Worship is Not an Individual Sport

Imagine, for a moment, you’re at Coors Field.  As you look into the outfield, you see one man standing on the mound, Todd Helton.  I know, Helton’s a first baseman, not a pitcher, which works even better for this illustration.

Helton hurls the ball to the batter, and runs behind the plate, throwing on the catcher’s gear as he gets there.  The batter connects, sending the ball into deep center field.  Helton strips out of the pads, switches gloves, and sprints for center.  As he reaches the ball, the batter’s rounding third.  Helton now rushes for the plate, and the runner scores.  Helton returns to the mound, preparing for his next pitch.

OK, come back here, now.  That was insane, wasn’t it?  No one man can play every position.  Notice, in our illustration, Helton never got to his own position, the one place on the field where he excels — his niche.

We would never dream of putting one man on the diamond, but many of us believe we can play a different team sport individually, and that’s worship.  Now, I’m not saying you have to have a worship leader, a music leader, an a/v specialist, a tech team, a head greeter, a refreshements host, etc.  I am saying, however, you need other people on your team.

Who are those people, then, and why do you need them?  You’ve got your pastor.  It’s his job to get the message of Jesus Christ out in an understandable and applicable manner.  He’s your pitcher.  Your small group leader, who takes what the pastor pitches, and leads a discussion on the subject, helping you to really dig into the material, and understand how it applies, is like the relief pitcher.  Your small group members, and other members of the larger congregation, are like the outfield and infield.  They’re in support positions for you, and you’re in a support position for them.  You all work together to help each other, not only to gain a deeper understanding of God’s Word, but to apply that Word to your life.

Not only do we help each other in those ways.  We also help each other in times of need.  In the First Century church, the people met each others’ needs.  If a man needed bread, one of his brothers was there.  If his child died, his brothers were there.  If he broke his leg and couldn’t maintain his fields, his brothers were there.

Unfortunately, in the modern world, too often, our brothers are not there.  We’re not lifting each other up the way we should be, and the way our forefathers did.  We’re not even allowing those who would be there for us to be there, because we’re trying to do it all alone.

One thing we need to remember, as we go through our lives:  the Church is a body.  The body does not work as individual parts.  Here’s a real quick exercise.  Smile, using only one muscle.  In fact, don’t use any muscles; just your lips.  Just one lip.  Can’t do it, can you?  No part of the human body can operate completely independently of the other parts.  It’s even more true when you look at members of the Body of Christ.  None of us can operate without the others, any more than your one lip can smile without the rest of your face.

Until next week, God bless.