Loving the truth

Christians, at least Western Christians, are an odd bunch.  Even within denominational lines you have varying battles over what's right and true, what's central to Christianity and what isn't.  My observation is that there is a struggle for people to really engage in these debates and see them through to the end; so many times I see people throw up their hands after the first or second response and walk away simply because they dislike conflict.  That's understandable; I know of few people who enjoy getting into fights with others.  But the problem here is that by not taking a firm stance on defining what Christianity is and what the truth is on many subjects, the faith has absorbed a strange mishmash of beliefs that, in reality, bear no resemblance to biblical Christianity.  For example, this particularly vexing bit of malarkey from Joel Osteen's wife, Victoria, followed by very poignant commentary by Bill Cosby:



There has been a lot of commentary and snark on this, unsurprisingly, but I want to respond to this with a much more serious tone.  My concern is one for my family, my friends, my brothers and sisters in the faith who hear this and may not be deeply rooted in the Word or simply don't think that what she's saying here is really that big of a deal.  I've responded to Joel Osteen before, and I want to flesh out my problem and preach the truth of the Gospel to my friends and family that happen to read this here.

Firstly: I've seen responses to this that offer a tongue-clucking "Poor dear, she just had a little slip-up" excusing of her bizarre, patently unbiblical statements.  I do not agree.  What you are hearing from her is not atypical from the prosperity gospel crowd, because it's precisely what they believe about God.  You would never hear the Westminster Catechism's "The chief end of man is to glorify God" because they view salvation and, in fact, all of God's activities, in an ultimately man-centered way: Jesus died to save us from our sins, yes, but the reason isn't because God is glorifying Himself by displaying both His mercy and His justice.  It's because He is just so into us that He can't think of doing anything but making us happy.  In this philosophy Jesus is not the mighty King of the universe who will return wielding a sword to vanquish His enemies.  Instead, He is a meek servant that waits on us kingdom kids hand and foot, taking away anything that might stop us from having a grand old time.

"But doesn't the Bible promise rewards to the faithful?"  Absolutely it does.  And it also promises that those who follow Christ are walking in a way that is contrary to what a man who is dead in his sin believes is right, and because of that, this life is not one of ease and pleasure, but rather one that involves sacrifice and, often, persecution:

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.--John 15:18-20

This is not to say that Christians therefore can expect painful lives of drudgery either; certainly we take a great deal of joy in what God does provide us, and He knows exactly what we need so that we might live to His glory:

And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.--Luke 12:22-31

Believing that your relationship with Jesus exists for the purpose of giving you something else that you want, even something undefinable like "happiness" or something ostensibly good like healing from sickness, is not Christianity.  It's idolatry, for two reasons: 1) Scripture says that the only thing we can earn from God is death.  That which we receive from God that is good is a gift from Him.  "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rom. 6:23) 2) You cannot make God owe you anything.  "The Lord does not let the righteous go hungry, but he thwarts the craving of the wicked." (Prov 10:3)  Is this a God which can be made to perform based on our deeds, words, or our "faith?"  Of course, when listening to a prosperity preacher, faith is not the gift Scripture describes it to be, but a tangible commodity that one can gain or lose and without which God is incapable of acting because of...something.  "Bring no more vain offerings;
    incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations—   I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly."--Isaiah 1:13
God is speaking to the Israelites who are doing--on the outside--exactly what he commanded them to do, and He is telling them that He wants nothing to do with it.  Is this a God who can be manipulated into action?  Of course not.  God is our source of life, of existence, He provides all things and lays out our steps in life.  Read the Psalms--firstly, of course, because they are amazingly worshipful and refreshing to the soul, but also because there is no way to study them and come away with a picture of a God who is constrained by anything or who is standing there trying to please us.  Quite the opposite: "Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases." (Ps 115:3)  

So let's move from criticizing a lie to this post's title: the truth, and why it is critical that we love the truth.  As I said, it is impossible to study the Word in any depth and come away with an image of God that is in any way weak, needy, or anything other than absolutely sovereign and in control.  He is infinite, all-powerful, yet utterly personal, and it is His good pleasure not simply to "make us happy," a simple yet ultimately meaningless goal, but to make us His:

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.--Ephesians 2:1-10

We were spiritually dead, He made us alive.  We were astray, He put us on the path of righteousness.  He took out hearts of stone and replaced them with hearts of flesh.  And we can take credit for none of it.  Our God is in the heavens and He does what pleases Him, and what pleases Him is to save a people for Himself through Christ's sacrifice on the cross and His role as the first of the resurrection, and as great high priest for all who are His.  Why on earth would I waste my time on the God of the prosperity gospel, one that can't act unless I "have enough faith" and offers nothing but the same earthly pleasures that everyone else pursues, that will all perish in the end?

If we will not love the truth, we will be caused to love a lie.  For this reason, and because there is no greater calling to which a human can aspire, I call on my readers, my friends, my family, to love Jesus and follow the King!  To repent of sin and leave your burden nailed to the cross is true freedom, to grow in grace is true joy.

And Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.--John 12:44-46