The Scriptures return to the theme again and again: the hardest trial of our faith, the hardest test of all, is not poverty or hardship or persecution, but prosperity.
Moses knew the terrible depth of the pitfall: “When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God…Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and your silver and gold increase, and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God. You may say to yourself `My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.’ But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth” (Deuteronomy 8:10-18 NIV).
The life and death tests of faith during the reigns of Saul and David yielded wonderful generous-hearted souls like Jonathan and Barzillai and Abigail. The prosperity that followed under Solomon was a test that the Israelis and their king failed dismally. During Solomon’s lifetime, Judah and Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, lived in safety, each man under his own vine and fig tree… So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the LORD; he did not follow the LORD completely, as David his father had done. The LORD became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the LORD (I Kings 4:25; 11:6,9).
The Lord Jesus acknowledged that persecution can be a challenge of faith. But prosperity chokes the word of truth, so that faith is sterile, bearing no fruit (Mark 4:19).
Very recently, we received a sad letter from a prominent British Christadelphian who has been about sixty years in the faith. He laments “a growing lack of interest in the Christadelphian faith both from members and those outside.” This he claims, “is due to indifference, lack of interest in the scriptures, centralization of opinions, and lack of commitment by local membership.” Much of this is due to the “choking” effects of prosperity. The `good things of life’ are increasingly looked upon as a blessing from God, even a reward for good living. But Moses saw them as a possible snare: when we live in large, flourishing cities and houses filled with all kinds of good things, then be careful! Temptation to spiritual amnesia is right at our door! (Deut. 6:10-12). A lukewarm Laodicean ecclesia is an almost inevitable outcome (Rev. 3:14-22).
Homeless street dwellers lie like Lazarus at the entrance to the great Guy’s St. Thomas’ Hospital in London, where patients range from dukes to poor asylum seekers. Observably, almost the only donors to these unfortunates are Asians, Africans, West Indians, hospital orderlies and cleaners. The prosperous multitudes merely pass them by, or actually step over them. Luke 21 reminds us that generous sharing with others is often inversely proportional to prosperity (v. 3). The special ecclesial collection for the poor brothers and sisters in Judea was a dramatic example (II Cor. 8:1-7). Another, perhaps, is the situation in our own brotherhood today. There is a whole menu of interesting tours and holidays – all very educational – on offer to brothers and sisters. There has been little difficulty in collecting thousands of dollars to assist one of the most prosperous regimes in the world (Israel) in building a reservoir – a worthy cause, no doubt, aimed at hastening the coming of the Lord. But at the same time some efforts are short on funds to preach the gospel of salvation. And one of the poorest ecclesias in the world struggles to help a faithful widower elder without relatives who was, at a recent visit, lying completely naked, with no bedclothes, and with no food in the house.
Let us remember Ecclesiastes 6:1-2 and 7:12: I have seen another evil under the sun, and it weighs heavily on men: God gives a man wealth, possessions, and honour, so that he lacks nothing his heart desires, but God does not enable him to enjoy them… Wisdom is a shelter as money is a shelter, but the advantage of knowledge is this: that wisdom preserves the life of its possessor.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One