Dear Wealthy Investors:

If you’ve missed the fact that I think a “prosperity gospel” is heresy, then we haven’t talked. Religious hucksters have been around since the beginning of time. Even the early church struggled with that brand of phony. 

In Acts 4.32, we’re told how many people sold property to place the money before the Apostles so they could distribute it to any who were in need. In Acts chapter 5, Ananias and his wife Sapphira wanted in on the action. Christians were digging deep to support the work of the early church. So Ananias and Sapphira sold a piece of property, but they held back some of the proceeds, telling the Apostles they had gifted the full value of their sale. Ananias came before the Apostles first. When he told them he had given everything, they pointed out his lie, and he immediately died. Not knowing she was a widow, a few moments later Sapphira stood before the Apostles and told the same lie; she too dropped dead before them. (I’ve sometimes mused how stewardship season would end if each of us had to stand before the Session to announce that our pledge reflected the “best” we could do. But I digress.)

Also, in Acts 8, there’s the account of Simon the magician who offered the Apostles money to learn the secrets of their power to perform miracles. In verse 20, Peter scolds Simon, telling him that God’s power could not be bought. Simon becomes timid and asks Peter to pray for him, that his heart may be made right.

As part of FPCLG, I hope none of us thinks our church relationships and fellowships could enhance financial success or social power—that advancement is antithetical to the purpose and meaning of our fellowship.

I am, however, going to suggest that our work together should be about ensuring the success of everyone we encounter. I say that in reference to a fellow Nebraskan who knows a thing or two about success. When asked the definition of success, Warren Buffett said, “Basically, when you get to my age, you’ll really measure your success in life by how many of the people you want to have love you actually do love you. I know people who have a lot of money, and they get testimonial dinners and hospital wings named after them. But the truth is that nobody in the world loves them,” Buffett continued. “If you get to my age in life and nobody thinks well of you, I don’t care how big your bank account is—your life is a disaster.”

So, while I do not preach a prosperity gospel, I hope we live a success gospel—at least partially as the elderly Warren Buffett defines it. I say partially because he speaks of the people you “want to have love you,” as if even in his nineties he may still be trying to win someone’s particular affection. Speaking from my significantly smaller portfolio, I suggest we are successful if we know we are loved. That, my friends, is not the business of finance, but the core mission of being church. We should speak, work and live to make everyone a success. We are to invest our selves in such a way that anyone and everyone who comes within our reach learns beyond a shadow of a doubt that...they… are…loved. 

Realistically, some may pass from this life to the next questioning if that is true. That doesn’t make them failures; it merely defers to eternity the certain knowledge that they are precious, valued, important, successful, loved. We offer this currency because we are confident of God’s love for us. The love we give comes from God’s infinite wealth of love for us; therefore it cannot be exhausted or diminished. We should live in such a way that the most profitable stake we can share is the success-giving venture of making our love honest, clear and non-negotiable.

Believing that everyone can be a success, I remain,

With Love,
Jonathan Krogh
Your Pastor

P.S. For those who are used to seeing me on Facebook, I regret to let you know my account has been fully hacked, so I blocked it pending an investigation by Meta.