think we can safely agree that the primary purpose of a hospital is to help sick people get well – it is to promote life. While the methods and medicine used in the furtherance of this cause may not always be pleasant, they are prescribed with the belief that life can be preserved and health restored. Doctors diagnose the illness and chart a course of action designed to provide the cure. In the hospital – patients, family and staff make decisions with an eye on the future.
When life is no longer a realistic option and death is imminent, hospice comes into play. The role of hospice is to provide comfort during the final stages of life. The methods and medicines are meant to ease pain and make the process of dying as peaceful as possible - even if those methods unhealthy or even dangerous. Patients are often given doses of pain medicine that exceed what would be prescribed in hospitals. Patients, family and staff celebrate the “good times,” they are comforted by memories of the past. As death is a forgone conclusion, decisions are made to make the few remaining moments as pleasant as possible.
The church, like a hospital is called to help sick people get well – to promote life. The methods and medicine used by the church should be prescribed with the belief that spiritual life can be preserved and that, in Christ, man’s relationship with God can be restored. The diagnosis has been made (sin) and the church is to chart a course and make decisions with an eye towards bringing the cure (Christ). In biblical language we call this, “making disciples.”
The process of “making disciples,” much like medical
treatments, may not always be comfortable.
It requires that we face some unpleasant truths about ourselves and
ultimately give our lives over to Jesus.
That goes against our nature. No
one likes to admit their faults, even fewer are willing to change them, and
even fewer are willing actually surrender their lives to Christ that He may
live in them. That requires giving up
control and that’s something that none of us is comfortable with.
Today, it seems that many churches today have resigned
themselves to operate more like hospices than hospitals. Death has become forgone conclusion. Their focus is on making what little time is
left as comfortable as possible. They
seem to have given up any hope that spiritual life can be preserved, and health
restored. They focus on celebrating the
“good ol’ days” and blame society for their own evangelistic apathy.
Given that so many congregations have adopted a hospice
approach to ministry, it is not surprising that over 3000 churches close their
doors every year. In addressing the situation,
Lane Corley, Church Planting Strategist, posted, “…common denominator is
definitely Inward Focus. Churches quit reaching out and lack a concern for the
lost in their community. What we like and don't like becomes more important
than obeying Jesus and the eternal destiny of the lost.”
As we look forward to a new year, will we continue to look
inwardly embrace death, or will we seek the life and spiritual renewal found in
the gospel? Will we merely comfort the
dying or will we bring them to the Redeemer?
Will we make disciples?
In His Service,
