So far, we have considered these keys to biblical prosperity:

• Cultivate a Trust and Obey Perspective on the Bible
• Steward with Generosity
• Eliminate Greed
• Watch your Entourage
• Invest in People
• Keep Your Eyes Open for Spiritual Prosperity

We have finally come to the seventh key to biblical prosperity, and it is the hardest one for us to grab in our world today because our world is far more about getting rich quick than it is about slow patience, and the seventh key requires the greatest patience ever.

7. Keep an Eternal Perspective

Let’s just go straight to the Bible on this:

All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. — Hebrews 11:13-16

Every verse in this chapter leading up to these tells us about the incredible faith of someone. They were people who completely loved God and trusted him. They were people who had received promises from God, and some of those promises included the promises of prosperity. However, regardless of the promises, regardless of the faith, regardless of what was actually received in this lifetime, the verse tells us clearly that the people didn’t receive what was promised!

This is the final key to biblical prosperity! God’s biggest promises are never fully realized in this lifetime. Even the greatest heroes of the faith didn’t receive the full reality of God’s promises to them!

The rest of the chapter gives us more heroes of the faith who accomplished great things and some heroes of the faith who suffered great tragedies and personal persecution. In light of those heroes of the faith, our own desire for worldly prosperity falls flat. Consider what it says about them:

Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. — Hebrews 11:36-38

This hardly sounds like worldly prosperity! In light of what God’s people have endured through the centuries, our own discussion of the biblical promise of prosperity takes on a completely different meaning. Obviously, the promise is sometimes about earthly possessions, but it’s always about something more. God’s promises of prosperity remain true even if the earthly possessions are never given. The prosperity itself is deep and eternal.

These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect. — Hebrews 11:39-40

These closing words of Hebrews 11 bring our discussion of biblical prosperity to a conclusion by reminding us of what real prosperity is all about.

Real prosperity is knowing Jesus and being part of the family of his followers.

See, God made all these promises of blessing and prosperity to the people of old, but God had planned “something better for us.” The writer of Hebrews is clearly making a reference to Jesus and his followers. The “us” there is literally “we who live today” and the “something better” is in context “the knowledge of Jesus and his work.”

More than that, we are told the people of old will not be perfected in their own prosperity unless they are united with us. This reminds us that prosperity in God’s eyes is about the whole family prospering together instead of one individual or one portion of the family receiving greater blessing.

Jesus is the greatest blessing.

The blessings are only fully received in the unified fellowship of God’s family.

The blessings will not be fully received until the whole family is united again in the end of days.

A Final Word

Yes, I firmly believe that God has promised prosperity to his people, but I firmly believe that our expectation of prosperity is darkened by both a misunderstanding of the prosperity promised and motivations that are often selfish in nature.

We should always take more pleasure in the giver than in the gift because nothing in all creation is as great a blessing as the Creator himself.

So far, we have considered these keys to biblical prosperity:

• Cultivate a Trust and Obey Perspective on the Bible
• Steward with Generosity
• Eliminate Greed
• Watch your Entourage

Today, we move on to keys 5 and 6.

5. Invest in People

Three amazing passages in the Bible give us a perspective on using money to invest in people.

First, there is the passage that Paul wrote to the Corinthian church. For a while, Paul had taken up the cause of the Jerusalem church. There had been a famine and some economic hardship in the Jerusalem church, so Paul was making appeals to the churches he started to give aid to him so he could send it to the church in Jerusalem. Writing to the Corinthians about this offering, he says:

Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality, as it is written: “He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little.” — 2 Corinthians 8:13-15

Jesus told his followers:

“I tell you the truth,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life.” — Mark 10:29-30

Jesus also told a remarkable parable to his followers that illustrates this same point in another way. In the parable, a poor manager had mismanaged some of his master’s money. The master was prepared to fire the manager, so the manager went to everyone who owed the master money and renegotiated their debts. His plan was to gain their loyalty so that if he lost his job, they would be willing to welcome him into their own homes in gratitude.

At the end of the story, the master commands the servant for his shrewdness and Jesus gives the moral of the story:

I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. — Luke 16:9

Putting all three of these passages together, it’s clear that God is teaching us to invest in people. We are supposed to use our worldly wealth to invest in people so that here on earth, we will have an increase of friends and so that our entrance into heaven will be joyous!

Specifically, the principles we gather from these passages boil down to the following:

• The greatest prosperity a person can know is the prosperity of good relationships.
• In healthy relationships, our needs can be satisfied by the plenty of others if our plenty is used to satisfy the needs of others.
• In the family of God, we must remember that investments in people will last forever.

It’s very easy to buy into the lie of modern materialism that money spent on another person will disappear from your life but that diamonds are forever! Actually, people are forever! And investment in people will bring about the prosperity that comes from the mutual exchange of resources.

If you want to get really practical, here are a couple questions to ask yourself.

• If you were certain it would work, how much money would you be willing to spend to see someone you know come to Christ?
• If you were certain it would work, how much money would you spend to see a relationship go deeper?
• Who are some people I should invest in?

6. Keep your eyes open for spiritual prosperity

Our second principle today reminds us to keep the whole prosperity thing in perspective. After all, a solid understanding of the Bible reminds us that not all prosperity is material. In fact, there is a good amount of prosperity that is spiritual. Consider this verse:

I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. — John 15:1-2

Fruitfulness and prosperity are linked throughout the Old Testament especially in Psalm 1, but here, Jesus is using the idea of fruitfulness to talk about spiritual fruit. He’s talking about living morally upright lives. He’s talking about doing good works. However, most of all, he’s talking about leading people to faith in him and victory over sin. This is real fruitfulness, and the promise is that God wants to see it happen for us!

God is at work to make us even more fruitful, and if we do bear fruit, he works on us to prune off the bad parts and lift us up into the sunlight so that we can bear even more fruit.

The promise is that we will bear fruit, we will be fruitful, we will be prosperous with our lives, but the prosperity promised in this passage is of a more spiritual nature. The prosperity here is the prosperity of a growing stockpile not of food or gold but of transformed lives who have come to know Jesus because of us!

Tune in tomorrow to see the seventh and final key to biblical prosperity!

Yesterday, we considered the first two keys to Biblical Prosperity:

• Cultivate a Trust and Obey Perspective on the Bible
• Steward with Generosity

Today, we will be looking at numbers 3 and 4.

3. Eliminate Greed

In some ways, this is a no brainer. The Bible talks so much about the sinfulness of greed and our culture itself sometimes recognizes the evils of greed so it almost goes without saying that to please God, we need to get rid of greed.

However, and this is important… The fact that you are reading this blog post, and the fact that I’m writing this blog post is evidence that we both need to do some work on eliminating greed. After all, what makes the concept of Biblical prosperity so interesting is our own desire to be prosperous and that quite frankly is often more about our greed than it is about living in God’s will.

Just last night, I was thinking about ways to improve the entertainment center in our home. I was thinking about purchases I could make and whether I could afford them. Of course, I don’t need any more entertainment in my life. If anything, I need less entertainment!

So the big question for a believer who wants to live in the flow of God’s prosperity is this: Where is the line to be drawn between justified desires and sinful greed?

Of course, if we have Keys 1 & 2 down (obedience to God’s Word and a heart of generosity) then we will find the line much more easily drawn, so let’s consider some passages of Scripture to get our insights.

What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. — James 4:1-3

It’s the last line that I think is most relevant to the issue at hand. “You do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” It’s God’s Word to us that selfish (greedy) requests will be rejected. In other words, God will never feed the greed of one of his own.

So where is the line to be drawn between sinful greed and justified desires? The Bible doesn’t actually give us a clear line, but perhaps it lies in the question of motives. If the desire is motivated primarily by a search for personal pleasure, then it could very well be inappropriate greed. However, if the desire is one that can bring benefit or even pleasure to others as well, it has a greater chance of being justified.

Greed is a hard vice to root out, and the Bible doesn’t give us legalistic specifications regarding what is and what is not considered greed. Therefore, let us work on our devotion to God’s word and our generosity to others and rigorously examine our hearts for signs of greed.

4. Watch Your Entourage

This is a new concept to me. In fact, I hadn’t really thought of it until this past weekend, but when reading Psalm 1, the implication is clear that who you allow in your circle of counselors will determine your level of spiritual and practical prosperity.

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. — Psalm 1:1-3

I could have used this passage for Key #1, but the truth of the matter is that devotion to God’s Word is only part of the story. A person must also ruthlessly root out unwise, sinful, and even wicked counsel by avoiding people proven to offer it.

If you want to experience the prosperity God has for you, you can’t allow yourself to follow the advice of just anyone. There are get rich quick con artists out there. There are televangelists promising you healthy wealthy lives. There are new age philosophies claiming you can think your way into prosperity. There are bankers wanting to give you credit cards.

Advice is everywhere. We must choose wisdom. But the promise of the pursuit of wisdom is God’s own prosperity.

Check in tomorrow for the next installment.

Nevertheless, I am not one of those preachers who proclaims that God wants his people to be Wealthy and Healthy and all we need to do is jump on the bandwagon of positive thoughts, so it was important to me that we dig into what the Bible actually has to say about prosperity.

In light of that, I wanted to post here what I’m calling the Seven Keys to Biblical Prosperity. We’ll take a few days to get through this. Each day we’ll address a few relevant passages from the Bible and a few principles learned from those passages. To see all the posts in this series, check out the SKTBP tag.

1. Cultivate a Trust and Obey Perspective on the Bible

The first and most important key to biblical prosperity comes from the commands God gives his people in Deuteronomy 15. Here are a few verses from that chapter:

However, there should be no poor among you, for in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you, if only you fully obey the LORD your God and are careful to follow all these commands I am giving you today. For the LORD your God will bless you as he has promised, and you will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. You will rule over many nations but none will rule over you. — Deuteronomy 15:4-6

Many other passages in the Bible echo this teaching, but we will cover a number of them in the following principles, so for now, let’s just focus on this one passage.

It’s important to note that God sets his ideal before the people that there should be no poor among them. We need to recognize that God’s ideal is for the elimination of poverty. His ideal is for his people to be so richly blessed that they will never need to borrow from any other nation.

This is important, because for God to be the complete and total authority in the lives of the people of Israel, he must make sure they are never given in slavery to another. For God to be the total authority, the people cannot be servants of any other nation either physically or financially. God promises blessing that is rich enough for them to be lenders and never borrowers, but the pre-requisite is that the people “fully obey” and “are careful to follow all these commands.”

All of God’s promises of blessing follow after careful obedience and full devotion to God’s Word. Therefore, the first and most important principle of Biblical prosperity is that a person be willing to completely trust and completely obey the teaching of the Bible even if the teaching doesn’t seem to be completely relevant or completely understandable.

The promise of prosperity is totally absent unless the Word of God is totally followed.

2. Steward with Generosity

In Christian circles, the word stewardship is thrown around whenever the topic turns to money. That’s because the Bible teaches that everything belongs to God and we are simply stewards or managers of his resources.

Usually, though, Christian Stewardship gets defined to mean primarily three things: tithing (the practice of giving 10% or more of your income to the church), restraining spending, and staying out of debt.

Those are exceptional lessons for people who want to live prosperous lives, and we will certainly cover them later, but this concept of stewardship can sometimes be warped into a tightfisted attitude toward our savings. Christians who understand stewardship are often taught to think about the money they are saving so that if they come upon rough times, they will be able to take care of themselves.

I certainly don’t disagree with any of that except to the extent that a focus on my personal savings account might make me tightfisted toward the poor.

Let’s keep reading in Deuteronomy 15.

If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother. Rather be openhanded and freely lend him whatever he needs. Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought: “The seventh year, the year for canceling debts, is near,” so that you do not show ill will toward your needy brother and give him nothing. He may then appeal to the LORD against you, and you will be found guilty of sin. Give generously to him and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land. — Deuteronomy 15:7-11

Though God’s ideal is that there be no poor in the land, he also recognizes that there will be times when an individual person is faced with the circumstance of poverty, and here we see the second most important principle in the Bible regarding prosperity.

God gives more to those who give to the poor.

Notice specifically that if we condense the verses, we read this:

If there is a poor man… do not… give him nothing…. You will be found guilty of sin… Give generously… the LORD your God will bless you.

To be tightfisted toward a needy person is to be guilty of sin, but to be joyfully generous to him will unlock God’s blessing!

This is a challenge to those of us who have been brought up on Christian stewardship principles. According to this verse, the best investment we can make is not to store our wealth into savings, but to share our wealth into the lives of the poor. Of course, God encourages people to be wise and to store up provisions for themselves (Proverbs 6:6-8). But he also warns those who would store up for themselves without caring for the poor (Micah 6:14).

Check back tomorrow for the next two principles.