A Championship Mentality!

1 Corinthians 12:12-27 (NRSV)

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--Jews or Greeks, slaves or free--and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot would say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear would say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many members, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

Many of us are familiar with the saying that there is no I in TEAM. Michael Jordan joined the Chicago Bulls in 1984 and immediately he made an impact. #23 was the best player in the game but it was not until 1991 that the Bulls won their first championship. When asked sometime later why they did not win until '91 Mike said that the team was not strong enough. Despite how good he was he could not win the championship alone, it had to be a team effort with each person playing their role! Paul's letter to the church at Corinth reminds us that there is no I in TEAM, we all have a role to play and that's how we advance the ministry of Christ. God calls us to have a championship mentality, where it's not about our individual progress but the success of the entire body. The Bulls went on to win 6 titles as a team, I vividly remember Mike passing the ball to John Paxton, Luc Longley, Craig Hodges, B.J. Armstrong, and Steve Kerr during key points that led to their Championship titles. Mike understood that he had to rely on the team. As Christians we need to know that we can't defeat the devil or obstacles in our life along, we must relay on the team. See you at the game- oops I mean see you at CHURCH! All we do is win, win ,win, no matter what!