Never Forget

Twenty-five years ago this past Friday, our country woke up and went about a normal morning. Then at 8:46am, the first plane hit the North Tower. At 9:03, the second plane hit the South Tower. At 9:37, another plane hit the Pentagon. At 9:59, the South Tower collapsed. At 10:03, Flight 93 went down in Pennsylvania. In a matter of minutes, everything changed. Islamic terrorists had attacked us in a way that none of us had imagined.

Most of us remember where we were when we heard. We remember the awful images, the planes striking the towers, the smoke, the towers falling. We remember the firefighters and police officers who ran toward the danger while everyone else was trying to get away from it. We remember the sadness, the anger, the fear. And we've always said, "Never forget."

But at this 25th anniversary, there's something else we should also remember. September 11th wasn't only a reminder of the evil in this world. In the aftermath, it also became a remarkable symbol of how people can come together and show love. In the middle of unimaginable tragedy, people came together to help one another. People helped strangers, they donated blood, they prayed together, they mourned together.

And for a little while, many of the things that normally divided us didn't seem quite so important. Our churches were filled to capacity. Our politicians linked arms 'across the aisle' and sang "God Bless America". Something bigger than all of those differences brought people together. What we have in common can be stronger than what divides us...

In the final hours before Jesus' crucifixion, He was praying for His disciples. And then He said this, in John 17:20-21 (NIV)...

My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, (21) that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

Jesus was praying for us. And what was He praying for? That we would be one. We need to remember...

I. What unites us

One of the strange things about a tragedy is that it has a way of stripping away the things we normally use to identify ourselves. We have all kinds of labels. I'm this. You're that. I believe this. You believe that. I'm this political party. You're that political party. And we can get so accustomed to defining ourselves by our differences that we forget what we actually have in common.

We need to remember what unites us, and...

A. What we have in common

Take all of those labels away, and we're still human beings. We were created by God, in the image of God! We all have hopes and fears and dreams. We all make mistakes, we all need forgiveness. And ultimately, all the answers to any questions of the human condition can be found in Jesus.

And September 11th reminded us of something that we probably already knew - but had forgotten. We're not nearly as self-sufficient as we like to think we are. We need each other. Paul says something about that in Romans 12:4-5 (NIV)...

Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, (5) so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

"Each member belongs to all the others." That's not how our culture generally teaches us to think. We're taught to think about me. My rights, my preferences, my opinion, my side... But Christianity encourages us to think of a different word - 'us'. In Christ - we belong to one another.

And that's true even when we don't agree on everything. The church isn't a collection of people who happen to have the same personalities, the same backgrounds, the same opinions, or even the same interests. The church is a collection of people who have been brought together by Jesus! That's what makes the church different!

We need to remember Who unites us, and that our unity is...

B. Bigger than our differences

Paul continues in Romans 12:6a (NIV)...

We have different gifts, according to the grace given us.

Different gifts, different abilities, backgrounds... And yet - one body. That's important. Because biblical unity doesn't mean that everybody just becomes the same.

Unity isn't uniformity. We don't have to be carbon copies of one another. In fact, God doesn't want us to be. The body needs different parts. The church needs different people. Some encourage. Some teach. Some lead. Some serve. Some quietly show up every week and help hold everything together.

We don't all do the same thing. We don't all think exactly the same way about every matter, but we all belong to the same body! And that means our differences don't have to become divisions. There's a difference between saying, "We're different," and saying, "We're enemies." Those are not the same thing. And I think that's something our culture desperately needs to remember!

We've become very good at identifying people who aren't like us. Social media thrives on it. It's very easy to find somebody who believes something different from you and immediately decide that they're the problem. And Christians can fall into that trap just as easily as everybody else.

We can become more passionate about defeating people than loving people. We can become more interested in winning arguments than winning people. And that's where we need to remember what Jesus prayed, "That all of them may be one."

And that brings us to another thing I think we need to remember. Somebody might say, "Well, if we're supposed to be united, does that mean we just stop believing anything that could be seen as divisive? Do we just agree with everybody?" No. That's not biblical unity either. It's not that we don't believe anything. It's not that truth doesn't matter. But it's that Jesus matters more than our divisions!

Jesus didn't pray that His people would be united around nothing. He prayed that they would be united in Him! And that leads us to the heart of the passage. We need to remember...

II. What Jesus calls us to

And I understand I'm ending a sentence with a preposition, but in this instance I don't care that much...

Let's go back again to John, where Jesus says, in John 17:21 (NIV)...

that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

Notice where the unity comes from - "In us." Our unity isn't ultimately based on our personalities or politics or nationality or similar interests or even liking the same kind of music...

A. Our unity is rooted in Christ

And that's why Paul can say this in Ephesians 4:4-6 (NIV)...

There is one body and one Spirit - just as you were called to one hope when you were called - (5) one Lord, one faith, one baptism; (6) one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Look at all those 'ones'. One body. One Spirit. One hope. One Lord. One faith. One baptism. One God and Father. That's what we have in common! And Paul doesn't leave us wondering what that kind of unity looks like. He told us, just a few verses earlier, where he wrote…

Ephesians 4:1-3 (NIV)

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. (2) Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. (3) Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

Paul says be humble. Be gentle. Be patient. Bear with one another in love. Make every effort to maintain unity.

And notice something else - Ephesians 4 doesn't say things like, "One opinion", "One personality", "One political party." It says - One Lord. That's the center! We literally just sang the song, "Jesus Be The Center"! And when Jesus is at the center, we can have differences without allowing those differences to destroy our love for one another.

That's important because there are things Christians absolutely should believe. There is truth. There is right and wrong. There is Heaven and Hell. There are false religions. There are things that Scripture calls holy and things that Scripture calls sin. We shouldn't pretend those distinctions don't exist just so we can all say we're getting along....

But here's the challenge - we can stand firmly for God's truth without standing against people. We can say, "I know God's Word teaches this," without saying, "And therefore I don't have to show love to you." Jesus never gave us permission to do that. In fact, Jesus tells His disciples in John 13:34-35 (NIV)...

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. (35) By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

Jesus doesn't say the world will know we're His disciples because we win every argument. He doesn't say they'll know because we're the loudest people in the room. Jesus says: "If you love one another." That doesn't mean that truth doesn't matter. It means that how we handle truth matters, too. Truth without love can become a weapon. And that does no one any good.

Our unity is rooted in Christ, and our unity is supposed to be...

B. A witness to the world

Now let's go back again to John 17 one more time. Jesus doesn't stop with, "I want them to be one." He also gives a reason.

John 17:21b (NIV)

May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

And then verse 23...

John 17:23 (NIV)

I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

Do you see what Jesus is saying? Our unity is not just for our benefit - it's about 'others'. It's about outreach - it's evangelistic! The way Christians treat one another says something about Jesus!

That's a sobering thought. Because the opposite is also true. When Christians fight with each other, or tear each other down, or treat each other with contempt... When Christians look exactly like the angry, divided world around them... Why would the world look at that and say, "I want what they have"?

But imagine people looking at the church and saying, "I don't understand how all of those very different people love each other like that." "They don't agree on everything, but they don't hate each other." "They forgive each other." "They help each other." "They carry each other's burdens." "They seem to genuinely care about one another." That's a testimony! And that's what Jesus was praying for!

And perhaps that's one of the things September 11th can remind us. A firefighter didn't run into a burning building to find out whether the person inside agreed with him politically. A person giving blood didn't ask whether the recipient voted the same way. A stranger didn't open his home because the people who needed help had the correct worldview. They were people. And people needed help. And for a moment, that was enough.

Now think about the church. If Jesus has already told us that we're family - that we are one body... If Jesus has already told us to love one another... How much more should we be willing to put aside our differences and show people the love of Jesus?

So What?

Twenty-five years after September 11th, I think there are things worth remembering. First, don't forget the people. Don't let September 11th become just a date in a history book. Remember the people who died. Remember their families. Remember the police, the firefighters, the first responders. And perhaps most importantly, remember that every person you encounter is a person made in the image of God.

Jesus never told us, "Love only the people who agree with you." He said, "Love your neighbor as yourself." And He even told us to love our enemies. That's a pretty high standard.

Here's the thing - twenty-five years from now, very few of us will probably remember the arguments we've had this year. Twenty-five years from now, we probably won't remember who won the debate on Facebook. We won't remember every political fight. We won't remember every disagreement. But twenty-five years from now, the person to whom we went out of our way to show love, or grace, or forgiveness - they might remember that.

The world has enough anger and division - the world needs to see something different. It needs to see people who are so convinced that Jesus is worth following that they're willing to love people who don't look like them, think like them, vote like them, or agree with them.

That's what Jesus prayed for. And if Jesus prayed for it, shouldn't we?