“Picking Teams” (Romans 8:14-17)

We live in a competitive society.  If you are a sports fan, you know what I mean.  Right now, we are in the midst of championships for several sports . . . the National Hockey League is in their finals to crown the champion . . . the National Basketball Association is in theirs.  On the college level baseball teams are competing to be the national champions.  Odds are there is probably a boxing championship . . . a tennis championship . . . even a golf championship going on. When it comes to sports our nation is pretty competitive.

That competitiveness is not reserved to just sports.  As a society we compete in just about everything to see who the best is.  When it comes to academics, we compete to see who is the smartest and brightest.  When it comes to business, we know that businesses compete to be the best.  Even communities get into competition to see which community is the best . . . we constantly see rankings that tell where the best places are to live.  We do it in our daily lives when we express that one brand of soft drink is better than another, one automotive company is better than the other, and even which is the best undergarments to wear! 

Competition in bred in us.  Everyone wants to be a winner or at least on the winning team.  We even see this when it comes to faith.  Churches compete.  They compete just like sports teams as to which is the “best” church.  Check out the advertisements in a Saturday edition and tell me that there is not competition between the faithful.  As I said, everyone wants to be a winner or at least on the winning team.

I can’t imagine a human being that has not ever gotten caught up in competition . . . the desire to be number one . . . to be the winner . . . to be the best.  And, I also cannot imagine a human being who has not had to endure the embarrassment and humiliation of having to go through the process of picking teams.  If you were ever in school or goofing off in the neighborhood, odds are you ended up being a part of the process of picking teams.

You know what I mean.  Standing in a line of peers as two individuals—usually deemed the “best”—picked teams.  You can remember as the most athletic were picked first, those who were semi-athletic second, and those who would do the least amount of damage were picked third, and then the scramble to stick the other team with those who were pretty worthless when it came time to compete.  If the pickers had their way, they would tell the leftovers to go on home.  The goal in enduring this endeavor was to be chosen early or at least by the mid-point . . . at least in that situation there was nothing to be embarrassed about.  To be chosen at the end, with all the haggling going on between the two teams as who they were going to get stuck with . . . well, that was hard to endure.

You know what I am talking about, don’t you?  You also know what “picking teams” felt like.  You quickly realized your value by where you were picked.  The sooner you got picked, the better.  As I said, the goal was always to be picked as one of the chosen few.

Competition . . . determining who is the best . . . who is “in” and who is “out” is not reserved for only our time.  It is a problem that has been going on since the beginning of time.  We get hints of this competition as we read our scripture lesson this morning . . . on this Day of Pentecost.

Who is “in” and who is “out”.

This was a task that the “chosen disciples” of Jesus had to deal with . . . they had to pick a team . . . had to pick those who were the winners.  They definitely knew that they were “in” . . . after all, Jesus himself, hand picked them.  Odds are those other “disciples’—those who had been following Jesus and listening to his every word, witnessing his every miracle . . . they were probably in.  After that, the big question was . . . who would make up the rest of the team.

As far as the disciples . . . or apostles as they are now known as . . . were concerned, it was a matter of whether they chose those they deemed the most helpful to the team.  In this situation, the pickings were probably slim, after all, not everyone had the experience they had had.  So, imagine their surprise on that day of Pentecost when they encountered all those strangers and outsiders who were being filled with the Holy Spirit.  Imagine their surprise when those they would never pick for the team suddenly are touched by the power of the Spirit . . . of being “marked” to be on the team.  Certainly, these were not people the disciples would have chosen; yet, here they were . . . a part of the team.  There was no denying what was taking place.

I guess the apostles learned a tough lesson.  When it comes to picking God’s team, they really don’t have much of a say.  God does the choosing.  Instead of lining everyone up and saying, “I want you . . . and you . . . and you.”  God just proclaims to everyone, “Come on over and join the team.”  God tells them that they are all chosen.

All are chosen.

The Apostle Paul uses the idea of adoption to explain this.  Paul states: “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption.”  In other words, God picked you . . . and, everyone else.  God picked everyone to be a part of God’s family . . . God instilled in everyone the Holy Spirit.  God wants everyone to be on God’s team.  God wants everyone to know and understand that they are loved . . . desired . . . and, wanted.  God wants everyone to know and understand that they are valued and important . . . that no one is more valued or wanted than any other.  As far as God is concerned, everyone is the “best”.

Thus, the goal is fanning that spark of the Spirit within each of us into a roaring flame.  To make each and everyone of us biting at the bit to step onto God’s team . . . to acknowledge our place on God’s team . . . of claiming our place in God’s family.  God chose us!  And, because God chose us, we can proclaim that we are the children of God—the sons and daughters—as we cry out, “Abba, Father.”  In doing so we acknowledge our place in God’s family with all its blessings; or, as Paul stated it: “Now if we are the children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ . . .”

There is no competition when it comes to the family of God . . . we are all in.  We are the chosen . . . the ones God chose . . . the ones God adopted.  We are all marked by the Spirit that indwells in each of us, waiting to be fanned into a burning flame.  We are the children of God.  As the children of God we are blessed with the good and the bad . . . with all that life and the future promises . . . nothing less than Jesus himself received.

I guess that is the problem.  It seems too simple.  It seems too simple when we place it up against the competitive world we live in.  And, yet, that is the way that it is.  It goes against what we have been raised to believe . . . how we have been taught to behave; and, yet, it is that simple.

Sometimes we need to look beyond our own culture to understand that God’s ways are not always the ways we live.  This past week I took a workshop to learn how to teach Native American traditional games.  One of the games I learned was called “Rock in Fist”.  It is a simple game.  One person puts a rock in his or her hand while the other person must guess which hand it is in.  The idea is to trick the other person into choosing the wrong hand.  The first one to “three” wins.

Most tribes play variations of this game, but it is a game that all of us know and understand.  It is such a popular game that tribes will hold tournaments.  To enter the tournament each person playing must contribute a gift that is placed on a blanket.  Everyone is competing for what is on that blanket.  Everyone begins in a long line, two people facing and competing against each other.  The winner advances ten steps up while the loser plays someone else who has lost.  This goes on until there is one person who has not won a game on one end of the area, and those still competing on the other.  The tournament ends when there are four competitors still playing . . . they are given a place (first, second, third, fourth).

At this point all the competitors are called into a large circle around the four finalists and the person who did not win a game.  Second place through fourth, and the one who has not won a game, are told to pick up a corner of the blanket.  At that point, the winner walks around the circle with the four carrying the blanket gifting each participant with a prize from the blanket.  This goes one until everyone receives a gift from the winner . . . including second, third, and fourth place.  At that point the blanket is awarded to the person who did not win any games. 

The person is awarded the most valuable of the gifts to let him or her know that he or she is valued . . . that they are important . . . and, that they are apart of the whole group.

It is powerful.  Powerful to know that you are chosen . . . that you are wanted . . . that you are a part of the team no matter how the world views you.  On that Day of Pentecost, God sent a powerful message into the world.  God said, “You are all on my team . . . I choose you.”  We have been chosen.  We are marked by the Spirit.  All you’ve got to do is to believe.  Amen.