Every generation can claim its greatest player. But there’s little argument about which player played the greatest basketball game of all time in the NBA. Wilt Chamberlain’s performance on 2 March 1962 saw him personally score over 100 points. Chamberlain—over seven feet tall and weighing 113 kilograms—had a fourteen-year career in the NBA in which he averaged over thirty points and twenty-three rebounds per game.
But, like many a big man before and after, he struggled in one simple part of the game: he was woeful from the foul line. On average an NBA player will shoot around three quarters of their attempted free throws. Chamberlain managed just over half of his (his career stat was 51.1%). Even Shaquille O’Neil, a player similar to Chamberlain in the modern era, managed to make 52.7% from the line! The best way to play against Wilt Chamberlain, or even Shaq, was simple—foul them and make them score from the line.
On the night when Chamberlain scored 100 points, his opponents forced him to the line for thirty-two shots. But on that occasion Chamberlain made twenty-eight of them. Now, in many respects this was a lucky night, but this season was also his best for free throw percentage: he made over 60%. The main cause of this significant increase in performance was almost certainly that Chamberlain had started shooting his free throws underarm—what is often called “Granny-style”. Chamberlain was definitively better shooting underarm. But despite clear evidence, and a standout performance, he went back to shooting overhand. In his biography Chamberlain says he did this because he “felt silly” and “like a sissy”.[1] Chamberlain was unwilling to stand out from the crowd.
Being Willing to Stand Out
On some issues I suspect that we’re very willing to stand out from the crowd. After all, we follow Jesus who said we’re blessed when people curse us for his sake (Matt 5:11). I suspect that many readers are willing to stand out when it’s a clear case of godliness and conscience. We’re often willing to stand out from the crowd of the non-Christian or even anti-Christian community around us.
We might be less willing to stand out, however, on issues within our cultural Christian bubble. If all the Christians around you have one particular way of doing things, you’re likely to go along with it, even if you think there’s a better way to do it or if there’s something that would work better for you personally. I suspect among paid Christian ministers, this cultural pressure is even stronger
There are good reasons for going with the crowd. We don’t want people around us to think that we don’t respect them, especially those we consider worthy of good, godly respect. We want to show others we’re team players. The hard part is that this is all often under-recognised. We can even feel it would somehow not be right to point out what could be changed for the better. We police ourselves. No one around Wilt Chamberlain would have called him silly for making more foul shots any way that he could. How could they when he was towering over them and dropping fifty points a game? And yet he, of his own volition, chose to go back to shooting more bricks. He was free to do so, but it returned a much worse outcome.
The Scriptures give us recourse for standing out from the crowd even among God’s people. We have David’s example of willingly looking foolish for honouring God (2 Sam 6:20–22). Joab is commended and rewarded for being the first to trek through a water shaft to conquer a city (2 Sam 5:8; 1 Chron 11:6). Jesus rebuked the disciples for stopping the one who was “not one of them” from casting out demons in his name (Lk 9:38). He warned the crowd not to be like children who set up false standards and thus ignored the teachings of both himself and John the Baptist (Matt 11:16–19). Paul warned the churches of Rome about treating each other with contempt (Rom 14:10) and then reminded and urged them:
each of us will give an account of ourselves to God. Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. […] Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. (Romans 14:12–19)
Make Every Effort for the Gospel, Even if You Look Silly
We may need to risk looking like fools and even giving the impression that we think others are fools for the sake of serving the gospel more effectively.
Here’s a personal example of how that’s playing out in my ministry context. My team and I decided that this year we would try out using a different evangelistic video course. There’s lots to choose from and we chose one that is both more well known, but also more charismatic in its sensibilities than we’d like. However, we chose to use the course, adapting it to mitigate some of what we perceived to be its weaknesses. We made this decision because no one was really attending our courses and we know that some in our ministry context love that course. Moreover, we hoped that it would send a signal to those from other denominations in our local ministry orbit and that they would therefore be a little more willing to get on board with our efforts.
I knew that making this choice would raise a few eyebrows. One person who I deeply respect even told me flat out that it looked like “rank pragmatism”. If we keep using it and encourage others to do the same, some people might think we’re criticising them and their choices. The thing is, I don’t care what it looks like and I don’t care about what people think! I need to care primarily about what it actually is. I care about whether it helps grow the ministry and mission of Jesus. I’ll trade my reputation for more people in the kingdom any day of the week. I’ll let other people feel a little bit uncomfortable if it means we get more gospel work done.
Were we successful? The jury is still out. But since we made the switch we have met three new people and seen one of them become a Christian. So for now, at least, we’ll continue with this experiment. It’s certainly been good to try something new. Even if we change again, we’re making these changes for the right reason: to serve Jesus. That’s the whole point isn’t it?
Not to Please Others, nor Ourselves, but to Honour Christ
Are there decisions where you hold back for the sake of not standing out? Maybe there’s more ways you can serve, but you don’t want to look like your big-noting yourself. Or maybe you are maintaining some ministry program because you like it even though it’s not really helping others anymore. Perhaps there are situations where you don’t speak up for fear of looking like a know-it-all or an agitator. But perhaps God has put you there precisely to raise the issue. Maybe you don’t want to be tarred with a label of being too <insert label here>. Or maybe you fear losing admiration from your Christian peers and worry that taking a risk will hinder your advancement in your ministry, church or denomination.
There’s all kinds of poor reasons that might stop us from doing more for the gospel. We can get in our own way and effectively self-censor long before anyone actually raises an issue with us. In doing so, I think it’s possible that we’re stopping changes in our lives and in our ministries that might be really wonderful, sacrificial and effective for the kingdom.
I know that making such changes require discernment. We must take care how we build our lives and how we seek to build the church (1 Cor 3:12–17). We’ve got to check our egos and our motives. Certain decisions can also set trajectories that are problematic further down the line. We need to respect the wisdom of others and learn from each other. But if Christ could go to the cross for us, then surely we can stick our necks out a little more. We need to remember that the people around us are not enemies, but brothers and sisters in Christ. In fact, if we can get to the stage where we’re all a bit more willing stand out, stand up, experiment, sacrifice and serve in new and surprising ways then, ironically, suddenly doing so won’t be standing out, it will be normalised. Imagine how much more good might we accomplish for Christ and his kingdom?
[1] Quoted in Malcolm Gladwell, ‘The Big Man Can’t Shoot’, Revisionist History podcast.
