Have you ever considered how important teams, especially successful teams are to life?
I am not just talking about sporting teams.
Think about it for a moment, most of what happens in life requires groups of people, a team, working together to deliver us a product or a service or achieve something.
There is a saying that TEAM stands for– Together everyone achieves more
Nearly all of the major achievements in life, is the result of people working together.
Many people know the name Edmund Hillary. He was the first person to reach the top of Mount Everest. Unfortunately, though many people overlook the fact that Edmund didn’t make this trip alone. There were a considerable number of people that made this trip possible. His Sherpa Tenzing, at one stage of the trip Tenzing saved Edmund’s life and was with Edmund when they reached the top of Mount Everest. The expedition was led by Colonel John Hunt and consisted of a number of other people. Finance for the trip was provided by the Joint Himalayan Committee. Without this team it is unlikely Edmund would have got anywhere near climbing Mount Everest.
The truth is successful teams whether in the workplace, on the sporting filed or in church life are valuable and important. There is something special about successful teams.
Teams that perform well together, especially for a long period of time, have been described as well-oiled machines, running smoothly, efficiently, every part synchronising and doing what it is supposed to do.
And when you analyse the success of a well-oiled team, you soon discover a number of things:
1/ Their success rarely happens overnight. Good Teams need persistence, time and relationships
2/ Their success is not just due to having the competent and good team members, although good team members do help. Their success is the result of a team culture existing, all people who are part of the team working not just for themselves, but each other. And this includes not just those up front who ultimately often get the publicity for any success, but those off the field or in the back room. Top Sporting clubs recognise that for them to be successful they need to have everyone on the same page, not just the players, but the administration, coaching and all support staff and volunteers all working to support success on the field. They need to be working both for the same goals and purposes and with the same plan.
And our Christian life is about being part of a team.
We are all called to be part of God’s team, the body of Christ.
As 1 Corinthians 12 verse 27 says, “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”
And it is important to remember that the leader of our church team is Jesus.
From Colossians chapter 1 verse 18 we hear. “And Jesus is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.”
It therefore should be no surprise that much of the New Testament encourages us to live and work as part of a team.
For instance,
Jesus says, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” From John chapter 13 verse 34 and 35
Therefore, if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Philippians chapter 2 verses 1 and 2.
Think about what being a team means for you as part of our congregation.
The reality is there are various opinions about what is important for us as a congregation.
But ultimately it is about what Jesus wants, which is also what God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit desires which is important.
And there are a few things that help us unpack this
As a congregation who is a member of the Lutheran Church of Australia, what we believe is important to God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is articulated through scripture, and unpacked in our confessions as expressed in the Book of Concord and the document that was put together when the Lutheran Church of Australia was formed, which is called the theses of agreement.
And at a local context following prayer, discussion and study we have also unpacked what we believe is important for God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in Portland and Heywood which is articulated in our Mission and Vision Statements.
So being part of a team, with God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit as the head it is important for us not to ask what would I like, but what do we believe God wants.
Practically it also means that we continually ask not what do I want, but rather what do I believe God is saying which is consistent with scripture, Book of Concord, theses of agreement, our mission statement and vision statements.
This will help us to live and work together as part of God’s team, the church.
But there is a problem for us in being a team
We have this thing called human nature.
Human nature encourages us to think of ourselves
Human nature encourages us not to work and live as a team
Human nature encourages us to live in what is comfortable for us personally, rather than live in ways God wants and in ways that help others know the love of God
So it is important for us to look towards God himself,
for love
for forgiveness
and who God really is, as God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Well probably the first thing to keep in mind is that the teaching of the Trinity is a teaching that emphasises
there are three persons or essences of God but there is only one God.
And these three persons,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit, because they are the one God, work together in harmony, like a beautiful symphony.
They are a unified team.
As the Athanasian Creed states
Nothing in this trinity is before or after,
nothing is greater or smaller;
in their entirety the three persons
are coeternal and coequal with each other..."
The truth is nowhere in scripture do you see a competition between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
The only time I have experienced any sense of competition between God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is when Christians attempt to play one person of God off against another,
or they attempt to say one person of God is more important than another.
Scripture however reveals that they work together.
Two of our readings this morning highlight this
Listen again to Romans 5 verses 1 and 5
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ……….And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
In our salvation and in our understanding of salvation all three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit are at work.
And listen again to John 16:12 to 15
Jesus says “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”
The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are all working together to bring you and me the Gospel, a consistent message of their love for you and me.
But not only this the unity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is our model for how we are to relate and live as a congregation.
So as Christians it is important that we understand our relationship with God is not just through the stories of Jesus, but the whole of scripture
It is important that we see our relationship with God
as having a relationship with God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Now you may be thinking for years I have been trying to understand the Trinity, but I fully don’t understand God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
You are not alone
Most Christians struggle with fully understanding the Trinity
St Augustine once said trying to understand God fully as Trinity is like trying to pour the whole of the ocean into a little bucket, it will never happen.
However, St Augustine went on to say, that shouldn’t stop us from continuing to grow in our relationship with God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
And for me this is one of the beauties of being a Christian, there is always more to discover about God.
Also the truth is as Christians we fully rely on God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
At our baptism we are baptised in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, which is a reminder that we are disciples of not just Jesus, but the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
As Matthew chapter 28 verses 18 to 20 says, Jesus says
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
In following Jesus, we are also following the Father and the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, in following in following God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we are also being shaped by the Triune God.
The effect of this is best articulated by C. Baxter Kruger and Miroslav Volf.
C. Baxter Kruger says
“The doctrine of the Trinity means that relationship, that fellowship, that togetherness and sharing, that self-giving and other-centeredness are not afterthoughts with God, but the deepest truth about the being of God. The Father is not consumed with Himself; He loves the Son and the Spirit. And the Son is not riddled with narcissism; he loves his Father and the Spirit. And the Spirit is not preoccupied with himself and his own glory; the Spirit loves the Father and the Son.
Giving, not taking; other-centeredness, not self-centeredness; sharing, not hoarding are what fire the rockets of God and lie at the very centre of God’s existence as Father, Son and Spirit.”
And Miroslav Volf says
“Because the Christian God is not a lonely God, but rather a communion of three persons, faith leads human beings into the divine communion. One cannot, however, have a self-enclosed communion with the Triune God- a "foursome," as it were-- for the Christian God is not your private deity.
Communion with this God is at once also communion with those others who have entrusted themselves in faith to the same God. Hence one and the same act of faith places a person into a new relationship both with God and with all others who stand in communion with God.”
In other words, as Christians, our life is about being and growing in relationship with God which then means we are also growing in relationship with other believers. We are not just a team that lives, works and encourages each other, but a focus of our lives is in being a Christian community where love for others affects everything we do and who we are.
So let us continue to grow in our relationship with God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the perfect team.
Let us rely on him for the life He has given us now and for the life He gives us for eternity.
And let us allow the love of the Trinity to rub off on us and affect who we are,
so what Jesus says comes true, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Although we are not the perfect team, we can continue to be shaped by the Perfect Team, Father, Son and Holy Spirit
Amen
