September 2006
In the eighth grade, I went out for wrestling. I enjoyed the sport and learned a lot, although I don’t think I was ever varsity material. I found myself often in trouble on the mat and as I struggled to avoid being pinned, my coach would often holler at me, “Get to your base!” He wanted me to get to my hands and knees, which would give me a solid position from which I could begin to counterattack my opponent. From my base, I could try to escape, or reverse, but whatever I did would be done from a position of stability.
Wrestling can be a very unpredictable sport. When I was a sophomore in high school, we had a wrestler in our school, Mark Stepanovich, who was ranked the number one heavyweight in the state of Ohio. In the semifinal match he was ahead 8-3, when he overreached, was flipped and then pinned, ending his hopes of a state title. Few would have doubted that Mark was the better wrestler, but on that day he forgot one of the basic rules in wrestling: maintain your balance. That was a lesson that was hard for me to learn in wrestling. I would see an opportunity to score points and begin an attack. Sure, I was off balance putting myself in a difficult position, but nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? Before I knew it, my opponent had used my weight and momentum against me and I was on my back with my coach yelling at me, “Get to your base!!”
I guess the lesson I learned is that the difference between accomplishing great things and ending up in great difficulty is keeping your balance or stability. And so it is with the church. While a pastor here, I have been emphasizing the importance of ministry within the church as well as ministry in the community. I do believe that ministry is vital to the health of our church, and yet it is only part of our overall strategy that needs to be kept in balance. In “getting to our base”, I want you to think about five emphases that, if kept in balance, will provide a solid base from which we can flourish. These emphases are taken from Rick Warren’s book The Purpose Driven Church which I highly recommend.
The first is worship. We have been thinking about worship in some new ways in the last few weeks of sermons. I have defined worship as any activity that connects our hearts to God’s. When we consider the least in the kingdom as important, when we reconcile with fellow believers who have sinned against us, when we forgive even when it feels like it will kill us, we are worshipping God. Singing and praying are the easy parts of worship, it is when we bleed mercy on those who do not deserve it that we are acting most like our Father and worshipping most.
The second is ministry, which is connected to the first. (Actually, all of these emphases are interrelated) It involves seeing beyond our own needs and seeing the needs of each other. Ministry involves serving others in our body as well as those who have never darkened the door of a church. We cannot afford to wait for these people to come to us we need to go to them.
Going to them should not only result in ministry, but ultimately, evangelism, which is our third emphasis. I may be losing a few of you as you read this as you are struck with visions of going door-to-door sharing the gospel. Actually, it is much less intimidating than that. It involves making friends with non-believers, sharing your life with them and listening to their stories as well. Part of your story is your relationship with God and how that has helped you navigate life’s difficulties. If you commit to doing this, I guarantee that you will learn more about yourself that you would have thought possible as well as experiencing the thrill of being God’s voice in a world that is in desperate need.
Number four is fellowship, which we usually associate with eating. Actually, it has much more to do with coming together to accomplish a task. In The Lord of the Rings, the seven given the task of destroying the ring were called “the fellowship of the ring”. They were coming together to accomplish a specific task and were sworn to assist each other however they could. Egos were set aside, and some gave their lives to insure the success of the mission. And so it is with the church. No mission is more important than to bring glory to our God and Savior. We study so that we can do it better, we build each other up so that we can do it better, we correct each other when necessary so that we can do it better, we love each other so that we can do it better, knowing that our love for each other is based in the realization that we are sworn to the same mission.
The final emphasis is discipleship. Where fellowship is more of a peer relationship, discipleship is more hierarchical, involving teachers and students. The difference is that discipleship requires mercy and gentleness on the part of the teacher and humility on the part of the student. In discipleship, social roles are often reversed, a young man or woman may disciple an adult, or a poor person may be leading a wealthy one into Christian maturity. God may also use the one you are mentoring to mentor you for a while, which means we all need to be humble, willing to learn even while we teach.
As in wrestling, getting to your base is not always easy. We have an opponent that does not want us to succeed. “We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Eph 6:12). The stronger the enemy the more important it is to pay attention to the basics. If we are to be successful as a church, we need to get to our base, maintain our balance and allow the power of God to carry us to victory.
