I’LL SAY IT right up front: I think the so-called “prosperity gospel” is both wrong and dangerous. Even though the New Testament clearly teaches that believers will suffer for their faith, there are some who teach that suffering is evidence of a lack of faith. Even though Jesus pronounces both the “poor in spirit” and the “poor” to be blessed (Matt 5:3; Luke 6:20) and repeatedly warns against the lure of worldly wealth, there are some who teach that God wants us prosper materially. Health, wealth, and good fortune are taken as divine promises. All you have to do is believe — really believe. Name which of God’s promises you want, claim it in prayer, and it will all be yours. And if that prayer isn’t answered… well, sorry, it must be your own fault for not having enough faith.

Whole media empires are built on this kind of theology. Some of you reading this may have suffered the spiritual wreckage that can come from buying into this kind of false gospel and having your prayers seemingly go unanswered. Not only do you feel rejected by God, you may actually be rejected by the others around you, who begin to treat you like the person who ruins the party.

It’s a deeply unbiblical teaching. But doggone it, there are just some Bible verses that seem to support that way of thinking. All we need to do is rip them out of context, print them on a motivational poster or a t-shirt, and we’re good to go…

LISTEN AGAIN TO the passage from 1 John that we began exploring last time:

This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. (1 John 3:19-22, NIV)

As we’ve seen, John wants to comfort and strengthen his readers, who may be suffering from a form of spiritual performance anxiety. As Jesus himself had done, John made the love of others the central mark of an authentic Christian life, and the cross the primary example. Given all the questions and doubts that had been swirling in the community, this may have made some people even more anxious, troubled with self-condemnation for not being more like Jesus. God knows your heart, John reassures them, and God is greater than your heart. Take confidence in his grace.

But then comes a statement that sounds like it’s taken straight from the prosperity gospel playbook. What does he mean when he says that we “receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him”?

Here is yet another place where John’s words echo the words of Jesus in the Upper Room. There, Jesus told his disciples:

If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. (John 15:7)

Here, as elsewhere, context is everything. Jesus says, “Ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” But this can’t be cut apart from what he says first: “If you remain in me and my words remain in you…” This, again, is the theme of mutual abiding that we’ve seen repeatedly in 1 John. We are to abide in Jesus’ love as Jesus abided in the Father’s love; we are to keep Jesus’ commands as Jesus kept his Father’s commands. We abide in Jesus, and Jesus’ words abide in us.

Moreover, the verse comes in the context of Jesus’ description of himself as the vine and his disciples as the branches. The whole passage is about bearing fruit — particularly the fruit of love! — not about how to get whatever else you want in life. So when Jesus says, “ask whatever you wish,” the presupposition is that the person asking is abiding in Jesus and wants to live a fruitful Christian life as Jesus would define it.

Back to 1 John. The apostle writes, “We have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him.” A sentence like that could easily be turned into a prosperity gospel slogan. But that can only be done if you rip the verse out of its context.

John is not saying, “Follow the rules, and God will answer your prayers and give you what you want,” whatever it may be. The whole context is about loving one another; that is the most important command.

Nor is John talking about any old prayer that a Christian might toss heavenward. Remember the context: John is reassuring people who are anxious about their standing before God, because they’re not as loving as the crucified Jesus. What would their prayer be? Would they be praying for a new pair of sandals? Or to be more and more like Jesus in love?

Thus, when John says that we “receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him,” he’s not saying that answered prayer is a reward for being good, a prize for being Christian of the Week. He’s saying something more like, Listen, beloved. I know you’re not perfect in love. God knows it too. But God also knows your heart. You are doing what he commands, even if not perfectly. You are doing what pleases him, even if not as consistently or sacrificially as Jesus. That shows that you do in fact belong to the truth. The gospel is in you, and it shows. So trust God, trust his work in you. And keep praying about what you need to be the person God is making you to be!

That’s the kind of prayer that arises from mutually abiding in Jesus, the kind of prayer that God is pleased to grant. And as we’ll see, it’s also evidence of the work of the Holy Spirit in us.