Attitude

Good morning That music. I feel like I should be coming out of a stadium with my football helmet on ready to go Well, my name is Jim Jensen. I’m the executive director here at Shepherds Gate.

What does that mean? That means that I oversee the processes and strategy of behind the scenes of our ministry And it’s also my privilege to lead the staff. Thank you so much for being here today You guys look great. And thanks for joining us online as well We’re so glad that you’re tuning in for the second week of our new series called the serving challenge And it’s it’s been great so far the the the author of the serving challenge Well, there was our guest speech speaker last week and he kind of set the stage for it and today we’re gonna begin to unpack what it means to serve like Jesus and Even our kids have books if you came in today and you weren’t here last week You got a book.

Everyone’s got a book a great content in there So make sure you’re using that every day. Our students are with us as well It’s gonna be great. The whole series is based on a passage in Philippians Philippians 2 and it pulls out five ways in which we need to take a look at Serving in our lives and you can see them there all the words begin with a so We’re gonna cover all of these in the next few weeks except for Mother’s Day.

You saw that Mother’s Day charcuterie Come on, that’s gonna be awesome. I’m so pumped about that My wife is excited about the spa challenge giveaway, and I’m sure there are others that are too If you know a mom, please invite them for that. If you your own mom if she’s Available moms in your area in your neighborhood and their families.

We’re just gonna do it up big We’re going all out this year for moms. So make sure you do that Otherwise, we’re hitting these different words with the serving challenge and today as you can see with the circle its attitude We’re gonna talk about an attitude for serving So who cares about attitude? Why is attitude important? Well, have you ever heard the phrase attitude is everything? So I went I thought to myself, you know This sounds like a sporting analogy moment and I’m not really into sports But I did I did go on chat GPT and I was like hey Is it true that like professional athletes talk about attitude a lot and you probably know the answer to that Yes, they do almost every time they’re interviewed They talk about their mindset their focus their attitude for their sport to be a top athlete And actually I know that’s true these days. I’m on the elliptical but years ago I was a long-distance runner and even got some pictures to prove it Here’s me with Haley when she was little my youngest daughter We did a little fun run there together And then the other picture is me with my friend of mine Jim and a mentor and that’s the Chicago Marathon I actually did the Chicago in the Philadelphia.

Oh, you can clap for that. That’s great. It was so many years ago.

I Really don’t deserve any. Thanks for it now or accolades for it Now I was much younger and much better shape, but that was fun. Actually this guy Jim He said anybody can run a marathon and I laughed I thought it was a joke And he’s like no, it’s no joke You just need to put in the time and I’m like, you know That’s that can’t be true and he challenged me to run it and that’s how I got into running I can tell you that it as a long-distance runner Attitude is everything.

In fact, your body gives you signals after a few miles. It tells you oh, I’m tired you know, you really need to stop you need a snack, but But actually if you have the right mindset and you just tell your body to keep going Your body’s capable of way more than it thinks it is Yeah attitude is everything in running it’s everything in life and so, you know if if attitude is so important then you know What attitude should we have if we’re following Jesus? If that attitude is important in every aspect of life, then what should our attitude be as Jesus followers? Is It just positive thinking. I mean positive thinking is important.

Is that all it is? Maybe it’s a thinking about more good things than bad things It sounds good, is that the totality of it? How about figuring out how to be nice to people that you’d rather just kill? No, I Mean we laugh at that, but there have been times right there been times No, it’s it’s maybe all of these things. But is it more is it deeper? What is our attitude if we’re if we’re a follower of Jesus if we want to follow Jesus? Well in the passage that the serving challenge is based on in Philippians. There’s a pretty straightforward answer So let’s start there at Philippians 2 5. It says you must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had Great Church Sunday School answer, isn’t it? Yes, but it makes sense if we’re gonna follow Jesus then not just following him in our actions But in our attitude and What attitude did Jesus have? It’s clear in Scripture that the Jesus was a servant that he served that he came to serve Have you ever heard the phrase Jesus was a servant of all? It comes from Scripture a Pastor and author Craig Rochelle says it this way according to Jesus greatness is service not status That’s the attitude that Jesus had and that’s why it’s crucial this morning that we study The attitude of Jesus if we want to figure out this serving challenge and dig deeper into what it really really means to serve for a follower of Jesus attitude and action are Deeply connected like two sides of the same coin And so we need to see what the attitude of Jesus really was so the remainder of this talk We’re gonna do two things.

We’re gonna do an attitude check and we’re gonna do an attitude alignment I think it’s critical to examine our mindset regularly that’s what an attitude check is and then we’ll look at an encounter with Jesus and a Woman and some Pharisees these teachers of the law that did not like Jesus is teaching We’ll look at how he encountered them and how he demonstrated his servant attitude so first an attitude check here’s Kind of the truth about our attitude and what happens with us if you’re unhealthy on the inside You will do unhealthy things on the outside This is just a truth we we know it intuitively to be true Actually in the Bible, it’s all over the place there are so many there are so many verses and Situations in the Bible that demonstrate that if we’re unhealthy on the inside if we don’t have the inside right our thoughts our feelings our Emotions our heart and our mind then what comes out of us is not healthy either. I’m just gonna give you one Here’s one from Romans 12 to don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person By changing the way you think isn’t that interesting? It starts with the mind It starts with our mindset It starts with our attitude So it’s been shown on average that the average person in their thought life each day That 80% of their thoughts are negative sobering There may be something wrong with us. We know that we’re flawed We know that we’re not perfect, but this might start explaining the problems that crop up in our own lives.

Don’t you think? if 80% of our thoughts are negative Or we have issues in our family or our work or communities around the world It starts to explain what we see and hear in this world It’s not perfect a perfect world and yet here we are dwelling on these negative thoughts I Can still hear my dad saying to my brother and I if we mouthed out off at him. Check your attitude. I Think he was on to something.

I mean, he’s very wise at the time I didn’t think about it. But now that I think about it, he was on to something check, you know, don’t Don’t don’t say that, you know, he didn’t say that he said check your attitude Why because he was concerned about what was on the inside that allowed those words to come out And of course if we ever mouth that that off that mom, you know, that was even worse, you know, then you’re really in trouble The added the attitude check is coming to terms with the reality that our inward life is not always in control It spills out into our outward life and causes problems. Is this true for you? Just do a little thought experiment here Just can you think of a time recently when what was on the inside your thoughts and your feelings? Broke out into the outside world and caused you a little bit of trouble This is a common a common occurrence Positive or negative it actually happens all the time because this is just the way people work.

That’s the principle what’s on the inside? Comes to the outside I Mentioned a few minutes ago that we have serving opportunities in church and we’re talking about serving and we’re looking at the serving challenge We actually have two kinds of serving opportunities step out and step in step in opportunities are the serving opportunities We have here at church to serve one another in our community and step out Opportunities we go out into the community at large outside our four walls and we serve others there And of course, we’re always having these kind of opportunities at church And this winter we had one the Macomb County winter shelter where we went to a homeless shelter in Warren It’s a show of hands who was it was in on that one who did that one so a fair amount of you. Yeah Well what we do when we have these serving opportunities on staff is that I send an email to the staff and encourage them Hey, let’s lead by example Let’s make sure we sign up for this step out opportunity for the shelter and that will lead by example for our congregation I think is really great. But you know if I send the email Then I have to lead by example and I have to sign up for it, too Which is normally not a problem for me.

I’m happy to do these things over the years Shepherd’s Gate It’s great at stepping out to serve. It’s always a very rich time for me. But this time was different I just got to be honest with you Part of it is that I’m a little busy right now and you know Executive director role but also if you’ve been with us for a while, you know that we’re looking for a worship director as well And we’re actually looking to hire two people for that job full-time And I’m filling in for that role as well So I’m doing I’m doing a dual role and then you know, the winter shelter is between Christmas and Easter So Holy Week’s coming up, you know so I was really busy looking at our Holy Week services to make sure they were good and I was leading the search for these These new staff members for worship and so I was a little bit busy and I don’t know it just hit me different this time I sent the email.

I was very positive. But inside I was thinking I guess I’m gonna have to do this too and I’m like, well, how can I how can I get this done? And I just kind of had a bad attitude about it to be honest, right? I I know I know to do my duty I know how to step up and you know and and do things even if I don’t feel good about it I know what’s right to do. So I signed up and I just remember thinking that day, you know, oh this kind of Shuffled through the day.

I think I’m gonna have to go there Tonight and I’m really tired and it’s been a long week and I’m really busy and Some of you may know I don’t I don’t live close to church. I live about an hour away. And so Unfortunately, the Macomb County winter shelter in Warren is not Towards my home.

It’s this way So I was like, well, I’m gonna have to go I’m going farther away and then it’s gonna take a while and then I’m gonna Have an extra long commute back home, and I guess I’ll just go to bed at the end I don’t know. I just I wasn’t feeling good about it and So I kind of had that attitude and I went there that night and I stepped in and the first thing that happened to me is because I’m on the platform here at church regularly Then people come up and talk to me even if they don’t know me, which is great. I love that But you know my attitude for that night was not so great But the first thing that happened to me was a couple was there and they said, you know We’re new to Shepherd’s Gate.

I’m like, oh how long you’ve been coming? And I think they said maybe a year six months something like that. He said we were looking for a church like this We’re so excited to be here. I can’t wait to serve This is the kind of thing we want to be doing and you know, it’s like, oh, all right All right.

All right. God, I see what you’re doing. No and So then so then we’re doing things we’re mopping and we’re sorting laundry And then it comes time for the clients to come in because it is it is a warming shelter for homeless people So we serve them a hot meal and then they have a bed for the night and so we’re serving food and I’m and I’m seeing these people come in and I’m starting to talk to them and serve them food and It just that’s the the turn came for me there because I saw them and I thought to myself, you know, I Have so much in my life.

I have a family. I have a beautiful home and a career and a job and a car and I don’t have to worry about where my next meal is coming from and These people need this meal and they need this bed and I can’t even just spend one night Showing God’s love to them like what’s wrong with me? And I just and as as they came through my attitude started to change and I remembered why I was there and Because I’m a staff member. I was the one that was going to give the devotion that night like a little talk And so I asked our leader Greg.

I said, okay, how does that work? What do I do? He said oh You just go out into the tables where all of the clients are sitting and just start talking to him get to know them a Little bit. It’s like really. Are you serious? Okay, take it up a notch.

Let’s go in the next level All right, so I got out there and I sat down and I was just overwhelmed I got to know, you know, it’s one thing to serve somebody a biscuit or whatever. It’s another thing to like sit down Hey, what’s your name? You know, how you doing today? So I was talking to people and I talked to this one guy Andre He had a deck of cards and our family loves playing cards. So I said, hey deal me up.

Let’s what are you playing? and so we played some cards then we started talking and I was able to share the gospel with him and pray with him and I was like Okay, I get it I’m back that was my attitude check, you know and listen You know, it’s not like I don’t Haven’t done these things all my life. Like I’ve been a follower of Jesus since I was really little. I’m a pastor’s kid So I was always in church growing up and now I work for a church.

So I’ve I’ve been in church a lot I’ve heard thousands of sermons. You would think that the attitude would be fine But you know what? This is why we need these attitude checks regularly because it’s just human nature. We lose focus on it.

I Went home that night and it was a longer commute and I didn’t even notice my heart was just so full And I was so glad that I went and I was so glad that God helped me with this attitude check Has that ever happened to you this thing creeps up like you’re good and then like he gets off balance we lose it We think oh man. I’m so busy. I don’t have time for this Maybe what am I gonna get out of it? You know, or I have lots of important things I need to do but serving others is at the core of who Jesus is Can’t get away from that as a as a Jesus follower And it does something in your own heart it changes you it fills you up God knows what we need We need his heart.

We need his servant heart So here I am at the shelter with some of my team see that big smile on my face Yeah, it was a great experience It’s wonderful So let’s move on to our attitude alignment. What does this mean? Like, how do we how do we get into this? We need to look at a story from Jesus’s life. We need to look at his attitude his mindset and see in fact This is one way to put it.

It’s impossible to have a mindset like Jesus without having your mind set on Jesus, right? So we’re gonna take a look at this story from the Gospel of John again, it was a time when the Pharisees were talking to him the Pharisees were a group of people who were kind of zealots and they were Very like religious and they did not like what Jesus was teaching They did not like what he was doing. So they were always kind of just Trying to catch him in something. They’re always trying to like derail his ministry.

And so that’s where this story starts in John 8 At dawn Jesus appeared again in the temple courts where all the people gathered around him and he sat down to teach them The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group All right now right away there’s something fishy about this because last time I checked it takes two to commit adultery so where’s the man and Caught in the act so we don’t know but is she naked like this is an awful situation They bring this person How would you like it if some secret sin of yours was exposed and someone dragged you in front of a bunch of people and? Stood you there It’s it’s very awkward. It’s uncomfortable And it’s not fair because the man’s not there This is what they said, they said to Jesus teacher This woman was caught in the act of adultery the law of Moses commanded us to stone such a woman.

Now, what do you say? Well, it’s not a fair question, but they are right in Deuteronomy 22 22 It says this if a man is found sleeping with another man’s wife both the man who slept with her and the woman must die So it is in the law But what were they really asking what would they really doing here John gives us some commentary It says they were using this question as a trap in order to have a basis for accusing Jesus So you see how this would work, right if Jesus said oh, yeah Go ahead and stone or the law is clear then it goes against everything that he’s been teaching about the forgiveness of sins And so undermines his teaching But if he says no don’t stone or don’t do that then he looks, you know soft on crime So to speak he looks like morally soft with this crowd of Pharisees. So either way he answers he falls into a trap But if you know anything about Jesus, you know, he’s not gonna fall into that trap and he doesn’t This is what he does But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger But they kept on questioning him So he straightened up and said to them let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her Again he stooped down and he wrote on the ground At this those who heard began to go away One at a time the older ones first until only Jesus was left With the woman still standing there. I know the number one question when you read this passage is what? What was he writing? What was he doing? Well, there are different theories Some people think he was just doodling just to make the situation uncomfortable So the Pharisees would just go away just like stick figures or something.

Who knows whatever they doodled back then Another theory is that since he knew so much scripture He was writing he was writing some scripture verse that applied to this My favorite one is that he was writing down the names of everyone that was around accusing this woman and then writing their sins next to it I Want that so bad to be true. I think that would be But you know if God wanted us to know he would have told us but it doesn’t the passage never explains it We don’t know what he was doing But It broke up the Pharisees they left and then this is the really important part Jesus straightened up and he asked her woman. Where are they has no one condemned you? No one sir, she said Then neither do I condemn you Jesus declared now go And leave your life of sin This is a really polarizing moment Where most in the crowd wanted to take out their rage and anger by throwing things at this woman to destroy her Jesus who arguably is the only one that could judge Humankind as a perfect being as our Creator God Would you agree that that God would be the only one that really could judge us? So he could judge this woman and condemn her he doesn’t He calls her up out of that life.

He calls her up to something new. He forgives her. She didn’t deserve it But he chose not to drag her through the dirt any longer and look at the attitude of Jesus here He comes into this situation which designed to trap him and get him off track and refuses to get into that debate With people that just want to trip him up and then he takes the time to see this woman to really see her and to Give her what only he can give her forgiveness grace hope and a new life.

He’s focused on energizing This woman for a new life He’s serving her in the way that Jesus can And he’s ignoring the rest of us he’s ignoring the rest of the crowd and Letting that go and he’s saying this woman. I’m gonna serve her. I’m gonna give her something new And he really does that for all of us What’s the number one reason that we struggle with our inward thoughts? Why do you think it is like just get the very bottom of this? But we struggle with negative thoughts.

We struggle with negativity. It comes out in the outside But why why is that true? But because it’s because we’re not perfect people I mean, we know that already but there’s sin in our life. We’ve messed up.

We can’t be perfect. We know that Sin is the problem and Jesus Comes and he takes the form of a human and he gets down in our dirt and he just doesn’t doodle in it I mean he’s spit upon he’s beaten he’s nailed to a cross and he dies and the dirt of our sin is placed on him in that moment and He just takes it all and he dies for our sin. That’s why he’s called the servant of all and Then he rises from the grave defeating sin and death That’s the gospel His invitation to this woman is the same invitation to me and to you.

I Know my inner thoughts. It’s a common struggle, but Jesus says to you and to I I don’t condemn you receive my free gift of grace and Leave the past behind We’re not saviors, you know like Jesus we have to have the same attitude as Jesus if we want to be Jesus followers We can’t save anyone only Jesus can do that. But here’s the amazing thing.

He has empowered us We are changed through God’s Word to be the hands and feet of Jesus he’s inviting us to be a part of his redemption of this world and So we can serve we can serve like Jesus. We can have the same attitude as Jesus. It is possible and It’s a positive example of this principle of moving from the inside to outside if we have his spirit if we have a new attitude If we have a new heart then what comes out of us not unhealthy things but healthy things to serve I Want to illustrate this with a story we do these videos once in a while.

They’re called inside stories This one is from my friends Eli and Lisa and just listen to how their story is moving from Finding God into a servant’s heart check it out Hi, I’m Lisa fascio, this is my husband Eli We have been coming to Shepherds Gate for a little over two years now And it’s really become a big part of our lives here. So my faith journey started technically as a kid My mom used to send us to church all the time and we got into youth group But as I got older into my teenage years, I really started Started pulling away and started rebelling against all that. I grew up Lutheran.

I was ELCA raised so Growing up just something felt off. I liked learning the Bible I like growing in the faith, but it just it didn’t resonate with me the way it does here after Confirmation and graduating high school you kind of your parents can’t force you to go anymore. So you stop going and I Guess I kind of just got further and further from God but one of the things that really pushed us to go back to church and really get involved is When we went overseas to Jordan Jordan Jordan was a really eye-opening experience the power of knowing you are standing where Jesus stood is Unbelievable the Bible kind of came alive where we were at and we got back over seventh happened and That’s when we said it was time to start coming.

And here we are two years later. I like the combination of the strict message it is by the Bible we don’t skip over things and Try not to hurt people’s feelings if that is what the Bible tells us that is what is preached Love that but we still have that modern feel where the message speaks to you more. It’s not so stiff There’s definitely a different vibe here than any church that I’ve ever attended for sure We do a lot of volunteering with the students in particular we do a lot of Sunday mornings with the fifth and sixth graders and I Do Wednesday night youth group with the high school students and I just I love being a part of shaping that next generation I run a set design team and then I also Help lead the fun squad for our outdoor services.

We do some step out and serve Events when we can we’ll go out and help the community. I think it’s really important to be involved with your church not only for The church’s needs and the community’s needs but I feel so much better for myself. It’s very Uplifting knowing that you’re helping others and you are being the hands and feet of Jesus Definitely a good feel to be able to serve in church and serve out of church It gives you a purpose without a doubt and really spread the word of Jesus Pastor Tim did a sermon and showed how much of the world hasn’t heard Of Jesus and had never been introduced to Christianity I was shocked how much and realizing how much work we have to do still The biggest thing that we should be doing as Christians is is what Matthew 28 19 says and and And we should be leading others to Christ.

I Offered the invite all the time to friends at work or hey, we’re having an outdoor service. Come check it out Just so the seed that’s all we’re supposed to do. You know, there’s there’s someone else responsible for the harvest So we just they’re called the so to seed Eli and Lisa sitting here in this service.

Thank you so much for being willing to share really appreciate that. Thank you. I Know if you were to ask Lisa and Eli, hey, I’m convinced You know serving is a servant’s heart is what Jesus wants for us and and to follow him that way Should we step in or should we step out and their answer would be yes You heard of the video that yes do both why because it’s not situational This attitude that we have that we can have the same attitude of Jesus It’s for every time everywhere every place.

It doesn’t matter where we go It doesn’t matter who or with we can have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had if we can really see people like Jesus truly see them like Jesus does and Have that attitude then we’re ready to serve others Wherever we are When I began the talk we looked at Philippians 2 verse 5 where it says have the same attitude as Christ Jesus Do you remember that verse? There’s actually a front part to that verse and I want to share it with you now In your relationships with one another Have the same mindset or attitude as Christ Jesus in your relationships with one another He’s designed by God to be the means through which That attitude of Christ comes out of us and serving each other So what’s your inward mindset? What’s your attitude? Are you? Are you frustrated are you angry at? The faults and the shortcomings of the people around you it can happen. Are you dismissive of them? Maybe you prefer just to be left alone and not worry about other people’s issues Or you’re caught up in your own drama. You don’t really even see The people around you the needs of the people around you it can happen.

Maybe it’s time for an attitude check Or an attitude alignment And what would your life look like if every day this week you woke up and said this prayer Jesus I know I’m not perfect, but I want to see people the way you do I want to have your attitude and I want to serve others. What adventures might you have? What kind of week would you have? And if you’re looking for something To do if you’re looking for an action today It just it turns out that today’s the first day that we have step out and serve weekend serving opportunities open Now our serve our step out and serve weekend is a weekend coming up where we don’t have church here But we go out into the community Friday Saturday and Sunday and we just serve and this year we have over 50 sites We have so many opportunities We usually have four or five hundred people sign up to do this week and it’s always a very rich experience But I want to especially say to those that have never done it before you can do this This is a great first step to think about that attitude of serving and to take action on it And in fact, you can go out and into the lobby after service if you’re here in person Or you can go online on our website and there are people that will help you there You can sign up online you can sign up on our app If you don’t know where to go or what to do or like I’m a little nervous about this They will help you find the exact right serving opportunity for you and for your family We would love to see five to six hundred six to seven hundred people serving because we know We know that it’s not just about getting the numbers It’s about an attitude a heart change and we know that that does such good for us and for everyone around us in fact, we do a lot of like mulching and and Yard work for these sites and you know, it’s not even really about the mulch It’s it’s about making the connections with those people at the site and just sharing God’s attitude of a servant heart with them and sharing the gospel with them so I encourage you to check that out and Of course there are always step in opportunities throughout the year as well. It doesn’t have to be just one time a year But thank you so much for thinking about this with me Thanks so much for thinking about our attitudes our inward life our heart and our mind I hope that it’s food for thought for you today and that God blesses you as you think it through.

Can I pray for you? God, thank you so much for each person here for each person watching online. Thank you that you have given us an example to follow Thank you that your attitude was such that you came down and you saw us and you served us and you saved us God help us to have the same mindset as we go about our daily lives that we can see people Flawed people, but you love them and we can love them help us to have your attitude as we serve Lord empower us to do this in your name Amen, can we get