Sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, I know. But last night we went out to dinner with some of the other campus ministers at UNC Asheville. We had a good time, got to hang out with folks we don’t normally, and had one of those moments where you secretly hope somebody brings up a volatile subject like alcohol, or women in leadership, or predestination. Or maybe that was just me. It would have been fun to watch the fireworks. But alas, everyone there was far too mature, and nobody lobbed any spiritual grenades over the theological fences that divided us. It’s nice in situations like that to be on the “interdenominational” team, because it leaves others trying to figure out where you stand, which team you are on. In the grand scheme, though, it was nice to all be on the same team. What would have made the joke funnier would have been if we were walking into a bar…
My issues with Prosperity Theology
Does God want us to be wealthy?
Does giving to God mean he will give back to me (monetarily)?
Is my faith (or lack thereof) tied to God’s blessings in my life?
Does not tithing mean God is unable to bless me?
These are weighty questions, and a blog is hardly the place to answer them thoroughly. Especially if I want people to actually read the post. So I’ll try to keep this brief.
I am not against wealthy people. I am not against wealthy pastors, even. The Levites (ministers in the Old Testament) were well paid, and got the finest things. They were, after all, paid with “first fruits” from everyone else.
What I am firmly against is the idea that if I give to God, he is obligated to give back to me; or the reverse of that—if I don’t give to God, He can’t or won’t give to me. I once heard a pastor say to his congregation “There is a 50% blessing window open over this church, because only 50% of the members tithe.” As though God is bound by our giving in how he blesses us. That sentiment totally and completely undermines the gospel. It could not be any more opposite to the gospel.
What the “prosperity gospel” teachers (such as Kenneth Copeland, Benny Hinn, T.D. Jakes, Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyer, Peter Popoff, Robert Tilton, Bruce Wilkinson, etc) are totally missing is that JESUS is the blessing of the gospel. Money, health, sucess, and all the other blessings of the Christian life all pale in comparison to Jesus. And I don’t get 80% of Jesus because only 80% of my church is tithing. I get all of him.
It is a thoroughly pagan idea that we need to give to God to make him give to us. It’s how all of the pagan deities were satisfied. You give them money, and they don’t punish you. It’s karma. Do good to get good. “Pay it Forward.”
Conversely, Jesus offers grace. That’s a word that has almost totally lost its meaning after years of being tossed around the sanctuary. It means unmerited, unearned blessings and gifts. Grace is the idea that you get something for nothing. In the context of God’s economy, grace means you get life when you deserve death, blessing when you deserve a curse, heaven when you deserve hell. The gospel turns karma on it’s head. You do nothing to get everything. Instead of “Pay it Forward,” Jesus Paid it All.
The gospel is not just how God operates to get you into the kingdom, though. It is his MO all the way through the Christian life. Because of Jesus, God can and does richly bless you in spite of what you do. There is nothing you can do to earn his blessing, affect his blessing, or revoke his blessing. That’s the beauty of grace. If you can’t earn it, you can’t un-earn it. Tithing doesn’t make God like you more, and not tithing doesnt make him like you (or bless you) less. To think or say that is a direct offense to God’s kindness in dying for you.
So today, on Christmas, let’s remember the ultimate gift of God. He is Jesus. He is still the highest blessing we could ever receive, and we receive Him by grace. We have more wealth in Christ than we could ever have from money.
To close, here’s my favorite song. A song that resonates so deeply in my heart. It helps me to realize that I do the exact same thing that I speak out against. Following the song is a video of Derek Webb describing the song’s meaning.
Why I do what I do.
I’m sitting in the Global Village here at the Winter Conference (my job is, in part, to man the sound booth and make sure nobody walks away with the equipment), and each year two things seem to happen. First, I always seem to come down with some sort of bug during conference. That tradition continues this year with a nice head cold. Secondly, I am reminded each year during this conference why I do what I do. I love seeing college students show up to this conference. There is something kinetic that takes place when you get this many students together with a common vision and purpose. In a real way, it turns a bunch of individual ministries into a big movement.
I can’t help but remember the first time I showed up at a winter conference. Back then we called them Christmas conferences, and it was at the Adams Mark Hotel in Charlotte. I was an overly confident, extroverted freshman who had almost no self-awareness (i.e. I had no idea I was overly confident). I rolled into the ballroom at the hotel thinking I knew what to expect. I had been to big Christian gatherings before. We’d do some singing about how good God was, there would be a speaker who told us that we should love God, and we’d go home feeling good about ourselves.
I had no idea what was about to happen.
I don’t remember who spoke, I don’t remember much about the conference, to be honest. I just remember leaving as a different person than when I showed up. God had given me a glimpse of what it looked like to live for him in college. I saw 1500 other college students who cared about growing to be more like Christ, who loved people enough to be willing to step out in faith and share the gospel with people who didn’t know it.
It was a process, don’t get me wrong. One conference didn’t turn me into some kind of perfect Christian. In fact, I’m still well short of anything like that. What it did was totally change the trajectory of my life. Like the difference between getting on I-95 North and traveling 2000 miles and getting on I-40 West and doing the same thing, one small decision in the beginning totally changes where you end up. The road I took on December 27th, 1998 has led me on an amazing adventure that has literally taken me around the world to share the good news that Jesus died for jacked up people like me. 11 conferences later, I sit here watching hundreds of students get on the same road.
Pray with me that God would continue to use these conferences to change all of our trajectories! Also, while you’re praying… ask Him to make this head cold go away.
Skis, Boots, Poles, and Funny.
I’ve written before about sleep-redecorating and my plea to recognize it as a sport. Today I upped the ante a bit. But it’s not the first time. Let me take you back.
In college a friend and I were zealous to really walk with the Lord, and so for a semester my sophomore year we would wake up at 7 AM to pray together. We’d pray for personal needs as well as for things going on around the world. In fact, we prayed the entire semester for him and a girl he was interested in who continually gave him the cold shoulder. Now, 9 years later, they are married and just had their second child. Prayer works.
But back to the story. One morning as we were praying, it was my turn. We had some friends who were missionaries in East Asia, and I was praying for them, out loud. Then, I began to pray for their skis, boots, and poles, and that God would bless them….
…wait, what?
It sounded just as absurd then as it does now. I had fallen asleep literally mid-sentence and in my dream I had seen skis, boots and poles leaned up against a wall. So logically that’s what I talked about, to God.
Some people talk in their sleep. I talk to God into my sleep.
This morning as I was slowly waking up and preparing to get out of bed, Jacqueline came in the room and I began telling her about my dream last night, and it happened again. I fell asleep mid-sentence, and began rambling on about something totally off topic.
I’m working on taking this skill to the next level and to fall asleep while praying in front of large groups of people. I just hope I’m not standing up.
Confessions of a Professional Christian.
Today we got an email that indicated someone was coming off of our financial support team. They supported us at $200 per month. I am still trying to get to the bottom of this, because it appears they didn’t intend to stop giving, and it is very possibly a computer glitch in Orlando at our headquarters.
Either way… those emails are always a good idolatry indicator for me. I’ll be honest and say I even went so far as to yell at my wife as a result of that email. I trust in money way too often. More accurately, I trust in control. If I can control the situation, I am good to go. And money in a bank account is a good way to have a sense of control.
Any time I feel in control of a situation, though, it’s an illusion. All it takes is a crisis to show that. When a gunman enters a classroom, all the folks who were in control no longer are. When a hurricane hits, you realize that no matter how big you are, you’re still pretty small…
All of that to say that “control” is a fickle and shifty idol to chase after. But I do it all the time.
It got me thinking, as I confessed my sin, that I sometimes think things are biblical just because they are American. I was listening to the Dave Ramsey Show podcast in the car earlier and started to fantasize about leaving staff and getting a job where I could support my family without having to rely on others to support us. After all, it’s in the Bible that we should take care of our families, and that we should work, and that handouts are bad.
Wait, maybe not all of that is in the Bible. Support raising is all over the Bible. It’s how God has funded his work since the very beginning. It’s thoroughly biblical, and thoroughly un-American. And so while I am right in line with the word of God when I pick up the phone and call folks for support, I am paddling upstream in the culture. We are a culture that values independence (have been since the ’70s… the SEVENTEEN 70’s) and the thought that my business is my business, not yours. ESPECIALLY when it comes to my wallet.
If I were to leave staff, I’d just be feeding the idol of control. I’d work 90 hours a week and be a millionaire by the time I retire, sure. But I’d be running from where I am confident God has called me. He’s called me to reach students with the gospel. To tell them that even though they incessantly run from him and trust in things other than him, He died to set them free.
Just as surely as I am confident God has called me to breathe life into a dying college culture, I’m confident He’s called others (like you. Yeah, you…) to “hold the rope” financially and prayerfully for me. There’s not an email I could receive that would change that.