TEAM PLAYERS
…I will know that you are standing together with one spirit and one purpose, fighting together for the faith, which is the Good News. Paul in Philippians 1:27 NLT emphasis mine
Together: sunathleo (soon-ath-leh’-o) to wrestle in company with, to strive together, contend jointly. From athleo, to contend in a public match
As a school boy I played a lot of backyard basketball all by myself. I was always a stand out star player. Often I would steal the ball, then make a fast run for a lay up basket to win the game—in the last seconds of play! Only problem: I was in my own backyard, not on the basketball court. It was pure fantasy.
Yes, I did go on to play on the school teams. But the real game was a big difference. It required total teamwork, hours and hours of drilling together, feeding the ball to others and passing it around the court, interacting with the other teammates. Practice! Practice! Help others score a shot.
Some people have never played on a team. Yet the New Testament uses the expressions “together” and “one another” almost 200 times. I understand the benefits of teamwork, having been raised in a good sized family. Working together was absolutely required. But we also had time for band, sports, afternoon jobs, and Scouts. Teamwork was pretty much a lifestyle everywhere in my world.
Do you aspire to ministry? Then you must surrender a “Lone Ranger” mindset. Team Church is the name of the game. Iron sharpens iron! We accomplish real victories only through teamwork. Anyone who does not understand this should not desire church ministry. There is no room to be self-centered. Period.
The human body functions as a unit. So should the Body of Christ. You cannot make a ball team of one player, or a symphony of one, nor a church of one. It takes at least two or three gathered together in the name of Christ to form a productive, functioning unit. This is why Jesus prayed that each of us would be all in as one unit, one people serving the cause of the Kingdom.
You do not lose your individual identity in togetherness. You discover all you can be, all you were meant to be when you come into the company of the committed. When we are living in the light we have fellowship with one another. 1 John 1:7
Join the team. You’ll love real victories.
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