Attended a confernece on recognizing, halting, and preenting decline in the local church this past Saturday. In reading the foreword to the book "Reaching the summit" by George L. Yates, the illustration of the lame man at the pool of Bethsaida is used to demonstrate the attitude of some churches (and makes a good sermon about some people's spiritual condition).
The man was coming to the pool hoping for a miracle, as tradition had it that an angel would stir the waters and the first person into the pool after that happened would be healed. (I don't know if that was tradition or something that had happened) Jesus, hearing how long he had been coming there asked the man, "Do You want to get well?" The man didn't ask Jesus if he was an idiot-- but respectfully responded essentially that he could not be healed and told why:
“I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”
Let's look at his answer (though it ignored the question) and the attitude it demonstrates:
I. The "I Ain't Got Nobody" syndrome
For the spiritually hurting, this is extremely sad. Nobody will take the time to help them along the way.
For the church, it shows up in the "We need more workers" attitude, and while the need may be true, the church has to be careful about entering into an attitude that it cannot accomplish God's Will because of a lack of workers. Many times a church needs to recognize that it is trying to accomplish goals and ministries that they don't have workers to accomplish. So they need to move back to square one and discover where their strengths really are. It is much better for a church to have a vacant ministry position than to have a position filled by someone who is doing the job wrong or just pretending to do the job. I thought a good example would be a store security guard. First, if he just goes through the motions and doesn't keep his eye on the store he won't be effective. Maybe his personality is such that he does not feel confident challenging those who might be stealing. Maybe he is just not overly observant. But if he isn't doing the job the store is worse off for thinking he is doing it. If he is beligerent and overbearing with custoimers then the store will be worse off having him in the position. If he is assisting thieves than the store is worse off. It is better to have no security guard than to labor under the impression that the security guard is accomplishing the purpose he is there for when he is not doing so.
In order to get past the "I Ain't Got Nobody" syndrome a church has to do two things.
1) Pray for more workers
2) Utilize the workers that they do have more efficiently
We've already been praying for more workers. This second concept challenged me to approach a number of our people yesterday individually and challenge them to become more involved. For some, this meant reminding them of their value to the church and myself and pointing out that some of their life sturuggles had become distractions from their service to the Lord. For others it meant pointing out a small area of need and asking if they could fill that need. For one young man, I approached and told him that he was becoming an adult and I wanted him to being praying about finding a place of service in the church.
II. The "I'm Really Trying" Defense
The man at the pool stated, everytime he tried he failed. He was still at the pool. He was still hoping he might make it into the pool.
Churches use this defense. Don't blame us for our failures because we are trying. It iis great that they are still trying, but a lot of times they are so busy declaring how hard that they are trying that they aren't really ministering effectively.
III. The "Other Churches Have it Better" Barrier
The man at the pool said someone else always got to the pool ahead of him.
Hve you ever visited a church, perhaps while on vacation, and noted how beautiful its facilities were, how wonderful its music program was, and all of the cool programs it was offering. It is easy for a pastor to become covetous of all of the gadgets, musicians, workers, programs, projects and people.
While visiting with a State convention official at the conference I mentioned how neat it would be if we could get a network established that would send workers from large churches to serve for a period in small churches, helping to shore those churches up and strengthen them. I was shocked when he told me that the greatest need in large churches is workers. He explained that large churches have difficulty getting people to really commit to service. Big churches don't really have it better than smaller churches and when we will feel that they do we create a barrier that keeps us from growth.
SO WHAT DOES A CHURCH IN THIS SITUATION DO?
The man at the pool received clear, concise, and specific instructions from Jesus that called for action. A church that has entered into a period of decline, or stopped growing, has to begin to recognize the need to obtain direction from Jesus. Too many churches are like the crippled man, sitting at the pool, hoping for a miracle. For believers, miracles only occur when we are obedient to Christ. Therefore, for a congregation of believers, we must seek direction from Christ.
Christ direction will inevitably have a call to action. Jesus told the man, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” This was not the END of the matter, but the beginning. Jesus gave him a three point plan.
GET UP!
Stop feeling sorry for yourself and get up. A church must put behind the defeated attitudes it may have been operating under in order to begin rising to the place God wants it to operate.
PICK UP YOUR MAT!
This was a demonstration that he wasn’t going to go backwards but forwards. Picking up his mat was a demonstration that he was done sitting around.
WALK!
It was time to do something practical.
I believe when Jesus gives direction to the church it is very specific. I have several areas that I am praying over that I believe God has spoken to me about for our church. I believe that they are, like the crippled man’s instructions, pretty simple and pretty easily accomplished. I’ve already implemented one of those things by speaking to individuals.
Let’s not panic, though. The areas I believe God is leading me in are not HUGE things, but small things. Small churches should never try to operate like big churches. I believe you will hear more about these things in the next few weeks and I believe you will be led to a deeper commitment to these areas.
Finally, I want you to note:
NOT EVERYBODY WILL BE HAPPY!
I think that this passage of Scripture was sad. A man, who had suffered for thirty-eight years, was healed and the Jewish leaders were angered because he had the nerve to carry around his mat. Their anger wasn’t over some great sin. It wasn’t over adultery, theft, or drunkenness… It was over a guy carrying a mat. Isn’t that stupid?
Have you ever been in a church where a simple change was suggested and people started getting upset? Do you know the greatest area of conflict in churches across America today? (In our preaching of this message, Brother Ian Mitchell was prepared to answer this question verbally… He was following the message quite closely) “MUSIC!” Of all the things for people to get mad about, some choose to get genuinely ANGRY about music. Some don’t like drums or guitars. Others don’t like organs. Some prefer old hymns and some prefer newer material. If the worship songs used in a church genuinely reflect a love of God and a Scriptural attitude then it is foolish for people to get angry. Now, getting ANGRY about it is very different from not liking it. People have different tastes in music, and I can understand people not caring for certain types of music. I go to conferences and conventions and am blessed by some of the music and some of it doesn’t do much for me. I was at a convention once where a video was played about the church and the final straw for me was the use of RAP music that had a very angry sound to it. The video was an appeal to an ecumenical ideal that I don’t subscribe to and I was very angered and disgusted by its use because I did not feel it was doctrinally sound. If we are disgusted with music it ought to be about its lack of doctrinal soundness.
People get upset about foolish things that are about as important as a person carrying a mat. They get upset about a preacher being too boisterous. They get upset about the color of carpet. The real question that they should be asking is, “Is God’s will being done?”
We need to recognize that when we make changes, some people might be upset over things. We need to analyze what they are unhappy about and determine if their concerns are legitimate. Paul was careful about the meat he ate and in whose presence he ate it. Some changes need to be made only after careful consideration of those who might object. Their objections may be valid.
The question I have for our church is this: Do we really want to get well?
