Are you playing for Team God?

I believe that being part of a team, whether it be a sports team, club or some kind of after school activity, that it teaches you how to work with other people, and that is really important.  I know that not only did sports play a big role in my adolescence, it helped me learn how to work as a team.

When you are playing Baseball every person has a position and a purpose on the field.  You each have a call to action and your other teammates are relying on you to protect your position.   There isn’t one position that is more important than another, which is why it is called a team. 

When you look at the scoreboard at the end of a game you are seeing the runs batted in, and that is a sum of your team, not one individual player.  Even if you have only one run on the board, your defensive team did the work to keep the opponents from scoring, while at bat.   Team work is incredibly important in today’s society and one of the things we have really started to falter at.

I have been reading Romans 12 for a couple days, really trying to get an understanding and lesson from each verse, and what I have found is that verse 12 reminds me a lot of playing on a team.  Our team being Team God of course.

Starting in verse three, we find Paul telling us, to be aware of our own haughtiness.  That by the Grace (unmerited favor of God) we cannot think more of ourselves than we should.  Verse 3-6 reads like this. 

For by the grace (unmerited favor of God) given to me I warn everyone among you not to estimate and think of himself more highly than he ought (not to have an exaggerated opinion of his own importance), but to rate his ability with sober judgment, each according to the degree of faith apportioned by God to him.  4 For as in one physical body we have many parts (organs, members) and all of these parts do not have the same function or use.  5 So we, numerous as we are, are one body in Christ (the Messiah) and individually we are parts of one of another (mutually dependent on one another). 6 Having gifts (faculties, talents, qualities) that differ according to the grace given us, let us use them: (He whose gift is) prophecy, (let him prophesy) according to the proportion of his faith; 

What we are seeing in this snippet, which actually carries on through verse eight, with the examples of the gifts from the Spirit.  We are seeing that Paul is telling us, we are not to esteem ourselves higher than another person.  We are not to give ourselves more credit than another person.  We are all working on one team, and each person’s gifts are to add to the body of Christ, not take away from it.

 Each person is to realize that we are all different but the common goal and purpose is the same.  This is true in all areas of life.  You may have a Doctorate from College, which is amazing, but maybe I didn’t graduate from High School, that doesn’t make you any more valuable in God’s sight than I am.  We are all equal but with different talents and gifts.  

Paul showed this one point to us when he mentions that everyone should use their gifts according to the proportion of his faith.  Now we also know and see that every person is given a measure of faith.  This is what connects us.  We are all given a portion of faith from God, which means we are all on a level playing field.  

On a Baseball team if you don’t have a catcher, who is going to collect the ball when thrown from the pitcher?  Who is going to control the speed of play and give direction to the pitcher and the rest of the players on the field?  This doesn’t mean that the catcher’s position is more important, no, this means that without the catcher you wouldn’t have a complete team. 

You wouldn’t be able to have one person cover the entire outfield.  That is too much ground for one person to cover and cover effectively, which is why you have three to four players in the outfield, depending on whether you are playing Baseball or Slow Pitch.  Each one brings their ability to the team, which equals the team.  There is a saying about the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

This is like the body of God.  We are to work as a team, and be united in bringing people to God.  We are to lift up and support our fellow man kind and help advance their gifts instead of being envious of them.  We are not all meant to be famous or in the public eye, some of us are meant to be behind the scenes, but we are all one, we are all equal. 

God can’t use us all in the same way, because we are all different people.  Some people really appreciate nature and love to garden, I am not one of them, and that may be part of their gift from God.  Does that mean that since I am not talented and gifted in that area I should condemn them or be jealous of their behavior?  No, that means that God gave them a different ability than He gave me and I am blessed to be able to appreciate what they can do.

God has most likely given me a gift they are not able to perform, so we can appreciate each other’s abilities and do them unto God. 

Some of the best teams around work under these same ideas and rules.  They know that they are weak individually but together they are strong and a mighty force.   When you come up against the New York Yankees you know that you are going to find a team united, and a team that works off of each others strengths and weaknesses. 

 Derek Jeter, while just amazing, isn’t able to play short stop, second base and third base all at the same time.  But since he knows that he has equally talented players in each of those positions, when he makes his play he is secure in their ability to do their part.  That equals working as a team and a winning team at that.  

I want to be part of a winning team for God.  I want to do my part to bring more people to know the Lord that I serve.  I want to help shine the light on someone else’s talents and gifts, while using my own, to win souls for God.   If God didn’t have a purpose for me, or for you, we wouldn’t be here.  If He didn’t know that the world needed exactly what He created you for, you wouldn’t be here.

We need to start to realize that when we operate in jealousy and envy we are operating in darkness, and God isn’t in that place.  You can’t glorify God while you are jealous of the pastor or the worship leader.  You have to find your gifts and talents and use them to serve God. 

Remember our whole is greater than the sum of our parts.  The Bible tells us where two or three are gathered in His name, there He is.   Work together as a team, and bring your gifts and talents to Team God and let them shine before men!