The RIGHT Scoreboard

It’s now August, just one month away from college football season. In just a few short weeks, Saturday afternoons and evenings will be filled with young men battling on gridirons across our great nation. (Truth be told: college football is a bit of an idol for me.)

As an Iowa fan, it’s also a chance at redemption. It’s no secret that Iowa had one of the best defenses in the country last season. It’s also no secret that Iowa had one of the WORST offenses in the country, too. The Hawkeyes ranked third-from-last in total yds, second-from-last in yards per game, and in the bottom 10in points per game. They were in the bottom 10 of almost every offensive category in 2022. 

I bring all this up to point out the importance of looking at the RIGHT scoreboards. While all these statistical categories might lead to victory, they do not define victory. There’s only one stat that matters in determining the outcome of a football game: points. I don’t know how many games I’ve watched where one team dominated the other in passing yards, rushing yards, or some other statistical category only to lose the game because they couldn’t put enough points on the board.

But what does all of this have to do with Mt. Calvary? Over the last three months, I’ve been explaining how we can look at the wrong scoreboard from time to time. We can get caught up in attendance or building size and condition or financial health and think that these are indicators that we’re “winning.” But these are just statistical categories like rushing and passing in football. One church can be outperforming another in these areas and still not be “winning” because none of these areas (attendance, building, or money) are the true measures of success.

The right measure of success is: How often are we talking about Jesus?

In 2019, Lutheran Hour Ministries (LHM) published a book by Don Everts called, “The Reluctant Witness.” Their research found that almost 3 out of 4 Christians (74%) had less than nine spiritual conversations in the year 2018. 

 A “spiritual conversation” is defined as “any conversation about spiritual or faith matters (including doubts) with anyone. This would include talking about Jesus with a non-Christian friend but would also include talking about the sermon you just heard with your spouse” (pg. 20).  

Check yourself on that. When’s the last time you had a conversation about a spiritual or faith matter? When you gather with friends at Mt. Calvary, are you more likely to talk about the weather or about what you heard in God’s Word that day? What’s the conversation like around your dinner table? Is there even a conversation around your dinner table, or are you watching television? (I’m guilty of this one particularly.)

This seems too easy. You might be asking me, “Pastor, how can talking about Jesus be our path to victory?” And I’ll tell you why: because the victory belongs to Jesus Christ alone. Jesus doesn’t help us win. We don’t help Jesus win. Jesus wins and we get to come along for the ride, telling others about the victory that He has given us in the cross and empty tomb.

We recently heard Isaiah 55:10-11 in worship: “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” Notice the pronouns in those verses. Almost all of them are first person singular: I, me, my. God is speaking for Himself. He’s the one who is in control. He’s the one who will accomplish His mission. We don’t accomplish His mission for Him; He accomplishes His mission for Himself!

Rev. Keith Haney, our Iowa District West Assistant for Missions, Human Care, and Stewardship recently wrote about this on his blog (becomingbridgebuilders.org). He said: 

“Efficacy and power of the Gospel are not defined by numbers. The nature of God's word is not reflected in attendance. The lower offering numbers do not mean we have no mission left to accomplish. It's lies, all lies. God made us a promise, and God keeps his promises…The numbers do not define us; they serve as useful data. But God's mission is still needed. If anything, the numbers prove that God's mission is needed more than ever. The church is facing stiff competition for the heart of culture.”

 The mission is still needed. And our role in the mission is to simply talk about Jesus. After the Resurrection, on the road to Emmaus, they talked about Jesus. In the book of Acts, the apostles hung around the temple and talked about Jesus. The Spirit led Philip into the wilderness to the Ethiopian to talk about Jesus. Paul and Barnabas go throughout the Roman Empire to talk about Jesus. By talking about Jesus, wherever we go, we water the world with His Word and God promises that the Word will not return to Him empty.

We may never see the “return on investment” for our conversations about Jesus and that’s okay. God will accomplish what He wants through our words.

Who can you talk to about Jesus today?

 In Christ,

 Pastor Tom Vanderbilt