I’m Ashamed of the Prosperity Gospel

Paul says that he’s “not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16).  He’s not ashamed of the good news that Jesus came to save you and me through His life, death, and resurrection.  We should all rejoice with Paul and love this news that God saves anyone who believes in Jesus.

Unfortunately, there are false gospels all over the place, and one of them shows up in this article.  This American phenomenon called the prosperity gospel says that faith in Jesus gets you health, wealth, and a life filled with comfortable ease.  We should not rejoice about messages like this.  We should be ashamed.  I could write a post speaking against it, but the video below speaks far better than any words I would write:

 

Public Relations

In a previous post, we learned that adverbs are our friends. On my plane ride to Pittsburgh, God highlighted another adverb that is absolutely astonishing. We can find it in the New American Standard translation of Romans 3. We'll start with verse 23:

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift of grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith.
Romans 3:23-25a

Starting today, the new adverb of the month is "publicly" (see the note at the bottom of the post for some more info on the word). Why does publicly win this prestigious award?

Putting our grammar caps on, we know that this adverb is modifying something. What is it modifying? The word displayed. God displayed something publicly. What or whom did He display? God displayed Christ Jesus publicly. Now that you're bored about doing a grammar exercise, why is it so astonishing that God displayed Christ Jesus publicly? We'll answer that in two ways. The first is an observation, and the second is based on the Romans text above.

First, because God displayed Jesus publicly, we can have full confidence in who Jesus is. Jesus publicly grew up with brothers and sisters. He publicly worked as a carpenter in His hometown. As a child, He publicly demonstrated divine knowledge of the Scriptures at the temple. He publicly healed the sick, gave the blind their sight, cast out demons, and made the lame walk. He publicly preached to large crowds and publicly rebuked the self-righteous Pharisees. He publicly fed groups of over 5,000 people. He publicly rode a donkey into Jerusalem to the praise of many. He publicly lived and walked and worked and loved and served among thousands of people who all saw Him and knew Him and spoke of Him and watched Him. When God sent His Son into the world, He didn't keep it a secret. If you wanted to meet the Son of God, you could walk down the street and meet Him!

Now to the second point. Jesus publicly died on a Roman cross. He was crucified on a hill in plain sight for all to see. When God sent His Son to die, He didn't keep it a secret. Crucifixion was the most public and most painful death in that time. One reason Jesus died so publicly and so painfully is to imprint in our minds an image that says: For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. When God sends His Son to hang publicly on the cross, God loudly proclaims that sin is horrible. If you want to see God's hatred for sin, and specifically, if you want to see God's hatred for your sin, look no further than the public, tortured, mutilated body of Jesus hanging on the tree. Look what sin does to God's Perfect Son. Look upon His torn flesh, His bloody face, and His marred appearance. Listen to His screams of pain and His cries to His Father. As you watch and hear, know that your sin tore His flesh, your sin bloodied His face, and your sin marred His appearance. Jesus publicly hung on that tree to publicly show you the horror of your sin.

But that's not the only reason He hung there. Jesus publicly hung on the cross and publicly died and was publicly buried so that you would be justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. Jesus publicly hung there so that you would know beyond a shadow of a doubt that He brings you redemption. Paul continues that God displayed Jesus publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. Propitiation means that Jesus bore God's wrath on your behalf. Yes, God publicly crushed Jesus to show us our wickedness, but beyond that, God publicly crushed Jesus to offer us redemption. We've sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, but through Jesus' public life and public death and public resurrection, God redeems us. Believe in this Jesus, trust in this Jesus, give your sins to this Jesus, serve this Jesus, and love this Jesus. He's not hiding, and He's not obscure. God displayed Him publicly for all to see, and He displayed Him publicly for you to believe.