Being
on
God’s
Team
God is not on our side.
The Commander of the Lord’s Army.
13 When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” 14 And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped[a] and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?” 15 And the commander of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.
But we can be on God’s side.
Who’s team are you on?
Your own team or God’s?
Often, we start on our team, we learn that that is not where we are meant to be, we switch to God’s team, and then, unfortunately, we convert God’s team into our team and wonder where God has gone.
- How do we move from being on our team to God’s team?
- How do we keep ourselves on God’s team?
- What are the telltale signs that I might be trying to convert God’s team into my team?
- And if I find myself having converted God’s team to my team and God seems vacant, how can I get back onto God’s team?
The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry
How to Stay Emotionally Healthy and Spiritually Alive in the Chaos of the ModernWorld
by John Mark Comer
John Ortberg
A compelling emotional and spiritual case against hurry and in favor of a slower, simpler way of life—from the New York Times bestselling author of Practicing the Way
“Prophetic, practical, and profoundly life giving . . . provides a way forward that creates hope, hunger, and a vision of a beautiful life. I consider this required reading.”—Jon Tyson, lead pastor of the Church of the City New York and author of Beautiful Resistance
“Who am I becoming?”
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1. How do we move from being on our team to God's team?
My team is vain, and I am vain.
I am self-seeking, self-promoting, self-gratifying, and self-preserving.
Presentation is more important than substance.
People who threaten these things and me are the enemy, and are to be struggled against.
These are the ways of our team.
God’s ways and God’s team are different.
If God is in control, then any earthly problem is a wind and a vapor, be it other people facing off against, a coupe from within, or a lack of money, resources, or capacity. Whatever the problem is it is not a problem to Jesus. Therefore, to be on God’s team and not our own team is to NOT walk according to the flesh, to NOT fight against flesh and blood, NOT to do as has been done to you, and to NOT serve money, fame, or power. For in NOT doing these things, we do NOT get in God’s way. We leave space for God to do what God wants to do.
Surrender is key when you are in God’s team.
2. How do we keep ourselves on God's team?
#VersesThe idea of “way” is a focus.
Few of us are followers of the way; instead, we follow after our wants.
We need to be followers of the way of Jesus.
God’s ways are not our ways.
WWJD is a very real idea, so you have to know Jesus in all the words you like from Jesus and all the words you do not like from Jesus
Grow in information, grow that into knowledge, practice this, and convert knowledge into understanding. Walk from understanding and mature this into wisdom. Now live from wisdom, as Jesus did.
Therefore, Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever [a]the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.
As a result of bad father figures, one of the hardest tasks we have is allowing communion with Father through reconciliation achieved by Jesus. It was never that Father was absent or distant but that we viewed Him as such. Jesus is easy to associate with, and his love and kindness are obvious. Now, we are on Father’s team and need to live and communicate with Him like we do Jesus.
Jesus *said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me?
Then we have the Garden of Gethsemane.
And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.”
In this idea, I suggest that if you are not having conflicts of will with Jesus, you have, therefore, successfully locked Jesus out of your decision-making process. I have found that staying on God’s team is a constant act of giving over my will to Jesus; it is not a single surrender that is done and dusted but a daily and even hourly surrender.
Further Verses.
3. What are the telltale signs that I might be trying to convert God's team into my team?
Are you rushed?
Are you conflicted?
Are you confused?
Are you being pushed to make decisions?
Is your ego engaged?
Are you afraid of losing face?
Is your culture overshadowing a Bible-based truth? Have you calculated the difference?
Who do you fear? Man or God?
Are you motivated by fear of losing your position, title, ministry, resources, business, reputation, face, or standing?
So, learn how to be motivated only by your non-ministry-orientated relationship with Jesus.
This may be a new idea.
Many of us only have a relationship with Jesus in relation to what we do for Jesus.
We only have a ministry-oriented relationship with Jesus.
Our salvation may be by faith, but our works are in our own strength.
Are you cultivating a relationship with Jesus that is solely between you and him, a Sabbath relationship, if you will?
You can also develop a work-oriented relationship with Jesus; in fact, you must, but it always serves the first relationship; the needs of what we do are never in control of who we are with.
4. And if I find myself having converted God's team to my team and God seems vacant, how can I get back onto God's team?
It is very hard to admit you are wrong, to admit you have taken God’s glory. It may require the death of the work. The Maori is a good example.
What you can not do is try to mitigate the damage by minimizing your error.
Full disclosure is needed.
Do take the time to full process and define the way you took over God’s team and the wrong that has been done.
Repentance is key.
Not a repentance to try and salvage your reputation or position, not a repentance to keep the team alive, but a repentance that is an abandonment of yourself at Lord Jesus’ feet.
Now, what He does next, what He asks next, is what you follow.
Good counsel from people you know are working on God’s team (and not their own team), can help you navigate back to God’s team, back to the ways of Jesus.
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Romans 12:14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.
Colossians 3:13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.
James 1:19 This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger;
Here is an interesting idea for anger.
Ephesians 4:25
25Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. 26 Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and do not give the devil [s]an opportunity. 28 He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with [t]one who has need. 29 Let no [u]unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification [v]according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. 30 Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, [w]by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven [x]you.
Learn not to sin with anger.
Learn to have only had anger when the sun is still up.
Put away ALL ANGER.
So many other verses give us a way to live and remain on God’s team.
Deuteronomy 23:5 Balaam’s curses to blessings.
Proverbs 14:29:
“Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly”.
Proverbs 16:32:
“Better a patient person than a warrior, one with self-control than one who takes a city”.
Proverbs 19:11:
“Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense”.
Proverbs 15:18:
“A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger quiets contention”.
Psalm 145:8:
“The LORD is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love”.
Ecclesiastes 7:9:
“Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools”.
1 Corinthians 13:4-5:
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.”
It is far harder to convert God’s team into your team if you act slowly. God is never in a rush.
When you are rushed, forced to move or act out of confusion, this can be a sign that someone else is trying to take over God’s team and make it their team.
You do not need to follow.
If you are the one instigating these things, maybe you are in the process of seeking to convert God’s team into your team.