It takes a team

It takes a team

He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love. – Ephesians 4:16

Numbers 1:50-54

 50 Put the Levites in charge of the Tabernacle of the Covenant, along with all its furnishings and equipment. They must carry the Tabernacle and all its furnishings as you travel, and they must take care of it and camp around it.

 51 Whenever it is time for the Tabernacle to move, the Levites will take it down. And when it is time to stop, they will set it up again. But any unauthorized person who goes too near the Tabernacle must be put to death.

 52 Each tribe of Israel will camp in a designated area with its own family banner.

 53 But the Levites will camp around the Tabernacle of the Covenant to protect the community of Israel from the LORD’s anger. The Levites are responsible to stand guard around the Tabernacle.”

 54 So the Israelites did everything just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

Ben Hur, released in 1959 starred Charlton Heston as Judah Ben Hur. It was adapted from Lew Wallace’s 1880 novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. It became one of the top American religious epic movies of all time. It was nominated for 12 Academy Awards. It won a heretofore unprecedented 11.

Ben Hur was the most elaborate film produced up until that time. It had a budget of $15,175,000, a hefty sum in that day. It required the largest movie sets ever built. It incorporated over 200 camels and 2,500 horses were used in the shooting of the film, with some 10,000 extras. The nine-minute chariot race is one of the most famous action sequences ever filmed.

The horses driven by Ben Hur were four magnificent Andalusians. They were named after stars: Aldebaran, Altair, Rigel, and Antares. When Ben Hur first saw them he was impressed by their beauty and magnificence. However, Judah recognized an immediate problem. He shared his observation with their owner Ilderim. “Your horses are very fine but they are not a team.” Ben Hur elaborated and provided a solution, “Antares the slow one should run on the inside where he can steady the others.”

Judah Ben Hur was an experienced charioteer and had won many chariot races in the Circus Maximus in Rome. Ben Hur and Ilderim reached an agreement with one another. Ben Hur would drive Ilderim’s chariot at the Circus in Jerusalem. He would train the four Andalusians to work as a team and run as one. Ilderim in turn would show Ben Hur how to train the horses using hands alone and not use a whip.

When the Father has goals and objectives He wishes to achieve, He invites children of the King to become involved in achieving His plan. The Father provides gifted individuals and a game plan, steps of action, to achieve His plan. So it was when it came to assembling, transporting, and disassembling the Tabernacle as they traveled in the wilderness. Very explicit instructions were given and a team of Levitical priests was assigned responsibilities. This allowed the work to be performed in an orderly and efficient manner. The gifted individuals had to work as a team to accomplish the task (Exodus 40:18-34). Each individually performed their assigned responsibilities.

The work was performed by the Levites, the priestly tribe. They formed a highly organized group that could presumably assemble the entire Tabernacle in a single morning. The dismantling operation was performed more or less in reverse. It required only a few hours of work.

REFLECT & PRAY

The importance of teamwork cannot be emphasized enough. Diverse gifts and skills help children of the King to accomplish the Father’s goals and objectives.

Father thank You for giving spiritual gifts to each member of Your Forever Family. Encourage us to know what they are and use them effectively in Your service.

INSIGHT

In the New Testament, the Father gave spiritual gifts to the children of the King. The recipients are likened to a living body with all of its parts fitting together perfectly. Each member of the body is a “heart” and has a special responsibility to help the other members of the body to grow and be healthy. If the team does not work together, things did not go so well (Ephesians 4:16).

Ephesians 4:11-16

 11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers.

 12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.

 13 This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.

 14 Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth.

 15 Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.

 16 He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

Paul “says that a body is only healthy and efficient when every part is thoroughly coordinated. Paul says that the Church is like that; and the Church can be like that only when Christ is really the head and when every member is moving under his control, just as every part of a healthy body is obedient to the brain” (Barclay).

What is a spiritual gift? A spiritual gift is a supernatural capability provided to each child of the King at the moment of salvation. It is the ability to perform service or action empowered by the Holy Spirit. It also includes the ability to teach others how to do perform the same activity.

Some children of the King have the gift of evangelism (Ephesians 4:11). Evangelism is all about sharing the good news, the gospel, with others and helping them to enter into the Father’s Forever Family. People who do not have the spiritual gift of evangelism can do the work of an evangelist (2 Timothy 4:5). Those with the gift can show them how. Dr. Bill Bright, the founder of Cru, had the gift of evangelism. He developed The Four Spiritual Laws to allow others to share the good news with ease even though they did not have the gift of evangelism. And the rest is history.

Two Greek words are translated as gift in the New Testament. The first is pneumatika and charismata.

1 Corinthians 12:1 Now concerning spiritual gifts [pneumatika], brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed.

Romans 12:6 In his grace, God has given us different gifts [charismata] for doing certain things well.

What is the difference between a spiritual gift and a natural talent or ability? Natural talents or skills include the ability to play musical instruments, beautiful singing voices, intelligence, memory, athletic prowess, etc. They are given at the moment of birth.

A spiritual gift is a supernatural ability or skill which is imparted at given at the moment of rebirth, being born again.

The Father’s Forever Family is actually quite amazing. It is a diverse group composed of myriads different and unique individuals. They must work together as a team to achieve the purpose that the Father has for them.

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© Dr. H 2022