What Must I do to be Saved?

Point 3b: God Wants to Give You Abundant Life

Giant Important Intermediate Disclaimer: My opinion of "prosperity gospel" is that it treats God as some sort of cosmic vending machine. It's unscriptural, misleading, dangerous, and wrong. This opinion is informed by decades of church attendance, biblical study, and observation of the world. If anything in Point 3 of our study on salvation suggests to you that I support prosperity gospel in any way, then somehow I have failed to communicate my position. In spite of all that, the scripture clearly states that God's plan for your salvation includes a desire that you be healthy, safe, and comfortable and that you enjoy life in constant relationship with him. If we have learned one thing from history, however, it is that even God's desires don't always come to pass. Why not? Sin, mostly.


God's desire is that you have the things you need to be comfortable, safe, and content. Great wealth is not usually a ticket to happiness. God wants a relationship with you in this life.
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Leviticus 26:1-13; Amos 9:13-15, God's desire is that you have the things you need to be comfortable, safe, and content. (07/20/20)

Today we're resuming our lo-ong study called "What must I do to be saved?" Where were we? So far we've seen that As a continuation of that third point, we're going to spend a few weeks learning that God's desire is to give you the things you need to be comfortable, safe, and content. This is not "prosperity gospel"; you are not entitled to these blessings, and God is not obligated to give them to you. That's why they are called "blessings" and not "wages"!

Guest pastor the Rev. Dr. Carl Schenk said yesterday morning, "There is a temptation – an understandable human temptation, it affects me, it probably affects you – there is this temptation to believe that this theme is about our hopes, and about our dreams, and how if we just hold on and stay patient, God will fulfill our hopes and dreams. But that isn't the story. The story is not about what I want, or what you want, and that God will eventually deliver on what we want. No. The story is about how God has a program, a promise, an agenda, a task to accomplish through his servants, and God has promised that God's agenda Will. Not. Fail." (quoted by permission; the sermon starts at 32:00, and the quote is around 45:30)

If you listened to Carl's sermon this morning, then for the next six weeks you can just read the scripture and skip the study tips. God wants us to prosper, but it is to bring his plan to fruition, not ours.


Deuteronomy 5:32-33, 6:10-12, 28:1-14, God's desire is that you have the things you need to be comfortable, safe, and content. (07/21/20)

God wants to bless us, but God also wants our obedience. It is probably not a coincidence that obedience to God's basic rules – rest once a week, take care of your parents, don't murder, don't steal, etc. - in and of themselves will contribute to your well-being. God's commands are not burdensome, which is one many blessings.


Isaiah 66:10-14, 30:23-26, God's desire is that you have the things you need to be comfortable, safe, and content. (07/22/20)

The LORD wants you to be comfortable and prosperous – with him! Why? So that "everyone will know that the LORD is present with his servants." When they see what God has done for us, maybe they will want to be God's servants also.

Let's talk a minute about "seven." Seven is one of the special symbolic numbers. It means "perfect." The light of seven suns, in reality, would be blinding and would be so hot that we would all die. What vs. 26 means is that God will shine perfect light on us.


Psalms 103:1-22, God's desire is that you have the things you need to be comfortable, safe, and content. (07/23/20)

David gives us a fairly comprehensive list of God's blessing: forgiveness, healing, safety, mercy, grace, food, strength, justice, and law. "Comfortable, safe, and content," right? Look carefully at the last three verses, because God expects some things from us, too: doing his orders, doing his pleasure, and being under his rule. God wants to bless us, but sin – our own sin or that of other people – often keeps us from being comfortable, or safe, or content.


Matthew 6:19-34, God's desire is that you have the things you need to be comfortable, safe, and content. (07/24/20)

I think this section from the Sermon on the Mount has two main points: God is working to give us what we need, and we don't actually need nearly as much as we think we do. What we do need is to focus on God's wants, not ours.


Luke 3:1-14, God's desire is that you have the things you need to be comfortable, safe, and content. (07/27/20)

John the Baptist was a fiery teacher of ethics, not wealth. Vs. 11 says, "The one who has" two coats or food should give to the one who doesn't. God knows that you need clothes yourself, but you don't need more than you can wear. God knows that you need food yourself, but you don't need more than you can eat. If you are charging money – for taxes, rent, goods, or services – charge only a fair price. And if you have a job, be content with your pay, without resorting to embezzlement or extortion. God wants you to prosper, not to amass wealth.


Luke 6:27-38, God's desire is that you have the things you need to be comfortable, safe, and content. (07/28/20)

You know that modern English uses the same word for "you as an individual" and "you as a group." I always assumed that this message from Jesus was directed at me as an individual, but most of it is directed to us as a group. We're all in this together, which makes you and me responsible for each other's behavior and in turn, in vs. 38, for each other's prosperity. Scary thought, huh? You need to make sure that I'm behaving myself.

(Just in case you shared my confusion, check out the American Standard Version, where ye is plural. If you don't have it, you can see it at Bible Gateway.)


1 Timothy 6:6-10, 17-19, God's desire is that you have the things you need to be comfortable, safe, and content. (07/29/20)

Here's an interesting thing. I Googled "money vs. happiness," and the top several articles said almost exactly the same things about money and contentment as the scripture we read today: God wants us to have the things we need to be comfortable and safe (vs. 17), and then God wants us to be content with what we have (vs. 6)!


Psalms 23:1-6, God's desire is that you have the things you need to be comfortable, safe, and content. (07/30/20)

The 23rd psalm consoles us in times of distress, because the shepherd provides everything the sheep need to be comfortable, safe, and content, and we know that the LORD is our shepherd. It's probably worth considering – on a bright, sunny day when things are going well for us – that the shepherd keeps sheep for the shepherd's own purposes, and not for the sheep's. The sheep are well advised to go along with what the shepherd wants them to do.


Isaiah 61:1-7, God's desire is that you have the things you need to be comfortable, safe, and content. (07/31/20)

When someone makes us an offer that seems too good to be true, we say, "What's the catch?" (Normally the catch is that it isn't true.) So when we hear that the LORD wants to send us good news, heal our broken hearts, set us free, take away our sorrows, and rebuild our cities, we are completely justified in saying, "What's the catch?"

And there is a catch! God expects that we will be "priests and servants of the LORD our God." God wants to include abundant life in our salvation package, but sometimes our own behavior makes it impossible.


John 2:1-11, God's desire is that you have the things you need to be comfortable, safe, and content. (08/03/20)

This must have been quite a party if all the wine was already gone! Is it Jesus' responsibility to provide more wine? No. Is more wine necessary? No. Is wine of the best quality necessary? No. But ... Jesus provides more wine anyway, and the wine is of the best quality. Jesus wants us to have the things we need for our comfort and contentment, but there's an important reason for this. Take a careful look at vs. 11: "Jesus showed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him." Always remember the source of your comfort and contentment, and put your faith in him.


John 16:22-24; James 4:1-3, God's desire is that you have the things you need to be comfortable, safe, and content. (08/04/20)

This is a bit tricky. Jesus wants you to be happy, and he says that God the Father will give you "whatever you ask for" in Jesus' name, "so that you will be completely happy." James says that if you want something, you should pray for it – and if you don't get it, it's because "you pray just for selfish reasons."

These are both the same statement: God wants to give you what will make you happy, BUT only when it is something that Jesus himself would pray for. The name is the person. "Jesus' name" is Jesus' whole person. So don't bother praying that your neighbor will be hit by lightning, because you know that Jesus would never pray for that. Don't bother praying that your neighbor will suddenly be moved to give you his new car, because you know that Jesus would never pray for that, either. Pray that you will become friends with your neighbor, and you are very likely to get that.

And I want to talk about James 4:3. The text does not say "your prayers are not answered"; that's a really bad translation. It says, "You ask, and you don't receive, because you ask evilly, to satisfy your lustful desires." You get an answer! It's "No!"


Luke 15:1-10, God's desire is that you have the things you need to be comfortable, safe, and content. (08/05/20)

God wants you to be safe. You aren't safe if you're lost, so God will always try to find you.


Psalms 145:1-21, God's desire is that you have the things you need to be comfortable, safe, and content. (08/06/20)

From God's open hand we receive grace, pity, mercy, support, food, and salvation.


Isaiah 65:17-25, God's desire is that you have the things you need to be comfortable, safe, and content. (08/07/20)

Isaiah reminds us of two ideas that we've seen before. First, salvation is about your physical life as well as your eternal life. God's desire is that we live long, fruitful lives here on earth. Second, God desires that we be content with what God gives us, not sorrowful and not harming other people or taking things that belong to them.


John 10:1-10 (08/10/20)

The bottom line is that Jesus wants you to have life, and have it abundantly.


Proverbs 1:10-19, Great wealth is not usually a ticket to happiness. (08/11/20)

So far we've seen that God wants for you to have abundance in this life: comfort, security, and happiness. (Don't forget that our own sins and those of other people often get in the way.) However, here's an important note about abundance. Great wealth is not usually a ticket to comfort, safety, and contentment, so God isn't likely to help you win the lottery. The books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes look at the world in radically different ways, but they agree that having great wealth is often not worth the price of obtaining it.


Proverbs 28:19-22, 25, Great wealth is not usually a ticket to happiness. (08/12/20)

I especially like vs. 22: "Don't be selfish and eager to get rich – you will end up worse off than you can imagine." What a lesson for today! We've all read about people who win vast sums playing the lottery, and two years later, they're bankrupt. I heard a few minutes of an interview with Shaq O’Neal the other day; he said that the money he got for signing his first contract – more than a million dollars – was gone in a day or two. A man of his talent can recover from that and become richer than ever, but for most of us, it's better to stay comfortably in the middle than to become briefly rich and then permanently destitute. Nevertheless, you will live a full life if you trust the LORD.


Ecclesiastes 2:4-11, Great wealth is not usually a ticket to happiness. (08/13/20)

A fellow-reader wonders if I'm coming perilously close to preaching prosperity gospel. As I said right as the beginning of this unit, I think prosperity gospel is completely wrong and unscriptural in teaching that we are entitled to riches, and all we have to do is claim them. Nevertheless, I think we shouldn't ignore the many scriptures that say God wants to bless us with what we need to be comfortable, safe, and contented – not wealthy, that's something else and often gets us into trouble. Our own sins and those of other people seriously impair God's program, unfortunately.

Solomon was vastly wealthy. God gave him great gifts, and then Solomon amassed great wealth on top of that. He wasn't content with the blessings he had been given, so he added to it through taxation and forced labor. Not only was he discontented with the result, but his son lost much of the kingdom when ten tribes revolted after Solomon's death.


Ecclesiastes 5:11-15, Great wealth is not usually a ticket to happiness. (08/14/20)

Have you noticed that when you donate to a charity, they immediately send you another request? Or that when you buy something online, you are deluged with ads for that and similar products? See vs. 11. Unless you use it to do great good, great wealth is more trouble than it's worth, which is why God wants you to have what you need, not what you think you want.


Ecclesiastes 6:1-2, Great wealth is not usually a ticket to comfort, safety, and contentment. (08/17/20)

A couple of our fellow-readers are skeptical about all these scriptures promising that God will bless us in our physical lives. One thinks it's talking figuratively about heaven, after we die. Another looks around and doesn't see any of it happening. Solomon said essentially the same thing: these blessings are promised, and maybe I even had them for a minute or two, and then they're gone. No fair!

Let me ask you this: what society has ever followed God whole-heartedly? If we don't run the experiment, we can't very well expect to see the results. On the other hand, I know people who tithe, and give more than that, who seem to have plenty of money for their needs. I know people who work hard for the church, probably harder than they ever worked in jobs, who seem to have plenty of time to enjoy their families. I know people who have suffered terribly, but who still have the energy to help others.

I certainly hear what our fellow-readers are saying, which is why I said in the giant important intermediate disclaimer that I think "prosperity gospel" is unscriptural, misleading, dangerous, and wrong. However, I can't get around the fact that the scriptures in this portion of the study clearly state that God's plan for your salvation includes a desire that you be healthy, safe, and comfortable (not rich) in this life. So I ask myself, "Why is God's plan not coming to pass?" And I still answer, "Sin, mostly" – not necessarily your own, but somebody's.


Luke 12:13-21, Great wealth is not usually a ticket to comfort, safety, and contentment. (08/18/20)

The other day I was having some jewelry appraised for an estate I'm settling (note to potential burglars: it's gone). The appraiser told me about a relative of hers who gave away her things before she died, saying that she "wanted to give it away with a warm hand." What a lovely image!

When a listener wants Jesus to settle his father's estate, Jesus wisely refuses to get involved. Then he goes on to tell a parable about the foolishness of saving things until you have to give them up with a cold hand.


Luke 15:11-24, Great wealth is not usually a ticket to comfort, safety, and contentment. (08/19/20)

The Parable of the Prodigal Son is primarily a story about God's eternal willingness to take you back; however, it's also a story about the perils of having too much money all at once. Don't waste your money in wild living.

A couple days ago I said, again, that God's plan for your salvation includes a desire that you be healthy, safe, and comfortable in this life. I asked rhetorically, "Why is God's plan not coming to pass?" and answered, "Sin, mostly – not necessarily your own, but somebody's." A fellow-reader responded with the uncomfortable suggestion that it might actually be our sin that prevents God's blessing from falling on those "millions all over the world" who are less fortunate than we are.

I think that we may slip into arrogance when we take responsibility for, say, the refugees fleeing from one African country to another because of a war started in Africa, but certainly the homeless here in Albuquerque are to some extent my responsibility, and our fellow-reader is right, I'm probably not doing enough there. On the other hand, God does not, I believe, require us to impoverish ourselves in order to help others, only to give whatever we don't actually need, for some value of "need." You might enjoy reading John Wesley's sermon on the use of money, especially Section III, 3-6.


Matthew 19:16-24, Great wealth is not usually a ticket to comfort, safety, and contentment. (08/20/20)

First, you need to know that the Greek word teleios does mean perfect, but in the sense of complete, which is not quite the way we normally think of it.

Non-fellow-reader Madison L. recently had a wonderful insight into the story of the rich young man. The problem the man is having, said Madison, is not that he's rich. It is that "keeping the commandments" is leaving him feeling incomplete. Jesus in effect says, "Look, I'm traveling all the time, and I've given you all the answer I can give you in one day. If you want a complete answer, you have to come with me to get it!"

The problem with wealth isn't being wealthy, it's being tied down to an old way of life. Since the old way is really comfortable for those who are wealthy, it's hard to give up the old way in favor of the new way, the kingdom of heaven.


Luke 16:19-31, Great wealth is not usually a ticket to comfort, safety, and contentment. (08/21/20)

People are suffering terribly right here on earth with sickness, death of family members, loss of work, evictions, and hunger. Even if you don't have any of these problems, wash your hands, wear your mask, and stay home whenever you can! Don't be like the rich man, counting on your wealth to protect you and ignoring your neighbor's welfare until it's too late for both of you.


Isaiah 1:16-20, God wants a relationship with you in this life. (08/24/20)

Here's the main thing about salvation: it starts now. God wants a relationship with you in this life, and in order to make that happen, God is willing to let bygones be bygones. Providing, of course, that you are willing to let your sins be bygones as well.


Isaiah 55:1-3, God wants a relationship with you in this life. (08/25/20)

A fellow-reader wrote to ask whether Lazarus was happy because the rich man suffered (see scripture for August 21). No, it doesn't say that. Lazarus was "comforted," (vs. 25), and Abraham is just pragmatic: "you're there; we're here; nothing can be done about it now." Nobody is described as "happy." This is the problem with translations. The Contemporary English Version uses "happy" twice, once in vs. 21 and again in vs. 25. Not only are they not the same word in Greek, but neither of them mean "happy"! Vs. 21 says, the beggar was "desiring" to be fed with the crumbs, and vs. 25 says he is "comforted." Always read more than one translation.

Both the LORD in the Old Testament and the Lord in the New Testament offer us true water and true food. God wants a relationship with you in this life, and part of that relationship is God's desire to give you what you need.


1 Peter 5:1-7, God wants a relationship with you in this life. (08/26/20)

"God cares for you, so turn all your worries over to him." We must also care for each other. That may seem difficult to do right now, but if you can't visit someone who is sick, maybe you can phone. If you can't travel, maybe you can write a letter. If you can't donate a sack of groceries to your local food ministry, maybe you can donate on line. Part of God's plan to take care of your neighbor is to have you do some of the legwork. "You must watch over everyone God has placed in your care. Do it willingly."


1 John 1:1-4, God wants a relationship with you in this life. (08/27/20)

Some friends told me that when they were on vacation in a place where they did not speak the language, a local lady reached out and touched the cross the wife was wearing, and then smiled and touched her own chest. They couldn't talk to each other, but they had a relationship with Christ and with each other. Not only does God want a relationship with us in this life, but so do God's other followers. John says that fellowship with his readers "will make our joy complete."


John 15:7-12, God wants a relationship with you in this life. (08/28/20)

At the Last Supper, Jesus emphasized the importance of our relationships with himself, with God, and with each other. When we become fruitful disciples, we are a part of the abundant life God wants for others! Love God; love your neighbor.



More of What Must I do to be Saved

Point 1: God Wants to Save Everybody Point 2: You Can Reject God's Plan for Your Salvation (Not Recommended) Point 3: God’s Plan for Your Salvation is Broader than You Think Point 4: How the Bible Answers the Question
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