BIBLICAL RICHES ARE NOT WORLDLY RICHES
Jesus Christ and His Peace are True Riches
Sakkie Parsons
Translated from Afrikaans – “Bybelse Rykdom is nie Wêreldse Rykdom nie”
Someone once asked me my opinion about “Prosperity Preaching.” (And I use the well-known English term here for what is often called “teachers who equate Godliness with financial gain”)
A few reasons why I cannot agree with most of the statements made by “prosperity preachers” are the following:
They sometimes make it sound as if, when things are not going well for you financially, it is because you are not pleasing God, or at least that you are doing something that makes God dissatisfied with you.
For those who always want to link “prosperity” to “money”, just the following—because, as I always say:
“I have only the Bible as my highest authority.”
MATTHEW 8:19-20 The Cost of following Jesus
19 Then one of the teachers of religious law said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”
20 But Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man[e] has no place even to lay his head.”
JESUS, the King of kings, did not even have a proper place to sleep.
What Jesus is also saying to this man, in my opinion, is this: that if he is going to follow Jesus, then—especially when it comes to temporary, earthly needs—it is not necessarily going to be ‘sunshine and roses’.
You see, Jesus teaches us:
JOHN 16:33
33 I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
You see, when you have Jesus’ peace, then lack does not trouble you, because you have His peace.
Just look for a moment at the world around you.
You can be financially well-off and still be lonely.
You can be addicted.
You can be suicidal—and I could go on.
Yet Jesus says that if you have His peace, you can experience persecution and everything the world can throw at you, but if you have His peace, you remain at rest, because He has overcome the world.
I live a wonderful “prosperous” life, because my “prosperity” lies in Jesus’ peace.
Jesus says the following about John the Baptist:
LUKE 7:28-29
28 I tell you, of all who have ever lived, none is greater than John. Yet even the least person in the Kingdom of God is greater than he is!”
29 When they heard this, all the people—even the tax collectors—agreed that God’s way was right,[e] for they had been baptized by John
Now look at what happened to John:
MATTHEW 14:6–11
6 But at a birthday party for Herod, Herodias’s daughter performed a dance that greatly pleased him, 7 so he promised with a vow to give her anything she wanted. 8 At her mother’s urging, the girl said, “I want the head of John the Baptist on a tray!” 9 Then the king regretted what he had said; but because of the vow he had made in front of his guests, he issued the necessary orders. 10 So John was beheaded in the prison, 11 and his head was brought on a tray and given to the girl, who took it to her mother.
It does not sound to me as if John had much of the world’s “prosperity.”
I could continue and make the list even longer, but all I want to say is this: We should not always connect “prosperity” to finances and possessions.
On the contrary—I understand biblical prosperity very differently.
Jesus says:
MATTHEW 5:3–12 The Beatitudes
3 “God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him,[a]
for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
4 God blesses those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5 God blesses those who are humble,
for they will inherit the whole earth.
6 God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice,[b]
for they will be satisfied.
7 God blesses those who are merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
8 God blesses those whose hearts are pure,
for they will see God.
9 God blesses those who work for peace,
for they will be called the children of God.
10 God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right,
for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
11 “God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. 12 Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way.
This is the kind of “prosperity” that makes my reward great in heaven.
Jesus further says:
JOHN 14:26-27
26 But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.
27 “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.
Jesus says that He gives us His peace—not the peace that the world gives.
He gives me His peace, not the world’s “big bank account” peace.
You see, it seems to me—and this is really all I want to emphasize—that many preachers link finances and possessions to how good your relationship with God is.
If God does not bless you with these things, then something must be wrong with you—and that is simply not true.
James puts it this way:
JAMES 1:2–4 Faith and Endurance
2 Dear brothers and sisters,[a] when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.
It seems to me that James is telling me to “prosper” in spiritual prosperity, and not in the “prosperity” of the world and of mammon.
I am also not saying that you must become needy or poor.
What I am saying is this: Do not, for example, use money, possessions, and status as a measuring stick for how good your relationship with our Lord is.
I want to conclude with the testimony of my great hero, Paul.
Keep this in mind as you read his testimony—
God allowed him to write a very large portion of the New Testament. So, you can just imagine what our Lord thought of him.
Someone once said of Paul that no other person on earth has done as much to spread the Gospel.
Paul says:
2 CORINTHIANS 11:24–28
24 Five different times the Jewish leaders gave me thirty-nine lashes. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea. 26 I have traveled on many long journeys. I have faced danger from rivers and from robbers. I have faced danger from my own people, the Jews, as well as from the Gentiles. I have faced danger in the cities, in the deserts, and on the seas. And I have faced danger from men who claim to be believers but are not.[c] 27 I have worked hard and long, enduring many sleepless nights. I have been hungry and thirsty and have often gone without food. I have shivered in the cold, without enough clothing to keep me warm.
28 Then, besides all this, I have the daily burden of my concern for all the churches.
This does not sound to me like the kind of “prosperity” that is so easily proclaimed from some pulpits.
Yet this man was so full of God’s prosperity, that God’s Word testifies about him as follows:
ACTS 19:11-12 11 God gave Paul the power to perform unusual miracles. 12 When handkerchiefs or aprons that had merely touched his skin were placed on sick people, they were healed of their diseases, and evil spirits were expelled.
This, in my view, is the true kind of “prosperity!”
Paul testifies to the true kind of prosperity at the end of his life with almost no earthly possessions—and incidentally, when he spoke these words, he was sitting in prison—but just listen to Jesus’ peace, or God’s prosperity, in his words:
2 TIMOTHY 4:7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful.
Therefore, it is not true to say that God is displeased with you and that is why things are not going well for you financially.
Neither should I think that because things are going well for me materially, that this is proof that God is pleased with me.
Feel free to read 1 Timothy, Chapter 6, in the New Living Translation, about what our Lord says regarding these false “prosperity preachers”:
In contrast to false teachings, true Godliness brings great spiritual wealth.
1 TIMOTHY 6:5 These people always cause trouble. Their minds are corrupt, and they have turned their backs on the truth. To them, a show of godliness is just a way to become wealthy.
1 TIMOTHY 6:6 Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth.
Greetings,
Sakkie