Its Time to Get into the Game

In his book, Fresh Power, Jim Cymbala, pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle in New York City, compared church to a basketball game. He wrote, “But just as there are people who watch from the bleachers and never know the challenge of competing on the court, we have millions of churchgoers who sit in pews every week without ever entering the game.  They sacrifice nothing, strain toward not ministry goals, never agonize in prayer for one soul, but pass judgment on how well the contest of faith is being played. Often they act as if ‘they know’.  It looks easy from where they’re sitting, but then again, they have never really attempted much for God.

“The Christian who is willing to risk body and soul in the struggle against evil is of a different mind. He knows there will be difficult moments and all kinds of pressure. He knows he will need to summon all his strength as well as God’s in order to prevail. He is a champion for God, and he dares to plunge into the contest.”

Rev. Cymbala’s analogy is a good one. However, he left out another group in our churches. This is the group that never makes it to the game. In many churches, this is the largest group of all.This is why most churches are ecstatic if they are able to get 40 per cent of their membership involved in regular worship and Bible Study. If more than that came on a given Sunday morning, many churches would not have room to seat them.

 

Research shows that interest in spiritual things is on the rise in America but that attendance at church services is on the decline. This research shows that this is true across the board and it is not reserved for any one denomination or demographic group. A multitude of reasons are given for this decline but the simple truth is that church attendance is not a top priority for most people. This is not a totally new phenomenon.  The writer of Hebrews addressed the issue in his day. He wrote, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more, as you see the day drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:23-25 NASB)

If you read these words carefully, you will find why church is important. It is in the fellowship of believers that we should find stimulation to love one another and to do good deeds. It is in the fellowship of believers that we should find the encouragement that enables us to confront a hostile world day to day. Someone once said that a Christian outside the fellowship of believers was like a coal removed from the fire and placed on the hearth. Both will soon go out.  My guess is if you have been lying on the hearth for a while, you realize the truth of this statement.

I leave you with a question. Taking Rev. Cymbala’s analogy of a basketball game, which of the characters do you think finds the most excitement, joy and energy in the game? Is it the watchers or is it those who throw themselves into the fray, who get their hands dirty, who give fully of themselves to accomplish a goal bigger than they are?  The obvious answer is reason enough for you to come into the arena, get out of the bleachers, get off the bench and throw yourself into the battle. There lies the reward.  Get back into the game marvel at what God can do with someone who is willing to be used.

Our first trip to Juneau, Alaska was for our son’s wedding.  Juneau is an interesting city.  It is bordered by water and mountains.  There are only two ways in and out, by ship or by plane.  While we were there, my son and his future wife took us to the end of the road.  As you might imagine the end of the road is just what it sounds like.  It simply goes as far as it can go and it stops.  It had been determined that it would be cost prohibitive to try to build a road through the mountains.  Therefore the road ends. 

“The end of the road” reminds me of life.  Along the journey of life, we often come to the end of the road.  We come to that place in life, where we simply can not go forward.  When we arrive at such a juncture, we need not be discouraged.  Some of the most exciting people in the Scripture encountered God in the most powerful manner after they had come to the end of the road.  In II Chronicles 20, Jehoshaphat found himself at the end of the road.  The nation was facing an attack from a superior force and it appeared that they were going to be defeated.  In his desperation he turned to God and said, “O our God, wilt Thou not judge them?  For we are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are on Thee.” (II Chronicles 20:12)  God replied to Jehoshaphat, “Do not fear or be dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but God’s.” (II Chronicles 20:15b)  

Daniel came to the end of the road when he continued to pray to his God after the king had decreed that everyone should pray only to him for the next thirty days.  For his obedience to God, Daniel was thrown into a den of lions.  He found himself at the end of the road. The next day when he was retrieved from the lions den he said to the king, “My God sent His angel and shut the lion’s mouths, and they have not harmed me” (Daniel 6:22a

This is two of many examples of end of the road experiences in the Scripture.  These two men who lived at different times and places shared several things in common.  First, they were faithful to God and sought to do His will.  Second, they were faced with situations they realized were bigger than they were.  Third, they were wise enough to turn to the only One who could get them beyond the end of the road.  Fourth, they received supernatural assistance from the God they trusted.

Their God is the same God that we worship today.  He hasn't changed.  When we come to our end of the road circumstances in life, we need to remember, like Jehoshaphat and Daniel; we have someone to call upon who is bigger than our problems.  It has been my personal experience that the end of the road is the place where I often find the closest and most intimate encounter with the One who is able to deliver me and move me beyond the end of the road.  It is at the end of the road that my faith grows, because it is there that I can no longer depend on my own ingenuity and I must turn to the One who is able.  For this reason, while it is still a place that I would rather not go, I no longer view the end of the road as a bad place.  Instead, it has become a place where I have the opportunity to see God work on my behalf.