Sign of Christ’s Disciples—Worldly Prosperity or Godly Charity? [Part 1]

 1 of 2

One of the propaganda tales of prosperity preachers goes like this—prosperity is the sign of God’s blessing upon His children. It is our right to become wealthy. We have the right to claim our right to get the riches of the world. And what’s more, when the world sees this prosperity as God’s favor upon His people, it gets impressed and desires our faith.

Let us examine the above fallible notion in light of God’s infallible word.

At the outset, let me make it clear that, in a sense, earthly blessings could be a sign of God’s hand upon His children. For instance, when Isaac materially prospered in the valley of Gerar, whom the Lord blessed according to His promise given to Abraham, Abimelech said, “We saw clearly that the Lord was with you” (Gen. 26:28).

So, I don’t deny the fact that God may prosper His chosen people and in this way manifest His presence with them. However, to say that earthly prosperity is always the sign of God’s favor upon all His people is not in accordance with the sound teaching of the Holy Scripture.

Prosperous and Poor

In the Holy Bible, there were men “who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies” (Heb. 12:33-34).

And there were also men who “faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated-- the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground” (Heb. 12:36-38).

The above description evidently testifies that in the Holy Bible there were God’s people who were prosperous as well as those who were poor, some who stayed on the mountain top and some who walked through the valley. God’s word, however, doesn’t endorse the doctrine that worldly prosperity is always the sign of God’s blessing for all His children. Indeed, even the wicked could prosper because of which the Psalmist complained, “For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked” (Ps. 73:3).

But what is the greatest evidence of being God’s children? How does the world obviously know that we are Christ’s disciples?

Charity and Unity

Considering the way prosperity is emphasized by its proponents, a phrase can be coined something like this, “By this, all men will know that you are Christ’s disciples, if you prosper in this world.” In contrast to such notion, heed what Christ said to His disciples, "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (Jn. 13:34-35).

How does the world know that we are the true disciples of Christ?

Although God prospered certain people, nowhere in the Scripture does it claim that prosperity is the evidence of recognition by the world as being Christ’s disciples. The old English word for love is “charity”. And Christ said that it is through charity, through love for one another, that the whole world will know that we are His disciples.

The greatest tragedy in Christianity today is not lack of prosperity but lack of charity.

The greatest curse upon this world is not poverty of money but poverty of love.

The world has to witness how we Christians love each other, how we encourage each other, how we forgive each other, how we help each other, how we honor each other, how we pray for each other and how we live together for the glory of our Lord.

The greatest thing that the world has to witness is Christ’s love in us for each other.

In His high priestly prayer, Christ Jesus prayed, “May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me” (Jn. 17:23).

How does the world know that Christ was sent by the Father to love His people? When we are brought to complete unity!

Are we desiring and striving for unity to fulfill this prayer of Jesus? Is not the world seeing disunity and indifference among Christians, thereby mocking at us?

The saddest thing in Christianity today is not lack of prosperity but lack of unity.

If the prosperity preachers are really concerned about the world recognizing us as Christ’s disciples, let them motivate charity and unity, as Christ exhorted and prayed, not wealth and prosperity which produces greed, pride and selfish ambition. [Click here to go to Part 2 of this article...] |  1 of 2