The Selling Of The Christ (Part 1)

Part 1 of a 5 part series

It started many years ago; the preachers realized that Christianity was a business and their core job was to sell Jesus Christ to the people.  There was nothing wrong with the intent of the messengers until they began shaping and reshaping the message.  Jesus said, “If I be lifted up I will draw all men unto me.”  Jesus spoke those immortal words referencing being lifted from the cross and returning to his Father.  This verse is taken out of context and applied to worship services and he or she envisioned themselves as salespersons for God.   Lifting up Jesus took on a completely new message, the message had to be attractive and it must offer the people something tangible. 

A message about the pie in the sky by-and-by was not attractive enough to draw the massive crowds needed to support or increase the bottom line of the growing churches.  Preachers, Pastors, and Teachers were learning how to be successful living of God’s churches.  God’s churches were now becoming a business.  A business must offer a product or service or it will go out of business.  Thus began the reshaping of the message of Jesus Christ.  To shape the message, you must find a scripture, take it out of context, if necessary, view it from an alien perspective, and apply it to the model that you are constructing.  Saint John 10:10b says, “I came that you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly.”  This statement became the cornerstone for many messages of prosperity. 

To put this verse back in context and perspective lets read Saint John 10:1-10, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that enters not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. However, he that enters in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out, and when he puts forth his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers. This parable spoke Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spoke unto them. Then said Jesus unto them again, verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door: by me if any man enters in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. The thief comes not, but to steal, to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly.” 

Is there anything in the above paragraph that indicates Jesus was talking about earthly treasures?  We should never use sound bites to project a complete thought.  Jesus was speaking in a parable and he was speaking about the Kingdom of God to a Jewish gathering.  What does abundant life in the Kingdom of God have to do with earthly possessions?  God has already blessed humanity in the book of Geneses with the blessing of prosperity.  However, to make churches more attractive the promise of prosperity needed to be a part of the message.  Initially, it seems God may have used blessing and prosperity as a tool to get the wayward children of Israel to serve him.  The children of Israel were encouraged to steal from the Egyptians before leaving for the Promised Land.  Parts of the foundation of the law were prosperity and longevity.  God’s initial plan was for the children of God to kill the heathens and take their possessions.  Providing for the natural element of the man just did not prove to be conducive to serving God.  The natural desires of man were the more he got the more he wanted.  Throughout the Bible, humanity has shown that when it is getting, doing God’s will become secondary.

Jesus did not come to address the prosperity issue; he came to address the decaying spiritual nature of man.  He came to warn us to repent for the new kingdom or the Kingdom of heaven was at hand.  When asked to address natural issues, he had very few words.  Render under to Caesar the things of Caesar and unto God the thing of God.  He explained the ‘seek’ in Matthew 7:7 as Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and it's righteous and all things will be added.   The simplicity of that statement is, he did not say seek all things. If you can get the spiritual assembly to accept the ‘seek’ as a reference to spiritual things, the ‘all things’ will send them running to God for material things.  When Jesus was speaking these words he referred, to the lilacs of the field and the birds of the air, which neither toil nor sow and the heavenly Father takes care of them.  He has already provided everything needed for the grass, lilacs, and the birds to survive.  He did the same thing for humanity.  God has already provided everything humanity needs to be prosperous.  Not only did he provide humanity with everything he needed to survive, he blessed us with a spirit of prosperity.  (Gen1:28)  All we have to do is get up on our hind part and take advantage of the blessings he has already provided.  Those who are enjoying the blessing of God have a God given desire to be prosperous.  Again, consider the fowls of the air, if they sit in the tree that God has provided for them and refused to fly around “work” and get the food that God has already provided them, they will and deserve to starve.  It seems that we need to recreate a class of Christians who are concerned about the Kingdom of Heaven rather the Kingdoms of the world.  The Bless me and Give me the aspect of worshiping God seems to have gotten out of control.

When I look at Jesus as a spiritual guide, I find little support for many of the churches messages.  I take no issue with preachers teaching people how to be prosperous.  It is a needed service, so are many other community services.  I have no problem with preachers or teachers being motivational speakers.  Pastors should be motivational speakers, they should be grief counselors, and they should be family counselors.  It is when they forget the message of Luke 13:1-10 unless you repent, you all shall likewise perish.  The preaching of prosperity or getting from God just does not seem right for Sunday morning worship service.

I talked to a young woman, who had lived a high profile life and was now having trouble finding a husband.  She had been married several times, and each husband was not what she was looking for.  She was encouraged to turn from her sins and start going to church and God would provide her a husband.  She based her faith upon that most misunderstood statement in the Bible.  The Bible said, “Ask and it shall be given, Seek and ye shall find, Knock and the door shall be open unto you.”  When she failed to find the husband she was searching for, she began to lose her faith.  The message was causing her to lose faith in the word of God.  Then there is the question of ‘if’ faith existed at the time of her so-called conversation.  She attended church, worked in the church, and paid her money, but she did not get what she came looking for.   The ministers kept preaching, “God will give you the desires of your Heart.”  Her attitude changed,  if God was not going to give her what she wanted or if someone else was getting what they wanted and she wasn’t she might as well stay home.  To me, it is scary to think that people can take this type of attitude with God.  It is also terrifying that real preachers will project this farce as the word of God.

Many young, educated people have failed to grasp the relevancy of Christianity in modern day living because the message has been presented to them by self-motivated messengers who do not take the time to get the message right.  The self-motivated preacher realized that the people was running to and fro seeking and/or enjoying prosperity, and Jesus did say, “Ask and it shall be given.”  Now the message is taking shape, if you want prosperity you must ask God for it.  For God to grant your request you must be in the right frame of mine.  Now comes the sucker punch, Jesus said, “It is more blessing to give than it is to receive.”  Now we have the basis for a beautiful message, “Getting what you want from God.”  The smart preacher or teacher that can develop this message and present it in a forceful manner, with the whooping and hollowing in the right place, can attract a crowd from miles around.  The key to getting is giving and everybody wants to be in on the getting.  People do not mind paying money when there is a promise of more money.  Somewhere in the process of getting and enjoying God’s blessings, we forgot the message of salvation and the Kingdom of God.

 The younger generation sees the Rap Star; the Athlete, the drug pusher and just the plain old hard working sinner who does not attend church, and sees that they are prosperous.  The preacher’s job is to tell the church members they can have the same thing if they ask God for it.  In essence, you come to God to be poor so you can beg God for the things everybody else is getting.  Observations like these provide the fuel for the religious disconnect.  Somewhere in all of this, there is an element of confusion.  

The idea of getting religion and starting a church exist in the mindset of some as a sure road to financial success.

As a Christian, God requires more than praising and worshiping him.  Have you ever considered how purposely it would be for God to create man for the sole purpose of praising and worshiping him?  Can you imagine God saying; let us make a man so that we will have somebody to praise us.  What kind of God would create a man so that he would have somebody to love him?  This would make our Heavenly Father seems like an egotistical maniac.  I will quickly add that this is far from the truth.  Praising and worshiping God is something we should do because God is God, because he is our creator and because of the covenant that he has made with us.  We should praise and worship God because of what he has already done for us and not because of something we want,

To approach our God with our hands outstretched in a give-me position is not an act of repentance, respect or reverence.  This is neither an act of love.  It seems more like the action of spoiled children who want everything they can get their hands on and somewhere overlooked in all of this is the mission and the message.