A Very Present Help

Oh if people just understood this! What a different world it would be! This is not a passive verse nor is it contradictory! No need to fight! Stand up, stand strong, see the victory, do not be discouraged nor be afraid.  God will be in your life if you let him. Go out and face the challenge!  

Playing Well

Recently, I had the privilege of attending a 50 year reunion for a college baseball team that my husband played on. This team won a national championship during my husband's senior year. There were lots of activities planned to honor this team which culminated in attending the current team's game for the Division title.

I enjoyed meeting this legendary team's members and their wives and hearing their stories. Many of them stayed active in sports by playing in the pros, coaching, scouting and teaching. As I watched them interact, even after 50 years, there was camaraderie, laughter, respect and an ethical quality that might have been at the roots of why this team was so successful. They played the game well and still do.

Playing together is an important part of life. All sorts of books have been written about teamwork in athletics, families, business, and education.  The best book ever to speak on this subject is the Word of God. The Bible is written for its believers and it is a rich resource for those who expect to learn principles of life in its pages. God's principles work when understood correctly and fully. Some people happen on these principles during the course of life through the ups and downs, trial and error approach because they can work for anyone. There were periods in the history of the world when people didn't have access to the written word.  Today some people stay away from the Bible because they think it is too hard, or have heard things about what is written that is misunderstood or mistranslated. God's principles regardless work and are worth acknowledging and making an effort to understand how they apply to our lives.

In I Corinthians 12:27-28a , there is an interesting statement:

27 Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. 28 And God hath set some in the church,.....1 Corinthians 12:27-28a

The body of Christ is a reference to the church. It is a called out group of people that believe in God and his son Jesus Christ. The word 'church' refers to the people of God, the members in particular (as individuals).

A baseball team has many members. There are pitchers, catchers, basemen and outfielders. Any given team could have as many as 14 or 15 pitchers.  The coach decides who is in or out at any given time. All players throw, field, bat and run, but in any one given inning, there is only one pitcher, first baseman or catcher or center outfielder. You never see three first base players standing on first base or 5 pitchers standing on the mound. That would be chaos. The same thing is true in the church.

In verse 27 above, Paul writes that 'God has set some in the church'. 'Has set' is in the middle voice, meaning that God has set for himself, for his own use in the church. All members are members individually. Submitting (Ephesians 5:21) one to another has respect for God as its foundation and is a key for success as to how we play well among the called out people of God.

But made himself of no reputation.....

Jesus Christ is our greatest example of a leader. He walked the earth knowing God was his father and yet 'made himself of no reputation' (Philippians 2:7) He did things very differently from the common world-view of success and leadership.

He certainly has had an influence on the world as no other man has. True power comes from God.  When Jesus said "I and my father are one" (John 10:30), he was showing who he was aligned with. He carried and is continuing to carry the purpose of God in his heart. He respected (and still does) the wisdom of God. He depends on the wisdom of God in helping people. In everything Jesus Christ did and does for people, God gets the glory.

Jesus took on the form of a servant. The servant offers the way. As a servant of God, he offers the truth and as a result, he offers life in effulgence (John 14:6).

God set Jesus Christ at his own right hand (God doesn't have a hand physically. This is a figure of speech representing the appointment of Jesus Christ to his position as head of God's church) :

17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: 18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, 19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, 20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, 

21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: 22 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,23 Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. (Ephesians 1:17-23)

Jesus Christ made himself of no reputation. It is God that highly exalts him. He gets the pure joy of carrying out God's service which involves wisdom and knowledge of God, enlightened understanding, knowledge of the hope of God's calling, and the riches of the glory of his inheritance to us.