SOULSHIFT
From Me to We
October 26 – 27, 2019
We are in our final message in our series, Soulshift where we’ve covered seven shifts, changes, that God leads us through, in his power (that’s key) to make change in our life, from deep inside, so that we become different, looking and acting more and more like Jesus.
Me to You, Slave to Child, Seen to the Unseen, Consumer to Steward, Ask to Listen, Sheep to Shepherd, and finally tonight/today, Me to We
These shifts we have been speaking about is not just a shift in our thinking, it’s not some quick fix steps (do these three things and change). These changes to our lives only happens when we allow God to affect us, touch us by the power of God working in our lives.
Baptism (statement of faith with others) My mom 86 yr old mom told me the other day that she wants to be baptized, but I don’t wanna go to the beach. So I told her I can sprinkle you. She said go do em then, but she said, I no like have to do it in front of everybody.
But I said mom, it’s a public declaration that you are a Christian. Mom said, “Ok, you and our family then!” Something happens in our soul when you go public with your profession of faith in Jesus!
Survey of you are more Me than We:
When you get a picture of yourself with your family, friends, team, honestly, do you look at yourself first to see how you look before you look at others?
Why do we do that when we know what we look like? We see our faces in the mirror everyday! It’s by nature that we are fixated on ourselves!
In our series, we have been following the 12 ordinary men that Jesus called out to follow him and to participate in the miracles that he was doing. There is a pattern that came up in most of their conversations. Even after Jesus taught them about suffering and dying for others, they were stuck on themselves and in competition with each other. They kept thinking Me, and Jesus kept thinking We. They followed Jesus for two years and still hadn’t shifted in this important way. Let’s look at one incident:
35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came over and spoke to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do us a favor.” 36 “What is your request?” he asked. 37 They replied, “When you sit on your glorious throne, we want to sit in places of honor next to you, one on your right and the other on your left.” 38 But Jesus said to them, “You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of suffering I am about to drink? Are you able to be baptized with the baptism of suffering I must be baptized with?” 39 “Oh yes,” they replied, “we are able!” Then Jesus told them, “You will
indeed drink from my bitter cup and be baptized with my baptism of suffering. 40 But I have no right to say who will sit on my right or my left. God has prepared those places for the ones he has chosen (Mark 10:35 – 40 NLT).”
“We wanna sit in the place of honor next to you! In other words, the brothers were asking, we wanna recognized, we want to be seen as the greatest. I know you called out to Peter and Andrew first to be your followers, but us guys want to have a special place next to you! Just asking! I call this the tantaran spirit. This show off; boastful, focus on ME attitude. Many of us get this tantaran spirit, attitude. It is attracted to status or position and is hierarchical. It can only lead down, never up. It cannot appreciate one’s equal, but only one’s subordinate. It has a hard time sharing the spotlight.
Things haven’t changed in 2000 years as we today still have this “What’s in it for me” thinking. That’s what happens when most enter any organization, club, sports team, school, and even church. How can I become great!
They didn’t realize that when Jesus called each of his initial 12 followers, he called them to be a part of a We culture, not a what’s in it for ME culture.
PREOCCUPATION WITH ME: This is such a Selfie culture: How many of you have instagrams, Facebook, how many of you post selfies? Much of what I have learned about selfies is from who, my son and daughter. My daughter, Kanoe, takes selfies all the time and send them to her friends as part of her texting communication. And she has an app to alter how you look, to make you look younger, funny, add stuff, etc.
The “selfie” has made a tremendous cultural impact, so much so that Oxford Dictionaries named “selfie” the 2013 word of the year.
We may not have instagram, twitter or FB accounts where we post our selfies and look for approval through that medium, but we all search for significance, yearning for validation, wanting to feel special, desiring to be recognized, needing to be noticed, yearning to feel secure, and just waiting for those “atta boys, you are good, you are special, “I love you”, “I need you” comments. We life in a Selfie, What’s in it for me culture: If it’s not good for me, I’m out of here. It’s this entitlement mentality.
KEY: If we are totally convinced that God has his eye on us, that he wants the best for us, that he promises to give us everything we need, maybe not everything we think we need, that’s our wants, that he will take good care of us, then and only then, can we make this soul shift from “Me” to “We” It’s a focus off what’s in it for me, to what’s in it for “We”
Hold your fist together, harder, harder! That’s the “ME” Now, open up your fists, a place your hands together (make a “W” as if you are holding someone). What’s easier? We’re never meant to hold onto tightly to our lives.
It’s a life of thinking less of what’s in it for me, to what’s in it for “We”. And when we do, our lives will become more attractive, more usable for God.
And with the “We” Shift, Jesus changed the world through his church. And what is the church? We are the church! It’s about We the people living out our faith. Paul says it this way in his first letter to the Corinithian church 3:16, Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you?
By the fact
Move from Me to We by . . .
1. Seeing the Win as We instead of Me
41 When the ten other disciples heard what James and John had asked, they were indignant. 42 So Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. 43 But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else (v. 41 – 44).
2. Choosing to Serve Others not like Me
45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Greatness in Jesus economy wasn’t measure by who was gonna sit next to him on the thrown. But it would found as someone willing to take on a position as a servant.
The question for you and I is, if you wanna find yourself next to Jesus, you gotta find yourself in the servants quarters because that’s where Jesus is. Jesus says, “if you wanna be a leader, you must be a servant!”
And what is the job of a servant? By the very title of a servant, a servant does what? Yes, serve.
What does a good servant do? Is well aware of the needs of whom he/she is serving, places that persons needs above his/her own, does whatever it takes to please those he is serving.
Again Jesus is saying, you wanna be great, take on the role of a servant. That’s thinking We rather than Me.
Think of an example: Children’s Ministry: There was a gap in leadership. Some stepped up and said we wanna make sure we have a stellar CA/MA ministry because they not only want a setting for their children to grow, but see it as an opportunity to reach more families for Jesus. Young families who visit our church will most likely have the Me in mind. What’s in this church for me, and my kids, and if they don’t see a stellar CA/MA ministry, they’ll find another church. The majority of our visitors won’t visit thinking, hmm, I wanna help them in this church!
Speaking on that, we’re looking for people who would be willing to serve to check in families into our CA/MA ministry at each service. You may be saying, I don’t have young kids anymore, that’s in my season of life, but a servant would be open to serving with others not like “Me” I share this need, now if you’d like to respond as a servant to help in this area, let me know on the Connection Card.
One piece of advice: Start small, but start now. It’s taking small steps! But the good news is if you wanna find yourself next to Jesus, you’ll find him in the servants quarters cuz that’s where you’ll find Jesus. He’s not at the head of the table. He’ll be with you as you serve. And you’ll do it for the audience of one! The soul shift we are talking about is from Me to We. And the best way to do “WE” is to become a servant.
Next,
3. Committing to Community
Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other
(Romans 12:4 – 5 NLT).
Paul is speaking to a church in Rome that he planted. Let me ask you a question? What is Christ’s body? It’s the church! And what’s the church? We are! Yes, It’s the “We” With Each other, And he says if you are the church, each of us has a special function to play.
We don’t want to be Spectator Christians. So many especially in America are spectator Christians. We attend a church services, sing a few songs, be entertained, inspired by the speaker, get our weekend service fix, and then we head back home, just like going to a football game.
When asked if you’d like a name tag, you say, I don’t need one cuz you wanna remain anonymous, detached. When church ends, you find the easiest way out, so you don’t need to talk to nobody, especially with me!
Now I totally understand this cuz that’s how I was when I first checked out a church. It was all about me and what I could get out of it. Most people start out like that. But eventually God will call you of the stands as spectators and onto the team to play. It’s fun to watch others play, but when you get on the team and start playing, it will be more fun, more meaningful, in fact, you were made to be on the team, not to be in stands.
Don’t merely listen to word and so deceive yourselves, do what it says James 1:22, James tells us.
So how can you start small, but start now and Move from Me to We (show hand gesture again):
Get connected to at least one place of community beyond the weekend service:
As our church grows bigger, it needs to grow smaller in groups. In other words, have more settings where we can be committed to one another.
How can you grow in love by yourself. Too many of us are islands onto ourselves. We need to open up our relational borders. (To do the We – hands embracing others)
Maybe we can’t be holy, special for God, by ourselves any more than we could be a one-man Trinity. If we are serious about our relationship with Jesus and Jesus is part of a triune community, where he is Son, in relationship with His heavenly Father, empowered by and controlled by the Holy Spirit, then maybe we are only as holy, special for God, when we are our committed to each other in community.
Yes, it starts out with you and your family, but it extends out from there. Maybe all of us need to soften our borders to include others.
Here are some settings in our church:
1. OG, Bible Study: it’s where we do life together. I met a couple this past week and they asked me what do people do in an OG, go over the messages? Well, that’s what is covered, but it’s more about doing life together. It’s a chance for everyone to practice the We. How can we support each other? How do you grow in love by yourself? Love requires being in community, in relationship with one another.
God has made us into relational beings. Jesus best way to teach was not lecture style like I’m teaching you today. His best was always in community, in his small group, his ohana group with this disciples. You can only grow so much from afar, gotta come up and close with others.
Commit to a “W.E” setting beyond our weekend services. But It takes so much for me just to attend church, that’s great! But eventually to make this Soul shift gotta go from spectator to player.
Share about our OMNI series strategy: The power of alignment: We traditionally have three or so OMNI series a year, New years, Easter, and Summer. All to align the church to grow!
2020 Vision: New Years series, We are gonna urge everyone to connect in community, join a small group!
Some of you are in community with an OG
What we call church today, our 90 minutes on a Sunday, you would be hard pressed to find an biblical examples of people meeting, singing a few songs, listen to one guy, and not seeing each other for one week. That’s how we’ve translated church today.
If you read about the communities of God in the bible, people were meeting each other daily and growing together in their relationship with God.
We are approaching a busy time of the year. Traditionally, it’s hard for people to commit to 6 or 8 wks together to meet with all the holiday activities. In the new year, we’ll be launching an OMNI Series.
Where do you become confident in praying out loud for those around you? When can you learn to care for people’s needs, when you get up close and personal with people to know each other’s needs.
How do you handle life’s challenges? Hang around others who have been through what you’ve been through? Or at least can pray for you, and maybe even guide you to the right people?
How can I have a stronger marriage? Connect with other married couples wanting to have a stronger marriage, or be a better parent!
How do you find someone to get married if you are in your 20s? Join the 20 Somethings group! Yeah, not so you can necessarily marry each other, but to learn how to relate to each other as fellow believers!
2. MG: This is our weekend expression of church to the community: Our weekend services are our open house to the life of a Christian:
That’s why are messages are aimed at those who are not yet convinced. If we changed our weekend service focus to those who are already convinced, who would come to our open house. They wouldn’t be able to relate.
That’s why we have our transformation academy classes for, to go more in depth with topics that are for the already convinced.
That’s why I don’t teach how to read the bible lessons on a Sunday. There’s a setting for that.
Paul is using the body as a metaphor, as a picture to talk about the community of God. Each part of the body has a special function.
So my call to you is to see how you can get involved, connected in making our open house setting for those in our community look attractive:
Some needs: Multimedia (video), Levites (Set up/Breakdown) if you can commit once or twice a month that would be great, Children’s Ark (there are some volunteer leaders that are so open to having you join their team) There is a huge need (for a team of people who could help with sign ins/welcome team, currently the teachers do that) If our teachers could focus on teaching and a welcoming team can welcome the parents, and newcomers, that would be great (again serving on a team)
3. Zoe Walk,
End with showing the Community of God in Acts that changed the world! They were devoted themselves to the Apostles teachings, (There was no bible as we have today) They learned about the ways of Jesus from the ones who spend three years with Jesus, and were devoted to one another. Who are you devoted to in community! To express love with?
Jesus says this to his followers: So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. 35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”
Pray:
Invite back next week for Face to Face: Encounters with Jesus that transforms
