MYTH: If I am Spiritual Enough, Life will be Easier
Series: Myths: Exposing the False Beliefs that Bind Us
Brad Bailey - April 7, 2013
Intro:
Examples of famous myths that have brought negative consequences.
Myths untruth... a fable... an idea that develops over time but is actually not true.
Broadly defined as "a widely held but mistaken belief."
Jesus said that 'the truth will set us free.' We naturally associate this with the big truths of who
God is and such. But he was often confronting the religious leaders and the ideas that they had
formed as tradition. The truth is that we can have many religious ideas that can bind us.
A sincere Christian + false beliefs = A disillusioned Christian
False beliefs or distorted ideas about life and faith can lead to discouragement and
disillusionment.
• Some may can turn away from God...and play the rebel...where they justify doing what they
want.
• Some can just keep a level of basic faithfulness...but the heart grows detached.
• But we can also grow into a deeper and more dynamic life with God.
> Because disillusionment can actually be part of a healthy process. The word dis-illusion
means 'apart from-illusion.' Illusions are not solid. To be disillusioned means to disconnect with an
illusion and find what is solid. [1]
> That is our goal - to mine the myths and so we can more fully enjoy the truth ...to discern
what is false in order to grasp what is firm and foundational.
Today: If I am Spiritual Enough Life Will be Easier
At first glance this may strike us as true. In some regards it does bear truth. But it is an idea...a
belief....that can become misunderstood...tragically misunderstood.
It shares similarities with ideas such as:
"The Center of God's Will Is the Safest Place to Be."
"I Should Expect God to Make Me Happy."
After all...it is the American way... 'the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of... happiness.'
And naturally we might assume that if we have a relationship with Christ who has come to reveal
God's love and forgiveness...we should certainly be the happiest. The Bible speaks of having the
'abundant life'...and being able to 'rejoice always.'
We may not think we ARE always happy...but think we SHOULD be...and we presume such
happiness means enjoying an easy life..
We are all going to experience hard circumstances in this life... whether financial, physical.
relational, emotional...and we will wonder....what they may reflect about ourselves...about God.
At times you may see others as so much happier.... and your thinking "I'm just not feeling it."
Everyone else seems to be like happy golden retrievers.... while you feel like the tree sloth.
Or the idea is even given more outward expectations... and could be extended into the idea that:
"I Should Expect God to Make Me Wealthy, Healthy, and Happy."
American culture has developed a view which is often referred to as the Prosperity Gospel.
...sometimes also referred to as the “name it and claim it,”... “health and wealth,” beliefs. [2]
It declares that God has promised health, wealth and happiness for those with the appropriate
“faith” and “obedience.”
It's presumed that since God has the ability to provide anything...do anything...and loves us....we
should presume that he wants to give us everything.
If we are now connected to the eternal realm....we can call upon His eternal will - and claim by
faith all that God wills for us.... wealth, health, and happiness.
After all... God speaks of blessing his people...
Deuteronomy 29:9 (NIV)
Carefully follow the terms of this covenant, so that you may prosper in everything you do.
Some would suggest that's a promise we should claim.
This (and similar verses like Deuteronomy 8:18 and 28:1,13) are often used to show that God wants
to give material blessings also nowadays.
So what's wrong?
1. This Scripture like the others, is not a formula for wealth...it was a general principle about
God's intent to see a faithful people be able to make a home in the promised land.
The small nation of Israel was only able to survive amidst so many other and usually greater and
stronger peoples through God’s provision in both spiritual and material ways. It's very clear that
God wanted to be able to help establish his people in a good land... provide for their needs....but that
the real goal was their faithfulness...not 'an easy life' which would cause turning from God.
The writer of Proverbs understood the significance of how material resources can effect our lives.
Proverbs 30:7-9 (NIV)
"Two things I ask of you, O LORD... give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily
bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, 'Who is the LORD?' Or I may
become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.
2. The very idea that the Book of Job was written to contradict is that a person's goodness is
directly related to their wealth and health.
Job loses his wealth, health, family...suffers in the most extreme ways...and his friends come to him
to argue that that he must have done something wrong...which Job vehemently denies. And he holds
on to God even while contending for his innocence. We read at one point...
Job 1:20-22 (NIV)
Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said:
"Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD
has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised." In all this, Job did not sin by charging God
with wrongdoing.
> The very point is that Job's suffering is neither fitting nor fair. Job had to trust that there was
more at hand...more involved... than simply punishment from God.
3. God's blessings were not meant to be fully realized and reflected within this temporal world
They had not even understood much about any life beyond ....they could only imagine that
obedience to God would bring blessing that could only be within the scope of life now.
That is why the Psalmist wonders about 'why do the wicked prosper?'
What Jesus reveals is that the Father's blessing only begins in this life.
Jesus reveals that God the Father is redeeming the world...and each of us as we join in that
redemption...a redemption that comes with surrender and sacrifice...and suffering.
Jesus is very clear when he calls us to follow him...noting that even he as the son of God had
no place to lay his head.
It does not deny the value of material and physical blessing...it expands it into a larger
storyline.
Faith is surrendering our wills to his and joining in redemption....what Jesus described as "labor
pains."
Easter - declared it so boldly... Jesus exemplifies in surrounding to the Father in suffering...
This is why Paul sets a new course for his life...
Philippians 3:10-11 (NIV)
I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his
sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the
dead.
> the storyline has expanded...it's bigger and better...but involves transformation.
Here the general truth:
God's blessings of wealth, health, and happiness are real...but not on our terms or timing.
The important point of clarity...is "not on our terms or timing."
Being reconciled with God DOES make life easier in so many ways.
Growing in our relationship and following Christ DOES make a profound difference in how we
experience this life. To be forgiven and live not by merit....but by grace...WOW that makes life
easier. To be reconciled to my common life with others ... community defined by God as our
common Father....that changes so much. To experience His presence and partnership.... the
working of His Spirit...that changes everything about how I can live.
But the temporal blessings of wealth, health, and what we may often associate with happiness...
are NOT going to be seen fully in this life.
God does want you to be happy...but He has no illusion about life in this current world we live.
The kind of happiness that depends on circumstances is simply limited.
C..S. LEWIS
The Christian doctrine of suffering explains, I believe, a very curious fact about the world we live
in. The settled happiness and security which we all desire, God withholds from us by the very
nature of the world: but joy, pleasure, and merriment He has scattered broadcast. We are never
safe, but we have plenty of fun, and some ecstasy. It is not hard to see why. The security we crave
would teach us to rest our hearts in this world and oppose an obstacle to our return to God: a few
moments of happy love, a landscape, a symphony, a merry meeting with our friends, a bathe or a
football match, have no such tendency. Our Father refreshes us on the journey with some pleasant
inns, but will not encourage us to mistake them for home. [3]
Let me state something that may seem strong...but liberating:
Christians do not receive a "go-directly-to-heaven-pass-all-suffering" card.
Christians get sick. Disease comes to all people regardless of their faith commitment.
Christians face the same challenges of material and financial resources.
More pertinently...God owes you nothing.
God does not owe you a healthy body or a happy marriage or good children or a house or clothes or
even food. He doesn’t owe you a free country or a happy childhood.
The truth about what we deserve...is that we deserve to be separated forever...by our guilt and
shame. But God bears a love so profound that He is willing to suffer for our sake...to redeem us. He
has given us more than we deserve...He has given us Himself...to give us life beyond our rejection
and death.
Some clearer truth to walk in:
New life in Christ involves...
1. Embracing hardship and pain not as a sign of lacking faith or faithfulness, but of joining
God in a fallen world.
You may recall that when Jesus and his disciples came across a blind man by the side of the road,
John 9:2-3 (NIV)
His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born
blind?" 3 "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that
the work of God might be displayed in his life.
Whose sin? > NEITHER...God is simply choosing to redeem the world.... a world filled and flowing
with both good and evil....good and bad. Jesus doesn't say God made the man blind.... we can
really only infer that God allowed the man to experience blindness as part of a fallen world....and
that God knows he can work with it.
If you have experienced some hard situation...some tragic circumstances...and wondered "What
did I do?"...."Why me?" the answer may simply be that you are alive on planet earth... part of a
fallen world. If you have ever wondered if your suffering is because you lack faith...or
faithfulness....it's a good question...but it should never be presumed that there is a direct correlation.
New life in Christ involves...
2. Embracing a new purpose to everything we face....which is that of becoming like Christ.
Romans 8:28-29 (NLT)
And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God
and are called according to his purpose for them. 29 For God knew his people in advance, and
he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many
brothers and sisters.
God is working and the central point is... “according to His purpose.” For everything that God
allows to happen to us, He has a purpose in mind. The problem is that too often we just learn this
verse by itself, and don’t keep reading to find out what “His purpose” is. The next verse makes it
very clear: “To be conformed to the image of His Son.”
God’s wonderful plan for your life is that, when you trust him, you will be changed as you develop
the nature of Christ. In fact... Jesus can fairly be called “the firstborn among many brethren”—
He is the only begotten Son of God, but He now has a lot of brothers and sisters by adoption.
That is the will of God for your life. The purpose that runs through everything you go through is to
become like Jesus Christ. Whatever makes you like Jesus is good. Whatever doesn’t make you like
Jesus is bad. And God is fully committed to shaping your life day by day into the image of the Lord
Jesus Christ.
What happens outwardly in your life is not as important as what happens inside you. Your
circumstances are temporary, but your character will last forever.
John Ortberg - 'What God does in us while we are waiting is just as important as what we are
waiting for.'
This involves...
3. Embracing a process of spiritual development that is not fully within our control.
When we face hard times...we often feel out of control...and so we can naturally want a formula
that can help us get control again. We may think: "If I do this then God will do this." If I give all
I have, God will give me more and help me out of my financial crisis. If I fast...God will restore my
marriage. If I claim it...God will heal my cancer.
We need to let go of simplistic cause - effect presumption. The sovereignty of God...how it is He
works good from all things, is not something we can understand and try and presume we will
understand in our limited mechanical "cause - effect" way."
God is working through all things in ways we will generally NOT understand.
Isaiah 55:9 (NIV)
"As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my
thoughts than your thoughts.
When we embrace that we are finite beings who cannot understand the sovereign reign of infinite
God over life....we will find the peace of surrender.
We need to embrace a process spiritual development that is more of a mystery than
mechanical.
We will naturally want to ask "why?"...but we will find far more clarity in asking "WHAT
good" God might work in our circumstances.
LIFE'S HARDSHIPS ARE LIKE UNDERSIDE OF BEAUTIFUL TAPESTRY
...the beauty of the embroidered side, with all the threads forming a beautiful picture... which
describes the plan God has for our lives. What we may see will often look like the other side...the
underside .... the tangled, confused underside. Our lives are a weaving in which God chooses the
colors and He will include pain and hardship...and we must understand He sees the upper, and we
the underside. [4]
Based on this purpose and process... New life in Christ involves...
4. Embracing life with God as the better life more than the easier life.
Jesus offers us true life....life that is at peace with God and with death. It is a life with God that
begins now. It is a life that involves a process of transformation into the relationship with God as
daughters and sons. It is better...but not necessarily easier on our terms or our timing.
There is nothing wrong with wanting life to be easier.
The problem is that we can make the avoidance of pain our defining goal.
I don't want to feel alone so I engage in sexual relationships to feel connected (...even when I'm
not.)
I don't want to feel pressure so I use alcohol or drugs to escape (even though I don't.)
I don't want to feel hurt so I cut off relationship (...even when it will not really resolve the hurt.)
I don't want to feel weak... or face my own pain...so I check out (...even when it avoids the life I
need.)
All of these can come down to avoiding pain.
Larry Crabb
"...ultimately God made us to have a relationship with Him, not to give us a pain-free
existence (although that was His desire). When we want to get rid of our pain more than we
want to know God, we are committing the cardinal sin. Everything else is just a consequence
of wanting to relieve the pain. "We find God to the degree that we want to find him. Until our
passion for finding God exceeds all other passions, ... we will not find him as deeply as he
longs to be found." [5]
Joseph Gallagher was write when he said, “Our human choice is never between pain and no pain,
but between the pain of committing and the pain of not committing.”
Jesus openly acknowledges to the disciples that he is going to have to suffer...and Simon Peter took
him aside and contested his assertion and argued that suffering was not necessary. “There has got to
be a way to get the job done without pain. Surely someone like you figure out a way do not have to
go through such an ordeal.”
Jesus knew this reality. He also knew that the ultimate choice is the ability to choose your pain.
Aren't we glad that Jesus didn't make avoiding pain his highest goal...that he knew that the best life
is not the easiest life.
New life in Christ involves...
5. Embracing access to a deeper joy more than focusing on circumstantial happiness.
Joy comes from within; joy is not dependent upon the people in your life, or the possessions you
accumulate, or what’s happening at this point in your life. [6]
God says you’ll find joy, when you trust that he’s in control and working to use the good – and the
bad – of your life for a greater purpose.
The apostle Paul understood this, writing about joy while in prison, chained to a guard, alone in a
foreign city: “Whatever happens, dear brothers and sisters, may the Lord give you joy …”
(Philippians 3:1, NLT).
Each of us has to develop that perspective that the apostle Paul did where he said,
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (NIV)
Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our
light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So
we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what
is unseen is eternal.
That's the secret of joy. It's choosing the eternal over the temporary in every situation.”
The new Pope.. Pope Francis... gave his first sermon this past Palm Sunday to a waiting world of
Catholics and non-Catholics alike.... and he said:
"...here the first word that I wish to say to you: joy! Ours is not a joy born of having many
possessions, but from having encountered a Person: Jesus, in our midst; it is born from knowing that
with him we are never alone, even at difficult moments, even when our life’s journey comes up
against problems and obstacles that seem insurmountable, and there are so many of them! And in
this moment the enemy, the devil, comes, often disguised as an angel, and slyly speaks his word to
us. Do not listen to him! Let us follow Jesus! We accompany, we follow Jesus, but above all we
know that he accompanies us and carries us on his shoulders. This is our joy, this is the hope that
we must bring to this world."
Conclusion:
How we navigate this myth... our expectations...is a matter of enormous life significance.
Some of us...faced some hardships...and potential disappointment.
You may be keeping a level of basic faithfulness...but your heart feels lost.
Some have faced disappointments and we've found a rebellious spirit working it's ways.... a
subtle sense of feeling justified to pull away...make our own decisions. A sense of independence
and pride will arise....as we claim a freedom to live as we want.
Disappointment can lead us to the other side of the illusion...where we come to a deeper
surrender to God's will....and a more intimate place with Him. It will come with a deeper level of
humility....humbled by a grace we cannot match. We will still want change....but we will lay down
the demands to understand. We will begin to hold onto what is most important...which is the love of
God within us.
There we find life that cannot be stolen.
Resources: Rich Nathan (some response to Prosperity Gospel); Rick Warren regarding God's
purpose being eternal and on joy (Don’t Settle for Happiness; Aim for Joy); Kay Warren - interview
with Dan Wooding regarding joy verses happiness; Lois Amari - "Are You Disappointed At God?";
If God has a 'Wonderful Plan' for My Life, Why Am I Suffering? by Mr. Willow;
Notes:
1. From The Narrow Gate blog / website article "Disllusioned."
(http://thenarrowgate.net/disillusioned.htm)
He states more fully:
"So, are you discouraged yet? If you have been a Christian for any length of time, you
must have faced discouragement and disillusionment in your life. Have you become
disillusioned with life, with other Christians, with yourself - with God? Do you find it
harder than you thought to walk as He walked? Do you agonise over unanswered
prayers, harsh or shallow people in your church, a loss of joy, peace or passion? If any of
this rings true for you, then praise God! Disillusionment is a work of the Holy Spirit in
the life of every believer. In fact, I will go so far as to say that, if you have never known
such disillusionment as this, then you have not been growing as a Christian.
Jesus had much to say about the kind of people he intended us to be. Among many
other things, he told us that the Truth would set us free. The Truth, as distinct from
lies, false ideas, false fronts and false foundations. It is so important to understand that
we begin life as believers with a great deal of misinformation underlying our ideas about
God, life, and ourselves."
Also note the root meaning of "dis-illusionment" - "to free from or deprive of illusion"
Prefix "dis" - a Latin prefix meaning “apart,” “asunder,” “away,” “utterly,” or having a privative,
negative, or reversing force (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/dis-)
"Illusion" - something that deceives by producing a false or misleading impression of reality.
(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/illusion)
2. Some further response and Scripture to the Prosperity Gospel
That is precisely the problem at the back of the Book of Job. Job is in misfortune; his friends come to
him to argue that that misfortune must be the result of his own sin; and Job most vehemently denies that
charge. "Think now," said Eliphaz, "who that was innocent ever perished?" (Jb.4:7) "If you are pure and
upright," said Bildad, "surely then he would rouse himself for you and reward you with a rightful
habitation" (Jb.8:6). "For you say, My doctrine is pure, and I am clean in God's eyes," said Zophar, "but
oh that God would speak and open his lips to you" (Jb.11:4). The very idea that the Book of Job was
written to contradict is that an person's goodness is related to their wealth and health. God's blessings
were never meant to reflect a simple cause-effect formula.
From 'Health and Wealth' by Andrew Brandon (1987), published by Kingsway Publishers.
"The poor Christians of the first generation became the educated middle-class Christians of the
next. When this happens, Church growth slows significantly. Prosperity and affluence tend to lead
to atrophy rather than give impetus to growth." (pg.14)
"Jesus definitely heals today, but both scripture and human experience show that He doesn't heal
everyone." (pg.65)
Even Kathryn Kuhlman a 'healing evangelist', toward the end of her life, said this of healing:
"Twenty years ago I believed that... it was God's will for everybody without exception, to be
healed...Now I see that we can't demand or command that God do anything. In general, I definitely
believe that it's God's will to heal. But I can't say absolutely what is or is not His will in a particular
case. There are some things I've learned just not to touch." (pg.67)
Other solid additional resources:
Rich Nathan (audio and text download available) - http://www.vineyardcolumbus.org/watchlisten/
messages/is-it-gods-will-for-you-to-be-wealthy-healthy-and-happy/
3. C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain, Ch 7, p. 115
4. Taken from reference to Corrie Ten Boom's use of this illustration as described in Corrie Ten
Boom: Her Life, Her Faith. by Carole C. Carlson (Jove Books, The Berkeley Publishing Group,
New York, 1984), page 175.
5. Larry Crabb - "Finding God" (review - http://www.physics.ohiostate.
edu/~prewett/writings/BookReviews/FindingGod.html)
6. Regarding "joy"...Kay Warren, the wife of Rick Warren, senior pastor of Saddleback Church, has
battled breast cancer and melanoma and now she has encouraged others to, like her, “choose joy.”
In fact, her latest book is called “Choose Joy Because Happiness Isn’t Enough,” (Revell, April 1st
publication.) She says,
“Happiness is completely connected to what's happening to us on the external circumstances of our
lives. Joy is unrelated to what's happening to us on the outside.
(Joy) is the settled assurance that God is in control of all the details of my life the quiet confidence
that ultimately everything is going to be alright and the determined choice to praise him in all
things.
7. Pope Francis sermon - Posted on 24 March 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf
8. Some further good thoughts on disappointment:
"Are You Disappointed At God?" by Lois Amari
“Rejoice in the Lord Always! ”(From Concordia Lutheran Church, message 10/09/05)
How can Paul tell us to “rejoice always” when our life is often full of trial, stress and pain? Is Paul
living in an ivory tower? Is Paul clueless about life in the real world?
No. Paul was not living in an ivory tower. In fact, he was in a Roman prison when he wrote this
letter to the Philippians. Nor was Paul clueless about the trials we face in this world. Paul was no
stranger to suffering.
Listen to this list of Paul’s trials from II Corinthians chapter 11: “I have…been
flogged...and…exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty
lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was
shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger
from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from
false brothers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger
and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.” Wow! If anybody had a reason to be
bitter about life, it was Paul!
But this is the same Paul who said: “Rejoice always!” Actually, that’s not quite correct. Here’s
what Paul actually said. Listen carefully: “Rejoice in the Lord always!” Those three words “in the
Lord” are absolutely necessary if we are to understand the joy that Paul says you can have.
Romans 5:3-5 (NIV)
....we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4
perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has
poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
