Teamwork is a vital part of life in the body of Christ. God’s work involves many different individuals with a variety of gifts, talents and abilities. There are no superstars in this task, only team members performing their own unique roles. We can only become useful members of God’s team if we are prepared to set aside any desire to receive glory for what we do. We should never seek or encourage the praise that comes from people. The praise of men is always short lived and of no real or lasting value. Instead, we should always seek approval from God.

TEAMWORK REQUIRES EVERYONE’S CONTRIBUTION:

God has given His church an enormous responsibility, to make disciples in every nation (Matthew 28:18-20). This involves preaching, teaching, healing, nurturing, giving, administering, building and many other tasks. If we had to fulfil this command as individuals, we may as well give up without even trying, it would be impossible. But God calls us as members of His body. Some of us can do one task; some can do another. Together we can serve God more fully than any one of us could ever do alone. It is a human tendency to overestimate what we can do individually and to underestimate what we can do as a team! As the body of Christ, we can accomplish more together than we would ever dream possible, working alone. Working together, the church can express the fullness of Christ.

Then I said to them, "You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace." I also told them about the gracious hand of my God upon me and what the king had said to me. They replied, "Let us start rebuilding." So they began this good work (Nehemiah 2:17-18). Nehemiah had a vision, he shared it with enthusiasm, inspiring Jerusalem’s leaders to rebuild the walls. He took the time to make sure his vision was clear and compelling. The spark of his vision ignited the people he gathered around him.

We frequently underestimate people and don’t challenge them with our dreams for God’s work in the world. When God plants an idea in your mind to accomplish something for him, share it with others and trust the Holy Spirit to impress them with similar thoughts. Don’t regard yourself as the only one through whom God is working.  Often God uses one person to express the vision and others to turn it into reality. When you encourage and inspire others, you put teamwork into action to accomplish God’s goals.

TEAMWORK MAKES OUR OWN EFFORTS GO MUCH FURTHER:

As you come to him, the living Stone--rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him. You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says: "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame”. Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, "The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone".  (1 Pet 2:4-7)

Peter portrays the church as a living, spiritual house, with Christ as the foundation and cornerstone and each believer as a stone. Paul portrays the church as a body, with Christ as the head and each believer as a member (see, for example, Ephesians 4:15-16). Both pictures emphasize community. One stone is not a building or even a wall; one body part is useless without the others. In our individualistic society, it is easy to forget our interdependence with other Christians. When God calls you to a task, remember that He is also calling others to work with you. Together our individual efforts will be multiplied, so that collectively we can allow Jesus to build a beautiful house. A house where He would feel comfortable and if He is comfortable He will remain.

TEAMWORK IS THE OVERFLOW OF GOD’S LOVE REFLECTED IN OUR LOVE FOR EACH OTHER:

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:  Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:3-8).

Many people, even Christians, live only to make a good impression on others or to please themselves, but selfishness brings discord. Paul therefore stressed spiritual unity, asking the Philippians to love one another and to be one, in spirit and purpose. When we work together, caring for the problems of others as if they were our problems, we demonstrate Christ’s example of putting others first, and we experience unity. We should never be so concerned about making a good impression, or meeting our own needs that we strain relationships in God’s family.

UNITY DESTROYS THE ENEMIES PLANS:

His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord (Eph 3:10-11). 

Paul is saying, in this scripture, that through the church God displays His wisdom. He first shows His plan to the various orders of good angels, to which they respond joyfully, secondly He shows His wisdom to the evil angels, who then understand their hopelessness. God in revealing these secret things is displaying the unity of His church, against which the gates of hell can not prevail. The church, though seen by many as a collection of single Christians doing singular acts, is in the purposes of God, a unified whole complete in the fullness of Christ.

W. Joe Ingram

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