We saw some very painful scenes at Ground Zero in the rubble of the World Trade Center. One of the most agonizing scenes was when tempers flared between some of those firefighters and police who had been fighting together to save or find people in the rescue and recovery effort at Ground Zero.
That kind of heartache is something God has been all too familiar with for a long time. His people, who should be united in an all-out effort to rescue the spiritually dying, are instead battling one another. In Philippians 4:2-3, Paul was writing about some rescuers who had turned on each other. He said, "I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to agree with each other in the Lord.”
When these women were actively involved in "the cause of the Gospel" - that's getting the life-or-death message of Jesus to people - they were together. But when they drifted away from the rescue mission of Christ, they stopped contending for the Gospel and started contending with each other. That's still happening today.
Rescue unites God's people. When believers, when a church, when a ministry is focused on rescuing the dying, whatever it takes, there's no time to battle with each other. They're too busy battling for the lives of lost people around them. Rescue unites -- self-focus divides.