“Prosperity”- You keep using that word…
By Elizabeth Prata
SYNOPSIS: Are you in a season where the Lord’s supply or provision for you or your family seems meager? Ask yourself instead, is it sufficient?
Phil Johnson is Executive Director of the global ministry Grace to You, editor of John MacArthur’s books, and co-leads his Sunday School class called GraceLife.
I decided to do some cooking and listen to Phil Johnson’s sermon while chopping. His sermon is called “Not So Radical” and it is a message he is preaching through the Psalms of Ascents. He is up to Psalm 128.
Pastor Johnson explained that the psalms of ascents were songs the Israelites would sing on the way to Jerusalem. No matter what direction you approached Jerusalem from, and mostly the only way to go was the Jericho road, was uphill. You hiked. You climbed. You sweated. It was 3400 arduous feet uphill all the way. You did this three times a year. Grandma had to be carried in a cart drawn by an ox. The rest just hiked. These songs were songs they would sing in praise and anticipation of the worship festival to come, and would remind them of Who they were going to worship in the coming days.
Psalm 128:5 states the following:
“The LORD bless you from Zion! May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life!”
Pr. Johnson looped back to verse 1 which opens with a message about how fearing the LORD brings blessing. He said,
“We don’t hear enough about holy fear these days. Modern preachers like to encourage familiarity rather than fear, and that’s why so much of today’s worship is casual, flippant, man-centered. But Scripture is full of admonitions to fear the Lord. For many today, that is an unfamiliar concept.”
Holy Fear is important to possess, to ponder, to talk about. Fearing the Lord should be an integral part of a Christian’s life. Not a servile fear. But a trembling fear of awe and reverence. He is YAHWEH, after all.
Then he moved into explaining prosperity and blessing.
“The word prosperity here in our text speaks of the biblical concept of divine blessing, spiritual affluence, and material sufficiency. This kind of prosperity has nothing whatsoever to do with the worldly idea of mammon. The world’s idea of prosperity is overabundance, opulence, luxury, self-indulgence–all dependent on material wealth. The Lord’s definition of prosperity (by contrast) is full forgiveness, the imputation of perfect righteousness, and “grace to help in time of need”–all blessings of eternal value.
“Sometimes the Lord’s supply seems meager, but it is always sufficient. He measures his blessings carefully, so that a glut of earthly prosperity doesn’t extinguish our hope of heaven. And even that is a great blessing.”
Sometimes the Lord blesses by sustaining with a large amount of means, as He did with Job and Abraham. Sometimes the Lord blesses by sustaining exactly enough with little extra, as He does with me and perhaps with you. Sometimes He seems not to have sustained at all, as with the beggar at the gate, but in fact did sustain him with plenty of faith. Or sustain the paralyzed man let down through the roof with committed and loving friends. The Lord takes care of us financially and He takes care of us spiritually. What may seem meager to one or another person, is in fact perfection.
“Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.” (Matthew 6:31-32)
“So Abraham called the name of that place, “The LORD will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.” (Genesis 22:14).
The Lord shall provide for you!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For further reading:
Phil Johnson: Not So Radical
(if the link still isn’t working yet listen here at sermon audio)
Our Daily Bread: God provides…but how?
Pastor Rick Henderson: The False Promise of the Prosperity Gospel: Why I Called Out Joel Osteen and Joyce Meyer
