A couple of weeks ago, in this series looking at the church like a football team, we spoke about the church having a good offense. You might recall, or be familiar with the saying we referred to about a good offense, "The best defense is a good offense." Well, there is a saying in football, and other sports, about a good defense. Not just, "The best offense is a good defense," although that is sometimes said by coaches whose offense isn’t very good. But, there’s another saying, particularly in football, about defense. Do you know what it is? "Defense wins championships." When everything is said and done, it appears to be true that in order to win championships, you have to have a good defense. I think back to the Florida University days of Steve Spurrier, the offensive minded coach I mentioned two weeks ago, who was consistently in the hunt for the number one ranking at the end of the year, but managed only one consensus championship year—and that included a defense that was acknowledged as much better than previous years. Or, switching my sports, think of the old Denver Nuggets basketball teams under offensive-minded coach, Paul Westhead. Even the team promotional material admitted that "defense was an afterthought" for Westhead. The Nuggets struggled in its two years under Westhead, scoring 143 points in one game…only to lose by 30 points! Look at today’s scores in the NBA and try to imagine a score of 173-143!

So, offense is important. But, it is defense that win championships.

What does that mean for us as a church, and as individual Christians? If we consider our "defense" to be the firmness of our foundation in the faith, our solid strength in dynamic discipleship—our being "rooted" in the faith and "growing" in Christ—then it means everything to our successful service in God’s kingdom. There are no championships to be won in God’s kingdom without a good defense.

To be honest with you, if I had it to do over again, I would have switched the order of sermons about offense and defense. Defense, our spiritual growth, must come first before we’re able to run a good offense. In order to be motivated to live a life of service, or to know where called to serve, we must be growing in our faith. Before we’re comfortable in sharing our faith with someone, before we know what to share, we must be growing in our faith. We attempt to show that in our model for the journey of a disciple and a member of our church—Discipleship Mountain.

"Base Camp" is where it all begins—the basic step, first, of acknowledging Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, then, the second step of expressing your faith through membership in the church. Unfortunately, some never move very far beyond Base Camp.

The next step on the journey, as you can see, is "Camp Growth." Obviously, we’re not able to progress very far on the journey without experiencing some kind of growth in our faith. It is at "Camp Growth" that we build the kind of defense that wins championships. At "Camp Growth" we engage in serious study of the Bible so we can know and understand more about the God of our faith. At "Camp Growth" we daily practice the discipline of prayer so that our spirits are strengthened and renewed through communion with God’s Spirit. Only in growing in our faith are we able to clarify God’s call to us as to where and how we are to serve others and share with others. It is at "Camp Growth" that we build and establish the kind of defense that wins championships. If we’re not growing in our faith, we aren’t making any progress on our journey as a disciple.

There are within the wonders of God’s creation some interesting analogies and lessons for us regarding our growing process.

Did you know, for example, that sharks in captivity, in aquariums, grow in proportion to their environment? Exotic fish aquariums have discovered this in their experiences with sharks. Contain a young shark within a tank and the shark’s growth will be limited. Some sharks in aquariums grow to only six inches in length, yet are fully mature! Released into the ocean as a young shark, they would grow to eight feet. Kept in the tank, however, and the same species of shark can mature to as little as six inches. Which begs the question, what kind of environment are you immersed in for your spiritual growth? Staying at "Base Camp" results in "six inch Christians," not the foundation for a good defense!

Lobsters teach us some growth lessons also. Periodically, in their growth process, lobsters have to discard their shells. Their shell is their protection, their place of comfort, yet to remain in their shell would result in their death. At various times, the lobster must shed its shell in order to grow. To be sure, it is a time of great vulnerability for the lobster. He is without the protection of his shell. But, he cannot grow unless he takes the risk, sheds his shell and grows a new one. Likewise, we can build "shells" of protection and comfort that, while needed and necessary at various moments in our lives, must be shed in order for us to grow. Sometimes, growth involves change…and risk.

Or, take the field of medicine as another lesson. When we receive an inoculation against a disease, we actually receive a small amount of the disease we’re seeking protection from. Our body’s immune system then goes to work and builds up antibodies to fight off the infection, and the greater infection that might come. In other words, the introduction of a small dose of a bacteria builds up an immunity that fights off further growth of the infection. Something similar to that can happen in our spiritual lives—only to our detriment. Physical inoculation is beneficial to us. Spiritual inoculation can be harmful. It’s possible that our introduction to Christian faith can become a kind of inoculation. We receive, at "Base Camp," the introduction of faith—acknowledging Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and membership in a Christian church—but don’t grow from there. Our bit of faith seems safe…enough, and becomes a kind of inoculation against growing infectious faith. It is this analogy that Mark Mittelberg and Lee Strobel had in mind when the created the evangelism curriculum, "Becoming a Contagious Christian." If we don’t seek to spiritually grow, our bit of faith becomes an inoculation against becoming a contagious Christian.

And, finally, if you work in gardens and with plants, you easily see the lessons applied from the botanical part of creation. It’s the analogy Paul uses in our Scripture passage—being "rooted and built up in [Christ]." Disciples, like plants, need nurturing and care in order to grow—cultivating out the weeds that hinder and choke off growth, drinking in the nourishing water of Scripture, prayer and fellowship necessary for growth. The results aren’t immediate—it takes time. And, the results aren’t final requiring no further nurture and care. Another "season" of growth comes around, a continual returning to "Camp Growth" is required to climb the next mountain in the disciple’s journey.

Time and experience have proven the saying to be true, "Defense wins championships." Churches, like football teams, that don’t play good defense don’t win championships. Churches, like football teams, that become complacent in whatever success they might have achieved don’t succeed for very long. The fall to mediocrity is rapid, the descent to poor not far behind if steps for growing a strong defense are not taken. Discipleship Mountain cannot be climbed unless we first go through Camp Growth. Our service will be inferior or misdirected, our sharing will be awkward at best and, more likely, totally non-existent if we don’t grow. It’s risky—we have to leave the safety of a protective shell, or the comfort of a small tank for a bigger environment; it requires more than a "shot of faith," it’s catching the whole infection; it takes time and nurturing care, but the fruit of what is harvested makes it all worth it. There’s no shortcut. There’s no alternative. To reach the summit of Discipleship Mountain, we have to go through Camp Growth. To be a championship caliber church, we must build a good defense.