Oh, to Arouse the Sleeping Giant!

The book The Goal of the Gospel is noted for its use of true-to-life conversational scenes. Here is how Chapter 1 begins. Although written thirty years ago, is it still pertinent today?

Seated at his desk, Pastor Ralph Kramer alternately fretted and prayed. Even though attendance at Good Shepherd was up again after the summer lull, the spiritual health of his flock appeared in jeopardy. The Pasarellas were filing for divorce. Natalie Taylor was slipping deeper into the New Age Movement. When Pastor Ralph had objected that the Youth Talent Night featured some heavy metal music with satanic themes, most of the parents had actually come to the defense of their children. And as usual, the congregation was much more concerned about making the annual sausage dinner a success than they were about the new evangelism program that had been kicked off two months ago and now appeared ready to kick the bucket. “Lord,” Ralph pleaded, “I feel like I have tried everything. What do I do next to try to wake up your people from their spiritual lethargy? Where can I . . .”

Interrupted by a knock at his study door, Pastor Ralph hurriedly wiped the tears from his eyes and ran his fingers through his thinning hair that had become mussed in the turmoil of intercession.

“Come in.”

In walked Dave Schmidt, the president of Good Shepherd and the closest thing to a best friend Pastor Ralph had in the congregation. The minister’s spirits rose momentarily, expecting Dave’s sparkling personality to brighten the moment, but an uncustomary frown on Dave’s face quelled his hope.

“Hello, Pastor Ralph. Do you have a moment?”

“I always do for you, Dave. What’s troubling you?”

“I guess it’s written all over my face, isn’t it? I’m not sure what to call this feeling that’s bugging me,” Dave sighed. After a pause he proceeded, “I guess it’s mostly disappointment. When I read my Bible, when I hear you preach and teach, Pastor, I see so clearly what we here at Good Shepherd need to be accomplishing. There are hurting people to be loved and cared for. There are folks to be saved. And hardly anyone seems to care. Oh, they say they care, but if the saying never grows up into doing, what good is it?”

“So you’re upset that we exhibit so little commitment to doing God’s will.” Pastor Ralph reiterated.

“Uh-huh.”

“How does that make you feel?”

“lt makes me angry at some of our people. But then I get even madder at myself, because I’m no Super Christian either. I’ve got enough inconsistencies of my own to worry about. So who am I to criticize others?”

“Yes, we all fall short of God’s glory. I’m glad you recognize that. I understand your concern, Dave. You’re a man who hungers and thirsts after righteousness. I’m just as hungry and thirsty as you are.”

“What do you mean, Pastor?”

Pastor Ralph hesitated, wondering whether to hide his personal feelings or to speak from the heart and thus become vulnerable. The need to share his burden won out. “Dave, I’ve been in here the last hour praying and weeping. I’m troubled about the spiritual weakness and laziness of the people of God at Good Shepherd. They say that a pastor’s best years at a parish begin after he has been there six years. Well, I’ve been here for nine, and my ministry doesn’t seem to have made much impression at all on the lifestyles of the most of our people.

“That’s just how I feel!” Dave shouted excitedly. “It’s the reason why I came in here dragging my jaw. People are dying of AIDS, and our only concern is whether to keep serving communion with the common cup. Half the churches in our denomination don’t add a new convert in a year, and we don’t seem to worry that we are in the wrong half. TV and the media bombard us with ungodly morals and materialism, and we soak it up like sponges, while complaining every time you preach over 18 minutes. Half the people on the face of this earth don’t even know who Jesus Christ is and what he has done for them. And what do we do about it? We sit behind stained glass windows singing, ‘Tell everyone what he has done,’ but we don’t seem to really mean it.”

“Believe it or not, your depressing tirade encourages me a bit,” Pastor Ralph chuckled. “At least now I know I’m not the only one who’s frustrated.”

“So what are you—I mean we—going to do about it? Why don’t you really give it to them next Sunday, Pastor? A hard-hitting sermon might jolt a little guilt into them and get them rolling.”

“Boy, sometimes I feel that I ought to do just that. But, Dave, you know that’s not my style. I don’t think it’s the Bible’s style either. I was taught, ‘Just preach the Gospel, and everything else will take care of itself.’ So that’s what I do, preaching God’s Law and Christ’s salvation as best I can, and then I wait for the fruits of faith to appear.”

“But why is the harvest of fruits so meager, Pastor?”

“I don’t know, Dave. It appears that everything else doesn’t just take care of itself. I surely don’t want to become a legalistic preacher, browbeating with the Law and overlooking the Gospel. I wish I could find a way to preach obedience and witnessing and still be faithful to the Scriptures.”

“Hey! That would be great.”

We, the authors, know just how Dave and Pastor Ralph feel. We have been there too, wondering how to motivate people for dedicated Christian living without whipping them with the Law and losing sight of the Gospel. Back in June 1988, our church was passing through a valley of financial stewardship commitment. That particular crisis, when many people seemed unwilling to risk giving more to the Lord’s work, led us to begin Bible study together. We set out to study all the places in the Bible where the words “courage” and “courageous” appear. As we studied these words, another set of terms kept appearing: “obey” and “obedience.” So when we had finished investigating “courage/courageous,” we went on to tackle “obey/obedience.” Following that, we were led one step further, to analyze closely one book of the Bible that stressed these themes. All together, we spent about 15 months on this project, studying for about 90 minutes two mornings per week.

All of this Bible-study-in-duet has changed our style of ministry. In this book we wish to share our findings with you. At times we may say something that at first sounds bizarre or even wrong. But please bear with us. We do not pretend to have discovered new doctrines. Instead we have found in the Scriptures a different emphasis or balance between doctrines than we had ever seen before. In response to this, we have since been developing a new approach to teaching obedience and the Christian life in our church. We believe this new approach is more biblical than our previous, traditional practice.

Billy Graham and others have referred to the authors’ denomination, The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, as a sleeping giant. Christians of other denominations may feel the same about their congregation or church body. To be a sleeping giant is frustrating. We could do so much, if only we would wake up, as the Word of God urges us to do:

Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God.

Rev. 3:2

The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.

Rom 13:11-12

Is there an antidote for ecclesiastical sleeping sickness? We firmly believe so! Not because of any ingenuity on our part, but solely due to the Holy Spirit’s guidance during months of Bible study, we believe that we have discovered the antidote for ecclesiastical sleeping sickness, the alarm clock which can wake up sleeping giants.

If you and your church long to be aroused to action, read on.

Inchworm photo credit: pexels-egor-kamelev-1119582.jpg