"Living Large"

So, I was riding back from Garden Ridge Pottery with my roommate the other night when we drove past a large church, nondenominational I think, or maybe Baptist, though the denomination is rather irrelevant. On their sign was the topic for the upcoming sermon series, called "Living Large: A Life of Abundance." There are so many things wrong with that. The first thing that struck me was related to weight, and how in the midst of living a 'life of abundance' affluent Americans have been getting larger. Less physical activity in most people's daily lives because they have office jobs and work long hours behind a desk, going out to eat because it's quicker and easier and often part of a job, more stress and less healthy ways of coping with it. Based on what I know of this type of theology I am pretty sure this topic is supposed to be a positive sermon, a sermon to tell the congregation how if they trust God and 'live large' and have faith God will give abundantly to them. Unfortunately this translates into an equation: faith in God=lots of stuff. And that is not something God ever promised. I don't really know where this idea that being a good Christian means physical affluence came from, but quite the opposite is promised multiple times in the Bible. Followers of Jesus are promised trial, tribulation, persecution, etc, but no material wealth (though it's not all doom and despair!). Another problem with this view is that if one takes this view of Christianity then clearly all the Christians in other parts of the world that live in poverty and barely scrape by, partly due to the economic conditions of their countries, clearly just do not have enough faith. That is a bit disturbing, and unhelpful in dealing with others. It skews many aspects of theology. How does one work with charity and even share when one believes that everything one has is a sort of prize for being a good Christian? I believe this type of theology is dangerous and makes it difficult to create a positive vision to work toward. That is one thing I like about Lutheran theology. It says that we as Christians are acting out God's purpose in the world, and thus it is our responsibility to share wealth, care for those who are lacking, and promote peace and well-being for the WHOLE earth, ALL people, because we believe every person is God's and should be treated thus. Be careful, then, when promised material abundance in return for faith, because that is not a promise God gave, and in some instances it seems to me it is more in line with a curse.