Does My life Reflect Christ - Ps Mark Tabacaru

Okay, then let's get started.

Great.

No one really moved chairs, that's alright.

If you're happy with your seating partners, then that's uh that's fine.

We might get rid of this.

Cool.

Yes, so Luke, uh Luke Kennedy is in America uh this week.

So last time he went to the UK, he came back with a slight, a slight British accent.

So we'll see what he comes back with this time.

Um just gonna embrace it.

Um bit of a Canadian style.

Uh we'll see.

Um but great.

But today we have uh a great friend of our church, so Mark, Mark and Siobon, who's with the kids, and four, you guys have four humans under your care, which is incredible.

We got half that, and we are I'm yeah, just got my head above water, so well done.

So, yeah, he's gonna be here all the traveling all the way from the Gold Coast.

So thank you so much for joining us.

Um, but yeah, just a real friend of our church and a huge heart for for missions, which really aligns with um our heart and obviously spreading the gospel and telling people about Jesus.

So, can we give Mark a big welcome?

Thank you so much for joining us.

Thank you.

That was quite an introduction, thank you.

Um, it's a real pleasure to be here today.

Um to me, it honestly feels like a little bit of a reunion.

Um, because looking around the room, there's so many familiar faces of people 20 years ago that we went to school together and did youth ministry, Robbie Helberg, back in the Octane days.

Um, how we got away with what we got away with is a miracle that I still sit there and go, hopefully, no one reads into the games we used to play and the adventures we did as youth ministry and youth leaders.

But it's a real pleasure to be here today.

And uh, massive thank you to Luke Azumi and the team for having us.

Um, like Tim said, Mark, we have four children, three um that we were planning, and the last one kind of took us by surprise.

Um, but he is a great blessing, and uh they are here enjoying um church today, which I love, and I love the heart of this church that kids are not the addition to a service.

The kids aren't the thing that we just provide, they're down in the front, we're teaching them what worship looks like, and um that blesses me um greatly because part of what I get to do um on the Gold Coast is work with churches around children and youth discipleship, and I love when a church prioritizes the faith formation of children.

I think it's so important that the foundations of faith, and really that's um that's how I got involved in church.

I was really blessed.

Uh I'm one of seven children.

Um, I come from a big Romanian family.

My parents fled communist Romania um and were so grateful for they did, and they were refugees here in Australia and really formed life here.

And I'm the youngest of seven, which means you had to scrap for it at the dinner table, and there's lots of the different family dynamics.

Um, but one of the things that I loved about my childhood was how church wasn't the addition to our week, it wasn't the thing that we just tagged on, it was central to our rhythm as a family.

In fact, for us, we would go to church three times a week um as kids.

On a Wednesday night for three hours, we would sit in Romanian church.

Um, and if anyone has any context of what that might look like, um it was a grind.

As a young child, you're sitting through three preachers, and men sit on one side, women sit on the other side.

It was uh it was it was different.

Um, and then on a Sunday morning, our parents would take us to an ACC Pentecostal church, and you couldn't get two more chalk and cheese expressions of faith, right?

It was like in the Romanian church, don't make a sound, or the uncle behind you will clip you over the ears.

Like there was there was no boundaries.

It was like, sit down, be quiet.

And then and then you went to Sunday school in this English-speaking church, and it was just chaos, um, which we loved.

But I remember as a child that growing up in church was incredible because it really gave me the foundations of my faith.

You're sitting there learning scripture, Psalms 23, you're you're learning the Lord's Prayer, 66 books and God's holy word, and all these things that are so formative to your faith and and and help to keep you in good stead.

But I remember when I was in the last years of school and coming into my young adult years, that that those foundational things were awesome, and I so appreciated them, but but I've got to be honest with you, I I think I lost a bit of the wonder of my faith.

That as I started to experience a real world, went to a Christian school my whole life, my whole upbringing, and then I was in church three days a week.

And to be honest, I had this bubble around me, and then when you're confronted with the world and you have to go into a workplace, your faith starts to shift a little bit, and the lens that you start to look through things, and I've got to be honest with you, I probably had gotten into the rhythm of going into church as a thing I did.

That my relationship with God was probably more what what I did on a Sunday or midweek or what I served on a team, rather than the excitement of getting to know who Jesus actually is.

And I wonder if in the room here this morning that maybe there would be people that maybe you're at the very start of your faith formation, that you're here this morning and you're wrestling out what you believe and how does that apply to your life?

And to that I say, amazing.

That's incredible.

Never lose the wonder of asking the questions, never lose the joy of searching.

How does this apply to my life?

Jesus, your teachings and what you're doing in me, how does that apply?

Because it's such an amazing place to be as you're developing and growing in your relationship with God.

But there would also be other people in this room that maybe you identify with how I felt.

That may be through different seasons in life, through different stresses, through things that happen, that sometimes your faith can feel a little bit stagnant.

Your relationship with God gets into a rhythm of I know who God is, and it's not that I don't love him any less, and it's not that my faith is shaken, but but I've just gotten into the safety and rhythm of my faith.

Maybe you've lost the wonder.

If you look back and remember the different times where God's moved on your life, maybe it was an area of breakthrough, maybe it was when you first accepted Jesus into your life, maybe it was an area where you saw healing take place, and you look back on those moments and their anchor points in your faith, but maybe those moments have been few and far between.

In 1 John 2, verse 6, the Bible says, whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.

1 John 2:6

I like what C.S.

Lewis writes.

He says, Every Christian is to become like Christ.

The whole purpose of becoming a Christian is simply nothing else.

That when you and I walk through our life and as we journey through our faith and go through our day-to-day life, really the goal for each and every one of us is to become more like Christ.

That as we're forming it said, soon afterwards, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him.

As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow.

A large crowd from the town was with her, and when the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her, and he said, Don't cry.

To rewind a little bit, in the passages beforehand, Jesus has just gone and performed another miracle.

He's just healed a centurion servant, which even that in its own is compelling.

Because Jesus went and met this Roman centurion, he was pleaded with would you heal?

He did, and his town gathers behind Jesus and begins to follow him.

They hadn't no idea of who Jesus was, but you can imagine Jesus as he's leaving that town, he's walking down the road, and this crowd is following him as he's approaching the gate of the town called Nain.

Well, in the opposite direction, you couldn't get a more contrasting scene.

That moving towards the town of Gate from the opposite direction is this funeral procession of this widower who's lost her only son.

And to understand the context of this today, we we have to put ourselves back into the story.

And I love this.

I love the fact that we get to see the imagery of what happens in that place, and we get to ask ourselves a question of well, how would we respond?

How does this apply to us?

And as Jesus is there, we understand the context of this widower who's grieving the loss of her only son.

And if we look at that today, that's grief enough, but in the context of what's taking place at that time in Jewish culture, this woman's grieving not only the death of her son, but the death of her future as well and her hope.

You see, for for her, she doesn't have a husband that can advocate on her behalf.

In Jewish context, your husband would be the one who would purchase land and sell land.

He would be the one who would advocate for you day to day, but but she doesn't have a husband, she's a widower, and now her only son who would fulfill that role in in her life is no longer there either.

It's a death of her son, but also how does she operate in a society that doesn't recognize her anymore?

You could imagine there's plenty to grief, the whole town has gathered, and Jesus in that moment the word says that his the his heart goes out to her, but his first words are woman, don't cry.

Which, if that was me, I don't know if I would be leading with that statement.

There's probably some better responses that that you look on in that moment and go, Jesus, maybe, hey, I'm so sorry for your loss.

Hey, is there anything that we can do for you?

Hey, can I pray with you?

Um, they're probably more of the appropriate responses in this situation, but Jesus in that moment purely says to her, don't cry.

You see, we get the beauty of reading through scripture, and we have it packaged so nicely for us.

It's in the five verses from the start, we're introduced to the need, then we read through and see what Jesus does, and then at the end we celebrate that a miracle's taken place, and within five verses we go, wow, isn't it amazing what Jesus did?

But in that moment, there and then, these people have no idea who Jesus is, they've never met Jesus.

Jesus is just a man who's walked to the town gate with a following behind him, who's been incredibly insensitive and not reading the room of the moment.

Jesus, we're at a funeral.

Who is this guy that's telling this mother not to cry?

If there was ever a time to cry, it's right now.

See, they had a limited revelation of who Jesus was.

And so in that moment, their level of expectation matched their revelation.

Their level of expectation matched their revelation.

They had no context of who Jesus was, they had no idea of the power and what he was able to do in that moment.

To them, he was simply a man.

But we get the beauty of context, we get the beauty of understanding.

And so for us, as we unpack this scripture, you can forgive these people for probably sitting there going, What's going on?

Because their level of expectation matched their revelation.

And so I guess the question that we have this morning, if that we're going to live lives that reflect who Jesus is to the world around us, my question this morning is when was the last time you had a fresh revelation of who Jesus is in your life?

You see, these people encounter Jesus and and they don't have context, they don't have an understanding.

But I think for you and I, as we go through life, there's moments, and I'm guilty of this myself, where where I rely on old revelation of who Jesus is and try to apply it to my day-to-day.

Where if we're to become like Christ, if we're to reflect the heart of Christ, then you and I have to be committed to seeking what Jesus would do daily in our lives.

That within our families, as a father, I want to ask myself the question, Jesus, how do I parent my kids in a way that honors you?

God, what are the areas in my life that I need a fresh revelation of so that I can be a better husband to my wife?

In my workplace, as we lead people and for the business owners here and the ones who manage people, but also if maybe you're on staff and you're an employee, what an incredible opportunity to reflect Jesus in a secular environment.

But I wonder when was the last time He said, God, how do I reflect you in a greater way in my workplace?

You see, oftentimes we compartmentalize God to the areas in our lives that we allow Him to touch.

That God, you can have my Sunday mornings because that's time dedicated to you.

And you can have the areas where it applies to my faith, but but when it comes to my workplace, that's that's mine.

When it comes to my hobbies, that those those things are mine.

When it comes to my interactions with other people, that those things don't apply.

And the same context that's taking place of that these people had no expectation for a miracle to take place.

I wonder if God's waiting to move in your life, but he's just saying, hey, would your level of revelation match your expectation?

Would you allow me to reveal myself in all the areas of your life, not just the ones that are convenient to you?

Would you allow me to shape the way that you parent?

Would you allow me to shape the way that you operate in your life, in your disciplines?

Would you allow me to be revealed within you?

So the question simply is, is when was the last time?

You allowed Jesus to reveal himself in your life in a new way.

You see, whenever Jesus reveals part of his character, there's always a response that follows.

In verse 14, it says, Then he went up and he touched the buyer that they were carrying him on, and the bearers stood still.

And he said, Young man, I say to you, get up.

To understand this passage, we've we've got to put ourselves back into the shoes of the people of the day, the the intended audience, the the ones that we're reading about, the Jewish people in that moment.

That this is incredibly compelling, what Jesus does.

And to understand it, we go back to Numbers chapter 19.

Numbers 19 · chapter mention

You see, God speaks to Moses and he gives him a specific set of instructions that says, if you're going to live a life that honors me, this is the standard that you ought to live by.

And he simply crosses the road.

See, Jesus in that moment sees the need, his heart goes out to this mother.

He says, Don't cry, but he takes the next step.

He responds to the need that he was confronted with.

And he crosses the road to meet this boy where he's at.

And it's a great picture of the love that Jesus has for us.

That while we maybe even people here this morning that you felt in moments of that shame.

Maybe you're here this morning and you felt moments of being lost.

Or maybe you've had a faith, but you're like, gosh, I've lost the wonder.

I love the imagery that's represented here.

That it's heaven stooping down to earth.

That Jesus, the Son of God, would be willing to cross the road and meet the need and dirty himself so that somebody else could have life.

Isn't it a great picture of the character and nature of Christ?

At the very start, we we talked about how our lives are to reflect Christ.

And in order for our lives to reflect Christ, we we have to continually have a fresh revelation of who Jesus is.

But the second part of that is when you get a revelation of who Jesus is, is there'll always be a response that's required.

And so my question to you today is what's your responsibility to respond?

That if we're to become like Christ, if we're to be people who show others and people of faith, then we have a responsibility to respond to the needs around us while everyone else was pushing away, Jesus walks forward.

I think it's a great testimony of what we're called to do as a church.

That when we see the needs within other people, that we wouldn't be people who would go, well, that's somebody else's responsibility.

We wouldn't be people that when we're confronted with need, and you will be, because the moment you say, God, I want to reflect you more, Jesus, I want to be more like you.

Well, the very nature of Christ is to meet the needs of others.

And so the moment you make that proclamation, it won't be if, but when and how needs are presented, the question is, is will you respond to it?

Will you be willing to cross the proverbial road?

Would you be willing to become uncomfortable?

Oh, I could imagine in that moment.

People would be sitting there going, What is this man doing?

It was so countercultural.

Not only has he told the mother not to cry, but now he's doing the very thing we've all been taught for thousands of years not to do.

I love that about Jesus, that he pushes past the crowd and he says, No, the need's more important than what your perception of me is about.

He had a responsibility to respond.

And so through this week, as needs are presented to you, I want you to ask yourself the question what's my responsibility here?

If I'm to reflect Christ, how do I meet the needs of others?

Human nature is to pull back, but Jesus always crosses the road.

We go on to read in verse chapter 15.

Sorry, verse 15.

It says that the dead man sat up and began to talk.

And Jesus gave him back to his mother.

Like I said earlier, I like putting myself in the stories of Jesus.

I I like to try to think of not just how I read it on scripture, but but I want to know what it kind of felt like to be in that moment.

Because I think it helps to give us a context.

And to be honest, I'm a little curious as what does the dead man who's in the middle of a crowd who's just been healed say to Jesus when he comes back to life?

Like, even that in itself is we don't understand the scripture, doesn't tell us what's happened, but but to be honest, I'm a little intrigued.

I don't know if you've ever been in a situation where you were doing something and then woke up and you were doing something completely different.

Um, it's it's it's it's interesting.

For me, I was in uh Victoria, Siobhan, my wife, we were dating at the time.

We were helping out with the Black Saturday bushfires with the recovery down there.

And one of the things we would do is where there were houses that had been burnt down and people couldn't get back onto their blocks, we would take crews of volunteers and help clear the block so that insurance companies could come and start to rebuild the houses.

We would chop down trees to help clear the way forward.

And this one day I was chopping down a tree and I had done a wedge cut, which is a triangle cut that you use to help kind of steer the tree in the direction it's meant to fall.

And as I had done my wedge cut, I pushed out the wedge, and unbeknownst to me, there was a hive of European wasps hiding in this hollow of the tree.

And so I push this wedge cut out and I get engulfed, and I do the only thing I know how, and I run to the dam and I jump into the dam.

And I come out and my face is on fire, and I'm like, gosh, what just that was crazy.

Boys, let's call it.

It's a day, no one wants to work.

That that was a horrible experience.

Let's go home, let's call it a day, and so.

So we get in the car, and I remember sitting in the car and going, Gosh, I feel a little funny.

And then the next thing I come to is I'm in Epping Hospital, which is about two hours away from where we are, and I've got IV lines in, Siobhan's on the side, freaking out, talk talking to my mum, and I'm in a dressing gown, and I'm sitting there going, What has just happened?

The last thing I remember, I was driving home from cutting down a tree, and now I've got IV lines, and I'm in a hospital, my girlfriend's crying on the phone to my mum, and I'm in a dressing gown.

There's questions that you have in that moment, like where are my clothes and who put me in this thing?

Like, what the heck has just happened?

And I can imagine that this young man has probably got questions about what's just taken place.

He's in the middle of the street, completely exposed, completely vulnerable to the fact that everyone is looking at him.

Everyone's been mourning him.

And more than that, there's a man standing beside him, and people are in shock of what's just taken place.

They had no revelation of who Jesus was at this moment, they had no context to what he was able to do in his miraculous power, and they've just witnessed a man cross the road, do the very thing that they have been taught not to do for thousands of years, and then more than that, he backed it up.

That a miracle took place.

You could imagine.

I actually think it would have been deathly silent because people would have been like, What do we do with this?

Because this is messed with the way that we operate.

I love in that moment, and it's a beautiful picture of our responsibility as a church, is that Jesus sees this young man in all of his vulnerability, completely exposed to the crowd, and he doesn't just leave him sitting there.

See, Jesus didn't just respond to the need and go, I've done my bit, I've met you, the need, you're now alive, get on with your life, have a great life.

No, Jesus understands there's actually an extra step into this story that not only is it about reflecting the character and the nature of Christ, but it's also the responsibility to respond.

But not just respond, but then there's a commitment to relationship.

You see, this young man's vulnerable, he's exposed, all eyes are on him.

And we read in verse 15 it says that the dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.

I love that.

That Jesus took him back to where relationship was strongest.

Jesus took him back to where there was security and safety.

Jesus took him back to the person who would not just cover him and provide protection for him, but the one who would walk the journey out through with him.

And it's a beautiful picture of when the local church is at its best.

Yeah, each and every one of us, this is simply just a church building.

It's a beautiful one, um, and probably the coolest church I've ever preached in the fact of like studio lights, and it's it's a it's a vibe, to be honest.

This is awesome.

Um but all it is is a building in wool and gabba.

It's bricks and mortar and concrete.

There's nothing about this facility that's special.

What's special is you.

What's special is the level of relationship that we decide to create for other people.

What's special is the environment, the home, the commitment that says, no matter how you walk into this door, we're committed to doing the journey with you.

See, what I love about this, and the picture of this, is that Jesus takes him back to his mother with a safety, security.

But not just that, it gives us the grace to know that you know what, in life, there's gonna be moments where we need the relationship as well.

That if you've been uh following Jesus for a while, you would know that it's not like the moment you say yes to Jesus, suddenly life becomes like this upward trajectory, and all of your emotions and then all the things you struggle with, you're never gonna have anymore.

That's that's not the reality.

The reality is that it's both a process and an event.

It's Jesus, not what you just did in my life in a moment, but what you're continuing to do in my life as well.

That life happens, things things take place, things come out of nowhere.

But when there's a community that's committed to relationship, what I love is that nobody gets left alone in the middle of the street.

Nobody gets left alone feeling like, what do I do in this situation?

It's a picture of the body of Christ.

So the three questions that I posed to you this morning to wrestle with.

And not just wrestle with, like, yeah, I agree with what Mark's saying.

Because to be honest, I like don't agree with me.

Um, wrestle in it and see how this apply to my life.

Take the moment and go, well, well, do I believe what's being talked about?

And if I don't, then I invite you, please come speak to Tim.

He's way smarter than I am.

Um, and he'll help you journey that through.

Um, but but it's not that it's just information to be taken, but rather, my hope and my heart today is that I would spur your thought to go, how does this apply to my life?

That when was the last time Jesus revealed himself into an area of my life?

Or maybe I've just been coasting.

Maybe I maybe it's been a while since you felt like the Holy Spirit prompt you and go, hey, that area, that behavior, maybe that's not the right thing for your life anymore.

Because what's that?

That's growing in maturity in our faith.

The things I used to do as a kid, well, well, they're no longer applicable to me as an adult.

And so I wonder, would you be so open and bold to go, Jesus, would you reveal yourself a new to me?

And I want to encourage you, no matter where you are on your stage and journey of life, faith, and where you sit in that bubble, is Jesus isn't scared of your questions, and neither are we.

That God's heart is to say, Hey, I want to reveal myself afresh to you again.

But it takes a posture of surrender to say, your Lord, I'm not.

I want to reflect less of me and more of you.

The second question is really about our responsibility to respond.

And maybe even as I was talking this morning, there was a certain situation or a person or a need that maybe you felt prompted with this morning.

I want to encourage you, wrestle with it.

God, how do I take responsibility for the needs that are in front of me?

You're not responsible for every need, you're not responsible for every single person, you're just responsible for the ones that God speaks to you about, the ones that your eyes are open to, the ones where you know, oh God, you you've actually put me in this position to meet this need.

And then the question comes, will you be obedient with that?

Because to reflect Christ is to be willing to cross the road.

And so, what roads do you need to cross in your journey?

And the third one, it's what's your commitment to relationship?

That we as the local church, the ecclesia, the body of Christ, the gathering together, that we have a commitment to provide an environment that says, Do you know what?

No matter who you are, where you've been, and what you've done, there's a home here that allows you to wrestle that out.

I think it's a great picture of the body when we do that.

I wonder if you bow your heads and close your eyes, and I'd love to pray for us before I hand back to Tim.

God, I thank you.

Lord, that I'm not aware of every story here.

Lord, I'm not aware of the journey that people have been on, but you are.

You're not just aware, but God, you care so deeply.

And so, Lord, I pray that even in this moment, Lord, maybe it's one of these points, one of these questions, Lord, that that you've been speaking to us about, Lord, or maybe it's all three.

God, I pray that we would have the courage and boldness to, Lord, ask how it applies to our life and then in faith be willing to take the next step.

God, I thank you for this church.

I thank you for these people, Lord, that are committed to not just honoring you with their time and their talents, but God, that their lives would be a living reflection of you.

Lord, I pray that our families would grow stronger.

Lord, that our marriages would be healthier as we reflect you in our marriages, God, in our businesses, in our work environments.

Lord, what you've called us to do.

Lord, I thank you.

That the goal isn't just to know more about you, but that we would be living examples.

We would be a reflection of you to our world.

We thank you for this honor and privilege to be here this morning.

Amen.

Amen.

Thanks, Tim.

Thanks so much, Mark.

Um it's wonderful.

So uh we're gonna end there, but we purposely keep our service at hour 15, a little bit shorter than a Romanian service.

Um, so that that this the ministry time continues from now.

Um, in your conversations, and we're gonna spend just a few minutes now.

If you want prayer, please come down the front.

We'll love to pray for you.

The team will come pray for you.

Mark, could you stick around and pray for people as well?

Um, and uh we'd well welcome you just to come get some prayer if you need prayer about anything or about today's topic.

Otherwise, in your conversations, please encourage one another.

If you're here on something, please pray for one another.

Um, now is is just as an important part of the service as we as we spend time together.

But great, thank you.

Be blessed, and we'll see you next week.