Peter Drucker says that organizations start to die the day they focus on the insiders and not on the outsiders. That is not only true in the profit world; it is also true in the non-profit world. Change is difficult because it has no constituency. This makes it almost impossible to outvote the “We have always done it that way” crowd. I know the only ones who like change are wet babies, and they scream until the process is finished.
Change can get ugly. One lady was irate that the pastors were not wearing ties. A pastor replied that this probably was what ticked her off about Jesus, too — He never wore a tie. There was probably fire coming out of her ears.
To me it seems simple. If Jesus was the true worshipper — and He was — He gave more glory to God than anyone. True worship would be what Jesus did. He didn’t spend a lot of time in church. We don’t have record of Him singing any hymns — since they weren’t written yet. We actually do not have a record of Him singing very much at all. I think Jesus would say worship is more about reaching out your hands than raising your hands.
When my grandchildren were younger, we listened to music that was irritating. We listened to Veggie Tales. They were about vegetables and called Silly Songs By Larry. They were silly. Yet I bought every one and watched the videos over and over again because my grandchildren were learning about God. The type of music doesn’t matter when you are thinking about others.
There are many people willing to sing silly songs because they believe they are reaching the next generation. Others will not sacrifice any of their songs even though the true worshipper sacrificed His life for others. Isn’t it sad that many will not sacrifice tradition for others to learn the Truth?
It’s like a football game. What if the team stayed in the huddle? The coach would send a player in to ask, “What are you doing?” They then say, “Oh, Coach, we just love the huddle. We have such sweet times in our huddle. We even have our own huddle songs. Please don’t make us leave the huddle.”
What would the coach say? I believe he would say that they had lost their purpose. The huddle has become more important than playing the game. Many churches have been running the same plays for the last 30 years. No wonder they want to stay in the huddle. No team would be excited about leaving the huddle when they run the same play over and over again. Maybe we can use the huddle to call a new play. You might discover that people love their plays more than they want to win the game.
Jesus said that we should be fishers of men. Can you imagine asking a fisherman how he is doing and he says that
he hasn’t caught a fish all day? When you ask him what he is using for bait, he says he is using blackberries. “Blackberries? Why are you using blackberries?” “Because I love blackberries.”
You would think, “Dumb fisherman.” Many churches are fishing with blackberries and not catching any fish.
What’s the bottom line? Let’s continue the football analogy. The year that Troy Aikman retired, there was an article on the editorial page of the Dallas Morning News as well as an article in D Magazine. In 1994, Troy and two other players had visited a children’s hospital. They visited a boy named J.P. O’Neill, a 10-year-old boy who was dying of cancer. Troy gave him a cap and J.P. asked him if he would throw a pass for him. Troy responded that he would do better than that. He would score a touchdown for him. J.P.’s mom told Troy that he probably only had a few more weeks. Troy told her not to worry that he would get the job done and send him the ball.
The next week the Cowboys played an exhibition game in Mexico City and the first team only played a few series of downs. Troy did not play. J.P.’s mom said that he watched with interest. The next week was another preseason game. It was a hot night in Dallas and they were playing what people might call a meaningless preseason game. Starters were taking only one set of downs. Aikman made fans and coaches cringe during the next game when he scrambled clumsily on a 3rd-and-15 play to score a “meaningless” touchdown. Few people knew O’Neill would receive this ball, which was tucked neatly into his casket after his death a few weeks later.
The next day, the Dallas press was unmerciful. How could Aikman risk injury in a preseason game? Here is what J.P.’s mom said: “Troy knew that it was not a meaningless game. He was helping a dying child that night.”
There is no such thing as a meaningless game when we are playing for dying people — people who are dead without Christ. What you will discover is that when a church plays for dying people, it becomes alive. It is the paradox that our Coach taught us.