I wanted to continue and further expound on the “team” concept from yesterday. Today, we want to look at the purpose of the team. Yesterday, I wrote that a football team is made up of offense, defense, and special teams. Each specializes in their area, but their part is not greater than the whole. Each aspect of the game is needed if you are going to be successful in scoring more points than your opponent. So how does this work on God’s team?
In professional sports there is something called free agency. Free agency is where a player is let go by his team either by cutting him from the team or not signing him to a new contract. Either way, the player is then free to go and sign with whatever team he desires to. With the creation of free agency came a lot of change to teams. The reality in this, the guys on your favorite team today will most likely not be there in five years. And this definitely has its drawbacks, but it can also be beneficial to a team and player as well. In football each coach whether offense or defense has their own scheme. It is the philosophy they use and the plays they create to score or keep the other team from scoring. If a new coach was hired and he had a different philosophy than his predecessor and it meant that you didn’t get to play as much, would you want to stay on that team? Or let’s say you were a coach and you noticed that someone on your team simply couldn’t execute the plays you called, would you want to keep them on your team? So free agency allows players and teams to obtain the best players for their philosophy or system.
In God’s philosophy sometimes He moves people whether it be through death, moving to a new town, moving to a new church, or simply moving to a new assignment within the church. Now I will admit it can be difficult when God moves you or changes your assignment. But we must realize that God is the owner and general manager of this team, and He is going to put His people where they can succeed in fulfilling His purpose. Ephesians 4:16 says, “From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.” Notice, God puts people exactly where He wants them, and when they use their God-given gifts for His service, the body is built up (edified). So I challenge us all to see new people coming in or a change in assignment as a blessing from God, because He is putting you and I in the best position to fulfill His purpose which as stated in Luke 19:10 is, “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
Lord willing, we will talk about why “free agency” in the church is necessary. If the blog helps you or you just have a general comment, question, or critique, I encourage you to leave your comment here or you can reach WBC on Facebook or Twitter.
By His grace and through His strength may we live for Him!