Occasionally I get asked why our WELS churches don’t seem to grow as big and as fast as some of the nondenominational mega churches in the area. If I am being critical of myself and our church body, I would have to admit there are some things we could learn from the successes of the mega churches. Their marketing is targeted and professional, their facilities are modern and welcoming, their programs are well run and generously funded. Again, if I am being critical, there are things the mega churches do better than we do, and I think we would be wise to examine some of the things they do and determine if we should do them too. However, the real reason those churches seem to grow bigger and faster than ours has nothing to do with marketing, or facilities, or programs. The real reason is the gospel they proclaim. Many, if not most, of those churches proclaim a prosperity gospel.
For those of you unfamiliar with the term, a prosperity gospel, according to Wikipedia, “is a religious belief among some Charismatic Christians that financial blessing and physical well-being are always the will of God for them, and that faith, positive speech, and donations to religious causes will increase one's material wealth.” In other words, this is a good time gospel. This gospel says when you become a Christian your life gets better; the sorrows and sadness that were part of your pagan past are replaced with joy and happiness and the more Christian you become the better your life will be.
Proclaimers of the prosperity gospel draw large crowds of people because they know people don’t want to hear about crosses anymore, these days people are much more interested in crowns. People don’t want their consciouses to be pricked, they don’t want their guilt to be exposed, they don’t want to be driven to their knees in repentance. People want to hear about all the good things they are going to get from God; people want to be happy and if they can find a preacher who tells them what they want to hear they will fill an auditorium full.
The Holy Spirit predicted this would happen. In 2 Timothy 4:3 the Holy Spirit warned, “the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.” The prosperity gospel scratches an itch. It scratches an itch not just for those people, but it scratches an itch for us people; for you, for me. Truth be told we kind of buy in to the prosperity gospel. Oh, we are not so foolish as to believe that we are going to live in big houses and drive luxury cars, and wear designer clothes simply because we are Christians, in fact, we scoff at preachers and people who do. But at the same time don’t you kind of believe your life should be better because you are a Christian? Don’t you want to believe Christians should be happier, more confident, more at peace than other people?
The prosperity gospel causes some churches to grow big and fast because it scratches an itch. But before you seek relief from such an itch, it might interest you to know who is doing the scratching. It’s the devil. The devil is a huge proponent of the prosperity gospel. There is a common misunderstanding about the devil. Most people think all the devil wants is for us to suffer and while that is certainly true in eternity, It is not necessarily true in time. People think the devil wants to make our lives miserable, but he doesn’t. More often than not, the devil wants us to be happy. He does. In the garden of Eden, the devil wanted an ambitious Eve to enjoy a piece of fruit. In the wilderness, the devil wanted a hungry Jesus to be satisfied with a loaf of bread. In this life, the devil wants us to be happy, convinces us that we should be happy, that we deserve to be happy. So that… when we aren’t… we believe something is wrong. When pain or suffering, sorrow or sadness, disappointment or discouragement enter or lives we believe there is either something wrong with us or there is something wrong with our God. Either we are not Christian enough to be happy or our God doesn’t want us to be happy.
The devil supports our happiness in time, as long as that happiness prevents us from being happy in eternity. God, on the other hand, wants us to be happy in time but not at the expense of our happiness in eternity. God created everything perfect; everything was created in such a way that we would be happy. But then sin came into the world. Sin interferes with happiness. The devil tries to dismiss and diminish the effects sin has had on creation because the devil wants us to believe we can be happy in our sin. But God wants us to know the truth. In this section from Romans 8:18-25 God speaks of “suffering”, He speaks of “frustration”, He speaks of “decay”, He speaks of “groaning”, and He speaks of “pains”. This is what a sinful world full of sinful people is full of, anyone who would tell you different is lying to you.
Because of sin, suffering, frustration, decay, groaning, and pain are part of life and not only part of the pagan’s life but part of the Christian’s life, which means they are part of everyone’s life including your life. In verse 19 the Holy Spirit tells us, “19 The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.” The sons of God are believers. In Galatians 3:26 we are told “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” We are the sons (and daughters) of God. Creation is waiting for us to be “revealed”. The reason we need to be revealed is because you can’t tell who we are based on our prosperity or lack of suffering. Now God knows who we are, but that is because God can see our hearts; He can see our faith in Jesus. But creation can’t see that; people can’t see that. When people look at us, that don’t see someone who has more blessings than an unbeliever and when people look at us, they don’t see someone who suffers less than an unbeliever. When people look at us, we look like everyone else, some of us have more stuff some of us have more suffering but overall, we look like everyone else. Anyone who says you are going to be more prosperous in this life because you are a Christian, is lying to you.
I know this is not something you want to hear, I know this is not going to scratch an itch, I know this is not going to fill an auditorium full, but the truth is, life as a Christian is not described with the word prosperous, but rather with the word patience. In verse 25 the Holy Spirit tells us to wait “patiently”. Now I don’t know what you imagine that looks like. Perhaps when you imagine a patient person you see someone who is calm, cool, and collected, perhaps even someone who is peaceful and serene. But that is not a very accurate description of patience. A patient person is someone who bears up under a difficult situation; someone who endures suffering. The more accurate image of a patient person would be someone whose veins are popping out of their neck, their muscles are flexed in effort, and their brow is dripping sweat. Because they live in a sinful world and suffer the same consequences of sin as everyone else, patient Christians aren’t peaceful and serene, they are fighting to survive. This is what life as a Christian is truly like, so I am going to say this one more time, anyone who tells you different is lying to you.
The devil wants you to believe this lie. He wants you to believe God has promised you a prosperous life so that when suffering, frustration, decay, groaning, and pain come into your life you question all of God’s promises, especially those promises He made from a blood stained cross and an empty tomb. But the truth is God never promises the Christian will be more prosperous than anyone else. So then, you might ask, “why bother being a Christian?”.
The Holy Spirit begins to answer that question in verse 18. There saint Paul writes, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” As bad as our suffering is, it is good for us to first note that our suffering is a “present” suffering, meaning it is a temporary suffering; a suffering that occurs in time but, for the Christian, not a suffering that continues into eternity. Our glory, on the other hand, may be absent in the present but it will be absolutely present in our eternity. Further, the suffering is “not worth comparing” to the glory. As bad as our temporary suffering is it is not as good as the eternal glory that awaits us. How do I illustrate this? Imagine you were going to be given a 12-bedroom mansion. This mansion has a fitness center, a game room, golf simulator, home theater, music studio, art studio... Out back there is an inground pool, hot tub, sauna, steam shower, batting cage, tennis court, soccer field. And the entire place comes with maids, chef, grounds crew, and personal mechanic to keep your collection of classic cars running like new. And all of this is funded by a trust that was gifted to you. Imagine you were going to be given this mansion. But you were told on your way in the front door for the first time you were going to stub your pinky toe. Would you still want the mansion? Of course, you would! Now I am not suggesting that your present sufferings are as insignificant as a stubbed pinky toe. I am not trying to diminish your suffering, rather I am trying to exalt your glory. I am trying to illustrate that the glory that awaits you is beyond compare.
In verse 23 the Holy Spirit does a better job illustrating this than me. There He elaborates on the incomparable glory that will be revealed in us. There saint Paul writes, “23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” There are three words in this sentence that jump out at us. The first word is “firstfruits”. In the Old Testament believers gave as an offering the first of their harvest to the LORD. This offering was the first offering of many and was thought of as a pledge or a promise to give more. When, through Word and Sacraments, the Holy Spirit created faith in our hearts it was a firstfruits; a promise and pledge from God that we would be given more.
Which leads us to the second word “adoption”. We are familiar with the practice of adoption and understand when a person is adopted, they are legally declared to be a child of the person adopting them. An adopted child rightly ought to expect they will be treated and cared for like a natural born child, even having rights to the parents’ inheritance. By the grace of God, you have been adopted by the heavenly King. You may not look like it you may not feel like it, but you are the princess and princesses of the heavenly King. One day, when your glory is revealed, you will take your seat in heaven’s royal court and on that day you will look good.
I know you will look good because the third word that jumps out at us in this verse is “redemption”. Sin is a harsh master. It forces us to do, say, and think things we don’t want to do, say, or think. Not only do these sinful things we do, say, and think cause damage to other people they cause damage to us, to our mind, body, and soul. Thankfully Jesus, in His mercy, redeemed us, that is He paid the price required to free us from our slavery to sin. Sin is no longer your master, but it is still an unwanted companion. But one day, when your glory is revealed, your mind, body, and soul will be completely free from sin. You will have what you have long prayed for, you will have a right mind, a glorified body, and a pure soul. As I said, you will look good.
The prosperity gospel promises Christians a good time. It really ought not surprise us that such a gospel would be so popular in a culture that seeks instant gratification. But even if that gospel causes churches to grow bigger and faster than ours, we can’t proclaim that gospel. That gospel is a lie and causes people to question God’s promises about salvation. Besides we have something better than the prosperity gospel. We have a more than prosperous gospel, we have a gospel that invites us to wait in eager expectation for our eternal glory to be revealed. The prosperity gospel promises Christians a good time. God’s gospel promises Christians a good eternity. Which is why, even if that doesn’t cause our churches to grow as big or as fast as some of the nondenominational mega churches in the area, God’s more than prosperous gospel is the gospel we proclaim. Amen.