The other day I came across the meme I’m using for this post and it reminded me of a previous series I did on the ‘Prosperity Gospel’ and the ‘Health And Wealth’ theology. So I want to revisit and focus on one of the subjects of that series – Joel Osteen.
Who is Osteen?
Joel Osteen, the senior pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, has an estimated net worth that varies across sources. Some reports suggest his net worth is around $100 million (Celebrity Net Worth), while others estimate it to be approximately $40 million to $60 million (Wikipedia).
Additionally, some sources claim his net worth is as high as $180 million (CA Club India).
Osteen resides in a 17,000-square-foot mansion valued at $10.5 million in the River Oaks neighborhood of Houston. He has stated that he does not receive a salary from Lakewood Church, which has an annual budget of $70 million, relying instead on income from his best-selling books and related products (Wikipedia).
But What did Jesus teach?
Well, it seems pretty clear to me—or to anyone else with a lick of common sense—that when Jesus said in Matthew 6:33, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you…” He didn’t have $10 million mansions, private luxury jets, and massive piles of cash in mind.
But what did He have in mind? Read the context:
Matthew 6:25–34 (NKJV)
“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?
26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
28 So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin;
29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
31 Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
You don’t need an advanced degree in theology or philosophy to understand the plain words spoken by our Lord here. All you need is basic reading comprehension.
What things “shall be added to you”? Mansions? A fleet of luxury fishing boats? A hoard of gold coins? No—the “things” are the necessities of life, like food and clothing.
Does He teach that you can’t or shouldn’t have more than the necessities? No—but our Lord’s message is clear: the desire for God’s righteousness is muddied and distorted when we focus on the riches of this age instead of His kingdom.
It’s impossible to have total reliance on God when one has lots of cash, cars, jets, and Swiss bank accounts to fall back on—right?