Recently[1] my upper arm and shoulder began to hurt and then the pain got worse so that I could not move my arm or lie down to sleep.  In an effort to get rid of the pain, I consulted both a GP and a physiotherapist.  The GP told me that the pain was coming from my shoulder and I should get an ultrasound of the shoulder.  If I had heeded this advice I might then have gone to a surgeon or to get a cortisone injection to numb the pain.  On the other hand, the physiotherapist declared that the pain originated in my neck, even though my neck did not hurt, and the pain in my arm and shoulder was referred pain.  He worked towards fixing my neck and this resulted in increased movement in my shoulder and less pain in my arm.

No event happens without purpose, and this pain is no exception.  While praying about the pain I came to see that the referred pain does not merely apply to my shoulder but to the church.  No doubt there are problems with the Australian church.  However, these problems are not what they seem to be.  The pain in the Australian church is referred pain; the problem lies something other than where the pain seems to be.  In order to deal with our problem we need to know the true nature of the problem.  Let me explain by using some examples.

Example 1: I am not happy.  When I am not happy I try to become happy by whatever means I can, because unhappiness is a pain which must be alleviated.  In the past I personally sought to become happy by eating.  Food was for me a drug to dumb the pain.  Christians are not immune from this drive to numb the pain of unhappiness by any means possible – overwork, holidays, new clothes, looking for more exciting churches with ‘positive’ preaching, indulgence in pleasure or even drugs, alcohol or porn.  Christians, as with the rest of Australia, may turn to antidepressants to fix the pain of unhappiness.[2]

But in reality unhappiness is not the real problem.  The real problem is sin.  I do not want to obey the Father and I do not want to repent.  The call to repent of sin seems too difficult and so I want to avoid that and therefore tell myself that I am fine and that I make mistakes but I do not sin.  ‘Sin’ and ‘repentance’ seem to have been removed from the Christian vocabulary.  Yet the first recorded words of Jesus in Mark (1:15) are “The time has come.  The kingdom of God is near.  Repent and believe the good news!”  On the day of Pentecost, Peter did not invite people to a happy life but to repentance.  “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.  And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38).

The Christian life is not about seeking happiness but rather involves knowing that our sin has been dealt with and that we have peace with God.

He [Jesus] was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.  Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.  Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us (Romans 4:25-5:5).

This life is one which involves pain, but rather than avoiding pain we rejoice in our suffering since it results in the fruit of a godly character and in hope.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us the way of happiness (blessedness) in kingdom of God.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.  Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.  Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.  Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.  Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.  Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.  Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.  Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matt 5:3-12).

Paradoxically the way to happiness involves pain: mourning, lowliness, hunger and thirst, showing mercy to the unlovely, purity and making peace.  But the most blessing comes to those who are persecuted and insulted for the name of Jesus.

Example 2: Diminishing numbers of people in church.  The number of people attending church in Australia is declining.[3]  For churches this is a pain which cries out for relief.  We are motivated to relieve pain because it is pain.  However, the way in which churches have of late sought to relieve this pain of decline in numbers does not address the real issues.  A new model of church has been adopted by a large number of churches, a model put forward by mega-church leaders such as Rick Warren and Bill Hybels.  It involves making church “seeker-friendly” and comfortable for people.  The idea is that since people find church boring, we must make church more entertaining and exciting.  This will bring people to church.  If the numbers of people in the churches run by these men are an indicator of the success of this program then it is a very successful one.

However, the “seeker-friendly” model is very much like a cortisone injection.  It does not actually fix the root problem, but the pain is numbed and everyone feels better, because things appear to be fine.  Lack of numbers is not the real problem with church and it never has been.  Jesus did not seek out large numbers of people to follow him.  In fact he actively discouraged crowds of people whose only interest was having a free meal (John 6:26).  Instead of accepting followers who were half-hearted, Jesus turned people away.

As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”  Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”  He said to another man, “Follow me.”  But the man replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”  Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”  Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family.”  Jesus replied, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:57-62).

The demands of claiming the name of Jesus, of being a Christian, are very great.  “Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.  For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for my sake shall find it’” (Matt 16:24-25).

The problem with church is not that there are not enough people in the pews.  If that were the problem then the Rick Warren model would be the solution, since it evidently fills up church buildings.  But the real issue is that Jesus desires disciples, not numbers.  To be a disciple involves the cross.  The pain of church decline can only be dealt with by an uncompromising proclamation of Christ crucified.  Only a proclamation of the cross can grow disciples of Christ, disciples who will lay down their lives for Jesus and who will continually die to self instead of conforming to the culture of narcissism.  Filling up church buildings with people who are entertained on Sunday morning can never produce disciples.

But there is more to my tale of referred pain.  After about a week of being unable to move my shoulder and arm because of the pain, the pain shifted to my neck.  Since my neck is the site of the actual problem, the physiotherapist tells me that having pain in my neck is a good thing.  This means that the problem is closer to resolution.  The pain is no longer referred pain but pain which is clearly in the place of the problem.  This too has significance for the pain of the church.  Since the real problem in the church is to do with discipleship and the gospel, there is still pain involved.

Living as disciples of Jesus, as people who are crucified with Christ, will involve pain.  Since in the West we are bent on avoiding pain, we perceive the demands of discipleship as something to be avoided and watered down.  I have heard it said in church recently that “Jesus suffered so that we don’t have to.”  We tell ourselves that Jesus surely did not mean what he said about following him on the road to Golgotha, that we can be Christians without pain.  But this is not so.[4]  Church leaders are similarly afraid of pain.  Since the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing (1 Cor 1:18) it is difficult to proclaim the cross in an uncompromising way without experiencing rejection and ridicule.  It is easier to avoid pain by preaching a message which makes people feel good.  This feel-good message may fill up churches, but it does not produce disciples of Christ.

There is a choice involved here.  We can try our best to avoid pain at all costs or we can embrace the way of the cross because it leads to the goal of christlikeness and sharing in the glory of God (1 Pet 4:14).  The desperate search to avoid pain may succeed in numbing it but it will not produce the lasting fruit of love, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom 14:17; 15:13), which is far better.