Synergy

Are you one of those people who doesn’t think they can accomplish very much on their own?  One of the “I’m only one person” kind of people?  Or maybe you’re the opposite and think you’re the only one who ever does anything? Might it be because you never ask for help?  Or because every time you do ask, everyone seems to run the other way so you always have to carry the whole load yourself?  Well good news!  You’re wrong either way!

As followers of Jesus, we are each a part of His Bride – the Church.  So since you are a cog in the machinery that is the Church; an eye in the body of Christ; what does the apostle Paul say about you? 

“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us - to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever.”  Ephesians 3:21-21

The passage says that God is going to do amazing things to bring glory to Himself in the Church.  It literally says that God is able to do “hyper-hyper more than you can ask or imagine!”  He is able to do more than you ask in prayer.  More than you can even imagine as you lie in bed at night thinking about tomorrow.  How?  Because God exerts His power through US.  Not just me or you.  US.  The power that is unleashed in our lives is described in Greek by the same word from which we get our word dynamite.  That says lots about how much power we wield as the Church.

But it’s by focusing on the “us” in the passage that I derived the title to this post.  Synergy, you see, is defined as “the interaction or cooperation of two or more agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects.”  It would seem that the Lone Ranger cannot create synergy.  But the Lone Ranger and Tonto can!  They can be more effective as a team than their total effectiveness as individuals.  That’s what synergy is all about, and that’s why we aren’t saved to walk through life just as believers.  We are redeemed by Christ to walk through life as believers joined with OTHER believers in His Church.

Jesus said, “The one who believes in Me will also do the works that I do. And he will do even greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.”  (John 14:12)  I can’t imagine doing greater works than Jesus, but God promised He could do more than I can imagine, right?  The reason we can do amazing things is because we’re in this together.  We create synergy by being the Church.  And whatever gifts I think I might possess that can help spread the good news of Jesus are just a drop in the bucket compared with what God can do when we ALL put our drops on the bucket!

I probably can’t make sure everyone in my community hears the Good News about Jesus by myself, but with your help, maybe we can make that happen.  I can’t imagine building bridges between people, or making sure kids don’t go to bed hungry, or touching lives halfway around the world.  But if we work together, we can do it.  In fact, we can do “exceedingly-abundantly” more than that.  I’m in.  How about you?

Jacob