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Poverty Gospel

Nov 25, 2008 Print This Post

Yesterday, I posted a clip from John Piper about the “Prosperity Gospel.” This is a theology that is gaining steam in many parts of the world, but quite honestly I don’t run into too many people around these parts who buy into it.

It seems we deal more with the other extreme, which is also dangerous: “Poverty Gospel.” This is the school of thought that says Christ-followers should be poor or should at least redistribute their wealth. It is almost becoming the cool thing to “be poor for Jesus.”

This idea stems from the same problem as the “Prosperity Gospel,” and that is a lack of “Razor’s Edge Living.” Instead of seeing the paradoxical way the Bible calls us to live, we jump to one extreme or another. It’s simpler, it’s less complex, and we can ignore parts of the Bible we don’t like. In fact I just got done reading a very popular book (that has been recommended to me by tons of people). The author basically calls Christians to live with or like the poor and gives us the impression that to do so is more godly than to live in the burbs and drive your new Honda Accord to church.

There are a ton of verses we could look at, but I’ll just slap up one passage. Note the underlined parts:

1Timothy 6:17-19 – Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.

See it? God richly supplies us with things to enjoy. This is not “Prosperity Gospel,” but God giving to us as he sees fit. And part of his plan is that we enjoy these things. But it doesn’t stop there! We are also to be generous and ready to share. It’s a both/and thing.

The reason I wanted to write about this is the current economic times. I am concerned that when things get a bit tenuous, Christians tend to run to one of the extremes. In these times, especially in a state that is so tied to the auto industry, we should all be on guard against both of these errors.

Tags: materialism, money