Was that fine girl in church? Did she notice you?
In the scriptures, Jesus paid a visit to a General Hospital, which turned out to be a church where people came for spiritual healing. The place was full of sick people. Some had been suffering of malaria for ten years. Some had been afflicted with flu for twelve years. Others had a cough for fifteen years.
Jeremiah wondered about this kind of situation. He asked: “Is there no balm in Gilead, is there no physician there? Why then is there no recovery for the health of the daughter of my people?” (Jeremiah 8:22).
John observes that: “A certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, he said to him, ‘Do you want to be made well?’” (John 5:5-6).
He had been in church for 38 years, nevertheless, his infirmity was so malignant it refused to obey the word of God. For 38 years, he had been a liar and yet he was regular in church. For 38 years, he had been a thief, and yet he was the chief usher.
For 38 years he had been a fornicator, and yet he was the choir director. For 38 years he had been an alcoholic, and yet he was the pastor. For 38 years he had been a gossip, a cheat, a backbiter, and a lover of money. He remained covetous, malicious, quarrelsome, worldly, and proud.
Church-Hospital
At the General Hospital in Bethesda, Jesus asked the man who has been sick for 38 years: “Do we want to be healed?” He asks the same question of us today: “Are we interested in being healed at all?”
That is the crux of the problem. We are sick and we keep coming to the hospital, but we are not interested in being healed. We are not interested in being changed. We are not interested in being transformed. We are dying of leprosy but we are not interested in being cleansed. So why do we keep coming to church? Don’t we know the church is a hospital?
We go to church to see and be seen, rather than to hear and be healed. We go to church to fulfill righteousness than to be made wise unto salvation. We go to church to show off our latest clothing and our new hairstyle than to worship God. We spend more time trying to decide which clothes to wear to the church service and which shoes and bags to match than to secure the grace that is sufficient unto the day.
Now that you are back home from that wonderful service, what have you achieved? What did you learn there? What did you receive? How many compliments did you get about your new dress? What did they think about the way you sang that special number? What was the reaction to your testimony about your new job? Was that fine girl in church? Did she notice you?
Hearing Ear
But did you hear the gospel? If you hear we will be healed. The scripture cannot be broken. If you are not healed after all these years, it either means that you have not heard or have simply not believed or are simply not interested.
Jesus says: “Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given.” (Mark 4:24). “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with me.” (Revelation 3:20). “Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live.” (John 5:25).
So, what have you heard? Have you heard that if you sow 100 naira you will reap 1000, or have you heard that if you sow righteousness you will reap mercy? Have you heard that the seed is money or have you heard that the seed is the word of God?
Have you heard that angels drop bags of blessings before the praise worship? Have you heard that if you change your church you will be cursed? Have you heard that if you wear earrings or smoke cigarettes you will not go to heaven? Have you heard that if you are a Christian and don’t have a car it is an insult to God? What exactly have you heard?
Have you heard that the soul that sins will die? Have you heard that fornicators and adulterers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Have you heard that drunkards don’t go to heaven? Have you heard that quarrelsome people, backbiters and gossips don’t spend eternity with God?
If so, why do you persist in these things? Do you plan to continue in them for the next 38 years?
Jesus says: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” (John 10:27). “Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” (John 10:5),
Do you go to church to hear the voice of Jesus or do you go to hear the voice of strangers?
Hoodwinked
Paul marveled at the Corinthian church: “You have such admirable tolerance for impostors who rob your freedom, rip you off, steal you blind, put you down- even slap your face.” (2 Corinthians 11:19-20).
So, tell me, why are you a member of your church? You have been there for thirty-eight years and have still not been healed of your infirmities, yet you remain. You know your pastor is sleeping with a chorister, yet you remain. Every Sunday you are harassed into giving more offering than you would like or can afford; yet you remain.
You remain, not for the sake of Christ, but for the sake of men. You remain because of social and soul ties. You remain because your pastor has style. You remain because that was the church your parents went to. You remain because your friends are in the church. You remain because your business associates are in the church. You remain because you have been hoodwinked by another gospel.
Why do we receive in our churches the traditions of men? Where does it say in the scriptures it is a sin to leave your church for another one? Where does it say your so-called tithes are unacceptable as gifts to children of the Motherless Babies Home? Where does it say if a woman wears trousers or earrings she would be disqualified from heaven? Where does it say you have to go to Bible College before you can be baptised?
Answer such questions not by reference to your pastor’s dictates, or by reference to the conventions of your church, but by the word of God.
Jesus says: “These people draw near to me with their mouth, and honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. And in vain they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.” (Matthew 15:8-9).
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