Transcript (Auto-generated)

This transcript has been automatically generated, and therefore may not be 100% accurate.

So it's been really good to be with you this morning. I said earlier you guys are really friendly bunch, and I also said that's not always the case between you and me, so I really enjoy being with you today and thank you very much for your welcome. As I said just a few moments ago, Innovista, who I work for, trains leaders in really tough places to lead churches and organisations that take the great news about Jesus to those around them. And I'm going to share with you this evening some stories from Ukraine as we look at this passage together in Romans. I wonder what you think of when you think of mission.

I wonder what you thought when you heard it was mission Sunday. I think there's generally three responses. Response one is, I'm in. I'm serious about following Jesus. I'm serious about trying to figure out what he wants me to do with my one and only life.

I'm in. Let's go. I think there's another response often, which is curiosity. Interesting. Not sure what I think about this idea of following Jesus wherever he leads.

Not sure what I think about this idea that we are serving God's transforming mission in the world, but I'm interested and I'd like to find out more. And then I think there's another response, which is not for me, like mission. This whole mission thing, it's for the fanatics, the really keen ones. You know, they're a little bit.

Don't know where you sit tonight, but I'm hoping to help us understand together that, number one, God's mission is the best thing that is going on, on the planet and that we've all got a part to play God's mission. I don't know how you summarise it. If someone stopped you and said, what on earth is God doing?

I summarise it like this. God is in the business of making everything new and putting everything right and everything means everything.

That is what God is doing. He is putting the world right again through the person of Jesus, and he invites us to be part of it. He calls us into his work of making everything new, of extending his life giving rule to the world and Romans. This book that we've read a little bit from this evening is a letter to a bunch of churches in Rome, clues in the name, who were under quite a bit of pressure. Rome, of course, was the superpower of the day and Rome lived under this myth, which was promised by Rome's founder, Julius Caesar, who promised, get this, this was his language.

A new era of peace and salvation that was the words he used as Rome was founded. I promise you, a new era of peace and salvation. And it wasn't working out like that at all. For the vast majority of Romans, life was really hard. There was grinding poverty, death was close by, and peace and salvation would have seemed a million miles away.

And it's into that context where these house churches in Rome, they wouldn't have been like this. They would have been groups of christians meeting in houses. Paul writes to them to help them think about what it means to live in a way that will extend God's life giving rule, what it means to live as followers of Jesus. And so it's got a lot to say to us as well. According to Paul, and this is right at the start of Romans, the big problem is idolatry, meaning people, including us, worshipping and serving things that are created by people, rather than serving and worshipping and putting at the centre of our lives.

The creator himself, Paul said, that's the main problem, because when we put the wrong things in the centre of our lives, it basically all goes wrong. That's his message, that's his summary of what's wrong with the world. And of course, in Rome, one of those things was emperor worship. So people worshipped the emperor as if he was God and Rome wasn't working so well. And Paul writes to these little churches who look really insignificant on the outside, nothing like this, and says, I want to help you understand how you can live in a way that will change the world.

Now, does that sound like something worth thinking about? Changing the world? Anyone? Oh, come on. I know it's late, but that's the invitation.

That is what you are called into as followers of Jesus. What are you doing? I am going to school. No, you are not going to school. You should go to school.

But you are also part of Jesus changing the world, in school or in work or at home in the local community. This is what Jesus calls us into. And Paul writes to these little churches to help them. Now, before we go on, let me tell you a couple of stories from Ukraine.

Tech fail. Ah, here you go. So, what do you notice in this picture? This is a genuine question. I want you to respond, what do you notice?

What do you see?

Human touch. Yes. Care. Okay. What else?

Damage. Yes. What else? Young people helping older people. Young people helping older people.

So this woman, this elderly lady, has just had a bomb hit her apartment block, and the first people to get to her were two young women from the local church.

Absolutely brilliant.

They got to her, they checked that she was okay. They helped her clean up.

They got people around her to care for her on an ongoing basis to make sure she had the things she needed. Two young women from the local church, making everything new.

Imagine if you're this old woman, you've just had a bomb hit your apartment block. What's the last thing you expect?

Two teenagers? No offence. I love teenagers. My daughter's a teenager. You're cool, but that's brilliant.

Isn't that brilliant? Isn't that just brilliant? Two teenagers who are following Jesus, who could have left the country, who decided to stay because they knew that God was calling them to serve their local community, and that's what they did. And those kinds of stories, as Steve referenced, happening over and over and over, we don't hear them.

Absolutely remarkable.

This morning I shared a story from the city of Kharkiv. Kharkiv has been in the news a lot in the last couple of weeks because it's again coming under enormous pressure from russian attacks. Most people think that russian forces want to try and surround the city and basically destroy it. Second biggest city in Ukraine. More than a million people live there.

I was there in December and this is one of the things I saw there. Underground, in the basement of apartment blocks. Kids are being educated because the school system is shut and there's all kinds of psychological and social support. I was saying this morning, there's this amazing project called the Wise Carpenters Project, where groups of boys from about age ten to age 16 or 17 are given a male mentor. So they've got an older man in their lives.

A lot of them don't anymore because their fathers have gone to the front lines. A lot of them have been killed. And they have these mentors who get alongside them, invest in them, and at the same time help them develop their skills and use their hands, which lowers stress. This is all being run by christians.

We went to within 20 kilometres of the russian border and I was taken into this sort of huge inflatable tent and there was this drama club running. So you're outside and there's air raid sirens and all kinds of things going on, and you go into this big tent and there's kids playing and there's laughter and there's adults caring for them and it's the local church.

And Paul says in Romans, be all in.

Notice the rather strange language, maybe to us in the star of chapter twelve. I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy. So because of what Jesus has done for us, offer your bodies as a living sacrifice. That's an oxymoron. It's like jumbo shrimp.

Living sacrifice. In this culture, sacrifice was all about dead animals, right? The animals were all in, but they were also dead. And what Paul is saying is, be all in but alive.

Join in God's mission in the world and worship as you gather, as we've just done. Brilliant band. Thank you. And worship as you leave, and all the way through the week, as you serve and love and sacrifice on behalf of others, showing what God is like to a world that is watching and searching for something else. Be all in.

And of course, being a living sacrifice is costly. It is not always easy, it is not always simple. But that's the core radical following of Jesus. Be all in, hold nothing back. How do you feel about that?

Because that's the core. And here's what I've noticed, and I think this is my own experience as well. When people are all in, we experience God with us. If we're half hearted, God often feels distant and there's a connection as we serve, as we step out in faith, whatever that looks like for you. God has a habit of showing up and doing things and using us, and our faith grows.

Paul says, be in, be all in living sacrifices, and do not let the world force you into its mould. The niv's a bit sort of split, English, really split, sort of gentle. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds. Do not let the world squeeze you into its mould, but have your mind transformed. In other words, be shaped by God's truth, because God's truth is bigger and better than anything around you and it will change you.

Thats why we take seriously teaching and reading scripture, because it is gods truth and it changes us. And its why were serious about prayer, because God speaks to us in prayer and he very often redirects us and says, my way is this way.

These people in Ukraine are also shaped by God's truth. That's why they're still there. That's what they'd say if they were here. I have met hundreds of leaders in the last couple of years, since the full scale invasion. We've been in Ukraine 17 years.

So we work with leaders all over the country, and I have spoken to hundreds of them in the last two years who have said we have stayed because we know that it is what God calls us to do. And it's really hard. It is so, so hard. No one is not traumatised in some way. People are utterly exhausted.

You can imagine the stress of living in a context where life is so fragile, can't plan anything.

And they've stayed because they're followers of Jesus. And they've stayed because they have understood that they have a part to play together with other followers of Jesus in this amazing thing called church.

See, this church exists to bring the life changing reign of Jesus to Linfield. What did you do on Sunday? Well, I watched the football and I had tea and, well, I met with my community, who together are changing Linfield forever. That's quite good, isn't it? Monday morning conversation around the coffee machine at work.

What do you think? Good. Good, right, I want to hear about that. Email me, tell me your stories. But that is the mission of the church.

That's why we're here. That is why we're here and we do it together. Service is all about service in community. You notice this in verses three to eight. There's this whole section on spiritual gifts.

We haven't got time to go into it in a load of detail, but there's some really important principles here. And no one has paid me for this, but it fits brilliantly with your whole push on team.

This is good. First, don't think of yourself more highly than you ought. Rather think of yourself with sober judgement. In other words, be realistic about your abilities. You are really, really, really good at some things.

Or at least you have the potential to be really good at some things. There are some things that you will never be good at. Sober judgement. God has given every single follower of Jesus at least one spiritual gift. That is a special ability to do something in service of others, and that helps to grow the church.

You all have at least one spiritual gift.

They are different, which is why we need each other. That is why church is all about a community on mission.

It's not about individuals, it's about doing it together. And according to Paul, and this is really important, we should serve primarily where we're gifted.

Because number one, if you use your gifts, God will use you and you will make a difference. Number two, you'll have a really good time doing it. When you discover what you're gifted for, it's like you find your sweet spot. I'll give you a live example. On Friday I was at Kishnau airport in Moldova.

I was due to fly to Istanbul and then back to London. The plane came and it sat there and then the screen showed delayed, never a great sign. And then the time went past, the delay by 2 hours. No news, no one saying anything. And then a little tractor appears and tows the plane all the way to the far side of the airport.

We're not going anywhere. My email pings, your flight has been cancelled. Thank you very much. So I made a call and I called someone on my team called Wendy, who lives in the Netherlands. And if Wendy was here, she would tell you she absolutely loves her words.

Turning chaos into beautiful organisation that is the gift of administration. There are people like that. I am not one. It is a mystery to me. Wendy is brilliant.

Half an hour later, my email pings again. Your new flight will take you from Kishnow to Warsaw, Warsaw to London. There will be a car waiting for you which will take you straight home. Wendy. Amazing spiritual gift of administration.

She loved it. I sent her a message. Thank you so much. Told her the difference it had made. She just sent me back one of those grinning emojis, like, happy place.

Absolutely loved it. That's what happens when we find our spiritual gifts. You all have them, young people, you have spiritual gifts. If you're not sure what yours are yet, get some help to figure it out, because we figure it out in community. If you're not sure, just try it.

You heard it tonight from Steve. The boss said, you can try. Try it. Have a go. If it doesn't feel like it's quite the right fit, try something else.

You will find it. And when you find it, it is wonderful, because God will use you. You'll know you're in your sweet spot and you'll be part of building his church.

Some people don't have a problem thinking of themselves too highly. Some people have a problem thinking of themselves not highly enough.

Not thinking that they've got something to offer.

And what Paul is saying is, that's just not true. I met someone this morning who had grown up being told by someone in her life, someone very significant in her life, that she would never amount to anything. And if you grew up with that message, that's what you start to believe. Right? And she told me how.

I said, how did that change? Because talking to this person, it was very clear that that wasn't the case. Now, she said, I met Jesus. Jesus changed me. So if you're here and you're thinking, I'm not sure I've got.

I've got anything you do, it's here. It's in scripture. It's not my opinion. The Bible says God has given you a gift, and if you need some help to find it, talk to the boss man.

Talk to one of your christian friends. Talk to people you're maybe doing some things with already find it sometimes. Sometimes women struggle with this idea of having something to offer. You do. We're involved in a lot of the places we work in growing women leaders because there's all these remarkable women who have this extraordinary talent and sometimes it's not used enough.

And if you're here tonight and you're like, I'm not sure I've got something, you do. It's here. Please take one step to uncover the amazing gift that God has put in you because he wants you to contribute. And if you don't, this church is missing. Something really is.

If we're not all serving, every one of us in some way, the church is missing and the world is missing out as a result.

Older people, same story. You know, our culture glorifies youth in a way that is often not so healthy, right? I mean, young people, brilliant, important, and old people too. This guy I met in Kharkiv in December, he's in his seventies, still leading his church. You know what he said to me?

He said, you know, I just keep this church focused on serving Jesus here in the city. The young people tell me how to do it because they're basically cooler than me, but I keep the church pointing in the right direction. I make sure we're focused on the gospel. Brilliant. I mean, I had what, 2 hours with this guy and I felt like my life was changed.

Here's a man who has followed Jesus for decades. So much wisdom, so much experience. We need people like that, right? His church. If you walk through the rooms of the church and it's full of food and medicine that they are distributing throughout their city and in the community, the church is known as the caring place.

What a great reputation right now. Churches have shrunk in Ukraine. Churches are, a lot of them are smaller. Some people have left the country, of course, a lot of men have been called up to fight, so they are smaller, but they're still going and they're still serving. And the reason they're able to do that is because they take team really seriously.

They take this passage from Romans really seriously, and they understand that fundamentally the church exists for the good of the world, to take the gospel of Jesus, this good news that will change your life to the world. And that's why we're here, that's why you're here. For the good of Linfield. The last section in this passage in Romans sort of moves out from a focus on how the church is organised with spiritual gifts and goes into this other section on love in action, hate what is evil, cling to what is good, be devoted to one another, be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, practise hospitality, bless those who persecute you. You've got to be out to be persecuted.

You don't get persecuted if you hide in your church. So this is Paul saying, as you move into the world Monday morning, be like this, be a distinctive contrast community and show people as well as tell people about Jesus. That is what is happening in Ukraine. And churches are growing despite the unbelievable pressure that they are under. This is a church service in the city of Kherson, southern Ukraine.

On Easter Sunday, Kherson was occupied. It was then freed by ukrainian forces and it is just over one of the main rivers in Ukraine. So russian soldiers now fire missiles and artillery into Kherson. It's on the news often. Most states this is a church.

On Easter Sunday, they baptised ten people in that pool.

Just think about that.

They baptised ten people on Easter Sunday because they're living out Romans, twelve living sacrifices, serving together, building the church and changing their part of the world. And that's our calling too. That's your calling here. So I want to finish by showing you a couple of videos. Two younger people.

The first is David, the second is Natalia. Just going to hear their stories and then I'll very briefly wrap up. Thanks.

My name is Daniel Kuchoyan, I live in Kyiv and I fragmented church, international church. It's called IcA International Christian of Assambi. But my ministry, what I do is mostly in Kherson region, which is the east and west and the south part of Ukraine. The region, the area was under the occupation. Kherson region was the occupied.

And we went to Kherson region to bring goods for people and to bring goods for churches, local churches and helping them. And then we understood. I understood that area of Kherson region has less evangelical churches and there the people are very open and the area of Kherson region, which is somehow north, very less. And there is very need for helping local churches. And then we decided to visit and to support that part of Kherson area because of the war started, a lot of christians, they left that places and they moved either to west part of Ukraine or they moved to Europe.

But the churches became bigger because a lot of people from non believers, they were not christians. They came, they came to church and the church became bigger, but the number of the servers became less. So what we do and desire is to increase the number of servants, the pastors or the people who serve in that area and to increase the number of evangelical churches.

As for me, my name is Natalia and I'm one of the ministers who work in our church in Kherson. My major ministries also concerning the spiritual work is one of them is the leader of the home group for women. And especially at this time, when we have a lot of women and widows who come to our church, who address us and ask and search for some help and support, they're searching for different questions. They're searching for quietness and peace in their hearts because there is no peace among the war circumstances and says, you know, that's why, like the priority for all of us is the spiritual work. With all these people in Kherson who have decided to stay here and not to leave this city, you know, that the biggest trial that we faced first, the biggest challenge that we faced first when the war started was the lack of ministers because most of them made their mind to move their families and change the place of being, because of the fact that our city is really very close to the front line.

And we don't condemn anybody of them because all of them, they have their own callings or they were able to make their own decisions to save their families. But it's, you know, for me and for all of us, it's, I can say just some kind of hurting thing because we were left totally and not because we are heroes or something, not at all. Only God is our biggest hero and defender. And I can say that it's really difficult to, to explain all these people who stayed, that we have to rely on him. We have to not to be confused and not to be anxious and nervous every day because we can be killed anytime.

You know, for example, today we live and we don't know if our life continues tomorrow. And it's true. It's the reality of our time. That's why we are so grateful to you for your support. Every time we can hear somebody, news from you, we can hear some possibility to connect you, to be reinforced by you, supported by you.

We are so inspired that our decision is not, you know, it's not in vain, and we really have to keep working for these people.

So the church in Ukraine continues to serve, and new churches are being planted. So, so many people are being helped because of people like Natalia.

Romans says, share with the Lord's people who are in need. And if you'd like to get involved with leaders like Natalia, you can do that on your seats, cards like this and pens. And we'd love to share with you stories like that to fuel your prayers. They really needed our continued support. This is not over.

It might be out of the news more, but the needs are greater than ever. So if you'd like to connect with us so we can send you things to pray for, give you opportunity to connect in different ways, please fill out one of these. We only need a tiny amount of information. We won't spam you, I promise. But we will send you things to encourage and inspire you here and help you pray and make a difference in places like Ukraine.

So please do that.

Lastly, I wonder what it means for you to be all in. I wonder what the thing that God is asking you to do is. I want to give us just a minute, just to sit quietly and ask God who is here by his spirit, this is Pentecost Sunday. God, who speaks. God, what do you want me to do?

And he may just say, keep doing what you're doing. He might give you a name or remind you about a situation that he wants you to get involved in. I don't know what it is, but God does. So let's just sit in a moment of quiet.

Father, thank you that you are at work in the world making everything new. Thank you for this local church and we pray together that you would continue to lead us on mission with you. Please show us who or what to do next. Thank you that you promised to give us power by your spirit to witness for Jesus.

Thank you that as we go into this next week, you are with us.

We love you. Please help us to follow you. Amen.