Christ's Influence Through Us

In this message, Pastor Shawn Green explores what truly compels Christians to step beyond comfort and into God’s mission—not guilt, fear, or obligation, but the love of Christ. Drawing from 2 Corinthians 5, the sermon highlights God’s desire to reconcile the world to Himself and His call for believers to serve as Christ’s ambassadors. Through stories from mission partners in Honduras and North India, listeners are invited to let the gospel expand their hearts, see overlooked people with God’s eyes, and bring both practical help and spiritual hope. The message closes by challenging believers to respond in faith, prayer, discipleship, and communion, remembering Jesus who lived, died, and rose again for all.

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we're thinking about how Jesus looked for the needs of others and how we can be moved to compassion for other people. I'd love to hear from you. Who or what have you noticed that you might have otherwise looked past if it wasn't for being a Christ follower? In high school, I wasn't a follower of Jesus until later on in my high school journey, and I think growing up kind of in that environment where everything was like success-driven, I was always looking towards the next goal, the next outcome, the next thing that was coming up. And then coming here to IU, really just seeing all the people around me that are falling into that same thing, I really wanted to help other people see that their worth or their identity is not tied up in, in what they do.

Knowing that about myself and that being part of my story allows me to have compassion for people that, that are in that place right now. And I can have a conversation with them and be like, hey, I'm not understanding of your exact situation, but I understand where you are because I've been there before. And Jesus is there with you in that. What would you kind of say to someone who maybe seeing there's a need to serve, or they're seeing that there are people to disciple, but maybe they don't feel equipped to do that? It's not a matter of whether you're equipped or not, or whether you feel prepared or not, because God doesn't call the equipped, He equips the called.

And like a lot of people are asking deep questions about the meaning of life and faith and what all this means and what's our purpose here. And that opportunity isn't something that we should shy away from as the church. We should really step up and try to, try to create a welcoming place for those, um, for those students and for those young adults.

Good morning, church. It's good to see you all this morning. When I think about what God is doing in Sherwood Oaks and the the people that he is using, to see what he is doing through Evie and Braden Chapman. It's encouraging and it is inspiring, honestly, for me. I love their faith and how it is compelling them to reach out, to build community for young adults in our church, but also in our community so that they can find and follow Jesus.

And so all of these, we've been doing these little video interview bumpers during this series, but we've got the fuller extended version on our YouTube channel and some other places. Hop on, listen to it, check it out. It's also on our podcast channel. They've been really just encouraging. So this week, talked to several people who, like, the topic of the conversation was, man, it was hot outside.

And I imagine many of us were trying as much as we could to be indoors out of the heat. And for those that weren't able to do that, I hope that you have rehydrated well, but I talked to many people throughout the week that were heading to the IU football game yesterday, and every conversation I had, in the back of my mind I was thinking, whoo, sucker, I am gonna be in my nice air-conditioned living room on my couch watching that game. There is no way I want to be out there with those poor fools sweating and suffering in that heat. But then Friday about 11:48 AM, my buddy Jeremy sent me a text and said, hey man, I've got an extra ticket. Do you want to go?

And I'm like, yes, I'm in. I did a quick check with Amber to make sure we didn't have anything going on, but I really wanted to go. And it was crazy because all week thinking, I'm glad I'm not going to that one, to literally a text and 5 seconds later I'm like, I can't wait to go. I hope Amber says yes, we don't have anything going on. It compelled me to go into a place that was uncomfortable 'cause I wanted to be in the room, right?

To be in the place where the championship was being unveiled, everything was kicking off. And it just made me think of like how easily I am compelled to do something or not do something. Like I may come in and have a conviction and like this, something inside of me that's like, I am going to do this or I'm not going to do this. And then something comes along and it compels me to act different, to do different, to think different. It's funny how little it takes for me, and I don't know about you.

We are compelled by many different things. We are compelled by a sale. We maybe go into a store, we have zero interest or intention on buying something, and then we see, oh, but, but it's 40% off. I mean, that's a good deal. I probably need it.

FOMO compels us. You had no interest to go to that event or to be a part of that, and then you find out that everyone else is going. You're like, well, I don't want to miss out. And so you are compelled to go. Compassion compels us.

You see someone going through a hard time and there's something inside of you that says, I just want to pause here with them for a moment. I want I want to enter into that pain with them so that they don't go through it alone. Hunger compels us. You can be perfectly content and then someone's like, hey, I'm going to Chick-fil-A, do you want anything? And you're like, yeah, spicy chicken sandwich with pepper jack cheese.

Of course I want something from Chick-fil-A. Maybe that's just me. All right, sounds like maybe that's just me. We are compelled by a lot of different things, motivated by so many different emotions. We are compelled by love.

We are compelled by fear. We are compelled to do something or not do something by comfort, by approval. Will people like me if I do this? Will they think well of me if I don't? And the question that we've kind of been wrestling with through this series is not like if something influences us, it's not if we are compelled by something, but what influences us?

Like, what compels us to take a step that maybe we wouldn't have taken otherwise? What has enough influence in your life to compel you, to make you move in a different direction, to change the way you think and what you do? In our text today, the Apostle Paul reveals to us what compels him to share the good news of Jesus with others, what compels him to face persecution and hardships and beatings and imprisonments, what compels the Apostle Paul to leave everything that he has ever known and give his life for Jesus, what compels him. At one point he says, I am being poured out like a drink offering.

On the throne to Jesus? What compels Paul to give everything of himself to this ministry and this mission of making Jesus known?

And what compels him, he doesn't say we are compelled by the needs of those around us. Paul doesn't say that we are compelled by guilt. I mean, after all, Jesus did this for us. So I should probably go and do something for him. And Paul doesn't say that he is even compelled by the Great Commission.

Jesus, before he ascends up to heaven, says, go out into all the world, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Paul does not point and say, well, Jesus told us we have to do this, and so that's what compels me to go. No, what Paul says compels him in verse 14, is this: for Christ's love compels us.

Would you say that with me? For Christ's love compels us. It is not guilt, it is not obligation, it's not a sense of duty. It is Christ's love that was moving Paul from what was comfortable and known to what was uncomfortable and and unknown, to go out and to share the message of Jesus who lived, who died, and who is raised again. And the more we allow ourselves to be influenced and shaped by Jesus, the more deeply his love takes root in our hearts.

And as that takes root in our hearts, we can't help but go and share the good news with others. It compels us to go into the world and to see people the way that our heavenly Father sees them.

And you'll discover that Christ's influence expands the geography of your heart. It's very natural for us to care deeply for ourselves. It's very natural for us to care deeply for those close proximity to us, our friends, our family, our community. It's very natural for us to care deeply about people that we can see and do life with. But the gospel ought to expand that.

The gospel-shaped heart expands beyond just people that are within our immediate circles, and it allows us to begin to to care about and be concerned for those that are halfway across the world, that speak different languages than us, that come from different backgrounds than us, because the gospel helps us see that all people are made in the image of God, that Jesus died for all and wants all to come to repentance and salvation in him. And as our hearts begin to align with the heart of God, we find that we desire those same things too. And definitely the best way that I've found in my own life to expand our heart for God's world is to step into that world, to step into places where I'm surrounded by people who maybe don't have the same experience of life that I have, who come from different backgrounds, who speak different languages, Some of the best experiences that God has used to expand my heart for his people have been when I've sat in the homes of somebody who eats very different food than I do, but they have prepared something to share with me and we share a meal with one another and I play with their kids who I know have very different opportunities than what my kids do. And God has used those experiences to expand the geography of my own And I wish that I could just open up a portal right here on stage and say, okay, let's all just walk through it and we can go and experience those things firsthand, but we can't. And so the next best thing to being there is actually listening and hearing from the ones who are and who are serving in those areas and building God's kingdom around the world.

And so this morning I wanna invite up my friend Felipe Colby from His Eyes in Honduras and Serge Dingra from North India. Christian Mission. Would you give them a hand as they come on up into stage and welcome them with me?

So yeah, guys, we got our stools over here. Grab your stool, grab your mic. Let's come on over and get comfortable. So thank you all for joining me this morning. Appreciate that.

And so Trevor, let's, uh, Trevor Ah, see, there's a story there, right? That's— yeah. So Felipe— see? Yes, see? Yeah.

Uh, so tell us, how long have you been working with His Eyes, uh, and kind of what drew you maybe to the ministry? Yeah, so, uh, I've been involved, uh, since living in Bloomington and directly through Sherwood Oaks, actually through the optometry school. My wife is a graduate Proud graduate of— proud graduate of Indiana Optometry. And so we've been involved since the late '90s and then moved down there in 2000. So almost half our— I mean, I look very young, I'm sure, but almost half our lives now living in Honduras.

And so I go by my middle name, which is Philip. And then in Spanish, that's Felipe. So that's just all I go by now. There you go. Yeah, we walk going through streets of Honduras out in villages and it's Felipe blending in.

Yeah, you totally, you do kind of blend in with everybody, but somehow they find you. I don't know. And then Suraj, I mean, you've been in North India all your life working. Tell us a little bit of the story though of North India Christian Mission and how it got started. So I've been working with North India Christian Mission for the last couple of decades.

I was born in India, brought up in India, but I traveled back and forth a lot between here just visiting friends and family and churches. And then going back and serving over there. And so, but NICM has been in action for the last 3 decades. Next, come around next year and we'll have our 30th year anniversary. 30th year?

Yeah. Okay, and your dad kind of got that up and going. Yeah, so my father unfortunately passed away from unforeseen health circumstances, but he died around, he passed away around a decade ago, but he left behind a legacy, and not just a great legacy, but a self-sustaining legacy that we were able to carry on, and not just, not by ourselves, but because of the love and support and resources of the members of this community and across the Brotherhood. Yeah, so Felipe, many of us have been to His Eyes. We've been on the ground, we've ridden in the back of the hill climber truck literally climbing hills to go up and deliver corn and clothes and, and all of that.

But, but for those of us that haven't or haven't been there recently, Give us a glimpse of what God is doing in Honduras and how you're seeing him move. Yeah, it started out with optometry and then God has just kind of grown it from there. I mean, the name of the mission is just, it's His Eyes 'cause we're trying to see the world the way Jesus does and he's got us doing that in a lot of different ways. So that kind of summarizes it in that we're doing clinic work, church planting. We have an after-school program now with 300 kids in 7 different locations.

Teaching them about Jesus, doing coffee farming, employing like 20 people daily to pick coffee and then also get to talk about Jesus. And then short-term mission teams where we're doing like 20 teams a year. Some people that are already on fire for Christ and then some people where that's an opportunity for them to kind of come to know Christ, which is kind of an interesting thing. But just getting to see our clinic getting to do more in our community. We were a place where people would come, but what about people who can't get there?

So seeing our staff being able to go into homes of people that need diapers, that need walkers, that just can't get around, that's something new for us. And seeing how that is starting to create small groups and now kind of like a little small church almost in and of itself. And also just being able to, as we have specialists and specific people coming to help us, that maybe aren't in Christ, but then being able to, through them helping us do ministry, see them come to Christ as well. So we baptized one of our doctors, uh, this year, which was just a pretty cool thing. So yeah, so we get out and about a little bit.

Yeah. And when you go out into these villages and communities, I mean, do you have like specific people in mind that you're going to see and things you're going to do, or what do those steps look like for you? Yeah, sometimes there are local pastors and people we partner with to, to go to specific homes, and then a lot of time it's just we know we're supposed to go and the Holy Spirit guides us. And then there's houses and we're like, I'm supposed to go in this house. And sometimes that ends up in conversations where, you know, we always ask how we can pray for people.

And there's many, many occasions where I've been really humbled to be like, I just kind of showed up at this door, and then, well, here's a little rice, or here's some corn.

And, you know, I was praying this morning. I didn't know what I was going to eat today, and then you guys showed up. And then just to realize you're just a little part of the trail to have made that happen and to see how God opens those doors. And all you have to do is take those little baby steps of faith is, uh, uh, it's, it's kind of scary and humbling, but, uh, it's just really, really cool to, to get to see. I find ministry is oftentimes a reminder that we're not smart enough to orchestrate the things that we see God do.

It's like God's going to do what he— and, and our humble, just little steps leads to a place where we're like, whoa, that— did not even see that coming. Yeah, just the prompting of the Holy Spirit And then at the same time, people can just look at me and go, wow, you clearly don't know what you're doing. So, but then all the more glory to God through that. So yeah, it's really cool. Thanks for sharing, man.

So Suraj, with North India, I got to go and experience it firsthand earlier this year and it was quite a blessing. And I had told my girls when I came back, I met my brother from another mother and certainly, Man, just a little glimpse of our friendship that formed the 2 weeks while I was there. Do we have a picture? Yes, there it is. Yeah, just felt a connection.

A connection. There are way more photos than that too. No, that's all. That's the only one that matters. Maybe he's not sure.

And then Felipe, I was looking the first time that I think I went to his eyes was in 2008 and I was looking for a picture of us that was maybe similar, and the only one that I could find was this. Where is it? Where is it? Waiting, waiting. Oh, it's that.

Yeah. Hey, somebody, we gotta eat. We gotta eat. Yes. Yeah, thank you for taking care of us in that way.

Sure, my pleasure. But Serge, tell us a little bit about the ministry of North India. And I mean, it's a very wide and vast ministry, things that you guys are plugged in and devoted to doing. So tell us just a little bit. About what those things are.

So we're a multifaceted evangelical organization. At the core of our heart is taking the gospel to the unreached parts of North India. So what we do is we take believers, we recruit believers, we train them to develop house churches, then we send them out to unreached outlying villages where they can develop house churches and, you know, create multiplying house churches. And then those house churches within that community, they take care of the practical needs of the people, they care for the poor, and they basically share the love of Christ and do the love of Christ, you know, not just through their faith but through their works. And so these various ways in which we care for the people is through our sewing ministry.

We equip underprivileged women with marketable skills to, you know, to work in textile industry or start their own business. We have a mission school in which we recently hosted a VBS session for over 300 kids. We have our leprosy ministry in which we care for the lepers, and we evangelize to them. We distribute the Bibles to them, and we, you know, do wound care for them. And interestingly enough, AIDS helps contribute us with their AIDS Hot Funds to provide free meals to lepers and to the other marginalized members of the community.

And they also want to work with us, hopefully, with doing some full-time care work for the lepers. And that was Probably the most impactful part of my time with you all in February was going into those leper colonies and working with people. Like, yes, providing meal, but then going around and actually being with them and praying for them and hearing about their story. And that is a ministry that, like you said, Ives, which is another one of our supported missionaries, they're coming alongside to help you do more ministry in those places. 'Cause for a lot of time when people, they come down with leprosy or they have a family member, they are just completely excommunicated.

We went into one leper colony that was literally in the middle of a landfill, which I think speaks to how people see those with leprosy. But you all see God's image on them and caring for them through that ministry. And so how are you all building out on that work with those who have leprosy? Aside from providing them with free meals that AIDS helps us with, we also carry out other projects with them, like such as through our medical evangelism products, medical evangelism projects in which we distribute medicines to them, free over-the-counter medicines to them to help them with their health problems, with any complications like bacterial infections caused by the leprosy. And FAME has— FAME had also stepped forward and they've equipped us with our medical evangelism by providing us with the fully equipped ALS ambulance.

So we're really thankful for that as well. But the— again, as I said, we, you know, raise house leaders, and then they go and impact the community, grow the community through their service so that they can multiply more house churches. It's a reciprocal relationship. So we use our services to help the lepers, and as a result of that, we then take— we evangelize to them by forming one-on-one relationships and having fellowships with them. Yeah, yeah.

So guys, last question that I want to ask you. When you think about the church in America and specifically Sherwood Oaks Christian Church, what do you hope that we never forget about God's heart for the world?

Yeah, I think for me, being able to kind of go back and forth and continually have what I call my bubble burst. So just that bubble of like, this is what I know and this is what I'm comfortable in, or that like comfort zone. And for God to have continued to open my heart to having that bubble burst, to seeing that God loves absolutely every single human being on the earth, including me, who oftentimes, you know, I'm struggling with like, oh man, what's wrong with me? And then I'm like, but I see how God's moving to reach the people that are right in front of me. But then I can't even see it for myself and how I can be a tool to be used for that.

So, I think that's the thing is to just constantly be willing to have your bubble burst so that you can be used more for God, whether that's thinking about the people around the world that need Christ, but also sometimes, you know, even our own family members or people across the street. We just get— we have different bubbles and we want to stay in them. And then sometimes it hurts, but it hurts so good when you get that bubble popped and then you get to see God work. And then you just, yeah, I see what you're doing. But just over and over again.

So I figure another 50 or 60 years, I'll have a good handle on that. Okay, awesome. I better not be here in 50 or 60 more years. We'll wait to hear from you then. That's right.

Well, and just a quick little plug, our high school ministry spring break, doing a mission trip to His Eyes in Honduras. And so that was— that's a way that our students' bubble can kind of be popped. Like, they can step out of their comfort zone and see what God is doing in a different part of the world. And so if you have a parent of a high school student, you're like, I don't know, should they go? Do I trust where they're going and what they're doing?

This is like gonna be their bodyguard and chauffeur. They're in good hands. They're in very good hands. Yes. Serge, how about for you?

When you think about just the church in America, what do you hope that we never forget about God's heart for the world? I think what I want you guys to never forget is that this is a privilege for us. Taking the gospel to the ends of the earth is a privilege for us. It is a mandate that Christ has tasked unto his believing body. And whether you know it or not, whether you realize it or not, but your prayers and resources have helped us, you know, establish the presence of the Kingdom in North India in the most unreached places, in the most precarious circumstances.

And, you know, God has used you directly or indirectly to, you know, make the Kingdom a reality in North India. And I wish— you really have to be there to understand what I'm talking about and the joy that I feel because of you working with us. So never forget of the impact, the extremely positive impact and the spiritual transformations you've enabled us to bring in the hardest, most unreached areas of this world. And Brad was reminding me this morning, I mean, through that house church movement, there have been over 20,000 people who have come to Christ and have been baptized into him. I mean, we can celebrate that, right?

It's beautiful. And, and that God cares just as much for those folks to come to know, love, and follow Jesus as he does anyone else in this place, in our community, anywhere in the world. So thank you all so much for sharing with us this morning. Have a great rest of your day. Well, don't get too comfortable.

We still got one more of these.

So the Apostle Paul wraps up 2 Corinthians 5 talking about that God is on a mission to reconcile the world to himself. God is on this mission to reconcile the world, to bring people back to him. And then he says at the end of verse 18 that he has given us the ministry of reconciliation. It's not just that he has modeled it for us. It's not even that he has invited us into it.

God has given us his people, his followers, this ministry of reconciliation to continue. And he sums it up in verse 20 by saying, we are therefore Christ's ambassadors. We represent him and his kingdom as we walk in this earth, as though God were making his appeal to others through us. He says we are Christ's ambassadors, not Felipe and Valerie, not Suraj, not any of the others that are out there doing it. We We are the ones.

It's why one of our values as a church is we think like everyday missionaries. We really believe that every single person who is a follower of Jesus has been called to go and share that good news with others. And our mission field, we talk about this, wherever we find our feet, and our feet may not be in North India or Tegucigalpa or anywhere, like our feet might be in our homes, it might be in our communities, it might be in our places It might be at the ball field or the grocery store. Like wherever you find your feet today, God has planted you there to be an ambassador of his, to represent him there, to get out of our bubble, to care about those that he is surrounding us with. That is the geography of God's heart.

It is the entire world. World, and it is as close as our own homes. So as we close this morning, let me ask you this: how much has God's world made its way into your hearts?

Is there a place that maybe is closed off? You think about a situation and just don't feel much compassion or empathy towards it? Is there a people group That you've just kind of written off.

God sent Jesus to live and die and be raised again just as much for them as he did for you or any one of us.

As my friend's message on Friday compelled me to move from the comfort of my couch into something that was very uncomfortable but very Ah, so much better. And it's Christ's love that compels us to move into those sometimes uncomfortable places and conversations to help someone find and follow Jesus. So may we be a church that allows Christ's influence to shape us, which then flows through us and expands our heart for the world that is beyond us, to step out of our comfort zone sometimes and help others find and follow him. And as we do, all we are doing is just following our Savior. We are following Jesus who came into this world, left the privileges of deity behind, came into this world being found as a human.

He became a servant. He took on the nature of a servant and gave himself. He was obedient to the Father, even to the cross. Jesus made himself nothing, stepped into those places so that we could be saved, so that we could be forgiven and set free. And he sends us out with that message to be his ambassadors.

If you're here this morning and maybe your life has taken some turns that you did not expect and some pain that you are living in, habits that you can't break, find yourself in a situation where you wonder, am I loved? Am I lovable? I think what I want you to hear more than anything from, from this and from the words of our friends is, is that God cares for you and he has pursued you. Jesus lived, died, and lives again for you. He wants to give you new life when you put your faith in him.

And if you're ready to take that step, we'll have some people on the sides with lanyards that would love to pray with you and help you. If you just need someone to pray with you, they'd love to do that. As we come to the end of our service this morning, we've got one more song, but we're gonna share in communion. Communion is a chance for us to remember Jesus who lived, died, and lives again by, by taking a piece of bread that represents his body that was given and drinking a little cup of juice that helps us remember his blood that was shed. And as you, as you share in communion this morning, you can come up, go back, grab one of the cups, take it back to your seat, partake whenever you are ready.

And maybe a reminder that we have been reconciled to God, but we have also been given the ministry of reconciliation to go out to others. And so God, meet us in this time.

May our hearts be expanded to match your heart, Father, for the world, for those that maybe we look past or look over or look beyond. Or may we see them with your eyes and love them with your heart. So maybe we'd be a church that is open to being compelled by the love of Jesus to step into those uncomfortable places so that more people can find and follow him. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.