Time magazine had an interesting cover story this week entitled “Does God Want You to Be Rich?”. After watching a 30 second commercial for Bentley College, I was able to read this article in its entirety.
Those of you who have ever perused the “Christian Inspiration” section with me at a bookstore know that nothing gets me more fired up in that section than Joel Osteen’s book “Your Best Life Now”. When the book came out a few years ago, I read a little bit in the store and did some research online. Although my understanding of theology was far more elementary than it is now, his message seemed wrong and heretical.
Since the release of his book in 2004, Joel Osteen’s ministry (and pocketbook) has grown dramatically. Osteen’s Lakewood church has 30,000 attendees and his book has sold over 4 million copies. The renovation of the Compaq Center, the new location of Lakewood, cost an estimated 70 million dollars. Osteen’s sermons are broadcast on television and on the internet in many countries around the world. If Osteen’s success doesn’t convince you of his prosperity gospel, what else would? God’s blessing seems to be shining down on Osteen if these incredible successes can be credited to his name, right?
I think Joel and the 17% of American Christians who buy into this idea would want you to think so. If you aren’t, you aren’t really living to YOUR full potential and taking advantage of God’s favor.
What crap.
But I’ll let Osteen defend himself before I go on. In his interview with Time Magazine Osteen says this,
“When I hear that word rich, I think people say, ‘Well, he’s preaching that everybody’s going to be a millionaire.’ I don’t think that’s it.” Rather, he explains, “I preach that anybody can improve their lives. I think God wants us to be prosperous. I think he wants us to be happy. To me, you need to have money to pay your bills. I think God wants us to send our kids to college. I think he wants us to be a blessing to other people. But I don’t think I’d say God wants us to be rich. It’s all relative, isn’t it?”
Lakewood’s website says “Discover the Champion in You”. However, I don’t think the You is intentionally capitalized. Osteen’s gospel is me-centered. It’s candy coated, easy to swallow, dressed up all pretty Jesus. It’s not the Gospel. It’s not what Jesus taught. So many passages in scripture run contrary to Osteen’s message. Osteen preaches that God wants to bless everyone with financial and material abundance and his book even names 7 steps to reach that goal.
But what about this:
Matthew 6:19-20, 24 “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.
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.”
Luke 12:33 “Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.”
This is what Jesus preached. It seems blatantly clear that Jesus does not think money is his greatest gift to all positive thinking Christians. In fact, Jesus will go so far as to say we need to SELL all of our possessions and focus ourselves on serving God and not money.
So why would a Christian preach something so contrary to Jesus’ teaching? The answer is simple and we’re all guilty of it: we have no confidence in the Gospel. We dress Jesus up and try to “sell him” to our world. We’ll even omit some of His message so that it is easier to swallow and accept. It is hard to get people to follow Jesus if we tell them that we might need to sell everything we own to do it…so we leave that out. We don’t use the word “sin” because of its negative connotations and we preach that believing in God brings happiness and wealth because our culture says those things are good and we don’t want to tell people how to live their lives.
Is Jesus’ message in its purest form REALLY relevant for today? If we preach exactly what Christ says, are we really going to attract people to our churches?
I would never say I actually ask these questions, but my lackadaisical approach to sharing the Gospel certainly suggests I do. It’s scary to impose on people with such harsh language and subject matter. When we preach true Jesus to people, we’re telling our listeners that they are nasty sinners and a completely blameless man had to die for their mistakes and their wrongdoings (which they may or may not actually consider mistakes or wrongdoings). This message is painful and hard to accept. We make it sound nicer and omit a few things and hope that the whole “and this is how you have to respond” part gets conveyed later on down the road. As long as no ones toes are stepped on in the process and everyone agrees, we’ve successfully shared the Gospel with a lost sinner.
The truth is: Jesus’ message hasn’t imposed on us, we’ve imposed on his message. God’s word, straight up, is eternally relevant and powerful. We have to have confidence that Jesus wasn’t kidding or only 1/2 serious when He said the things he did. If we preach the Gospel exactly as it is written, we have to have confidence God will still move and stir people’s hearts. We don’t have to do anything to make his message easier to swallow. We just have to preach Jesus’ word and give our lives as a testimony. Jesus’ message is sufficient and will get the job done. It needs no alteration or masking. It is never “safe” and “comfy” to preach the Gospel.
Hebrews 4:12: For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
Joel Osteen is not the only guilty man We’re all guilty. He’s just a part of a problem that is prevalent throughout evangelicalism in America: the monstrous imposition upon Jesus and His Gospel.
As of 4am 9/16/2006 this blog post has not been edited.. so forgive my errors until I have time to edit.
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