The True Prosperity Gospel
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Isaiah 9:6-7
Isaiah 9:6-7
6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
When Isaiah penned these words someway back in the 700sBC, the threat of war hung like a black cloud over the land of Judah. She was surrounded on every side by hostile nations, Syria and Israel to the north, and then the growing threat of Assyrian empire to the east.
And it was into this context of strife, fear and violence that God spoke through the prophet Isaiah, promising the gift of a child - not just any child, but a divine son, a King whose Kingdom would be marked by peace, justice and righteousness, a Kingdom that would have no end.
This Royal Son is given four names; Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Today, on the second Sunday in Advent. Traditionally the church has used this second Sunday to focus on peace.
And today we are going to see that without the Prince of Peace, there is absolutely zero hope for true peace for anyone in this world.
Peace is a precious commodity. We live in a busy house - two parents, two kids, two dogs and two cats. On busier evenings you might occassionally hear one of us protesting ‘please will you just give me 5 minutes of peace!’
Why do we say that? Because perhaps we’re feeling a bit overwhelmed by everything and just needing a moment of quiet to unwind.
Peace: freedom from disturbance; tranquillity. (Oxford Dictionary)
So peace is an environment of tranquility. It is a place of rest and recuperation.
We speak of having ‘peace of mind’ - which Merriam Webster defines as - : a feeling of being safe or protected.
So when you have peace there is actually an internal sense of safeness and security.
So peace can be a state of being, and you can actually in a sense possess peace.
And of course peace is the absence of war. Since 2021 sadly war has been a constant on our television screens and our devices. We see that peace brings an end to pain, suffering and death.
Chris Hedges in his book “What every person should know about war” claimed that in 3400 years of recorded history humans have only been at peace for 268 of them. That’s 8% of recorded history at peace.
So we all have some idea of what it means to be at peace. But what does the Bible have to say about it?
The word for peace in the Old testament of course is Shalom. Let’s take a brief look at the range of meaning that word holds:
peace; prosperity, success; welfare, state of health; friendliness; deliverance, salvation
n.m. completeness, soundness, welfare, peace - BDB
So Biblical peace, Shalom goes way beyond just being the absence of fighting, or a place of tranquility, it has a positive aspect to it. It is health, it is welfare, it is prosperity, it is complete soundness.
This is the true health, wealth and prosperity gospel! We don’t preach the false prosperity gospel in this church which is all about greed, but we do preach a gospel that truly does prosper all those who believe!
How does the gospel bring prosperity then? Is it that material wealth is the sign of God’s favour upon our lives? No - the gospel brings prosperity because it brokers true and lasting peace for all who believe it. It does this in three directions
Upward peace with God
Inward peace within oneself
And outward peace in the world
How does the gospel acheive this? How can a simple message actually bring about such a transformation? Because it is the message of the Prince of Peace, the Sar Shalom.
Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, is not only called that name because He is peaceful by nature, but because He actually brings about Shalom wherever he reigns. All of the subjects of His Kingdom experience and are identifiable by peace.
17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
One of our favourite movies is a film called Miss Congeniality starring Sandra Bullock, an FBI agent who goes undercover as a beauty queen in a Miss USA paegent. When each contestant is asked what one thing they would wish for they all respond saying the same thing - world peace!
And peace with our fellow humans is something desireable, it’s something we certainly should aim for. But let’s say that somehow the world did manage to stop going to war with itself, let’s say every army did down tools. And for a generation no one experienced war on earth, they went from the cradle to the grave not knowing human conflict. They would have had peace - ‘would have had’ being the operative term. Because eternity is set in the heart of man for a reason - life in this world is not all there is. There is a God who rules in the heavens who has set up a future day of judgement when all humanity will be weighed in the balance and set apart for either eternal glory or eternal damnation. Now if we don’t have peace with God, then what is 3 score years and 10 of peace on earth really worth?
PEACE WITH GOD
1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ - The Prince of Peace, gives us the most precious peace of all; peace with God.
The Bible is clear that you are either at peace with God or at war with Him, there is no inbetween. We are either His friends or His enemies.
21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.
The Prince of Peace actually procured peace with God on our behalf at the cross, something we can never do in our own strength.
21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
He hasn’t just ensured the forgiveness of sin, but He actually makes us become the righteousness of God through faith.
So if you do not have peace with God, then you don’t truly have peace at all.
PEACE WITHIN
Those who have peace with God are not left in the state in which they found, but by God’s grace are given a peace within.
27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
The Prince of Peace, give us internal peace. It’s not our peace, but it is a supernatural peace, a peace that surpasses understanding. It’s actually Christ’s peace - ‘my peace I give to you’
And this peace is to rule in our hearts.
Col 3:15 And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful. (NLT)
When the peace of God rules in our hearts we become peaceable - our relationships with others flourish, we have what is commonly called peace of mind. There is an internal sense of safeness and security. We aren’t easily flustered by things going on around us. When the peace of Christ rules in our hearts we’re not fretful or worrisome about the future, but are instead thankful for our lot in life.
Sometimes as believers we can for a time succumb to seasons where we aren’t feeling so peaceful on the inside. It can be a real battle to let that peace rule and reign in our hearts when we are feeling overwhelmed by life. Paul encourages the Colossians, who were seeking that internal peace to:
2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
So we are instructed to actually turn our attention away from that fear or urgent worry for the moment and instead set our minds on things above the natural realm - to the things of God. To His promises, to His word and to our inheritance in Him. As we do this we are pushing the reset button in our hearts and the peace of God begins to reign again.
PEACE ON EARTH
Finally - The Prince of Peace has come to establish a reign of peace over all the earth.
It is observable that at his birth there was a general peace, not only in the Roman empire, Luke 2:1 but in all the world; and it is remarkable, that whereas at this time the Chinese empire enjoyed a profound peace, the emperor of it changed his name, and would not be called by his name Ngayus, but Pingus, which signifies peaceable.
14 “Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
God’s work of redemption is much bigger than just our own personal redemption. Christ’s Kingdom of peace will grow and grow until it fills all the heavens and the earth.
How will this be accomplished? Through the blood of Christ people of every race, culture and nationality are made one.
13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility
In Christ there are no special privileges because of our gender or our position in life but we all have the same access to God.
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
So as Christ’s Kingdom comes across the world as people put their faith in Him, peace is the natural upshot.
Right now were living in a time that theologians call the ‘now and the not yet’. Meaning that the Kingdom is now, but also not yet in the sense that it is here in our hearts right now, but won’t be fully realised until the King Himself returns and consummates His kingdom on the earth.
When He returns, coming on the clouds with all of His angels, and all those who have gone to be with Him, He will set up and establish His Kingdom of Shalom forever. And there will be no more war, no more suffering, no more loss. But complete wholeness, peace and prosperity for all who are His.
4 He shall judge between the nations,
and shall decide disputes for many peoples;
and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war anymore.