Serve Us Or Service Series

ME:

Good morning, Gateway Church. It is great to have you with us today as we continue our teaching series “UNITED WE STAND.”

If you remember from last week, started this series by looking at the GREAT DIVIDE that exists in America. Not the Red/Blue or Left/Right or Democrat/Republican divide.

I’m talking about the DIVIDE in the church that DIVIDES the church from the mission of Jesus. We’re tackling this series because we have allowed our political differences to divide us and cause DISUNITY in the church, and DISUNITY WILL ALWAYS DISRUPT THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH

WE:

As we move forward in this series, focusing on UNITY, 20 years ago today was a day that brought Americans together like few things have in our lifetime.

20 years ago today was one of the most significant days in US history or at least in the last 50 years. The 9/11 attacks changes our nation forever.

• How many of you remember exactly what you were doing when 9/11 happened?

• I was in the air on the way to San Diego.

o Stuck in Wichita, KS

o Stories of people helping (Mayor ordered pizza for everyone)

• In New York & D.C. people were running into danger to help strangers.

• People put their own preferences, welfare and even safety aside to help others.

• People served side by side to help others.

• On United Flight 93 a group of strangers came together and sacrificed their own lives to save countless others.

The whole time I was in the airport in Wichita… helping others and being helped by others… do you know what questions were asked?

• What's your name?

• Where are you from?

• Can I borrow your cell phone?

• What do you need?

• Are you hungry?

• What can we get you?

• What's your phone number/address so we can stay in touch?

Do you know what questions were never asked?

• Are you are Republican or a Democrat?

• Are you a Liberal or a Conservative?

• Did you vote for Bush or Gore?

None of that mattered. What mattered was that there were people who were scared… people who were isolated… people who needed help…

And there was a mass of people who came together to help.

You see, when we were all focused on the needs of others. When we were all focused on doing right by our neighbor because we were all under attack. Political and racial and religious differences all faded into the background. What mattered was helping each other.

Now, if our nation can get that right (even for a short time) and they don't have the message or the model of Jesus lean on, how much MORE should we - the church - the community of Jesus followers - get it right?

If we want to bring UNITY to the CHURCH and bring healing to a divided world, then we have to take our focus off of what's in it for us and shift our focus to what's best for others.

We need to let go of our SERVE US ECONOMY and adopt a SERVICE ECONOMY.

If we want to heal the division in the church, then the church needs to get busy serving those in need.

Or, to put it another way…

SERVING TOGETHER BRINGS US TOGETHER.

Let me say that again because that's our focus today. SERVING TOGETHER BRINGS US TOGETHER.

Open Bibles to Philippians 2:5 pg. 802.

GOD:

As I said a minute ago, we need to change our economy form a SERVE US economy to a SERVICE economy.

• Too many Christians today look at their church and say "Serve Us."

• Too many Christians today look at our nation, our government, other people and say "Serve Us."

• Too many Christians - and too many churches - look to the power of political parties to get what we think we need because our attitude is "SERVE US" rather than SERVICE.

But that's not what we're called to do. And the "SERVE US" mindset only serves to divide us from each other, from those in need and from our MISSION.

So… how do we fight it? Glad you asked.

Let's go back to Paul's letter to the very diverse church at Philippi.

[Remember this church was started with a rich merchant woman, a formerly possessed slaver girl and a former soldier turned jailer.]

And - picking up right were we left off last week - Paul says,

5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

6 Who, being in very nature God,

did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;

7 rather, he made himself nothing

by taking the very nature of a servant,