Jesus Was A Team Builder

1 Corinthians 12:12

Unity and Diversity in the Body

Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.

Lone Ranger Christianity

Who here know of the Lone Ranger? Ok for those younger than me, here’s a picture of him. Here’s one of

the latest one, from 2013.

What did you notice?

The Lone Ranger wasn’t really alone or lonely. There were two of them. He had a sidekick. His name was Tonto.

Yes and two (or more) means a team.

What did King Solomon say in Ecclesiastes 4: 9-12

Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor:

If either of them falls down, one can help the other up.

But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.

Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone?

Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves.

A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

Team Quotes

If we ever try to research the word “team”, we will be amazed at the number of quotes that was spoken or written about it.

I even found an acronym for it: TEAM – Together Everyone Achieves More.

Some of the quotes are describing what a team is, but here’s one about what a team is not:

“We are not a Team because we work together -- rather we are a team because we respect, trust and care for one another.”

A couple of other TEAM quotes are:

“Individually we are One Drop, But Together we are an Ocean.”

“I’m a part of a team. I’m no better or any worse than any single person on this team. It’s not about me. It has never been all about me. If it had, then this would have been a really lonely journey.”

And that’s true.

Jesus didn’t suffer and die for us to be Lone Ranger Christians.

His Word says “do not give up meeting together” Hebrews 10:25.

Where do meet up --  at church, at homes, virtually everywhere. And that is exactly what we are doing right now -- meeting up, learning from one another, building up one another, encouraging one another and yes praising and worshipping our God.

Jesus Wasn’t a Lone Ranger

When He started His ministry, he called people to follow Him and once they did, Jesus was always with them, except of course when He had to be alone. Even then He wasn’t alone because He was praying to His Father in heaven, and we read that in a few instances angels were ministering to Him.

Jesus Was A Team Builder

Why? One: He had a purpose. Two: He had plan. Three: He trained His replacement.

One of His replacements was Paul, who was according to him, was the chief of sinners or that he was the worse of them -- Paul was.

He was a Pharisee, he saw himself higher than most. He had a one track mind. Initially he didn’t believe in Jesus. In fact he was the chief tormentor of the early followers of Jesus. He hunted them down, he put them in prison and gave his consent to put them to death.

Another of Jesus’ replacements was Peter -- foot in his mouth Peter, meaning he has a foot-in-mouth disease. Meaning, he always managed to say the worse thing at the worse possible time. But how did Jesus turn this man around? Peter when He first preached, 3,000 people were saved.

Paul, after he was converted, wrote 1/3 of the New Testament Bible. And in his lifetime, he preached to and led thousands to Christ. He planted many churches and his letters are still being read today -- to train us, their replacements.

So like in Tag Team Wrestling – we train, and we read and we study God’s Word, and it is like Paul, Peter, Luke, John, Mark, Matthew are tagging us and as they come out, we are jumping in to the wrestling ring and squaring off with the enemy.

Like in football, soccer, basketball, when the coach calls a timeout or when he just calls for substitution, players come out, and we come in as the substitutes.

Team

We are part of the Jesus team. We are His co-workers and His leaders in His church here in Torrance. We are Team New Life Church!

I mentioned that Paul wrote 1/3 of the New Testament Bible and many of them are letter to specific churches back in his time. Let’s read what Paul wrote to the Leaders of the Church in Corinth in the First Century AD.

The Church and Its Leaders

Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ.  I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready.  You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere human beings?

 What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe -- as the Lord has assigned to each his task.  I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.  The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.  1 Corinthians 3:3-9 (NIV)

We are co-workers here in the Church in Torrance. If Paul wrote a letter to us, it would be First Torrancians, or maybe Torrancenians, or Torrancers. And if you will read that part of his letter again, and suppose it was written to us. Then you can see that each one of us have also been assigned a task by the Lord Himself. We are not here by accident.

Somebody plants the seed. Somebody waters it.

And it’s not just that, the more important tasks are those which aren’t all that glamorous. But you could be sure that they are totally rewarding. Paul said, each will be rewarded according to their own labor.

I know Bill and Raul plants the flowers. They water it, sometimes pastor.

But aside from that, there are the people in this church who help people park their cars A few even repairs them, David, we will miss you, David.

There are some who bring our children to the Children’s church.

There are some who teach our precious children, those who sing them lullabies, feed them and yes change their diapers.

There are some who make the coffee, prepare the meals and the snacks, there are some who serve us.

There are some who make sure the seats are aligned, the pens and the envelopes are in their places. There are those who clean up, those who set up the sound system, those who prepare the overhead presentations, those who type up and put up the songs, the announcements, the videos, and the props on the stage.

There are some who prepare the weekly bulletins and the prayer lists. There are those who hand them out. 

There are those who assist people in finding a seat or maintain peace and order.

And there are countless other things to do.

Today, let us pray that our Lord will reveal to each one of us, our own assigned task. Jesus is calling us, he is saying: “Come, follow me.” Are you ready?

Your team is counting on you.

"I prepared this lesson for our Team Retreat August 22, 2015. The bible says be prepared in season and out of season. I may not be able to share this lesson there, but I can sure share it here online."