OUT OF ZION 023 | HOW TO HAVE A WINNING TEAM

OUT OF ZION 023 | HOW TO HAVE A WINNING TEAM

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Bible Reading: Josh 1:16-18; Joel 2:1-11

Where order is recognised, corporate success and individual fulfilment will be inevitable.

Every group or team exists as a community for its members to remove them from being solitary to being in a functional social entity. The advantage of this ranges from group identity to interpersonal collaborations. The advantage of collaboration is enormous; it brings to the table the gains which transcends the sum total of the accomplishments of the individuals within the group.

The church of Christ is a community, a kingdom community. Its existence and business is with the objectives of God’s kingdom. Hence, the concern is not for individualities or vain self-seeking but for the togetherness which focuses on the common good.  It actually exists on earth through the local churches as earthly outstations of the heavenly kingdom. The togetherness of its members is for the purpose of winning with the kingdom assignment on earth. For this to be a few factors must come into consideration. Crucial among the factors is the understanding of the ethos of the kingdom.

Jesus pointed to this ethos in Matt 6:9ff by saying in the Lord’s prayers that “thine kingdom come, thy will be done on earth…” and later in the same context, “… thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory ….”. The Lord’s prayer actually reverts the mind of everyone that is a follower of Christ and that also prays like Him to the theocratic governance that God preferred under the Old Testament. In that system, leaders were selected by God; the culture of spiritual authority and the attending godly submission and followership was embraced.; team spirit was understood for the purpose of advancement and conquest; support for leadership was a necessity for the corporate good, and an atmosphere where rebellion and ungodly dissent thrives was discouraged. Look closely at Joshua 1:16ff and you will see these clearly there.

When Jesus came, he announced the subject of His concern as the kingdom of God (Matt 4:17,23) as it was even with John the Baptist (Mat 3:1-3). From these texts you can see that 1). The kingdom belongs to God, and that 2). We turn towards the kingdom by repentance (thinking differently; changing one’s mind for better; amending with abhorrence of one’s past sins heartily). Matt 4:23 in the message translation says the theme of Jesus’ teaching was the kingdom of God. Why the kingdom of God?

  1. The kingdom of God is a good government under which everything is being made right, starting with changed lives and changed effects.
  2. The kingdom of God is hence a new order, a better order, the intended order, in which things (spiritual, mental, emotional or physical) happen according to the will of God because God is the centre of the kingdom – Eph. 1:10.
  3. The kingdom of God is a spiritual reality that should operate in the now as the foretaste of or the preparation for the coming materialisation. – Luk 17:20-21; Jn 4:23

The kingdom has its attributes, some of which are reflected even in the earthly kingdom. The kingdom introduced by Christ and emphasised in His teachings is the realm which God rules over. It is an orderly system characterised by God’s righteousness; wherein authority is by delegation and not usurpation, wherein everyone is supposed to have a delegation which varies in levels and focus and wherein everyone serves God by the delegation he has received. What delegation or charge has God given you? Are you giving it your best as the day approaches when everyone shall render his account to God – Rom 14:7-12.

If the kingdom of God is an orderly system, its order must characterise our togetherness today. One of the order is the place of authority and leadership in the kingdom. Jesus gave the charge about servant leadership (where leaders exist to serve the people with the charge and grace they have received from God.) but also gave indications concerning the place of authority. Matt 8; Jn 21:15-21; Eph. 4:11-

Whether it is in the church, in the family or in other organisations, the place of order must be understood if the will of God will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Order is a principal key for a team to be distinguished (Joel 2:1ff). When order is present, rank is not broken and the people are not injured. God is not an author of confusion, neither does he abide where rebellion and ungodly dissent thrive. More so from the church, the example and the standard of order must go forth if the church shall fill its place on earth as the pillar and ground of truth. Where order is recognised, corporate success and individual fulfilment will be inevitable.