Sunday 6th October 2024
Jesus said to them,
“It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but those who are ill.
I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Mark 2:17 (NIV)
A vital question
“Which do our churches most represent: a group of people waiting for a job interview or those waiting in a doctor’s surgery? Are we more like people intent on impressing a new employer, or those waiting to get help from a doctor?” That is the question that Steve Midgley poses in a recent Evangelicals Now article.
It is a searching question. First of all, it challenges our view of ourselves. Do we put on our ‘Sunday best’ when we come together, doing our best to hide our flaws and failings, as if we are trying to get a job? Or are we conscious of our difficulties and struggles, eager to get some help, as when we are waiting to see the doctor?
Second, it challenges our attitude to the person we have come to meet: the living God. Are we out to impress him with a display of brilliance, as if he is a job interviewer? But who is out to impress the doctor? Instead, we are open about our struggles, and the more help we get from him, the more willing we are to be honest about what we need.
Third, it challenges our attitude to others who are in the room with us. Waiting for a job interview, everyone else is a competitor; we are trying to do better than them and resent any favour they are shown. In the doctor’s surgery, we have a shared need, wish one another well and rejoice when someone gets help.
Fourth, it challenges our attitude to those outside the room. If we do not want any more rivals for the job opportunity, we might even want to keep others out of the room. Or we might drag others in to prove ourselves to the new boss. Sick people who find healing simply want others to know about the blessings they have received.
So, how can we encourage a church culture which is more ‘doctor’s surgery’ and less ‘job interview’? We can start by remembering that, whatever our role in the church, we never cease to be patients – sinners in desperate need of our Saviour. And we can go on by taking every opportunity we can to speak of our own spiritual need and the healing we have received from Doctor Jesus.
Prayer
Lord, thank you for the healing Jesus brings to my sin-sick soul. Please keep healing me, and make our church a place where nothing delights us more than to see others find healing for their souls. Amen.
Yours warmly, in Christ,
Chris Hobbs (Senior Minister)