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Healing Broken Bones
05/17/05
"And Jesus answered them,
'Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have
not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.'" Luke
5:31-32 (RSV)
Jesus is the "Great
Physician." There is no wound that He cannot heal. In the above passage,
Jesus equates "healing" with "repentance." In
addition, this is a "backhanded confrontation" of the Pharisees who
felt they were "righteous" and had "no need of a
physician." Yet the Scriptures teach that "all have sinned" and
need Jesus' healing. (Romans 3:23) Therefore, in order to be healed one must
become aware of one's own "sickness" or "injury." Take for
example the sin of bitterness, with which most of us have wrestled. Bitterness
often occurs when an individual sins against us, but we do not forgive that
person. In this situation, sin deceives and blinds us into thinking the one who
sinned against us is the only one needing to repent. (Hebrews 3:12-13) Thus we
see no need to repent of bitterness and therefore we can not be healed by
Christ's forgiveness. How easy it is to become a Pharisee!
For the past two years, most in
our fellowship would agree that a time of patient healing has been necessary -
for individual disciples, each congregation and our entire brotherhood.
Certainly, Elena and I are appreciative of the compassion and patience of our
Portland brothers and sisters. However, since this is a lengthy period of time,
let me suggest that we begin to consider whether our patience with our brothers
or our local congregation has gradually faded into the toleration of sin. In Revelation
2:20-23, Jesus confronts the church at Thyatira of tolerating Jezebel,
tolerating the sin of immorality. Jesus himself says, "I have given
her time to repent," but since she is unwilling, "I will
cast her on a bed of suffering!" Here we learn that those who
refuse to repent are not "healed," but God "casts
them on a bed of suffering." Could it be that suffering disciples
become "bedridden" (perpetually weak) because they have not been
healed through extending forgiveness?
Many of us have seen in the
movies the excruciating moment when a person with a broken bone must have it
"set" so that the bone mends in a straight and functional way. If it
heals incorrectly, then it must be broken again and "re-set" straight.
(This really hurts! Just ask my friend Craig Fabian who went through this exact
experience!) Many churches are reporting progress! This is indeed good news! Yet
I am concerned by reports from some who visit Portland that "progress"
in their congregations may only mean the church has stopped stoning the
preachers! Should we not all be concerned when the bones are healing but not in
a straight (Scriptural) and functional way?
Here are three areas of concern
for some churches to "re-set" broken bones:
- EACH DISCIPLING CHURCH IS
COMPOSED OF ONLY "SOLD-OUT" DISCIPLES. In proclaiming the Word
of God, preachers must call every member to be a disciple who loves God with
all their heart, soul, mind and strength and loves their neighbor as
themselves. (Matthew
22:37-38) Secondly, each disciple must have the same mission as Jesus "to
seek and save the lost." (Luke
19:10) These Scriptural ideals must be the "preached"
standards. Jesus in Revelation 3 calls the entire Laodicean Church to repent
of lukewarmness. Certainly, each disciple is responsible to "work
out his salvation with fear and trembling." (Philippians
2:12) Yet, lukewarmness in a congregation is the responsibility of the
leadership. Regardless of the consequences, God calls preachers to inspire
and urge people to obey the Word of God. (2
Timothy 4:1-5) In Revelations 3, Jesus expresses his love for the
disciples in Laodicea. In love, He rebukes the church for their lukewarmness
and calls them to repent and be healed. Jesus expects every disciple to be
willing to die for the cause, to be "sold-out." In Revelation
2:10, Jesus promises the first century disciples (and us) "be
faithful even to the point of death and I will give you the crown of
life."
- STRUCTURE MUST BE PROVIDED
TO IMPLEMENT SCRIPTURAL PRINCIPLES. The Bible is written for all peoples
of all cultures of all times. Principles remain the same, but implementation
- structure will vary. In the first century, "church" was often
before dawn. Today, that would cause many to stumble! Interestingly there
are several passages on marriage and family, yet there are no specifics for
structure, ie...times for dinner, vacations, quiet times, soccer practice,
dates with the wife, etc... Each husband and father must ultimately decide
the times. It would be silly to think "great hearted" children
will simply show up for dinner at 6:00 pm! They need to have structure. The
same is true of their schools and in most of our workplaces. Our past
"structures" of discipleship partners/prayer partners are a way to
implement the Biblical principles in the "one another" passages.
Bible Talks/House Churches, "growth groups" are a way to imitate
Jesus' use of small groups. Sadly, these methodologies were denounced by
some as unscriptural and an "evil system" since their
terminologies were not in the Bible. Yet their principles were commanded! My
observation is if a congregation is without a plan (structure) for
discipling every member, a plan of getting every member involved in
evangelism and a plan to help the poor - most individuals become idle and
lukewarm. Simply put, churches without structure do not have ever-increasing
amounts of the fruits of the Spirit or the fruit of baptizing disciples.
- BROTHERHOOD MUST REPLACE
NATIONALISM. All
disciples are commanded to love the brotherhood. (1
Peter 2:17) Yet when overseeing evangelists were eliminated as
"unscriptural," the "ligaments of relationships" that
held our congregations from different nations together, snapped. This gave
birth to the self-righteous spirit of nationalism. I have always believed
strongly that the role of a missionary evangelist is to raise up national
leaders to lead in his country as was accomplished in our fellowship in
Russia, Philippines, China and Central America. However, what destroyed
brotherhood was:
- The example of autonomy in
the US churches ("each preacher or eldership leads his own
kingdom") and
- The severing of
relationships by national evangelists from their fathers in the faith,
often Americans.
Politically many countries
resent American involvement; this worldly attitude has been carried into the
churches. Nationalism is a gross sin as wicked as having separate Black and
White congregations in the same city in America! Revelations teaches that
Jesus was slain "to purchase men for God from every tribe and
language and nation. [God] made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve
our God and they will reign on the earth." (Revelation
5:9-10) God calls us to be one kingdom, one brotherhood.
How glorious it is in Christ when
there is no difference between Black and White, Russian and American, Korean and
Japanese, Arab and Jew, Indian and English, even male and female! Brothers and
sisters of Portland and beyond, let us come together through the healing blood
of our Lord and by our common desire to spread the message of God's Kingdom to
all nations in the 21st century! And to God be the glory!
Kip McKean
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