Serve Others on a Team

Today we’re going to talk about the step in our spiritual growth process called — Serve on a Team.

I want to talk today about coming out of the stands and getting into the game.

For any Chicago Cubs fan, you’ll remember that on October 14th 2003, Steve Bartman made history in Major League baseball.

Mark Prior was pitching a three-hit shutout for the Cubs. Luis Castillo was batting with one out and a man on second base.

The Cubs were leading the game three to nothing. They were leading the series three games to two.

They were five outs away from reaching the World Series for the first time since 1945; and possibly winning it for the first time since 1908.

Bartman was sitting in a seat in the front row along the left field corner, when Castillo hit a foul ball that was headed toward his seat.

Cubs left fielder was in position to make the catch, but Bartman, who was watching the ball and not the fielder, blocked the ball from his glove.

The left fielder slammed his glove down in frustration, and the Cubs argued for an interference call but didn’t get it.

Following this incident, the Cubs’ concentration was completely broken, evidenced by the events that followed.

Castillo was given new life, and he drew a walk. Ball four was a wild pitch from Cubs pitcher, which allowed the runner on second to advance to third base.

The next batter got a single to drive in the first run of the inning, making the score 3-1.

The next batter hit a ground ball to the short stop, who fumbled the ball. Had he fielded the ball properly, the Cubs could have ended the inning with a double play.

The next batter doubled to tie the game.

The next batter was intentional walked.

The next batter hit a sacrifice fly to give Florida a 4-3 lead.

Another intentional walk loaded the bases, followed by a bases-clearing double which made the score 7-3.

The next batter singled to put Florida ahead 8-3.

Finally Luis Castillo, whose foul ball to Bartman started the controversy, popped up to the second baseman.

The Marlins sent twelve batters to the plate in the eighth inning and scored eight runs.
Florida won the game 8-3.

The next night, Florida beat the Cubs 9-6 to win the pennant.

The Marlins would go on to win the 2003 World Series, beating the New York Yankees four games to two.

After the season was over, the Cubs issued the following press release:

“The Chicago Cubs would like to thank our fans for their tremendous outpouring of support this year. We are very grateful.

“We would also like to remind everyone that games are decided by what happens on the playing field — not in the stands.”

The game is decided by what happens on the playing field.
The game is in the hands of the players.
Their gifts are the gifts that matter.
They’re the ones that get written about and interviewed.
They make the highlights on Sportscenter.

Spectators just watch.

The gifts of the spectators don’t matter to the game. No one says, “I think you could be a tremendous spectator one day. If you just start by rooting for a minor league team, one day you could be a professional spectator.”

Spectators just watch.

Now, we live in a society where 9 people are on the field in desperate need of rest and 30,000 people are in the stands in desperate need of exercise.

We need to get out of the stands!

And in churches all over the world, among every generation, there’s a fundamental and tragic misperception about the people of God.

In the minds of so many, the people of God get divided up into two categories. Pastors or priests or ministers are one category — they’re the players; lay people are the other category — they’re the spectators.

But that’s not God’s will for his people.

Every once in a while someone wakes up and says, “I’m leaving the stands. I’m going down to the field. I’m getting in the game.”

And for some of you, today’s your day. It’s going to happen today!

So, I want to talk today about leaving the stands — getting out of the spectator business and serving on a team.

You know how some messages are uplifting and filled with hope, and you’re so glad you were there for them, and you walk away with a sense of peace and hope? You know how some messages are just that way?

Well, just to let you know up front, this is not one of those messages.

When Jesus taught on this subject, He would get right into people’s faces. He would say, “If you want to follow me, then you will have to become a servant like me.”

People would have to decide, “Do I really want to follow this man or not?”

So this is a very simple message.

I want to talk about why we need to serve on a team, and about why serving really is, as Jesus said it was, the best life possible.

And about what you will miss it if you spend your whole life as a spectator.

There are certain joys people know only when they get in the game — when they serve on a team. And we’re going to look at several of those today.

The first of those joys is this:

Only when I serve on a team can I know the joy of growing and developing the gift God has given me.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12:

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.

Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. (1 Corinthians 12:4-7)

The idea here is that when you choose to become a follower of Jesus, the Holy Spirit takes up residence inside of you.

You have certain abilities and strengths and motivations that God has hard-wired into you, and the Holy Spirit activates and energizes those in a miraculous way so that you can serve other people… to build up the church.

I say this because one of the most common reasons people give for not serving is, “I’m just not qualified. I don’t think there’s anything special I can do. I’m not a spiritual giant.”

Have you ever read about the kind of people God used in the Bible?

Rick Warren writes about this.

I’ve modified his list, but these are actual people God used in the Bible:

Abraham… was on Medicare.
Moses… had a speech impediment.
Joseph… was an ex-con.
Rahab had a history of sexual misbehavior.
David was a homicidal adulterer.
Elijah was bi-polar — he outran a chariot for miles one day, and he was suicidal the next.
John the Baptist ate bugs.
Thomas doubted.
Gideon panicked.
Martha obsessed over housekeeping and food preparation. (That’s Martha in the Bible, not Martha Stewart.)
Jonah was directionally challenged.
Samson was relationally challenged.
Zacchaeus was vertically challenged… and integrity challenged… and worked for the IRS so no one really liked him.
Jeremiah said he was too young.
Sarah said she was too old.
Paul was not necessarily an example in the tact department.
And Peter was a poster boy for spiritual Attention Deficit Disorder.

These are the people through whom God changed the world.

So here’s the question…

What’s your excuse? What’s my excuse? Anyone in the Bible could have said “No” to serving because they felt inadequate.

Think what they would have missed!

I love what Eugene Peterson wrote:

A ruthless honesty will always leave us shattered by our inadequacy for God’s work, but this is not about what you or I can do. — Eugene Peterson

The Apostle Paul keeps coming back to God in 1 Corinthians 12, “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same spirit; different kinds of service, but the same Lord; different kinds of working, but the same God.”

This is about what Jesus can do through us. This is why the idea of spiritual gifts is so important.

A lot of people don’t understand this about the church: God’s plan was not for the church to be one more volunteer organization where people serve out of manipulation or pressure or guilt or because they get nagged into it.

I get concerned for people who are already time-crunched.

We live in a very time-pressured part of the world, and then you end up volunteering your time for some association or organization or league where it’s not your passion, and it’s not your giftedness.

You do it because someone nagged you or pressured you into doing it. Then you have no time, or energy, or space to serve where God is calling you to serve.

Please don’t do that with your one and only life.

God created the church, and then God created spiritual gifts… this amazing idea!

He gives them to every follower of Christ, and that includes you and me. He says this is His plan for growing his church. Everyone has a part to play.

God’s plan for the church is that it be led by leaders, taught by teachers, administered by administrators…

That people who are suffering would be comforted by people who have gifts of mercy…

That people who feel isolated would be included in the church by people who have gifts of shepherding…

A community that welcomes people through people who have the gifts of hospitality.

People who have the gift of intercession will be persevering in prayer for the needs of the church.

God has not given me, one individual in this church, all of these gifts. And thank God he hasn’t. God created us and gifted us to be dependent on one another in the church so that the body of Christ can be built up.

Paul writes in Ephesians 4:

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (Ephesians 4:11-13)

And then down to verse 16:

From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. (Ephesians 4:16)

God has given us an incredible vision for this church. And my role in it is clear from verse 12. As a pastor and teacher, my role is to equip God’s people for works of service so that the body of Christ may be built up.

In order to grow and be built up in love, what needs to happen? What does Paul say in verse 16?

Each person has to play his or her part.

The spiritual gifts of each person in this room are absolutely fundamental to the growth of this church.

The spiritual gifts of so many in this church are fundamental to what has brought Blue Oaks to where it is… and to where it will be one day.

The spiritual gifts in this church are crucial to our future.

I was listening to Andy Stanley, pastor at North Point Church in Atlanta, talk about a principle I want to share with you.

He said he gives their elders who are rotating off the board an opportunity to speak to the board and give a word of wisdom as they’re leaving — something the board might want to consider moving forward, a caution, or something like that.

This particular elder who was rotating off was a VP at Chick-fil-a.

He told a story and left them with a quote that resonates with me. This is a powerful idea.

Back in the 90’s Boston Market was Chick-fil-a’s serious competition. They had huge expansion plans that included being a billion dollar company by the year 2000.

The Chick-fil-a insiders were kind of nervous about this. This was their real first competition. They had the same customers. Same market space.

Boston Market was looking for an opportunity to grow bigger faster. And so the leadership of Chick-fil-a started to have conversations about how to grow bigger faster.

So as this VP shared this story he said the whole situation culminated in a board meeting in a board room at Chick-fil-a headquarters with all of the VPs and marketing people going back and forth around the table. “How do we get bigger faster… bigger faster… so we can compete with Boston Market?”

Truett Cathy, the founder of Chick-fil-a, was at the end of the table very quiet the entire time. He wasn’t even engaged in the conversation.

Then, for the first time this VP could remember him ever doing this, he began to pound his fist on the table… until he had everyone’s attention.

He said, “I am sick and tired of hearing you talk about us getting bigger.” And then he paused. “What we need to be talking about is getting better.”

And then he said this quote that really resonates with me. “If we get better, our customers will demand that we get bigger.”

And that’s exactly what happened.

And the implication for us is — if we get better at what happens at Blue Oaks on Sunday morning, and what happens in our groups, and what happens during the week to make Blue Oaks the church it is — if we get better at…

serving
and loving
and welcoming people in
and connecting in community
and caring for those in need
and teaching the Bible
and creating environments where people are experiencing God through worship
and equipping the next generation to be disciples of Christ
and creating environments unchurched people love to attend

If we get better at all of this, our community will demand that we get bigger.

We need to get so much better at what we do that our community will demand that we get bigger.

And I got to tell you, in order for us to get better before we get bigger, we need everyone who calls Blue Oaks their home to be serving according to their giftedness.

We need each person to be playing his or her part.

We really need to have a serving revolution around here to get better before we can get bigger.

When you serve in your area of spiritual giftedness, you make yourself available for God to work through you in supernatural ways, and we will be a better church because of it.

And I can tell you from experience there are times when you work in an area of spiritual giftedness, and God does something in you, and you recognize that you could not have done that on your own, your faith is built up in ways it could not be otherwise.

That’s when you experience spiritual growth like you can’t even imagine.

If you want to grow spiritually, start using the gifts God has given you to build up the church.

And I want to tell you — if you miss this, you miss part of the reason you were created by God… because he gave you spiritual gifts to help build up the body of Christ.

And the truth is: there are no spiritual giants. There are just people in the stands and people in the game — people serving on a team.

And you have to make a move to get out of the stands and into the game.

When you do, you will know the joy of developing the gift God has given you and offering it back to Him. And we will be a better church because of it.

Alright, that’s the first joy.

Only when I serve on a team can I know the joy of growing and developing the gift God has given me.

The second joy is this:

Only when I serve on a team can I know the joy of making a difference in another person’s life for eternity.

It’s a strange thing, and we all know this: When I make the aim of my life to please myself… nothing is ever enough.

No matter how good my seats are in the stands.

A friend invited me to a game… and this is what he said, “These are the best seats in the stadium.”

And he was right. It was the best experience I’ve had at a professional sporting event.

We didn’t park a mile away from the stadium.
We didn’t wait in long lines to get in.
We didn’t sit in the bleachers.

We parked in a preferred parking area just outside the luxury suites entrance, and we sat in something called a “luxury box.”

It’s called a luxury box, because they never want you to leave it.

It has wonderful catered food right to your suite.
You can sit inside on a couch and watch the game on a flat screen TV.
You can go outside and sit in a comfortable leather seat.
You have your own host who provides impeccable service.

The luxury box was the most relaxing, enjoyable experience I’ve ever had as a spectator at a sporting event. It’s the nicest, safest place to watch a sporting event.

No one ever boos you or spills beer on you in the luxury box.

But here’s the deal… no matter how luxurious your box is — and we live in a part of the world where there are a lot of really nice boxes — the thrill always wears off, because someone else always has a nicer box.

And people can spend their whole lives trying to acquire and furnish nicer, better, bigger boxes.

The problem is sooner or later, everyone ends up in the same box. It’s always located at the same address. Do you know where it is? About six feet underground!

And to whoever the resident is, it doesn’t make much difference how luxurious that box is — pine or marble — whoever’s lying in it doesn’t care.

What matters when it’s time for your final box is not how many nice boxes you had.

It really comes down to who you served and who you helped in the name and power of Jesus along the way.

I read about an unusual airplane conversation.

This guy got on a flight and as he walked through First Class, he could tell by their laptops and their conversation that a group of people sitting together all worked for the same company. They were having a great time.

He walked through into Coach and got into his seat where he could see that the man sitting next to him worked for the same company as all those guys in First Class.

So he asked him: Doesn’t it make you a little mad that all these people who work for the same company as you do are sitting in First Class, and you’re stuck here in Coach?

How did that happen?

The man answered, “Very simple. They all work for the company. I own the company.”

Then he explained that he had inherited this company from his dad, and when he took over, everyone gave him the cold shoulder.

When he asked around, he found out that his father had treated everyone around him like lower class employees. He gave orders; they took them. He got the best; they got leftovers.

So the son decided he would try things a different way. He was the owner, but he would devote himself to their flourishing. He decided even though he was the one in charge, he would seek to serve rather than to be served all the time.

He decided that even though he was the owner, he would fly Coach so that they could fly First Class.

And I’ll tell you a funny thing; he was the happiest guy on the plane.

Now think about how different his funeral will be than what his dad’s funeral must have been like.

When you come to your last box, and you will, what matters then is the people that you served along the way.

And I’ll tell you something — I have never met anyone yet who regretted a life of service.

I’ve never met anyone who came to the end of his or her life spent serving other people and said: “I wish I would have spent more time in front of a screen. I wish I would have been more of a spectator.”

Alright, another joy:

Only when I serve on a team can I know the joy of doing what is great in God’s eyes.

Jesus said — this really is possible — that one day people will stand before God, and God will say to human beings like you and me:

Well done, good and faithful servant. (Matthew 25: 21-23)

Well done good and faithful… what? Servant.

We have a big job. We have to build an alternate culture, because in this part of the world, we live in a culture that is obsessed with stars and celebrities and with who’s the greatest.

I want to try an experiment.

Think of baseball for a moment.

I’m going to count to three, and then I’ll ask everyone to say together out loud the name of the biggest home run hitter of all-time in major league baseball. Who was the biggest home run hitting celebrity in major league baseball?

You all know who it is. His first name and last name start with the same letter. So I’ll count to three, and we’ll all say it out loud. “One. Two. Three.”

Sammy Sosa

I’m just kidding! I’m a Cubs fan so I’m just messing with you Giants fans.

We live in a world that is obsessed with stars.

And human nature has always been that way.

Jesus’ followers were exactly like us. They were always jockeying to see who was going to be the greatest — who was going to be the star?

This actually happened to two of Jesus’ followers, James and John. I think this is one of the funniest stories in the Bible.

These two actually had their mom working on this one. They had their mom go to Jesus and say: “Could my boys have box seats with you in the Kingdom? Could they be seated on either side of you?”

I picture Jesus just shaking His head.

A great New Testament scholar said the single hardest lesson Jesus had to teach His followers was that God defines greatness in terms of servanthood.

Jesus would say remarkable things that still grip us 2000 years later, like:

Whoever wants to be great among you must be a servant, and the greatest must be a slave to all. (Matthew 20:26)

One day Jesus took off His robe, got down on His knees, grabbed a basin of water and washed His disciples’ feet.

That was the most menial task that anyone could do.

Jesus did that… not because it was His spiritual gift, but because community is built by serving… by people who let go of all the ego stuff and just roll up their sleeves and serve.

What people never understood about Jesus — the reason so many people missed Him — was because no one thought the Messiah, the Son of God, would come as a servant.

That’s who He was. He was a servant.

At its core, this whole business of spiritual gifts is not primarily about my feeling fulfilled or about impressing other people with my giftedness.

At its core, it is about following Jesus and doing what He did and becoming His kind of person.

The servanthood that Blue Oaks is being built on is not busy people doing even more.

It’s people who are in love with Jesus, and start to walk closely with Him and learn how to be like Him and say, “Alright, Lord. As best I can and with Your help, I’ll do what You did.”

I’m telling you, this is what makes families and churches and marriages great — community is built on servanthood.

We have a hard time with this concept, don’t we?

I was reading about someone who didn’t realize the effect that serving or not serving was having on his family and marriage.

His wife told him: “I want you to know what it does in my spirit when I see you serving. When I see you vacuuming the rug, I feel closer to you. I feel affection towards you. When I see you washing the dishes unasked, I feel romantic towards you. When I see you bathing our kids, I feel physical desire for you.”

He said, “I bathe our kids several times a day. We have the cleanest kids in California!”

Community is built on servanthood. It’s what makes a community great.

I want to talk to you personally right now and ask you to listen with an open heart.

I’d like to ask you to make this just between you and God. Ask God to speak to you if you would.

Some of you know the joy of discovering what your spiritual gift is and learning to use it in a lifestyle and a spirit of servanthood.

I’m proud to be part of a community of servants like we have around Blue Oaks.

For those of you who are doing that, I hope you feel God’s delight — His deep delight in what you do. And I want to say, “Thank you,” because as a church we would not exist if it were not for people who say, “I’ll serve.”

Currently it takes over 300 volunteers to make Blue Oaks the church that we are. We couldn’t do this without volunteers.

And I think God is smiling down on those of you who serve at Blue Oaks.

For some of you, the truth is: You’re still sitting in the stands. You’re still a spectator.

I want to say this — I want to say it in love, but I don’t know how to say it more plainly than this — It’s time to get out of the stands!

Don’t spend your life there… because I’ll tell you, it will damage you. It will damage your faith. It will make you start to get a little sour and cynical and turn into a spectator and become increasingly passive.

And it will make you think more and more that your life is just about you and getting into nicer seats someday.

It will damage this community. It really will.

When people remain spectators after they’ve received what God has to give, it damages community.

If you think, ”The church doesn’t need me,” or “There are lots of people around here. We could just hire more staff to do stuff.”

If you think that, then you have fundamentally misunderstood the teachings of Jesus and the nature of the church.

The church Jesus came to start was not a church of “service-attenders.” It was a community of “servants.”

And if, because we live in a culture that steals your time and attention rather easily, you’ve been saying to yourself, “I’m just too busy to serve…” then ask yourself – Too busy doing what? What am I too busy doing that’s going to keep me from hearing one day, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

What’s more important than that?

For those of you who are ready to get out of the stands, I want to say another word or two.

You might be wondering, “How can I find out what my gifts are, because I don’t know?

Do I have to read a book?
Do I have to take a class?
Do I have to fill out a questionnaire or something?”

Those are not bad things, but the best advice I can give you is to just try stuff, experiment, get involved in serving somewhere and see what happens… see how effective you are, and see what takes place inside you.

I was talking to a guy who used to serve on our set up team at Foothill and he was telling me how much joy it brought him to get up early on Sunday, and be at the church at 7:00 in the morning, and work hard for an hour or so to create an environment where people can gather to worship and be taught from the Bible. He loved it. He misses it — getting up early to be on our set up team.

He didn’t expect that it would be so much fun for him, but it was, and we need to find something similar for him to do here.

It provided him an opportunity to connect with other guys in the church. He didn’t realize the sense of community he would feel serving on that team.

You know, maybe for you it would be good to ask yourself:

What are the activities and causes that make my heart beat fast? What energizes me? Where do I lose track of time?

That will be an indication of what team you should consider serving on.

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If you haven’t already, will you open the Blue Oaks app… (navigate to poll)

I love making people feel welcome and giving them a place to belong.
I want to help those who have the greatest need financially or otherwise.
I love working with young children who are 5 and under.
For me, there’s nothing better than little babies. I love to nurture them.
I love organizing things. It drives me crazy when I see things out of place.
I love managing people or projects. Give me a team and a direction and we’ll get things done.
I love leading where I can start something or define the direction and get a team moving in that direction.
I like helping people through the difficult thing that God helped me through.

You know, in Corinth, Paul talked about how we receive comfort from God, and then we’re able to give that to other people.

Maybe you’ve been through an addiction or some kind of loss, and you could help others who are in a deep valley. You could mentor another person at Blue Oaks.

I want to work with middle or high school students. Not sure where but I know I can help.
I’m creative.. I like to write or design graphics or movies or music.

Just try something.

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You probably won’t find the “sweet spot” of your service overnight, but keep praying. Ask for guidance from God and feedback from other people.

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I was thinking about our church, and I thought, “What might happen in this church — in this world — if everyone in this church would get out of the stands and get in the game?”

Do you have any idea?

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God has lavished gifts on this church that are scary. I don’t know what yours are. I don’t know if they look big or visible to you, because it doesn’t really matter. The church doesn’t operate on that.

If everyone in this church were out of the stands and in the game, and if all of us were discovering our spiritual gifts and honing them and developing them and giving honest feedback to other people to help them do the same… and cheering each other on and using our gifts in a spirit of servanthood to build up this community and to make a difference in this community, do you have any idea what might happen?

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We can, that’s the thing. Nothing can stop it except us.