Get in the Box -- FPC sermon excerpt
Everyone, it seems, wants to get out of the box.
From corporate board rooms to church offices, the talk is all about escaping the walls that surround us and discovering broader visions and fresh perspectives. A leader who can “think outside the box” is considered to be a real winner.
But what happens when you get too far outside the box?
In the endless rush to embrace new ideas, too many groups have forgotten who they are and what they are supposed to do. Fast Company magazine (November 2005) warns us about organizations that have lost touch with their core identity, and have suffered in the process.
Consider Volkswagen of America. It once produced efficient “people’s cars” with plain interiors and simple mechanics. The Volkswagen Beetle was wildly popular in the decades after the Second World War, as millions of drivers fell in love with the car’s low price, high quality, and affordable running costs. But now, Volkswagen’s cars include a luxury sedan and an SUV.
And who has stepped into Volkswagen’s abandoned niche? BMW, believe it or not. Its Mini Cooper is the Beetle of the new millennium — simple, solid, and small.
The fast-food chain Hardee’s also stepped outside the box when it hired a half-naked Paris Hilton to eat a burger while soaping up her car in a TV ad. Did sales improve? Not at all. Maybe they should have built a better burger.
What’s the lesson here? I’m convinced that groups need to identify the one thing they do best, and let that core ability guide their decision making. At Fairfax Presbyterian Church, it’s time for us to get in the box — get in the box of being the church of Jesus Christ. It’s time for us to do what Jesus wants us to do, and do it incredibly well.
The first letter of John makes clear that our core ability as Christians is to love one another. We see this love in what Jesus did for us, when he laid down his life for us, and we act on this knowledge when we “lay down our lives for one another” (1 John 3:16). The sacrificial love of Jesus is more than a nice idea and a noble concept — it is, in fact, a pattern of behavior that is supposed to be displayed by us in action. “How does God’s love abide in anyone,” asks John, “who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?” (v. 17).
Answer: It doesn’t. God’s love lives in those who see a need, and respond with help.
Our world is in desperate need of a church that puts love into action and makes it real. Like customers looking for a good burger or a simple, solid, small car, there are people all around us who are searching desperately for a community that actually practices what it preaches.
From corporate board rooms to church offices, the talk is all about escaping the walls that surround us and discovering broader visions and fresh perspectives. A leader who can “think outside the box” is considered to be a real winner.
But what happens when you get too far outside the box?
In the endless rush to embrace new ideas, too many groups have forgotten who they are and what they are supposed to do. Fast Company magazine (November 2005) warns us about organizations that have lost touch with their core identity, and have suffered in the process.
Consider Volkswagen of America. It once produced efficient “people’s cars” with plain interiors and simple mechanics. The Volkswagen Beetle was wildly popular in the decades after the Second World War, as millions of drivers fell in love with the car’s low price, high quality, and affordable running costs. But now, Volkswagen’s cars include a luxury sedan and an SUV.
And who has stepped into Volkswagen’s abandoned niche? BMW, believe it or not. Its Mini Cooper is the Beetle of the new millennium — simple, solid, and small.
The fast-food chain Hardee’s also stepped outside the box when it hired a half-naked Paris Hilton to eat a burger while soaping up her car in a TV ad. Did sales improve? Not at all. Maybe they should have built a better burger.
What’s the lesson here? I’m convinced that groups need to identify the one thing they do best, and let that core ability guide their decision making. At Fairfax Presbyterian Church, it’s time for us to get in the box — get in the box of being the church of Jesus Christ. It’s time for us to do what Jesus wants us to do, and do it incredibly well.
The first letter of John makes clear that our core ability as Christians is to love one another. We see this love in what Jesus did for us, when he laid down his life for us, and we act on this knowledge when we “lay down our lives for one another” (1 John 3:16). The sacrificial love of Jesus is more than a nice idea and a noble concept — it is, in fact, a pattern of behavior that is supposed to be displayed by us in action. “How does God’s love abide in anyone,” asks John, “who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?” (v. 17).
Answer: It doesn’t. God’s love lives in those who see a need, and respond with help.
Our world is in desperate need of a church that puts love into action and makes it real. Like customers looking for a good burger or a simple, solid, small car, there are people all around us who are searching desperately for a community that actually practices what it preaches.
posted by Henry Brinton | 7:08 PM
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