Problem No 2: The Inability to Breathe

Symptoms and Cause

In most cases this is most likely to be connected to the previous problem of the heart malfunctioning – causing breathlessness and gasping for breath, but other problems may have a contribution toward the problem.

Breathlessness and gasping for breath can also be caused by:

·          Problems with the respiratory system

·          Obesity,

·          Problems with the circulatory system,

·          Anemia. 

In the case of the church, the air we breathe is the breath of God, the Holy Spirit.  There is more than enough available so why is the church having a problem with breathing?  It maybe, that there is a problem with the spiritual lungs.   

The lungs are amazing, air enters the body through the nose or mouth passes down the trachea, and passes through a seeming endless maze of increasingly smaller tubes until it finally reaches clusters of tiny sacs, called alveoli.  They are extremely small and it is estimated there are 300 million per lung and this is where the exchange of gas takes place – oxygen into the blood, and the carbon dioxide is passed back into the lung in order to exhale it.  In the medical world there may be many diseases, bacteria, viruses and cancers that affect the function of the lungs, and obviously when serious can be life threatening. 

In the spiritual realm the inability to breathe in the breath of life will mean that  The Holy Spirit and his power is unable to reach every part of His Church, but the fault is not with him, but with us.   Gradually the passages or ways which the Holy Spirit has come into his church have been closed down through lack of use, or been polluted by other things, so that breathlessness or the inability to take in the breath of God’s spirit resembles spiritual asthma.  Unfortunately so many Christians and churches seem to have got so used to the inability to breath deeply that they have adapted, and manage to survive, just about, with minimal inconvenience, so that the problem is almost unrecognizable. 

    

Local church fellowships vary worldwide – for some the Holy Spirit is free to work in the hearts and lives of his people with great effect, but for others the Holy Spirit is given a once a year glance on the day of Pentecost, other than that he rarely gets a mention.  The fact that without him not one of us would be saved seems to evade such fellowships.  As I was growing up I was taught that the gifts of the Holy Spirit were just for the early church, and after that there was no longer a need for the gifts.  I’m not sure where the Holy Spirit featured, as he was definitely accepted as part of the Trinity, but his work and existence seemed to be a mystery.  I am not sure whether what  I grew up believing was the intentional teaching of the church or not, but it wasn’t until after I left home that I truly began to understand the vital importance of the Holy Spirit in the daily life of individual Christians and in the life of every local church  fellowship.   Unfortunately there are still local churches, fellowships and groups of Christians who still share the questionable theories of my youth, so it is hardly surprising that the Body of Christ is gasping for breath in many areas of the world – they are denying and ignoring their main source of life.

Jesus said “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.  Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.                                                                                                                                              John 7:37 – 39

For many the experience of the Holy Spirit is a dry well and a thirsty soul and never being able to take long deep breaths to fill the soul and draw near to the Spirit of life, no doubt another reason for the “spring and summer fixes”.  Some go to these oases of refreshment knowing that the folk back home don’t approve, but their gasping breaths, and their hunger and thirst for more bring them to the watering holes where they have found help and sustenance in the past, but in returning to normal life, their local church, which should be a regular source of help and refreshing has resulted in shortness of breath and gasping for spiritual air, and a heart that beats erratically. 

Treatment and prognosis for Arrythmia

In the physical world when arrhythmias occur there are various methods to treat and in many cases patients can lead normal lives.  The first thing a local Church, and individual members of this church must do, is to evaluate whether this is in fact a problem.  

Are there periods of obvious devotion to Christ, followed by seasons of barrenness?  Is there a hunger and thirst after God, a desire to seek his will and his heart for the nations, the lost, His bride, His church?  If not, what needs to be changed or given up?   What new things need to be included into the daily life of the church and its individuals?

In the medical world the fitting of a pacemaker is one of the remedies for arrhythmia so putting a pacemaker into the life of the church doesn’t sound too absurd.  Actually God himself has already  fitted the pace maker almost 2000 years ago – The Holy Spirit and we are to walk in step with Him.  “Since we live by the Spirit let us keep in step with the Spirit” Gals 5:25

Paul writes as though this is the most logical thing to do, so what has happened to the church that it is in such a desperate need of a pace maker, if we already have one fitted?  Many local expression of the Body of Christ have switched off, locked out, ignored or purposely worked against the Holy Spirit.  God’s desire is that the Holy Spirit will act as his representative on earth.  He is to be listened to and obeyed.  If the church is to regain the functions of a normal heart, beating in time with the heartbeat of God the difference would be noticed as would the benefits.

How do we walk in step with the Spirit? Listen, search God’s word, obey him, examine your heart, confess whatever he shows you to confess, submit to him, and let him transform you by the renewal of your mind, so that you can know his will.

“Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect”           Romans 12:1 – 2 

When a church’s heart beat beats in step with the Master- his agenda would be uppermost in the lives of church members, where everyone is fully submitted to him, where hungry souls long for the pure spiritual food and their diet is balanced and constant.  The need for “shots in the arm” or “a quick adrenalin rush” no longer bring about the arrhythmia affect, but the church will have a strong, steady, balanced heartbeat which will affect the whole body of Christ.  Those previously strong and oblivious of the needs of others will turn to care for and encourage those who are weak and have struggled.  

^“….. Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers,  to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.    Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”          Ephesians 4:11 – 16

Christ never intended for us to live in isolation.  Every church member, every local church is part of His body, His Universal church, of which he is the head and it is only when we all work together that Christ’s body can come to maturity, and his Pace Maker is free to work in and through everyone of us his children so that we are all in step with the spirit, and our hearts beat in unison with God’s.

O Lord, have mercy upon us, that this may not be true of us.

Problem No 1: Arrhythmia

Symptoms  and Cause

Whenever a patient goes to the ER one of the first thing to be checked is the heart.  For our patient, the Church in the ER, there is a sporadic heart beat, at times hardly discernible, at other times strong and seemingly healthy.   

The heartbeat when strong and seemingly healthy is when the Church is healthy, and the heart of the church is beating in time with the heartbeat of God.  There are obviously some local churches that are healthy and strong, and who continually seek to be listening to God, hearing, obeying and walking in step with him, so that this local church has a healthy heartbeat.  In reality, though, this is not the case for the Universal Church.

The Universal church is made up of many local churches whose heartbeat is rarely strong, steady and consistent.   When a good strong heart beat is detected it coincides with a large number of members having an adrenalin-like shot in the arm.  What happened?  They went to one of the many camps, conferences, meetings, revival meetings and retreats available seasonably, predominantly in spring or during the summer months.  Everyone who attends is fired up, blessed, challenged and resolute that “from now on I will maintain a closer walk with the Lord”.  People have prayed together, worshipped together, confessed their sin together, encouraged one another and together have a renewed vision of what church and the Christian life is all about. They have centred their hearts and lives afresh on the Lord, and committed themselves to seek after God, and his heartbeat for the nation and the world.  With this annual shot in the arm members of the Universal church return to their local churches with enthusiasm.  They share their visions, challenges and resolve to walk in step with God, to let him take his rightful position as the head of the church, and for a while all seems well. 

But then? 

O yes there is nearly always a “but then!”  After a while the enemy of the church, the enemy of every child of God, tries his hand afresh to separate freshly envisioned servants of God from their recent experiences of warm fellowship and fresh commitment, to separate them from likeminded committed folk, and gradually they return to normality – lifestyle, a job, a profession,  busyness, challenges, disappointments and confusion.  The determination to keep up that early morning hour of Quiet Time and prayer, reflecting the Bible readings/studies at those wonderful meetings, is squeezed into a few minutes here and there.  The junk food diet of “a thought for the day” or “today’s bible verse” is back.  

Whoops!  Missed the weekly prayer meeting again.  O no, I’m going to be late for church, again.  “Sorry pastor I know I said I was interested, but I really don’t have time to lead the Sunday School, the Youth Group, or the crèche”.  (Whatever made me think I could do that?)  “Maybe, when this present period of problems has sorted itself out…….” “House Group?  I’m so sorry I have to be somewhere else, maybe next week”.   “Church Barbeque?  O yes, I think we’re all intending to be there, let’s hope the weather holds out”.  “Missionary meeting?  Well you know, I’ve been thinking about that, there is so much need right here, I am hoping to go to the planning meeting next month for our local outreach event”. (Wow, that was close, but why should we send missionaries abroad when there is so much need right here on our doorstep?)

Looking at the photos, from the summer, bring back distant memories of a desire for God and his will.  A smile gradually emerges across your face as you think of shared burdens, and new friends who encouraged you and prayed with you, challenged you to go deeper into the things of God.  Now?  Well life has taken over again, maybe later or next year when things have balanced out a bit.  The desire for these yearly “fixes” reflects the fact that there is a hunger after God, and the fact that without exception they are probably all full to capacity shows that there is a felt need for something more than the church is giving its members.  Don’t misunderstand me, I am not against these conferences, meetings and camps, I have attended some and even been involved in organizing some and for many it is a major turning point in their lives.  Some may find the salvation which they have been seeking.  Others may hear God’s voice and respond accordingly.  I am just conscious that these experiences become yearly highlights shown by the fact that a few weeks after the event all is back to normal, instead of these events being a part of an on-going seeking after God.

Some parts of God’s universal church maintain a strong heart beat for God and his vision for His church, his bride, but the arrhythmia is caused by the many local expressions of the Body of Christ who still struggle to find that vital and life-giving relationship with the Head of the body.

In normal life arrhythmias can be very common and are not necessarily life- threatening, just a normal part of life, but in the church, many have ignored the signs for so long that they present with just an occasional blip on the heart monitor, and some  have even flat- lined already.

What has happened to the Church, why do we have problems?

This patient would be a student doctor’s dream or greatest nightmare,  to find all the same symptoms in the one patient.  The problem is, which of all the symptoms, diseases and problems is the most life threatening, and how do you treat such a patient, so that he or she remains alive long enough to begin treating them, and gradually bringing  them back to normal health?

I come across many local churches, both in Thailand and in the UK, some of them have many of these symptoms, some have less , but it seems to me, that maybe with a few exceptions, nearly every church you enter is showing some of these symptoms.

Together we all make up the body of Christ.  Churches which are in our locality are actually part of that body too, but even so, some local churches act as if they are the only true branch of the body of Christ in their locality and when talking of one of the other denominations, or groups of Christians in the same area, there are looks of disdain, or words of dislike as if “those” people are outcasts and not worthy of passing the time of day with.

In the 1970’s Michael Griffiths wrote the book “Cinderella with amnesia” challenging readers to think about the relevance of the church, and aiming to give an understanding of what the church is all about.  Most of us who read the book as young people, are now the older/elder people in the church, and by now we should have passed on our excitement and understanding of the relevance of the church, so that the next generation coming up will have caught our excitement and be filled with joy at being part of God’s eternal plan to bring men and women, boys and girls into his kingdom.   Unfortunately it doesn’t seem to have happened.  Anyone who attends Sunday services on a regular basis may realize that there is an increasing lack of young people attending Sunday services, or “the church”.  If they are there at all, they often leave the church (sanctuary/place of adult worship) when the children leave for their classes, and have separate meetings felt to be more appropriate for their age group.  The problem is that they have never learned to be “in” the church, “part” of the church, nor have they been particularly involved in the church, unless on special occasion the young people are asked to lead parts of the normal worship service. 

When they reach the age that the youth pastor/worker feels they are now old enough to be part of the church worship services, they have no idea how to relate to the “service/worship” culture, and find it incredibly boring, listening to a speaker for 10 – 45 minutes, maybe more, with no opportunity to discuss, challenge or offer an opinion, in the way that they are used to, and so begins the mass exodus of young people from our churches.  Praise the Lord that often when they leave for University the CU’s find them, and begin to help them to bridge the gap between what they have experienced and what church is really all about.  But sadly many more feel they have “done” church, and found it to be wanting, and kick over the traces.

“The church in the ER” is a parable-like look at the problems the church is presenting with, a look at the symptoms and the reasons for the problems in the first place, and with a diagnosis,  an attempt at recommendations for dealing with the problem and a prognosis given the right treatment, and change in lifestyle so that Christ’s beloved Bride may be restored to health and strength and actively be completely  involved in serving Him once more.