Randall Cunningham is a pretty good football quarterback, but he doesn’t seem to be as good as when he played for the Minnesota Vikings. Randall is an excellent athlete, but during his years in Philadelphia, he never began to accomplish what he did with the Vikings during the 1998 season. He is now playing for the Cowboys, but I don’t think he will ever get a passing rating even close to the 106 he had a couple of years ago. Why? I think because it is easier to be a great quarterback when you are throwing the ball to Cris Carter and Randy Moss. Having people like Randall McDaniel and Todd Steussie blocking for you on the offensive line also helps. Randall had a great season in 1998 because he was playing on a very good team. Do you believe I said that about those guys in purple? My main point, however, is that it takes a team effort on the football field to make a great quarterback. The other ten members of an offensive unit, plus the rest of the team members, all effect a quarterback’s performance. Someone with average talent can become a good quarterback with a very good team. Someone with outstanding talent will be only a mediocre quarterback if he is on a poor team.
Friends, on Pastor Appreciation Sunday, we need to remember that it takes a team effort in the church as well. As the Senior Pastor, I am kind of the quarterback of this church. Just like in football, it is very difficult to be a good pastor unless you are part of a good church. I think of a number of guys who were my classmates in seminary. They are men who love the Lord and who are very gifted and talented, and yet they struggle as pastors. I said to one discouraged friend, "If you were the pastor of my church in Chisholm, I’m sure you would be doing better in ministry, because this church helps a pastor do a good job." I am blessed to be quarterback of a great team.
On Pastor Appreciation Sunday people say nice things about me. When I was preparing for this sermon, I could not be certain that was going to happen today, but based on previous years, I was pretty sure it would. That makes me a bit uncomfortable. I know God is the One who deserves the glory for any good things that I have done. Without Him, as Jesus said in John 15, I can do nothing. But another reason why I am uncomfortable is that there are so many others who help me do what I do. It takes a team effort at First Baptist Church. I want to make sure my teammates, not just me, receive praise for the good things that happen through my ministry and through the ministry of this church. Most important to me is the person lined up right next to me in the backfield, my wife Nancy. This week I was reminded again of how blessed I am to have her as my life partner. She went out of town to a funeral. The day and a half she was gone made me realize I would get very little work done as a pastor if I had to take charge of running our household and caring for our three sons. There are so many ways that Nancy helps me be a better pastor. Proverbs says that a good wife is worth far more than rubies, and I know that a whole truck-load of rubies would not begin to equal the blessings Nancy brings to my life. There are other team members I depend on as well. One is my secretary, Barb Sjogren. Not only is she extremely good at doing all the secretarial things, but she is committed to seeing this church honor the Lord and has many creative insights about our ministry. There are a number of very good ideas that I have gotten credit for over the years that really were Barb’s suggestions. Then there is Pastor Chris and Roger. I’m not sure how I was able to keep up with things around here before they came on board. Again they are both very committed to seeing this church make a difference in our community for the glory of Christ. Another pastor recently told me how his associate had tried to undermine his ministry, but that is not something I have ever worried about for even a second with Chris and Roger.
And the list goes on. There are all sorts of people at First Baptist Church on whom I depend as part of our team. People serving on boards and committees, Sunday School teachers and Club workers, musicians, choir and Worship Team members, the ushers, the greeters, the women who work in the kitchen, Robert who puts up the church sign, and those who work in the nursery. It would be very challenging for me to preach a sermon if no one was willing to work in the nursery, because Brock would be right up here on the platform competing with me for your attention. Then there are the youth workers in our church. We have three couples (Stolhammers, Corradis, Nelsons) working with our Senior High group, plus Jim and Lois who teach the High School Sunday School class, plus another seven or eight people who work with the Junior High students. There are churches with full-time youth pastors whose student ministry does not begin to match the quality of ours. I am very blessed to serve as the quarterback of this team. This church is being used by the Lord for His glory, and it is a team effort. I really agree with something that one of our members wrote on our web site a couple of weeks ago: It is so nice to see 80% of the people doing the work, instead of 20%, as in most other cases. What a wonderful family this church is to us. So, please don’t ever make the mistake of thinking it is the pastor, or the pastors, who make this church what it is. The key to the success of this congregation’s ministry is a team, a team working together to make a difference for the glory of God.
This theme is the focus of our text today. We are going to explore what the Apostle Paul says about teamwork in 1 Corinthians 12. Next week we will look at what Paul says about spiritual gifts in this chapter, so today we focus on Verses 12-26. Now, you will notice that Paul uses not a football team, but the human body to describe the church. If there would have been football in the 1st Century, I’m sure Paul still would have used the human body, because it is probably a better analogy. Let’s walk through what he says. 12:12 The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. Paul has just talked about the diversity of spiritual gifts within the church. People have different abilities. But he makes it clear that this diversity doesn’t compromise the church’s unity. 12:13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body -- whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free -- and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. We will talk about that verse next week. 12:14-16 Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. Part of his point here is that neither body parts or individual Christians have a choice as to whether or not they are part of the whole. Christians are part of the church, whether they like it or not. 12:17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? I get kind of strange images in my mind as I try to picture that, but Paul intends it to be a bizarre scenario. 12:18-20 But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. Or using my analogy, people playing many different positions, but part of one team. 12:21,22 The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don’t need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don’t need you!" On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,... The pastor may get a lot of credit for things that happen in a church, but the job would never get done without the behind-the-scenes workers. 12:23,24 ...and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given great honor to the parts that lacked it,... It is not just pastors who should be shown appreciation, but also those who do the more ordinary tasks. 12:25 ...so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. Paul then sums things up in 12:26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. And just to make sure we understand he is really talking about Christians, not ears and noses, he adds 12:27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
Friends, there are some important lessons for us in this passage. Even though I think First Baptist Church is an excellent church, these are things we often forget.
1) Every genuine Christian is part of the body of Christ. Remember that was the point Paul made in Verses 15 and 16. I realize there are plenty of folks who don’t want to accept that. People will say, "Oh, yeah, I’m a born-again Christian, but I’m not part of any church." It doesn’t work that way. Every believer is part of the body of Christ and God intends that each one be part of a local congregation. Now, of course, that doesn’t mean that everyone in this community is supposed to be a part of First Baptist Church. In Corinth there was just one Christian church, but here we have a number of them. Whether that is good or bad is a topic for another day. My point is that God desires each Christian to be a part of one of these congregations. Let’s pretend there is a fellow named Joe. He is a sincere Christian; in fact, he reads his Bible and prays every day. Yet, he never goes to church and has no connection with any church. God, however, wants Joe to be going to Grace Church. That is His will. Thus, if the Lord were to list those He considers part of Grace Church, Joe would be on that list. It is very sad that he is not sharing in the fellowship and ministry of that congregation. The church may bear some responsibility for that, as well as Joe, but it is a sin that he is not a functioning member of that part of the body of Christ. To some degree, the church suffers because Joe is not there, and Joe is putting himself at great spiritual risk.
Friends, I am convinced there are Christians in this community who are supposed to be a part of this church but who really have no connection with us. They are like missing body parts. Now, I don’t know who they are, or even how many there are, but the lesson for me is that when I talk to a Christian who is not involved in a church, I need to encourage them to stop trying to be a "Lone Ranger" Christian, because it is very dangerous to one’s soul. I will encourage them to check out our church and see if this is where the Lord wants them to be. First Baptist Church is being hurt if there are parts of the body which are missing, or members of our team who are not even on the sidelines, much less on the field. We all need to remember that every genuine Christian is a part of the body of Christ, part of the church, whether he or she realizes it or not.
2) Every Christian is to be involved in ministry. Earlier I stressed that the ministry of this church is a team effort. I mentioned a lot of different people who make important contributions to our ministry together. Often in a church, 20% of the people do 80% of the work. That doesn’t happen here. We have many different people involved. But, our text reminds us that even if 95% of the people in the church were actively involved in ministry, it would still not be enough. Every single Christian ought to be serving the Lord. The goal is 100% participation. Now, of course, there are many more ways to serve the Lord than I mentioned earlier. I focused on things which are done within the walls of this building, but the ministry of this church is much bigger. A person who visits folks in the hospital or nursing home may not be part of any church program, but if that is how the Lord is calling that individual to serve, he or she is doing their part in the ministry of this church. Everybody has different gifts. Everyone is called to serve in a different way. The pastor, or anyone else, can’t tell you exactly what your part in the ministry is supposed to be. That is between you and God. But, as a pastor I can tell you that you are not supposed to be standing on the sidelines, and I’d be glad to give you ideas on how your gifts might be used in our church’s ministry. It doesn’t matter how old or how young you are, how much education you have or don’t have, if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you are on this team and we need you in the lineup. I don’t care if you are an official member of this church, a regular attendee, or an occasional attendee, if this is the church that the Lord wants you to be a part of, you can’t just sit back and watch. You need to be involved in serving the Lord.
3) The value of every Christian’s ministry should be recognized. Today has been Pastor Appreciation Day. I think Paul would say that is fine, and he would add, but is it really the pastors who need special appreciation? Almost every Sunday someone tells me that something I said in the sermon has helped them. But, I think there are other people serving in this church, maybe serving very faithfully, who have never heard a word of encouragement. We need to look for those folks and encourage them.
I once heard Dr. Bob Smith tell a story that I have never forgotten. Some of you know who Dr. Bob was, a wonderful servant of Christ. He was a guest preacher one Sunday at a little church in a small town in Minnesota. Dr. Bob says that as he walked into the building, he could not help but notice how well-kept and immaculate it was. Dr. Bob preached that day and after the service when almost everyone else had gone, a man came up to shake his hand. The fellow said, "Dr. Bob, my name is George, and I just want to say that was a wonderful message. I would give anything to be able to preach like that. I love the Lord, but I’m not good at speaking and I just don’t know what I can do to serve Him." "Are you involved in this church at all?" Dr. Bob asked. "I’m just the janitor," George replied. "Well, George," Dr. Bob said, "it appears to me you are doing a fine job serving the Lord in that position." Right there Dr. Bob prayed. He said, "Lord, this is Dr. Bob and George. Please help me do a good job at preaching Your Word, and please help George to keep doing a good job keeping this church clean. And please help George to see that there is not any job more important to do than the one You have called him to do." Friends, you can keep having Pastor Appreciation Sundays, but let’s also look for ways to encourage those serving the Lord who seldom, if ever, receive any recognition.
Friends, it takes a team, a good team, a team empowered by God’s Spirit to make a good church. Today I just want to thank you for helping me to be a pastor - a good pastor. Without God’s help I would get nowhere, and without your help I would not get nearly as far, and it wouldn’t be nearly as fun. Thanks!
Go to www.life.1stbaptist.org/sermons.htm for Pastor Dan’s sermon site
