A woman went to her doctor’s office. She was seen by one of the new doctors, but after about 4 minutes in the examination room, she burst out screaming and ran down the hall. An older doctor stopped her and asked what the problem was, and she explained. He had her sit down and relax in another room. The older doctor marched back to the first and demanded, "What’s the matter with you? Mrs. Terry is 63 years old, she has four grown children and seven grandchildren, and you told her she was pregnant?" The new doctor smiled smugly as he continued to write on his clipboard. "Cured her hiccups though, didn’t it?"
This morning, we will look at our fourteenth Article of Faith, which is:
XIV. Divine Healing
Here is the description of this 14th tenet of our faith:
We believe in the Bible doctrine of divine healing and urge our people [to seek] to offer the prayer of faith for the healing of the sick. We also believe God heals through the means of medical science.
That’s the first article statement that I’ve read where I didn’t feel like passing out by the time I was done.
As a whole, I believe that Christians feel like healing is a simple thing. But I think it is one of the most misunderstood things in Christianity. In fact, because it has been misunderstood by so many, there are whole denominations and cults that limit the work of God in healing by excluding certain types of healing. And there are just as many that include healing ceremonies that have no biblical basis.
You will first notice that our Article statement says that we believe in ‘Divine Healing.’ It does NOT say that we believe in the ‘gift of healing.’ The first thing that likely come’s to your mind when I say this is ‘aren’t they the same thing?’ If you believe in one, don’t you have to believe in the other?’ The answer to both of those questions is a resounding NO.
Let me explain the difference. Believing in Divine Healing means that we believe that the healing work of the Holy Spirit continues on until the return of Christ. What it does not mean is that we necessarily believe that God still bestows upon people the miraculous spiritual gift of healing. The difference is that we believe that divine healing can and does occur through the prayers of God’s people. God answers prayer. He always has and He always will.
However, when Jesus or the Apostles healed someone, with the miraculous or supernatural gift of the Holt Spirit, they did not pray to ask God to accomplish the healing. They just did it. Let me give you an example (Acts 3:6-7):
But Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.” And he took him by the right hand and raised him up; and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong.
You see, Peter did not pray for the man’s healing. He had the power already within himself, given by the Holy Spirit, to heal the man. He did not need permission. Even when Jesus rose Lazarus from the dead, although He prayed, He said that He only prayed for the sake of the people around Him, so that they would know that His authority to do this was from God. He didn’t actually need to pray to raise Lazarus.
I can only find one case where an Apostle prayed before performing a miracle. This occurred in the 9th chapter of Acts when Peter rose Tabitha from the dead. He sent everyone from the room and then prayed. Then He ordered Tabitha to get up. I would consider this something beyond healing and I think that Peter did as well, so he prayed prior to accomplishing it. In every other case, they just healed.
I am telling you this to show you the difference between the gift of healing and divine healing. Our Article does not say anything about the supernatural gift of healing because there are differing views of the ‘supernatural’ gifts that are spoken of in the 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians. The supernatural gifts that are listed are speaking in tongues, healing, and prophecy (foretelling). Though spiritual gifts are listed elsewhere, these three are not included in those other lists. There is a common stance on these gifts, believed by many denominations including most Southern Baptists, that the supernatural gifts (those three that I mentioned) ceased with the death of the last Apostle. This belief is called Cessationism. However, one of the common misconceptions that charismatic (those that believe in and practice the ‘supernatural’ gifts) believers want to ascribe to cessationists is that they do not believe in healing. This is absolutely not true. They fiercely believe in divine healing through the power of prayer. They just do not believe that the gift, where someone has the power, given by the Holy Spirit, within them to heal on command, continues to this day.
The reason that the Nazarene Church did not state this in their articles is because there has always been differing views on this subject, so they worded this article specifically so that it would not include or rule out belief in the supernatural gift of healing. It leaves it to the local churches, pastors, and believers to decide on their own where they stand on the subject.
Before we go on to true ‘Divine Healing,’ I want to tell you where I stand on the subject of the spiritual gift of healing. Essentially, I am extremely wary but effectively undecided. The Bible calls us to be wary and discerning concerning false teachers and others that would lead us astray by teaching and preaching things that we want to hear. People have always been extremely attracted by the supernatural and especially by apparent healings, even in Jesus’ day. In fact, when they called for a sign from Jesus, He purposely told them that there would be no sign except that of Jonah, referring to His resurrection from the dead on the third day.
There have always been charlatans, like Simon the Magician, that would attempt to deceive the flock for personal gain. These people use dramatic effects to gain fame and fortune and we should be on our guard against false doctrine.
Here is another point on the supernatural gift of healing. If a person truly has the gift of healing, it would work every time they attempted it. There is not one example of Jesus or His Apostles attempting to heal someone that failed, other than a case of casting out demons where Jesus said that that specific type of demon required prayer and fasting to vanquish.
In the Bible, if you were a prophet (someone with the gift of prophecy) and you prophesied something, it always happened. If you prophesied something and it did not happen, you were stoned to death as a false prophet.
Let me tell you where I think some of these people that claim to have the gift of healing make the mistake. If they pray for someone to be healed prior to performing the healing, it is likely the power of corporate prayer rather than the gift of healing. They are laying claim to a spiritual gift that they do not have. They should just thank God for hearing their prayers.
Before we go on to look at how we are told to ask God for healing, I want to look at the last portion of the article statement. We specifically say that we believe that God also heals through medical treatment as well. This is where some cult-like groups have limited the power of God. We believe that God is actively at work in our world. God grants knowledge and wisdom, as well as skill. This means that God has also been active in much of our medical advancement. While many things that God has created can be misused by man and Satan, we believe that He has given mankind the intelligence that allowed us to advance medicine to the point where we can cure some diseases and stave off the advancement of others. These methods should not be denied the believer. Neither should the believer toss aside the possibility of a miraculous healing.
Now, let’s talk about the biblical instruction for those in the church that need healing (James 5:14-16):
Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.
This passage is not describing anything associated with the gift of healing. It is describing the power of corporate prayer and giving the church instruction about how to ask God for healing. Notice that James is adamant about getting right with God before we ask for healing. This doesn’t mean that you are sick because you have sinned. It simply means that our prayers aren’t heard if we have unconfessed sin in our lives. This is true when we ask God for anything, not just healing. Our relationship should be right before we ask for something.
Next, you’ll see something that we don’t practice today because we are far more private that Christians of that day: Confess your sins to each other. We don’t usually do this because it is difficult for us to trust others in this fashion. Christians of that day were bonded closely because of the persecution that all of them were facing together. Many of them lived together in groups, sometimes underground, in hiding. Many times, your sins were known to others and it would be important to confront those situations in order to move forward. I also think that James may be talking about sins that involved each other. How can I say this? Because the Apostle Paul talked about the same issues when he was talking about the Lord’s Supper. You may recall from last week that Paul said that there were divisions among the Corinthians so he told them to get those things straightened out prior to observing Communion. In any case, James says that “the prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.”
James tells the sick to call upon the elders of the church and they are to anoint them with oil and pray over them. In just a moment, we are going to do just that. Since, by our Nazarene definition, the only elders that we have in the church are Pastor Angie, Pastor Connie, and myself, I am going to ask any of you that are a part of this church that are willing to search their hearts, ask for forgiveness for any sin that is unconfessed, and willing to come and pray for anyone who is in need of healing to come forward.
Before we do this, I think it is necessary to confront the elephant in the room when it comes to healing. Why are some godly people not healed when we are earnestly asking for it? The simple answer is “I don’t know and neither does anyone else.” What I can say is that the Apostle Paul himself was afflicted by something, likely a Parkinson’s type of disease, and though Paul asked God to remove it from him, God did not heal him. We live in a diseased world and therefore subject to the same issues that the rest of the world is subject to. Many times, God requires us to go through the fire.
It may be that God’s glory will be seen more by the way that we go through the fire than for the fire to be put out. God may have a purpose that we cannot see. Paul was imprisoned for much of his Christian life, but if he had not been imprisoned, it is unlikely that he would have written such in-depth letters to the churches he started, and we would not have half of our NT.
We want the healing to take place now and sometimes God says not yet. That is incredibly difficult for us, who are temporal, but we are called to a spirit of contentment, regardless of our situation. This world is not our home. We are just passing through.
Now, I would like everyone to bow their heads. I want each and every one of us to examine ourselves as we did last week prior to receiving Communion. If there is something that you need to get right with God or someone else here, do that now. In just a few moments, I am going to ask anyone that needs healing for any reason to come forward. Please make sure that you are right with God so that our prayers can be powerful and effective…
This morning,
(Invitation)
(Prayer)
*All scriptures are in NRSV unless otherwise stated.
* Humorous illustration from SermonCentral
