We Go: The Team, The Team, The Team
Focus Statement: When we go to the nations together rather than alone, we increase our productivity, protection, and power.
Setting the scene:
We are continuing our series “We Go” and today we are looking at what it looks like to “Go” as a team, how we do that, and why it is woven into God's design for ministry. We have already looked at what it means to “Go” under Lordship, no matter the cost, in love, with discipleship and church planting, in leadership, and with the Holy Spirit (among other things). This is our burden and responsibility as Christians. But if we take this burden on by ourselves it will become just that - a burden. When instead we go as God designed – together – the burden becomes lighter, it becomes a burden of love, joy, and fellowship. It doesn’t become easy, but the weight is distributed among many. So let’s look today at what the Bible says about working together as a unit towards the goal of ministering to the lost and then consider what it means for us - right now as a church in the city of Chicago!
Productivity, Protection, and Power
Our main passage today is the whole of Ecclesiastes 4. The context of this passage is that the author of Ecclesiastes, most likely Solomon, is writing as a character – an individual named “The Preacher” who is considering the vanity of all things when done without God. Up to this point in the book, The Preacher has considered the meaningless of a life lived without God. Living for oneself: meaningless. Living wisely: meaningless. Living to work: meaningless. Even living for earthly justice, for things to be made right in the here and now: meaningless. Now, in chapter 4 the preacher turns his attention to living in isolation.
Before we read that… the book of Ecclesiastes has a “cliffhanger” built into it, a hidden word that is revealed at the end of the book. That word could be summed up as “unless…” The book is a bit of a bummer if you read it without knowing the ending, so for the purpose of today let’s spoil the ending before we get into it.
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 (ESV)
The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. 14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.
Or in other words, all that has been stated prior in the book as being vanity is only vain if done without God. The subtextual “unless…” is ultimately pointing towards this final conclusion – life in all of its toils and strife is meaningless unless it is done with God at the center. Then and only then can we live a life full of meaning and purpose.
With that, let’s start at the top of our main passage: Ecclesiastes 4:1-3,
Again I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun. And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power, and there was no one to comfort them. 2 And I thought the dead who are already dead more fortunate than the living who are still alive. 3 But better than both is he who has not yet been and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun.
The Preacher is describing a group of people who have no one to comfort them, a people in complete isolation. When they are oppressed, persecuted, brought down, they have no one to comfort them.
So then how ought we do the work set before us? The Preacher continues in vv.7-12,
Again, I saw vanity under the sun: 8 one person who has no other, either son or brother, yet there is no end to all his toil, and his eyes are never satisfied with riches, so that he never asks, “For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?” This also is vanity and an unhappy business. Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. 10 For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! 11 Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? 12 And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
These verses spell out our focus statement. When we set out on a task together, this passage says we have a “good reward for our toil”. We increase our productivity. If one falls, the other will life them up. In the harshness of toiling, they keep each other warm. If they are attacked, they can withstand the attack together. Thus, a team has increased protection. And finally, a team standing together, a threefold cord, is not quickly broken. Because of the number of people standing together for a unified purpose, a team has increased power.
This principle is why Moses was paired with Aaron when sent to free the Israelites from Pharaoh’s bondage. In Exodus 4, Moses objects to being sent alone because he was “slow of speech”, but God send him with his brother Aaron to speak to Pharaoh. He sent them as a team.
This is why the disciples of Jesus are sent to preach the message of the gospel and repentance in pairs.
This is why Paul repeatedly went on his missions with a companion, whether it was Barnabas, Silas, or Luke, he went with a team.
Importantly, teamwork doesn't guarantee that the mission will be easy or that we won't suffer. It means that when we suffer, we don't have to suffer alone—and when one of us falls, another can help us get back up.
Accountability, Diversity, and Rest.
A team, among many things, ensures several things when we go on mission together.
Accountability.
In college I was tasked with evangelizing to people on The University of Michigan’s central diag - I was terrified of this prospect. Had I been sent alone, I might not have spoken to anyone. But I was sent with a friend, who was likely also terrified, but together our desire to see the gospel shared to the lost allowed us to push each other out of our comfort zone and do the task set before us. Because of this accountability, people heard the gospel.
Ecclesiastes 4:13-16 comments on this,
Better was a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who no longer knew how to take advice. 14 For he went from prison to the throne, though in his own kingdom he had been born poor. 15 I saw all the living who move about under the sun, along with that youth who was to stand in the king's place. 16 There was no end of all the people, all of whom he led. Yet those who come later will not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and a striving after wind.
These verses describe someone who climbed the ladder of success from a poor prisoner to a king, but the Preacher submits woes to he who achieves such success through toil yet eventually no longer knows how to take advice. This character in these verses was a person who depended on those around him to achieve greatness, yet loses it all to vanity and renders their work a “striving after wind” because they in all their greatness have lost their team, have lost their accountability.
Because we were a team on the diag those weeks we leaned on each other when sharing the gospel. Better two college kids with essentially just John 3:16 in their back pocket working together than the greatest evangelist ever going at it alone.
Diversity.
Teams provide different strengths when working together as one. The team God has designed, namely the church, is no different.
1 Corinthians 12:4-11 says,
4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.
Our great advantage of being a church empowered by the Holy Spirit is that we all have similar and different gifts. A church made up solely of those with the gift of hospitality will certainly provide a great spread on a Sunday morning, but who will provide the preaching? Who will set up the tech? Who will lead worship? The crock pot? God forbid. Instead, we are all gifted in diverse ways to be on mission together, in different ways but for a similar goal.
Rest.
The final thing I’ll mention, though there are many other great aspects of teamwork, is the ability to rest. When you are part of a team, when you have people to lean on, you can also find the appropriate measures to rest for the mission ahead of you.
When Jesus sent the disciples out in twos, they returned from their mission and it says this in Mark 6:30-31,
30 The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. 31 And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.
Because the teams of two were part of an even larger team, the disciples who returned were able to rest. The same goes for us as a church. When our team expands, others are able to rest and return to the mission field with energy and enthusiasm.
But what about the prophets?
Elijah stood alone against the prophets of Baal, Jeremiah preached alone to a people who rejected him, Ezekiel stood solo as a living sign among the exiles in Babylon. Does that adhere to the will of God?
The answer to that is yes. God did and does call people to stand alone at particular moments. So how do we reconcile that with what we’ve been talking about today? Is the team really God’s design if He sometimes sends His servants out alone?
To understand this, the key is understanding the difference between an individual assignment and God’s design for His people as a whole. Sometimes God calls a person to stand alone in a particular moment, but that doesn’t mean He designed His people to serve in isolation.
Perhaps you are in a situation where God is calling you to minister to someone and you realize that you don’t have a “team” around you to go to that person. Should you wait for backup and risk the moment passing you by? I don’t think so. If God is calling you to share the gospel with someone right in front of you, do it. But when circumstances like that arise, that should not be an indication that God is calling you to embark on a one-person mission for the rest of your life. God may call you to stand alone for a moment, but He has not called His church to operate alone as a way of life.
When we consider the extraordinary assignments of the prophets and the mission Jesus has given His church, we see the same principle we’ve been talking about this morning: we go together.
Find your team.
So finally, let’s consider the application of this passage and sermon. This is my challenge to all of you: find your team.
Second City Church is a team. We have a group of people that arrive to our in-person service 2 hours early to setup, rehearse, establish the livestream, and so much more so that when the attendees arrive they can be ministered to in an excellent and orderly fashion. That is no small feat, and it is only made possible by the team.
You can join this team. When people join our setup crew, worship team, tech, children’s ministry, prayer team, hospitality, etc. we gain more accountability, diversity, rest, productivity, protection, and power. It is a big deal!
I would ask that you consider checking out this link: https://secondcitychurch.com/ministryteams and think about how you can join the team.
We also are in the business of going. We have missionaries in the field of Chicago right now who are ministering to the lost. Sarah Vosecek, Garrett Hageman, and Gabbie Rhodes. You can join their team by partnering with them in prayer and provision to see the gospel go out to our city and beyond!
We also have mission trips to Luxembourg, Bair Lake Bible Camp in Jones, MI, and Madison, WI! If you feel called to the mission field, please contact me or one of the three missionaries above to learn more about how you can actually go with a team and spread the gospel of Jesus Christ to the lost!
If you are not part of a team yet I want to encourage you to jump in and be part of making a three/four/one hundredfold cord even stronger.
To close, I’ll share a quote from the legendary Michigan Football coach, Bo Schembechler in his famous speech about The Team:
“We want the Big Ten championship and we’re gonna win it as a Team. They can throw out all those great backs, and great quarterbacks, and great defensive players, throughout the country and in this conference, but there’s gonna be one Team that’s gonna play solely as a Team. No man is more important than The Team. No coach is more important than The Team. The Team, The Team, The Team, and if we think that way, all of us, everything that you do, you take into consideration what effect does it have on my Team?... We’re gonna win it. We’re gonna win the championship again because we’re gonna play as team, better than anybody else in this conference, we’re gonna play together as a team. We’re gonna believe in each other, we’re not gonna criticize each other, we’re not gonna talk about each other, we’re gonna encourage each other. And when we play as a team, when the old season is over, you and I know, it’s gonna be Michigan again, Michigan.” - Bo Schembechler
Well, that’s about football. So let me edit it slightly as a more appropriate way to end this sermon:
We want to see Christ glorified and the lost to know Him and we’re gonna do it as a Team. The world can throw out all those great temptations, and great trials, and great tribulations, throughout the country and in this world, but there’s gonna be one Team that’s gonna play solely as a Team. No pastor is more important than The Team. No worship leader is more important than The Team. No greeter is more important than The Team. No evangelist is more important than The Team. The Team, The Team, The Team, and if we think that way, all of us, everything that you do, you take into consideration what effect does it have on my Team? …We’re gonna win it. We’re gonna see Jesus transform the nations again and again because we’re gonna play as team, better than anything the world throws at us, we’re gonna play together as a team. We’re gonna believe in each other through the power of the Holy Spirit, we’re not gonna condemn each other, we’re not gonna talk about each other, we’re gonna encourage each other. And when we play as a team, when the old heaven and earth is over, you and I know, it’s gonna be Jesus again and forever, Jesus.
We don’t need every member of the church to be an Elijah, a Jeremiah, or a Paul. We need each member to faithfully contribute what God has given them, in fellowship with the rest of the body, so that the gospel can go where none of us could take it alone. So let’s go, together, as The Team, The Team, The Team.