Prayer-School Course #3

Team Ministry

Observation 1:

Alex Haley, the author of Roots, used to keep a picture in his office of a turtle sitting atop a fence. He kept it there to remind him of a lesson he had learned years before: If you see a turtle on a fence post, you know he had some help. Haley remarked, "Anytime I start thinking, 'Wow, isn't this marvelous what I've done!' I look at that picture and remember how this turtle, me, got up on that post."

Observation 2:

The President is important, but so are garbage collectors. The strike in New York some years back. It was everywhere and threatening the health of the city. Reagan was shot and the country kept going. The garbage men strike and the city is in deep stink!!!

THE PROBLEM OF FEELING INFERIOR

This is one of the reasons some Christians never express their spiritual gifts in ministry. Look at verses 14-19 of 1 Cor. 12

For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body," it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body," it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired. And if they were all one member, where would the body be?

The foot and the ear, if we look carefully at the analogy, are jealous of the prominence of the hand and the eye. Look at it from their perspective. All a foot can do is support the rest of the body when it stands up and then cooperate in the body's walking around. And the foot is rarely allowed out in public; it's always covered up with socks and shoes and sort of kept hidden away. Think about the ear. It's nothing more than a receptor, just waiting for sound waves to arrive, and it's not a very attractive receptor at that, so we cover it up with hair or hang attractive jewelry on it to try to make it look better than it really is.

No wonder it feels inferior! Neither the foot nor the ear believes it makes much of a contribution in contrast to the hand and the eye. These are a couple of tremendous contributors to the good of the body. The hand gets to touch anything it wants, pick things up and move them around, use tools. When a vote is taken in a meeting, no one ever says, "Raise your foot"; it's always, "Raise your hand." You can make your own list of why the hand is so superior to the foot. And the eye gets to see everything it wants, watch TV, and so on, and it is able to close at night and rest for a good night's sleep.

But Paul makes the point in verse 17 that such thinking is ridiculous. If everybody felt that way in the church, the body would be just one big eye, which could see terrifically well, but it wouldn't be able to hear anything. Or if the body was one giant ear, it would hear very well but it wouldn't be able to smell anything. Paul is parodying those of us who say, "I don't have a certain spiritual gift, so I'm not really a part of the team," or, "My gift is second-rate and unimportant. I've got nothing to offer. So why should I participate?"

This section makes clear that in reality everybody is needed, and disclaiming that responsibility doesn't remove it. Drawing back from functioning as part of the body doesn't make us any less a part of the body. Paul says this twice, at the end of verse 15 and at the end of verse 16. There are no inferior or insignificant members of the body of Christ or members of the team.

I got the following from Steve Hill at Brownsville three years ago. It shows that we all, without exception, are team members.

Everybody, anybody, anyone, him, her, them, they, those, me, you, us, ourselves, themselves, you'uns, us'uns, you-all, me, we'uns, youse guys, all, each person, that individual, all the people, kids, adolescents, old folks, young folks, city slickers, farm boys, home boys, hamburger flippers and ice cream dippers.

Teeter totter riders and fearless sky divers, short order cooks and collectors of books, smart people that teach and moochers that leech, Michiganders from Kalamazoo and citizens of Timbucktoo. Butchers, bakers and candle stick makers,

We are talking everybody.... Got it yet??

Big, tall, small, short, full headed, grey headed, bald headed, headed for bald headed, big bone, medium bone, small bone, blond hair, black hair, red hair, green hair, purple hair, gross hair, red, yellow, black or white you are precious in His sight.
You can be sort of bad, sort of real bad, really bad, really, really super bad, badder than bad or king of bad.
You can live up town, down town, out of town or in the suburbs. A big house, little house, no house, jail house, or little house on the prairie.
A penthouse in Pittsburgh or Days Inn in downtown Dayton.
You can be from West Africa, Australia, Ireland, Japan, Germany, France, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, South Korea, Virgin Islands, Canada, Scotland, Norway, Italy, England or Mobile Alabama.
A Jew from Jerusalem or Gentile from Jacksonville.
You can play the banjo or be named Joe and play in the band.
You can be so smart you can say the ABCS backwards or be so backwards you never learned the ABCS............................

GOT IT YET?? Stick with me and you will.

You can hold the Guiness Book Of World Records for eating the most live slugs, or have a collection of the world's most colorful bugs.
You can be enjoying revival like everyone otta, or come from Boston just to get a drink of wata.
You can be patriotic wearing red, white and blue or sitting by your friend that has a big tattoo.
You can make your living churning delicious homemade butter, or spend every day collecting cans from the city gutter.
You can play the guitar and be an international star or be a clown in a circus driving the worlds smallest car.
You can be the tidiest person this world has ever known, or live like a pig with garbage in your home.
You can keep up with the Joneses or be the Joneses housekeeper or be the coolest dude in school with the largest florescent beeper.
You can smell like chanel and live like a queen or make your abode in an alley wearing tattered Levi jeans.
You can drive a BMW and wear flashy Italian suits or ride an appaloosa sporting pointed cowboy boots.
You can be a shepherd from the hills or a pusher of pills.
A wise man from afar or a soap opera star.
You can be a reporter from Rochester with a notebook in your hand, or a kid from Kentucky eating a sandwich made of spam.
You can be a Methodist from Montana or a Jew from Japan, a vegetarian from Virginia or a connoisseur of spam.
You can come from Texas in a Lexus with spurs on your heels or be a fly fisherman from Frankfurt with 15 shinning reels.
You can be a snot from the south a nerd from the north look like a beast from the east or be the best from the west.

THE LAST PHASE......

You can be a pastor in revival laying on the floor or a scared deacon from Denver running out the door.
It doesn't make a difference if your happy or your blue.
Just call upon the Lord, whosoever ... that's you!!!

Feeling of insignificance can be a prison.

Norman Vincent Peale relates in one of his books about an incident in Hong Kong. Passing a tattoo shop he sees one called Born to Lose He enters and asks if anyone ever wants that one? It struck him with such force that anyone would want that on their body. He was told sometimes they do. I can't believe anyone in their right mind would do that. The Chinese man simply tapped his forehead and in broken English said, Before tattoo on body, tattoo on mind.

We must not allow our minds to be tattooed with thoughts that I'm not good enough.

This is not saying that all we have to do in this life is think positively and all will be roses.

Like the guy falling off the 15 story building. As he passed the 7th floor he was overheard saying, so far so good. All the positive thinking in the world will not save him.

We are responsible for our attitudes.

The day we take responsibility for our own attitudes is the day we grow up.

"You Are Not Insignificant!"

Insignificance is a more common description of the image men and women and even children have of themselves. Feeling insignificant, feeling trivial, can result from many different things. It can result from feeling that your own gifts and abilities are far inferior to the gifts and talents of others around you. It can result from past experiences of abuse or neglect. It can result from the feeling that, in this great big world, and even more, in this great big universe, in the long run what I do isn't going to matter one bit either way.

Here is the logic behind the reason some people feel that way: It is "rational thinking." "What science seems to say." And what we can note here is:

Reason tells us that we are insignificant! Reason, and traditional science, traditional astronomy and anthropology, tell us that we are but "blips" on the screen of time; that we are but specks of dust on the whole stretch of the created world and the created universe.

"Reason" tells us that our church is but a tiny body in the midst of a world that stretches for thousands of miles, a tiny entity in the midst of a universe that's more vast than our minds can comprehend. The cosmos, the universe, these things are beautiful to behold; and it's awe-inspiring to know that all of these things were created by God, by the living Word who is Christ Jesus, who according to John had a hand in all things that have been created, such that "there is nothing that has been created that was not created by him." But at the same time it can be a bit intimidating to think that in the midst of all this, God has a special place in his kingdom and a special role in his will for me. "Lil' ol' me."

If God's hand really is at work in the creation and continuation of stars that are so distant it takes hundreds of years for their light even to reach my eyes, is it not a bit presumptuous or even egotistical for me to declare that God is even personally interested much less that God wants personally to be involved in my life?

(Just this week new galaxies were discovered that are about 100 billion light years long).

The Word tells a different story. He created the world for us and came down to live with us and calls us to cast our cares and worries upon him. Phil. 2

Consider these facts:

1. There are billions of possible ways that a planet could be constructed out of the elements that we know; but ours is one of the few, some believe the only one, that has the parameters that will allow life like ours to exist.

2. It's scientific fact that the universe is slowly expanding. But if the rate of expansion were smaller by a millionth of a thousandth of a millionth of a millionth of one percent, then life couldn't survive in it. If the rate of expansion were greater by a millionth of a percent, life couldn't survive here.

3. It's scientific fact also that atoms and molecules, the building blocks of our world, are made up of positively charged particles and negatively charged particles. If the rate of attraction between those particles were even a fraction stronger or weaker, the universe could not exist.

4. (perhaps the most telling): Our human brains are made up of "synapses," connecting bridges between nerves and points in our brains. There are a hundred trillion of these synapses in your brain, and the number of possible ways of connecting them, that is, the number of possible thoughts you can have, is greater than the total number of atoms in the universe. There's a higher level of organization and creative richness in one person -- in you -- than there is in a thousand galaxies.

We must resist the negative feelings and approach all of life with a positive attitude or we will never be what God has called us to be and do what He has called us to do.

Martin Luther King Jr. said "everybody can be great because everybody can serve." You don't have to have a college degree or make the subject and verb agree. You don't have to know Plato and Aristotle. You don't have to know Einstein's theory of relativity. You don't need to know the theory of thermodynamics in physics. You only need a heart full of grace and a soul generated by love.

Observation 3:

Two ladies who had had strokes on opposite sides of their bodies were in a nursing home. Both had played the piano, and now they each play with their good hand. They play beautifully together. They had to have the other to do that.

Look at an operating team. Doctors, nurses, assistants, several others around the table. You have the head surgeon. He is calling for equipment and giving directions. For a team member to violate his authority or fail to fulfill his role would not be good news for the patient.

Observation 4:

The Celtics won 11 out of 13 years NBA champs in the 60s. They were known for their team work. Never had a player that was individual scoring champion. Red Aurbauch, their famous coach had a saying..... "Winning is a 'we thing' not an 'I thing'." Bill Russell said he considered that his value to the team was that they all played better when he played.

There is a famous story of the days when Sir Christopher Wren was building St. Paul's Cathedral, London. On one occasion he was making a tour of the work in progress. He came upon a man at work and asked him: 'What are you doing?' The man said: 'I am cutting this stone to a certain size and shape.' He came to a second man and asked him what he was doing. The man said: 'I am earning so much money at my work.' He came to a third man at work and asked him what he was doing. The man paused for a moment, straightened himself and answered: 'I am helping Sir Christopher Wren build St. Paul's Cathedral.'

Do you see your work as helping Lord Jesus build his kingdom?

The third guy had the full picture. As a team member that is what we need to see.

Observation 5:

When trouble comes and the bullets are flying, you are going to need more that the expectation of a pay check at the end of the day.

I don't like Doberman Pinchers. They scare me. If I were to look out my window and see one on my front lawn, I wouldn't like it. Suppose I see him prowling across the grass. His hair is standing up on his back, his teeth are bared, he is snarling, and he's fixing to set in on something. I look over in that direction and I see a stray cat. What do you think I will do? I would close the blinds and say, Good-bye, kitty. You won't walk on my car anymore. I like cats. I am just making a point.

Now imagine that same Doberman, prowling across my front lawn. His hair is standing up on his back, his teeth are bared, he is snarling, and he's fixing to set in on something. I look over in that direction and this time I do not see the kitty cat, I see my eight year old son.

What do you think I'm going to do now? I wouldn't even take time to find a bat. I would be out of that house, taking on that dog with my bare hands. What is the difference? The difference is that there is a cause. There is a purpose. Equivalent to the cause is the courage thereof.

When you go to college, your objective is not just to be a student. You want a degree to pursue your career. Paul's objective was to be like Christ. He wanted to know the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His suffering.

Acts 14:19-20 Read (After being stoned and left for dead, he gets up and goes back into the city).

He had an objective and he was not going to quit. You have to have a purpose and a mission. He had a task that God had called him to and he wasn't going to give up until he completed it.

Quote from a college basketball referee at the final four. When asked what makes the difference between the good and great officials. He said, It is the ability to stay focused on the game while tuning out the constant criticism of the crowd.

Consider William and Catherine Booth... By all accounts the most obvious example of Christian social compassion and practical concern in contemporary history....the Salvation Army. Her brilliant preaching affected hundreds of thousands. Her written tracts scattered throughout Europe. Suffered from curvature of the spine, never to know a pain-free day in her life. She read the entire Bible eight times by the time she was 12. When she died, more attended her funeral than had attended the Queen of England's. When William died 35,000 came to his funeral. They ministered in a time when massive sexual slave traffic (with young girls ages 10-13).. London was steeped in prostitution. One in fifty English women were hookers, with eighty thousand prostitutes in the city. This couple was radical for Jesus, but before their fame and success, their purpose and faith and calling was tested by the Methodist church to which they belonged.

William was offered a fine position as an evangelist within the denomination if only for all practical purposes, he would stop his revival meetings. His wife Catherine, who was seated in the balcony when the offer was publicly presented, shouted, "Never. Say no, William, say no."

He respectfully declined the offer and there by lost his position with them. They went from there to found the Salvation Army and their lives literally touched millions. They knew their purpose, and their actions displayed their faith.

Conclusion

It takes cooperation with your teammates to accomplish the goal .. working together as a team will be more effective than working on your own. At the same time, there will sometimes be a cost and you may have to lay down your own rights and goals for the good of the team. But these sacrifices will be more than worth it.. because when the team succeeds, then each person on the team is a success.

Finally you need to know the team's purpose and be committed to doing what it takes to accomplish it. This is how God builds a successful team, and then accomplishes His kingdom plans through it.

[Please Note:

This is intended as a discussion series. Please feel free to send your discussion (comments or questions) to prayer-school@godspeak.net. We will have online discussion each week, MC'd by Cliff Murray, the author of this series. These discussions will NOT be put on the course WWW page.]