Teamwork

It is high school football playoff time in Texas, and that means the opportunity to see football as it was meant to be played. But at a recent game, the scene I witnessed among parents was reminiscent of many churches.

The fans (parents) in the stands appeared to be rivals. Some were there to root for the football team.

Others applauded the band. Still others cheered the drill team. And all without regard to the other teams. In fact, just as many football parents rudely went below the stands to the concessions during the band performance, many band parents showed up a few minutes before halftime, watched the band, then left. There was no camaraderie among these separate groups; it was instead a spirit of "What's in it for me?"

How is this like some churches? Often, churches get caught up in hierarchies. In other words, some will say of most any collective church activity, "Let the elders do it. That's their job." Others will want the deacons to handle things. Some, because they are not teaching a bible class, refuse to do whatever else might be needed, such as mowing the lawn. Others want to lead singing, and since they don't get to do so often enough to suit them, they refuse to lead prayer.

On the opposite end of this, some elders will be so controlling as to refuse to let others take proper roles in the church. And some deacons, who are merely servants, decide they have a position of honor, and look down on "regular members." And some preachers are happy to show their oratory skills, but don't ask them to pick up a paint brush.

Paul discussed this very kind of church in 1 Corinthians 12, and he deals with both sides of the issue. He reminds them that the church is a body, made up of many members (v. 14), then addresses the problem of those who failed to recognize the importance of their roles. "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?" (vv. 15-19).

The point is, we should not dismiss our talents just because they don't measure up, in our minds, to someone else's. In the final day, God will look favorably on all who truly worked for Him, even those who may not have ever gotten credit from their fellow Christians. If you are a foot, be the best foot you can be, and stop lamenting that you are not a hand. Hands, for all their dexterity, go nowhere without the feet to carry them. Sometimes, in the dark, eyes are useless, while ears may detect something and keep the whole body from harm. All Christians have a responsibility to do their part to keep the body moving and healthy.

Paul follows this by discussing the second part of our problem. "And the eye cannot say to the hand, 'I have no need of you'; or again the head to the feet, 'I have no need of you.' On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary; and those members of the body, which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our unseemly members come to have more abundant seemliness, whereas our seemly members have no need of it. But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked, that there should be no division in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another" (vv. 21-25).

Again, the point is clear: those who have more public honor have no right to look down upon the contributions of others. God honors those who serve Him, and that honor is given to the less public as well.

We are a team. When the team does well, we all do well. When the team is divided, we fail miserably.