Team Player

This sermon was delivered at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas on Trinity Sunday, June 3, 2007.

Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31
Psalm 8
Romans 5:1-5
John 16:12-15

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.

For those of you who don’t like sports analogies, you will find this tedious, but it makes my point. The other day I was reading an article[1] that says the superstars of today would rather be famous than great. In this scathing indictment, the writer compared Michael Jordan, the greatest basketball player of the 1980’s and 90’s—and arguably of all time—with the greatest basketball player of today, LeBron James. The author’s contention is while Jordan was willing to carry his team on his back to become basketball champions; James is satisfied with his reputation and his paycheck, both of which are sizable. Jordan was a star not just by getting his points, but by making his teammates better where it is said James is just happy putting up numbers. The sports writer said that to take his game to the next level. LeBron has to make the tough choices, take the important shots, and put his team on his back. That’s the only way he will be able to lead his team into the Promised Land, the NBA finals. Many sports pundits said the best example of this was at the end of game two of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals. With seconds to go, LeBron could have sent the game into overtime if he had gone to the hoop. Instead, he kicked the ball out to the perimeter where a teammate missed the potential game winning shot. Some approved of LeBron passing the ball saying it was unselfish play. Others said that as the best player in the league, he needed to take the shot. As Gene Hackman once said, “Winners always want the ball when the game is on the line.”[2]

Of course, this can go to extremes, Keyshawn Johnson, an NFL wide receiver who wrote a memoir called “Just Give Me the Damn[3] Ball,” raised some eyebrows with his ability, and a few more with his attitude. It was often said that regardless of how talented he is as a receiver, all of the other things he brought to the field overshadowed his ability. Where Michael Jordan carried his team and his league on his broad shoulders, Keyshawn Johnson always seemed to carry his like baggage. Where Jordan was the consummate teammate, Keyshawn always had the attitude that what he could do was the only thing that could help the team. So, who would you want as a teammate?

Today the church celebrates Trinity Sunday. This is the day we give thanks and glory to God in three persons, the Blessed Trinity. But here’s an interesting fact, never in scripture is the word “trinity” used to describe the Holy Triumvirate. The Old Testament, the portion of scripture predating Jesus, certainly doesn’t mention the Trinity. The Gospels don’t talk about the three distinct yet inseparable persons of God. The Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles don’t make the leap from the individual persons of God to the Trinity either. Revelation features each of the three persons prominently, but never is the concept of the Trinity used or defined.

The concept of the Trinity comes from biblical interpretation and theology instead of coming directly from scripture. In a way the Trinity is revealed through scripture instead of in scripture. The word Trinity was coined by the great theologian Tertullian late in the second century. But Tertullian couldn’t refer to a book or scroll that looked like what we call a bible. The collection of scripture we call the bible wasn’t assembled and standardized until early in the fourth century. So here’s a dilemma, how do we as bible believing Christians celebrate something that isn’t in our bible, a bible that didn’t exist as we know it until a hundred years after the concept was first mentioned?

The answer is not only are we called to read and study scripture; we are also called to interpret scripture. And today’s readings are a great place to start.

When I was in school, the English teachers in my district quit teaching how to diagram sentences. I don’t know if mine was an isolated example or if schools have quit teaching diagramming all together. One of the goals of diagramming sentences is to organize clauses and phrases to help identify the grammatical elements of a sentence and how they relate to one another. If I have learned one thing about John’s gospel over the past couple of months it’s that being able to diagram sentences would have come in handy, very handy.

In our gospel reading this morning, Jesus gives us a picture of how the three persons of the Trinity interact with one another, and then how they interact with us. Jesus tells us that the Spirit of Truth comes to guide us into all truth. The Spirit does not speak on its own, but speaks what is heard and then declares to us what is to come. The Spirit does this to glorify Jesus, and as we recall from last week’s scripture reading,[4] what the Son does he does to glorify the Father. What belongs to Jesus, the Spirit will take and declare to us. Finally, all that the Father has belongs to Jesus. So all that one of the persons of the Trinity has—is shared with each of the others –and then is declared to us.

This belonging and giving is difficult for us to understand. But then our reading begins with Jesus saying that he has many things to tell us, things we cannot bear now. Jesus knows we will never be able to fully understand the eternal relationship between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit on this side of Glory. So if we don’t understand, don’t be afraid, don’t mourn, don’t be anxious. Jesus says we can’t bear all of what he has to say, so he doesn’t expect us to know everything. Not understanding is fine; in fact, it’s the way of things.

But what we can’t know in our heads, through faith we can know in our very beings. Through faith we are justified. Through faith we have the peace of God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We can celebrate the Trinity, God who scripture unfolds as the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit because God calls the church, calls us to take the grace and the peace of Jesus Christ that the Spirit reveals to us into the world as ambassadors.

Team players. When involved in a team sport it is important to be a team player. As for LeBron James, he answered his critics by taking the last shot in the third game of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals. James took the last shot which finally won that game after making the shots that sent the game into overtime and then into double overtime. Since the end of the second game of the series he literally put his team on his back and carried them. The exception was last night when he did not lead his team in points, but he led his team every other statistical category making his teammates better. Through his dominating play and his unselfish efforts, LeBron James led his team past the Detroit Pistons last night and into the NBA finals.

As for Keyshawn Johnson, as a member of the Carolina Panthers and an analyst for ESPN television’s coverage of the NFL College Player Draft six weeks ago, he was excited to learn his team drafted a wide receiver from his alma mater. Keyshawn couldn’t wait to show him the ropes, until Carolina showed Keyshawn the door. Since getting cut from the team, Keyshawn has retired from playing and is now a full time football analyst for ESPN.

Being a team player means knowing your role, knowing your role is important, and knowing your role will change. Sometimes it will mean putting the team on your back and carrying them to victory. Other times it means doing everything you can to make teammates better. In their own way, the three persons of God are one team. The three persons of the Trinity exist in perfect relationship with one another. Their dance is eternal, the way it has been since before the beginning. And God in three persons invites us to join that dance. God invites us to be a team player, a player on God’s team. We are invited through the free gift of God’s grace. We receive this gift of grace through faith and by faith we are justified. Hope will never disappoint us because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. As the people of the Triune God, we are called to respond to this hope sharing the bounty of grace we have been given with the world. This way we will be great, instead of just famous.

[1] I am unable to find the source again, I wish I was able to so that I could cite the original author and so I could make sure I got the thought completely right.
[2] “The Replacements” Bel Air Entertainment, 2000
[3] I mumbled this word in the church.
[4] John 14:8-17, 25-27