John 5:1-9 Breaking the Curse on Evangelism Feb 21, 2010
How many of you remember the October 2004 World Series when Boston won for the first time in 86 years? It was a tremendous celebration for Red Sox Fans or for anyone familiar with baseball history. That World Series win was the breaking of a curse. It all started back in 1914 when a young ball pitcher named George Herman Ruth started in the major leagues with the Boston Red Sox. Now Boston was one of the mainstays of early baseball. Boston Baseball teams won seven of the first 15 World Series ever played between 1903 and 1918, including the 1918 Series. So playing for Boston was a big deal for this young pitcher. However, by 1919, the Red Sox were unhappy with this pitcher and they traded him to the New York Yankees. He was not much of a pitcher and so the Yankees switched him to right field. He stopped spending all his practice time on pitching and began to focus on his batting. Of course, he became known as the “Sultan of Swat, the King of Crash, the Great Bambino, or as most people remember him, as the Babe, Babe Ruth. Ruth became an icon in American sports history, hitting 714 home runs, with a lifetime batting average of .342, the tenth highest in baseball history. During Ruth’s time with the Yankees, the team won seven pennants and four World Series. But what about Boston? Boston never won another World Series after trading the Babe. For 86 years, Boston fans spoke of the curse of the Bambino. They often came close but could never break the curse. Until finally, in October 2004, Boston fans broke the curse to win. An amazing story.
Let me tell you another amazing story. Back in 1968, the Methodist Church was the largest Protestant denomination in America. We had heavily influenced religious life in America since our founding after the Revolutionary War in 1784. Many called Methodism the most “American Religion.” However, in 1968, our denomination underwent several changes and mergers to become the United Methodist Church. And something happened. There are many theories as to what happened. Maybe we traded the wrong player. Maybe we washed our lucky shirt. Who knows? But there seems to be a curse. Since 1968, he UMC has not been winning any evangelism and church growth World Series games in a long stretch of time. In fact, since 1968, the UMC has dropped from over 12 million members to about 8 million members. That is a one-third loss in forty years. It is about time to break that curse. It is time to see our players celebrating and slapping each other on the back again as we discover what it means to really impact a nation for God.
Over the next six weeks of Lent, I want to talk about evangelism. In fact, evangelism will be a topic for this year of 2010. What is evangelism? It is sharing the good news of the love of God so people’s lives are changed and the world is transformed. It is making disciples for Jesus Christ. You know, change is needed. Not the rhetoric of change that we have heard from every political candidate for as long as I can remember. But the change that comes from the love of God which changes nations, churches, and individuals. Everything I want to say about evangelism is about love and changing people’s lives. What about in our church? I think we could love more people and change more lives. What about in your life? Can you think and pray with me in these next six weeks for the people you love who need some change in their lives? Evangelism is about loving people and changing lives.
Now for you engineering and math people, I want to give you a formula. The rest of you will just have to hold on a minute. Fasten your seat belt. Here is the mathematical formula for real change.
D plus V plus (S x 1) = Change
What does that mean? Let me explain. It is clear in the scripture which I read. Let’s take a look.
The D is for dissatisfaction. We could say a Holy Dissatisfaction. There was a man who had been crippled for many years at this pool in Jerusalem. Many sick people gathered there because they believed the waters were healing. But this man had been lying there for thirty-eight years. Friends or family brought him and he stayed there all day, begging for alms. He had pretty much given up on anything happening for him at this pool. After 38 years, there seems not much hope. Too many churches have been lying down for 38 years or more, waiting on something to fall from the sky. Attendance has dwindled for years and they have blamed the past six pastors and the past four music directors and nothing much seems to change. The same is true for people we know. You and I all know people who have become so used to their life situation that they think that is all life holds for them. There are people whom we know who have given up on anything ever changing. But there can be change.
The first thing that points to change is Dissatisfaction. As this man was lying by the pool one day, a man walked up to him and asked him, “Do you want to be healed?” It was Jesus. Listen. That is a powerfully significant question in the life of every nation, community, church, or individual. Do you want to be healed? You see, for change to happen, there first has to be a dissatisfaction with the way life is now. If you are willing to lie there for the rest of your life, then you are not going to be healed. If the UMC is willing to keep going where it has been going, it will not be healed. You must first be dissatisfied. You have to want something more. And listen, you have to want it badly enough. I am not speaking of a little feeling of, “Well, it would be nice if things were different.” I mean a Holy, burning, red hot desire for change. Do you want to be healed? When we think of people who need change in their life, they must first be awakened to a dissatisfaction.
Well, this man by the pool at first has excuses. Well, you know, I come here every day but when the water moves, I do not have anyone to help me and other people get in my way and you know, there is not enough time for me to…...Jesus just asks, Do you want to be healed? Change happens when we are so tired of our own excuses and we are so dissatisfied with the way life is that we will do anything it takes to change. The D is for Dissatisfaction.
The V is for vision. The Bible says that without a vision, people will perish. We need to see and believe in where we are going. One of the most important tasks of church leaders is to cast a vision. To point people in the right direction. What about our leaders at ARUMC? Are you seeing a vision for this church? Do you have a dream about where we can go? Martin Luther King Jr. brought change to America because he said, “I have a dream.” In your own life, you need a vision for the change you want. Write it on a note card and stick it on your mirror to see every morning. “I will make straight A’s this school year.” “I will loose 20 pounds this year.” “I will be a better mom.” And if we want to reach our loved ones—our friends and families—with the love of God, then they need a vision to see the love of God reaching out for them. Dissatisfaction plus a Vision are the first parts of change.
But there is one crucial component left. (S x 1) This means “The First Step.” Dissatisfaction plus Vision plus (S x 1) = Change. Jesus told this man, “Get up and walk.” You know, you can have dissatisfaction with where you are. Many people do. You can even have some vision, some wish of the way you want things to be. Many people have those wishes. But the final explosive point is S x 1…The first step. Until you make the first step, nothing happens. You have to get up and walk. You know, of about 800 UM churches in SC, about 300 have taken an initial NCD survey. But only about 80 have taken it a second time to continue the process. What does that say? Well, I guess about 500 churches are satisfied with life as it is, but 300 were looking for something more. Those 300 took the first survey and they received their results which potentially gave them a vision for what to do next. But here is the rub. I know from conversations that most of those 300—about 220 of them-- took those survey results and put them in a drawer somewhere. If you ask them, they will tell you, “Oh yeah, we did that NCD thing. We did that re-imagine thing about 13 years ago too. Yeah, we did all that stuff. But it never worked.” You know why it never worked. Because they never took the real first step. They were dissatisfied. The even had a vision placed in front of them. But they never took the first step. It just all went in a drawer somewhere. Change only comes when we really take the steps necessary to bring change. Albert Einstein once said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over but expecting some new result.” So many churches and so many people keep doing the same thing. They keep coming to the pool everyday to sit but nothing ever changes. Some people keep doing the same failed action for 38 years and nothing ever changes. But God is asking us all, “Do you want to be healed?” Are you really dissatisfied with what is? Do you long for a vision of what could be? And will you get up and walk?
I pray over the weeks of this Lenten Season that you will grow dissatisfied with some things around you. Maybe you will pray for some people you know who are also dissatisfied with life as it is. Then look for a vision. Look for what could be. And finally get up and walk, move, go. That is where there is change. Amen.