Is There A Doctrine In The House?

We have two interesting viewpoints emerging in our current church culture. On the one hand, we have the men and women who are preaching about the promise of prosperity for the church. They are giving sermon after sermon on attaining everything you need right here and right now, and it is your right (as a Christian only) to have it. Our destiny is to have the world! I find this interesting, because in Psalm 73:25, the psalmist writes that "the earth has nothing I desire besides You."

On the other hand, we have the Emerging Church, which has as one of its main goals the 'social' gospel. The message here is that our purpose is to get into the world and address the problems of poverty and disease. I must admit, while personally I like the 'prosperity' movement, spiritually I can't help but be more drawn to the 'social' movement. It appeals to the Christ in me.

Brian McLaren, the leading voice in the emergent movement, has a new book out called: “Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crisis and a Revolution of Hope.” In it, he cautions “against a spiritual need-centered belief that neglects imminent physical and social concerns.” In his earlier book, he argues that “faith is more about a way of life than a system of belief, and being authentically good is more desired than being doctrinally right.” So while he had me with his opening hook, he loses me when he loses doctrine. Why? Because doctrine simply is truth expounded, and it is the truth that sets me free. And I want to be free.

I find this conflict interesting in light of the passage in Acts 3, which addresses all of these issues. Right off the bat, Peter and John confront and meet the physical needs of the beggar. They have to, or he (and the crowd) may never listen to the message. This is a principle clearly seen in I Kings 19, as we see the way God dealt with the depression of Elijah. Before confronting the spiritual problem, you may have to deal with the physical situation. Without rebuking him for his spiritual demise, God simply fed Elijah and told him to get some rest. Meeting the physical need of a person is obviously extremely important. So, of course, I do see this point. It's nothing new or emerging. It's been God's way since Adam.

But if that's all it is, a 'felt-need' being met, then it's just as wrong as the prosperity gospel, maybe even more so. Its danger lies in that it gives a false sense of spirituality - when all it is is a physical need met. Ultimately, we are to point to the only thing that matters, a right relationship with God through Jesus Christ – His only expressed means of salvation (doctrinally-speaking).

The end of Acts 3 reveals the point of the story – Peter tells them that “When God raised up His servant, He sent Him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways." The blessing is in the spiritual need being met. Not silver or gold, and not the physical healing. The spiritual need is the epicenter of everything else. Any focus on the material that eliminates this as the focal point, whether it’s the greedy preacher accumulating wealth on earth or the emerging man with the heart of gold reaching into the deserts of the Sudan, is missing the mark.

Why? Because Christ came into the world to redeem lost souls. Feeding the hungry, healing the sick, clothing the naked, visiting the poor – are all wonderful ‘new creation’ offshoots of this spiritual healing. At least they should be (and this is where I think the Emerging Church has an edge over the traditional churches.) But again, the point is that we are in a spiritually sick world that manifests itself in physical sickness - and if that spiritual need is not the primary need, then everything else is like a band-aid on a cancerous tumor.

In Luke 5:20 - 24, Christ forgives the paralytic that is lying before Him on a mat. The man's four dirty, sweaty friends must be wondering why they spent all that time digging through a roof to get him there. But Christ knows what matters. The man's spiritual state far outweighs his physical problems. It's almost as if He has no intention of healing the man. But to show that He can forgive, He heals. Not vice versa. Spiritual forgiveness clearly outweighs physical need. It's the only true answer to any problem in the world.

It was the answer to these people in Acts 3. It was the answer to the thief on the cross - who never did find his physical need met. It’s the answer to the starving African mother and the political prisoner in China. It's the answer to the Christian who wants his best life and he wants it now.

Spiritual healing is the only thing that matters. Why? Because, as David experienced in Psalm 32, being in sin sucks the everlasting life right out of you. And being in Christ sucks the everlasting sin out of you - and in the end, that is what matters. As Christ told His disciples when they returned from their first missionary trip: "Do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven." (Luke 10:20) When all is said and done, there's heaven and there's hell (again, doctrinally-speaking).