Sunday, April 23, 2023
/The Third Sunday of Easter
Acts 2:14a, 36-41; Psalm 116: 1-3, 10-17;1 Peter 1: 17-23; Luke 24: 13-35
The Rev. James M.L. Grace
In the Name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. AMEN.
Joel Osteen is right about a lot of things, but also this: if you humble yourself before God, if you are obedient to God’s purpose for you, you will prosper. I believe that with all my heart. This idea of “prosperity gospel” as it is sometimes referred to, is usually met with grimaces, smirks, rolling eyes, or downright disbelief.
Loving God a whole lot will not get you a brand new Mercedes Benz as Janis Joplin once famously opined. Loving God will not get you a large house, or a country club membership. Loving God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind will get you a deeper spiritual life, a larger sense of God’s presence, and free entry into God’s eternal presence.
I would argue that material wealth is at the very bottom rung of the prosperity ladder Osteen preaches. And what Osteen often preaches regarding prosperity has sound biblical backing. If you read Deuteronomy 30, you will hear very clearly God say to the people of Israel: if you follow my ways, and do what I tell you to do, you will prosper, but if you do not follow my ways, and you follow other Gods than me, you will struggle, and you will suffer.
And what God said to Israel way back then, is fundamentally true for us today. If we insist on being the CEO of our lives, the know-it-all who assumes we know what is best for us, rather than God, I can guarantee a life of spiritual suffering.
Likewise, I can guarantee that if you become smart enough to realize you don’t know anything, the least of which is how to live your life, and so you put God in charge instead, I can guarantee you that you will prosper.
How do you put God in charge? It’s really simple. When you get up in the morning, get on your knees and tell God “God this is your day, direct and guide as you will. Your will be done. AMEN.” And whatever follows is God’s will, because you prayed for it, and God will answer your prayer. It takes about ten seconds of your day to do that. At the end of your day, before you go to bed, get on your knees again, and say to God “Thank you, God, for blessing me this whole day.” That takes about three seconds. If you want to argue with me that this asking way too much of you, I know some good therapists you can talk to for about $150 an hour.
A warning: building a pattern of humility and obedience into your life every day will lead to weird things. What kind of weird things? Here’s one. After praying consistently over time, you might find yourself looking for that Bible that’s somewhere in your house that’s covered in dust and you will want to start reading it, because you realize you have so much to learn from it. Your vision will improve – you will begin to see the needs of people around you more clearly than before, and you will begin to ask God in your prayers – what can I do to help?
Before too long, you will feel a sense of spiritual connection with the Divine that brings you true peace and comfort, even if everything in your life is a complete and total wreck. You might even find yourself – facing a pile of bills you can’t afford to pay, a car note you can’t afford, or a mortgage beyond your means thanking God, saying “Lord, what did I do to deserve this prosperity?”
I close with a story – A Roman Catholic nun walks into a room of men who are on a retreat.. True story. She comes into the room like she’s on a skate board. She opens her mouth and she sounds like a truck driver. “Hello. Do you want to know how to be happy, and healthy, and not have any more problems with your family and your job and all that stuff? No problem at all. Easy as pie. We can cut this short.” And she rights on the board “Pray incessantly.” The men were saying “What? Really? That’s the answer? I don’t have time to pray. I’ve got a job, I’ve got stuff to do.” The nun looked around the room and said, “you don’t like that answer huh?” “Tell you what. Try this then” And she flipped the backboard over and wrote this. “Make your life a prayer.” Can you get to a point in your life where what you do has God driving it to the best of your ability? Do that, and your prosperity will have no limit. AMEN.