Are you a Co-Laborer or a Customer?

Last night I was listening to some Francis Chan podcasts and I was really moved by the truth he had to share from God's word.

He started out with these verses:
Phillipians 1:1-5

Paul and Timothy servants of Christ Jesus, who are at Philipi with the overseers and deacons. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy because of your PARTNERSHIP in the gospel from the first day until now..

He then began describing different jobs he had and how at these jobs he would naturally bond with those he worked with and he would have a relationship with his co-laborers that was different from the customers. He gave one example when he was a waiter how all the co-workers would share in the back what type of customer they had at their table..some were funny, some were mean, some were lousy tippers etc...but when they actually served their customer they had to put on the fake smile, make sure that no matter what type of customer they had, that they did all they could do to make the customer happy. Therefore he had a different relationship with his co-laborers (or those that were his partners)than he did with the customers.

He went on to make the point that many churches today are customer oriented.. Is the customer comfortable, are they happy, does this program work, is the music satisfying? We try to create a bond with the customers that is unnatural. But we have a natural bond when we have co-labors (or Partners) in sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. When we have a one track mind of telling people that we are sinners who need to repent, in need of a Savior named Jesus who died an exruciating death on the Cross for our sins and rose again on the third day so that we could have a relationship with Him and live with Him in eternity.. As we share that, that kind of mind set makes Christians Co-laborers and gives us a natural, automatic bond.

The early church was never customer oriented but they were Christ oriented which probably explains why they had a bond that we cannot seem to obtain today.

My prayer is for those of us that Love Jesus.. that we would live for Him daily and proclaim Him every opportunity that we have so that He may be known and in so doing we we can naturally bond as partners in the gospel of Jesus Christ.