June 3, 2007

Attitude Adjustments: Open Mindedness

When the Potato was Controversial

2 Corinthians 5:16-21

Opening Words: Austrian psychiatrist and concentration camp survivor Victor Frankl said, “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: To choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances.” He knew what we often forget, our attitudes about life is extremely important. They affect the way that we experience life. It is for this reason that I have decided to dedicate this section of our year to examining our attitudes. I have called this fourteen week sermon series, Attitude Adjustments. Today we look at our attitude about change. Do you consider yourself an open minded person? Let me call this morning’s message When the Potato was Controversial.

2 Corinthians 2:16-21 16So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Sir Walter Raleigh introduced the potato to English society to help the poorer classes in times of famine. He saw the rooted plant as healthy and beneficial. The general public did not agree. They resisted it for one reason. People don’t like change. There was a great uproar. Newspapers printed editorials against potatoes. Ministers preached sermons against potatoes. The general public wouldn't touch a single potato. Why? Because it was commonly believed that potatoes would sterilize the soil and lead to a new series of diseases, which in some cases may lead to death. It is hard to believe today but there was a time when the potato was considered controversial. The problem was not the potato. The problem was the potato was new. People don’t like new because people don’t like change. Are you an open minded person when it comes to new things? Are you an open minded person when it comes to change? Can I ask you a question? If you would have lived in the days of Sir Walter Raleigh would you have eaten a single potato?

Maybe that is one of the reasons people have such a hard time with God. He is always open to some fresh and new. We find ourselves today in the second chapter of the letter to the Corinthians. The topic is reconciliation. How the old is made new at the moment you accept Christ into your life. Verse seventeen says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” Let me state the obvious. God likes new. Did you know the word “new” is used 173 times in the New Testament? Just when you think you have figured out God he goes ahead and does something new. The Bible is filled with people who didn’t like new. They wanted things to stay the same. How many examples do you need?

Jonah did not like new things. He wanted things to stay the same. God said the Jews were his chosen people. Jonah had no problem with that proclamation because he was a Jew. Then God changed the rules. God tells his prophet Jonah to go to Nineveh. The problem was Jonah did like change. He liked things as they were in the good old days. He hated change so much that he tried to run away from God. In other words, he refused to try the potatoes. Jonah reminds us that disciples much always be open to new things because God is always trying new things.

The rich young ruler did not like change. Why would he like change? He had a good life. He was holding all the cards. He was rich. He was young. He was a person of authority. He had everything in life you would need to be happy but one thing. He lacked salvation. So he came to the Master to asked the question we have all asked, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said go and sell your possessions and give the money to the poor. In other words, Jesus said make God the most important thing in your life. The problem was he couldn’t make that change. He didn’t want to try the potatoes. He walked away a broken man. Disciples must always be open to new things because God is always trying new things.

Let me say something that will not shock you. The world is changing and doesn’t bother God because God is always open to a new. So why is it the last group that likes change or new is the church? You know it is true. Generally speaking, churches do not like change. Churches are suspicious of change, churches distrustful change. Churches are fearful of change. Churches are leery of change. Good folks don’t understand why we have to change. In other words, they do not want to try the potatoes. If it was good enough for us in 1957, then why isn’t it good enough now? It isn’t good enough today because the world is changing. It isn’t good enough today because God is always doing something new. God understands we are to learn from the past but never worship the past. How resistant are churches to change? Many mainline churches have decided it is easier to close then to change. I would encourage you to talk to your friends. The landscape is filled with countless dieing and impotent mainline protestant churches. Many church leaders believe we have reached a pivotal point in the history of the American church. Every single congregation must decide for themselves. Are we going to keep the people happy who are already in the church and die with that generation? Or are we going to change and make the Gospel speak in a new generation and see a new day? Do you consider yourself an open minded person? Are you willing to try the potatoes?

Today let me give you three proclamations to ensure that God will use us in his new world. They are not new. I visited them several years ago but it is time to hear them again. The only thing that remains the same is change. So if you are ready to try the potatoes say, “Amen!”

Complacency is a church killer.

The world is changing and we cannot afford to be content. Our world has many problems! We can’t be content to just sit back and remember the past. What the world needs is Jesus now! We have fourteen-year old girls having babies. We have prisons filling up and high school graduates that can’t read. We have marriages that are falling apart and diseases that have no cure. We have people who are starving in our world and people being abused in our own community. There are people who still don’t know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. What is the churches response to a world filled with problems? Generally speaking, we have no response because the church has grown complacent and is only concerned with themselves. We have churches that are majoring in the minor issues. We have churches that have forgotten the real work of the church.

It was over twenty years ago now. I was visiting a friend who was a pastor of a United Methodist congregation in the Akron area. We were just sitting in his office talking about nothing when his office door suddenly flew open. In came a serious looking woman holding a pot. She took that pot and shoved it in my friend’s face. Using some powerful language she told the story about the pot. It had been purchased by some of the women of the church. Some unidentified fool in the church used it with permission. That unidentified unsanctioned fool had burned something in it and now it was ruined. You heard the short version. She lectured him for fifteen minutes. She concluded by saying she expected him to locate the guilty party and report back to her so she could administer the punishment. His response to that woman change the way that I looked at the ministry. Do you know what he did? He stood up, straightened his tie and said, “We have people going to hell, I don’t care about your pot.” For some reason she left upset. In other words what he told her was complacency is a church killer. If we could get people as excited about Jesus as they are about pots (or other minor issues) we could solve some of our world’s ills. The church needs people with a passion for Jesus. Complacency is a church killer. And, all of God’s open minded people said, “Amen!” Are you ready to try the potatoes yet?

Closed minds are ministry blockers.

What would have happened if Moses had a closed mind at the Red Sea? What

What would have happened if Joshua had a closed mind at Jericho? What would have happened if Noah would have had a closed mind when the rain started to fall? God has always used open-minded people. He still does today.

How many negative examples do you need to illustrate this truth? The church is filled with examples. Perhaps you are an example. You came up with a wonderful idea for a new ministry. Perhaps, it was to help the young or the old, the rich or the poor. You took your idea to the church. The minister sent you to a committee. The committee really didn’t see it but didn’t have the nerve to tell you, so they started to frustrate you with their opinions and concerns. They really wanted to frustrate you so you would just drop it. It worked. You started out with a great idea. You were excited but now you are just frustrated. You said, “Why did I even try?” Does that sound familiar? It happens all the time. Closed minded folks believe it is their divine duty to block it, if they can not see it. I know it is true because it happened to me.

When I first told people I was going into the ministry, do you know what my family and friends did? They laughed. I said this is what God wants me to do with my life. They said, “I am sorry I don’t see it. You are not smart enough. You don’t read enough. You are not serious enough. I can’t see you as a minister.” They did everything possible to stop me from going into the ministry. I graduated from seminary and was ordained with no help from family or friends, only God. They intentionally made it hard on me because they could not see it. They tried to block it. Their minds were closed. It didn’t end there. There were people in our own Annual Conference that couldn’t see me in the ministry. They put road blocks up to delay my ordination and frustrate me. It worked. I was frustrated. But in a few weeks I will go to Annual Conference at Lakeside and I will see some of those people. Let me just tell you the facts. I am going to be reappointed to this church for my fourteenth year. In comparison to my closed minded colleague’s church we are doing great. This church is growing and we are making progress but their churches are stagnant or dieing. I wouldn’t trade places with any of them but they wish they were here. I shouldn’t admit this because it isn’t very Christian but I love to shove my success into their faces. I would love to drag them to the side and say, “I told you so.” What the church needs at every level are some open minds. How open minded do I sound? And all of God’s open minded people said, “Amen!” Are you ready to try the potatoes yet?

Un-empowered saints are vision busters.

Empowered saints understand that God will provide. Un-empowered saints will give you two-hundred reasons why we will fail. You have heard them. We don’t have the people to pull that off. How are we ever going to pay for that? The church should be run like a business. Un-empowered saints are preoccupied with ministers from the past. Empowered saints understand that God isn’t through with us yet. Empowered saints are worried about the present and understand that God is not done with us yet. Empowered saints understand God is still empowering the church to minister to our changing world. Un-empowered saints are vision busters. We need some empowered saints in the life of this church. And all of God’s empowered saints said, “Amen!” Are you ready to try the potatoes yet?

It is June 3, 2007. The potato is on longer controversial. It is one of the staples of our diet. How many ways have you eaten a potato this week? We bake them, mash them, fry them in a variety of shapes. We eat them. And do you know what we discovered? We like them. Potatoes were not so bad after all. Potatoes remind us that new are not always bad. Maybe there is a lesson there for us? God is always open to something fresh and new. Are you? And all of God’s open minded potato eating people said, “Amen!”