Go Team

DEVOTION

ROMAN
GO TEAM

Rom 15:17-22

17 Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God. 18 I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done— 19 by the power of signs and miracles, through the power of the Spirit. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ. 20 It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else's foundation. 21 Rather, as it is written: "Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand."   22 This is why I have often been hindered from coming to you.

NIV

We are coming to the close of this letter and so we have more personal notes from Paul to the Saints who are in Rome. What we can glean here for our own lives is from the statement that Paul does not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through him. In his cause it is about leading the Gentiles to obey God by what he said and has done. He goes on to say it is by the power of signs and miracles through the power of the Spirit. Paul gives all the credit to Christ and the Spirit. This is a clue as to the attitude we should have regarding anything that we accomplish. We do accomplish things, just as Paul did, but it is not just we who get things accomplished. Everything we do for the kingdom of God is through the power of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit working through us. In fact everything we accomplish that may not be a direct result on the kingdom of God is through the power of Christ and the Holy Spirit working in and through us. If we start thinking that we are getting everything done that we do, that it is by our own strength, ability, knowledge or whatever, then we have denied Christ and the Spirit. Do we have certain strengths, abilities and knowledge? Absolutely, but it is not by our human effort alone. Are there people who possess strengths, abilities and knowledge by their human effort? Without question, but they do not know Christ nor acknowledge him before men. But we should acknowledge that all we do, all we accomplish is due to the power of Jesus and the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Prov 3:5-6

5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.  

NIV

As it is said in many business ventures that employee many people, “there is no I in team” Here is the same idea with all that we do. There is no I in team. We belong to the team of God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We are a member of their team and as such all the credit goes to the team, not the I. Therefor we should never have a sentence about any accomplishment either directly for the kingdom or indirectly for the kingdom that starts with “I”. We might be able to use “I” when speaking about our life before Christ, as it was nothing but the “I”. However, once we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior and he sent the Spirit to dwell within us, there is no more “I”, it is about the “we”, us being the weakest member or merely the vessel with which the team gets things done. So let us remember we can do all things, but through Christ Jesus who gives us the strength.

Phil 4:13

I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

NIV

Although the translators insisted the “I” in that sentence, in the Greek it is not there. It read more like; all things are able, have the power through him who gives strength to me. The importance is placed on the giving of power by Christ. Let us live, not to receive praise from men, unless they are praising the work of Jesus in our live, but let us live to give all the glory and honor to Jesus and the Spirit who works in and through us. So we live with the phrase, Go team!