“But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?” (Matthew 6:30)
Jesus rebuked people for their lack of faith, even when they were sick and poor. Their suffering did not stop him from highlighting the issue. The Faithless would condemn this as cruel, but they would not say this about Jesus because they are hypocrites. They pretend to agree with Jesus, but their hearts are far from him. So they persecute those who repeat the teaching of Jesus. But the teaching is not cruel. Jesus did not patronize the people, even the unrefined and the uneducated. He did not assume that they would never understand, or that they could never walk in faith.
How could they believe, if no one told them the truth? Jesus told them the truth. He told them the truth about God, about the world, and about themselves. The truth was that they suffered hardship and worried about money, not because life was hard, but because they were faithless. It was a criticism. It was a rebuke. And it was the best news they had ever heard, because they did not have to remain faithless. It meant that their suffering was not hardcoded, so to speak, into this world and this reality. They could change. Things could change. All they needed was faith in God. A faithless theology that camouflages itself in phony compassion snatches this one chance for change from the people. It dooms them to unbelief, worthless suffering, and God’s disapproval. It is a most cruel and demonic religion.
We do not condemn people for being poor, but we condemn people for their unbelief, whether they are rich or poor. When we speak to the rich, we condemn their unbelief in trusting in riches. God can save the rich from their idolatry and their gnawing ennui. When we speak to the poor, we condemn their unbelief in not trusting in God, so that they may become rich. God can save them from their poverty and their suffering.
The sins of the rich and the poor are often the same. The poor who either lament about their poverty or boast about their poverty also commit idolatry, because they have made money the point of reference to everything in their lives. They even look at God and their faith from the perspective of their poverty. They allow their poverty to define themselves. They allow their suffering to define God. This is evil. There is nothing to commend them about this.
The poor can be commended if they are rich in faith while they are poor. However, the Bible teaches that if we have faith and if we put first the kingdom of God, then all the things related to money would be added to us. Jesus said that someone who has faith would not worry about food, and drink, and clothes. This is not because the person should not have these things, but it is because he would expect God to give him these things. If the poor are rich in faith, they should not need to remain poor. Most people are tested by this teaching. It exposes their unbelief and their disagreement with Jesus, even their rejection of Jesus. And they are outraged.
Jesus said that God feeds birds that do not work, and God clothes worthless flowers better than Solomon was clothed. If God would feed and cloth them, how much more would he feed and cloth us? So if the poor are so rich in faith and in spiritual things, let them become rich in material things as well. If the poor are so zealous for the kingdom of God, let all the things that money can buy be added to them also. It is strange that when you preach prosperity to poor people, the Faithless would complain that you are out of touch, or that you are insensitive. Faithless orthodoxy would demand that you comfort the poor by affirming them in their poverty, or even affirming poverty itself. This is because the Faithless do not believe in God, and therefore they have no gospel to tell the poor. They have no solution. They have no good news.
When we preach prosperity to the poor, are we insensitive? Are we making them feel guilty about their plight? And are we offering them false hope? These things are said to us, but they are accusations against Jesus Christ. Among those who listened to Jesus were the poorest of the poor, but Jesus threw the name of Solomon right at them. Jesus said that the flowers were dressed better than Solomon, and then he said that the people were above the flowers. To the Faithless, this would be insensitive. To the faithful, this would be inspiring. It would be good news. It would be gospel. It would be the very thing that awakes aspiration in people who have been dead inside due to their poverty, their suffering, and their lack of prospects. God is your prospect. God is your way out, and God is your way up. That is the gospel.
Jesus was speaking to the poorest of the poor, and he rebuked them for their lack of faith. He rebuked them for not trusting God for money and things that money can buy. A faithless gospel would tell these people that they have done nothing wrong, and there is probably nothing that they can do. In fact, it tells them that God is the one who puts them in poverty, and they would likely remain in poverty because it is the will of God. But God will comfort them in the next life. This is a selfish message. It allows the Faithless to maintain their religious authority in the eyes of the people without having the faith to take them by the hand and walk out on the water together.
This message deceives suffering people into being satisfied with their suffering and not grasping for more. Instead, they must cling to the faithless leaders to comfort them again and again. They become addicted to the gospel of suffering. It is a message that offers them a moment of comfort, even a moment of euphoria for their suffering. But it is a message that solves nothing, so that they must return to the faithless preachers and scholars to receive another dose of unbelief and false comfort, and then another dose, and then another. Meanwhile, the Faithless expect the people’s adoration and financial support until these pitiful souls burn out. Before their last flicker of light disappears, the Faithless turns to indoctrinate a next generation with unbelief and false piety.
On the contrary, Jesus taught that if you do not believe for prosperity in this life, then you are walking in unbelief. He rebuked the poor and suffering for not trusting in God. To those who were willing to hear it, Jesus gave them a way out. He gave them a way out of their suffering and their degrading existence. He wanted the people to consider how Solomon lived. But God dressed something that was worthless and that did no work better than he dressed Solomon. Then he wanted the people to regard themselves as even more suited to receive God’s care. This is the message Jesus preached. This is the gospel.
If you are poor, there is nothing to be ashamed of unless you are also poor in faith. But if you are rich in faith, then let that faith bring you out of poverty. God will add to your life everything that money represents and everything that money can buy. If you have faith, then even if you begin in poverty, you should not remain in poverty. Jesus said this. This is essential to faith and the gospel. This is essential to what it means to worship God and to follow Jesus Christ. Poverty is not anything to boast about. If you boast about your poverty, then you are stupid and selfish. You ought to have faith in God to receive prosperity, so that you may stop being a burden to the world and the church, and so that you may enable your family and the gospel to make more progress. Nevertheless, do not follow the way of the pagans. They seek money first, because money is their god. But Jesus said, seek God first, and money will follow.
If it is problematic to preach prosperity to the poor, then it is far more problematic to preach righteousness to sinners. But the resistance is backward. Always preach God’s solutions against the problems. When we speak to sinners, we preach about the righteous of God. Doesn’t this shine a light on their shortcomings, and provoke a sense of condemnation in them? Exactly. But our message is God’s solution to their sinful condition. If they hear our message and stop at feeling bad about themselves without embracing the solution we present to them, then it is right that they continue feeling condemned.
The gospel does not address only the sins of people, but it is God’s answer to all our problems. All of them. And the gospel can begin to improve every aspect of humanity in this life. It will bring miraculous changes right now. Faithless religion tells the lie that we need to wait until the next life for the blessings of God to come upon us. They say this because the people are faithless, so that they are unable to receive the blessings of God. But these religious charlatans want to rule as your leaders, and they cannot allow you to receive anything from God that they cannot receive. This is why they preach a God that does not do anything for you in this life. They do not want you to know that you can have much more faith than they do, and when you realize this, you would rule over them. They are afraid to be unmasked. They are afraid of losing their influence and their admiration from people that they have deceived with their human religion and orthodoxy.
We preach prosperity to the poor, and we say that they should have faith in God to make it happen. We do not tell them, “You are perfect just the way you are. In fact, you are so poor because you are better than everyone else. God is showing special grace toward you.” Instead, we repeat the gospel of Jesus, “You cannot worship both God and money. But if you will worship God alone and put him first, then he will add money to your life. He will put money under your feet. Do you remember the wealth of Solomon? God dresses the flowers better than he dressed Solomon. And to him, you are worth more than the flowers. If you do not think this way, then it is because you have no faith.”
The teaching of Jesus on prosperity makes the Faithless feel deflated and indignant, because they can no longer pretend that their poverty validates them. They can no longer claim their poverty as some sort of moral victory over those who possess prosperity. It is all a scam, and Jesus exposes them. Poverty is suffering for nothing. But to those who have faith, the teaching of Jesus is a light at the end of the tunnel. As they listen and think about it, the light comes closer and closer, brighter and brighter. They are not running after money itself. Pagans do that. But the ones who have faith run after God. He is the true light. He is the true hope. He is the answer to all their problems. He is the fulfillment of all their hopes and dreams. And he is the one who will add to them all the things that the pagans run after.
In the same way, we do not condemn people for being sick, but we condemn them if they remain in unbelief and refuse to receive healing from God. Someone might say, “Perhaps I will glorify God with my sickness.” That is a lie he tells himself. It is an excuse to make him feel better about himself. He does not glorify God by his sickness. People will not gather around him and praise God for how the sickness is ruining his life. No, they will praise the man for how he endures it! They will admire him for how he still has faith in God in his suffering. The Bible teaches that those who have faith in God are supposed to receive healing. He is robbing God of his glory by the sickness. Every religious teacher who claims that sickness glorifies God is spreading unbelief and rebellion. God is glorified by miracle healing. It is a demonstration of his power and mercy. It shows that he is eager to remove suffering. People praised God when Jesus healed the sick. God is glorified when he destroys senseless suffering.
There is no condemnation for the sick if our message awakens faith in them. If they persist in unbelief, then they are condemned because of their unbelief, whether they are rich or poor, and whether they are well or sick. Suffering is no excuse for unbelief. Sickness is never an excuse for a lack of faith in healing. Trust in God to work a miracle, and restore health to you. Poverty is never an excuse for a lack of faith in prosperity. Trust in God to work a miracle, and bring wealth to you. Wealth itself is not holiness, and poverty itself is surely not holiness. But the Bible says, “The reward for humility and fear of the LORD is riches, honor, and long life.”
The Faithless oppose this. The cringe at the thought that faith and holiness should have a positive and direct correlation with wealth and health, with power and success. But this is the truth, and we must not be ashamed of it. The Faithless will criticize us for telling the good news to the sick and the poor. Let us follow the example of Jesus and be savage and abusive toward them. They refuse to enter into the place of rest that God provides, and they forbid others to enter. They are the worst of the worst of humanity. The Faithless entice humanity toward sin, suffering, and sickness. They convince people to become satisfied with the works of the devil. Multitudes reject Jesus Christ because they think this nonsense is the gospel, and they have no tolerance for religious foolishness. So they turn away from God. But this is not the gospel. Jesus Christ preached and practiced miracle healing. And Jesus preached and practiced miracle prosperity, the likes of which pagans would run after but never attain.
We defy the Faithless. Truth is on our side. Reason is on our side. Scripture is on our side. God is on our side. History is on our side. Experience is on our side. Power to work miracles is on our side. Christians are too lenient with teachers of unbelief. The Faithless preach a false religion, a false gospel that is not gospel at all. They preach rebellion against the truth. It is not up to us to be lenient toward those who declare that God has ceased fulfilling his word. It is not up to us to be respectful toward those who claim that the Holy Spirit has ceased his evident operations, and that the works of the Spirit we witness come from the flesh or even demons. The Faithless call themselves Christians, but they blaspheme the Holy Spirit. And it is not up to us to downplay this fact.
However, we will not allow them to distract us or to capture our attention. We will devote our life to save those who will listen and believe. The Faithless are often hardened and beyond repentance. It is a waste to talk to them beyond what is necessary to offer a testimony against them, so that on the day of judgment there shall be a record of their rejection of the gospel, even though they claim to be the guardians of the gospel. There are millions who will listen to the good news, and embrace it the first time they hear it. We can save them by the message that God has entrusted to us. It is a worldly religion to reject the healing and prosperity in the gospel, because this is what the world expects of religion. The world expects religious people to remain sick and poor, to shut their mouths, and to stay out of their way. But our God is the God of All. He is God over all of life. If we will worship him alone and put him first, then all other things will be added to us.