Good morning,
This week’s Monday Minute is taken from a letter that our son Tim Wisner wrote to his church in Japan after finishing 4 months of Chemo treatment for cancer. For those of you who knew of his condition and were praying for him, we would also like to add our thanks to his as well.
I would like to thank everyone who has prayed for my family and me during this time and for all of you who have helped us in different ways to be able to come through this challenge. We have been blessed in many ways.
During my stay in the hospital I was thinking about what was happening to me and how it parallels what happens in the church. The Bible says the church is the body of Christ, (1 Corinthians 12:12-30, Ephesians 4:16) and we can see sin, even one person’s sin (Joshua 7:1), as a sickness that affects everyone in the church. In 1 Corinthians 11:24-34 Paul warns the church that their sin in regards to the communion meal was leading to weakness, sickness and even death. He also says in verse 32 that God brings discipline in order to keep the church from being condemned.
Prior to the CT that found my tumor, I was feeling fine. I didn’t feel sick, but I definitely had a tumor in my back that was growing every day. I didn’t actually start to feel sick until several days into the chemotherapy. In fact, my cancer never made me feel sick, it was the medicine the doctors gave me that made me feel sick.
In the same way, when we have sin in our lives, we can be blissfully unaware of how sick we really are. As the church, it is often the discipline of the Holy Spirit that makes us “feel bad” until we realize the root problem of sin that is actually ruining our relationship with God. So, when we as a church are feeling tired or sick or even like something is dying, we should take time to examine our lives. Is there a sin problem that is the root of this weakness and sickness? Are we being selfish or unforgiving or disobedient? In Revelation 2 and 3, Jesus gives a few “church killing” sins, including failing to correct sinners in the church, failing to love and submit to each other, and becoming apathetic in our relationship with Christ.
The medicine, the discipline from the Holy Spirit can be difficult, but if we repent and work together to address sin issues, we can look forward to God’s healing and restoration.
1 Corinthians 11:32 Yet when we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned along with the world.
Roy Wisner / Tim Wisner
