{"id":2835,"date":"2023-02-06T12:53:27","date_gmt":"2023-02-06T20:53:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drjohnjackson.com\/?p=2835"},"modified":"2023-02-06T14:42:45","modified_gmt":"2023-02-06T22:42:45","slug":"friends-helping-friends-follow-christ-heart-surgery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drjohnjackson.com\/friends-helping-friends-follow-christ-heart-surgery\/","title":{"rendered":"Friends Helping Friends Follow Christ : Heart Surgery"},"content":{"rendered":"

Core Value 4:Community Life in the church family is so honored that division and gossip are confronted quickly and clearly, and resolved in accordance with Biblical principles of fellowship and conflict resolution.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m not a heart surgeon. But I\u2019ve watched them on TV. And I\u2019ve sometimes wondered what it is that gives good and sane people committed to healing\u2014what gives them the ability to walk into a room, take a knife and cut through the layers of skin and muscle, open the rib cage, and operate on a living person\u2019s heart.<\/p>\n

Seems like heart surgeons would have to have confidence in these two things:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The surgery is necessary for the health of the patient.<\/li>\n
  2. They (the surgeons) have the tools and training needed to effectively perform the surgery.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    I\u2019m not a heart surgeon. Nor am I, at this point, a heart patient. But, again, I\u2019ve watched them on TV. Known a few in real life, even. And I\u2019ve sometimes wondered what it is that gives good and sane people committed to living\u2014what gives them the ability to let themselves be rolled into a room where they\u2019ll be rendered unconscious, cut open, and operated upon.<\/p>\n

    Seems like heart patients would have to have confidence in these two things:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. The surgery is necessary for their health.<\/li>\n
    2. The surgeon performing the operation is skilled and trustworthy.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      I\u2019m neither a heart surgeon nor a patient. But I\u2019ve watched and been involved in a myriad of conflicts over the years. And a lot of times, when people sense an impending conflict, they respond as if heart surgery were looming on the horizon\u2014which, metaphorically speaking, may be a pretty accurate picture.<\/p>\n

      Problem is, when it comes to sins like division and gossip in the church, few of us relish the idea of performing the surgery necessary to purge the disease from our midst. Fewer still relish the idea of having the surgery performed onus. What, after all, would cause sane believers committed to living at peace with one another\u2014what would cause them to walk into the operating room of conflict? What would give one believer the audacity to perform spiritual surgery on another? What would give a believer the audacity to bare her heart to a believing friend so that she could get rid of a troublesome and cancerous sin?<\/p>\n

      What indeed? So we sweep the conflict under the carpet, gossip behind others\u2019 backs, grumble under our breaths\u2014do whatever we can to ignore the two-ton elephant in the middle of the room. But the elephant\u2014the disease\u2014only grows, feeding on our denial of its existence. And after a surprisingly short amount of time, what could have been scheduled\u2014and relatively minor\u2014surgery becomes major emergency surgery.<\/p>\n

      Here\u2019s the deal: when it comes to division, gossip, and conflict in the church, chances are we\u2019ll end up playing the part of both patient and surgeon at various points. Sometimes, we\u2019ll be the ones to spot the disease: we\u2019ll have to share the diagnosis with truth and compassion and then operate with precision and the ruthless persistence that drives the surgeon to \u201cget all of it.\u201d Sometimes, we\u2019ll be the one with the disease\u2014and we\u2019ll have to submit to the surgical hand of a fellow believer.<\/p>\n

      Either way, if we\u2019re going to enter the operating room of conflict well, we need to have confidence in these things:<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. The surgery is necessary for the health of the church. (It is\u2014notice how seriously the apostle Paul takes the problems of gossip and division in the church in Romans 16:17, Titus 3:10-11, and 2Corinthians 12:20.)<\/li>\n
      2. We have the tools and teaching necessary to effectively perform the surgery. (We do\u2014see the conflict strategies Jesus outlines in Matthew18:15-17 and Matthew 5:23.)<\/li>\n
      3. We can trust each other with our hearts. (We can, when we act in love\u2014see Ephesians 4:15.)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        No, spiritual surgery isn\u2019t fun. But it is necessary. At CVC, we\u2019re striving to create a safe operating room. Where we train people to utilize the Bible\u2019s principles for resolving conflict. Where \u201cwounds from a friend can be trusted\u201d (Proverbs 27:6, NIV)<\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Core Value 4:Community Life in the church family is so honored that division and gossip are confronted quickly and clearly, and resolved in accordance with Biblical principles of fellowship and conflict resolution. I\u2019m not a heart surgeon. But I\u2019ve watched them on TV. And I\u2019ve sometimes wondered what it is that gives good and sane […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3099,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[100],"tags":[112],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/drjohnjackson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Heart-Surgery-John-Jackson-Communications.png",1100,600,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/drjohnjackson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Heart-Surgery-John-Jackson-Communications-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/drjohnjackson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Heart-Surgery-John-Jackson-Communications-300x164.png",300,164,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/drjohnjackson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Heart-Surgery-John-Jackson-Communications-768x419.png",768,419,true],"large":["https:\/\/drjohnjackson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Heart-Surgery-John-Jackson-Communications-1024x559.png",1024,559,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/drjohnjackson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Heart-Surgery-John-Jackson-Communications.png",1100,600,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/drjohnjackson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Heart-Surgery-John-Jackson-Communications.png",1100,600,false],"woocommerce_thumbnail":["https:\/\/drjohnjackson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Heart-Surgery-John-Jackson-Communications-740x600.png",740,600,true],"woocommerce_single":["https:\/\/drjohnjackson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Heart-Surgery-John-Jackson-Communications-940x513.png",940,513,true],"woocommerce_gallery_thumbnail":["https:\/\/drjohnjackson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Heart-Surgery-John-Jackson-Communications-100x100.png",100,100,true],"yarpp-thumbnail":["https:\/\/drjohnjackson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Heart-Surgery-John-Jackson-Communications.png",120,65,false],"trx_addons-thumb-huge":["https:\/\/drjohnjackson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Heart-Surgery-John-Jackson-Communications.png",1100,600,false],"trx_addons-thumb-big":["https:\/\/drjohnjackson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Heart-Surgery-John-Jackson-Communications.png",770,420,false],"trx_addons-thumb-medium":["https:\/\/drjohnjackson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Heart-Surgery-John-Jackson-Communications.png",370,202,false],"trx_addons-thumb-small":["https:\/\/drjohnjackson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Heart-Surgery-John-Jackson-Communications-270x152.png",270,152,true],"trx_addons-thumb-portrait":["https:\/\/drjohnjackson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Heart-Surgery-John-Jackson-Communications-370x493.png",370,493,true],"trx_addons-thumb-avatar":["https:\/\/drjohnjackson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Heart-Surgery-John-Jackson-Communications-370x370.png",370,370,true],"trx_addons-thumb-tiny":["https:\/\/drjohnjackson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Heart-Surgery-John-Jackson-Communications.png",75,41,false],"trx_addons-thumb-masonry-big":["https:\/\/drjohnjackson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Heart-Surgery-John-Jackson-Communications.png",770,420,false],"trx_addons-thumb-masonry":["https:\/\/drjohnjackson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Heart-Surgery-John-Jackson-Communications.png",370,202,false]},"post_excerpt_stackable":"

        Core Value 4:Community Life in the church family is so honored that division and gossip are confronted quickly and clearly, and resolved in accordance with Biblical principles of fellowship and conflict resolution. I\u2019m not a heart surgeon. But I\u2019ve watched them on TV. And I\u2019ve sometimes wondered what it is that gives good and sane people committed to healing\u2014what gives them the ability to walk into a room, take a knife and cut through the layers of skin and muscle, open the rib cage, and operate on a living person\u2019s heart. Seems like heart surgeons would have to have confidence…<\/p>\n","category_list":"Become Engaged<\/a>","author_info":{"name":"Dr. John Jackson","url":"https:\/\/drjohnjackson.com\/author\/drjohnjackson\/"},"comments_num":"0 comments","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/drjohnjackson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Heart-Surgery-John-Jackson-Communications.png","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drjohnjackson.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2835"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drjohnjackson.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drjohnjackson.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drjohnjackson.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drjohnjackson.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2835"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/drjohnjackson.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2835\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2836,"href":"https:\/\/drjohnjackson.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2835\/revisions\/2836"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drjohnjackson.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drjohnjackson.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drjohnjackson.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drjohnjackson.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}