We interrupt the story of King Saul for a quick meditation on the importance of individuals.

I was talking today with my friend Ray Bandi, a discipleship coach who lives in New Hampshire, and Ray asked: is Matthew 28.18 – 20 addressed to individuals or to the general body of Christians?

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28.18 – 20, ESV)

I’m not sure that we take this text, popularly known as The Great Commission, personally. After all, isn’t disciplemaking the “church’s” job? But Jesus wasn’t talking to a “church,” at least not in the sense that we think of church. He was talking to his followers, the eleven remaining disciples plus, more than likely, others who had traveled with them. It was a group, but groups are composed of individuals, each of whom must pull their weight.

Symphonies are made up of a collection of musicians, and they all must play their part competently and together for the music to sound right. Sports teams are made up of individuals, who must work together, but the failure of one can derail the whole operation.

Few sports are more unforgiving than baseball. It’s early in the season, but the Colorado Rockies baseball team is off to a dismal start. They’ve won only one game of their first six as of today. In the opening game, a week ago, it was 16 – 1 after the third inning in which the opposing team batted around twice! They pulled starting pitcher Kyle Freeland in the middle of the third after he had given up 10 runs.

Yesterday the Cubs beat the Rockies 12 – 2. It’s been a week…so I wondered who the starting pitcher was. Yep. Kyle Freeland, and he was pulled in the fourth inning after giving up 7 runs. Ouch. One guy not doing his job can spell disaster.

But Kyle isn’t alone. After all, he played in only two games. What about the left fielder, Nolan Jones? He had already misplayed a routine fly ball in the Rockies’ loss to the Diamondbacks on Sunday.

Then on Monday, With one out, Christopher Morel slashed a single to left, and the onrushing Jones let the ball go under his glove and it rolled to the wall. Jones compounded the first error with a poor throw back into the infield, allowing all three baserunners to score. Colorado couldn’t overcome the “Little League homer.”

“It was just a routine ground ball,” Jones told MLB.com. “I came up hard and thought I was going to have a play at the plate and peeked up a little bit, and the ball snuck under my glove.” – Tim Stebbins on MLB.com.

That’s something I would have chewed out a 10-year-old for if I were coaching Little League.

Maybe Jones is in the lineup because he can hit. Nope. After six games, left fielder Nolan Jones is hitting .087 and has 11 strikeouts.

Nolan Jones is not contributing. Pitcher Kyle Freeland is not contributing. Back to the original topic: how many church members are not contributing? (I realize that this analogy breaks down a little bit because Freeland and Jones are trying. They are in the game. They’re just not competent right now. In the church, a lot of members aren’t even in the “game,” and others who would like to contribute, haven’t been trained to competence.)

Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. (Colossians 1.28, ESV, emphasis mine)

And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. (Acts 8.1, 4, ESV, emphasis mine)

Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word… Acts 11.19, ESV)