A Slowly-Moving Ship
Ephesians 4:1-16
January 18, 2004
I. INTRODUCTION
Ships are noted for being relatively slow moving and the bigger the ship, the slower it is and the harder it is to turn. Change is something we’re all afraid of, usually because we know what we have to but we don’t know what will result from the change. We often hang on to things that are bad for us, even destructive because we fear the unknown alternative worse. If you like a good oxymoron, here’s one for you - “change is really the only constant in life”.
I was reading an article recently about the stages of church development. In a church’s infancy there’s little organization and lots of excitement. Things get done. As the church matures and programs ‘set in’, things stabilize and organizational structure emerges.
Now, none of these are bad. In fact, the most productive period in the life of a church is this one, where there is still excitement but not chaos. There’s organization and structure, but no more than necessary to get the job done. I often look at our church and try to find ways to reduce the bureaucracy and still function efficiently - if you have any ideas, let’s talk.
The final stage in a church’s life is when things become stagnant and bogged down. Nothing changes and when a change is suggested that age-old-adage is heard regularly - “we never did it that way before”. The church is over-organized and bogged down in meetings, discussions, procedure, and red tape that never seem to lead to decisions or action. It’s not the meetings, discussions, or procedure themselves that are bad, it’s the never deciding or acting - that’s sign of impending demise.
In every church, God puts different kinds of people for different purposes. His intention is to balance the body. If the conservative ‘never-change-anything’ folks were the majority, the church would soon die. On the other hand, if the impulsive ‘act-then-think’ types ruled, it would be chaos and there would be a lot of bad decisions.
We’re all different, and that’s a good thing, but we’re also all susceptible to becoming a hindrance to the church’s mission if we aren’t careful.
My message this morning is a little different than usual. It starts with a nautical story that’s meant to be an analogy or parable. In it there are seven groups of people who behave in ways that cause the crew to fail to accomplish it’s mission. Listen carefully and see if any fit you:
**** The ship rocked slowly on the greasy seas. Its sails were tattered, its masts spliced, and its hull leaky with worm-eaten planks, but it stayed afloat. It had been sailing for many years - for generations, actually. Many years ago it had been loaded with food and medicine, and dispatched to find and help the people of a lost colony. As it traveled far and wide, all of its original crew except one had died, their places taken by their children.
In the prow an old man, the last of the original crew, sat on a coil of rope, his watery eyes struggling to pierce the fog.
Below decks men, women and children sat down in groups to eat. Although the menu was meager, it was adequate, and all their faces displayed their health. The meal was almost over when both doors of the room were thrown open with a loud noise and a rush of wind. In the opening stood the old man, strange and wild, stronger than they had ever seen him, shouting, "We’re here! We’ve arrived at land!"
"Land?" they asked, not moving from the table, "what land?"
"Why, the land we were sent to when this voyage began. And the lost colony is there waiting. I can hear them shouting from the shore!" cried the old man, stomping his feet with impatience. "Quick! Let’s make for shore and unload the food and the medicine."
The old man turned to run back up the gangway, but stopped half way up when he realized there had been no movement from the table. Slowly he returned to stare at them with wide, incredulous eyes, his mouth open.
"Didn’t you hear me? Are you all deaf? I said we’re here! The people we set out to help are only a few hundred yards away. But we must hurry; they are all hungry and sick."
The group, known as the Spectators, sat back and said, "Well, this should be quite something to watch. We should get good seats for it."
The group, known as the Steamrollers, wanted to push around the Spectators for their laziness.
The group, known as the Squabblers, wanted to fight with all the other groups on board about how their way was the best way.
The group, known as the Separatists, huddled in the corner, not even sure that it could work with anyone else on board. After all, the group thought it was the only group that was right.
The group, known as the Thumb-suckers, sat back and complained that nothing ever went their way.
The Spin-drifters, named after the water sprayed into the air by ocean winds and waves, wanted to let the current take the vessel somewhere else, somewhere more interesting, somewhere that they could "feel the Spirit."
And the group, known as the Usurpers, wanted to wrestle control of the ship from the old man, certain that they could pilot the ship and make decisions better than he.
"I’m sure we’d all like to help those people," said one of the men from the Spectators group, "but - as you can see - there’s hardly enough food and medicine here to take care of us and our children."
"Besides," said one of the women from the Separatists group, "we don’t know what kind of people they are. Who knows what might happen if we landed and went among them?"
The old man staggered back, as if he had been struck across the face. "But… but… it was for them that this voyage began in the first place so many years ago, for them that the ship was built, for them that the food and medicine were stowed aboard!"
"Yes, old man, I’ve heard many tales of our launching from my father and the other men who are now dead," replied one of the younger men from the Spin-drifters group, following the latest thought from would-be philosophers, "but there were so many different accounts - how can we be sure which one is right? Why risk our stores and provisions, perhaps even our lives, on something we may not even be supposed to do?"
"He’s right! He’s right!" shouted many of the others from many of the groups, now quite excitedly involved in the conversation.
"But look," said the old man, trying very hard to contain himself, "it’s all very simple! As far as there not being enough food for us and them, much of what we have left is meant for seed. If we go ashore and plant it, then there will be more than enough for all. And on the matter of why the ship was launched in the first place - you merely have to look in the logbook. It’s all there."
The old man, hoping he’d settled the question, looked anxiously around the table - face by face. There was a long, thoughtful silence. Finally, a man, also from the Spectators group, who had gravitated to a position of leadership among them stood up, picking his teeth and frowning thoughtfully.
"Perhaps the old man is right," he said, loosening a juicy morsel from between his teeth. "At any rate, his suggestion merits investigation. What I propose is this: let us select from among ourselves a representative committee which will see if they can find the old logbook, and then go into a thorough study of it, to see if they can determine whether we should land or not."
"A sensible idea!" they all cried, except the old man. "Let’s do it!"
The old man, now frantic with hearing the cries from shore, shouted, "What is this? What are you doing? Oh!" he said, backing away from them with horror in his eyes. "I can see that you don’t really expect to do anything at all!" His back against a bulkhead, he clutched at his chest and slid weakly to the floor.
"Let me warn you then," he gasped. "The food will not last. It was meant to stay preserved only for the time it would take to get here. Now the food will begin to grow moldy, and the medicines will separate and lost their strength. If you do not take the provisions ashore and share them, they will soon no longer feed or cure even you." With this, he died.
As the days and weeks passed, the ship continued to lie offshore. The committee continued to search the logbook, which they had soon found, hoping to come up with a report "in the near future."
A few of the younger men and women, maddened with the waiting and lured irresistibly by the cries of hunger and pain from the shore, slipped away one night in the jolly boat with a few provisions, and were listed sorrowfully the next day as "lost at sea."
True to the old man’s dying prophecy, the food on board began to grow all manner of weird and exotic fungi, and the extensive stores of medicine seemed less and less able to cure the ills of the people. Also, the cries from the shore began to grow so much louder than even the deafest on board had to stuff his ears with cotton in order to sleep. But no one seemed to be able to decide what to do. ****
II. THE MODERN CHURCH?
This is a bleak but possibly accurate analogy of the church today in general. And to make it more personal, the attitude of the church is nothing more than the collective attitude of it’s individual members.
I want to challenge you this morning to do your part to make sure Newman doesn’t become a casualty in this battle we’re in because we allow ourselves to loose our vision of the purpose for which we were sent and allow ourselves to ignore, or worse yet, begin to try to justify our ignorance of the mission Jesus gave His church in the first place.
Put another way, we have the food and medicine to save the sick - but will we sit in fear thinking we can keep it for ourselves and be consumed by our complacency or will we “go ashore” and try to rescue those in need of what we have.
What better time to consider how our church and ultimately your hearts would fit into this parable than the beginning of a new year?
Turn with me to Ephesians 4:1-16 for God’s view on how this rescue vessel should respond to this eternal-life-saving business we’re in. (READ Eph 4:1-16)
This is God’s vision for the church of Jesus Christ. In this passage, prescriptions for the attitude problems are given one by one, in order to make the church a forward-moving rescue vessel instead of a sleeping ship lying offshore but of no use in meeting the needs of the real world.
- To the Spectators, those who are content merely to watch and not get involved, the Bible says: You are called; live the calling! (v1) Be involved. Do your part. Don’t just watch; participate!
- To the Steamrollers, those who trample all over others to accomplish their tasks, the Bible says: Love each other! (v2) The people you work with are not just a means to an end; they are part of the journey as well. Don’t use people to get done what you want. Be kind to people. Be patient with them. Treat others they way you would want to be treated.
- To the Squabblers, those who constantly bicker with each other and can never seem to see eye-to-eye, the Bible says: Keep peace. (v3) Jesus said we are most like our Heavenly Father when we are peacemakers. Don’t fight with everyone. Remember we are all in this together and Satan is the enemy, not each other.
The world looks at us and sees the fighting and unrest, and says, "If I want to be part of something that fights all the time, I’ll just go visit my in-laws!" It is better to be wrong and be at peace, than be right and be at war.
- To the Separatists, those who think they’re the only ones going to heaven, the only ones with the right theology, the right way to dress, the right way to worship or the right Bible translation, the Bible says: Consider all we have in common. (v4-6) “One body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all.” All too often we major on the minors, and minor on the majors - “strain out gnats and swallow camels” as Jesus would say. Johnny Cash once said “we’re all in this together if we’re in it at all”.
- To the Thumb-suckers, those who act like children and want their own way or want recognition for everything they do, the Bible says: Grow up! (v14a) be Mature! Get with the program. Don’t just grow older - grow in spiritual maturity. Act like adults. Take responsibility. Don’t whine and don’t gossip when it doesn’t go your way.
- To the Spin-drifters, those who follow every wind and wave, who go where the action is without ever getting grounded, the Bible says: Get grounded (v14b). Stay put. Grow where you’re planted.
- To the Usurpers, those who stand over the leaders’ shoulders and judge and criticize everything he tries, the Bible says: Understand who is really in charge (v15). Understand that it’s the Lord’s church, and He set it up. Understand that the pastor is only human, but God has placed him there. It’s not your place to point fingers and wish for the olden and better days, and think that you could be doing it better. It may be your duty and your right to express your point of view and share your ideas but it’s also your task, to pray for the pastor, help him turn the slow-moving ship, love him and his wife (at least his wife), encourage and strengthen them. Pastor is a lonely calling at times and you can make it better or worse. Be a problem solver, not a problem maker.
Let me illustrate with another story. This one’s true.
**** I have a man in my department of 29 people at B&W who bugged be incessantly when I was first made manager of the department. He was not bashful about telling me he should have been picked and he could do it better.
So after some prayer and consideration, I made him manager of a portion of my department, about a third of it. Over the next 2 or 3 years he got to experience the solitude of leadership and its responsibilities. He had to go fight the battles with upper management with me. He came to understand that there are often factors, not always known by everyone, that influence decisions. He had to deal with disgruntled employees and put up with the complaints about his decisions.
Needless to say, he’s a different man today - he has even apologized for his ignorant attitude and thanked me for giving him the chance to experience it for himself. I don’t think he’ll ever be as critical of those who lead him as he once was. The Indians said “walk a mile in my moccasins and then you’ll understand me”.
III. CONCLUSION
Finally, there’s one last group. A group not found on the ship in our story earlier, but the group that every church needs.
It’s the Supporters (v16). “the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.” If some parts don’t do their share, don’t support the vision of the church, its projects and goals, the body can’t move effective.
I experienced this last week. I walk every day at lunch and last week I did something to aggravate my Achilles tendon. It was so painful I couldn’t keep my routine for three days. It’s the same way when one of us doesn’t do our part. It will hinder everyone else.
It’s the people who share in the ministry. It’s the cooks and cleaners. It’s the teachers and ushers. It’s the prayer-warriors and the encouragers. It’s the workers and volunteers. It’s the ones who tell the story and the ones who schedule the visit.
It’s the heartbeat of the church of Jesus Christ. It’s those who stand by the vision and fulfill the mission.
So I challenge you this morning to do your part. D.L. Moody said: "A good many are kept out of the service of Christ, deprived of the luxury of working for God, because they are trying to do some great thing. Let us be willing to do little things. And let us remember that nothing is small in which God is the source."
Let God be the source of all that happens in this church. And to end on a nautical note, remember: people who are busy rowing seldom rock the boat.
