Slides: Christianity and Prosperity

Christianity and Prosperity

By David Feddes

Christianity builds wealth

• U.S., Canada, Europe have longest history of Christian influence. They also have strongest economies and largest middle class.

• South Korea, Japan, India also benefit.

• Christianity’s economic impact is not always immediate or obvious. Christian influence builds over time.

• Economic benefits of Christianity may linger for a while after many abandon the faith.

Odd-seeming outcome

• It seems strange that Christianity would make many individuals and nations richer.

• Jesus had no property, loved the poor, and warned against loving money.

• Many great Christians have been poor.

• Prosperity gospel is false. Following Jesus does not guarantee financial prosperity.

Producing Prosperity

• Private property

• Worthwhile work

• Stewardship and calling

• Personal responsibility

• Moral capital

• Strong families

• Staying sober

• Positive outlook

Private Property

• “You shall not steal.”  “You shall not covet.”

• Plato: abolish private property

• “The theory of the Communists may be summed up in the single sentence: Abolition of private property.” (Marx and Engels)

• Socialism says, “What’s yours in mine” and takes it by government force.

• Christian generosity says, “What’s mine is yours” and gives it in Christian love.

Private property

Property is the fruit of labor... property is desirable...is a positive good in the world. That some should be rich shows that others may become rich, and hence is just encouragement to industry and enterprise. Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another; but let him labor diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built. (Abraham Lincoln)

Worthwhile Work?

• In the Greco-Roman world, the leading citizens thought work was beneath them.

-Plato said work and craftsmanship should be for slaves, not for thinkers and free men.

-Cicero said working to earn a living was unbecoming to a freeborn man; it was vulgar and low to be paid for “mere manual labor.”

• The working classes toiled without recognition or reward. Most workers were slaves with, so work didn’t pay off. It didn’t make them feel significant, and it didn’t help them to prosper.

Worthwhile Work: Work is dignified and worth honoring.

• Whoever is slack in his work is a brother to him who destroys. (Proverbs 18:9)

• Joseph slaved well and became great.

• Jesus worked as a carpenter.

• Paul worked as a tentmaker.

• Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” (Col 3:23-24).

Worthwhile Work: Work is valuable and deserves fair pay.

• The worker deserves his wages. (Luke 10:7)

• Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven. (Col 4:1)

• Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you… Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. (James 5:1-6)

Stewardship and calling

• Cultural mandate: God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1:28) The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. (Genesis 2:15)

• "A dairy maid can milk cows to the glory of God.” (Martin Luther)

Personal responsibility

• Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your hands … so that you will not be dependent on anybody. (1 Thess 4:11-12).

• If a man will not work, he shall not eat. (2 Thess 3:10).

• Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. (Eph 4:28)

Moral capital

• You must have accurate and honest weights and measures. (Deut 25:15)

• Unequal weights and unequal measures are both alike an abomination to the Lord. (Proverbs 20:10)

• Widespread dishonesty and distrust destroys economy. Corruption is ruinous.

• Trustworthiness and transparency enable economic activity to grow and flourish.

Strong families

• In North America, you usually just need to do three things to avoid long-term poverty:

• Finish high school.

• Marry before having a child.

• Marry after age 20.

• Of those who do all three, 8 percent are poor.

• Of those who don’t, 79 percent are poor.

• Christianity strengthens family and literacy.

Staying sober

• Drug abuse and drunkenness lead to loss of employment, squandering of income, and wider economic decay.

• The drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty. (Proverbs 23:21)

• And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit. (Ephesians 5:18)

Positive outlook

• In all that he does, he prospers. (Psalm 1:3)

• Wealth and riches are in his house… Light dawns in the darkness for the upright… He is not afraid of bad news; his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord. (Ps 112)

• Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. (1 Cor 15:58)

• Energetic, expectant people tend to prosper.

Producing Prosperity

• Private property

• Worthwhile work

• Stewardship and calling

• Personal responsibility

• Moral capital

• Strong families

• Staying sober

• Positive outlook

Seek first God’s kingdom

• Wealth can make people forget God. (Deut 8)

• Beware of thinking “godliness is a means to financial gain.” (1 Timothy 6:6)

• Store up treasure in heaven, not on earth.

• “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33)