The Uncertainty of Prosperity
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How many of you had a friend or knew a family when you were a kid who had more toys than you?
We learn early on, by nature and nurture, to equate prosperity with goodness, favor, blessing.
We wrongly charge our parents with things like, “if you really loved me, you’d get me what billy has...”
This is not just childish simplistic thinking, it is the bane of many false religions, many false theologies, and most of the natural world order.
In some religions, it is one end of the pendulum - the more you have, the more blessed you are.
In others, its the opposite - the more you suffer, the closer you can be to God and holiness.
Even in godless thinking, it is in there.
What I want is good, and getting what I want is getting something good, so I can chase that goal and that will inform my values, decisions, and priorities.
In our study of Job, this will be the last of his responses to the three friends that we will look at with any depth.
In some ways, it seems like Job is “sobering up” and gives some straight rebuttal.
This is the first response of Job where he doesn’t go into prayer (to God) or soliloquy (addressing himself with his thoughts) but directly addresses his friends the whole time.
In the fullness of his sufficiency he will be in distress;
the hand of everyone in misery will come against him.
He wants to point out the emptiness of their advice.
Because it stings him
Because they are apparently either deceived or just cruel
Job’s response then is also informative to us.
How often do we go to God and frame our thinking around our experience?
Does that matter? Does what we think about God matter?
it matters for our own spiritual well-being
It matters for our instruction of others and edification
It matters for our worship
Prosperity is no guarantee of righteousness, and calamity is no guarantee of unrighteousness. The uncertainty of prosperity points us to the Eternality of Christ.
Prosperity is no guarantee of righteousness, and calamity is no guarantee of unrighteousness. The uncertainty of prosperity points us to the Eternality of Christ.
1. Prosperity is no Guarantee of Righteousness - Vs. 1-16
1. Prosperity is no Guarantee of Righteousness - Vs. 1-16
Why do the wicked…?
Live long
Enjoy safety
prosper
When they...
despise God and His ways
Find satisfaction in what they can hold
2. Calamity is no Guarantee of Unrighteousness
2. Calamity is no Guarantee of Unrighteousness
Does life really follow your pattern?
Is your view of prosperity biased to your own experience?
Is your view of God biased to your own experience?
“this worked for me” theology
Man-centered theology
3. Experience in This Life is not the Final Word
3. Experience in This Life is not the Final Word
The simple reasoning of the friends
the wicked suffer
Job is suffering
Therefore, Job is wicked.
Is not your evil abundant?
There is no end to your iniquities.
Materialistic Deism
Materialistic Deism
Materialistic Deism: Any view that ties materialistic prosperity or poverty to relationship, favor, or standing with God.
Materialistic Deism: Any view that ties materialistic prosperity or poverty to relationship, favor, or standing with God.
Also known or seen as
The Prosperity Gospel
Abundance Theology
Asceticism
Who is this a problem for?
Who is this a problem for?
The Uninformed or Decieved
The Uninformed or Decieved
Its a problem for Christians, because when you tie material blessings or prosperity to God’s favor or nearness, you can feel a sense of false abandonment when things are tight.
The Deceivers or Peddlers
The Deceivers or Peddlers
Its a problem for those who pedal such theology, because it causes them to have to tell lies such as “you just don’t have enough faith” or “you see how God has blessed me? trust me!”
The Faithless
The Faithless
Its a problem for those without faith in God, because when they hear that the message of Christianity is “God will bless you if you follow Him!” They see their riches and prosperity and think, “well, I don’t need God - I already have what I need.”
Job’s Friends/Counselors
Job’s Friends/Counselors
Its a problem for Job’s friends, or for anyone who finds themselves in the place of giving counsel, because standing on bad teaching, they give harmful advice.
Materialists
Materialists
Its a problem for materialistic Christians, because they instantly assume that their “poorer” brothers and sisters must be in some lower class of God’s favor and blessing.
Ascetics
Ascetics
Its a problem for those who hold to asceticism, or the purposeful denial of pleasures and luxuries for spiritual reasons, because they take on a judgmental attitude of believers who don’t deny themselves of such things.
This is why theology matters. What does the Bible say?
What does the Bible say?
What does the Bible say?
Psalm73v1-3
Psalm73v4-12
Psalm 73v13-15
Psalm 73v16-17
As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Riches are uncertain in that they are fleeting and temporary.
Riches are uncertain in that they are bad indicators of spiritual life.
Riches are uncertain in that they can deceive us and others.