Series: The Gospel: It's Not...
Message: About Health
Preacher: Tom Eickmann
Daily Walk: Mark Johnson
Refresh: Open with prayer. Read or listen to Psalm 90:13-17.
Read: Romans 14 (NLT). As you read the New Living Translation, note 1-3 insights/questions.
Reflect: If you ask the average person in America what they know about Seventh-day Adventists, the chances are good, if they know anything at all about us, that they will say something about our worshipping on Saturday instead of Sunday, and that we have a rather consuming interest in health. They may say something about what we do and do not eat, that we don’t use tobacco or drink alcohol, or they may know about one or more of our hospitals or healthcare centers. A few may even know that we have the largest Protestant parochial healthcare system in the world, and that our members live somewhere between 7 and 10 years longer than the average American. This last fact often gets us confused with the Latter-Day Saints, or Mormons, who also live longer than the average American.
It's great to feel good, it's nice to be known as a healthy church, and it's kind of fun to brag about our longevity. But is our health message the Good News, the Gospel? Does it make us nicer people to be around, or does it make us arrogant and obnoxious? Does it say something about us, and how good we are, or does it say something about the One in whom we believe, and how good He is? Is there a Gospel message in our healthcare work, or is it just expensive “fly-paper,” used to catch people when they're vulnerable so we can have our chaplains and pastors hit them with the "real" Gospel?
All of our healthcare institutions include in their mission statements some variant on the theme of extending the healing ministry of Christ. Christ certainly seemed to spend more time healing than preaching. We don't have any indication, however, that Christ healed the sick and then referred them to His disciples who explained the Ten Commandments or the Twenty-Eight Fundamental Beliefs prior to their being baptized. There was something inherent in the act of healing that led many, but not all, to believe in Christ as their Savior. It was certainly good for them, but was it the Gospel?
Recalibrate:
Respond: Pray for those involved in "extending the healing ministry of Christ" to a very sick world.
Research: How do the health laws of the Old Testament inform our healthcare work today?