Free Wisdom: Teamwork
Now in this blog, the main teaching I want to talk about is God-given wisdom about teamwork. Teamwork and unity in any type of team,not just sports related teams. Families are a team, churches are a team, countries are a team, the whole wide world should look at themselves as a team so that we can work in unity and in peace.
At this moment we will read 1 Corinthians 12:12-30 and after I’m going to write about the little wisdoms God showed me through this passage that He wants me to share with you all.
One Body with Many Members
“For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body — Jews or Greeks, slaves or free — and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as He chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.
The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you,” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.
Now you the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?
Now I’m going to divide this passage into six different parts and share five main points on how to properly work as a team and live in unity.
The first point that God gives us as we read from verses 12-13 is:
Recognize from the beginning we are ALL one body.
We are all one body. The first thing we should do is have the mentality that we are all one in unity. We are all one team, one squad, one family, one church, one community, one country, one world. We are all one body in Christ. Whether we look different or come from different background, “Jews or Greeks, slaves or free,” we are all one body.
The second point that God gives in verses 14-16 is:
Accept yourself as God made you.
When the verses speaks about the foot it says, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body.” Two big mistakes were made in that statement by the foot that we need to correct in ourselves.
1. We shouldn’t speak negativity into our lives.
“Because I am not” and “I don’t belong” are statements that we need to correct and rephrase. We are going to learn more about that in the next point.
2. We need to stop comparing ourselves with others.
“Because I am not a hand…,” or “Because I am not an eye…“
How many honestly have done that?
“Because I don’t have an Associates Degree I don’t belong here.”
“Because I don’t speak in tongues I don’t belong here.”
“Because I don’t look like that other person I don’t belong here.”
“Because I don’t come from a privileged family I don’t belong here.”
And so on. We need to stop comparing and accept ourselves not only as we are, but as God made us.
I want you all now to go back to your Bible and read 1 Corinthians 7:17-24, where God has called us to ‘Live as You Are Called’.
After you all done reading those verses there’s one particular verse I want you all to highlight. Verse nineteen says: “For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God.” Meaning it doesn’t matter how you are! Accept yourself as God made you! It doesn’t matter the differences you and another person might have as long as we are keeping the commandments of God! Accept yourself as God made you!
Now, on to point number three! It is in verses 17-20:
Value yourself. You are important.
Now, God is not just saying that we need to accept ourselves, but also to value ourselves. Because we all are made different, we all bring something different that other people won’t be able to. Different ideas, different opinions, different experiences, different skills. We need to be aware of all that and value that in ourselves. Verse seventeen: “If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell“. Let’s think of a cruise ship. In order to run a cruise ship successfully you need a captain to steer the ship, you need a host that will be charge of accommodating the passengers, and you also need an engineer to take care of all the mechanical aspects and the ship’s engine. So if the entire ship were a captain, where would be the sense of accommodating it’s passengers? And if the entire ship were a host where would be the sense of the engine running properly? We all bring different skill sets and thinking into this world. We need to each individually value our own skill set and thinking.
Now to value ourselves, let’s rephrase that sentence in which we spoke negativity into ourselves and turn it into positivity. I want you all to read this next sentence out loud.
Because I am __(your name)__ I do belong here!
The fourth point God wants to give us can be found in verses 21-24:
Value other people in your life as yourself.
We need to recognize the value that other people bring into our life. We need to recognize that without the skill sets and the ideas of other people we won’t make it as far. We can’t go around our teammates, coworkers, or squad mates thinking or saying “I have no need of you.“
At this moment I’m going bring a sport team example. Let’s talk about what is considered the greatest basketball player thus far and his team. The Chicago Bulls reigned during the 1990s unlike any other team. Was it all because of one player? No. Don’t get me wrong, having a fantastic player helps but one player won’t be able to do all the assists, all the rebounds, or all the blocks. Each position in the basketball game has a specific task and skill set that will compliment each other. Despite how egotistic and selfish Michael Jordan might sounds at times, he knows that without trusting and valuing his teammates he wouldn’t have made it as far as he has, especially in the championship stats.
The fifth and final point that God gives us is in the verses 25-26:
Check and deeply care for one another. Be intentional with each of your teammates.
“But that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together.” The moment one member is not feeling 100% well to perform, it will change the team dynamic and will cause the team to not perform to it’s maximum potential. We need to care for and check up on each of our teammates in all levels. How are they doing physically? How are they doing emotionally? How are they doing spiritually? If something is wrong in any of these it will cause their mind to be elsewhere rather than on their task. Forcing someone else to do the job that is not required of them. I’m going to use the human body, particularly the muscles, as an example of this. Each of the muscles we have has a unique job to do. If one of them gets injured it will affect all muscles around it. One muscle will try to compensate the injured muscle which in turn will make it do double the work and eventually causing that compensating muscle to get injured as well. Then another muscle tries to do the same thing and it all becomes a falling dominoes effect affecting the team as a whole.
The next verses which are 27-30 God wants you to ask yourself and realize realities.
“Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?” So we need to ask ourselves can each individual do it all? Do we all possess beautiful singing voices? Personally I could verify you that I don’t. Do we all understand physics? Can we all do 50 pull-ups? Reality is not ALL of us do, but is alright for God All Mighty made us each individual as we are and we all bring important skills and assets to our team, squad, churches, communities, and world.
Resuming the five main points God wants you to know to work properly together:
1.Recognize from the beginning we are ALL one body
2. Accept yourself as God made you.
3. Value yourself. You are important.
4. Value other people in your life as yourself.
5. Check and deeply care for one another. Be intentional with each of your teammates.
