Monument, Hospital, or Hospice?

Chief of All Sinners

I am broken and diseased. Every molecule that is formed together to make up my person is infected with sin. In the words of Paul in 1 Timothy:

“The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.”

Our Scripture reading for today shows an interesting story of Jesus, and gets at the whole focus of His ministry here on earth. But to understand why His flaunting of His actions in front of the Pharisees and their kind was such a big deal, one must look into why the tax collector was so reviled. Remember those people who collaborated with the Nazis during their reign of Europe, or the Communist collaborators during the Cold War? Or in today’s verbage, those Americans that left to go join their “Muslim Brothers” in their Jihad? How did you feel about those people? Yeah, this was what the average Jew thought of the Tax Collectors of Jesus’ day. They were engaging in the reviled Gentile occupation, as collaborators. They were lumped together with murderers and thieves. A Jew who collected taxes was actually disqualified as a judge or witness in court, expelled from the synagogue, and a cause of disgrace to his family, in an extremely conservative honor/shame culture. The touch of a tax collector rendered a home unclean. Jews were forbidden from receiving money and even ALMS from tax collectors, since collecting revenue from taxes was deemed no different than robbery! In fact, in Judaism, it is actually okay for a Jew to lie to a tax collector with impunity. It was a visual reminder of the Roman yolk of rule, and more than a few Jewish extremists viewed Roman taxation as an act of treason to God.

Levi, who would later be known as an apostle of Jesus, was one such a man. He was hated and reviled, and likely this extended to the other apostles before he was called by Christ. Unlike the leper from the end of the previous chapter, this man CHOSE to be a tax collector and to be counted among the wicked.

Monument vs. Hospital

"The church is not a monument for the righteous; it is a hospital for sinners. " This is a quote from Elder Daniel Jackson, president of the North America Division of our church.

So goes the popular saying that has taken on almost cult-like aspect in many of our churches. The idea here, is that anyone who expects believers to live differently than those who are not believers are actually holding Christians to impossibly legalistic standards and need to learn about the grace that Jesus Christ offers to all us humble sinners.

As such, we often float between two extremes: extreme legalism, or extreme permissiveness.

Let me share a quote with you, and you tell me where you think it came from:

The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Gospel according to Mark The Scandal of Grace (2:13–17)

He that occupies himself in the study of the Law … is deserving of the whole world. He is called friend, beloved of God, lover of God, lover of mankind; and it clothes him with humility and reverence and fits him to become righteous, saintly, upright, and faithful; and it keeps him far from sin and brings him near to virtue, and from him men enjoy counsel and sound knowledge, understanding and might.

Is this some translation of an Old Testament text? No. Is it some obscure Ellen G. White reference many of you may be trying to find? No. Or, maybe, it’s some reference out of the 28 Fundamental belies? No. This, ladies and gentlemen, is a statement from the Mishnah, the written version of the Jewish oral tradition, which is a commentary on the Old Testament by Jews. And frankly, isn’t this what we teach? Isn’t this all too often used to show what we believe? That this eulogy testifies that the Law is the standard of the “deserving” and the “righteous?!” Then, by exclusion, those who do NOT study the Law belong to an alien class, that is, “sinners and tax collectors.”

Then there is the other extremism, some variation of “Well, we’re all sinners!”

The statement is an exciting word study if considered from a theological perspective. It can remind us of our hypocrisy or even lack of understanding that the Christian life is one of growth and that we cannot expect new people to be as far along as some of our more seasoned members. It is helpful when it reminds us of our need work towards growth, which is absolutely true. Non-believers should NEVER be held to Christian standards and principles, and new believers are just that: new. They are spiritual infants. They don’t know any better, and are still learning. You didn’t know better when YOU were young or new, and neither would they! Would you expect a 2 year old to behave the way an adult would? Of course not! You would hold them to the standard that is appropriate for their age. But this isn’t always the case. And worse, when those that are supposed to be more spiritually mature should know better...

We say: *Blasé affect, waving it away* “I am broken and diseased, infected with sin.” But this is not news to any of us; it’s not something we are just finding out or that we are astonished to realize after being in the dark our entire lives! The fact is that, as Christians and even moreso as Adventists, we wear the badge of “sinner” as a shield of sorts. It is the banner that we proudly raise when we are caught being un-Christlike. It is the wall we stand behind when we don’t do what God has called us to do, and it is the excuse we give when we repeat the same mistake for the thousandth time, even though we know better, falling into the sin by choice, and not by true moments of spiritual weakness. “I’m a sinner, nobody is perfect,” and my personal favorite: “Didn’t Paul say ‘all have fallen short of the glory of God?’” But that is okay, right? Because here I am, in church, and the church is a place for sinners, it is a place for sick people like me, church is not a monument for the righteous; it is a hospital for sinners, for me.

Extremism

I know you must be thinking: that I have lost my mind! The things I am saying are things we have all taken comfort in at one time or another. Because church IS for the sinner, it IS for the broken and the hurt and the lost. But all too often, that saying promotes the condition where there is no growth among the spiritually mature, where stagnation is status quo. It can hide the fact that often, it is not the new believers who are falling to the sin that so easily besets them, but those who have been part of our congregation for years. Too often, this thought process promotes the illogical and unbiblical idealization that we should not judge what a fellow believer is doing, what sin they continue to return to, what behaviors they persist in, that draw them further from God's side. Too often the saying promotes a mindset that is quick to call anyone a hypocrite who is calling believers to live better.

In short, too often the saying is used incorrectly. When the saying is used to support believers who do not grow, then the speaker should say that “the church is not a hospital but a hospice center.”

I'm sure most of you know what hospice is but for those who don’t know, a hospice care center is a place where the terminally ill go to be comforted while dying. It is a mercy for many, a place where those who are dying to go to have their pains masked by various medications while they wait for their illness to overtake and eventually kill them. While hospice provides a valuable service for those dying of physical disease here on earth; hospice care is not something we should be modeling in our churches. In our modern churches, in our politically correct, no-judgment society, too often we want to make the church a place where the sick, the diseased can be made comfortable while they continue forward in the dying process.

A place where they will not be confronted by the realization that healing is possible in Jesus Christ, but if they should want to seek treatment can fill out an inquiry card and slip it into the offering plate.

A place where those who do not wish to be bothered by the sticky and more abrasive ethical implications of the gospel can go to nod their head to a well-written sermon say "AMEN" and go home to live unchanged lives.

Too often we want the church to be hospice care where we do not allow Jesus to take from us our most cherished and comfortable sins.

Too often we want the church to be a hospice care center where the same sin that drove our need for Jesus ultimately kills us!

But the saying is right; the church is not hospice care.

No, it is not a place for they dying to be made comfortable, until their disease takes them.

The church is a hospital. It is a place to go and see the Good Doctor, where Jesus shows up, checks your pulse, listens to your symptoms, and gives you the prescription for your sin. It is a place where sick folks are healed.

Yes, people are broken and in need of help, but Jesus is the one that actually does something to make a difference.

Our church is supposed to be a hospital.

For us to come in here week after week, come to our knees before God and to not expect that the sinner will get better is not a hospital mindset.

To sing songs of our need for Christ's grace and salvation, and then, in the same sentence excuse our disease with "all have fallen short of the glory of God" is a hospice mindset.

We all know that Jesus can help us to overcome. But to not expect that Jesus will help me to overcome all of my weaknesses is a hospice mindset, not a hospital mindset. Just because the doctor gave you the diagnosis, and gave you the prescription script, or even better, sends the prescription to the HyVee Pharmacy for pickup, does that mean you went to the pharmacy, got out your insurance card or discount card, paid your co-pay, took the medication home, took your medication? When Jesus shows you what’s wrong in your life, and gives you the remedy, do you take it home and then use that remedy?

Certainly, the church is a place where the sick congregate, but are the sick expected and expecting to get better after a confrontation with the King of the Universe? Or are the sick going to a weekly support group to help them feel better about their sickness?

That is the question.

Is our church actually a hospital where the sick get well or a hospice where the sick are comforted and entertained before they die unchanged?

Then there is the other side. The side that says “we are CHRISTIANS here!” We don’t want sick or sin-soaked people around us. If they want to worship with us, they need to get their acts together and get Jesus in their lives.” I think I’ve spoken on this before, but this mindset is the beginning of “us versus them.” And I believe I was perfectly clear on this: they (pointing out of the church) are just as much made in God’s image as we (pointing to self and congregation) have been. As such, THEY (point outside of church) are ALSO loved by God and pleasing in His eyes as much as WE (pointing to self and congregation) are. We cannot and should not try to convict another of sin, that’s the Holy Spirit’s job. But we can lift one another up to the standards we are called to hold.

In our Scripture reading for today, Jesus is dealing with two groups of people, both who are spiritually ill: the tax collectors who understand their sin and need for Jesus, thus Levi, renamed Matthew, drops everything, and follows Jesus. And then we have us, I mean Pharisees, who don’t really see their need for Jesus beyond lipservice. They considered themselves above everyone else. They see themselves as followers of God, and better than the common Christian, I mean, Jew, let alone the agnostic, I mean, atheist, I mean Gentile.

You see, Jesus was saying that the Pharisees, who refused to see their sinfulness, even in the face of their “obedience” was what disqualified them from being under His care.

When we stop seeing Jesus as our righteousness, and look to our own deeds and our own works, we echo the words of Nebuchadnezzar, saying “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?” And for those who aren’t familiar, he ended up losing his mind, running into the wild, thinking he was a cow for a time.

When a church allows people to walk out of its doors without feeling that they have had an encounter with Jesus, there is something wrong. We are presenting to them either A) a monument to Christianity, and not Christ, or B) a group on hospice care, that is dying slowly, but still dying.

What, then is the solution? I would like to prayerfully advocate several options:

True repentance and reconciliation with those whom we have wronged.

If we have wronged someone, we need to go to them, and reconcile with them before we can bring our gift to the altar. If we have been wronged, we need to lovingly confront they who have wronged us and give them a chance at repentance.

Truly invest in our youth.

Our youth, not nominally, but in actuality, should be our present, not our future. As such, and we can do this without compromising our faith or values, make church active and engaging to them. We have been looking for a Sabbath school teacher for our younger kids when they come, and what do we have? Who has stepped up? Why would a parent want to come when their children have no Sabbath school, when they cannot feed their whole family spiritually? Worse still, where will we be in 15 years, when these same children are us? Why would they want to continue to be here when we didn’t take care of them when they were younger? There are churches in town who do actively invest in the WHOLE family, and it shows! Think of how it feels to fly with some airlines who say “Thanks for flying with us. We know you have a choice, and are glad to have you.” And even more so, they back those words up with action.

Take steps towards modernization.

We cannot wall ourselves away from the outside world, becoming a monument that never changes. Very soon, the world is going to be looking to us for answers. We can learn to live in the world without being OF the world. We need to figure out what this looks like and start doing it.

The whole congregation needs to be involved in the workings of the church.

When we took a look at ourselves, and realized that nobody out there would miss us if we closed our doors, we,as a church and as a family, decided to actively work to serve our community and show them God’s love for them by our love for them. By not having been doing this, we have actively failed in our mission to Know Him, and by not correcting this now, we will fail in our mission to Make Him Known.

We, as a church, need to be more intentional in our corporate prayer life.

I have prayer meetings here once a month, on the first Wednesday evening of the month, at 6:30 pm. Ask anybody who has come, it’s a powerful time and the Spirit is really present. It’s short and to the point, and we get out at or around 7 pm.

We as a church, need to be more intentional in our personal prayer and devotional life.

Seriously, we, as followers of Christ, should be better in this area. Jesus should be the first thought of our day and the last thought of our day, and should be in our minds throughout the day. But it cannot be canned, routine, or scripted, with us repeating the same droning words that we always use. We need to have a sincere connection between heart, mind, and God for our prayer to be what it needs to be.

We need to be faithful in all things.

This is not a salvific thing per se, but as Christians, if we want others to follow our example, then we need to actually set the example. This means that if we want to teach faithful tithing, then we need to tithe faithfully. If we want to teach giving a faithful offering, then we need to give a faithful offering. If we want to teach study of Scripture, then we need to faithfully study Scripture. If we want to teach making Jesus the center of our lives and faith, then we need to make Jesus the center of our lives and faith. If we want to Make Him Known, we need to be out there Making Him Known in a way that people TODAY can relate to and understand. Christians are really good about talking the talk, but we also need to be about living the faith we proclaim.

We need to let go of the “Glory Days” of our past, so that we can step into the “Glory Days” of our future.

This should go without saying, but hanging on to what we used to have will only keep us from moving forward. Do we remember where we have been? Sure. But only so much as to avoid our past mistakes, and to fuel our enthusiasm for sharing the Gospel. There were some great things that worked 10 plus years ago, like handing out tracks and mail-order Bible studies. Today, we have wonderful new tools to make personal connections with people, like our new Bible Study Box Sets, and the internet/social media. Modern technology is not a bad thing. It is a tool. If people are on social media, then let’s use it to reach them. If people are at Farmer’s Markets, then we should be there. Who has seen the Dr. Nedley Facebook advertisements? Chere and Deb have been passing that around, and how many friends and family see their pages alone every day? If you posted it on your social media, who would see it, and how much further could it go? Who knows about Jeff’s Thanksgiving dinner here at the church? This isn’t some sort of charity or soup kitchen event, but a Bible-study group reaching out to the community and coming together for fellowship. How many people still remember the eye exams we have been funding, or the foster events we promised to allow our church to be used for?

Let us tear down the velvet ropes separating our monument from the community. Let’s get rid of our life support equipment, and close down our hospice ward. Let’s get so excited about our faith, that we cannot stay in our pews, we have to get up to dance, shout, and sing! Let’s hold hands, and jump into the 21st Century and Make Him Known!

No, you don’t seem to understand, church family! I mean, seriously, get out of your pews, get up here, and help me in making a chain, together in unity, hand in hand, and let’s end this worship service in the same way we are moving forward: as a family, as a church, united in faith. I don’t care if you are young, old, have been with the church for decades, or only for a few years. I don’t even care if you are a new visitor, get in here, and up here and let us all be together in our Mission to MAKE HIM KNOWN!

<Dave Chacko’s Prayer Chain Model>