Ten Lies About God: Lies About Wealth and Work
“TEN LIES ABOUT GOD #2: LIES ABOUT WEALTH AND WORK”
LUKE 16:19-31
INTRO: As Bill Cosby views his newborn child, he announces to his wife.
“Congratulations my darling, you have just given birth to a…….
LIZARD!” The audience roars. Of course everyone expects him to say,
“a gorgeous baby girl!” We are all surprised by his graphic yet candid
description. In Chapter 2 of Ten Lies About God, Dr. Erwin Lutzer
raises a more sinister surprise. He invites us to think ahead in time
to those who believed one or more of the lies he describes in his book.
He says, “Think of the surprise of those who expected to be in heaven,
but find themselves on the wrong side of the celestial gates.” (1) Yes,
there will be many who find themselves VERY SURPRISED. Jesus
said in Matthew 7:21-23, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord,
Lord,shall enter into the kingdom ofheaven; but he that doeth the will
of myFather which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day,
Lord, Lord,have we not prophesied in thy name? and in they name
have cast outdevils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
And then I willprofess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me,
ye that work iniquity.”
In our text, Jesus reveals to us the account of the Rich man and
Lazarus. This is not a parable because no parable of Jesus uses
personal names. Also, Jesus did not say it was a parable. These two
facts along with the language used to begin the account point to the
fact that this is an actual experience. Jesus tells us a story in Luke
16which surprised everyone who heard it. The story of the Rich Man
andLazarus describes for us someone who fully expected to be in
heaven but was surprised to discover himself in hell. This account as
none other recorded in the Word of God gives us a peek in eternity. In
thisaccount, Jesus refutes two ancient and modern lies held by many
about God and His dealings with man. First, “God is the God of my
health and wealth.” And second, “God helps those that help
themselves.” Let us see how Jesus corrects these two lies as we think
on the subject, “Ten Lies About God: Lies About Wealth and
Work.”
(1) JESUS FILLS THE STORY OF THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS WITH
SURPRISES
A. THE SURPRISES. Look at the many surprises found in this story.
- A rich man ended up in Hell. This was a great surprise to the Pharisees of Jesus day who frequently taught that wealth indicated God’s blessing on a person’s life (vv. 19-22). The rich man was healthy. The rich man was wealthy. Isn’t this the message that is being preached by many today? That God’s Will is for every believer to by healthy and wealthy. According to the Scripture, wealth is not a sign of God’s favor; poverty is not a sign of God’s displeasure. Riches in the Scripture are never equated with righteousness. Lee Atwater, former Republican Party chairman, said this before he died: "The eighties were about acquiring: wealth, power, and prestige. I know. I acquired more wealth and power and prestige than most. But you can acquire all you want and still feel empty." -- Frank Pollard, "Do You Like Where You Live?," Preaching Today, Tape No. 104.
- A son of Abraham ended up in Hell. This surprised all the Jewish listeners who commonly believed that being a part of Abraham’s family brought eternal benefits (vv. 23-24). It is not our RELATIONS that determine our destiny and destination when we leave this life but our RELATIONSHIP. What have we done with Christ? John 1:11-13. The Jews believed because they were the seed of Abraham they were bound for heaven. But Jesus showed them in John 8:31-45 their true spiritual condition.
- Jesus does not trace Lazarus’ physical predicament to sin hislife, a lack of faith, or personal laziness. If Jesus wanted to validate the health and wealth theology that is so prevalent today, surely He would have done it here. The Jews were surprised and perplexed because this apparent righteous man suffered bad things (v25).
- Hell does not change the heart of man. We should all be surprised when the former Rich Man who continually neglected the obvious needs and suffering of Lazarus now has the gall to ask Lazarus be sent to relieve his thirst! Notice he doesn’t ask Abraham to bring the water, but Lazarus (v24)! In Hell, all the wickedness of man will remain. The rapist will still have the desire to rape. The murderer will still have the desire to murder. The abuser the desire to abuse. The heart of man is desperately wicked and hell won’t change that!
- Miracles will not change the heart of man. We have all heard someone say, “If I could just see a miracle I would believe.” If a person will not believe what the Bibles teaches He will not be persuaded by a miracle either (vv. 27-31). Don’t let us miss the striking fact that a man called Lazarus, but not this one, did rise from the dead, and yet the Jews stayed unbelieving. The simple truth is that men would rather die in their sins than simply believe that Jesus is the only way to be saved!
- Wealth or poverty does not automatically commend anyoneto heaven or condemn him or her to hell. Abraham possessed incredible riches. Solomon was the wealthiest man ever. It is not our riches or lack thereof which commends us to heaven or condemns us to hell. It is what we do with Jesus (John 3:17-19).
B. THE STORY. This story is just brimming with surprises. Jesus
contradicts manyancient and modern lies about God. Let us look
specifically at two lies held by many today that are refuted by Jesus in
this account. Dr. Lutzer in his book TEN LIES ABOUT GOD in chapter
1 discusses the lie that, “God iswhatever we want him to be.” A part of
this discussion focuses on the misconception that “God is the God of
my health and wealth.” (2)
(2) JESUS DESCRIPTION OF LAZARUS CONTRADICTS THE IDEA THAT
GOD IS THE GOD OF MY HEALTH AND WEALTH
Luke 16:20-21—“….There was a certain beggar named Lazarus,
which was laid at his gate, full of sores, and desiring to be
fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table:
moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.”
- WHAT JESUS DID NOT SAY. If Jesus wanted to teach prosperity and wealth comes from personal faith, here was the opportunity. Why did Jesus not say after introducing the Rich Man and Lazarus in vv. 19-21, “Now Lazarus did not have to lie there suffering. He could be well and prosperous had he simply applied enough faith.”
ILLUS: Word of Life Theology is a world-wide movement, which has its
point of departure in the Christian Church. The Word of Life
is also known under the names of “The Prosperity Gospel”,
“The Faith Movement”, and “Faith Preaching.” The American
preacher Kenneth E. Hagin is normally considered the founder
and leader of Prosperity Theology. Since the early 1970’s
Kenneth Hagin Ministries have run the “RHEMA Bible Training
Center”, which is a large teaching institution in Tulsa, OK.
Through the periodical “The Word of Faith” and other intense
publication activities the organization has spread Hagin’s
message. Other well-known preachers of the movement are
Kenneth Copeland, Jim Kaseman, and John Brandstrom.
ILLUS: Listen to some prominent Charismatics view of the health and
wealth movement:
Well-known Pastor and Charismatic leader of Calvary Chapel,
Chuck Smith wrote a book, Charisma vs. Charismania, where
he writes, “the latest wind of pernicious, unscriptural doctrine
to blow through the ranks of some charismatics is that ‘what-
you-say-is-what-you-get’ teaching, otherwise known as the
prosperity doctrine” (Chuck Smith, Charisma vs. Charismania,
P. 135).
R. L. Whitworth had been senior pastor of one of the largest
Assemblies of God Churches, Calvary Assembly, for 30 years
when he wrote the book God Told Me to Tell You. In it,
Whitworth not only exposes the false demonstrations of “the
word of knowledge,” but also ably condemns the doctrines of
the word-faith teachers. He too equates the “name-it and
claim-it” theory as a “repeat of the Science of Mind ideas of
EarnestHolmes,” founder of the New Age church of Religious
Science.(R.I. Whitworth, God Told Me to Tell You, p. 121).
Dr. George Wood, an Assistant Superintendent of the
Assemblies of God, a Pentecostal, writes about the multitudes
of people he has seen who have experiences “devastating
spiritual and psychological damage caused by the positive
confession movement.” He observes that are three basic faulty
assumptions controlling the “positive confession” theology:
First, that God wills perfect health, total healing, and complete
prosperity for every believer.
Second, that God has obligated Himself to heal every sickness
and to financially prosper those who have faith.
Third, any failure is not the fault of God, but is caused by a
lack of faith or sin in the individual’s life.
Dr. Wood comments that these teachers “have missed the
Bible in three ways: They twist particular verses out of their
plain meaning; they refuse to deal with Scriptures which
plainly have different meanings than those of ‘positive
confession;’ and they fail to let the Bible speak for itself” (Dr.
George Wood, Mountain Movers, July 1988).
Dr. Gordon Fee, theology professor at Gordon-Conwell
seminary has dealt with the exegetical and interpretive errors
of the health and wealth teachings in two articles, one
published in The Pentecostal Evangel and the other in Agora,
which have been combined into a booklet titled, The Disease
of the Health and Wealth Gospels. Fee points out in passage
after passage that those who accept the word-faith teaching
are doing so because they want to and because it appeals to
man’s base selfish desires. No one can possibly come to their
conclusions based on an accurate exegesis and historical view
of the Bible.
ILLUS: Listen to some quotes from some health and wealth pro-
ponents:
FRED PRICE
-You can have what you say. (Praise the Lord (TBN),
9/21/90)
-You can’t glorify God if you are sick. (Is God Glorified
Through Sickness?, Tape #FP605)
-Man has made God violate His own Word.
-Have a “Rolls Royce” Faith. (Praise the Lord (TBN),
9/21/90)
-God has displeasure in poverty. (Ever Increasing Faith,
recorded 11/16/90)
-Jesus and the disciples were rich, only rich people could
take off for 3.5 years. (Ever Increasing Faith, recorded 11/
23/90)
JOHN AVANZINI
-Jesus had a nice house, a big house. (Believer’s voice of
Victory, (TBN) 1/20/91)
-Jesus wore designer clothes. (Believer’s Voice of Victory,
(TBN) 1/20/91)
-Paul had the kind of money that could stop up justice.
(Believer’s Voice of Victory, (TBN) 1/20/91)
-Jesus was handling big money (Praise the Lord (TBN)
9/15/88)
BENNY HINN
-Poverty comes from hell.
-Prosperity comes from Heaven.
B.WHAT JESUS DID SAY. Jesus puts amazing words into Abraham’s
mouth when he says, “…Lazarus received bad things.” For reasons we
don’t understand, sometimes good people suffer bad things. Jesus
warns us, “In the world, ye shall have tribulation…”(John 16:33).
Tribulation means, “to crush, press, compress, squeeze.” It refers to
grievous affliction ordistress. That’s a big slap in the face to the health
and wealth crowd. Bad things happen to God’s people. It is a result of
sin and its curse.
1. In Exodus 4:11, God asks, “…who hath made man’s mouth? or
who maketh the dumb, or the deaf, or the seeing, or the blind?
have not I the LORD?” In other words, God takes responsibility
for Moses’ speech impediment.
- In John 9:3, Jesus declares that a man was born blind so that
the works of God might be displayed in him. The disciples faced
a theological problem. Believing that sin directly caused all
suffering, how could a person be born with a handicap?
Therefore either this man… sinned in his mother’s womb
(Ezekiel 18:4) or his parents sinned (Exodus 20:5). Jesus
therefore answered, Neither this man nor his parents sinned.
These words do not contradict the universal sinfulness of man
(cf. Romans 3:9-20, 23). Instead Jesus meant that this man’s
blindness was not caused by some specific sin. Instead the
problem existed so that… God could display His glory in the
midst of seeming tragedy (cf. Exodus 4:11; 2 Corinthians
12:9). Jesus healed the man, but he did not make up for all his
years of suffering. He was not suffering for a lack of faith, he
was suffering to fulfill God’s purposes.
- In Romans 8:28 we read, “And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” should we not include disease and poverty in Paul’s “all things.” That does not excuse us who
are healthy and have wealth from rendering aid to the sick or impoverished as Jesus did not excuse the Rich Man from being compassionate and offering aid to Lazarus. The “all things” may not be good, but God harmonizes them together for the believer’s ultimate good.
This account and in fact all of Scripture contradicts the lie that,
“God is the God of my health and wealth.” This account also challenges the lie that “God helps those that help themselves.”
(3) JESUS LEAVES NO ROOM FOR THE LIE THAT “GOD HELPS THOSE
THAT HELP THEMSELVES.”
A. THE MYSTERY. Jesus paints for us a picture of a man who suffered
bad things and died. If Jesus wanted to promote “a self-help gospel”
here was the perfect opportunity. Why doesn’t He have Lazarus seek
cleansing from the priests. He was “full of sores.” Why doesn’t He
have Lazarus offer a sacrifice at the temple? Why doesn’t He have
Lazarus go to work for the Rich Man and work his way out of the
trouble he is in?
B.THE MISCONCEPTION. The Bible not only does not support the notion, “God helps those who help themselves, in fact the phrase is not even found in the Bible. Where did the phrase come from? It originated in pagan religion. Five hundred years before Christ, Aesop wrote, “The gods help them that help themselves.” Euripides, a Greek philosopher, said, “Try first thyself, and after, call on God.” And George Herbert of the seventeenth century said, “Help thyself and God will help thee.” We received our present formulation from Benjamin Franklin: “God helps those who help themselves.” (3) Even though the phrase is not found in the Bible eight out of ten Americans believe that “lie” is found in the Bible (4).
ILLUS: There is a story about a man who was stranded in his house in
a flood. A boat came to rescue him while he was standing on
his doorstep, surrounded by water. But he waived the rescuer
off, saying, “God will rescue me!” The following day the water
rose and another boat came to rescue the man now stuck on
the upstairs balcony. He again refused help, shouting, “God
will rescue me!” Late the next day, he found himself sitting on
the chimney, the waters swirling around him. A helicopter
hovered overhead, a man shouting, “Let us help you!” But he
shouted back, “God will rescue me!” As fate would have it, the
water rose and the man drowned. He arrived in heaven in a
not-so-good-mood, complaining to Saint Peter, “I expected you
to rescue me!” “Frankly, I’m surprised to see you here,” Peter
replied, “because we sent two boats and a helicopter to pick
you up!” (5)
The phrase “God helps those that help themselves seems reasonable for two reasons:
1)The need and value of work.
2)The assumption of ability.
But this statement is an enemy of Grace. And if Benjamin Franklin
believed it, it contributed to his rejection of the Gospel. Franklin’s
friend, the great evangelist George Whitefield, pleaded with people to
repent and believe the Gospel. When Whitefield died, after thirty years
of warm and mutually helpful friendship with Franklin, Franklin wrote,
“Whitefield used to pray for my conversion, but never had the
satisfaction of believing that his prayers were heard.” As Franklin
approacheddeath, he saw no reason to believe and said he would
shortly know whether it was true or not (6).
Whether we can help ourselves depends on what our problem is. If our
most pressing problem is ignorance, we can help ourselves by getting
an education; if we are drowning, we might just be able to struggle to
safety, or a lifeguard might be able to help us, but our problem is far