Get Off The Bench
Filling Your Place on the Team
6/4/03
I. Introduction
Behold, a team went forth to play a game of baseball.
Just as the umpire was saying, “Batter up,” the catcher for the home team arrived and took his place behind the plate. The center fielder didn’t show up at all but sent his regrets. The third baseman likewise failed to come to the game, having been up late the night before. The shortstop was present, but left his glove at home. Two of the substitute fielders were away on a weekend trip but said they were there in spirit.
The pitcher went to the mound and looked around for his teammates. But his heart was heavy, for their positions were empty. The game was announced, the visitors were in the stands, and there was nothing to do but pitch the ball and hope for the best. But in addition to pitching, he had to cover first and third base, as well as shortstop and center field.
When the absent players heard that their team had lost, they were furious. They held a meeting and decided to get a new pitcher.
Why did this team lose? Was it because the pitcher couldn’t pitch a perfect curve ball? Was it because his fastball wasn’t fast enough? Or was it because the pitcher just couldn’t do it all by himself?
Tonight I’m going to challenge you to Get Off the Bench, and we’re talking about Filling Your Place on the Team. You see, we all have a spot, or a position on the field. NOBODY is a bench warmer. But you have to decide to play the game. The first thing you have to do is show up. You have to have the ability to show up. You can’t play the game if you’re not even in the vicinity of the field.
Obviously you have that ability because you’re here. Others, for whatever reason, think they can just watch the game on TV. Some think it’s half-time ALL the time. Others just don’t like the game and never come around the field. Still others are playing on the opposing team. But not you, you’ve shown up, but it takes more than showing up to play the game. You gotta have your equipment and take your position on the field. So, where’s your spot?
II. Where’s My Spot, Coach?
1 Corinthians 12:14-18 (MESSAGE)“14I want you to think about how all this makes you more significant, not less. A body isn’t just a single part blown up into something huge. It’s all the different-but-similar parts arranged and functioning together. 15If Foot said, "I’m not elegant like Hand, embellished with rings; I guess I don’t belong to this body," would that make it so? 16If Ear said, "I’m not beautiful like Eye, limpid and expressive; I don’t deserve a place on the head," would you want to remove it from the body? 17If the body was all eye, how could it hear? If all ear, how could it smell? 18As it is, we see that God has carefully placed each part of the body right where he wanted it.”
God has carefully placed each part of the body right where he wanted it. So, where are you? Are you a foot, a nose, an armpit? Are you a knee or a shin that always gets kicked by 3 year olds?
When I first started playing softball for the church I grew up at, I was 15, and although I had played baseball growing up, this was my first year playing on a softball team. The two positions that I thought were the worst positions in softball were right field and catcher, because there wasn’t any action in those positions. Well, sure enough, when I asked, “Where’s my spot, Coach?” he told me to go to either catcher or right field. And you know when somebody hit the ball to me, I caught it. And when somebody would hit the ball to the left fielder and he’d miss it, I’d gloat to myself, “If I were over in left field, I would have caught that ball.” And wouldn’t you know that the next ball hit to me would roll so slow that my grandma could field it, but it went right through my legs. If I would have had my focus on my position, and where the coach wanted me, I would have played my best and did my part, but when I got to looking at the left fielder and criticizing him, I lost my focus and the team suffered. You see, you may think your spot on the field is the worst one, but if you stick with it and do your part, you’ll be promoted. I finally learned that and by the end of my time playing with that softball team, I was the premier left fielder and 4th or 5th in the line-up every time.
Well, that’s all fine and dandy, Pastor Nate, and you might have won the softball world series, whoop de doo. But what about me, where’s my spot? Where’s your spot? What’s your position? Well, for that, you have to ask the coach. The word says that God has carefully placed each part of the body right where he wanted it. Well, if God has placed each part right where he wanted it, I must already be in my spot, on the sidelines, watching. No. No. No. You’re on the bench right now because (1) you don’t want to play or (2) you haven’t asked the coach where He wants you. What we’re talking about is asking God what your part is in the body of Christ, particularly this ministry. Where’s your spot on Team Good News? Is it the Nursery? Preschool? Kids Club? Is it the Youth Ministry? Oh, Pastor Nate and Kristen can handle those teenagers. Maybe God’s placed you in the Youth Ministry as a help, but you’re content just sitting on the bench. Or is your part to Load In or Load Out or a number of other positions in Team Good News. Everybody has a spot. Everybody has a position. I encourage you to ask Coach, “Where’s my spot?”
Not too long ago, Kristen was trying to find her spot on Team Good News. We knew, of course, that she was to help in Get Real because she’s a helper suitable for my needs. But she also knew she had much more to offer this ministry. She possesses many gifts and talents and she wanted to give them back to God. So, what’d she do? She asked Coach, “Where’s my spot?” And not too long after that, God confirmed in her heart that she was to help out in the Preschool as well. And I’m positive that if you ask God about your spot, He’ll tell you.
Well, Pastor Nate, I’ve found my spot, I’m off the bench and I’m in the game. How else can I fill my place on the team?
III. There’s No “I” in Team
1 Corinthians 12:19-24 “19But I also want you to think about how this keeps your significance from getting blown up into self-importance. For no matter how significant you are, it is only because of what you are a part of. An enormous eye or a gigantic hand wouldn’t be a body, but a monster. 20What we have is one body with many parts, each its proper size and in its proper place. No part is important on its own. 21Can you imagine Eye telling Hand, "Get lost; I don’t need you"? Or, Head telling Foot, "You’re fired; your job has been phased out"? 22As a matter of fact, in practice it works the other way--the "lower" the part, the more basic, and therefore necessary. You can live without an eye, for instance, but not without a stomach. 23When it’s a part of your own body you are concerned with, it makes no difference whether the part is visible or clothed, higher or lower. You give it dignity and honor just as it is, without comparisons. 24If anything, you have more concern for the lower parts than the higher. If you had to choose, wouldn’t you prefer good digestion to full-bodied hair?”
You have to remember, there is no “I” in team. There is no one part, or one player that is better than the rest. The team is a combined unit of every player working together to get the job done. It’s a combined effort that makes the game a success. It’s the coach and the players, the “up-front” people, but it’s also the behind the scenes folks, the trainer and the waterboy. Everyone on the team is important in making the team function properly and no one player can do the job all by himself.
What if one football player on the field told the others, “Go ahead and sit the bench and watch me handle this whole game by myself. I can take ‘em, all 11 of ‘em, all by my lonesome”? He’d be killed, literally ripped apart by the other team. It would be chaos, a complete massacre.
I want to read to you a letter that was an actual response written to an insurance company that asked for clarification on an accident insurance claim.
Dear Sir,
I am writing in response to your request for additional information in Block #3 of the accident report form. I put “trying to do the job alone” as the cause of my accident.
You said in your letter that I should explain more fully and I trust that the following details should be sufficient:
I’m a brick layer by trade. On the day of the accident, I was working alone on the roof of a six story building. When I completed my work, I discovered that I had approximately 500 lbs of brick left over. Rather than carry the bricks down by hand, I decided to lower them in a barrel by using a pulley that was attached to the side of the building at the sixth floor.
Securing the rope at ground level, I went up to the roof. I swung the barrel out and loaded the bricks into it. I then went down to the ground and untied the rope, holding it tightly to insure a slow descent of the brick. You will note in Block #2 of the accident report form that I weigh 135 lbs.
Due to my surprise in being jerked off the ground, I lost my presence of mind and did not let go of the rope. Needless to say, I proceeded at a rather rapid rate up the side of the building.
In the vicinity of the third floor, I met the barrel coming down. This explains my broken collar bone. Slowed only slightly, I continued my rapid ascent up the side of the building until the fingers on my right hand were two knuckles deep into the pulley six floors up. Fortunately, I had the presence of mind to hold on to the rope in spite of my pain.
At approximately the same time however, the barrel hit the ground, and the bottom came out of the barrel. Without the weight of the bricks, the barrel weighed approximately 50lbs. I refer you again to my weight in Block #2.
As you might imagine, I began a rapid descent down the side of the building. In the vicinity of the third floor, I again met the barrel coming up. This accounts for my fractured ankles and the lacerations on my lower body.
The encounter with the barrel slowed me down enough to lessen my injuries when I landed on the pile of bricks. As I lay there on the bricks in pain and unable to move, I let go of the rope. I was helpless to lay there and watch as the barrel came back down and broke my legs.
I hope I have furnished enough information to explain how the accident occurred.
It occurred because I was trying to do the job alone.
That sounds like an episode of Looney Tunes. But the point is, there’s no “I” in team, and no one can successfully do the job alone!
So once you’ve found your spot, remember that the acrostic for team stands for “Together Everyone Achieves More” not “Too bad Everyone’s not As good as Me.”
IV. It’s How You Play the Game
1 Corinthians 12:25-28 “25The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on every other part, the parts we mention and the parts we don’t, 26the parts we see and the parts we don’t. If one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing. If one part flourishes, every other part enters into the exuberance.”
Have you ever heard the phrase, “It’s not whether you win or lose that counts, it’s how you play the game”? Well, in our game, we already know who wins. We’re the winners. We’re the champions. And does it count? Oh yeah it does. It counts. We’ve already won, our God always causes us to triumph, we’re the victors. But like the cliché, it’s also how you play the game.
You see, you can’t complain about one of the other fielders missing the ball. You can’t gloat about how you’re so much better than anybody else on the field. You can’t play with a 50% effort. You can’t make up your own plays and refuse to run the play that the Quarterback calls. If you play the game like that, you hurt the team.
But if you give it your all and make the game winning play, you make the team better.
When I was playing little league baseball in 5th grade, my brother and I, who are identical twins, played for the Travelers Rest Twins, pretty ironic, huh? I was the center fielder, our best friend played shortstop, and my brother was the catcher. Well, the other team’s biggest hitter steps up to the plate and rips one right to center field, where I was playing. I run up a little bit, which turns out to be too far as the ball flies over my head rolling all the way to the fence. I thought for sure he was going to get a triple, but I ran as fast as I could to the fence and picked up the ball. I turned and threw it to my cutoff man, the shortstop just as the runner was rounding third base. The shortstop turned and threw the ball to my bro, the catcher, who caught the ball and tagged the runner out at home plate. It was the most perfect play in little league history, at least that’s what we said as we high fived each other in the dugout. But that play would never have happened if I wouldn’t have given it my all despite messing up in the first place, or if the shortstop had just given up on me ever getting the ball in time and threw his glove down in the dirt, or if my brother just stood there watching the guy round the bases instead of positioning himself to catch the ball. The “most perfect play in little league history” would never have happened if we all weren’t playing the game as hard as we could and doing our best. But it was because of how we played the game that determined the end result.
In conclusion I want to remind you of what our Pastor says, “Go out and win one for the gipper.”
V. Win One for the Gipper
Philippians 3:13-14 “13Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
Bud Wilkinson’s football teams at the University of Oklahoma were undoubtedly the strongest in the nation in the late 50s and early 60s. Consistently his undefeated teams steam-rolled the opposition. After his retirement to the broadcast booth, Coach Wilkinson was asked the secret of his success. How could he consistently mold young athletes into powerful teams, year after year?
This was Bud’s answer—
“When a football player goes into a game, he can play to a variety of audiences. He may play for the crowd in the stands, for example, working hard for their cheers and avoiding their boos. Or he might play for a special person in the stands—a girlfriend, maybe.
“A player may allow the other team to dictate his play. In other words, if the man across the line isn’t very good, then he doesn’t play well either. If the opponent cheats and plays dirty, so does he.
“Some football players allow their teammates to determine the quality of their play. Some focus on the game officials, the referees. And of course, some play merely for themselves—they work hard to be the stars.
“Many audiences vie for the attention of the players. My men know, however, that there’s only one person watching the game that matters—only one person whom they have to please...me. Regardless of the cheers or boos, the strength of the opposition, the fairness of the officials, or the play of their teammates, I am the only audience that counts. When everyone knows that and plays that way, they pull together, do their best, give it their all, and win.”
Just like any other players, we can play to a number of audiences. We can play for our peers, we can play for our family and friends, we can play for fame, but when it all comes down to the buzzer, only one audience matters, and that’s the audience of one, our Coach, God. If we know that and play that way, we’ll pull together, do our best, give it our all, and what’s the outcome? We WIN! Give me a J. Give me a E. Give me a S. Give me a U. Give me a S. What’s that spell? JESUS. Hallelujah! Go ahead, stand up and praise Him!
