Churches have long been a haven for the hurting, and they should be; Jesus went about healing the sick and feeding the poor. We should do the same if we are to be like Jesus, but prior to his ascension he did not exhort his disciples to heal the sick and feed the poor; He instead, told them to “make disciples”. Healing the sick and feeding the hungry and poor was a major part of his earthly ministry. Jesus is said to have lived to be about 30 + years of age when he ended his earthly ministry, died, arose, and ascended into Heaven. So why didn’t he give the command to his disciples to heal the sick and feed the poor and hungry?
When Jesus died on the cross, he cried out “it is finished”; what was finished? Was it the work of healing the sick and feeding the poor and hungry? NO! It was the final sacrifice which allowed mankind to have a renewed relationship with the God who created them.
So, what changed? It was the focus of Jesus and His church. The ministry of healing the sick and feeding the poor was to show people where they could go to become healthy and to be taken care of.
To better understand this, we need to go back to the garden of Eden where it all began. Consider this, the garden of Eden was paradise, it was more than anyone could imagine. All the needs, wants, and desires a human could have imagined could be fulfilled in that garden where God was the provider. There was only one taboo! The only “Do Not” was to NOT eat of the fruit of the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. The prohibition stirred curiosity and aroused desire especially after the serpent told Eve that eating of the fruit would make them like God; being like God meant they would no longer need to rely on Him; They could be self-sufficient and independent.
God meant for us to be social, to be fruitful, and multiply and fill the earth with people AND to work together and get along. This could only be possible if God was the chief provider and leader of the people. God intended for us to be social and a family; for this to happen, we needed to get along with each other. Problems would arise if someone were to rise above others, thinking they are better and deserving of being served versus equally serving.
Having knowledge would provide alternatives to God’s provision. In the garden of Eden God provided, sustained, maintained, and protected. Knowledge was a tool to develop ways for self-providing all that God provided. There would be no need for God.
We often recognize early America was a more-godly civilization. The reason for this was they were dependent on God. When the pilgrims came to America, they started with nothing. They relied on the staples and produce they brought from England and whatever food they could find after landing ashore. Fortunately, Indians befriended them. They built buildings using the trees, rocks, and mud of the land. Their wild plants and their garden was their grocery store. They relied on God to bring sunshine and rain so they could eat. They relied on their fishing, hunting and trapping skills and “luck” to eat meat. This means they needed to pray daily. They were dependent on God daily.
Today, we don’t have the need for dependence on God like our forefathers. We have stores, technology, hospitals, and doctors. We have banking systems where the value of “labor” is converted to something that can be easily traded, money. Today, we have little to no need for God – We Think!
With all the technology we still have poverty and sickness, but we are rapidly approaching a day where that seems to being solved. This is possible because of computers, AI, and more. We will have even a lesser need for God.
As mankind becomes more like God, providing, sustaining, maintaining, and protecting ourselves we will even have a lesser need for God.
During his ministry, Jesus performed miracles of healing and feeding the poor. During the time of Jesus, he was the technology; people followed him to get healed and to be fed. After Jesus resurrected from the dead and prior to ascending into heaven Jesus declared what the focus from there should be – To Proclaim the Good News (Gospel) and make disciples; This is now the focus. Healing the sick and feeding the poor and hungry was to continue but, the focus was to change.
Unfortunately, there are churches who believe making disciples means increasing membership. Not So!! Jesus was interested in changing lives. To him, making disciples was teaching people how to go back to being dependent on God and to Yield to His purpose and Way of Life. Jesus showed the people what God could do – Heal and Provide.
Satan is clever. There are a lot of very good churches where praise and worship are awesome and emotionally moving. People attend those services for the emotionally moving experience; It feels good. There are other churches that are like Alcoholics Anonymous meetings where people confess their sins and seek support to heal and break an addiction. Prayer meetings are a group of people who lift to God a long list of names of friends, loved ones, and acquaintances who need healed of a terminal illness or about to experience a challenging life-altering event where they now need God. Unfortunately, they need God because they have exhausted all mankind’s answers and solutions; He is their last resort. Satan likes this Focus; it distracts from the new focus of making disciples. These are all good and well, but they should not be the focus.
The focus now should be to make disciples. To become a disciple, one first must understand the Good News. The Good News is, we can now be in God’s presence because we are no longer dirty if we have the Blood of Jesus applied to our heart’s doorpost. After sin, we were too dirty to approach or come near to God; but Jesus changed that.
Becoming a disciple is NOT becoming an academic follower of Jesus or simply having the head-knowledge of his lifestyle. It is learning how he lived AND knowing why he lived that way, his motive. Jesus was motivated to live the way he did because he understood who God the Father is. Jesus understood God the Father wants to gather us underneath his wings to care for us and protect us. Jesus understood God’s multiplication math as demonstrated by the loaves of bread to feed the multitude. Jesus understands God’s love for us. Jesus ALSO knows how to Yield to God’s will perfectly. This is what being a disciple of Jesus is. If we are to make disciples, this is what we teach without forsaking the previous focus of caring for the needs of the people.