TEAM

I’ve been chewing on some different topics over the last few weeks and one thing I keep coming back to is the concept of team.

A lot of times I write with the purpose of taking concepts and thoughts from the sports world and applying them into the Christian life and our daily walk with Christ.  

This time is no different.  

I think our society and even break it down so far as my gender, seems to believe that life can be lived on an island alone.

In our churches today, I think we see that, possibly birthed from the early to mid 20th century, but still holding strong today.

The thought that we don’t need anyone else.  We don’t need help, we’ve got it under control.  Whether that be help from the Lord or help from other people.  

Therein lies our problem.  

Let’s take this in two directions.  First, let’s look at why we can do nothing apart from the Lord.

First of all, we need to, as believers, look to our ultimate example of Jesus Christ for guidance in this area.  Jesus was fully God and fully man, yet he still relied on the Lord.

“So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.”

John 5:19 ESV

So we see there that even Jesus did nothing on his own.  He does whatever the Father, God, does.  He does all this in His Honda Accord!  Gotcha!  Jesus didn’t drive a car, even if He did, we all know it wouldn’t be a Honda! 

Jesus goes on to say, later in the book of John that we are like branches on a vine.  The way that nature works is that branches do not live apart from their source.  If I go outside right now and cut a branch off the peach tree in my backyard, that branch will die. 

The same happens to us if we try to live our lives away from our Creator.  If we don’t function as a piece of His team, we cannot survive.

To look at it from a sports perspective, there are very few sports that are individual.  

The main sports that I am involved in are the team sports.  Football and Basketball are the two main sports that I coach.  

For those readers who don’t know the basics, here comes your crash course.  Football has 11 men on the field from each team at a time.  Basketball has 5 men from each team on the court at a time.  Those 11 or 5 guys work together to score and keep the other team from scoring.

If I took one football player and threw him on the field with the same rules as the previous contest, then there would be a massive struggle for the fella who’s on his own.

The same applies for us in life. Life wasn’t built to be an individual sport.

If you go back to the basic reasoning for God’s creation of Adam, it was for a relationship. The same can be said for why God created Eve, for a relationship; not only for one with Himself, but with Adam, too.

The Bible speaks to the importance of our compadres and friends in life, our team if you will.

First, again we can look at Jesus.  He didn’t just blaze a trail on His own, because HELLO, McFLY, He could have!  He chose 12 guys to surround himself with, to be His teammates.  

Here are some verses that stress the importance of being a team...

“Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 ESV

“I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.”

1 Corinthians 1:10 ESV

“For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.”

1 Corinthians 12:14-20 ESV

Those are all pictures of the important of a TEAM concept in life.

The great thing is, if you’re a believer, your team is huge!  People in your church, in your family, and all over you’re community are ready and willing to welcome you into the family.  Start looking then!

The body of Christ is meant to work together, so let’s start doing that!