In some ways this morning’s
reading might feel a little bit irrelevant to our current situation. At the moment our economy is collapsing. Some of you have lost your jobs. Many of you will have taken a drop in
income. And now I am about to warn you
of the dangers of prosperity.
But globally we are
prosperous. We see that every time we
turn on our news and see pictures from the two-thirds world. Also, at a time when of recession and growing
unemployment we can pin all our hopes on economic recovery. As we have seen in recent decades, the
economic prosperity of a nation can easily result in spiritual decline.
In the Old Testament God had a
special relationship with the nation of Israel.
He promised to give them the land of Canaan. He rescued then from slavery in Egypt, and
just before they entered that place, he warned them of the dangers of
prosperity:
‘So you shall keep the
commandments of the LORD your God by walking in his ways and by fearing
him. For the LORD your God is bringing
you into a good land … you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the LORD
your God for the good land he has given you … take care lest you forget the
LORD your God … lest when you have eaten and are full and have built good
houses and live in them … that your heart be lifted up and you forget the LORD
your God, who brought you up out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery’ (Deut.
8:6-14).
I don’t know how long lockdown
will last. I don’t know how life will be
forever changed. But I do believe that
God is doing something at this time.
People are realising that life is short and that we will all die one
day. As our routines are changed some
are getting more time to think about and invest in their faith. But will these things last when we return to
prosperity? Will we forget the lessons
we have learned when the pandemic has passed?
There is a danger that when we return to prosperity, we might forget
what God has done.
I have three questions that I
hope help us when life returns to its prosperous normal:
Who will you thank when the
pandemic is over? Will you let this
pandemic point you to God? Will you
change in a way that can survive prosperity?
Who will you thank when the
pandemic is over?
The prophet Hosea spoke at a
period of expansion and prosperity. But
instead of thanking God for their prosperity, the people used their wealth to
build alters to other gods. God says of
them, ‘The more his fruit increased, the more alters he built’ (1a). The gods that they worshipped were fertility
gods. They credited these false gods
with their prosperity. Who will we thank
for bringing us out of this pandemic and returning us to prosperity?
Will we praise the frontline
workers, the good management of the government and the scientists who come up
with a vaccine? These have all done a
good job and we should be grateful. But
don’t forget to praise the God who directs the hearts of leaders, who gives
strength and compassion to frontline workers and who gives the scientists their
abilities and who chooses not to frustrate their efforts. Ultimately it will be God who will bring us
through this pandemic and deliver us out the other side. He is the one that we should be leaning on
during the crisis and the first one that we thank when the crisis is over.
Will you let this pandemic point
you to God?
In the book of Lamentations,
Jeremiah declares that God ‘does not willingly afflict or grieve the children
of men’ (Lamentations 3:33). He has a
gracious purpose for this pandemic. What
is it? He is waking people up to their
mortality. At times like these we are
being made aware that this life is passing and one day we will face our maker. The danger is that when the pandemic is over
people will forget him again.
Two centuries before Hosea, the
nation of Israel had been divided in two.
There was now a northern and a southern kingdom. They were bitter rivals. The northern kingdom was called Israel (whose
capital was Samaria) and the southern kingdom was called Judah (whose capital
was Jerusalem). The temple was in
Jerusalem in Judah, but Israel’s king did not want his people making
pilgrimages to the capital of the rival southern kingdom and run the risk of
being influenced by them, so he set up two golden calves—one in Dan and the
other in Bethel. While Bethel means
‘house of God’, Hosea calls it ‘Beth-aven’, which means house of wickedness. Because of their wickedness, judgement was
coming. Hosea warns of a time when the
Assyrians will come and take their golden calf away (6).
Hosea describes that day saying, ‘they
shall say to the mountains, “cover us,” and to the hills “fall on us”’
(8). Jesus quotes these words, in Luke’s
gospel, when he anticipates how the Romans would destroy Jerusalem in A.D. 67. Similarly, in the book of Revelation, we have
another echo of these words as John is pointed to the final judgement.
These crises pointed ahead to the
day when we will all have to stand before God.
Similarly, this pandemic reminds people that we are mortal, and that we
should be prepared to meet our God (Amos 4:12).
Jesus commented on two crises in his day and said, ‘unless you repent,
you will all likewise perish’ (Luke 13:3).
He warned a man that he healed, saying, ‘repent or something worse will
happen to you’ (John 5:14). There is
something worse than dying in a pandemic, and that is dying without Jesus!
The danger of prosperity is that
as things return to normal, people will forget God again. They might be like the seed that falls on the
shallow soil that lasts only for a while.
So, we should be hard at prayer, asking God that he would do a real work
in people’s hearts so that when this is all over, they would still be loving
God.
3. Will you see now as the time to change?
It is not just those who do not
yet know Jesus that are been awoken in the pandemic, Christians are drawing
closer to Jesus at this time. Maybe
having to slow down and change your routine has caused you spend more time with
God. Maybe the anxiety that this creates
is causing to cast your anxieties on him.
The danger of returning to prosperity is that you may get caught up in
the business of life again.
There is hard work to be done at
this time. It will take hard work if it
is to bring lasting change. ‘Sow for
yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up the fallow ground, for
it is time to seek the LORD, that he may come and rain righteousness on you’ (12).
Many of us have spent more time
in the garden with this good weather. We
have taken up a hedge by our driveway.
It is hard work breaking up the soil and getting the roots out. But imagine how hard the soil was in the near
east. Imagine trying to plant anything
on a hard path that is dry and constantly being walked over. Israel was being called to break up the hard
and fallow ground. They are being called
to break their hard hearts and seek the mercy of God.
Have we been putting off dealing
with a habitual sin? Are we holding a
grudge against someone? Are we resisting
doing something that God is challenging us to do? Are we becoming harsh and critical as we deal
with the frustrations of this time?
Fleeing from sin is not easy.
Cultivating holy habits is hard work.
Do we realise that today is the day to act? Stop putting it off! It can feel like death to say ‘no’ to
temptation.
But look at the reward. God will rain righteousness on you. We know that we are simply sinful people, who
can do nothing of ourselves to please a holy God, whose very efforts at
righteousness are stained with pride and self-congratulation. But in Christ we are cleansed, and he gives
us the power to change. He works within
us to will and act according to his good pleasure as we work out our salvation
with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12-13).
As we strive to be holy, he can change us, and, as we see him changing
us, we grow in the glad realisation that we belong to him.
Chrishantha was a young drug
addict and dealer who became a Christian in Sri Lanka. Changes to his rough character can
slowly. He got involved in helping at a
rehab centre, but then some young people in the village severely assaulted
him. When his mentor rang to see how he
was he said, ‘Now, I know I am a Christian.’
He explained that after he was assaulted, several of the students at the
centre wanted to hit back, and that they could have gained the upper hand. But Chrishantha stopped them. Then as he walked back to the centre, he
suddenly felt immense joy. He realised
that his not wanting to hit back was completely uncharacteristic of his old
self. He realised that he no longer had
the desire to take revenge. God was
changing him.
Conclusion
An article in last week’s Sunday
Times said that during this pandemic there has been an increase in the sale of
Bibles. People are thinking about their
mortality. But will they forget him when
prosperity returns?
We will forget what we have
learned when prosperity returns? Will we
simply go back to our old ways of busyness or will we have cultivated our faith
in a way that can survive prosperity? So
that when all this is over, we will thank God, not just that he has brought us
through this crisis, but that he has used it for good!
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