"Accept Christ and you will become healthy, wealthy, and wise.” Have you ever heard that? In my years of ministry, prosperity doctrine has taken a prominent place in the church culture of our country. The essential doctrine is that God wants everything in your life to go well. If it doesn’t, you may not be exercising your faith. How does the prosperity gospel compare with Jesus saying, “If anyone wants to come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me”? Contrast the health and wealth message with Bonhoeffer’s statement, “When Christ calls a person he bids them to come and die.”
As the church overcame internal and external challenges, it continued to grow. Enter Herod. He not only arrested James, the son of Zebedee, but he immediately put him to death. Sensing the approval of the religious leaders, he arrested Peter and planned to do the same thing. This is what Jesus talked about as he entered Jerusalem. “Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies it remains alone. But if it dies, it produces many seeds” (John 12:24). And again, “Whoever serves me must follow me. Where I am there my servant will be also (John 12:26). Jesus anticipated that his disciples would experience the same challenges as their Master. We should not be surprised that James literally followed Jesus to death.
I could tell you that if you have a good prayer time, you will never get sick. People will throw money into your car if your windows are down. Every traffic light will turn green right before you get there. I-10 will part like the Red Sea on your way to work. But this is not what Jesus said. Nor is it our experience. Following Jesus will often put us at odds with the prevailing culture. Many Christians are facing intense persecution in our world. Those churches are growing faster than the ones that face no opposition. No wonder church father Tertullian said, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” James was gone. But the church lived on. It still does. God’s grace is sufficient for our suffering, but we are not offered an exemption from pain.
