By Steve Schramm
At the time of this writing, I have been a Christian for around 24 years. Although I am “young,” I have seen and witnessed many trends in the church--some good, and some bad.
One unmistakable trend I’ve noticed is this notion of defeatism--which I’ve written about recently on my blog.
In the article I paint a portrait of the “Christian Defeatist”:
She is public about her Christianity, but has nothing but negative things to say. She envies the promiscuous lifestyle of those who live seemingly unbound from God’s eternal directives.
She plays the victim—always waiting for the next person to complain to or about. She tells her problems to anyone who will listen! She is a Christian defeatist. She is a person who believes there is a God, but believes that belief in God is a limitation—not a liberation.
It’s likely you know this person! You may even be this person. But the life Jesus offers is not the one described above. The Bible describes a life of freedom, purpose, and abundance. It’s not all about the “pie in the sky when you die”; you can have steak on the plate while you wait!
Here are just three “points of permission” where the Bible proclaims that we can have life, and “have it more abundantly” (John 10:10):
#1. In Our Identity
John 1:12 - But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name...
When you become a Christian, a transformation takes place. Much like the caterpillar emerges unrecognizable as a butterfly, so the unbeliever undergoes a kind of “metamorphosis.”
The Christian life is about becoming a son of God.
The Biblical scenario involves Christ uniting his life to ours, through the power of the Holy Spirit, thereby entering into an eternal relationship with our Creator. The Bible describes God using relevant metaphors and analogies, such as the “Alpha and Omega” (which means the first and the last).
The Psalmist wrote this under the inspiration of God:
For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof (50:10-12).
Each of us are a unique creation of the God who made the sun, the moon, and “the stars also” (Genesis 1:16); this same God makes us a “new creature” (2 Corinthians 5:17) when he unites his life to ours in salvation.
We have a new identity! “...old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
#2. In Our Prosperity
Matthew 6:33 - But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
But not only is our identity made new and abundant, but also our prosperity.
Perhaps one of the saddest things missing in many churches today is a biblical theology of prosperity.
Of course, the reason for this is obvious: False “prosperity gospel” teaching has created the need for correction, and much of this correction has led to an equally unbiblical “poverty gospel.” The Bible does not teach us that we must be poor in order to remain humble and biblical, nor that abundance and prosperity are natural consequences of proper faith and “positive confession.”
Rather, as one preacher recently put it, “between prosperity theology and poverty theology lies a biblical theology of money that teaches work, reward, and societal advancement.”
But there’s a catch! And, it’s the key!
Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness.
You see, if we’re ever to understand real abundance and prosperity, “[we] must decrease and [God] must increase” (John 3:30). God can take care of our every need if we’ll only seek him and his will foremost in our lives.
#3. In Our Generosity
1 TImothy 6:17-18: “Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate...
Finally, we see confirmation of our last point here again in 1 Timothy: God gives us all things richly to enjoy; but we’re not to trust in riches (after all, they’re “uncertain”)! Instead, we trust “in the living God.”
But, what next?
Paul takes us to the logical conclusion of this scenario. We enjoy the riches, sure, but we don’t become highminded! Instead, we “do good...be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate…”
In other words, we put what we’ve been blessed with to good use! We use it to serve God and to serve others. And so it comes full circle, because we’ve realized that, to the best of our human ability, we are sacrificing in selflessness--exactly as Christ did which gave us our new identity in the first place.
Here we find an example of what the writer of Ecclesiastes called a “threefold cord [that] is not quickly broken” (4:12):
Our identity tells us who we are in Christ.
This informs our prosperity, because we learn to call on God for our supply.
These culminate in our generosity when we model Christ, in Whom we find our identity.
This is how we arrive at a proper theology: coherence and consistency. Of course, coherence like this is exactly what we’d expect from a Bible that is true, unbroken, inerrant, and infallible: a “more sure word” (2 Peter 1:19) that will “not pass away” (Matthew 23:45).
Thank God for our new identity in him, which affords us an abundant, prosperous, and generous life.