WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:29.980 Who am I? A teenager walking into high school wonders, where will I fit? Who will I be? A successful businessman finding themselves on the early retire list at their company thinks, who am I? 00:00:29.980 --> 00:00:51.740 Who am I? Where do I fit? A young man lying on his bed at night wondering where he fits in the universe. A widow finding her way after the loss of her husband. A 20-something looking for a job and a career wondering who or what she wants to be. 00:00:51.740 --> 00:01:05.060 The question of our identity is one that we all think about quite a bit. And in our 21st century, it's become a little bit of a fraught conversation. 00:01:05.060 --> 00:01:23.000 I think of the tale of Nkechi Amari Diallo. You may know her more familiarly as Rachel Dolezal. She was a woman who grew up in a family with Caucasian European roots. 00:01:23.000 --> 00:01:35.760 But she describes in her book a pull towards black culture. So she came to identify herself as black. She wrote this in her book. 00:01:35.760 --> 00:01:46.600 Yes, my parents weren't black, but that's hardly the only way to define blackness. The culture you gravitate toward and the worldview you adopt play equally large roles. 00:01:47.140 --> 00:01:54.400 As soon as I was able to make my exodus from the white world in which I was raised, I made a headlong dash towards the black one. 00:01:54.400 --> 00:02:03.940 And in the process, I gained enough personal agency to feel confident in defining myself in that way. 00:02:05.780 --> 00:02:10.759 Now listen, I don't want to pick her out to disparage her. 00:02:12.340 --> 00:02:20.140 She's had a hard life from every perusal of her biography, and her story is her own story. 00:02:20.139 --> 00:02:23.319 But did you hear what she said at the end? 00:02:24.539 --> 00:02:31.479 I gained enough personal agency to feel confident defining myself that way. 00:02:34.239 --> 00:02:40.279 Underlying her understanding of identity was choice and self-determination. 00:02:41.339 --> 00:02:49.199 And this mirrors, I believe, a deep-seated cultural belief that is increasing in our day. 00:02:49.199 --> 00:02:52.599 That identity is something that we can choose. 00:02:52.859 --> 00:02:54.359 It's a matter of personal agency. 00:02:55.060 --> 00:03:02.679 So we choose a political party or a social cause or a hobbyist group, and we make that our identity. 00:03:03.579 --> 00:03:07.000 We lean into some of our given identities. 00:03:07.419 --> 00:03:09.179 I am a man or a woman. 00:03:09.379 --> 00:03:16.419 I have a race or an ethnicity or a nationality or a family, and we make that our identity. 00:03:16.419 --> 00:03:22.879 Sometimes we fall into building our identities through our work and the investment of our lives, 00:03:22.979 --> 00:03:27.419 whether it be parents making their children their identity, 00:03:27.839 --> 00:03:32.759 or social influencers who make their likes and their popularity their identity, 00:03:33.060 --> 00:03:36.639 or in our careers making our success and our achievements. 00:03:37.459 --> 00:03:42.159 Whether we're a student thinking through our grades and how well we perform, 00:03:42.560 --> 00:03:43.939 becoming our identity. 00:03:43.939 --> 00:03:51.460 If we're an athlete or an artist, our performance on the field becomes our identity. 00:03:54.340 --> 00:03:58.539 Now, I want to point out that this is a very modern way of thinking, I believe, 00:03:58.639 --> 00:04:03.159 because in the pre-modern world, your identity came from probably three things. 00:04:03.500 --> 00:04:09.879 It came from your family, your hometown, or the work that you were predetermined to do beforehand. 00:04:09.879 --> 00:04:13.879 So, you were known as Simon, the son of Jonah, right? 00:04:14.019 --> 00:04:15.280 That was who you were. 00:04:15.400 --> 00:04:17.319 Or you were John from Galilee. 00:04:17.540 --> 00:04:19.240 Or you were William the baker. 00:04:19.879 --> 00:04:21.899 Or, and so on and so forth. 00:04:22.019 --> 00:04:24.620 So, this is a modern move. 00:04:24.839 --> 00:04:27.620 This is something that I think has become more so. 00:04:28.180 --> 00:04:31.219 And listen, we need to recognize that identity is complex. 00:04:31.980 --> 00:04:34.659 We have multiple layers of identities. 00:04:34.660 --> 00:04:38.439 I am a white, married, American male. 00:04:38.820 --> 00:04:47.060 I am a part of the Coburn and the Bukock clans of northern European immigrants to America over the last 400 years. 00:04:47.320 --> 00:04:48.580 I am a college graduate. 00:04:48.800 --> 00:04:50.640 I am a member of Trinity Baptist Church. 00:04:50.920 --> 00:04:52.260 I am an avid soccer fan. 00:04:52.379 --> 00:04:54.160 And I love Tolkien and the Lord of the Rings. 00:04:54.400 --> 00:04:57.040 And all of these are a part of who I am. 00:04:57.040 --> 00:05:03.480 We all have this kind of kaleidoscope of our identity, don't we? 00:05:04.819 --> 00:05:07.300 But what is our core identity? 00:05:08.540 --> 00:05:10.200 Who are you? 00:05:11.040 --> 00:05:12.900 Has a more essential feel, doesn't it? 00:05:14.259 --> 00:05:18.580 If someone asked what is the most important thing about you, how would you reply? 00:05:19.720 --> 00:05:23.900 And this is what brings us to our passage in Galatians this morning. 00:05:23.899 --> 00:05:28.000 And as you may know, if you're visiting, we're doing a series in the book of Galatians. 00:05:28.179 --> 00:05:30.379 We're looking at Paul's letter to this church. 00:05:31.439 --> 00:05:36.279 And we are in Galatians 3, starting in verse 23 this morning. 00:05:36.419 --> 00:05:41.779 And that's page 914 in your pew Bible, if you want to follow along there. 00:05:42.159 --> 00:05:47.979 And in this passage, Paul brings us to understand a gospel response to the question of identity. 00:05:48.179 --> 00:05:51.319 And it comes in the context of first century Judaism. 00:05:51.319 --> 00:05:55.060 I was doing more research on this because I know some of you have asked questions. 00:05:56.099 --> 00:06:04.000 I found a quote from Malka Simcovich, who is a professor of Jewish studies. 00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:11.839 And this is what she writes about first century Judaism, which is the background to a lot of this book. 00:06:11.839 --> 00:06:24.339 She said this, the three big markers of a common Jewish identity at this time, that is the first century, were circumcision, Shabbat, and the dietary laws. 00:06:24.739 --> 00:06:25.519 Two caveats. 00:06:25.859 --> 00:06:28.679 In Judea, we'd include purity laws and holidays. 00:06:29.039 --> 00:06:36.120 And from the middle to the late second temple period, and that would be around the time of Christ and through the first century, 00:06:36.120 --> 00:06:41.079 Jews everywhere are coming together regularly to read Scripture. 00:06:41.860 --> 00:06:44.000 This creates a common identity. 00:06:49.000 --> 00:06:51.959 Moses and David and Jerusalem and Israel. 00:06:51.959 --> 00:06:59.019 We have these Old Testament patterns of keeping the law, circumcision, Sabbath, dietary laws. 00:07:00.839 --> 00:07:09.259 And the question is, with the coming of Christ, then, how do Christians understand identity? 00:07:10.500 --> 00:07:14.919 How do we understand the basis of our identity in light of the gospel? 00:07:15.939 --> 00:07:17.819 So that's what we're going to talk about this morning. 00:07:18.299 --> 00:07:18.839 Here we go. 00:07:18.839 --> 00:07:21.699 Let's read the passage together if you want to read along with me. 00:07:21.759 --> 00:07:23.159 It will be up on the screen as well. 00:07:24.679 --> 00:07:28.219 Let's read and then ask God for help, and then we'll move ahead. 00:07:28.219 --> 00:07:34.479 Now, before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned under the coming faith, 00:07:35.259 --> 00:07:38.939 and imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. 00:07:39.620 --> 00:07:46.299 So then the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 00:07:46.300 --> 00:07:50.400 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. 00:07:51.020 --> 00:07:54.639 For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith. 00:07:55.280 --> 00:08:00.259 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 00:08:00.900 --> 00:08:02.580 There is neither Jew nor Greek. 00:08:02.800 --> 00:08:04.460 There is neither slave nor free. 00:08:04.800 --> 00:08:06.280 There is neither male nor female. 00:08:07.000 --> 00:08:09.639 For you are all one in Christ Jesus. 00:08:09.639 --> 00:08:15.919 And if you are a Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. 00:08:16.479 --> 00:08:23.300 I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything. 00:08:23.680 --> 00:08:27.759 But he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. 00:08:27.759 --> 00:08:35.439 In the same way, we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. 00:08:36.360 --> 00:08:43.100 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under law, 00:08:43.319 --> 00:08:49.720 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 00:08:49.720 --> 00:08:57.720 And because you are sons, God has sent the spirit of his son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. 00:08:58.840 --> 00:09:04.840 So, you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. 00:09:05.320 --> 00:09:06.200 Let's pray together. 00:09:06.660 --> 00:09:08.340 Lord, we thank you for this passage. 00:09:08.580 --> 00:09:11.240 We thank you for the glorious truths that it holds. 00:09:11.320 --> 00:09:14.220 And we pray for your Holy Spirit to be at work in us this morning. 00:09:14.220 --> 00:09:26.960 Lord, we need you to help us not only hear, but understand and, Lord, internalize these truths. 00:09:27.660 --> 00:09:30.279 We need you to search our hearts. 00:09:32.139 --> 00:09:39.580 Because, Lord, we want more than anything to know you and to know what it is that you have done for us in Christ. 00:09:40.340 --> 00:09:42.300 Lord, I pray for your help this morning. 00:09:42.299 --> 00:09:45.699 Give me the words to speak, so that I might speak as I ought. 00:09:46.240 --> 00:09:48.740 And let us sit under your word together. 00:09:49.419 --> 00:09:51.299 We pray these things in Jesus' name. 00:09:51.959 --> 00:09:52.379 Amen. 00:09:54.079 --> 00:09:59.059 How are we to understand our identity in light of the gospel? 00:09:59.939 --> 00:10:02.359 What we see in this passage, Paul has a pattern. 00:10:02.919 --> 00:10:05.240 There's a what used to be and what is now true. 00:10:05.359 --> 00:10:06.719 A before and an after. 00:10:06.859 --> 00:10:09.959 Before Christ came and after relating to our identity. 00:10:09.960 --> 00:10:14.139 And so, we're going to look at that rather than working sequentially through the whole passage. 00:10:14.280 --> 00:10:18.420 We'll see that this pattern is repeated at the end of chapter 3 and at the beginning of chapter 4. 00:10:18.500 --> 00:10:20.840 So, we're going to work through it before and after. 00:10:21.120 --> 00:10:23.360 So, the before, what did it look like? 00:10:23.440 --> 00:10:30.240 Well, in verses 23 through 25 and in chapter 4, verses 1 through 3, we see the descriptions of before. 00:10:30.900 --> 00:10:31.139 Right? 00:10:31.139 --> 00:10:36.919 And before, ultimately, the law was the controlling factor for the Jewish people of God. 00:10:38.259 --> 00:10:43.100 In verse 23, it says, we were captive to the law, imprisoned by it. 00:10:43.539 --> 00:10:46.299 Verse 24 says, the law was our guardian. 00:10:46.799 --> 00:10:47.779 Now, what does this mean? 00:10:47.779 --> 00:10:54.819 Well, it's a great word, pedagogos, which means we get the word pedagogue from it today. 00:10:55.159 --> 00:11:03.240 But various translations of it would be a guardian, a schoolmaster, a tutor, an escort, or a caretaker. 00:11:03.659 --> 00:11:10.839 As I thought about our words today, this is not a common word today, but the word I might use is governess. 00:11:10.840 --> 00:11:21.980 Someone who is hired to rule, to take care of, and to discipline, and to instruct children on behalf of parents. 00:11:23.019 --> 00:11:31.639 A disciplinarian, a teacher, an overseer, a temporary person who plays a role for a season until those children grow up. 00:11:33.100 --> 00:11:34.960 So, that's what Paul says. 00:11:35.259 --> 00:11:38.220 This was the situation when we were under the law. 00:11:38.220 --> 00:11:43.139 We were under this, and under means even like in prison. 00:11:43.620 --> 00:11:50.399 We were held under this kind of, what's the right word? 00:11:50.540 --> 00:11:52.899 I didn't write this in my notes because I didn't think about it. 00:11:52.940 --> 00:11:53.540 Okay, here we go. 00:11:53.600 --> 00:11:54.100 We'll move on. 00:11:54.960 --> 00:12:04.139 So, we were under this thing for a while, under the care of a governess for a while, and that governess was the law. 00:12:04.139 --> 00:12:08.199 Then, in verse 4, he builds on this concept again. 00:12:08.840 --> 00:12:14.939 In verse 1, he says, imagine the person, the character of a child in a household, right? 00:12:15.279 --> 00:12:17.360 They are under guardians and managers. 00:12:17.500 --> 00:12:23.100 And again, he's picturing bigger households that have servants or other people who would play this role. 00:12:23.539 --> 00:12:26.879 Guardians, this is a different word than pedagog, but guardians are managers. 00:12:26.879 --> 00:12:39.220 He says, though these children are actually members of the family, they're recognized as having all the rights and privileges of children, they don't have the authority yet, right? 00:12:39.360 --> 00:12:49.919 They have to wait until the time comes that their father has set for them to step into the full authority and freedom of their childhood, right? 00:12:49.919 --> 00:12:54.240 It's almost like their whole lives are like a trust fund, right? 00:12:54.419 --> 00:13:03.819 We set up trust funds for children sometimes, and our kids can't access them until they become 18 or 21 or 25 or however we determine it, right? 00:13:03.860 --> 00:13:08.259 And there's a trustee that oversees that fund on behalf of the child until they grow up. 00:13:08.639 --> 00:13:10.179 This is what Paul is saying. 00:13:10.439 --> 00:13:15.379 This is what we all are like spiritually under the law, right? 00:13:15.379 --> 00:13:25.320 God gave the law, but being under it was like being under this time-bound oversight where we didn't have ultimate authority. 00:13:26.500 --> 00:13:31.820 And it's interesting when you get to verse 2 of chapter 4 as well, because he says, 00:13:31.820 --> 00:13:44.379 we were like children enslaved to a predicament of being under the law, being parallel with enslaved to the elemental principles of the world. 00:13:44.379 --> 00:13:52.120 Now, this is an interesting move because he's been talking mostly about law and Judaism, and then he brings in this concept. 00:13:52.600 --> 00:13:58.600 And we see it a little bit further down in chapter 4 and verses 9 and 10, and you could look there to see what it says. 00:13:58.939 --> 00:14:03.820 But I think here he has an expansive view of what this means. 00:14:03.820 --> 00:14:19.420 So, one commentator said that the elemental principles is all that is associated with this fallen world, this present evil age that is under the curse that fell on creation as a result of Adam's rebellion. 00:14:19.419 --> 00:14:28.459 So, it's not just talking narrowly about those who are under the Jewish law because they're Jewish Christians trying to figure out how that fits. 00:14:28.839 --> 00:14:33.439 But he expands his view to say this is for all people, Jews and Gentiles. 00:14:34.019 --> 00:14:41.500 And it would include everything from our desire to justify ourselves by our works, our religious works, our good works, our performance. 00:14:41.500 --> 00:14:49.080 It also includes our human enslavement to our sinful impulses and desires. 00:14:49.340 --> 00:14:58.080 This is a theme we'll see developed in chapter 5, where our disobedience and selfish living results in sin. 00:14:58.080 --> 00:15:09.480 All of it is the thinking that reflects Adam and his rejection of God as sovereign, as Lord, as Father, as protector and provider, 00:15:10.020 --> 00:15:15.540 and our desire to live apart from God on our own terms, in our own way. 00:15:16.100 --> 00:15:23.980 And so, I think Paul is making parallel this more narrow idea of living under the law in a very Jewish sense with a more broad sense. 00:15:23.980 --> 00:15:28.240 We are all under sin because we all have this impulse. 00:15:28.759 --> 00:15:38.580 We all have this sin impulse in us that wants to somehow build our identities on our own works. 00:15:39.720 --> 00:15:42.500 And Paul argues this is not a good thing. 00:15:43.360 --> 00:15:45.820 He said, why would you want to go back to that? 00:15:46.399 --> 00:15:49.399 Why would you want to stay in a guardianship? 00:15:49.399 --> 00:15:57.879 Why would you want to stay, and the words he uses are strong, enslaved to these things, bound to these things, 00:15:58.220 --> 00:16:01.740 these things that were meant to be temporary, not permanent, 00:16:02.259 --> 00:16:09.120 these things that were not meant to bear ultimately the weight that you are giving it by saying, 00:16:09.399 --> 00:16:12.899 this is what my identity is going to be based on. 00:16:12.899 --> 00:16:21.120 And before we go on and look at the after, we need to ask ourselves a similar question. 00:16:22.120 --> 00:16:25.840 Why do we, too, want to go back? 00:16:26.799 --> 00:16:36.559 Why do we humanly want to create our own identity when it is, in fact, a terrible burden and a weight? 00:16:36.559 --> 00:16:46.959 Why do we think that it is better for us to determine it and to live on the hamster wheel of performance and of doing good works 00:16:46.959 --> 00:16:54.419 and of somehow trying to measure up to some standard when our best works fall short and our worst failures become crushing? 00:16:54.419 --> 00:17:05.039 The good news of the gospel is that God did not leave us before, forever. 00:17:06.019 --> 00:17:09.240 The law was given to prepare the world for the coming of Christ, 00:17:09.379 --> 00:17:13.480 to teach us of our need for salvation and for a better Savior, 00:17:14.680 --> 00:17:18.319 and the coming of Christ brings something new and something better. 00:17:19.200 --> 00:17:23.099 So, if you're taking outlines, we just did the before. 00:17:23.099 --> 00:17:24.679 Now, here's the after. 00:17:25.419 --> 00:17:28.740 The new identity that Christ brings through faith in Him, 00:17:29.179 --> 00:17:32.859 which is a better and more permanent thing. 00:17:32.959 --> 00:17:39.099 The key verses, again, are 24 through 26, and chapter 4, verses 4 through 5. 00:17:40.159 --> 00:17:43.240 So, let me read those just so we can hear them again. 00:17:44.459 --> 00:17:45.980 Chapter 3, verse 24. 00:17:45.980 --> 00:17:51.579 So then the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 00:17:51.579 --> 00:17:55.179 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 00:17:55.399 --> 00:17:59.819 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith. 00:18:00.599 --> 00:18:04.199 And then in chapter 4, verses 4 and 5, he says, 00:18:04.299 --> 00:18:07.960 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, 00:18:08.339 --> 00:18:10.480 born of a woman, born under the law, 00:18:10.859 --> 00:18:13.099 to redeem those who were under the law, 00:18:13.439 --> 00:18:17.240 so that we might receive adoption as sons. 00:18:17.240 --> 00:18:25.039 Friends, this is the identity that God wants to bestow upon us through faith in Christ. 00:18:25.299 --> 00:18:27.819 He calls us sons of God. 00:18:29.079 --> 00:18:30.640 Okay, we got to address this, right? 00:18:31.019 --> 00:18:32.539 Why sons, right? 00:18:32.880 --> 00:18:33.839 Why sons? 00:18:34.099 --> 00:18:38.779 That makes it feel like if you're a woman sitting in this sanctuary this morning, 00:18:38.839 --> 00:18:41.599 you're like, okay, so the men get all this stuff again, 00:18:41.680 --> 00:18:42.059 and what? 00:18:42.059 --> 00:18:43.480 I get the drags, right? 00:18:43.839 --> 00:18:44.159 No. 00:18:45.000 --> 00:18:47.700 It comes across as gendered, and we read it that, 00:18:47.799 --> 00:18:51.759 but he is not talking about gender, but he's talking about status. 00:18:52.399 --> 00:18:58.399 Because a son in the first century would be the full heir of the blessing of the household. 00:18:58.899 --> 00:19:04.079 Do you remember the story in the Old Testament where Isaac was getting old, 00:19:04.079 --> 00:19:10.500 and Esau, the firstborn son, was due to receive his blessing, 00:19:10.960 --> 00:19:14.220 the blessing of the Father upon the firstborn son. 00:19:15.240 --> 00:19:18.439 And Jacob sneaks in with Rachel's help and steals the blessing, 00:19:18.579 --> 00:19:20.339 and then it's, you know, the shenanigans are on. 00:19:21.240 --> 00:19:29.119 But the idea is that to be the Son of God is to be that one who receives those blessings, 00:19:29.119 --> 00:19:38.359 intimacy with the Father, authority, full inheritance of the riches of the Father's household, right? 00:19:39.239 --> 00:19:43.979 And Paul here makes very clear that this is not a gendered thing, 00:19:44.000 --> 00:19:45.919 because we see in verse 28, he says, 00:19:46.599 --> 00:19:53.319 male and female both are welcomed in and receive this gift of being adopted as sons. 00:19:54.319 --> 00:19:56.339 And in case you feel like you're being picked on, 00:19:56.639 --> 00:19:58.259 the men are called the bride of Christ. 00:19:58.259 --> 00:20:00.160 So we can talk about that later. 00:20:00.500 --> 00:20:03.980 We need to recognize that these images, right, 00:20:05.319 --> 00:20:09.779 are gendered because of their meaning in their context. 00:20:10.140 --> 00:20:14.339 And what we need to do is take that meaning and apply it to us 00:20:14.339 --> 00:20:16.740 in the fullness of what we understand. 00:20:17.480 --> 00:20:22.259 And this is what we see, that we are all sons of God. 00:20:23.079 --> 00:20:25.319 And this is a beautiful identity. 00:20:25.539 --> 00:20:27.319 It is a familial identity. 00:20:27.319 --> 00:20:33.059 It doesn't mean we're merely participants in a program or a group or a club. 00:20:33.179 --> 00:20:37.740 We're not just a box that God checks off as part of like, 00:20:37.980 --> 00:20:39.299 oh, we want to save Him. 00:20:39.439 --> 00:20:39.720 Check. 00:20:39.819 --> 00:20:40.599 We got that done. 00:20:40.679 --> 00:20:41.599 Let's move on. 00:20:41.980 --> 00:20:47.779 No, it's a restoring of an intimate relationship with God as a Father. 00:20:47.779 --> 00:20:48.779 Father. 00:20:48.779 --> 00:20:51.519 A Father who's rescued us from slavery. 00:20:51.519 --> 00:20:56.599 A Father to whom we can run for protection and help. 00:20:56.599 --> 00:21:00.480 A Father who knows our hearts and knows our need, 00:21:00.879 --> 00:21:04.639 whom we can cry out to on our darkest days. 00:21:05.139 --> 00:21:09.759 A Father who envelops us with the embrace and blessing. 00:21:09.759 --> 00:21:14.119 A Father who gave up His very own Son for us. 00:21:14.619 --> 00:21:18.140 Sending Him to the cross to die in our place. 00:21:18.480 --> 00:21:25.640 So that we, the rebellious outcast, the prodigal Son, might be welcomed home. 00:21:25.640 --> 00:21:30.540 This is sonship. 00:21:31.180 --> 00:21:32.460 This is the welcome. 00:21:32.980 --> 00:21:36.020 This is the identity that God gives us. 00:21:36.560 --> 00:21:40.360 And Paul tells us how wonderful it is as he unpacks these images. 00:21:41.000 --> 00:21:46.500 In verses 26 through 28, he emphasizes that it is for all people. 00:21:47.000 --> 00:21:47.140 Right? 00:21:47.500 --> 00:21:50.080 For in Christ you are all sons of God. 00:21:50.079 --> 00:21:56.439 In verse 27, as many have been baptized, all of you, any of you who have believed. 00:21:56.819 --> 00:21:59.159 Verse 28 makes it very clear. 00:22:00.279 --> 00:22:04.119 Neither Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free, male nor female. 00:22:04.559 --> 00:22:06.819 You are all one in Christ. 00:22:06.960 --> 00:22:07.980 That's the emphasis. 00:22:08.720 --> 00:22:13.199 And you see how radical and beautiful and wonderful this is. 00:22:13.200 --> 00:22:24.620 The greatest social divisions of our world and of our history are overcome because they have no effect on our standing in Christ. 00:22:25.080 --> 00:22:26.420 Race and gender and wealth. 00:22:27.600 --> 00:22:32.680 None of those are a part of how we are justified with God. 00:22:33.559 --> 00:22:37.380 It is only through faith in Christ that we can be sons of God. 00:22:37.380 --> 00:22:48.300 And this becomes our most fundamental identity that we can all equally enter into. 00:22:48.860 --> 00:22:56.100 And what God is doing is this beautiful thing where he is taking the diversity of humanity and he's saying, 00:22:56.340 --> 00:23:01.340 I'm going to make one people that reflects the entirety of what I have created. 00:23:01.339 --> 00:23:06.859 The people made in my image from every tribe and tongue and nation. 00:23:07.659 --> 00:23:10.939 And to make one people new in Christ. 00:23:13.359 --> 00:23:24.240 Not following the Jewish law to become Jewish so that one particular ethnic group or political economic group becomes the center of my people. 00:23:24.619 --> 00:23:28.039 But so that it would be for all people everywhere. 00:23:28.399 --> 00:23:31.000 And this is what we see in the book of Revelation, is it not? 00:23:31.339 --> 00:23:37.220 That around the throne of God worships people from every tribe and tongue and nation saying, 00:23:37.439 --> 00:23:40.139 Worthy are you to receive honor and glory and praise. 00:23:41.519 --> 00:23:43.220 This is what God is doing. 00:23:44.959 --> 00:23:51.279 And it allows us to address all of our other identities in a beautiful way. 00:23:52.419 --> 00:23:53.579 Neither Jew nor Gentile. 00:23:53.659 --> 00:23:54.240 Here's the thing. 00:23:54.339 --> 00:23:56.039 We all have a racial identity. 00:23:56.519 --> 00:23:57.799 That's just true. 00:23:58.139 --> 00:24:00.039 A racial identity, a national identity. 00:24:00.039 --> 00:24:02.980 We don't have to deny them and say we don't have them. 00:24:03.119 --> 00:24:03.599 We do. 00:24:04.579 --> 00:24:09.099 But rather than thinking we need the right one in order to justify ourselves, 00:24:09.299 --> 00:24:15.379 we can simply say, no, I am a part of the beautiful picture of the people of God that he is bringing. 00:24:15.720 --> 00:24:28.399 And I'm going to bring the uniqueness of my experience and my culture to add to this beautiful picture of what God is doing. 00:24:28.400 --> 00:24:29.400 Right? 00:24:29.400 --> 00:24:29.680 Right? 00:24:29.680 --> 00:24:35.340 This is the same thing with socioeconomic status, with slaves and free, saying it doesn't matter. 00:24:36.060 --> 00:24:39.000 Nobody deserves to be in the people of God. 00:24:39.460 --> 00:24:42.740 Rich and poor alike are poor before the cross. 00:24:43.140 --> 00:24:45.980 We have nothing to offer, and Christ gives us everything. 00:24:45.980 --> 00:24:53.599 And so he says we need to be a people that envelops everyone and doesn't treat one another according to our status. 00:24:54.599 --> 00:25:01.099 It means we can enjoy exploring being male and female as good gifts, 00:25:01.539 --> 00:25:07.339 knowing that we are equally, radically equally loved and treasured by God. 00:25:07.339 --> 00:25:12.559 How different this was from the first century, where some Jewish men would stand up and say, 00:25:12.720 --> 00:25:18.119 I thank you, God, that I am not a Gentile, a woman, or a slave. 00:25:23.199 --> 00:25:31.959 We can enjoy this diversity, this complementarity that God created with men and women in the people of God, 00:25:32.079 --> 00:25:33.480 and rejoice in it. 00:25:33.480 --> 00:25:39.500 And look, if you've been at Trinity for a while, you know we believe that there are certain roles 00:25:39.500 --> 00:25:46.339 that may be assigned specifically to men and women, but our gender is not our identity. 00:25:46.860 --> 00:25:53.980 And so we can walk into those roles joyfully and fully because there's a beauty in that complementarity. 00:25:53.980 --> 00:25:59.220 This is what God is doing as He says, 00:25:59.660 --> 00:26:03.500 here's an identity that embraces all of us equally and fully. 00:26:05.400 --> 00:26:11.059 Now we need to acknowledge that the church has not always lived up to this calling, 00:26:11.700 --> 00:26:13.839 and that might be an understatement. 00:26:13.839 --> 00:26:19.159 Christians have often made other identities primary, 00:26:19.839 --> 00:26:28.740 and in doing so have divided over race, over gender, over socioeconomics. 00:26:29.179 --> 00:26:31.579 We have privileged some over others. 00:26:32.799 --> 00:26:35.939 But friends, this is not the gospel of Christ. 00:26:35.940 --> 00:26:40.200 This is not the teaching of Galatians 3 and 4, 00:26:41.200 --> 00:26:47.660 because He says we are all sons of God without distinction, without qualification. 00:26:48.720 --> 00:26:52.840 We have nothing to bring, but in Christ we have everything. 00:26:53.480 --> 00:27:00.759 And so by faith in Him, we are able to receive this blessing to be the Son of God. 00:27:00.759 --> 00:27:05.480 And this sonship, not only does it come with all of this, 00:27:05.720 --> 00:27:07.339 but it comes with an inheritance. 00:27:08.539 --> 00:27:10.339 1 Peter says it, 00:27:11.019 --> 00:27:13.819 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 00:27:13.900 --> 00:27:17.879 according to His great mercy He has caused us to be born again to a living hope 00:27:17.879 --> 00:27:20.519 through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead 00:27:20.519 --> 00:27:24.240 to an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, 00:27:24.240 --> 00:27:30.539 and kept in heaven for you who by God's power are being guarded through faith, 00:27:30.539 --> 00:27:34.079 for a salvation ready to be revealed at the last time. 00:27:35.299 --> 00:27:36.899 Do you know what that means, friends? 00:27:38.039 --> 00:27:40.220 When we are God's children, 00:27:41.039 --> 00:27:47.799 we will be participants fully in the riches of the kingdom of God. 00:27:48.420 --> 00:27:52.379 And we have a foretaste now, and we have a fullness that is to come 00:27:52.379 --> 00:27:58.519 that will be beyond our imagination in its glory and beauty and satisfaction. 00:27:58.519 --> 00:28:04.019 God and His household will be the best place ever, 00:28:04.279 --> 00:28:09.819 and we will rejoice that we are sons and daughters of God in there. 00:28:09.819 --> 00:28:17.200 And part of the foretaste of that we see at the end of this passage in verses 6 and 7, 00:28:18.099 --> 00:28:21.240 the foretaste of that is that He has given us His Spirit now. 00:28:22.419 --> 00:28:26.220 We haven't talked that much about the Holy Spirit because we're going to get there in chapter 5, 00:28:26.379 --> 00:28:28.759 but this has been a thread throughout the whole thing, hasn't it? 00:28:29.019 --> 00:28:31.319 Do you know how we know who's in the people of God? 00:28:31.519 --> 00:28:32.419 Who is justified? 00:28:32.899 --> 00:28:37.079 The Gentiles and the Jews both have been justified by Christ. 00:28:37.079 --> 00:28:37.960 How do we know this? 00:28:38.199 --> 00:28:40.460 Because they've received the Spirit of God. 00:28:40.819 --> 00:28:45.639 Because God has given us His Spirit, put it inside of us, 00:28:45.759 --> 00:28:48.299 so that we might live with this communion, 00:28:48.779 --> 00:28:51.819 so that we have the Spirit of Christ in us, 00:28:52.000 --> 00:28:58.039 so that just as Jesus was the Son of God and called the Father, Father, 00:28:58.039 --> 00:29:03.039 so we too may cry out and call the God of the universe, 00:29:03.359 --> 00:29:07.859 Abba, Father, Daddy. 00:29:10.240 --> 00:29:15.139 This new identity comes with this new relationship 00:29:15.139 --> 00:29:18.819 that we have because of the Spirit. 00:29:20.200 --> 00:29:24.319 And so, friends, in Christ, the new has come, 00:29:24.319 --> 00:29:27.259 and it is better than the old. 00:29:28.000 --> 00:29:33.019 It is better than the identities that the first century Jews built 00:29:33.019 --> 00:29:36.099 by observing the works of the law and thinking, 00:29:36.599 --> 00:29:37.839 this is how I am. 00:29:40.319 --> 00:29:46.119 It is better than the works righteousness that our hearts bend to over and over again, 00:29:46.579 --> 00:29:48.379 our self-made identities. 00:29:48.380 --> 00:29:55.560 God says, forsake those and come to the new and better thing 00:29:55.560 --> 00:29:58.160 that I will bestow upon you. 00:29:58.480 --> 00:30:00.920 I will adopt you into my family, 00:30:01.320 --> 00:30:03.660 you who are outside of it because of your sin. 00:30:03.960 --> 00:30:07.360 I will adopt you in, and I will embrace you. 00:30:07.440 --> 00:30:09.460 And like the father of the prodigal son, 00:30:09.760 --> 00:30:11.480 I will look for you from afar. 00:30:11.480 --> 00:30:15.200 I will run to you, and I will envelop you in my embrace, 00:30:15.779 --> 00:30:22.059 and I will give you all of the signs of being my son, 00:30:22.519 --> 00:30:25.740 my child, my people. 00:30:27.440 --> 00:30:29.039 Friends, can we see this? 00:30:29.480 --> 00:30:30.700 Can we take hold of it? 00:30:32.339 --> 00:30:35.640 What is the basis of your identity today? 00:30:36.599 --> 00:30:38.319 What have you looked to? 00:30:38.720 --> 00:30:40.579 What have you leaned on? 00:30:41.579 --> 00:30:43.339 Look instead to Christ. 00:30:44.079 --> 00:30:45.279 What a glorious thing. 00:30:45.399 --> 00:30:47.859 Knowing Christ means we don't have to justify ourselves. 00:30:48.220 --> 00:30:50.419 Knowing Christ means we don't have to create anything more. 00:30:50.740 --> 00:30:53.279 He gives us a better identity than our family, 00:30:53.399 --> 00:30:54.839 than our ethnicity, than our race, 00:30:54.899 --> 00:30:56.240 than our nationality, than our sex, 00:30:56.319 --> 00:30:57.939 nor our gender, nor our sexual preference, 00:30:58.199 --> 00:30:59.480 nor our religious performance, 00:30:59.639 --> 00:31:00.439 nor our good deeds, 00:31:00.519 --> 00:31:01.519 or our marital status, 00:31:01.519 --> 00:31:03.059 or our success as parents, 00:31:03.179 --> 00:31:04.079 or our career achievement, 00:31:04.319 --> 00:31:05.500 or our academic success, 00:31:05.539 --> 00:31:06.579 or anything else. 00:31:07.539 --> 00:31:10.159 We know that Christ calls us. 00:31:10.579 --> 00:31:12.259 His son. 00:31:13.599 --> 00:31:15.460 A son of God. 00:31:16.000 --> 00:31:17.559 And we can rest in that. 00:31:19.220 --> 00:31:20.399 And you know what, friends? 00:31:20.480 --> 00:31:22.399 When we rest in that identity, 00:31:23.079 --> 00:31:25.519 we are resilient people, 00:31:25.759 --> 00:31:29.319 not moved by the frailties and attacks 00:31:29.319 --> 00:31:31.519 of our fallen world. 00:31:31.519 --> 00:31:33.519 We are more grounded, 00:31:33.519 --> 00:31:37.559 because we have a security in knowing who we are, 00:31:37.559 --> 00:31:41.019 and knowing that no one can take that away from us. 00:31:42.839 --> 00:31:45.160 We become giving people, 00:31:45.500 --> 00:31:48.200 because rather than running after our identity, 00:31:48.200 --> 00:31:50.819 we know what we've already been given, 00:31:51.079 --> 00:31:53.079 and we can now give to others. 00:31:53.079 --> 00:31:57.619 We are people who are full of joy, 00:31:57.619 --> 00:31:58.779 and praise, 00:31:58.779 --> 00:31:59.899 and thanksgiving, 00:31:59.899 --> 00:32:03.279 because we know the God of the universe 00:32:03.279 --> 00:32:05.179 is our Father, 00:32:05.699 --> 00:32:08.539 who has made us His children. 00:32:09.259 --> 00:32:11.139 We know who we are, 00:32:11.399 --> 00:32:13.819 because we know whose we are 00:32:13.819 --> 00:32:15.439 in Christ, 00:32:16.480 --> 00:32:17.299 children of God. 00:32:17.299 --> 00:32:18.019 Let's pray. 00:32:27.700 --> 00:32:29.159 Lord, thank You for this Word. 00:32:32.240 --> 00:32:34.279 Lord, I pray now that by Your Spirit, 00:32:34.460 --> 00:32:35.240 You would be 00:32:35.240 --> 00:32:37.940 showing us 00:32:37.940 --> 00:32:39.740 where we have put our trust, 00:32:39.740 --> 00:32:42.140 and what we have looked to 00:32:42.140 --> 00:32:43.079 for our identity. 00:32:45.400 --> 00:32:47.079 Lord, help us as we meditate 00:32:47.079 --> 00:32:49.120 on these truths today 00:32:49.120 --> 00:32:50.759 and in the days to come. 00:32:51.779 --> 00:32:53.980 Lord, would You fill us again 00:32:53.980 --> 00:32:56.519 with a renewed sense of awe and wonder, 00:32:57.220 --> 00:32:59.359 of thankfulness and joy, 00:33:01.299 --> 00:33:03.019 that through faith in Christ, 00:33:03.900 --> 00:33:06.720 we can be children of Yours. 00:33:06.720 --> 00:33:09.819 I pray this in Jesus' name. 00:33:10.640 --> 00:33:10.779 Amen.