A Russian soldier was wounded and was ordered to go to military hospital for treatment. When he arrived he found two doors: One was marked, ‘For the slightly wounded,’ and the other, ‘For the seriously wounded’. Well, he wasn’t seriously wounded so he entered through the first door and found himself going down a long hall. At the end of it were two more doors. One marked, ‘For officers’ and the other, ‘For nonofficers’. Since he wasn’t an officer he entered through the 2nd door and found himself going down another long hall. At the end of it were two more doors. One marked, ‘For party members’ and the other, ‘For nonparty members’. Since wasn’t a party member he took the second door, and found himself out on the street.
When got home, his mother asked him, “How did you get along at the hospital?” “Well Mother,” he said, "to tell the truth, the people there didn’t do anything for me, but you ought to see the tremendous organization they have!”
What was that hospital supposed to be doing? Well, it was SUPPOSED to be treating the sick and wounded. That’s what hospitals do (or they’re supposed to do). But apparently, that hospital didn’t get the memo! They didn’t DO what they were supposed to do. In fact, they didn’t DO anything for that soldier.
Now, over the next few weeks we’re going to be asking ourselves - “What is the Church Supposed to be doing?” Why do we exist? What’s our purpose! And the topic we’re looking at here is seeing the Church as a hospital. Church - a place where we treat the sick and wounded.
And that is what we’re supposed to do because that what Jesus came to do. The prophet Isaiah said that the Messiah (Jesus) would be “Anointed… to preach good news to the poor. He (would be) sent… to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed.” Luke 4:18
So, is that what Jesus did? Well, that’s what He SAID He came to do. Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have NOT come to call the righteous, but sinners." Mark 2:17
Jesus came to deal with sin-sick souls. To help the helpless, to fix the broken, to strengthen the weak. And, of course, that’s what the church is supposed to do. We are to preach good news to the poor, proclaim freedom for the prisoners, give sight to the blind, to release the oppressed from that which drags them down.
That’s what churches are supposed to do… but sometimes they get distracted!
FOR EXAMPLE: Sometimes they get distracted by their tremendous organizational structure. They know exactly where everything should be and how things should function… and to make sure their tremendous organizational structure works as it should Church leaders micro-manage everything. Every decision has to be funneled through higher-ups whether it be denominational leaders or local elders.
ILLUS: A missionary to the Ukraine sent a letter to the editor of Christianity Today (replying to an article in a previous edition of the magazine) “I agree… that doing missionary work outside a denomination is difficult; I've lost individ¬ual support, gone into debt, and at times worked while on furlough in the States… Although denominational missionar¬ies have retirement plans, savings, and insurance, many are deeply frustrated by the centralized control of how and where they serve. In my experience, the denominational missionaries accomplish much less than the "I hope I have enough money this month" nondenoms.” (Jake Knotts Chernigov, Ukraine letter to the editor of Christianity Today, August 2010)
Now, we don’t do that here. This church has never been worried about controlling things. You’ve got good Elders who don’t feel he need to micro-manage every decision made in every ministry. They serve with a firm but gentle hand… and they trust people to do their ministries faithfully. If someone wants to take on a ministry involving the church building, they DO need to present their dream to the Elders. Then the Elders ask only one question: “Is this ministry designed to reach out to the lost?” If the answer is “yes” the Elders give their blessing (and sometimes even financial help). But those who DO the ministry have total control of the day-day decisions. And what I’ve noticed is, that when those who do ministries here believe that something might cost more money than expected, or might have “consequences” they hadn’t foreseen, they will go to the Elders for approval and insight. In other words, if you give people freedom to serve Christ, they try to prove themselves worthy of the trust you’ve placed in them.
So sometimes, churches get distracted because the leadership wants to have total control. Other times churches get distracted because they tend to fall in love with their buildings.
ILLUS: The first church I served had purchased new carpet for the basement and then some of the folks complained that youth group was damaging the carpet. For some of those people, the carpet mattered more to them than the kids.
Now, they’re not the only church that’s ever struggled with that. Buildings cost money… and when a ministry wears out the carpet or inadvertently causes damage to paint or woodwork, folks tend to get a little edgy. But the reason they get edgy is because they’ve forgotten that the church building is just a tool - its major function is to reach the lost. And sometimes that can get a bit messy.
ILLUS: This tendency to fall in love with a building is why, when we first built this new sanctuary, I I warned you folks that a pretty building can be a trap. You can fall so much in love with the building that you forget it’s a tool. When I first got here, we worshipped in the fellowship hall. It was functional and fairly attractive, but it wasn’t a building you could brag about. People weren’t in LOVE with that building. But when we built this new section… well, it’s more attractive and the danger to love THIS part of the building becomes more pronounced.
That’s why, one of the last sermons I preached before we moved into this sanctuary addressed that danger. And one of the illustrations I used to point that out was this communion table here. Those in the know, know that this communion table is made out of hollow doors. It’s light and is easy to move, but it’s not designed to be impressive. It’s just a functional table. I’ve even sat on this table once in a while and nobody complained… because it’s just a table made out of hollow doors.
Now, a lot of churches have really pretty communion tables, all engraved with grave vines and with the words “Do This In Memory Of Me” carved into front section. Let me tell you – no one had better EVER sit on that table. They’d take you out and hang you from the nearest tree if you did that! But I’m here to tell you, if we ever get a table that is that pretty and people complain if you sit on it… I’ll take an ax and chop up into kindling and burn it out in the yard.
To drive my point home in that last sermon in the old building, I knelt down beside the communion table and prayed “Oh wonderful communion table, how wondrous you are. Sacred and praise worthy are you and worthy of all the wonder and admiration we can give…” And people snickered. Why did they snicker? Because it’s just a table made out of hollow doors. It’s just a tool designed to assist us in our worship.
So, don’t fall in love with the building. It’s a trap.
Now let’s return to our main point – the Church is designed to be a hospital. Jesus came to seek and save the lost, to heal the sick, mend the broken, to give hope to the hopeless. And because that was Jesus’ goal, THAT should be our goal too!
So, how do we do that? How do we do our part to make this a proper hospital for those who need healing and mending and hope? Well, we do that by doing what Jesus did. Now, granted, we’re a little short in the healing the blind, the deaf and raising the dead department… but, that’s not really what Luke 4:18 says Jesus came to do anyway. (Yes, Jesus did so all that other stuff, but that was not Jesus’ main ministry). Isaiah said that Jesus came “… to preach good news to the poor… to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and … to release the oppressed.”
We can do that! We can preach the good news and proclaim freedom in Christ!
ILLUS: As I was working on the sermon this week, my mind drifted back to our local hospital. Now, let’s say you go down to that hospital. Who is in there? Well… the sick, of course. But then you have the doctors, the nurses, the surgeons. And there are various staff and greeters and such.
But it occurred to me those are only types of people in the hospital. There’s the SICK. And there’s the STAFF! The sick are there because they’re sick, and the staff are there to help the sick get better. So now – the question is this: which one are you? Are you SICK and needing to be healed, or are you the STAFF… working to help others to heal? WHICH ONE ARE YOU????
Once you figure out which one you are this church becomes a more efficient hospital. If you already belong to Jesus - and you LOVE Him - then you’re staff. So, let’s presume that you’re part of the STAFF here at the Church of Christ Hospital - how do you do your job? How do you help heal those sick with their sin?
Now, I could answer that question in a number of ways but I’m going to focus on just two items that are essential for us to do the job of helping the sick. 1st - you’ve got to be able to DIAGNOSE what’s wrong! 2nd - you’ve got to be able PRESCRIBE proper treatment for what’s wrong.
Well, what is wrong? What is it that makes people “sick?” If you don’t KNOW what the sickness is, how can you cure it?
ILLUS: About 30 years ago, I had a dull pain right here – just below my diaphragm. It wasn’t a sharp pain, it was just THERE… all the time. Kind of like a small bowling ball that never seemed to go away. So I went to see my doctor, and he poked and he prodded and he said “You have acute appendicitis. You’ll need surgery immediately.”
Now, the pain wasn’t where you’d expect pain to be for an appendicitis… so, what if he’d said “Ahhhh there’s nothing wrong with you that I can find. Just take a couple aspirin and call me in a few days if the pain doesn’t go away? Do you know what would have happened? The aspirin wouldn’t have fixed the problem … and I’d have DIED! The aspirin might have masked the pain, but it wouldn’t cure me
So, you’ve got to be careful to properly DIAGNOSE the problem. And, what is the problem? What did Jesus come to CURE? Well, here’s what Jesus said: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have NOT come to call the righteous, but SINNERS." Mark 2:17
SIN is what Jesus came to cure. Sin, is the cause of most of our problems in our lives, Now, the world doesn’t agree. The world says “No, it’s not a sin, it’s a disease. Whatever is wrong in your life isn’t your fault! And so, whatever is wrong… we’ve got a pill for it.” But the pills will only mask the pain, they won’t cure you! The guilt and shame and self-hatred will still remain.
ILLUS: There was once a famous psychiatrist Karl Menninger who wrote a book entitled “Whatever Became Of Sin?” In that book he asked “Is no one any longer guilty of anything? Guilty perhaps of a sin that could be repented and repaired or atoned for?”
Someone once noted that once he became Christian he was GRATEFUL to be told he had sinned. Can you imagine that? He was grateful to be told he’d sinned. But why would he be grateful? Well, because when people told him that his behavior wasn’t HIS fault he knew they were wrong but he didn’t know what to do about it. After all, if it wasn’t his fault he didn’t have the ability to change what had created his guilt and shame.
But once he realized that his behavior was his fault – it was his sin - that gave him the opportunity to fix what was wrong and to appeal to God for forgiveness and healing. He could do something about sin! And when he did something about it, God promised to remove the reason for his guilt, and now he had hope and an assurance of new life without the weight of that sin.
(PAUSE)
So – if sin is the sickness - what’s the cure? (Jesus) I Corinthians 6:9-11 says it this way “do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified IN THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST and by the Spirit of our God.”
These people were sick with sin. They were bound for hell. There was no cure in sight. But then Jesus came … and EVERYTHING changed.
Someone once wrote: “Life is short. Death is sure; Sin’s the cause; Christ’s the cure”
ILLUS: I know someone who would tell me about their friends. One friend was depressed and unhappy all the time. Another friend had problems in their relationships. Another was struggling with alcohol. And my friend said “I don’t know what to do to help them!”
Do you know what would help them? Of course you do! Jesus would help them. They need Jesus, because until they get right with Jesus they’re always going to be miserable.
CLOSE: But how do you tell people about this Jesus. We DO need to be careful that we don’t come across as self-righteous and “more holy than thou.” How can you do that? Well, a man in the first service shared something with me that might help. He said he asks only three questions: “What’s happening;” What If:” and “Have you about Jesus?”
The first question was “What’s happening in your life?” And people would tell him about the things they’re struggling with – relationships, guilt, hardship, etc. After he’d listened for awhile he’d ask the next question “What if there was a way to fix those problems in your life, would you want to know what it was?” And inevitably folks would say “Yes, I surely would.” Then he asked the third question “Have you heard about Jesus?” And then he shares what Jesus had done in his life.
Jesus is the cure for the sin that disables us. I Peter 3:18-22 said it this way: “Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water.
Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, THROUGH THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.”
INVITATION
