Creekside Church Sermon of October 6, 2002 "I or We" Acts 2:1-4, 43-47	Rev. David Bibbee
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I like sports. Whenever my wife turns on the TV to watch her programs she has to change the channel because it is usually set on 21…ESPN, the Sports Channel. I like sports, but not all sports. The equestrian competition, soccer, ice hockey, and figure skating, especially men's figure skating, I can do without. Though I seldom get to see it, I like rugby and lacrosse. Fall is my favorite season for several reasons, and one of them is football.

When the subject is sports, we usually talk about individual athletes whose achievements are legendary. We think of Michael Jordan, Barry Bonds, Brett Farve, Jerry Rice, Venus and Serena, Tiger. They are exciting to watch. But what I enjoy more than individual athleticism is excellent team play where no one player dominates, and the team works as a unit.

In the last Super Bowl, the New England Patriots played the St. Louis Rams. The Rams had great individual talent at key positions. Most of the Patriots were unheralded. The odds-makers didn't give New England a chance. The Patriots made a statement before the kick-off. Their players were not introduced individually. The public address announcer simply said, "The New England Patriots," and the whole team rushed onto the field. They skipped the individual recognition. They did what most said couldn't be done. They won.

Phil Jackson may be remembered as the greatest basketball coach ever. The son of Pentecostal missionary parents, Jackson has won nine world championships with two teams having some of the greatest players of all time. Jackson's formula for success is basic-selfless team play. Sacrifice the glory of the one for the good of the whole. Do your personal best, but always help each other in pursuit of the common goal.

The odds-makers in Vegas would never have given the early Church a smidget of a chance of making it. So much was stacked against it. It would be swallowed and never heard from again. That may well have been the case had the disciples been into the glory of individuality. But Jesus wouldn't let that happen. He promised them power from on high. Great gusts of the Holy Spirit blew among them. Timid men stood tall. Uncertain voices spoke with conviction and authority, letting the world know that it was in for something big.

Reading Acts 2, we usually focus on the "peculiar particulars" of the Holy Spirit, and miss something in verse 1…"When the day of Pentecost had come they were all together in one place." This doesn't just mean the disciples were together in the same room. Though they were different as could be, and often got on each others nerves, they remained together, a team already experiencing the fruit of Jesus' prayer uttered just days before, "Father, make them one, even as you and I are one."

After the wind and the tongues of fire, Peter preached a fine sermon and the Church added three thousand members. Then another amazing thing happened. It wasn't just the disciples who were "all together." The infant church was now all together. Christians sold their possessions and pooled their resources to help any in need. They worshipped together. They learned about Jesus together. They broke bread together. Here was something the world had not seen before. A Roman cynic of that day wrote scathing words against the ignorant Christians. But there was something about this sect that amazed him. "See how they love one another." The Roman culture had not seen anything like it. And day by day The Lord added to the number those who were being saved. There was something about the gospel which caused people to alter their outlook on themselves and their relationship with others.

One day a disciple approached his spiritual master and said, "I have come to offer you my service." The wise master replied, "If you would have dropped the 'I', service would automatically follow." There it is…an essential aspect of the Christian life…dropping the "I"-not the "i" before "e" except before "ing", but the "I" that is you and me. Christians see themselves from a different vantage point. Christians speak a different language, and have a different take on reality. In our daily walk there are two words which require our close attention…"I and we." The vocabulary of Christians should have less "I-ness," and more "we-ness."

Three weeks ago I mentioned a research group that studied twenty-four hundred hours of television video and reduced the content of it all into one statement. "I am the most important person in the world." People I know who take this to heart have lots of stuff, but that is about it. Their relationships are often shallow and short-lived. They are terribly lonely, isolated people. Jesus had them in mind when he said, "What good does it do to gain the whole world and lose your soul?"

When John Zerbe was worship leader, he focused our thoughts in a blunt way. He mentioned a statement we often use, especially in worship. "God is present." "That is ridiculous!" John said. "God is always present. The real question is, "Where are we? Are we present to God?" Being present means dropping the "I" and getting ourselves out of the way so that we can be present, to listen to, and respond to God.

Do you know the best way to wreck a worship service? Hang on to your "I". Sit in that pew and say to yourself, "I want. I need. I prefer." Judge worship on the basis of how it effects you. Faith is deeply personal. But it is not just a personal thing between you and God.

I remember a Country song recorded back in the 70's by Tom T. Hall that went;

Me and Jesus, got our own thing goin'.
Me and Jesus, got it all worked out.
Me and Jesus, got our own thing goin'.
We don't need anybody to tell us what it's all about.

It's got a catchy tune, but the theology stinks. It is as unbiblical as can be. In the Bible, our relationship in Jesus isn't usually described in terms of "I". Most often it uses "We" language. The Bible is a communal book. Not just an individual instruction manual. By all means, we read and study it on our own, but remember…we hear God speaking through the Bible best when we listen together. Whenever Jesus said, "Follow me," he didn't send people off by themselves to be disciples in isolation. If he had, the church would never have been. The sum of Jesus' life would only appear as a footnote at the bottom of a page in a world history book.

I have been asked if I will ever spend two weeks alone in the wilderness again. The answer is, "No." I "could" do it again, but I won't. As wonderful as it was, my enjoyment was only half of what it could have been had another person been along. The precious moments of life are shared moments. The disciples were all together and the Spirit came and the church was born. The first Christians made sacrifices for each other, they took care of each other. Ate together. Worshipped together. Can we?

Worship at the turn of the Twenty-first Century is a contentious matter. Generations are fighting over which music to play and which hymns to sing. This is a dangerous time. If the church can't get beyond likes or dislikes; and if people are not willing to drop the "I", worship will be a casualty and churches will be split. Notice the number of churches that have traditional and contemporary services. I was moderator at a church that was voting on beginning a contemporary service. An older brother gave an impassioned plea against it. "If we do another service, this church will die!" I agreed with him. The potential for divisiveness and death were present if things were not done in a careful manner with a sensitive, open spirit. The brother was right, but for the wrong reason. He was really saying, " You're not going to play rock and roll in 'my' church." Changing worship can be a painful, contentious issue if people are not willing to drop "I" and "My."

Just to let you know, I will not advocate two services. It divides the church by generations. Churches are doing it because it is easier than creating worship that brings everyone together and is able to speak relevantly across generations. Splitting worship into old and new styles encourages hanging on to our "I". "You folks go ahead and have your service. Do what you want and we'll do what we want." You can eat nothing but meat and potatoes, but you won't have good nutrition. You'll be deprived of learning to enjoy new food that you can make you a healthier person. We can stay with one style of worship if we want. We can stick with meat and potatoes music and ritual. But we will deprive ourselves of enriching experiences that nourish our souls and open us to the winds of God's spirit.

"We need to sing more of the old songs," I've been told. What do you mean by old? Plain song? Gregorian chant? That's really old. Or do you mean the hymns you have sung all your life? Old hymns didn't start old. When the church first sang them, people were saying, "If we sing this new stuff it will wreck worship!" The Holy Spirit did not stop inspiring musicians and hymn composers a hundred years ago. Lovers of the new music, before you shelve traditional hymns in storage, remember, hymns that are hundreds of years old are still around for a reason; they tell the story of our faith, they teach the foundation upon which we build our lives, they share the witness of generations of Christians before us, they tell the truth about what is really real in ways that, "I just want to praise you, Jesus" ditties flashed on a screen cannot.

Do you what I don't like? Traditional hymns done poorly. The only thing worse is new hymns done poorly. I don't like shallow, sweet, syrupy, sentimental hymns. I don't like spiritual music that uses steel guitar. I don't like singing with taped accompaniment. But it doesn't matter. I have been very successful at designing worship services guaranteed to contain something each week that some of you don't like. But it doesn't matter. Let's not stay stuck on what we like or don't like. We must practice dropping the "I".

Now I want to show you a segment of a sermon preached by Tony Campolo at last month's NOAC Conference which underscores what I am saying.

[VIDEO CLIP]

Can we learn to sing songs we don't particularly care for but learn to anyway because others do?

We can…if we follow Jesus commandment, "Love one another as I love you."

We can…if we remember we were not made such that we will all respond to God or praise Jesus in the same way.

We can…if we remember that in Christ's church we are not a bunch of individual "I"'s, but are one body in Christ.

Yes we can…if we love as Jesus taught us to love.

Do we love each other enough to stop setting up stumbling blocks and allow room for worshipping in unfamiliar ways because it helps others worship in joy and draws them closer to Jesus?

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