Today we took another step deeper into our journey of exploring spiritual gifts. I’ve been personally surprised by how many people sort of see the church and their place in it as a huge mystery…one that they never quite seem to be able to solve. It seems that the analogy of a team that we are using really is helping bring the picture into clearer focus. The church IS…IS…IS… a team. Just as any team consists of individuals, ultimately those individuals give themselves to the identity of the team. Jesus desires that those who join his team do the same…not to become faceless, meaningless placeholders…but to achieve something far greater than we can ever achieve on our own and to grow in our likeness of him. That is the role that spiritual gifts plays. It creates the playing positions on the team…and the more that we embrace the positions and take on the identity of the team, the more the church will flourish, and the more we will personally flourish as well.
We also touched on another important topic this morning - PLAYING TIME! Every player on a team wants playing time. Any player worth his salt wants to see the field. But there are several issues that can impact playing time as well as roles and responsibilities on the team. Here are a few, which I have given the acronym of N.A.I.L.S.
- N -EEDS OF THE TEAM - Every year in college, there are counteless recruits that show up on campus having been a star player at a certain position. And they are ready to be the big dog at a certain position. But then the coach pulls them off to the side and tells them he needs them to play an entirely different position than the one he is experienced at because the team needs help in this other position more than it needs his skill at the position he is used to. It takes a selfless person to be willing to take a reassignment. Sometimes the reassignment is temporary, and other times, the player excels even more at the new position and continues in a position he never expected to play.
- A -TTITUDES - There are times when a player develops a bad attitude that makes their contribution to the team less than it should be and they will go to the bench for an attitude adjustment. Lots of teams have guys that love the limelight, but it becomes all about them…their preferences, their desires, their wants. And the team becomes just a way to take them where they want to go…they are not truly part of the team. Do you remember the Bud Commercial with the football player “Leon”? In the commercial, Leon blamed a loss on his teammates and when the reporter said, “There ain’t no I in team”, Leon responded with “There ain’t no we either.” When you have these guys, they need to learn the value of the team and their contribution to it.
- I - NJURIES - Sometimes players get injured and have to sit on the sideline for a while until they get healthy again. I’m not talking about just cuts and bruises, or the kind of person who takes advantage of that so that they don’t have to work…I’m talking about serious injuries. If they try to play through a serious injury then they will not only delay their healing process but they will lessen the ability of the team to perform to it’s highest potential.
- L - EVEL OF S - KILL - No matter how good you are, there is always someone a little better. They may not be on the team today, but they may be later. If we are team players, then we want to humbly allow those with more skill at our position to be on the field more often because it benefits the team. But what happens if those with less skill decide to not practice? Then those with greater skills are hampered and those with lesser skills do not improve. When everyone is pulling for and putting team first, then everyone benefits and everyone gets better and moves the team closer toward it’s goal of winning.
It’s fairly easy to see the correlation between these “playing time” situations in athletics and the church. The church is a spiritual team…and we must function with much the same mentality. Far too often, church has become a “ME” zone…and just like Leon in the Bud commercial (watch below), it’s easy to place blame everywhere else but take little responsibility for ourselves and failing to see the higher value of the team. As believers and followers of Christ, we must see ourselves as part of a bigger picture…as part of the kingdom of God and his mission here. As Rick Warren said in the beginning of Purpose Driven Life, “It’s not about me”. The Lord gives gifts to his team to make his team work. Our gifts are for the benefit of the team… and the mission of the team (the mission of Jesus Christ through the ministry of the church) is our highest calling.
May 5th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
Our family was unable to attend church last Sunday. Therefore, we were glad to see this posting so that we can keep up to date on the spiritual gifts journey. Thanks Coach Mark
May 5th, 2008 at 7:48 pm
Thanks Shanda. You guys were missed. We’re still working on the details of getting the messages streamed online. Someday we’ll get there.