Ass-You-Me
Runners stood on second and third base, with nobody out, and my twelve-year-old self stepped to the plate looking to extend our team’s lead. I took a solid swing at a fat pitch and punched it down the rightfield line. It landed barely fair and then rolled all the way to the wall. At first, I thought I could actually go for a triple. But I realized that would involve too much work, so I let up, and jogged leisurely into second base with a stand-up double. The crown buzzed and I was basking in the limelight. But the celebrating didn’t last long as the next batter immediately hit a slow ground ball to the first baseman. I raced to third base. When I got to the bag, I saw our third base coach. AND I saw another baserunner! The kid who was on second when I hit the double was frozen just off the bag. What was he doing here? I was stunned and staggered. Both of us were near third--you cannot have two runners on the same base, so the coach put his hand on my shoulder and instructed, “You, stay here.” I immediately took off to run back to second. As I ran, I heard, “You’re out!” shouted by the umpire behind me. They got the other kid. Then I felt the ball whiz past my ear into the glove of the second baseman who was waiting to tag me as I slid. “Out!” I got up, shocked. I had run my team into a triple play.
As I trotted back to the dugout—the jog of shame—I began to discover a lesson that I am still trying to learn today. And that lesson is: Messed up assumptions mess you up.
I assumed the crown was buzzing for me. I assumed the runner would score from second on a double—would-be triple. I assumed I was alone on the bases. I assumed I was smarter than the third-base coach. I assumed I could beat the throw back to second base. I assumed—wrong!
Misguided, messed up assumptions mess up the people around us, the people on our team and the people in our front row.
I’m still trying to learn that lesson. I suspect we all are. We all make assumptions that turn out to be—wrong!
We assume the grass I always greener on the other side of the fence—it isn’t.
We assume it’ll never happen to me—it probably will.
We assume our news source is telling us the truth, the other news sources are fake. Ours is best.
We assume we are perfectly logical and fair and everyone that disagrees is foolish and ignorant.
We assume that when wrong, we made a mistake, but others, when wrong have evil and malice.
We assume having more money will make you happy forever.
We assume someone else will take responsibility.
And we assume we know what we’re talking about.
The point is to assume nothing, or at least assume less. Challenge assumptions. Let’s get out of our own heads, look around and see clearly.
There’s a verse from the Bible—an obscure verse, but one of my life verses that challenges our assumptions regarding the people in lives. That verse is Acts 15:19:
“It is my judgment that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.” Acts 15:19
Jesus’ brother James says we should not make it difficult for people to turn to God. In this one soundbite, James questions at least four common, yet misguided assumptions.
Misguided assumption #1: No one is interested in turning to God.
We tend to think nobody is interested in God. Where did we get that idea? Probably from our same “trusted” news source.
The news talks about the growth of the so-called “nones”—people who have no religious affiliation. Ten years ago these people didn’t go to church and they called themselves, “Methodists.” Now they don’t go to church and call themselves, “nones.” Nothing has changed. They still know something is missing in their lives.
Or here is a big lie: young people are not interested in God. That’s crap. Young people are searching for God. They may not like the way we do church, but that doesn’t mean they don’t want God. Why do you think so many young people are out protesting on the streets? They are searching for something! I just talked to a young couple (with no religious affiliation) and they kept asking if it was okay for them to come to church!
Correction #1: People are turning to God.
James simply believes that there are people who want to turn to God. More than that, he is referring to the Gentiles who are turning to God. Who were the Gentiles? Obviously they were people who were not Jewish. But more than that, the term denoted pagans, heathens, uncircumcised, unclean dogs. To a Jewish person in the first century, to someone like James, the Gentiles were the last people they would have even expected to turn to God. But James admits people--even people we least expect--are turning to God.
Where did James get an assumption like that? Maybe from Jesus:
Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.”--Matthew 9:37 (NIV)
Maybe James got it from King Solomon:
“He has planted eternity in the human heart…” Ecclesiastes 3;11 (NLT)
Misguided assumption #2: We tend to be welcoming and inclusive.
We think everyone is attracted to us and our lifestyle.
Correction #2: We tend to make it difficult for people to turn to God.
In Acts chapter 15 the believers put up an enormous barrier for those seeking to turn to God:
Some people came from Judea and started teaching the Lord’s followers that they could not be saved, unless they were circumcised as Moses had taught. This caused trouble, (ya think?) and Paul and Barnabas argued with them about this teaching. So it was decided to send Paul and Barnabas and a few others to Jerusalem to discuss this problem with the apostles and the church leaders.--Acts 1-2 (CEV)
The believers were requiring circumcision for salvation. Ouch. Can you imagine”
“How was church today?”
“Painful!”
“Come to our church, the band is great; the pastor is funny; we do minor surgery on your private parts; the coffee is excellent…”
I don’t know of a modern day North American Christian Church that requires circumcision for membership, but I do know that we in the church have a tendency to put up significant if not similar barriers.
We are prone to negativity—to be known for what we are against rather than what we’re for.
We are hypocritical. So is everyone else, but we are known for it.
We post stupid stuff on social medial and immediately exclude half of the people we know.
C. S. Lewis summed it up: “The best argument for Christianity is Christians: their joy, their certainty, their completeness. But the strongest argument against Christianity is also Christians— when they are somber and joyless, when they are self-righteous and smug in complacent consecration, when they are narrow and repressive, then Christianity dies a thousand deaths.”
Our services can be long and boring.
It’s been said, "There is a thin line between a long church service and a hostage situation."
We major on minor issues.
Fred Craddock in his book, “Preaching” admits about preachers, “Their seminary experience of theology was not one of learning to think theologically but one of spending two terms in the fourth century.”
Misguided assumption #3: It is complicated to turn to God.
Correction #3: It is not difficult to turn to God.
Peter says, “So turn to God! Give up your sins, and you will be forgiven.” Acts 3:19 (CEV)
Jesus promised, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” Matthew 11:28-29 (NLT)
It is not difficult to turn to God. It’s as simple as ABC:
A. Admit I have fallen short and need a Savior. I need to turn to God
B. Believe that Jesus is the savior—he came to earth; lived a perfect life as our example; went to the cross and died to pay the penalty for my sins; and rose again from the dead to prove it. God is there, waiting for me to turn to Him.
C. Commit to following him the best I can for the rest of my life. Choose to turn to God.
Turning to God isn’t difficult. It’s not easy street, but we don’t have to be mystified and stymied by it.
Misguided assumption #4: What we do doesn’t matter.
We don’t understand our responsibility to and impact on those around us. We may think it’s someone else’s job to help people turn to God. But James assumes it is on us.
Correction #4: We can make a difference.
James assumes that what the early church people did, and what we do, actually makes a big difference in the lives of others.
Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” Matthew 9:37-38 (NIV)
We can ask and we can be part of sending out workers into God’s harvest field.
I rose to my feet after being tagged out in that strange triple play. As I trotted back to the dugout I expected to be met by the manager, or one of the coaches. I wasn’t. I hurriedly put on the catchers’ gear and went on the field to play defense. After the inning, no one mentioned my blunder. We won the game, yet even during the postgame debrief, nobody talked about that odd inning. To this day, I don’t really know what happened. I don’t know why the runner didn’t score from second. I’m still confused by the entire episode.
So many people around us are living their lives, rushing back and forth on the bases, causing messes for themselves and their teams. Most of them have no clue about what is actually happening.
Here’s the question: are we going to talk to them? Will we assume they are not interested, or will we welcome them, include them, and show them the simple way they can get home.