The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
Any sports fan knows that a team filled with superstars that do the same thing rarely wins championships and that sometimes there is one that tears the team apart. Team has become the buzzword in the corporate world, using the skill sets of various people rather than the vision of one person. This means there is no superstar and this list of names is an example. Peter, among others are easily recognizable, but we surely see that he needed others to compensate for his weaknesses. Perhaps that was Alphaeus. We do not know. What we do know is that this team of ordinary men formed the foundation for the body of Christ, the church.
We as churches form leadership teams with complementary skill sets. Marriages are complementary, meaning Vicki negates my weakness with her sheer competency. A healthy church, as Paul said, is one where not everyone is an ear. He also wrote about a famous preacher…whose name we do not know! This tells us that there are no superstars or useless players on a team. If we love the Lord and his gospel, there is a place in the batting order for each one of us and we know that in the end, we win because of Jesus Christ!
Dear Lord, thank you for the victory that has already been won. From this day on, may we be a productive part of the church body. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Pastor Brad Boyer
Cape Community Church