Football or Golf? Part 4

Today I want to examine the players (church members) and their roles within the team (the church).  I remember growing up and playing baseball.  I would many times play catcher or shortstop for the first three innings and the pitch the second three innings or vice versa.  As I grew up, I played anywhere from pitcher to catcher to shortstop to third base to even first base.  But as I got to high school I had a decision to make, what position would I concentrate on?  I needed to make that decision because playing so many positions, I could never excel at any of them because my time was divided.  In football there are those rare guys like Deion Sanders who would play “both ways” (offense and defense).  Don’t get me wrong “Prime Time” as Deion Sanders was known was good on either side, but I think he could have been great by concentrating on one side of the ball.  But this isn’t about Deion Sanders and where he should have played.  The point is we as Christians need to realize that God has given us a spiritual gift that He expects us to not only use, but also to grow and nurture.  If I wanted to be the best pitcher I could be, I needed to give up the other positions I enjoyed playing so I could become a student of pitching, work on my skills, and improve my overall performance as a pitcher.  Ephesians 4:11 says, “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers.”  Notice the word “some” in this verse.  In other places in the New Testament, Paul talks about the diversity of gifts.  The point is, we are not to try to do everything in the church ourselves.  Rather we need to concentrate on where God has gifted us and use our gift, study our gift, learn how others use that gift in other churches and ministries to glorify God.  When we simply concentrate on the area of service God has called us to and gifted us in, the entire church operates better, and you become stronger in your faith because you are doing what God created you to do.  One problem with trying to do more than God has called you to do is pride.  When you do a lot of things within the church, it is easy to fall into the mentality of “they need more, or this church won’t survive if I leave.”  The truth is God didn’t and doesn’t need you, He desires to use you.  Our pride leads us to look around at others and judge them because they are not doing as much or as good of a job as we are.  In all honesty that is probably because we won’t let them and because we haven’t trained them which is what Ephesians 4:12 tells us we are to do.  Another problem with doing more than what God has called us to is the issue of  burnout.  As a pastor I read articles almost everyday where pastors are walking away from ministry because they are burnout, or that the current volunteer force is getting burnout and walking away from ministry in the church.  Reading those articles always brings me back to the question of “why is this happening?”  And while it probably isn’t the only reason, part of it has to be that we are taking on more responsibility than God gave us.  So the answer to this is to be laser-focused as Christians and churches and do what God has called us to and equipped us for, nothing more and nothing less.

By His grace and through His strength may we live for Him!