Living out the Gospel: Part 3 - Message of Prosperity

Even in the midst of teaching the basic gospel message similar to what was put forward in the previous post, some people still believe the result of coming to faith should be one of prosperity.

The argument often goes to a passage that is very often taken out of context; Jeremiah 29:11. Even in that passage the promise is given because the people are finding themselves in the midst of exile, living in a foreign land and in the way of suffering.

Another common misconstrued passage is John 10:10. True Jesus said he came to give us abundant life, but we must ask ourselves what he means by these terms. The context of this verse is referring to the sheep and the door. Jesus is the door that brings the sheep into protection. Jesus will lead them to safe pastures, but only under his care, away from “thieves and robbers.” Given Jesus’ mention of salvation in verse 9, we can understand his meaning of life is in reference to eternal life which he often speaks of throughout John’s Gospel. It is true in John’s Gospel that Jesus is giving life both now and in eternity, that the Gospel is about more than a “future salvation”, so understanding this we can know that the abundant life does apply to this one as well. But allow Scripture to interpret itself. Jesus, in the same Gospel, also warns of hard times to come to those who follow him. I heard Mark Lowry once talk on this verse referring to the fact that before Christ life was full of ups and downs. Come to Christ and your life will be even more full, the ups will be greater, but so can the downs.



As we will talk about in the next post, the Gospel is more than a call to a good life or to deliverance from eternal judgment. It is also a call to faithful obedience to Christ in both good and bad times of life.