Every Tuesday and Friday morning at 6:30 I play basketball. Now that I am almost fifty my one inch vertical has plummeted to about a ¼ of an inch. Fortunately the guys I play with all play below the rim. Normally we just divide the colour of the shirts and those are the teams. Today’s teams were very evenly matched and the games were quite competitive and a lot of fun. Basketball is designed to work together as a team. I know what your thinking and yes the NBA is not always a good example of that. When a team utilizes all its players you can end up with some pretty amazing plays. My favourite part of the game is passing. I love to watch a team who passes the ball around and waits for the right shot to open up. Believe it or not we even get a few plays that really should make a highlight reel somewhere. Sadly there are no cameras.
In order to have this type of basketball there must be unity among the players. Once it becomes about one or two people you loose that power of unification. In scripture we see the Israelites fight as one man in Judges. Without a unified body we will be defeated. We are told we are the body of Christ, which is one man. We no longer play for our self but Jesus who is the head. When everyone is using his or her gifts, unity has amazing power. If you have a church filled with radical Christians who are radically united with each other, you become like the army of God. Satan knows this and that is why he works so hard to turn people against one another. Jude 17 says, “But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 18 They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” 19 These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.” When people follow their own desires and selfish ways the church is in trouble just like any basketball team. It will not matter how great the individual players are, without unity and playing as one, there will be no long-term victory.
