One of the best pieces of advice I have heard regarding the problems many Christians face is that they have unrealistic expectations concerning God. What that means is that they are expecting things from God He didn't come to give. With that thought in mind I turned on Christian television this evening to find a popular Word of Faith teacher preaching about what he believed God was going to do for those faithful Christians out there or at least for those in attendance.
"The Spirit of God spoke to me this afternoon and said 'I am about to unleash an avalanche of manifestations which will bury your circumstances as if they never existed."
Now, the context of this apparent encounter with the Lord was that God was going to bless believers with material blessings. The preacher used the angst people have developed over the economy as a backdrop to tell his audience that we should not be focusing on what the world tells us about our finances and well-being, but to focus on the "promises" of God. The entire focus of the message was about gaining the world in one aspect or another. How many people out in the world, Christian or otherwise, do not have some sort of financial problem, perceived or realistic, that they want solved? Millions, perhaps billions, of people fall in this category. And that is why this teaching is so appealing and so dangerous.
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money." Matthew 6: 19-24
The types of churches where this message is being preached are full to the rafters with unsuspecting people trying to overcome their financial woes or feed their greed for more. And what better way to try and increase your bank account then to believe it is somehow God's will for your life. But, do these Christians ever stop and ask themselves, "if God wants them to be rich, why are most of the world's wealthiest people unbelievers?" Donald Trump, Bill Gates, George Soros, Middle Eastern Princes and Kings, and so on, are all wealthier than most of our wildest dreams. Yet, as far we know, none of them believe in the one true God of the Bible. My point is not to say that it is a sin to have wealth. But, what does it say about our God if unbelievers have achieved what we believe He wants for us apart from faith in Him? No wonder Christianity is looked upon as a "crutch" for weak-minded people by unbelievers. Besides, our focus is not on the Lord if it is on what we are desiring of Him to do for us.
"While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head. Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, "Why this waste of perfume? It could have been sold for more than a year's wages and the money given to the poor." And they rebuked her harshly. "Leave her alone," said Jesus. "Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me." Mark 14: 3-7
We see here how those in the presence of Jesus, focused on money, were not concerned about Jesus Himself. If they knew He was God, they would not be concerned about a bottle of perfume. Furthermore, in rebuking them, Jesus says that the poor will always be with them. This says to every believer that you will always have the poor with you. And I don't believe it a stretch to think that a believer might be one of those poor. Scripture is full of passages about not focusing on money. Besides, God knows that we need the things money can buy like food, shelter and clothing. I never understood how Christians can limit God by believing He can't or won't provide for them unless they are 100% obedient to what a pastor tells them. Being overly consumed with their circumstances they are totally unable to discern the error they are putting themselves under. You would think after years of believing God for some financial miracle that hasn't come these people would begin to question what it is they believe about God. Or at least one would hope they would stop and take stock of the pastor, who in most cases, is the only one who has achieved this wealth God has supposedly promised. While the pastor keeps his flock focused on their problems, and fills them with the false hope of a different Gospel, he is the one who is laughing all the way to the bank with the sheeps down payment on God's "dream."
"When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, and my scrolls, especially the parchments. Alexander the metalworker did me a great deal of harm. The Lord will repay him for what he has done. You too should be on your guard against him, because he strongly opposed our message. At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them. But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion's mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen." 2 Timothy 4: 13-18
While Christians are being told that God is moments away from burying all their troubles, and that they should expect great things to come their way, we read where Paul, who wrote most of the New Testament, is sitting in a Roman prison asking for his cloak and scrolls while awaiting death. Yet, in the midst of all of this, he is giving glory to God for standing by him, strengthening him and rescuing him. This is evidence of a believer who wasn't expecting anything from God, in the form of earthly reward, but a believer who knew he already had everything he needed for life and godliness in Christ. Furthermore, this is Paul, a former Pharisee, who said he could have boasted about his own righteousness. Now, if anybody could have expected earthly reward for his faithful living it was Paul. But, he counted it all loss as compared to knowing Christ. The message in all of this is that while their are believers who are expecting a blessing from God that will never come, they are missing out on the blessings they already have in Christ. I wonder what "spirit" it is that tells a preacher to expect something from God He didn't come to give? A Christian's responsibility is to be a witness for the Lord as ambassadors of Christ. We are not in the world to gain the world, but to turn people from the world and to Christ! Jesus has overcome the world and we have overcome the world, in Him. There is now no need to seek blessings from a world Jesus told us would only give us trouble.
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