: ‘You ask and do
not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions…’ (see James
4:3).
I recently heard a recording of a sermon by a famous
Prosperity preacher in which he led the congregation in chanting the words
Jesus from John 10:10, as they appear in the Amplified Version of the Bible: ‘I came that they may have and enjoy life,
and have it in abundance, to the full, till it overflows’. The preacher
told the congregation that it is okay to enjoy life, to get a blow pop (a
lollipop with a bubble gum centre) and a jet ski.
I agree that we should enjoy life! But while I would
not want to suggest that it is wrong to own or enjoy lollipops or jet skis, I
am confident they are not representative of the sort of enjoyment that Jesus of Nazareth had in mind for his disciples!
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Copyright © All Souls Clubhouse Community Centre & Church and Philip Evans
2013.
Scripture
quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright
© 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by
permission. All rights reserved.
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