| September 09, 2007
You are Welcome to Reflect on this Message
Traditionally on Rally Day, we think of church growth, increasing church attendance after the summertime slump. But the text is more about "church shrinking!" Because it raises a question, “Can church be too big?” The story of Gideon’s army reveals the strange strategy of God. Strange, because it’s foreign to our standards of success; the opposite of the way most organizations function. Influenced by our culture, churches clamor for more and more, but God prefers less and less. We like it full. God likes it lean. We strive for the security of the many, God wants the risky faith of the few. Numerical jumboism makes us comfortable, while God is satisfied with the loyal remnant. God’s upside-down values.
Gideon made no bones about needing thousands in his army. But God said hundreds will do. And Jesus was left with single digits. Strength through subtraction! There by the hill of Moreh, God observed the impressive 32,000 who volunteered their services to his cause before the whittling down began, "No, Gideon. That's way too many." Reluctantly Gideon relented. Then God sized up the 10,000 who remained and said, "Still too many." And again it was reduced to 300. After that God said, "There’s your army!" Instead of lowering the odds, God raises them! After a plea to the children of Israel for help, they came from every quarter, echoing the slogan: "The sword of the Lord and Gideon!" The formidable show of numbers was taken as a whopping sign of success. Sometimes it’s just the thing to revive our spirits. But God knows there’s something greater than statistics.
Gideon was pumped beyond his wildest hopes! Sort of like what we'd feel if The Meeting House was full this morning. If we outnumber our adversaries how can we lose? The numbers guarantee a sure thing. But God spoke at the point where they felt most secure... "About that army of yours, Gideon -- It's way too big!" "Too big? I was just wondering if we could round up a few thousand more!" Gideon is stunned at God's shrinking strategy. "Too big," God said, "You’re gonna have to weed ‘em out." If Gideon's army was too big, can churches be?
The narrative indicates several good reasons for the cutback. In verse 2: “In order that Israel may not boast in her own strength.” Always the people of God need to be reminded that numbers seduce us into thinking we're successful. The army was reduced, to teach them a lesson: God gives the victories we enjoy. So in what do we place our confidence as a church today? Most churches have sold out to the corporate model. With a CEO and Board of Directors. Thus we have marketing techniques to “reach” the desired prospects, contemporary is what “works,” and big numbers ensure profits. Security comes when the corporate success signs flourish.
But the early church succeeded before there were corporations. The biblical model is shepherding. And its still a good one. Pastoral care and servanthood was the norm, not bigger and better. Or others find security in our denominational ties, the American Baptist convention and region. And in our own local context, we have our noble heritage, our venerable traditions that gave birth to First Baptist 369 years ago. It’s unique, because no other Baptist church in America can claim that.
So is church growth what makes a church great, or being true to the gospel? Can a church be too big? The desire for a big church is why a lot of congregations place their expectations in the church staff. Hire the right preacher with a pretty wife, to work miracles and reel-in the numbers so the church will have a promising, secure future.
And yet Jesus warns of making an idol of our local congregations. He noted the temple in Jerusalem would be destroyed, but God would still be around. And if the church failed to be the church “the rocks would cry out!” Church is guided: "Not by might, nor power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord." It’s a totally different standard of success. We are not here because of anything we do, but because of who God is. We wouldn’t be here now, if God didn’t have something for us to do. And that, if anything, is what's going to ensure the future of this or any congregation.
Verse 3 mentions another reason why Gideon's army had to be reduced: “Anyone who trembles with fear, turn back and leave.” Fear holds you back. But 22,000 of them in Gideon's day were honest enough to admit they were afraid. Let's pay tribute to their candor if not their courage. And the tremblers were culled. Is that so unusual? In any gathering of 32,000, you know there’ll be some who shouldn't have been there to begin with. Perhaps responding from a gust of emotion. It was good to see the old flag flying again! Finally, to have a leader like Gideon standing up for what he believed. That swept them along with the tide, not unlike the Palm Sunday parade. But they neglected to count the cost. "Where is this gonna take us? A fellow could get killed, you know?" So 22,000 had 2nd thoughts, shuddered, and split. And that's OK with God.
Throughout the Bible you’ll find this action repeated. Lot’s wife turns back, and turns into an old salt! The crowds flocked to Jesus, the new Gideon, when he raised his standard in Galilee, his teaching was magnetic. "Never did a man speak like this." There was a brand new in-your-face preacher among them, who was destined to overthrow the oppressors. "Lord, we will follow you wherever you go." They tried to draft him as king. But he said, "Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is not fit for my kingdom." And when they saw him on a lowly mule instead of a white stallion of war, that didn’t fit. When they realized following Jesus was gonna cost something, they made excuses. “Let me first marry a wife, let me first bury my father. “Let the dead bury the dead!”
When they heard the sound of spikes being hammered through human flesh, they said, "This does change things a bit. We really must reconsider." Jesus started with 12 and ended up a failure, corporately speaking. It’s a good thing Jesus wasn’t a successful evangelist, or there’d be no church. 22,000 quick starters but no finishers. Can church be too big? Some join the church, get baptized and that’s the last time you see them! A throng of volunteers, and 22,000 turn back. God’s like: who need’s ‘em? What concerns me is if our folks feel like not having the numbers means we are a failure.
There's another reason why all those thousands went home. God saw that they were more of a liability to the cause than an asset, because their hearts weren't in it. If you’re heart’s not in something, it’s not worth doing. Somebody's heart isn't in their work, and it shows. If its not in your marriage, there’ll be broken hearts. When your heart isn't in your church life, it lowers the temperature of the entire faith-adventure, and dampens the influence of those who lay it on the line. O yeah church can be too big! ‘Cause God knows half-hearted commitment is worse than none. If you can't give it all you've got, then God doesn't want it. “Man looks on the outward appearance. God looks on the heart.” That's what this story’s about. If your heart’s not in it, they can see it in your eyes. I reckon the Midianites spotted it. No doubt the gaudy 32,000 got their attention. But when 22,000 of ‘em turned out to be wusses, they loved it!
Church is too big if there are more members than the pastor can keep up with. Church is too big if the ministry is diluted by half-hearted service. Church is too big if going-through-the-motions is used as an excuse by the unchurched to justify why they won’t attend worship. We can do better than the 22,000! God's strategy doesn’t fit the way our society operates because God values loyalty and a few who are serious.
Denominational strategy always iseems to be: start more churches. So we have: full churches, empty churches, high church, low church, broad church, contemporary/traditional. But God wants deep church. So why not makes the ones we have stronger? "Who needs those big ecclesiastical bastions," cried John Wesley. "Give me 100 people who fear nothing but sin and love nothing but God, and I’ll shake the gates of hell!" Not bad for a Methodist! I bet he got it from Gideon. God prefers a minority of committed Christians, rather than a huge number of mildly committed souls, pliable in their allegiance, showing up every now and then, thinking they've dealt a mortal blow to the powers of darkness. Folks, that’s not gonna get it!
The early church swept the Mediterranean world, not because they were mighty, or many, or influential. The earliest Christians conquered the Roman Empire because the few there were of them were solid in their dedication to Christ! And they laid their necks on the line to prove it. Gideon could lose 22,000 volunteers and not miss a lick! 10,000 were left after the fraidy-cats split, and poor ol’ Gideon is saying to himself, "Well, this is the absolute minimum. I might make it with 10,000 God, but that’s the bottom line." He just didn’t get it. Still trusting the numbers.
They went down to the river where a discriminating process occurred. Most of the soldiers leaned over like dogs, to lap the water with their tongues. But there were a few who drank the water from their hands, never for once relaxing, ready to spring to action in an instant. And right there, God set aside those eager 300 disciplined soldiers. That’s when God told Gideon, "There’s my huckleberry’s!" The 300 focused, committed, who knelt and drank with their hands cupped, and Me ...that’s all you need."
Forget reduction. This is more like obliteration! How confident would you feel going out to fight a foe “numbered like locusts”, beginning with 32,000 people, and ending up with 300? The 300 were not chosen because they were heroic; but because they were single-minded about the business at hand. Their alertness meant they could be depended-upon, because not for one moment, not even getting a drink of water, would they take their eyes off their leader.
Our purpose for this back to normal Sunday is to help us refocus who we are and why we're here. There’s a greater than Gideon among us. Never for one moment shall we take your eyes off of Jesus. And my hope for our church, is that the few of us that are still here, will still be numbered among the faithful 300 used of God to accomplish his work in this place.
Pastoral Prayer: 9-9-07
Encourage us to be generous in our devotion to worthwhile things, kindness, caring, our longing for peace, our constant struggle for freedom. Enlarge our capacity to connect prayerful concerns with well-considered actions.
Grant us a persistence in our faithfulness to the service of our church this year. Modeled after Jesus our Lord, who never tired of striving to do your will. But never missed a moment to enjoy life; who saw clearly the curse of narrow, rigid spirituality; who dared to love in an apathetic world; and risked living a meaningful life with passion.
May our worship today sharpen our ability to appreciate why you would rather have a few who are serious about their faith, than a multitude who are not. Show us how to measure our ministry by the lives we touch with grace, outside these doors, not by how many who come through them.
We remember all who are experiencing the shadows of life. Help us learn from our mistakes and always be gentle toward others who make their own. May our church-going help us to get it right more often than not. In a day when the problems that confront us seem more than we can handle, open our eyes to the resources available to the children of God, and make us grateful. We offer this prayer unto Thee through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. |
