Today we are continuing on in our series called “Attender or Belonger?” In this series we have been looking at the benefits of belonging to a church family. So far we have learned that belonging helps us face life’s problems – we don’t have to do life alone. Belonging helps us focus on God both in our personal worship and in our corporate worship. Belonging helps us fulfill our life mission which to share the Good News of salvation to everyone who comes across our path. Belonging helps us fortify our faith – it helps strengthen our faith as we allow other people to come alongside of us and help us grow.
Today, as we conclude this series, we are going to learn that belonging helps us find our ministry. his may come as a surprise to some but we weren’t put on earth just to take up space. God expects us to give something back. He expects us to make a contribution with our life. He gave us certain abilities, talents, gifts, background that He expects us to use to help other people. But doesn’t expect us to do this alone. He has given us a team of people (our church family) to work alongside of us and to help us minister to the people around us. God says, “I want to use you in ways you’ve never expected, but I want to do it in relationship to other people. I want you to be on a team. I want you to be in a group together, and I want you to serve with others.”
I love the concept of a team and the images that come to mind with that word. But what is a team? When you think of a team . . . probably the first thing that comes to mind is a sports team who is made of many players on the same side and who work together to win a game. A definition of a team is: (1) a group on the same side and (2) a group organized to work together. This definition can be applied to our church family: a group on the same side and a group organized to work together. Our church family is a team!
The fact is WE GET MORE DONE together. We all know this. This is not news. Teamwork multiplies effort. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes chapter 4 verse 9, “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work.” One person can only get so much done. We get more done together.
Maybe you have some fond memories of being on some team. Maybe it was a sports team or a choir or a chess club or something else. And you can probably think about some team that you really enjoyed working on a goal or a project or a desire or an ambition, and that made you feel fully alive. Why? Because on a team, you get closer, you get more done and you have more fun. Serving together in a group will draw people closer than anything else. Doing something together draws us closer.
This morning our theme passage for this message is going to be Ephesians 2:19-22. These verses say:
“Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.”
Verse 21 says that we are joined together, that means, closely jointed together; organized; to be fitly framed together. We are a team! This morning I want to use the word “TEAM” as an acronym. Our acronym for the word “Team” is Together Everyone Accomplishes Ministry. So, let’s talk about T.E.A.M. life.
Let’s begin by looking at the “together” aspect of T.E.A.M. life. This is talking about a unified life. God desires that we be unified. Snowflakes are one of nature’s most fragile things, but just look at what they can do when they stick together. And it’s the same when we are unified together as a team! There are times when a sports team plays poorly (out of sync) and someone says, “They just couldn’t get it together.” It is said that a successful team works together toward a common goal. As God’s TEAM working together there has to be desire and determination to help us reach our goal.
So, what should our desire be? Our desire should be to be unified in our passion and in our purpose. What is our passion as followers of Christ? Jesus said in Matthew 22:37-40
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Our passion consists of two things: loving God and a loving people. Without this passion we will not be able to effectively serve others because our motivations will be wrong. Our service for others should come out of a love for God and a love for others. This should be our desire as followers of Christ.
We also need to be unified in our purpose. What is our purpose? Jesus told us in Matthew 28:19-20
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Our purpose is to make disciples! Our purpose as followers of Christ is to make followers of Christ! We do this by winning people to Christ, building them up in their faith and then equipping them to reproduce this process with their friends! So, in order to be a team we need to be unified in passion and purpose!
Now let’s look at the “everyone” aspect of T.E.A.M. life. In the world of sports when a player hits a home run, runs for a touchdown, or scores a goal to win the game . . . I like to hear them say, “It was a team effort.” Why? Because out in the field were 8, 10 or 4 other players on the team and it took every team player to win. We need a growing sense of “needing” everyone. The need for everyone is a vitally important concept to a team. It is said that a team develops its member’s skills by efficiently using its time and talents while embracing the diversity of each member. God never intended that ministry was going to be a one-person show!
Let’s look at some verses that talk about this. First, turn in your bibles to 1 Corinthians 12:12-31. I am not going to read this whole section. I only want to highlight a few verses. Verse 12 tells us that the body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts. According to verse 18 we see that it is God who has given us our various functions. Verse 22 tells us that no parts of the body are dispensable. Verse 25 tells us that God’s desire for the body if for it to be unified. Verse 26 states that we are all inter-related to one another. Verse 27 tells us that each one of us is a part of the body of Christ.
Ephesians 4:16 tells us:
“From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”
According to this verse, the body grows as each part does its work. All believers are part of the church team!
Ephesians 2:10 says:
“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
The Bible says here we are God’s workmanship or masterpiece. The Greek word for “workmanship” is the word “poiema.” It’s the word we get “poem” from. In God’s eyes you’re a work of art. You’re one of a kind. There’s nobody else like you. If you don’t be you, nobody’s going to take your place. You would be missed. You’re the part of the jig saw puzzle that would be missing. You are a masterpiece. There’s nobody else like you.
God made you. The Bible says He designed you. Regardless of the circumstances of your birth, He knew the two people who would have just the right gene mixture that would make you. He wanted you on this earth for a purpose, for a ministry. Then He says, “I want you to make your life count.” Everyone has a part to play in the church!
Now, let’s look at the “accomplishes” aspect of T.E.A.M. life. Every team wants to accomplish what it is purposed to do. In other words a team stays on task. A team uses its resources wisely and communicates openly. In order to accomplish something we need a strategy, right? I am sure that none of us here would try to build something without first having a plan. We are in the middle of a building project right now. We didn’t just start by randomly doing things. No, we had to have a plan and we needed to follow the plan. Imagine if we didn’t what we would end up with.
Unfortunately, it seems as churches in general we feel that we don’t need a plan in order to accomplish anything. We need to understand the importance of vision and setting direction. Here are some quotes on vision:
“The saddest thing in the world is people who can see but have no vision.” – Helen Keller.
“Give us clear vision that we may know where to stand and what to stand for; for unless we stand for something, we shall fall for anything” – Peter Marshall
“Few words are bandied about and misunderstood as much as the word vision. For some people it means jotting down a few lofty goals once a year and then tossing the piece of paper in a desk drawer. For others, it connotes a mystical experience that transcends everyday experience. Both miss the mark. A vision is a guiding light to live by, 365 days a year. It is the reason you go to work and the reason your organization exists. A real vision gets tucked away in the mind, not the drawer; it shapes every thought and decision. At the same time, a vision is a spiritual statement of one’s relation to God and the rest of humanity. It is this very quality that makes it so relevant to our day-to-day experience; a true vision is a blueprint for daily action.” – K. Blanchard “Vision Driven Leadership”
Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Vision provides a sense of direction to life, a sense of discipline to life and a sense of dynamic to life.
Without vision:
- We can become passive
- It is impossible to do any real evaluation
- We can also fall into the trap of doing something just for the sake of doing something – it is difficult to state why we are doing this or why we are not
- We lose leaders because they are not challenged
- It becomes easy to settle into maintaining a ministry rather than developing a ministry
- It is easy not to plan ahead and the emphasis becomes upon activity rather than output.
These are issues that as individuals and as a church that we need to wrestle through as we seek to accomplish ministry.
As a church we have a mission and vision that we seek to live by. Our Mission statement is this:
Port Hardy Baptist Church exists and is dedicated to be a caring community where people can find love, acceptance, help, guidance, encouragement and, above all, HOPE in and FORGIVENESS through Christ.
Our vision statement is this:
To achieve this, PHBC will minister to the spiritual, emotional, physical and social needs of our church and our community by:
- Supporting and building healthy marriages, families and relationships.
- Having an emotional support ministry to connect people with the appropriate resources within our church and/or community
- Developing people’s spiritual growth while continuing to support mission work around the world.
To enable the fulfillment of this vision statement, PHBC will develop a comprehensive strategic plan to be implemented over a five year time frame.
Everything we do should reflect our mission and our vision. God has given our church a unique ministry for Port Hardy and we need to be doing everything we can to accomplish it!
Finally, let’s look at the ministry aspect of T.E.A.M. life. What is ministry? I think a lot of times we try to make this more complicated than it needs to be. God did not put us on earth to live a self-centered life. He put us on earth to make a difference. He wants us to make a contribution with our life. He wants us to give something back. Whenever we use our talents, our abilities, our background, our experience, our time, our energy to help somebody else and we do it in God’s name; the Bible has a word for that. It’s called ‘ministry.’ And contrary to popular opinion, everybody is a minister. Everybody is to serve using the abilities that they’ve got.
Psalm 139:13-16 says:
“13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, 16 your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”
God knows that each one of us is unique. There are also many different jobs that need to be done in order for the work of the kingdom to get done. One of the greatest frustrations a person can have in trying to serve God is to be pushed into an area of service that we feel that we cannot do. Now I do not want people to use this for an excuse for not reaching out to people or trying to stretch themselves. We are to all witness to people, although we will all do it a little different.
As you look around us, you will notice that each of us has a different shape. Did you know that your ministry or area a service should be determined by your SHAPE? Rick Warren uses the word SHAPE as an acronym for:
- Spiritual Gifts (How God has gifted me)
- Heart (passion) What do I love to do?
- Abilities (What natural talents do I have?)
- Personality (Where does my personality best suit me to serve?)
- Experience (What experiences have I had?): Education, Vocational, Spiritual, and Ministry. (how you have served in the past), Painful (What problems, hurts and trials have you learned from)
We are all different because God made us that way. Your personality will affect how you use your spiritual gifts; your passion will affect what you place as important. Too many times we go about things backwards. We feel that since we do not know what we are gifted in, we do nothing. We think that we can take a test to find out what our SHAPE really is. The best way to find out where your gifts, talents and heart is, is to serve in many different areas and from that you will settle into what you are good at. Find your ministry and do it. Then you’ll be saying, “This is what I’m here for.” You see your value. As a Christian you were made for ministry.
It is only as we work together as a team that we will be successful. Unity is essential in being a winning team. We need to be unified in our passion and in our purpose. We need to have an “everyone is needed” approach to ministry. Every member of the body is essential to the successful working of the team. We need to be focussed and directed in order to be a successful team. We need to plan and have direction and vision. Finally we need to be making a contribution with our lives. We need to be serving others. As Christians, we get the privilege of being God’s hands and feet here on earth! Let’s remember that together everyone accomplishes ministry!
