I remember it like it was yesterday. The words jumped out like a lion charging ferociously toward my chest as my mind raced to find categories to store the very concepts that was being communicated through the pages of this book. I had embarked on a fixation to love Jesus with my mind and had sought, in prayer, the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to do the work of illumination. It was my contention and commitment to the Lord to leave no stone unturned in the pursuit to know Him and His majesty. Relatively young in the schemes of ministry and life, I had longed to unpack the sweetness that accompanied a life of intimate union with Christ. The Spirit did not hesitate to wreck the very fabric in which my understanding of the infinite and triune God was ordered. Through one concept that was confined in a book I was broken, and my only response was repentance.
If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ were not there?Though my mind knew the Sunday school response, my heart—in all its wickedness—was testifying to the reality that my satisfaction would be filled in these scenarios. I had idolized heaven by neglecting Jesus. I had viewed eternity without understanding the infinite union I shared with the King. I had enjoyed His gifts more than His presence. I was guilty of sin.
Re-Centering the Gospel:
A similar endeavor is breaking forth within the local churches of the district. It is clear to see that a rise of healing and deliverance ministries is taking precedent within the Hmong community. I am in no way suggesting that one should stand against such a work that is being done by the power of the Holy Spirit. The trinitarian God has every right to operate in accordance to His good pleasure.
My fear is not cemented in His movements, but rather how the community of saints are responding intellectually and practically to them. Are our affections directed toward the gifts, or the gift Giver?
The supremacy of Christ is displayed through His work and person by the very fact that all things are united with the Father through the Son. When the philosophical foundation of the church shifts from the proclamation of the Gospel to the implications of the Gospel (ex. healing, community, social justice, etc.), a re-centering has occurred. Healing has taken a precedent or has become equivalent to the cross and resurrection of Christ. Instead of communicating that the Gospel brings forth healing, the language begins to be "the Gospel and healing." Healing begins to be apart of the antidote to redemption, rather than the result of Christ's salvific work. The reference to the Suffering Servant in Isaiah, regardless of how you interpret this text, is the clear depiction of how healing is brought about: "But He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed" (Isa 53:5)
Healing is the product of Christ's salvific work; not the redemptive remedy.
Casting a Shadow:When the emphasis is upon the gifts, or rather healing and deliverance; a shadow is casted over the heralding of the Gospel message—the cross and resurrection of Christ. The supremacy of Christ is undermined by the notion that philosophies, miracles, and human effort can validate the finished work of Christ on the cross. Conceptually and practically the Gospel is voided of its power, because another gospel is being proclaimed (Gal 1:6-7). The desires of the parishioners are allocated toward healing rather than the Healer; this life rather than the life to come; and the benefits of the Savior rather than the Savior Himself.
The mere nature of the Gospel is good news. What is the news? That the cross of Christ has ransomed His people back to God the Father. The notion that the Gospel needs a demonstrating power in healing and deliverance subverts the reality of the resurrection while supplanting the very essence and reason for proclaiming; the finished work of Christ.
Undermining the Eschaton:
The overemphasis and unhealthy pursuit toward healing now (not saying that we should not desire to be healed) dims the contentment that is produced by positionally being made right with God in Christ. The Gospel is the gateway and the sustaining source that enables the saints to experience the fullness of the eschaton. Hope that is centralized in Christ is diminished, then, when the emphasis of the church's philosophical aim terminates on the here and now. The essence of faith is rooted in the greater reality that will come through the fulfillment of Christ Jesus. To this end the author of Hebrews writes, "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" (Heb 11:1). The greater joy and reality of the new heavens and new earth cannot grant a narrative for the saints to comprehend when prosperity clouds their view. This theological approach within the local assembly is not conducive to the suffering that the Word has called the believers to endure.
With this theological ideology undergirding the local church's ministerial philosophy, what will be the response when God does not grant healing? A lack of faith? A wrong methodological approach to prayer? An inability to appease God by one's own effort? Or a greater hope in Christ that transcends one's life circumstance?
Supremacy of Christ:
All this to say, ministers are not to be insensitive to their congregations' current sufferings. Prayer for divine intervention is appropriate and viable. Yet the hope that we have in the midst of all the chaos and brokenness is to point them toward what the cross has purchased for us, and the overwhelming satisfaction that we have in knowing that He is greater than life itself. Healing is desired, but the Gospel is the foundation. We stand with the Apostle Paul and say, "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain" (Phil 1:21). We do so out of the sheer fact that the Gospel grants us access to the ultimate gift of redemption—God Himself. We point our people toward the Gospel in knowing that even though we suffer now, there is coming a day where God will destroy all of sin's ramifications—death being the main culprit.
The church expresses the supremacy of Christ in the midst of suffering by living lives of joy that is beyond the confines of this world. Life circumstances, though troubling, do not shake the foundation in which the saints build their hope. The assembly of God, mounted upon the truth of the Gospel, can echo the Apostle Paul by saying, "We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh" (2 Cor 4:8-11).
The church conveys the primacy of Christ by setting their eyes upon Him as the all satisfying Lord who transcends the joy of this world. Jesus Christ is made much of when the church acknowledges His sufficiency and defends the authentic biblical Gospel.
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McYoung Yang is the husband to Debbie Yang and the father to McCayden (7), McCoy (6), McColsen (4), and DeYoung (1). He graduated from Crown College in Saint Bonifacius, MN with a Youth Ministry degree and has served as a Youth Pastor in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota for over 8 years. He is currently studying at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY for his Masters of Divinity. He hopes to use his training to serve the local church in living life through the Gospel lens.
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