Friday, Apr. 16, 2010
Pastor's commentary: Feet or seat?
By Pastor John Parker
ChristChurch
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Reprint"Now at Lystra there was a man sitting who could not use his feet. He was crippled from birth and had never walked. He listened to Paul speaking. And Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well, said in a loud voice, 'Stand upright on your feet.' And he sprang up and began walking." (Acts 14:8–10, ESV)
"Stand upright on your feet!" That sounds like the right action cry of the Christian church. Jesus spoke it (Mark 2:9-11), Peter spoke it (Acts 3:6), and in the passage above Paul spoke it.
Nowadays "Stand up on your feet!" may have been replaced with, "Come in and have a seat!"
Sometimes I think we've been crippled from birth like the lame man, not physically but religiously and spiritually. I know that church for me growing up consisted mainly of attending and sitting and listening. That was the preferred way for us.
One of my adult loved ones stormed out of a church meeting, got in the car, and tore out of the parking lot, while raging, "They say we are supposed to confess our faults to one another! The only person I have to confess to is Jesus Christ."
I was about 10 years old and the only other person in the car. The confessing Jesus Christ part sounded right to me but I remember wondering about the raging.
Years later I came across James 5:18 which reads, "Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed." (James 5:16, KJV) Then many more years after that I remembered the scene in the car! I thought of the irony of that fine church person getting enraged over an actual verse in the Bible as if it was evil or something.
My suspicion is that my loved one was getting the same call Paul gave the lame man, "Stand upright on your feet." As if to say, "Get real! Get open! Get truly involved! Confess your faults!"
Are you lame? Confess it! Are you scared? Confess it. Are you feeling pushed to get real? Confess it to someone who has ears to hear and a heart to facilitate your healing.
That confession verse has a wonderful promise! "Confess to each other and pray for each other and you will be healed." I wonder what healing my loved one, or I for that matter, missed when we drove away from that verse that day?
"Stand upright on your feet." The lame man heard "and he sprang up and began walking."
John Parker is the pastor of ChristChurch, located at 260 N. Sixth Street in Chowchilla meeting Sundays at 10 a.m. Phone: (209) 726-0119. Email: john@plugintolife.com
