Prosperity is a great danger. Beginning in Deuteronomy 8, Moses warned the
people about the dangers of prosperity.
When we get satisfied by things other than the Lord, we began to forget
Him. We take credit for being a
self-made man or some fortuitous circumstance that enabled us to succeed and we
forget that we were created and that all circumstance is due to the sovereignty
of God. The other danger is that we find
satisfaction in things rather than in Him and our lives are no longer focused
on Him but those things that produce satisfaction and pleasure. Fortunately, if we are in covenant with Him,
He is a jealous God and wants us for Himself.
Unfortunately, the process of getting us back is painful. The measure of our attachment to things is
the pain endured in losing them. The
nation has enjoyed its prosperity and it has ascribed it to other gods. He will tear down their altars, take away their
gods and their prosperity and strip them naked in judgment but also in jealous
love. There will be pain but ultimately
there will be restoration. Ask Him today
to show you your idols and give them to Him to take and destroy.
I just finished watching a video by John Piper on
the prosperity Gospel prior to reading this passage and it couldn't be a more
stark contrast to the teaching of Jesus here in the Beatitudes. He has called the twelve, healed many and now
prepares to teach what Luke tells us was a great multitude. If you think of some of the healing
ministries today you will have some sense of the situation and the crowd and
then hear Jesus' words of follow up teaching to the healings and see if they
match what you might hear in a stadium or arena today. "Blessed are the poor, blessed are the
hungry, blessed are the ones who weep, blessed are you when you're hated and
persecuted…" If we were to hear
those words today the follow on to each would be the promised of reversal by
prayer and the power of the healer. Jesus,
however, doesn't promise that all these things will be "healed" in
this life. He promises that ultimately God
will reconcile all things but He affirms the pain of this life by doing
so. He doesn't say blessed are the
wealthy, blessed are the well-fed, blessed are the joyous, blessed are the
powerful and the popular. Are we seeking
the right things?
The tribune has no idea who Paul is, a complete case of
mistaken identity. "Do you know Greek? Aren't you an Egyptian? "Who's on first?" Little could this man have known that Paul's
request to speak to the Jews was going to be a bigger problem than he already
had on his mind. Paul simply gives his
testimony, that while he was born in Tarsus he was raised in Jerusalem, learned
under the great rabbi Gamaliel, and was more zealous than even these people for
the Law. All of this changed while he
was doing what he thought was God's work and there he found that Jesus was
indeed Messiah. Paul had it all at one
time and yet now he had what he really needed. His mind was renewed and he saw all things
clearly since that day.
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