What Do You Get for Becoming a Christian?

If you think Christianity assures you of the good life, you'd better read the fine print. by Richard Wiedenheft

I call it the contract gospel -- the idea that your relationship with God is like a business deal: You accept Jesus as your Savior and agree to live by God's laws; He promises to bless you with good health, success, and happiness.

Too many people think that obedience should result in health and success -- especially in wealthy America. Too few stop to notice that the ungodly and irreligious among us are prospering, too. When we think that God is obligated to bless us because of our obedience, we set ourselves up for disillusionment.

Jesus' promises

Several of Jesus' statements are often used to support the idea that success, health, and wealth result from following Him. He said, "I have come that they might have life, and that they may have it more abundantly" (John 10:10, NKJV). When we read the word abundantly, we immediately think of healthy bodies, full bank accounts, comfortable homes.

But Jesus also told His disciples, "And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life" (Matthew 19:29).

New Testament record

Note how these and other promises of Jesus were played out in the lives of the apostles. Peter was imprisoned on more than one occasion (Acts 4, 5, 12); James was beheaded (12:2); Stephen was stoned to death (7); Paul suffered hunger, shipwreck, stoning, beating, near drowning, imprisonment, and finally martyrdom (2 Corinthians 11:23-27). What did these dedicated Christians get for following Jesus? Certainly not material abundance and success! Certainly not a hundred times as much property as they might have given up.

Other believers were persecuted along with the apostles. Saul, before his conversion to Christianity, searched in synagogues and houses for Christians and threw them into prison (Acts 8:3; 9:2). Many were driven from Jerusalem into the countryside of Judea and Samaria, where they spread the gospel (8:1-4). They were uprooted from their homes and loved ones, from their jobs and sources of income. Undoubtedly, they suffered terrible financial losses. Where was the abundant life they were promised? Where were all the homes and lands Jesus spoke about? Certainly not in the physical realm as they knew it.

The early New Testament church was a persecuted sect that sacrificed a great deal to follow Jesus. They did it gladly because they were citizens of another kingdom.

Physical health

Being a Christian is no guarantee against sickness and infirmities. Early Christians suffered physical maladies. Paul had a "thorn in the flesh," generally believed to be a physical problem, perhaps poor eyesight. It was a weakness of which God said to Paul, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:7-10).

Timothy suffered with stomach problems and frequent illnesses, for which Paul recommended he drink a little wine instead of water (1 Timothy 5:23). Trophimus, one of Paul's helpers, was left sick at Miletus (2 Timothy 4:20). Epaphroditus, another of Paul's helpers, was sick and almost died -- "for the work of Christ" (Philippians 2:25-30).

Does God want His people to be sick? Absolutely not! But neither does He promise to insulate us from sickness and suffering just because we believe in Him. As God revealed to Paul, His "power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9). Down through the centuries, dedicated Christians have been sick and have suffered, and all have (or will) eventually die. Whatever the abundant life promised by Jesus, perfect health in the flesh is not included. Many non-Christians live healthier, longer lives than Christians.

Prosperity

If success in this physical world is a measure of God's blessings, then a lot more non-Christians enjoy it than Christians. For every Christian you can find who is a great success financially, you can find non-believers who have more.

Numerous promises in the Old Testament state that if Israel would obey God, He would prosper them in the land (see Deuteronomy 28:1, 2). Before we appropriate those promises to individual Christians today, we should note that eternal life was not included. The old covenant was a temporal one, based on the promise of physical blessings for physical obedience to God. The new covenant, in stark contrast, is based on acceptance of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord -- with much better promises.

This does not mean that all the laws of God, given to Israel, are of no consequence to us. Many of them incorporate natural and moral laws that, if obeyed, result in blessings. For example, an individual or a nation that lets its land rest periodically (as Israel was commanded to every seven years) will tend to reap a blessing. I say "tend" because there are many other factors. You may let your land rest periodically and build it up in many other ways, but that doesn't isolate you from the harmful effects of polluted air and water, nor from insect plagues and blights brought on by the bad agricultural practices of your neighbors. Certainly God can protect His people, but many others have suffered drought, pestilence, hail, and storms right along with unbelievers.

Individuals who live by the Ten Commandments save themselves from a great many curses that automatically fall on those who disobey. But again, those who obey are not completely isolated from the consequences of the sins of others.

The wisdom of Proverbs

The book of Proverbs is full of wisdom on how to avoid many problems in life, how to get ahead financially, how to succeed in personal relationships. For example:

"Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth" (10:4).

"Whoever trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf" (11:28).

"A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger" (15:1).

These and many other gems of wisdom are given as general principles, but they do not always work. Some diligent people do not prosper financially; a soft answer doesn't always turn away wrath; some lazy people do strike it rich. And some who trust in their riches ride high (in the physical realm) until the day they die.

Most of the time, of course, we will be blessed by living according to the wisdom of Proverbs; but if we do so only to get blessed, we may be headed for disappointment. How many people have worked diligently only to see someone with connections get the promotion they had hoped for. You can live by all the wisdom in the Bible and still suffer reverses because of other factors, such as the sins of wicked people around you. Christians should follow biblical teachings because they love God, because they want to do what is right in His eyes, because they want to be good stewards of His earth, not because they seek pleasure and prosperity in this realm. Obeying just to obtain personal advantage is entirely selfish and contrary to God's nature.

The negative side

In contrast to Bible passages taken as promises of good things, many texts forecast exactly the opposite: privation, trials, suffering, persecution, even martyrdom. Here are a few:

"Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man" (Luke 6:22).

"Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn 'a man against his father, a daughter against her mother . . . a man's enemies will be the member of his own household'" (Matthew 10:34-36).

Paul, a biblical writer, saw tribulation as a normal part of a Christian's life: "[God] comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God" (2 Corinthians 1:4).

These and many other passages show that Christians should not be surprised by all kinds of trials and sufferings. To be sure, they should not suffer because they continue in sin or because they reject the wisdom of the Bible. But they are going to suffer to some extent because of their past sins, because of the sins of others, because of time and chance, and because they live in a sin-filled, Satan-dominated world.

Of course, if Christians happen to live among the privileged few in the wealthy Western world, they may enjoy many physical blessings. But these blessings are not guaranteed by a contract with God.

Greater promises

The promises of the new covenant are much greater and better than all the wealth and success and health possible in this world. They include peace that passes all understanding, that triumphs even in the face of trials and tribulations. They include the knowledge that God is on His throne and that all things work together for good. They include the forgiveness of sins, the fruit of the Holy Spirit: love joy, peace, goodness, meekness, etc. They included the gift of eternal life.

You have much to gain by living in accordance with God's will and the wisdom of the Bible. You can save yourself a great deal of heartache and sorrow. But you have no guarantee that you won't suffer. The difference between Christians and non-Christians is not that the former are insulated from pain and suffering, but that Christians can suffer with hope, knowing that there is much more to life than the here and now.

Those who embrace the contract gospel or the health and wealth gospel are setting themselves up for giant spiritual disappointment. When tragedy strikes, they must either blame God for not living up to His end of the bargain, or blame themselves for some failure that negated God's promises. Neither is valid.

What do you get for embracing the gospel? Not insulation from pain and suffering, but the tools to grow through suffering, to become more like Jesus Christ, who also suffered. You get the kind of blessings that really count -- in this life and for all eternity.

Richard Wiedenheft lives in Barrington, IL. Scripture quotations are from the New International Version.

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