DECEMBER 2006

Dear Members and Friends of Mt. Olive,

It is surely an interesting word. Coaches like to remind us that there is no “I” in it. Cooperation and collaboration are chief components. The word, of course, is “Team.”

The modern use of this word has its origin on the farm, where it was first used to designate two or more draft horses or oxen hitched together. In Old English, it came from a verb meaning “to pull.” So the word really means “hitched together to pull.”

Our eternal salvation was a divinely devised “team effort.” God the Father (who so loved the world) teamed up with His only-begotten Son (who came as the Baby in Bethlehem’s manger to die on Calvary’s cross), and together They teamed up to send the Holy Spirit (who proceeds from the Father and the Son) to work saving faith in human hearts.

It was a super, splendid, superb strategy! No plan like it has ever been formulated – not before; not after. It reveals, like nothing else, the incredible grace of God. There really are no words that adequately describe what our loving God has done. Concerning our rescue from damnable sin, our release from Satan’s bondage, and our reward of eternal salvation, He, literally, has not left a single thing for us to do. He has done it all!

The only teamwork that brought about the saving of sinful, lost humanity involved the team of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We were neither invited not expected to participate in this extraordinary production. God alone could design it, produce it, and fulfill it, using only a crude manger, a bloody cross, and a borrowed tomb.

In grace, He chose His supporting cast. A virgin named Mary would carry the Son, conceived by the Holy Spirit, in her womb. Unnamed shepherds would announce His arrival. John the Baptizer would preach the coming of His Kingdom. Apostles and evangelists would proclaim the Good News from village to village.

That was two millennia ago! Since that time, thousands of human strategies, philosophies, and belief systems have come and gone. Yet not only remaining, but flourishing, is the Divine Plan of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, still fashioned and formed around a manger, a cross, and an empty tomb.

By grace, the perfect Lord invites imperfect beings to join His team – not to cooperate in the act of salvation, but to collaborate in the act of service. He invites us to “pull together” as a team to serve one another in love and good works.

Teamwork is necessary if the sales team is to sell its wares and if the football team is to win its games. Teamwork is equally essential if Christ’s body, the church, is to function as intended.

As we prepare to journey to Bethlehem to celebrate the miraculous manger event, let’s remember that the “God Team” has “hitched us together to pull;” that is, He has made us members of the angel team – the evangelism team – the outreach team. We are the shepherds of our day who are to “spread the word concerning what has been told (us) about this Child.”

Make no mistake. Being named to the Lord’s team is a huge responsibility. We have a position to play, and function to fulfill, a roll and responsibility to realize. Sitting on the bench is not an option.

As holders of highest honor, may each of us loyally serve on heaven’s team and return homage to our Savior. And let’s support each other, too.

That’s what a team does!

Pastor Carl R. Henkel