Galen Call's Sermon Library
"Prosperity Theology" - June 21, 1998
Well, today begins the outdoor worship ministry in the second hour, so pray for God's blessing upon that ministry. Today looks like a beautiful day for it. Thank you for being here with us as we turn together to Genesis chapter 30. Genesis chapter 30, and think about prosperity theology. Does God want you to become personally wealthy? Is your prosperity a sign that God is well pleased with your life? Or is your possible lack of affluence an indication of some spiritual failure? You don't have to listen to Christian media very long before you'll hear some preacher who will tell you that the answer to those three questions is yes. God does want you wealthy. That if you are wealthy, it is a sign of God's blessing, and if you are poor, it is a sign that you do not have enough faith. When we read about Jacob's experience in Genesis 30, there may seem to be some biblical support for this notion of prosperity theology. But I want us to take a closer look at it. It's a very human story about two men who were negotiating for their own personal advantage. After the birth of Joseph, when Rachel finally had a child, Jacob was ready to leave Laban and Heron, and to return to his home in Canaan. He had spent 14 years with Laban, his father-in-law, working out his dowry, as it were, for the daughters that he married. You remember how Laban had deceptively married off his eldest daughter first, Leah, and then also gave to Jacob the woman that Jacob really loved, who was Rachel. That dowry has been worked out, and Jacob is ready to leave, although he will leave only with his wives and children. He has nothing else because he has worked for his wives these 14 years. He asked permission to leave, but it's going to be another six years before he will actually leave, and it's during those six years that what we read about in Genesis 30, beginning in verse 25, takes place. It says it came about when Rachel had born Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, "Send me away that I may go to my own place and to my own country, give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me depart. For you yourself know my service, which I have rendered you." But Laban said to him, "If now it pleases you, stay with me. I have divine that the Lord has blessed me on your account." There was some omen, apparently, that Laban used as an indication that God had blessed him because of Jacob's presence, and so he wants Jacob to stay longer, of course. And he continued, "Name me your wages, and I will give it." Now there is an open door, an open door that not even Jacob can walk away from. He said to him, "You yourself know how I have served you, and how your cattle have fared with me, for you had little before I came, and it has increased to a multitude, and the Lord has blessed you wherever I turned. But now when shall I provide for my own household also?" And so he said, "What shall I give you?" Again, Laban throws down the contract, and he says, "Fill in the circles, fill in the lines. Tell me what you want." And Jacob said, "You shall not give me anything. If you will do this one thing for me, I will again pass you and keep your flock. Let me pass through your entire flock today, removing from there every speckled and spotted sheep and every black one among the lambs, and the spotted and speckled among the goats, and such shall be my wages." Now apparently the flocks in those days were such that most of them were of some pure color to the eye at least, and there were some who were speckled, striped or spotted. And so Jacob is saying, "Let me simply pass through your flocks, pick out those that are not of pure color, they will become mine, and then as long as I serve you, whatever is born with this impure color, this mixed color will be mine also." That is what he's the bargain he's striking for. And he says in verse 33, "So my honesty will answer for me later when you come concerning my wages. If you are one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and black among the lambs, you found with me will be considered stolen." So Jacob says, "It will be very easy for you to tell if I'm cheating you." And Laban said, "Good, let it be according to your word." So he accepted the bargain. And so he, that is Laban, removed on that day the striped and spotted male goats. And all the speckled and spotted female goats, everyone with white in it and all the black ones among the sheep, and gave them into the care of his sons, a very shrewd man. He has struck a bargain with Laban and now he goes out among these animals and he picks out males that are colored and females that are colored. And he, before Jacob can get to them, takes them out of the flocks. And he sends them off to his sons. This is the first time we've known that Laban has sons. But he sends these animals off with his sons and it's a three-day journey between those flocks and where Jacob is. And Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks. And so you see he thought he had done a pretty shrewd thing. He had already called out most of these animals that were to belong to Jacob before Jacob got there. And so Jacob had what was left, which was the pure colored ones basically. And Jacob took fresh rods of poplar and almond and plain trees and peeled white stripes in them, exposing the white, which was in the rods. And he set the rods, which he had peeled, in front of the flocks in the gutters, even in the watering troves, where the flocks came to drink. And they mated when they came to drink. And so the flocks mated by the rods and the flocks brought for striped, speckled and spotted. And Jacob separated the lambs and made the flocks face toward the striped and all the black in the flock of Laban, and he put his own herds apart. And he did not put them with Laban's flock. Moreover it came about whenever the stronger the flock were mating, that Jacob would place the rods in the sight of the flock in the gutters so that they might meet by the rods. When the flock was feeble, he did not put them in, so the feebler were Laban's and the stronger Jacob's. So the man became exceedingly prosperous and had large flocks and female and male servants and camels and donkeys. It is clear from what we are reading here that God is keeping his word to Jacob. God said to Jacob, "I will be with you." God is here prospering Jacob. It is clear when he prospers Jacob that he does so, however, as an expression of his providence and his grace. It is not because of Jacob's cleverness and his shrewdness, which we see exposed here again, but it is because God simply desires to bless Jacob. And so he gives him much. Now I want us to think through this story together. It divides up easily into three portions. First, there is the contract portion of the story in verses 25 to 34. The request to leave by Jacob turns into a bargaining session between him and his father-in-law. What we have here are two Bedouins who are shrewd and who are experienced schemers on the part of both of them, and they know each other. They know each other, and they distrust each other. The deal is struck nonetheless, and Jacob is allowed to keep these oddly marked animals. They are his. All of those that were in the flock at that time, although Laban went through the flock and gleaned out most of them before Jacob could get there, but then all of those that would be born. You see, Laban felt that because he got these animals out of the flock, not many would be born so spotted or speckled or striped. Today we understand from our genetic research in our day that there are recessive genes that are not always apparent on the surface. They did not have that understanding in that day, and he thought that if he got these animals out that were already speckles spotted and striped, that would take care of the problem. Jacob would work basically for nothing again. In verses 35 to 42 we have the contrivance. Laban quickly removes these animals to ensure that their inner breeding will not produce. He thinks these speckles spotted and striped animals. Jacob in response to that does some contriving himself. He falls into his comfortable pattern that had been developed through his life. Remember, we're talking about a man here as well excess of 100 years old. Deep patterns have been involved in his life, and God is trying to transform and change Jacob in dealing with him as we saw last week, but here he falls back to this old pattern, and he's trying to work the situation to his own advantage by his cunning devices. So he takes the branches of certain trees and he strips them partially. Some say that he was doing this so that the animals would see the stripes and thus in their mating they would produce striped or speckled or spotted animals. There are others who see here some method that would stimulate the animals to reproduction, that there was something in the bark or in this wood that would cause the animals to reproduce more frequently. We don't understand all that is behind what Jacob did, but the word of God clearly tells us that he did these things, and that his purpose was to gain advantage over his shrewd father-in-law. Not only did he use that method, but he used selective breeding so that the stronger animals would fall to him and the weaker animals would belong to his father-in-law. Despite his attempts to produce his own wealth, Jacob does realize ultimately that it is God who prospers him, that it was not his own shrewdness, that it was the Lord who blessed him. We see that in chapter 31 as he reflects with his wives about this experience. That brings us to the last verse in the chapter that is the conclusion that as a result of what happens in these six or so years, Jacob becomes exceedingly prosperous. The language that is used in verse 43 is comparable to that language used in Genesis chapter 12 where it talks about Abraham gaining riches when he was in Egypt, and he came back from there very, very prosperous. God prospered Jacob in such a way that it reminded the writer here, Moses of Abraham, his grandfather. Remember I talked about Isaac and what a peculiar situation he was in because he had a great father and a great son, and he himself was sort of sandwiched in between the two? Here we see, again, Jacob compared not to his father so much as to his grandfather Abraham by the language that is used to describe his prosperity. Jacob's prosperity was an expression of God's grace, not because Jacob earned it. We don't really see Jacob walking by faith here. We see him walking again by his own schemes more perhaps. Nonetheless, God chooses to bless this man. I'm glad for that because that means that God will bless you and me by grace too, not because we deserve it. If God blessed only the people who deserved it, he wouldn't have many blessings to give would he? God gives blessing by grace and by providence, the outworking of his sovereign purpose. We need to keep in mind as we look at Jacob's experience that it's not an exact parallel though to what we experience. Jacob's blessings were in accordance with the promises that were given to Abraham in his covenant. The promises given to Abraham's descendants as a result of that covenant. The blessings that you and I have today in Jesus Christ come from a greater covenant and greater promises. The promises that we have are not focused upon the physical, but focused rather upon the spiritual. We should not look for prosperity in the earthly realm so much as to realize that we are made prosperous in the heavenly realm. But still it raises the question what about our material prosperity? Especially when we hear preachers who seem to be preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ tell us that if only we had the faith we would be prosperous. That if only we would name what we want and claim it, God would give it to us if only our faith is great enough. Some of the largest churches in the Twin Cities preach that message. Some of the most expansive radio and television programs out there, their Christian preach that message. And we say well at least they are preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ and that is the case, at least with some of them, that they are preaching Christ crucified, buried and raised from the dead and the faith in him saves, but there is a false theology that is mixed in with it. I ask myself, and I don't really have the clear answer to my own satisfaction, but how much untruth can one preach before becoming a heretic? This notion of prosperity theology that God wants all of his children to be wealthy and healthy is a heresy. It is not a biblical teaching. And so this morning as I looked at this text in preparation for this morning, I wanted us to think today about prosperity theology because it trips up so many people who somehow think that because they aren't making it big time in the stock market or they're not getting the advances in the company or their sales job is not working out with great commissions like they thought it would, that somehow because of that failure they themselves are spiritually failures. So what about prosperity theology? What is the teaching of the Bible regarding prosperity? And so this morning I want to talk to you about three principles of biblical prosperity theology. Not heretical prosperity theology, but biblical prosperity theology. Three principles, and I see all of them arising out of this experience with Jacob. Number one, prosperity does not signify spirituality. That is biblical. Prosperity does not signify spirituality. I don't believe that we can look at Jacob here and say that he is acting spiritually, that he is acting in faith. God chooses to bless him anyway by grace. But you and I need to disconnect in our minds the two notions of being a spiritual man or woman of God and being prosperous. The typical thinking of the Jews in Jesus' day was just this, that if one had great wealth then that meant that God had blessed him. And if one did not have much it meant that God was not pleased with that person. Our Lord Jesus repudiated that teaching and that idea. He repudiated it by the people whom he chose to minister to first of all. Because he chose primarily to minister to the outcast and to the poor and showed to them the favor of God. Secondly, he repudiated it by his own lifestyle. If one who is spiritual is necessarily prosperous, then how do you explain the Lord Jesus Christ? Who lived his life in poverty? To me the life of the Lord Jesus Christ is a contradiction to what we hear today in television preachers about prosperity theology. Jesus in his teaching likewise repudiated this idea that prosperity and spirituality go together. For example, Jesus told the story of the rich man in Lazarus. If there had been a Jewish rabbi in that day, a typical rabbi teaching that lesson, it would have been the rich man who would have ended up in Abraham's bosom and it would have been the poor man who ended up in hell. But Jesus shocked everybody by reversing that and saying that it was the rich man who went to hell and it was the poor man who went to Abraham's bosom. Another occasion Jesus told the parable of a farmer who was very wealthy. So wealthy that he needed to construct new barns to contain everything and he went about his planning independent of God. That day God said to him your soul is to be required of you, you fool. God called a rich man a fool? That's right in Jesus parable. You see Jesus by the people whom he chose, by his own lifestyle and by his teaching repudiated the ideas taught in prosperity theology. Prosperity does not signify spirituality. One can be spiritual and be prosperous and one can be spiritual and be poor. God provides or God limits wealth, it's up to him. After God chooses to provide or to withhold does not necessarily comment about that person's righteous life or about his walk in the spirit. As a matter of fact by and large the church of Jesus Christ has been a body of people who have been called from every social class and standing and especially from among the poor. That has been the history of the church, indeed I think we might be able to say that only in a place like America in the 1990s can prosperity the prosperity gospel succeed. Most other places in the world it is laughed at but in this materialistic culture in which we live with this heretical blending of the gospel with the idea of wealth only in this kind of a culture can that succeed. Spiritual vitality has nothing to do with one's bank account or one stock portfolio. That's the first principle of biblical prosperity theology I want you to write in your heart this morning. If you're here today and your bank account is full gift thanks to God for that it is his blessing but realize that it does not necessarily mean that you are a spiritual person. If you're here today and you are poor and you wonder where the next dime is going to come from to pay your bills trust God for his provision but realize that does not necessarily mean that God is somehow angry with you or that you are unspiritual because you happen to be in that condition. Now there's a second principle I want us to see and that is the prosperity is best defined as contentment. The greatest wealth is contentment with little. In England there's a gravestone and a cemetery with these inscriptions over the husband and the wife. She died for want of things over the husband's grave it says he died trying to give them to her. The greatest wealth is contentment with little. Now that doesn't mean that does not mean that we should be passive about our situation. But we should be complacent with poverty G.K. Chesterton said being contented ought to mean in English as it does in French being pleased. Being content with an addict ought not mean being unable to move from it and resign to living in it. It ought to mean appreciating all there is in such a position. He goes on to say true contentment is the power of getting out of any situation all there is in it. That's contentment. Prosperity is best defined as contentment. The Apostle Paul said I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means and I also know how to live in prosperity. In any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry. Both of having abundance and suffering need I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Boy he had it right he nailed it didn't he? He said whether I have prosperity or I have poverty it is Christ who is the center of my life and who strengthens me to live according to his pleasure I have learned to be content. Contentment has been praised more however and practiced less than any other condition of life. When I asked you a question this morning where do you need to practice contentment? When you have become content what will that look like in your life? I think it was Henry Ford who was asked how much is enough and he said just a little bit more. What does contentment look like in your life or what will it look like when you get there? There is a third principle that I close with that we see here regarding biblical prosperity theology. First prosperity does not signify spirituality. Secondly prosperity is best defined as contentment and third prosperity is always given for a purpose. You see God wants us to use the prosperity he brings for the good of others. For the good of those in need and for the sake of the kingdom of God. Proverbs 3-9 says honor the Lord with your wealth. Prosperity is given as a purpose for purpose. It is a gift to be used not a God to be worshiped. James Moffat said a man's treatment of money is the most decisive test of his character. How he makes it and how he spends it. When God gives us what we have it is so that we might use that for his glory and for the good of others. Came across a story some time ago that kind of puts this message today in a context. It is a story written by Edie Ogan from her own life. She says I'll never forget Easter 1946. I was 14, my little sister Aussie was 12 and my older sister Darlene 16. We lived at home with our mother and the four of us knew what it was to do without many things. My dad had died five years before leaving mom with seven school kids to raise and no money. By 1946 my older sisters were married and my brothers had left home. A month before Easter the pastor of our church announced that a special Easter offering would be taken to help a poor family. He asked everyone to save and to give sacrificially. When we got home we talked about what we would do. We decided to buy 50 pounds of potatoes and live on them for a month. This would allow us to save $20 of our grocery money for the offering. Then we thought if we would just keep our electric lights turned out as much as possible and we didn't listen to the radio we'd save on that month's electric bill too. Darlene got as many house and yard cleaning jobs as possible and both of us babysat for everyone that we could think of. For 15 cents we could buy enough cotton loops to make three pot holders to sell for a dollar. We made $20 on pot holders. That month was one of the best of our lives. Every day we counted the money to see how much we had saved. At night we'd sit in the dark and talk about how the poor family was going to enjoy having the family the money the church would give to them. We had about 80 people in our church so we figured that whatever amount of money we had to give the offering would be surely 20 times that much. After all every Sunday the pastor had reminded everyone to save for the sacrificial offering. The day before Easter, Aussie and I walked to the grocery store and got the manager to give us three crisp $20 bills and one $10 bill for our change. We ran all the way home to show mom and Darlene. We had never seen so much money before. At night we were so excited we could hardly sleep. We didn't care that we wouldn't have new clothes for Easter. We had $70 for the sacrificial offering. We could hardly wait to get the church. On Sunday morning rain was pouring. We didn't own an umbrella and the church was over a mile from our home but it didn't seem to matter how wet we got. Darlene had cardboard in her shoes to fill the holes. The cardboard came apart and her feet got wet but we sat in church proudly. When the sacrificial offering was taken we were sitting on the second row from the front. Mom put in the $10 bill and each of us girls put in a $20 bill. As we walked home after church we sang all the way. At lunch mom had a surprise for us. She had bought a dozen eggs and we boiled Easter eggs with our fried potatoes. Late that afternoon the minister drove up in his car. Mom went to the door, talked with him for a moment and then came back with an envelope in her hand. We asked what it was. She didn't say a word. She opened the envelope and now it fell a bunch of money. There were three crisp $20 bills, $1 $10 bill and $1 $1 bills. Mom put the money back in the envelope. We didn't talk, we just sat and stared at the floor. We had gone from feeling like millionaires to feeling like poor white trash. We kids had such a happy life that we felt sorry for anyone who didn't have our mom and dad for parents and a household of brothers and sisters and other kids visiting constantly. We thought it was fun to share silverware and whether we got the fork or the spoon that night. We had two knives which we passed around to whomever needed them. I knew we didn't have a lot of things that other people had but I never thought we were poor. That Easter day I found out we were. The minister had brought us the money for the poor family so we must be poor. I didn't like being poor. I looked at my dress and worn out shoes and felt so ashamed that I didn't want to go back to church. Everyone there probably already knew we were poor. I thought about school. I was in the ninth grade at the top of my class over a hundred students. I wondered if the kids at school knew we were poor. I decided I could quit school since I had finished the eighth grade. That was all the law required at the time. We sat in silence for a long time. Then it got dark and we all went to bed. All that week we girls went to school and came home and no one talked much. Finally on Saturday mom asked us what we wanted to do with the money. What did poor people do with money? We didn't know. We had never known we were poor. We didn't want to go to church on Sunday but mom said we had to. Although it was a sunny day we didn't talk on the way. Mom started to sing but no one joined in and she only sang one verse. At church we had a missionary speaker. We talked about churches in Africa that had buildings made out of sun-dried bricks and they needed money to buy roofs. He said a hundred dollars would put a roof on the church. The minister said can we all sacrifice to help these poor people? We looked at each other and smiled for the first time in a week. Mom reached into her purse and pulled out the envelope. She passed it to Darlene and Darlene gave it to me and I handed it to Aussie. Aussie put in the offering. When the offering was counted the minister announced that it was over a hundred dollars. The missionary was excited. He hadn't expected such a large offering from our small church. He said you must have some rich people in this church. Suddenly it struck me. We had given 87 of that over a hundred dollars. We were the rich family in the church. That the missionary said so? From that day on I have never been poor again. You see prosperity isn't measured by the amount that we have. It's measured by the attitude that we have. Let's pray. Father, in our midst this morning, like in all churches, there are some of us who might be counted prosperous according to the world's standard and others of us who have very little. However you and your grace and providence have chosen to provide for us, we thank you. Give us appreciative hearts. Help us to put into practice biblical prosperity theology. Sing with me this little chorus. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. Let's stand together. Lord may we learn to walk with you and be spiritual men and women and not measure your pleasure in our lives by the things that we possess. Lord I pray that you will enable us to have contented hearts in the midst of a materialistic world and no true prosperity. And I pray that what you put into our hands you will show us how to use for your glory in the advance of your kingdom. Help us to live for what counts forever. In Jesus name, amen. [BLANK_AUDIO]