Too Conservative

I like to read sermon titles.  Some are catchy, some are just plain weird.  Sometimes one can tell what the sermon is about, some keep the sermon content a mystery.  This sermon title caught my eye: “Too Conservative.”  The text was Ecclesiastes 11:4.  “Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.  This Kansas farm boy understands this verse.  Never the right time to plant; never the right time to harvest.

In some circles, conservativism is praised.  People speak of the wisdom of being conservative.  Consider what the word means.  “Disposed to maintain existing views, conditions, or institutions; moderate, cautious; one who adheres to traditional methods or views.”  Conservativism steers the car (church) by looking backward.  (Only a good idea if you are backing up!)

If conservatism lives in the past, an error just as dangerous is to live entirely in the future.  In our relationship with God, we are not guided by the status quo, existing conditions, or tradition.  We are not guided by what might be.  God’s word is our daily guide.  The church is  hurt by those who will take no risk.  Lives are dull and dead when risk is destroyed.  Some are dead while they live. 

It is true that some may fail in too much zeal, but we may also fail in too much caution.  Some won’t drink the water in the town where I live.  Some won’t share a communion service with the local brethren on a mission trip to Honduras.  Certainly we must be wise, but Jesus calls us to “launch out” and “cast our nets.”

 Some cannot see the work to be done for the problems.  Some cannot see the good for the bad.  Some know more about what’s wrong than about what’s right.  The one talent man was conservative.  Jesus condemned mediocrity.  It is easy to see the foolishness of fanaticism; can we see the foolishness of overcaution?  It is better to try and fail than to do nothing and criticize.