Keeping Your Head In The Game

To all of you who read the postings on my blog, thank you.  I have been a bit tardy in “feeding the beast,” but I assure you it’s not from a lack of desire.  The combination of the holidays, preaching and pastoral responsibilities, Conference in Prescott, my mom visiting her firstborn son, have all put the discipline of writing on hold a bit.  My hat is off to those who can preach and pastor full-time, and still write books, articles etc.  But, I’m still IN THE GAME, and will contend for more “scribal momentum!”

Well, the Super Bowl is now over, and either your team won (and you’re happy), or you team lost (and you’re sorry about the outcome).  Perhaps, you’re not that into sports, so you had no favorite team, and the game didn’t impact you one way or another which, of course, is fine. When all is said and done, it’s just a game, and not life or death (try telling this to a die-hard fan). Relax, I don’t want to write about sports, but I do want to talk about a “team.” A team, that in the end, is going to reign as champs for all eternity: The Church!  I’m having to make this local in application, so in the interests of honesty, I must tell you up front that I am completely biased!  By the grace of God, I am privileged to pastor a tremendous church of people, made up of “super saints!”

How this all came about is I was engaged in one of my favorite activities which is “platform watching!”  You won’t find this listed in the events at the Summer Olympics, but it refers to those rare moments when I am on the platform of our church, and there is no one to counsel, no specific task to be done, and I can just watch people!  I enjoy it immensely.  You can see and learn a lot.  Specifically, I can watch the church “operate” with so many people serving in various capacities.  To me, it is a thing of beauty! 

There are a number of way to assess the health of a church, and the standard is not just numerical.  One of the Biblical signs of a healthy church is servanthood.  One of the first and unmistakable signs of the life of God at work in our lives is that we are set apart to serve.  Peter’s mother-in-law has always stood out in my mind as such a simple and powerful illustration of this.  (Mk.1:30,31) “Now Simon's mother-in-law lay ill with a fever, and immediately they told him about her. And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her, and she began to serve them.”  When the Master touched her, and she was healed, immediately she began to serve!  When the Bible speaks of the functioning ministry gifts to the church (apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors/teachers) it spells out their task (Eph.4:12) “Their responsibility is to equip God's people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.” 

Two people stand out in my mind, Biblically, in this regard because they contributed greatly to the health of the church, often in unseen ways.  Tabitha is a Biblical heroine whose life was devoted to small acts of kindness and service. (Acts 9:36) says, “In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which, when translated, is Dorcas), who was always doing good and helping the poor.”  Her impact was so great, and she was loved so dearly, that the church sent a delegation when Peter was nearby; who came and prayed for her and God raised her from the dead!  Her claim to fame was not in preaching great sermons or evangelizing vast multitudes.  She just did what she could for the Lord.  Someone wrote, “The little things we do are bigger than the great things we do; and how wonderful to learn the importance of the sacred ordinary.”  The other one that stands out is the “household of Stephanas” who were some of the early converts in that region and who really set the pace for the whole church!  “Now I urge you, brothers —you know that the household of Stephanas were the first converts in Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves (KJV), “addicted themselves” to the service of the saints— be subject to such as these, and to every fellow worker and laborer.” The Holy Spirit makes the point that these are the kind of people we need to model our lives after and follow.

One of the reasons these kind of people and this spirit is so refreshing is that it runs counter to the spirit of our age: a pre-occupation with self.   Just think about the names that are part of our world: YouTube, MySpace, and the I’s - iPod, iTunes, iMac, iPhone and iPad.  It pretty much sums up the theme of our day: “it’s all about me.”  Tom Wolfe labeled the 1970's as the “Me Decade” and I’ve got to think we’ve carried this to new heights.  Paul said in the last days, “people will love only themselves,” they will be utterly self-absorbed.  There is a word for this mentality, and it’s called narcissism.  In Greek mythology, Narcissus is the character who, upon passing his reflection in the water, becomes so enamored with himself that he devotes the rest of his life to his own reflection.  This classic “I, me, mine” mentality places personal pleasure and fulfillment at the forefront of our concerns.  Historian Christopher Lasch labeled ours as “the culture of narcissism” equating it with the new religion.  Tragically, that spirit has permeated our culture’s thinking and the church is not exempt!  Just listen to some of the following statements:

In the kingdom of God there is no higher calling than servants.  Remember God’s promise, “I will pour out of My Spirit upon My servants.” “My servants” is the word “doulos” translated servant or slave, and it is the term used most often to describe the relationship between God and the believer.  Jesus made this pointedly clear when He said, “It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."  (Matt.20:26-28).  The master key of servanthood is what unlocks the blessing, power and destiny of God in our lives.  When you read the story of Joseph, you read about a young man whose world was turned upside down.  He was betrayed by his own brothers and sold into slavery, being forced to relocate to another country, cut off from the people and surroundings he loved.  Joseph was forced to cope with new and unwanted circumstances.  How easy it would have been for him to turn aside, and become bitter and side-tracked from God’s purpose.  Today, I’m sure they would’ve labeled him as having some kind of “disorder” and tried medicating him.  So, what was it that kept him?  How did he survive and persevere, making him an overcomer?  The answer was the grace and favor of God, but coupled with the master key of service.  The refrain in Joseph’s life throughout, no matter what circumstance he was in, was “the Lord was with him.”  The key response and posture that he adopted in whatever circumstance was service.  In the house of Potiphar as a slave, (Gen.39:4) “So Joseph found favor in his sight, and served him.”  When he resisted temptation and is falsely accused and imprisoned, he served the jailer.  When deliverance finally came, and promoted, he served the nation.  In the final scene of his life (Gen.45:7,8) we see Joseph serving his family.  Through all of this, God was able to preserve and promote Joseph because he had the heart of a servant! 

When you have people gripped by this motivation, then you have the makings of a super team! The good news today is that there is plenty of room on God’s team for you! You don’t have to worry about not being drafted, or being cut, or suffer the humiliation of being the person picked last for a certain team.  No, no, you find yourself on the winning team!  How does the old song made famous by Louis Armstrong go: