In this episode, we talk to Pastor Eric Uggerud. Eric has been in ministry for over 20 years between his time with the Cru ministry and serving as the pastor of Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota. We talk to Eric about some of the cultural pressures and challenges that Christians face in the area of personal evangelism as well as practical tips for turning small talk into opportunities to talk about the gospel.
Author: the Josh Benner Blog
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7 problems with prosperity theology
The prosperity gospel is a movement that has its origins in America about a century ago and came to greater prominence after the Second World War. It has largely grown out of pentecostalism and the Word of Faith movement.
It is the idea that it is always the will of God for genuine believers to be materially blessed and physically healthy. It’s essentially preoccupied with material blessings.
In John 6, Jesus has just fed a large crowd of people. They’ve wanted to make him king. They’re drawn to his teaching and signs, yet Jesus rebukes the crowd when he says: “you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.”
I’m not saying that this first century audience had a 20th and 21st century notion of a health and wealth gospel. But they’re drawn to Jesus because of him fulfilling a physical need. There are elements of what they believe which are picked up in the prosperity gospel movement.
It’s not the only place where we find this attitude in the New Testament. Paul addresses a similar issue within the church at Philippi. Philippians 3:19-20: 18 For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.
They’re not looking to take up their cross and follow him. They’re not looking to die to themselves and their sinful ways. They’re there because of a free meal.
The theology that looks merely at the material blessings of God has many problems.
FIRST, IT’S NOT THE GOSPEL.
The gospel is the message of Christ crucified and his redemption of sinful people for the glory of God.
He died to save souls.
The purpose of life is knowing and enjoying Jesus Christ forever. The purpose of life does not revolve around material blessings.
SECONDLY, PROSPERITY THEOLOGY TEACHES THINGS THAT ARE NOT BIBLICAL.
It undermines the doctrine of suffering. The Bible does not hide from suffering.
Prosperity theology believes that it is never the will of God for a person to be sick, to die from cancer, to struggle with depression.
The Bible teaches that the Christian life does involve suffering.
God uses it and works all things together for good for those who love him. Romans 8:28.
God uses suffering to work his purposes. Story of Joseph. We referenced it last week. Joseph is betrayed by his brothers, but through that betrayal, it brings Joseph into Egypt which allows him to be in a position years later to save his family during a time of famine.
But we also see God’s providence and goodness through that evil.
Genesis 50:20: As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.
God uses suffering to sanctify and perfect his people.
James 1:2-4: Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
Notice that James says to count it all joy WHEN not IF you meet trials of various kinds.
To quote my professor D.A. Carson, if you’re not suffering, just keep living.
Romans 5:3-4: we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope
God uses suffering so that we can have a positive influence on others.
Wonderful passage. 2 Corinthians 1:3-5: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.
God uses suffering to remind us that our ultimate need is in him. 2 Corinthians 1:8-9:
8 For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.
And we could talk for hours on many more passages.
God allows suffering. In his sovereign will, God allows it. It is talked about constantly in the Bible and especially in the New Testament.
And you have televangelists and authors of popular Christian books who say the opposite of that.
They’re teaching an idea that is not Biblical.
Yes, God does ultimately promise healing, in heaven. But there is no promise given in the Bible that all true believers or faithful Christians will always experience healing in this life.THE THIRD PROBLEM WITH PROSPERITY THEOLOGY. IT TURNS GOD INTO YOUR GENIE.
God does not primarily exist to fulfill to give you everything you want.
A lot of times the things we want are not good.
If you have a child and just gave them everything they ever wanted, would that be loving? Of course not. Because a lot of things kids want aren’t good for them.
Prosperity theology views giving not primarily as a way of giving back part of what God has given for the purposes of his kingdom, but as a way to receive material blessings back as a result of your generosity.
Prosperity theology views prayer as a way to force God to give you what you desire.
Prosperity theology believes that faith is rewarded by leading to prosperity.
FOURTH, IT TEACHES UNTRUE THINGS ABOUT THE WORLD
While turning God into a genie and believing in a theology where good things happen if you’re good enough or if you have enough faith, what that essentially teaches a person is that they’re in control of their own destiny.
Not Biblical. The Bible teaches that God is sovereign.
FIFTH, PROSPERITY THEOLOGY ACTUALLY DISTRACTS US FROM TRUE RICHES.
Ironically, God actually wants to give us so much more than what prosperity theology focuses on. But if we just focus on this world, on materialism, on what’s physical, we lose sight of that.
Christ has blessed us with every spiritual blessing.
SIXTH: PROSPERITY THEOLOGY DISTORTS THE TEACHINGS OF SCRIPTURE AND TAKES THE BIBLE OUT OF CONTEXT
It cherry picks the Bible. We’re going through the Gospel of John. Prosperity gospel preaching churches don’t go verse by verse through books. Because they have a theological belief system that is not supported by the whole of scriptures and so they pick and choose what fits their system.
You don’t have great scholars or theologians of prosperity theology. Because honest reading of the Bible tears it down.
THE SEVENTH ISSUE WITH PROSPERITY THEOLOGY IS THAT IT RELIES HEAVILY ON SPECIAL REVELATIONS FROM GOD.
I know I’m hammering on this topic this morning. But it’s a highly influential, unbiblical movement that influences Christians here in America and across the world.
Many of the best-selling Christian books are written by prosperity teachers and preachers who do not teach or preach the Word but preach a worldly message. Many, I would say most, televangelists fall into this camp.
Our world eats up prosperity theology because it tells us that it’s all about us. It co-opts the gospel and replaces it with worldliness.
As Jesus said, “you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.“
Why are you a follower of Jesus?
Is it because he is the way, the truth and the life? Is it because he is glorious? Is it because he’s worthy? Is it because he’s the savior of the world? Is it because of the gospel. That you were dead in your sins and that the only way to redemption was through his life, and death and because of the shedding of his blood?
I’m hoping that I’m preaching to the choir on this. For those of us who love the Word of God, who have reverence for the scriptures, the prosperity gospel must be seen as a counterfeit gospel.
But here’s my challenge.
Because while we might not buy into a health and wealth gospel, we have so many blessings in our country that there can still be a temptation into falling into the trap of thinking that we’re good and that our lives should be good. We should have good families. We should have happy marriages. We deserve to not really suffer.
It’s a constant temptation. But the Bible makes no such promises. Why are you a follower of Jesus?
The Biblical message is not that we should follow Jesus so that everything will be easy. It’s that when you follow Jesus, you’re taken from death to life. It’s not a promise of ease but it’s a promise that the difficulties have a purpose. It’s not a promise of getting what you want, but it’s a promise of all things working together for your ultimate good. People wanted to follow Jesus because he took care of a physical need, but Jesus came in order to tend to our spiritual needs.
Final verse of the passage. Jesus has given his rebuke to the crowds. He’s exposed their heart and the real reason they’re following him.
27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” (John 6:27)
Jesus tells them to work for the food that endures to eternal life and that is the food which Jesus came to bring.
Not only did Jesus come to bring it, but it can come only through Jesus. As the end of the verse reminds us that it is Jesus upon whom God has set his seal. Jesus is the one who has come to bring eternal life to a sinful world.
And he offers that life to you today if you believe in him by faith. Know that you are a sinner and that Jesus has come to forgive you of your sins and reconcile you to God.
Originally published September 20, 2020.
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Sermon: the last apostle – Galatians 1:13-24
Paul talks about his divine calling by God to be an apostle. In Paul’s story, we see both a unique man who was set aside for a divine task. But we also see a ministry that should ultimately be important to every Christian: spreading the gospel and fulfilling the Great Commission.
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Jesus and sabbath controversies
Honoring the Sabbath and keeping it Holy is in the Ten Commandments. Specifically, it’s the fourth commandment found in Exodus 20. When the command is given in Exodus, the basis for this command goes back to creation.
Exodus 20:11:
For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
The Sabbath is important.
Throughout much of Israel’s history, they had not taken the Sabbath as seriously as they should have.
In the prophets, their failure to keep the Sabbath is pointed to as a symptom of their sin and lack of devotion to God.
In Ezekiel 20:10-26, Israel’s profaning of the Sabbath is looked at as a direct cause of their downfall.
In Amos 8:5, the Israelites are judged for their half-hearted Sabbath observance and their regular desire to have the Sabbath conclude so that they can resume pursuing their own ends and their own goals.
We see a similar idea at the beginning of the Book of Isaiah. The Israelites are half-hearted in their pursuit of God. And their Sabbath observance is mentioned in Isaiah 1:13:
13 Bring no more vain offerings;
incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations—
I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.
Half-heartedly going through the motions is looked upon by God as vain.
He wants true, genuine worship.
As we’ve talked about on numerous occasions, in the Old Testament, Israel is eventually judged by God and they lose their land.
When the southern kingdom was able to return to their land, they attempted to learn from their past sins in the final centuries before Christ.
Here’s something you might not have known.
In the gospels, you have Jesus constantly interacting with the Pharisees. But where are they in the Old Testament? They’re not there.
Or think about rabbis. Where does the Old Testament ever talk about someone going to their rabbi?
It doesn’t.
It was after the Israelites had lost the land and returned from exile that these institutions arose.
And part of the goal was a return to the law.
They wanted to learn from history and learn from their past sins as a people, and so one of the cultural responses was a hyper-sensitivity to the Law of the Old Testament.
The Law was good. Romans 7:12 tells us that the Law is holy. 1 Timothy 1:8 tells us that the Law is good if used properly.
But in an effort to make sure that they followed the Law, they added rules that were not Biblical onto the Biblical Law as a way of trying to ensure adherence.
By the first century, Jewish tradition had listed 39 different activities which were prohibited on the Sabbath.
In some schools of thought, adherence to the Sabbath was more important than life and death.
And so for this man who has just been healed, for him to move his bed is looked upon as a violation of the Sabbath because that’s viewed as technically being work.
They’re missing sight of what Jesus has just done for this man.
The religious establishment tells this man that it is not lawful for him to pick up his bed and carry it on the Sabbath.
But according to who’s law? It’s according to their interpretation not to a specific command of scripture.
The Sabbath command in the Old Testament relates to work. This man isn’t doing work. He’s simply picking up his belongings after being healed. He’s not committing a sin here.
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Abram and Lot. Studying Genesis 13
Genesis 13 begins with Abraham moving from Egypt into the Negeb. Abraham’s nephew Lot was absent from the previous event in chapter 12 and as chapter 13 begins, even Abraham’s possessions are mentioned before Lot. In chapter 13, we will see a significant confrontation between the patriarch in his nephew.
Genesis 13:1:
So Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the Negeb.
In chapter 12, Abraham and his wife Sarah had traveled ot Egypt. It was there that Abraham became fearful for his life and concocted a misleading story where Sarah would tell Pharaoh that she was Abraham’s sister instead of his wife.
Pharaoh falls for the ruse. Perhaps unexpected by Abraham, but Pharaoh takes Sarah to be his own wife. Thinking that Abraham is Sarah’s brother, Pharaoh pays a bride price to him.
In Genesis 12:16, we see all that Pharaoh gave to Abraham:
for her sake he dealt well with Abram; and he had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.
So because of the deception, Abraham is enriched. The Bible doesn’t condone that fact, it’s just recording what happened. Later in chapter 12, Pharaoh learns that Sarah is actually Abraham’s wife and banishes them from Egypt.
Chapter 12 ends in verse 20:
And Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him, and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had.
Notice that it says that they were sent away with all that he had, meaning all that Pharaoh had given him. So he’s traveling heavy in Genesis 13.
Genesis 13:2:
Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold.
Homecoming
Abraham returns to the Negeb and it’s an area with which he was familiar. The passage reminds us that this was the palace where he had been an altar to the Lord after God had made his covenant promises to Abraham at the beginning of chapter 12.
Genesis 13:3-4:
3 And he journeyed on from the Negeb as far as Bethel to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, 4 to the place where he had made an altar at the first. And there Abram called upon the name of the Lord.
Too much wealth
Abraham arrives back at Bethel much richer than he had been when he had left. And there’s a unique problem. Abraham and Lot each have so much wealth and such large flocks that the land where they’re staying isn’t big enough for the two of them.
13:5-6:
5 And Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents, 6 so that the land could not support both of them dwelling together; for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together
We see this same challenge in other places in the Book of Genesis, such as between Jacob and Esau in Genesis 36:6-8:
6 Then Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the members of his household, his livestock, all his beasts, and all his property that he had acquired in the land of Canaan. He went into a land away from his brother Jacob. 7 For their possessions were too great for them to dwell together. The land of their sojournings could not support them because of their livestock. 8 So Esau settled in the hill country of Seir. (Esau is Edom.)
We don’t see conflict specifically from Abraham and Lot but we do see conflicts between their herdsmen. Genesis 13:7:
7 and there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were dwelling in the land.
Ironically, Abraham and Lot are able to dwell in the land of the Canaanites and the Perizzites peacefully but they can’t coexist amongst themselves. And they’re family!
Making peace
A situation that could have potentially gotten very contentious gets smoothed over by Abraham.
Genesis 13:8-9:
8 Then Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, for we are kinsmen. 9 Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself from me. If you take the left hand, then I will go to the right, or if you take the right hand, then I will go to the left.”
This event in chapter 13 is a striking contrast from Abraham’s actions in chapter 12.
In chapter 12, we see Abraham act out in fear and show a lack of faith as he worries that his life is at risk for his marriage with Sarah.
Here in chapter 13, we see the faith of Abraham as he allows Lot to pick the land first. Being the elder in the family, Abraham should have had the greater influence but he freely gives that up to keep the peace. We also see tremendous faith in dealing with the land. In spite of the promises of God, Abraham was willing to allow Lot to choose his land first.
It’s speculation, but perhaps a part of the change is that Abraham has returned to the land where the Lord had made the promise and where Abraham had built an altar to the Lord. Abraham is in closer proximity to the sacred place of the Lord.
The unpromised land
10 And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the Jordan Valley was well watered everywhere like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, in the direction of Zoar. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) 11 So Lot chose for himself all the Jordan Valley, and Lot journeyed east. Thus they separated from each other.
-Genesis 13:10-11
It’s hard to fault Lot too much. He was given first pick and so he picks the land that looks good to him. It makes sense. Ultimately, we will see that he did not pick the best land. Sometimes what appears to us to be good, isn’t what we thought it was.
Verse 10 talks of Lot seeing the land. It’s the same Hebrew word that gets used when Eve looks on the forbidden fruit in the garden. This verse also compares the land to a garden of the Lord. It’s using Edenic language. Lot has picked the land that looks like paradise, but the verse ends by foreshadowing Sodom and Gomorrah.
Sodom will be mentioned again in verses 12-13. This is an initial indicator that the land which Lot has chosen might not be so great.
12 Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom. 13 Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord.
In verses 14-15, we see that the Lord has not forgotten Abraham.
14 The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, 15 for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever.
Abraham is standing in the land that God will give to him and his offspring. As Christians, we know the rest of the story. But try to think about it from Abraham’s perspective. He’s been told something incredible, and still just has the promise of God to believe in. During his lifetime, Abraham will only own a small piece of land in the Promised Land. But it’s not just about Abraham. It’s about the people who would inherit the land and the God who would fulfill that promise.
The Lord reiterates the promises that he had made to Abraham. Land but also offspring. Verse 16:
16 I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted.
As the passage concludes, Abraham is moving about in the land the Lord has promised.
17 Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.” 18 So Abram moved his tent and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre, which are at Hebron, and there he built an altar to the Lord.
What looked like it had the potential to be a significant crisis ends up being a display of God’s amazing grace and blessings.
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