One of my favorite stores to go to is Dollar Tree. Partially, I like that I know how much everything costs, but there are also some things that I always know are there. One of them is this kids toy that has a spinning disk. You slide the disk down this thing that looks like Harry Potter's wand, and then you lift it back up off it it, and the disk takes off and will spin across the room.
That's a toy that appeals to 12 year old me, but it's also a toy that I've used for lots of other things. Mostly for decorations for VBS in years past.
What makes that disk thing work is that it is a kind of flywheel. A flywheel is something that you put a little bit of effort into, and it translates that effort into an even distribution of energy that gives you more output than the effort you put in.
Flywheels aren't anything new. In fact, you could say that they are one of the inventions that have helped out society get to where it is today. In the picture above you can see a waterwheel. That's a kind of flywheel. It takes the effort from the water flowing by and translates that into energy. That energy did everything from saw lumber to grinding wheat to make the flour that we use to bake bread.
We see flywheels in everything from toys, to care engines, to electric turbines, to water pumps, and many more things. They are one of the basic things that lets us not just survive, but thrive where we are today.
This same sort of concept can be applied to other places. In the church we want to be able to build momentum that builds faith in our lives, and in the lives of others. To put that another way, we want to put be able to put in the right effort to turn the flywheel that sends us out to share the Gospel Message about Jesus Christ.
This is the start of a new series that applies this concept to the work we do as a church. To often our effort resembles the phrase, "if I can just reach one person for Jesus Christ, then all the effort I put into it will be worth it." That's not really a good reason for doing things.
Think about it for a second. That's a lot of work to reach a hand out to one person, then to another, then another, and another and another and another, and you keep going like that. There's a better way. That shouldn't be our reason for doing things, but the result. When it's the result, then we are in better shape.
So what is it that Jesus does? Take a look at Matthew 9:9-13. Specifically, take look at vs. 10
If you were going to be a respectable religious leader in Jesus time, then you didn't do things like this. You would have known that they were sinners and that you shouldn't associate with them. But here is where Jesus is different.
You can try to build a community in two different ways. On the one hand, you can take short term gain and define your community by who you exclude. This is what they were doing in Jesus' time. The problem with that is that when you define yourself in that way, eventually you're going to fall apart. That's because when you have successfully excluded one group, then you have to move on to another group to exclude from your community. This leaves you with a smaller group of people all the time, until it all falls apart.
The second way of doing things is to look to the long term gain. This is what Jesus was doing. You do that by including others, and probably others that have been excluded in the past. That means that when you have successfully incorporated those folks, then you look to the next group to include. Over time you will get bigger.
But there is a reason why so many choose exclusion. It's easier, and less complicated.
In each post, I'll be including what I'm calling a flywheel point. The one for this post is below.
We know that community is key for us as Christians. This is something that Jesus does all the time. He is building community and including folks from every walk of life. That comes with risk.
When you include others, that means that things will change. It takes time for that expanded community to settle into who they are together. It's a risky business. But there is a secret there.
We know, because we've experienced it, that everything changes....always. Change is always taking place. Our churches and communities are not the same now as they were 20 years ago. We've become different. For us, that means that we have a choice.
We can either be changed by outside influences that we have no control over, or maybe that we don't choose, or we can choose to be changed by Jesus Christ.
When we choose Jesus, we are choosing to follow the one that we put our faith, hope, trust, and love in already. He is the one that we know will not lead us in the wrong direction.
Expanding our community to include others is the start of our effort to move the flywheel. However, when you start to move anything, it will change. That change can be good or bad, but when we choose to follow Jesus, then we know we can trust the direction we're going, and we know that we'll build that needed momentum to build faith in our lives, and in the lives of others.
Go out, choose Jesus, find ways of including others in your community, and know that this is the start of how we can change the world. Amen.
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