A SCALPEL OR A FEATHER?

I think that it is safe to say that most people would prefer a visit to a movie theatre to a visit to the hospital. Going to a theatre is fun and entertaining. Going to a hospital is anything but that. Of the two, the hospital serves as a far better analogy of the church. The church is to be like a hospital. The church is a place for soul surgery. The Great Physician, the Chief Surgeon, knows our true condition. He is healthy. We are not. He knows what it takes to restore our health. And what it takes is major surgery. The sin condition we are all born with is terminal. It is a malignant, chronic, debilitating disease that man has no answer for. The Great Physical alone has a cure.

The church is to be a place where people can hear the truth about their lost condition. It does no good to avoid the diagnosis. No one wants to hear that they have cancer, but better to hear and receive treatment than to let the deadly disease run its course. The Word of God has some bad news in it. The Great Physician tells us the bad news about ourselves because He cares (John 16:8). He wants us to receive the cure—the cure is the salvation that is found in Jesus Christ.

The tool of a surgeon is a scalpel. And the tool the Great Physician uses is the Word of God. It pierces as far as the division of soul and spirit (Heb. 4:12). When the Word of God is taught in a church, soul surgery takes place. Unbelievers are convicted of sin and instructed in the Gospel. Believers are taught, reproved, corrected, and trained (2 Tim. 3:16).

But too many churches are more like theatres. And instead of a surgeon’s scalpel they operate with the feather of a bird. Wanting to have their ears tickled (2 Tim. 4:3), such churches accumulate teachers that tell them what they want to hear. No bad news about sin. No warning about judgment. No demand to trust in Christ. Happy ears. Sick hearts. Judgment to come.

Most would rather go to a movie theatre than a hospital. Most of us would prefer a feather to a scapel. But when the Holy Spirit opens the eyes of a person to the Holiness of God; when they are convicted of sin; and when they see their desperate need for salvation—they are driven to the place where they can find healing—and that place is Jesus Christ (John 6:68).

Church might not be fun and entertaining—though there is much joy in the fellowship of believers. You may not hear what you think you want to hear. But if the church is teaching the Word as it ought, then there should be some soul-surgery going on week-by-week. And members will grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Entertainment is overrated. Spiritual health is far more important. The depth of joy and assurance of hope unleashed through God’s healing hand is far more appealing than any tickle of a feather.

Pastor Jerry