I See You: Stronger In Community - Unity With Mission

·      Seeing is Seismic. Seeing moves you: Being seen moves me.

·      Seeing is Systematic: It’s a Discipline, an Investment and an action of Bold Faith. Practice makes Perfect.

·      Seeing opens hearts and seeds community.

“Rugged individualism has its place in survival situations but it loses steam in most life situations”

Psalm 133

How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity! 2 It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron’s beard, down on the collar of his robe. 3 It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion. For there the Lord bestows his blessing, even life forevermore.

The Big Idea last week was…

An impactful and influential Christian Community is unified in faith, unified by love and unified with mission.

·      Faith is our shared foundational experience.

·      Love is our shared operational secret sauce.

·      Mission is our shared existential purpose.

What’s our mission?

Matthew 28:18 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

God gave Gateway a specific path for this co-mission… It is encapsulated in 6 words… Fresh Starts. Great Friends. Real Purpose.

John 1:14 (The Message). The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish.

Acts 26:16-18 16 ‘Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. 17 I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them 18 to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

2 Corinthians 5:14-21 (The Message) 14-15 Our firm decision is to work from this focused center: One man died for everyone. That puts everyone in the same boat. He included everyone in his death so that everyone could also be included in his life, a resurrection life, a far better life than people ever lived on their own. 16-20 Because of this decision we don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don’t look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them. We’re speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he’s already a friend with you. 21 How? you ask. In Christ. God put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God.

 
“Everyone longs for a purpose but too often they settle for a cause.”
Causes are therapeutic. Purpose is a cure.


1 Corinthians 9:19-27 (The Message) 19-23 Even though I am free of the demands and expectations of everyone, I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide range of people: religious, nonreligious, meticulous moralists, loose-living immoralists, the defeated, the demoralized—whoever. I didn’t take on their way of life. I kept my bearings in Christ—but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view. I’ve become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God-saved life. I did all this because of the Message. I didn’t just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it! 24-25 You’ve all been to the stadium and seen the athletes race. Everyone runs; one wins. Run to win. All good athletes train hard. They do it for a gold medal that tarnishes and fades. You’re after one that’s gold eternally. 26-27 I don’t know about you, but I’m running hard for the finish line. I’m giving it everything I’ve got. No sloppy living for me! I’m staying alert and in top condition. I’m not going to get caught napping, telling everyone else all about it and then missing out myself.

1 Thessalonians 2:19-20 19 For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you? 20 Indeed, you are our glory and joy.

2 Corinthians 5:17-19 (NIV) 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

·      Gateway’s mission is to Develop Spiritual Influential Christ Followers.

·      A spiritual influential Christ Follower has a fresh, ongoing relationship with Christ (fresh starts), shaped in community (great friends) living on purpose (real purpose).

·      Fresh Starts, Great Friends, Real Purpose are spiritual objectives that have universal appeal. They represent a mission statement that can be discussed in any context with anyone and be understood and compelling.

Response Prayer

·      Lord where we I am dry and stale – refresh me!

·      Lord where I am spiritually alone, unseen, open my eyes to see others.

·      Lord where I am floundering for direction and purpose convince me to embrace your mission and this community of faith!