The Supernatural Community is here so that broken people can be repaired
Reading: Isaiah 53
A man struggling with alcoholism
A boy sexually abused by a school teacher
A 14 year old girl with a very much unwanted pregnancy
A boy taking serious drugs and his devastated parents
People of every age struggling with their sexuality
A woman who has been ritually abused
An older woman still haunted by the guilt of an illegal abortion decades ago
A man who murdered his wife and lover and carries the pain of that event
A man who was repetitively tortured at boarding school because of the colour of his skin
Countless people depressed and disabled by the loss of a loved one, divorces, unemployment, sickness, abuse of all kinds
All these people have given public testimony, in churches I have been part of over the past 30 years. I could give many, many more examples.
We live in a broken, damaged, hurting, painful world. A world which is so broken that inevitably people bring that damage into the supernatural community. This is a good thing, in that the supernatural community, the church should be a great place for broken people to find repair.
Sadly, that is not always the case, far from finding repair, some have only found rejection and condemnation.
Tragically there are others who have been broken from experiences within the community! Whenever this happens it needs to be called out not covered up.
And yet others, who because of the rules, real or perceived, find themselves frustrated, inhibited, oppressed and disappointed. And let’s face it a lot of people are hurt purely by misunderstanding or from things that could easily be sorted if only we were willing to face each other up.
We now come to the end of our series looking at the Supernatural Community, the Church. Worshipping, Biblical, Missional, Maturing, Gifted, Growing, Also:-
Within the supernatural community, there is a key ministry of repairing the hurt of the world.
1. Jesus died so we can be repaired
Christ died to free us from sin.
For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Col 1.13f)
He died also to heal us from the effect of sin
Let’s Pause and read Isaiah 53.
All Christians have received the freedom which comes from Christ being pierced for our transgressions, cursed for our iniquities. But Christ also took our infirmities, carried our sorrows, was wounded so we could be healed.
Of course, it could be argued we can never be fully healed in this life, just as we are not fully saved either. But certainly, at this moment we are being saved! So too, we are being healed of the damage done to us by the world.
Unless we truly believe this we will spend the rest of our lives carrying the baggage of victims. Let’s take a classic example.
Children naturally interpret their world as orbiting around themselves. In a home, say, where the father gets drunk repeatedly, causing chaos and turmoil, a five year old child can easily come to believe, on an emotional level, that she is responsible for her daddy’s problems. ‘I must be a bad girl’, she thinks, ‘for allowing this to happen’. She grows up feeling shameful and responsible, not only for her daddy’s problems, but also for the problems of her husbands and others. Years later let’s say, she finally gets into counselling. An initial step in therapy is helping the patient get in touch with her brokenness. She begins to see that she wasn’t responsible for her father’s rampages. This revelation causes a geyser of anger and resentment to spew forth from her – a necessary but painful step in the healing process.
This is OK, this anger is not sin, but there is another step to take. When these feelings are identified, talked about, and accepted as valid, only then should she be encouraged to take the next step of releasing them in forgiveness. Too often people stay angry, and that leads them to bitterness that eats away at them.
This is where the supernatural community comes in. The supernatural community must lead people to where they can say, ‘What happened to me was awful. I wasn’t responsible for it, so I don’t have to be stuck there. The people in my life were fallen creatures, just as I am. They sinned and as children were probably sinned against.’ This is where forgiveness can flow.
But I am tired of finding victims of the church. Far from the supernatural community being the place where healing takes place, to often it is an arena where damage is done. There are damaged, hurting people for whom there seems to be little repair taking place.
Now I know that we are all sinners, I know that we make mistakes, I know that there are all sorts of things that cause us to do what we never intended to do. I am not excusing the damage but I know it will happen, what gets to me most is when nothing is done about it, when there is no striving to repair, when there is no forgiveness being offered and no forgiveness granted, when people fail to face one another when they are hurt, when people seem to be seeking vindication rather than reconciliation.
In the various capacities I have served churches, I have continually discovered people out of fellowship with one another, even people who have now stopped coming because of it. I tell you, you are under obligation to Go to sort it out. There is no excuse, both the offender and the offended have an obligation to sort it out.
Look at Jesus’ ministry, it is inconceivable that he would not heal as well as teach. It was the validating feature of his ministry. The example of the paralysed man shows this clearly. Throughout Acts we see the same integration.
2. The Community is designed to be the place of repair
We are called together so that the hungry eat, thirsty drink, the stranger is invited in, and so on (Matt 25.35).
To grow (Eph 4.15 speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the head, that is, Christ.) Part of our maturing is to be released form the damage of the past. Otherwise what power do we speak of to the lost?
There is of course the damage of being sinned against and the damage of our own sin. It has to be admitted and dealt with. To link the healing process with genuine biblical discipleship, we must name sin. We cannot be complicit in one of the glaring errors of secular psychology. I am not a counsellor, I do not offer counselling, I do offer ministry, but I wish that all who offer ministry or counselling would face up to the reality of sin. There are times when what has to be said is this; “Cut it out. You’ve got power; you can control your behaviour. You don’t have to be a slave to these things.” While empathy is important, sometimes the call for repentance is more urgent. At some point you’ve got to say that certain behaviour is sin, that God is more powerful than that sin, and that repentance is required.
Another gritty but important task of Christian discipleship is moving people away from being takers into givers. In recent years this has grown more difficult. Those who have received counselling often feel released from the ought-to’s and obligations that shackled them before. As they get in touch with their own needs, which is necessary in the recovery process, they can become selfish, focused merely on their needs. To move beyond that, they must see their self in relation to Christ. Their identity is not merely in discovering who they are, but who they are in Christ. One is inward focused; the other is Christ-centred.
Simply put, who we are in Christ is this: redeemed sinners. When we absorb this truth, it leads to sacrificial giving. When a person truly sees who he is in Christ, he is freed from pride of thinking he’s better than others, and also from the despair of feeling worthless. That change in focus reflects what Christ was modelling when He donned a towel and washed the disciples feet.
To serve (Rms 12.7-15) We remind ourselves of the many spiritual gifts we can receive: encouraging, giving, mercy, hospitality, helps, healing, knowledge, wisdom, are designed for this ministry, they are all repairing gifts, repairing ministries.
I hope by now we fully understand that the church is not the building but the people. Equally I hope that we understand that our ministry is not primarily to those already in the church nut to those who are currently outside.
The ministry of repair begins in the world outside. Many of those who are in need of Christ are also desperate need of our care, to rebuild families, heal hurts, exercise social justice for the homeless and the unemployed, and so on. Are we ready to help?
As we reach out we can point to the master healer Jesus Christ and to His Supernatural Community as a place, a people through with Christ’s healing can take place.
It is a safe place with no quick fixes, It takes time and we need to exercise patience and love. Where we can face the powerful issues, the emotional issues, where we get below the superficiality of daily life!
It is a safe place where people are cared for by exercise of the gifts and the fruits of the Spirit (Gal 5:22). It is a spirit filled supernatural community.
I have a vision of a new kind of Christian community.
A Community which gathers in all sorts of ways to celebrate the creator saviour God; with excellence in its worship, teaching, and facilities; with integrity; with relevance.
A Community which gathers in small groups to pray, study, care and belong; which models to a broken world healing relationships; where the fruit of the Spirit is seen; where we treat one another as created-in-the-image, with respect and gentleness.
A Community which strives for maturity and enables servant ministry based on where God gives us passion, using our spiritual gifts and talents that God gives us, and serving in the way that God has made us!
A Community which gets bigger by us co-operating with each other in our witness, drawing people to Jesus and his community. Where everyone can give account of our faith, being able to say who Jesus was, why he died and what that means today. Where we do what we do well and reach lost people who matter to God and therefore they matter to us.
A Community which is a safe place for people to be repaired in, and where people are healed and cared for in practical ways.
I say to you be that sort of Supernatural Community. Make Penarth or wherever it is you live and minister, into that sort of Supernatural Community.