Recently, we watched the excellent documentary American Gospel: Christ Alone after having it recommended by several friends. This is a documentary dealing in large part what some have called the “prosperity gospel” or the Word of Faith movement, something that’s very common in America and which represents a distortion of the good news of the Bible. The documentary is excellent, and provides some great food for thought.

The big picture

As some pointed out previous, the start of the documentary is a bit slow, going over some of the core teachings of the Bible and the gospel, but it’s worth bearing with it. Ultimately, it gets into detail on exactly what some of these false teachers are teaching, and how enticing some of their ideas are. Essentially, the prosperity gospel teaches that the gospel is about living our best life now, and that if we’re Christians, faith gives us the power to have what we want in this life – money, health, wealth, etc.

Now, at a superficial level this teaching is easy to reject, if we have even a basic understanding of the Bible. Christ came to save us from our sins and reconcile us to God, and did not promise us health or wealth. In fact he said that those who would come after him must deny themselves, take up their cross and follow him, and highlighted how his followers could expect to suffer, and might even have no place to call home. In fact, the apostle Paul frequently pictures life like a race – one which has to be endured (even with great suffering) in order to reach the finish and receive the victor’s crown. So, in that sense it’s easy to reject these ideas.

At the same time, many of us live in America, surrounded by the ideas of the American Dream, which is about earning the type of life we want. We see the pursuit of happiness as one of our core values. We work hard to achieve our goals. And it’s awfully easy to begin letting that seep in and turn us towards setting up the kind of life we want in the here and now, rather than living for Christ with a view towards eternity. This reminds me of Frances Chan’s powerful rope analogy which is worth checking out if you don’t see it.

Making it more personal

Still, it would be probably be easy for me to keep the core of this message at arm’s length, making it about doctrine and theology. But I began thinking about the content of my prayers. What do I pray about? Are my prayers about having my best life here? Health is certainly a frequent topic of prayer, though I also pray a lot for my kids’ salvation. I pray that they would have less conflict and learn to solve their problems Biblically. I ask God’s help in finishing the large pile of work tasks I need to do, and to balance my priorities properly. That’s a real mix of things, some very important eternally, but others very oriented towards the here-and-now. But ultimately, many are oriented towards my own desires, and are centered around me.

This documentary started me thinking about how self-centered even my prayers can be, and how at times that can get perilously close to the prosperity gospel: I may pray as if it’s God’s business to do my bidding rather than vise versa.

Then, Friday night, I heard a great message at our church from 1 Cor. 4:1-7, “When God is Big and People are Small”. Pastor Nate Kwak noted (as he was explaining “stewards” in v2) how idolatry always comes back to a form of self-centeredness. People didn’t bow down to idols because they really thought these statues were so amazing, but because they believed with the right sacrifices and offerings, the idols would do their bidding. That idea really grabbed hold of me and connected with my thoughts on the documentary: It’s quite possible for me to pray, thinking I’m praying to God, but if my prayer seeks to bring God to do my will, it can be just as selfish and self-centered and even idolatrous as bowing down to worship an idol. We are stewards – meant to be UNDER and in subjection to God. God is on the throne; he is to be at the center.

Of course, prayer is important, and God does want us to ask for what we want, but it needs to be with the right attitude (1 Cor. 4:6-7):

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Here, we’re to let God know our requests, or to present them to him. And what he guarantees is not that he’ll do what we want, but that we will have peace.

In any case, this was a big challenge to me: What is my attitude when I pray? In all honesty, I think sometimes my attitude is that I need to pray, otherwise I might not get what I want. And that is absolutely unbiblical, and is the same attitude which makes the idolatry of the prosperity gospel so popular.

But we should pray in faith

In “American Gospel”, one speaker related how he had brain cancer and, as he told people about it, he felt like there were often two categories of response. One group would tell him that they would pray for him, in sort of a vague and general way, and the other group would express their sympathy and concern. Few actually expressed their intent to pray for his healing, which I understood to mean that he felt this was a reaction against the prosperity gospel or against being overly charismatic. However, he then noted what Daniel’s three friends (Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego) said as they were about to be thrown into the fiery furnace (Daniel 3:17-18):

If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.

That, he said, was the right attitude: Real faith that God is able and willing to act, and trust even that he will act, but confidence that even if he does not, he is still absolutely trustworthy and worth serving.

I was delighted to hear this again, as I’m confident I’ve heard one of our pastors who is going through cancer treatment express a very similar sentiment – confidence that God will heal, yet absolute trust regardless of the outcome. And that, I think, is the real difference from the prosperity gospel: In believing prayer I can bring my requests to God, but they are just that – requests I make in submission to him. I express my confidence that he cares, and that he will answer and work to accomplish his will, but also my willingness to go through whatever he calls me to do.

So, I’m thankful for this reminder from God to evaluate my prayer life – to ensure he is at the center of it, and that I must have an attitude of submission rather than one which sees him as a cosmic vending machine. But at the same time, I can pray with the confidence that Daniel’s friends had, knowing that God is able and willing yet trustworthy even if his answer is “no”.