Rowing Against The Wind

"Rowing Against The Wind"

Mark 6:45-52

Row, row, row your boat

Gently down the stream

Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily

Life is but a dream.

Rowing your boat, or living life, is easy if you are rowing down stream with the current.  But rowing isn't so merrily when you have to row against the current, or up stream or against the wind.  Living against the wind gets tiresome and disheartening.  Especially if you have no choice.  It becomes awfully tempting to just pull in the oars and go with the drift, even if it is to your demise, or gets your life entirely off course.

Interestingly, there are some Bible scholars who think the boat, in the gospel of Mark, is a symbol for the church.  In Mark's gospel, more than any of the other gospels, Jesus and the disciples are often in the boat crossing Lake Galilee.  Back and forth.  Back and forth.

And there's always something important happening to the boat, or in the boat.  There's a storm.  Or, like in this story, there's a head wind.  The disciples argue in the boat.  They try and figure things out in the boat.  They catch a bunch of fish from the boat.  Jesus teaches from the boat just off shore.  So the boat is a prominent fixture in Mark's gospel.

At the time Mark wrote this gospel, the church was under attack.  Jewish oppression was hot.  But the worst of it was from Nero, the crazy Roman emperor who was covering Christians in tar and lighting them on fire, burning them alive, so he could walk in his gardens at night.

So, some scholars feel that Mark, in his gospel, is trying to give a message to the church--who were the first "boat people."  When the storms of oppression beat against the boat, rely on your faith in Christ.  When the going is hard, but not impossible, keep rowing--keep going.  The only place you're going to figure things out is in the boat--in the church with other believers.  When the going is tough, make sure Jesus is in the boat.  And, watch for him, because he's the only one who can keep himself above the chaos outside the boat.

If the church is to be the church, be followers of Christ--especially now.  We need to keep to the lessons Mark teaches in his gospel about life in the boat.

Trying to keep the church moving forward these days is difficult.  An old hymn has the line, "Like a might army, moves the church of God."  Some would like to change that to, "Like a might snail, moves the church of God."  There are certain prevailing headwinds.

There is indifference both within and outside the church.  Indifference in the church causes the rowers to not row as strongly as they should.  Personal time and resources are given to other concerns.  Indifference causes the rowers to cop out, convincing themselves that anything they do or say will not make a significant amount of progress for Christ or the church.  So they row less strongly or pull their oars completely out of the water, making the fewer others in the boat to pull a greater load.  "I won't be missed," is the self-justification; but those left rowing, having dwindled with each retreat of indifference, know what an impact is made in the negative.  Even though the force leveled against the boat/church is the same, it feels stronger to the fewer who are rowing, simply because there are fewer rowing.

The winds of opposition have always blown against the church.  At first, with Christ, it was the Jewish religious leaders.  With the early church it was the same, until the Roman government began to blow its weight against the faith--condemning, arresting, torturing, and executing Christians.  That's what was going on at the time Mark wrote this gospel.

Later, the church had to defend herself against people who tried to water down or change the gospel message to suit themselves.

In our day, in our western culture, it seems the winds of opposition have diminished.  At least that's what we've been lulled into thinking.   We think we're in a time of relative calm.  No one is breaking down our doors, seeking to arrest us and have us killed.  We don't appear to have a hard going of it.  Rowing, it seems, should be easy with no oppositional winds and a glassy, smooth surface of Christian living.

But we don't realize we Christians today may be rowing against the greatest winds that have blown against the church.  It is the wind of indifference and apathy--the gentle breeze that rocks the hammock while we fall asleep.  And while people sleep, nothing is getting done.  The church is slowly meaning less and less to more people.

I've mentioned before that denominations like the Presbyterians, Methodists, Lutherans, and other so-called main line churches are losing thousands of members each year.  Presbyterian churches, nation-wide are losing 30,000 members a year.  Surveys have been done to see where those people are going.  Are they going to other churches?  Are they going to other religions?  Are they becoming new age crystal gazers?  No.  A majority of those leaving the church are going no where.  They are filling the religious void with nothing.  Maybe gardening.  Or sleeping in.  Or doing the wash.  Or reading the newspaper.

The Christian church has never faced a time before when the world has treated it and the faith with so much indifference.  Like, who cares?  What happens when the wind of indifference has blown its gentle, subtle force against the church, and lifted all but one believer out of the boat?  What happens when there's only one rower and that person has only one oar?  The boat just goes around in circles, never giving direction, or having any direction itself again.

Satan is laughing as his tactics and strategies are working.  Benton Stull gave a really good message last week about the deceiver and dividing tactics of Satan.  No longer launching frontal assaults on the church, trying to exterminate by brutal oppression, Satan has instead enjoyed greater success with the subtle approach.

As our numbers dwindle, as our fervor for the faith falls asleep, as we lift our oars out of the water and simply drift aimlessly, the devil's smile grows broader.  Each decision, each choice we make that distracts us from the faith, from the ministry and participation in the church, is a victory for Satan.  Every subtle breeze that leeches away a bit of the fervor we once felt in our believing is demonic victory.  Every rationalization that we allow to blow through our reasoning, that keeps us from staying at our oars, and keeps us from pulling Christ's church to move forward, stroke after stroke, is another notch in the win column for our satanic opposition.

For the most part, most Christians don't care.  And that's the whole problem.  That's the wind that blows agains the church today--an attitude shift towards indifference.  "I don't care.  It's not that important.  Things will keep going if I stop rowing, or get out of the boat altogether.  Somebody will keep it going."  And the devil laughs as he keeps the lulling breeze of indifference blowing against the boat.

This whole development has been compounded by the fact that the world doesn't care either.  The world doesn't care what the church--or an individual Christian--does or doesn't do.  The world doesn't think much about the church at all.  It used to be that society-at-large had some level of reverence or respect for the church.  There was a time when the church figured into just about everyone's lives during the week.

Socially and religiously, the church was the center of the community.  Not any more.  The church is not even in the top three of a community's priority list anymore.  Nobody's laughing at us or ridiculing us.  But nobody's taking us serious either.  We live in a world that has sidelined the church.  Nor does society see the church as a possible player on the starting team.  The church has never found herself in this kind of position of powerlessness ever in its history.  As a boat, as far as society is concerned, the church is dead in the water. Or, there are oars in the boat but no one is there to row any more--because few if anyone see it is worthwhile.

There is a Scandinavian saying: "The north wind made the vikings."  It was the harsh, cold realities that developed them into the hearty survivors as well as fearless explorers.

I've also read that the violin makers in the old days would always choose the wood for their violins from the north side of the tree.  It was that side upon which the wind and storms had beaten.  So, they would say, when they heard the groaning of the trees of the forrest at night, the violin makers would not feel sorry for them, because those trees were just learning to be violins.

So, we who strain against the winds of culture seem to do better, become more hearty followers of Christ, when those winds are harsh--even deadly.  Because we don't recognize the lullaby winds of indifference these days as particularly cruel or harsh, we  don't fight against them as hard, or at all.

It is that perspective I would beg you in the name of Christ to change.  The winds of sleepy indifference are dangerously deadly.  Christians are giving into them by the thousands.  If there was ever a time when Christians need to be at their oars, straining against that lulling wind, it is now.

Indifference to the church, indifference to the faith, is ultimately indifference to Christ.  Indifference is one of the most powerful schemes the evil one has used against the church.

What it comes down to are our own individual choices and actions that say,

"Yes, I will do my part--I will take hold of an oar, and I will row.  I will help move Christ's church forward against this and all winds.  I will do that.  Because if I don't then I have made the winds stronger and the church weaker."

When believers and followers of Christ become withdrawn and dispassionate, it is not the churches fault.  It is the individual believers fault in the choices they have made.  It is time to find your passion for Christ again, and get to your oars.