"By His Stripes We Are Healed" | Does Faith = Healing? (Part 3)

For this last post, I'd like to look at a few more passages and then wrap it up.

Paul tells the Corinthians: "As servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger..." (II Cor. 6:4-5).

A few chapters later he adds, “[I endured] far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak?” (II Cor. 11:23-29).

I just can't see Paul following up a paragraph like that by saying: "But God really wants us all physically and financially prosperous in this life. No Christian would suffer terribly in this life if they would simply trust in God’s goodness and pray."

In fact, in the very next chapter Paul pleads with the Lord three times to remove the "thorn" in his side. But God refuses. "My grace is enough. My power is made perfect in your weakness." Paul prayed earnestly and in faith on three occasions and God said, "No, I'm not taking the thorn away. It is going to humble you. But, I will give you enough grace to endure it."

Now, I believe God can and does heal. I also believe we can and should pray for healing. But I do not think God promises to heal us as long as we have enough faith and pray sincerely. Some people pray in faith and are healed; some pray in faith and aren’t. I think Hebrews 11 really speaks to this.

The whole chapter of course is about men and women of faith in the Old Testament. Verses 32-40 say that some people by faith conquered kingdoms, stopped the mouths of lions and escaped the edge of the sword; however others by that same faith suffered mocking, flogging, chains and imprisonment, and some were even killed with the sword. The chapter ends by saying that "all of these were commended through their faith." By faith some escaped the sword and by faith some died by the sword - but all of them were commended through their faith.

I don’t think the Prosperity Gospel of our day can account for that second category of faithful believers. They only account for the first. Prosperity preachers say that our faith allows us to shut the mouths of lions, like Daniel, not that it may end up getting our heads cut off, like John the Baptist. I feel like the prosperity gospel doesn’t tell the whole truth. And their half truth does become a harmful and destructive lie.

So, yes, I do know of many cases where someone was sick and people prayed for them and God miraculously healed them. That does happen and I don't want to minimize that. I pray for God to heal people often when I hear they are sick. I just don't believe God promises to always heal in this life. I think the promise of healing, when every tear will finally be wiped away and suffering will be destroyed, is being reserved for the resurrection when Jesus returns. I believe then all disability, sickness, and disease will be gone for those who are in Christ. By his stripes we will finally be healed forever.

"By His Stripes We Are Healed" | Does Faith = Healing? (Part 2)

In this second post I'd like to start adding a biblical foundation to what we've looked at so far. So here goes...

Paul tells the Corinthians: "For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too" (II Cor. 1:5). Paul doesn't say, "Jesus suffered so we won't have to suffer in this world." Instead he says, "Jesus suffered so that he can comfort us when we share abundantly in his sufferings in this world."

Paul tells the Philippians: "For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake" (Phil 1:29). He doesn't say, "It has been granted to you for the sake of Christ that you should avoid suffering," but rather "that you may suffer...for his sake."

The word "granted" that Paul uses here I’ve had to research before. It literally means "to give as a gift." Paul is saying, "It is a gift to us that, for Christ’s sake, we should suffer for him." The gift is the suffering, not the removal of the suffering.

Paul tells the young pastor Timothy, "Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God" (II Timothy 1:8). He doesn’t say, “The power of God in the gospel will remove your suffering,” but rather, “The power of God in the gospel will enable you to suffer well.”

A chapter later he repeats the same idea: "Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus" (II Tim. 2:3). He doesn't say, "God doesn't let good soldiers of Christ suffer," but just the opposite: "Share in suffering!" The good soldier is certain to suffer.

We see this in particular when Paul told a group of recent converts that "through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God" (Acts 14:22). Paul says, "You can count on it, if you want to get into the kingdom, you are going to have to endure a lot of suffering."

I don't think it's an accident that Paul said that just three verses after this occurred: "But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead" (Acts 14:19). When Paul says we must enter the kingdom through "many tribulations" he didn't mean getting funny looks in class for standing up for Jesus, he had his stoning in mind.

In Romans 8, Paul famously writes: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, 'For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.' No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us" (Rom. 8:35-37). He doesn't say we are delivered from tribulation, distress, persecution, and sword; but rather that "in all these things" (in the midst of the suffering) we are more than conquerors.

We do not conquer our sufferings by watching God remove them from us, but by watching God turn them all for our good.

My Bible teacher and friend, Jerry Ediger, has said hundreds of times that the grace he has received from God and the spiritual growth that has occurred in his life as a direct result of being paralyzed has made the wheel chair worth it. He is more than a conqueror in the midst of his suffering, not in the removal of his suffering.

Peters writes, "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings" (I Peter 4:12-13). Suffering should never surprise a Christian. In fact, it should be an occasion for joy. (I fail at this 99.9% of the time.)

"For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil" (I Pet. 3:17). What is so interesting about this particular passage is that Peter doesn't say, "It's God's will that you not suffer, so pray and ask him to remove your suffering." Instead he says, "It's God's will for you to suffer for doing good sometimes. Don't be discouraged."

Peter says it again later: "Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good" (I Pet. 4:19). He doesn’t say, "Trust that God is a faithful Creator who will remove your suffering in this life." Rather he says, "Trust that God is a faithful Creator even when he wills your suffering in this life."

I don't think the prosperity gospel, as preached by TD Jakes, Joel Osteen, Mike Murdock (and many others), can deal honestly with these texts. In their minds God always wants suffering gone from your life right now. He wants you to be healthy and have a lot of money. But that’s just not always true.

Alright, we'll try to wrap this thing up in the next post. Thanks for reading!

"By His Stripes We Are Healed" | Does Faith = Healing? (Part 1)

Part one of a three part series by Mark McAndrew.

Over the past few months the Prosperity Gospel keeps coming up. I've been talking about it over coffee, on the phone, online, and in my classroom. So, here's my take:

I disagree with the statement: "If you try your hardest to be healed, believe in God fully, and pray to be healed, he will heal you."

I think God can heal anyone at any time. And I believe God sometimes (perhaps even often) does heal people today. But I do not believe he always heals people...even if they are sincerely praying and asking for healing.

I think the verse from Isaiah is true - "by his stripes we are healed." However, I think it will only fully be applied in the resurrection, when we have perfectly healthy bodies given to us. Until then, I do not think that there is a guarantee of healing.

Let me give an example. The most humble and godly person I've ever met is Jerry Ediger, who was my Bible teacher in high school. He was paralyzed during a football game at age 17 and has been in a wheel chair for the last 28 years. Is the reason he hasn't been healed in all this time really because he doesn't have enough faith?

Also, and I'm not trying to sound dramatic by saying this, but I had a friend from college die this past year. His name was Jonathan. He was 23, 6 months younger than I am, and he died from cancer. A year earlier (December 2009), he had some back pain and went to get an MRI. They discovered five tumors in his body (one near each kidney, one near his lungs, one near his heart, one in his lower back). He was diagnosed with stage four cancer and immediately started chemo.

Our whole college began praying for him in January, 2010. I saw him and prayed for his healing in person, along with many others. I have little doubt that many of those prayers were prayed sincerely and with faith that God could heal him. Well, the chemo ended and he was feeling much better. The tumors had shrunk and he was preparing to come back to school for Fall semester. That summer, and I tear up thinking about it, the cancer returned with a vengeance.

He had lost his hair, was horribly skinny and almost unrecognizable the last time I saw him. We talked in the coffee shop on campus. He said the doctors were guessing he'd have maybe two or three months to live. I hugged him. He loved Jesus. In fact, when I met him three years earlier we became close friends and once even drove, just he and I, to an out-of-state Christian conference for a week. He knew the Word really well, and would get emotional talking about Jesus' death on the cross for him. Anyways, all that to say he was a believer, he loved Jesus, and he was prayed for by literally hundreds of Christians to be healed, and yet he passed away last February.

Now, this is the point where I get really upset at prosperity teaching. Prosperity teachers would tell me friend, Jonathan, that the primary reason he wasn't getting better was because he didn't have enough faith in promises like "By his stripes we are healed" - and that if he just believed more in that promise, the cancer would go away.

The problem is...that's not true. We did believe and we did pray, and the cancer didn't go away. Now, Jonathan didn't believe the prosperity 'word of faith' message, but if he had, what would that have done to him as he was dying? He would have thought one of two things: either I don't have enough faith or God doesn't keep his promises. Both of those are not true and would have left him in more despair than he was already in.

In the next two posts, I'd like to look at a few passages that relate to this whole issue.

Why You Need a D-Team

Being a college student can be tough. As a Christian college student it can be all out war. The college culture is a tough place to walk in obedience to Jesus. As the semester kicks off one of the things we want to encourage you to do is find a few people to help you in the fight against sin. Our ministry does that in what we call D-Teams. 

What is a D-Team?

• A group of 2- 4 people
• Same gender 
• Meet weekly 
• Three purposes 
     Confess sin in mutual accountability
     Read scripture in context and community
     Pray regularly for people who need Jesus

What are the Advantages of a D-Team?

• Relationship (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12): Life transformation does not happen in a vacuum; it happens in relationship with others. For most, it is difficult to have the kind of close-knit bond that can change lives with more than three people at any one time. The best context for life-changing community is in a group of two or four.
• Accountability (1 Timothy 5:19): Few things in life get done without some degree of account-ability. In the pursuit of godliness we need accountability to one another. It’s hard to be ac-countable to more than two or three people at a time. We can find support with a small group who knows and understands our life.
• Confidentiality (Matthew 18:15-17): Confession of sin is needed for cleansing, healing, and preparation for a life of service, and a safe place is essential. Two or three others of your same gender, who know and care about you and who are also sharing their own struggles, provide as safe a place as one can find.
• Flexibility (Matthew 18:20): Two to four busy people can coordinate their schedules and meet almost anywhere.
• Reproducibility (2 Timothy 2:2): Simple things multiply more easily than complex things. If we learn to multiply this basic unit of the church, we have a better chance to multiply more complex groups, ministries and congregations. 

Here's a promise: If you'll commit to a D-Team and be honest and transparent it will change your walk as a follower of Christ. If you are interested in being a part of one of these life changing teams e-mail pastor Vic : vdoss@watfbc.org 

New Teaching Series

You may have heard someone say- “The Bible is a book about Jesus” – nowhere is that more true than in the book of Hebrews.  This ancient letter was probably a sermon written to a struggling congregation of Jewish followers of Christ.  These young Christians were obviously thinking of turning from Christ back to an old system of religion.  But before we judge them too harshly we need to step back and examine our own relationship with Jesus.  Do we at times live like it’s Jesus plus “something”?  Do we really and truly understand that Jesus is superior to every form of religion or religious teacher/leader who has ever lived?  Do we sometimes drift from the truth that Jesus is supposed to be the blazing sun in the center of our universe?

The book of Hebrews was written for people who have the propensity to “drift”.  In other words, it was written for everybody.  In Hebrews the author shows us that there is nothing that compares to Jesus and this is a truth that we need to be reminded of.   Our hope is that as we read and pray through the book of Hebrews together, your heart would be filled with the truth that JESUS is GREATER!  

Let's Do This

Wow! Can you believe that summer is over? Welcome to all the new students at UGA, Gainesville, Athens Tech and anywhere else you might be studying.  Our leadership team has been working hard and we're excited about this year.  Here's a quick look at some things happening this semester:

• College Bible Study (CBS)- We meet every Sunday at 9:30 am in the basement of WFBC.  This year we will be studying through the book of Hebrews discovering how Jesus is "Greater Than" 
• FEAST - August 19th 6pm - All you can eat BBQ and a worship concert- best part IT'S FREE! 
• The Gathering- every Thursday night at the Tate Student Center (room TBA)  
• D-teams - small groups of 3-4 people who hold each other accountable and pray for each other
• Small Groups- most meet on Sunday nights in the homes of WFBC families

We'll get into the details of these and other things going on in our ministry at FEAST on August 19th.  But don't worry, if yu cant be there we'll post details on this blog and on our college Facebook page - Watkinsville College Ministry

Praying for a great year of making Jesus famous on your campus and around the world!

What's in the Cup?

Chances are, if you see me holding a cup, it has coffee in it.  I really like coffee and I like coffee cups.  I have a very large collection of coffee cups.  Some of them have been given to me; others I bought while on trips as souvenirs.  I actually have a coffee cup I bought on my honeymoon with Cynthia over 20 years ago that I drink out of every year on our anniversary.  Today I was sitting in a coffee shop waiting to meet with a college student and enjoying a cup of coffee and I was reminded that there is one cup I will never drink from.  The reason I’ll never drink from it is because Jesus drank from it.  But there was a moment when it appeared that he didn’t want to drink from this particular cup.  In Luke’s gospel we pick up this conversation between Jesus and the Father;

And he withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” (Luke 22:41; Luke 22:42 ESV)

The “cup” here is a reference to the brutal death Jesus was about to suffer on the cross.   No wonder he wants to pass if he can but he knows he can’t.  It’s what he came for.

Every gospel writer mentions the cup.  Mathew, Mark, and Luke all record some version of Jesus asking his Father if the cup could be removed from him. John records something amazing about the “cup.”  You see, while Jesus is in the garden praying for his disciples, you, and about this cup, soldiers (led by one of Jesus’ own disciples) are making their way to the garden to arrest him.   Peter sees the soldiers, pulls a sword and cuts off some poor guy’s ear and things are starting to get more than a little crazy when Jesus says this:

“Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?” (John 18:11 ESV)

There’s the cup again.  The very cup Jesus asks his Father to remove from him he has now declared he will drink from.  But what’s in the cup?  To find the answer to that you need to go to the book of Revelation:

And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, “he also will drink the wine of God's wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.” (Revelation 14:9-10 ESV)

Read that again.  John tells us very plainly that if we do not place our trust in Jesus then we will have to drink the cup of God’s wrath.  Let that sink in for a moment.  

That’s a cup we don’t have to drink from.  Why?  Jesus told us about another drink that he offers.  It’s a drink that would keep us from the “cup of wrath”. In John 4, Jesus tells a woman that he can give here “living water” and if she drinks it she will never thirst again.  When we put our faith in Jesus we get access to the “living water “ and we’ll never thirst again.  It also means we will never even see the “cup of wrath” because on the cross King Jesus took that cup and drank it so that you and I wouldn’t have to.  Jesus drank the cup of God’s wrath for you.

Someday people who have not thrown themselves on the grace of God and the finished work of Jesus will have to “drink the wine of God's wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger”.   But those of us who put our faith in Jesus will never drink from that cup.

For the Christian this truth should bring about at least two responses:

First, we should fall to our knees in worship!     

Second, it should compel us to tell others about the grace of God in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

People are thirsty and they are going to drink.  What’s going to be in the cup?  Wrath or Living Water?  

Do you and I care enough to tell them what’s in the cup? 

Fight Club - Apologetics

Fight Club guys- We kick off our spring study series on apologetics January 17th.  You can find the content for the first 5 weeks here .  This is a great opportunity for you to become better equipped to contend for the gospel.  I want to encourage to bring a friend with you every Tuesday night so we can introduce more guys to the movement. Looking forward to seeing you Tuesday nights this spring.  


Make War!