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The
Team Concept
The 2008 Ryder Cup golf matches are now history. The American team
defeated the Europeans this week, 16 ½ to 11 ½, to the cheers and loud
roars of tens of thousands of Kentucky fans. This writer experienced
some of the excitement firsthand, witnessing brilliant shots from
players he had previously seen only on the television screen.
In interview after interview the American captain, Paul Azinger,
attributed his team’s success to the players’ “buying into the team
concept.” “They bonded,” he said. “Camaraderie” and “sticking with each
other” were words used often to describe their passionate win. Even
though each golf match involved just one or two American golfers pitted
again one or two Europeans, each win was a “team win.” Each individual
was trying to win his match, not for himself, but for the entire
12-player team. Each member of the team knew that all of the other
members were trying their hardest for the team and were deserving of
their support.
Even if one doesn’t enjoy or understand the game of golf he can
still appreciate “the team concept.”
It is “the team concept” we need to “buy into” as individual
members of a local church. Admonishing the disciples at
Corinth about the use by individuals of their spiritual gifts, the
apostle Paul said the actual goal of such was “that the church
may receive edification” (1 Corinthians 14:5) -- a team goal indeed.
Nothing is to be done for the glory of the individual. Every task
within the framework of the local church needs to be viewed from the
“team” perspective. Teaching a Bible class, greeting a visitor to
services, cleaning the baptistery, preaching a sermon, giving into the
collection, singing with one’s voice, helping a parent with a toddler,
leading a prayer, pasturing the flock, mowing the church yard, serving
the Lord’s supper, calling a sick member -- these and more are all
important tasks in a “team” effort. Some tasks might receive more
notoriety than others, but the accomplishing of them all are necessary
in a local church’s success.
A team effort involves serving a cause greater than oneself.
Pride and vainglory won’t do -- rather, humility and serving others must
rule the day. “Let no one seek his own, but each one the other’s
well-being,” Paul told the same Corinthian church (10:24). We must lean
upon each other and be available to be leaned upon. “Rejoice with those
who rejoice, and weep with those who weep,” he told the Romans (12:15).
To another team of disciples he said, “warn those who are unruly,
comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all” (1
Thessalonians 5:14). No selfish ends there.
Are you one of those who don’t feel like part of your team? To
you we ask, “Are you giving everything you’ve got to the team effort?”
You see, people who expend their energies for the goals of their local
church don’t allow their focus to be shifted to noticing (real or
imagined) non-support from their fellow-disciples. But too often just
the opposite is true for those who aren’t giving their all.
Let’s get our minds off of ourselves! Let’s buy into the “team
concept.” In Biblical terms, “Let nothing be done through selfish
ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others
better than himself” (Philippians 2:3).
There is no “I” in “team.”
--Mike Noble
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