What is the Church’s Message?
A study in 2023 by Lifeway Research found that more than half (52 percent) of American Protestant churchgoers said their church taught that God will bless them if they give more money to their church and charities, with one in four (24 percent) strongly agreeing with this teaching. In a 2017 study, only 38 percent of churchgoers made that same claim. This is a form of what is called the ‘prosperity gospel’
These beliefs seem to be coming more popular. This survey showed that in 2023 76 percent of churchgoers believe God wants them to prosper financially whereas in 2017 this was 69 percent. In 2023, 45 per cent of Christians thought they had to do something for God in order to receive material blessings from him in but in 2017 this belief was only 26 percent. This ‘prosperity gospel’ says that:
The Abrahamic covenant is a means to material entitlement.
Jesus’s atonement extends to the “sin” of material poverty.
Christians give in order to gain material compensation from God.
Faith is a self-generated spiritual force that leads to prosperity.
Prayer is a tool to force God to grant prosperity.
In light of the Scriptures, however, the prosperity gospel is fundamentally flawed, it is a false gospel because it is based on a faulty view of the relationship between God and man. Simply put, the prosperity gospel centres on man. Whether they are talking about the Abrahamic covenant, the atonement, giving, faith, or prayer, prosperity teachers turn the relationship between God and man into a ‘quid pro quo’ transaction, you do something and God will respond.
John Piper told a gathering of more than 1,000 college students,
“I don’t know what you feel about the prosperity gospel—the health, wealth and prosperity gospel—but I’ll tell you what I feel about it, - “Hatred.”
In 2014, Piper outlined six keys to detecting the prosperity gospel:
1. absence of a serious doctrine of the Biblical necessity and normality of suffering
2. absence of a clear and prominent doctrine of self-denial
3. absence of serious exposition of Scripture
4. failure to deal with tensions in Scripture
5. church leaders who have exorbitant lifestyles
6. prominence of self and marginalisation of the greatness of God
This man-centred outlook so easily affects us all. “How awful.” we may say without realising that this way of thinking is now infiltrating many mainline evangelical churches in the UK.
Listen to these statements from sermons in churches that claim to be Bible based, notice who remains central:
“Come and feel the peace of God in our services”
“Ask Jesus to save you and you will immediately have all your sins forgiven for ever”
“Jesus will take you to heaven when you die and your sins will not be judged by God if you ask him.”
“If you turn to Christ you will be given peace and joy.”
“Jesus doesn’t want you to suffer or be in pain, turn to him and trust him.”
“Do you want to be happy, turn to Jesus.”
“Do you want to be healed, come to Jesus.”
Some Christians even think they are evangelising when they talk about their church.
“There are such friendly people there.”
“You will enjoy the music church and the sermons are very gripping.”
Hopefully these by-products will be true and may help meet someone where they are but these are not what the church is primarily about – our message, our gospel is about Jesus.
It is striking that recently the Church of England has decided to call its new churches ‘Communities’ instead of ‘Churches’. Classically churches are a collection of people who have been called by the Lord Jesus to be his representatives in a local society. The idea behind a ‘community’ is much more man centred. Clearly a people devoted to the Lord Jesus should be in a great community where there is much love for each other but our focus must always be on the gospel of how people can become acceptable to God through Jesus Christ and the service for him.
Could this man centred approach be a major reason why so many churches are weak on standing up for Jesus in our society? No-one can be a member of God’s kingdom until they have personally submitted to the rule of Christ and have decided, because of who he is, that he will control all they do.
The message of Jesus
The Bible is abundantly clear that there is a condition that we have to fulfil before we can be accepted and forgiven by God. Jesus’ message was
“The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” Mark 1:15
The apostles emphasised this in all their sermons. Peter’s first sermon at Pentecost stressed how people must respond to God in order to be acceptable to him.
“Repent and be baptised everyone of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Acts 2:38
At his second sermon after the healing of the paralysed man at the gate of the temple in Jerusalem he stressed:
“Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.” Acts 3:19
When Peter and John were rearrested by the Sanhedrin for disobeying their command not to talk about Jesus they boldly replied,
“We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead – whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Saviour that he might give repentanceand forgiveness of sins to Israel.” Acts 5:29-31
When Paul spoke to Gentiles his message was the same, any relationship with God must begin with repentance.
“In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.” Acts 17:30
Repentance is nothing less than a change in management, it is the decision to die to self and start living for Christ. This is what baptism enacts, a new Christian dies to the old life and comes out of the water, washed of their sins to begin a new life for the Lord Jesus. Every Christian is to become the Lord Jesus’ representative.
This complete change in priorities is what God has always called his people to have. God said through his prophet Jeremiah in the later 7th century BC:
“I bound all the people of Israel and all the people of Judah to me,’ declares the Lord, ‘to be my people for my renown and praise and honour. But they have not listened.’ Jeremiah 13:11
Even back then a deep seated repentance, a turning to God to live for him and obey him was the condition of being restored into a relationship with him. Those who are then his people have been chosen to serve God. Evidence of being accepted is this desire to serve him. Even back then the same order of events was needed:
“Therefore this is what the Lord says: “If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve me.” Jeremiah 15:19
Paul repeatedly reminded Christians that repentance is more than sorrow over things we have done wrong, ‘godly sorrow’ is seeing myself as God sees me and turning back to him to be my Lord. Paul wrote to the Corinthian church and reminded them of the difference between ‘worldly sorrow’ and ‘godly sorrow’.
“Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation.” 2 Corinthians 7:10
In order to be recipients of God’s saving grace we must first genuinely repent.
On the day I was preparing this I went for a walk with my daughter’s dog. I saw a man sitting on a bench whom I had talked with previously and given him an article explaining the gospel. His opening words as I approached were:
“This is incredible! I have just been praying that I would meet with you again as it must be over two months before we last talked. You see, I need to come back to God. I was brought up as a Christian but have gone my own way. Now I have no peace and know I need God.”
We talked about what this would involve and he still seemed eager. I asked if he would like to pray there and then but he said he would prefer to pray at home. The he added,
“I will then ask God to give me peace.”
It would have been so easy to leave it at that but it did seem as if his prayer was going to be centred on himself and his longing for peace but not on what the gospel is all about.
“Oh, you must say more than that. God does give his people peace but the condition is that they must genuinely turn their lives over to him, to live them as he wants. Without a complete change in life and priorities a relationship with God cannot be restored.”
I left him with the verse that reminds us all that becoming a Christian is a radical step:
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” 2 Corinthians 5:17
As we separated I reminded him what his prayer must include even if it starts with his own need. The condition of salvation is a genuine turning back to Jesus as my Lord and boss. When I typed this line on the computer I made a spelling mistake, I wrote ‘slavation’. After correcting the mistake it dawned on me that becoming a slave of the Lord Jesus is precisely what the writers of the New Testament called themselves – slaves of Christ.
All Christians need to keep reminding ourselves that it is ‘the renown, praise and honour’ of the Lord Jesus that is now the purpose of our lives. Furthermore let us pray that God’s Spirit will keep reminding those we have talked to about Jesus’ claims. They maybe those we have written to or given literature to or invited to some Christian event or who have been in our homes. Let’skeep praying that they will understand what the Christian message must include my repentance, restoration by God and then my service for him.
Bernard V Palmer
Aug 2024
