Well, good evening to everybody.
As I said at the beginning of the service, so glad that we can be here.
Every week is wonderful.
As we have been reminded recently, it's a miracle, and it's a provision of the Lord
to be able to gather in safety like this.
Praise God for that.
Praise God for this space.
Praise God for this church family.
We are especially excited tonight to be celebrating a baptism, which is one of the distinct markers
of Christian identity.
And so in preparation for that, we're going to be talking a little bit about identity
this evening as we look at God's Word together.
You may be familiar with the name Ralph Ellison.
He's the author who wrote the book The Invisible Man, a pretty well-known work of American literature.
And Ralph Ellison says this.
He says, the search for identity is not just one American theme.
It is the American theme.
The search for identity, he says, defines American culture.
And if you just take a moment and you think about your favorite and most beloved movies,
you're probably going to realize that those movies contain some kind of identity quest.
You have a person who's either trying to find their true identity or they're trying to slough
off a false identity that's been imposed on them, or they're going through a radical transformation
of identity.
But identity plays a part in many of our most beloved stories as a culture.
Why do you think that personality inventories like the Enneagram or the Myers-Briggs are so wildly popular?
If not, that they help us learn a little more about who we truly are.
I think we have a deep and ongoing drive to get to the heart of our own identity.
Who am I really?
What is my true self?
And so it's partly for that reason that we're going to look together at Galatians 2 verses 15 to 21 together.
Now, on the surface, this does not look like it has anything to do with identity.
On the surface, Galatians, the ongoing debate that we've been tracing over the last few weeks,
is a debate over table fellowship.
If you have Jewish Christians and you have Gentile Christians,
can they, should they, eat at the same table in their homes and at the Lord's table?
Can they share that meal or not?
That's the surface-level debate.
But my contention is this,
that underneath this,
the book is all about identity.
The central issue is a question of identity.
Because when we talk about things like circumcision
or keeping the ceremonial law,
these are fundamental to Jewish identity.
So that's what the book is really about.
So we're going to ask two questions of this particular passage about identity.
Number one,
how does the gospel impact our identity?
When you come to faith in Jesus Christ,
what happens to your identity?
And then number two,
how do we then live as a result of that impact?
So first question,
how does the gospel impact our identity?
Second question,
how do we then live as a result of that impact?
Let's pray and then we'll open God's word together.
Lord, we thank you for your word.
We thank you for your written word.
We thank you that it ultimately is able to reveal to us
your living word, Jesus Christ.
And Lord, we know that he is the one in whom we find our true selves.
And so we pray that as we ask more about our own identities,
that we would actually come face to face with his identity.
Lord, and we pray this in his holy name.
Amen.
So how does the gospel impact our identity?
Let me just give you a little context of what's going on here in Galatians.
At the heart of the Galatian debate is this question.
As I said a moment ago,
when someone becomes a Christian,
when they believe and accept the gospel,
what happens to that person's identity?
There were false teachers who had come into Galatia
who were contradicting Paul's teaching.
And they taught that the gospel,
that Jesus was something that you added on to your existing identity.
So you're you and you believe Jesus
and that becomes something that you add on.
So they would say even if you believe in Jesus,
Jews are still Jews.
And Gentiles are still Gentiles.
They've just added Jesus.
But because you're still a Jew or still a Gentile,
they would say even if you're a Christian,
Jews and Gentiles should not intermingle.
They should not eat or share food
or even associate with one another very much
because that would make the Jews unclean.
Also, if the gospel is something that you simply add on to your identity,
as these teachers taught,
even if you believe in Jesus,
the relationship that you have with God
is still primarily based on your Jewishness,
not your faith in Jesus Christ.
If you believe in Jesus, that's great.
But God accepts you because of your Jewishness.
As a result, they taught that Gentiles,
if they wanted to have the kind of insider,
inner circle relationship with God that the Jews had,
they also had to become Jewish.
They had to take on the Jewish identity,
get circumcised, keep the ceremonial law,
all of those things.
So this is what the false teachers were saying.
But listen to what Paul says in response to this.
Verse 15.
We ourselves are Jews by birth
and not Gentile sinners.
So he's saying we also were born Jews.
And yet we know that a person is not justified
by works of the law,
but through faith in Jesus Christ.
So we also have believed in Christ Jesus
in order to be justified by faith in Christ
and not by works of the law.
Because by works of the law,
no one will be justified.
You notice a certain word
that shows up again and again and again
in this little passage,
the word justified.
That's a very important word
in the Christian faith.
There's been an enormous amount of debate
over the precise meaning of the word justification.
It's very central to our understanding of the gospel.
In part, to be justified
means that if you're someone
who is in a court of law
and you've been accused,
if the judge justifies you,
then that means the judge is pronouncing you righteous.
You are in the right.
You're not guilty.
You have been pronounced justified.
That's justification.
You're righteous, right?
So it means in part for God to declare
that the vertical relationship
between us and God is okay.
The barrier has been removed.
You have been justified.
The sin has been dealt with.
But that's not all it means.
It not only has a vertical dimension,
it has a horizontal dimension.
It has to do with our relationships
with other people.
Because the broader context of this passage
tells us that when Paul talks about
being justified,
he's saying that we are being declared
as members of God's family.
So not only are you justified before God,
but you're justified in the sense
that you are declared
as being a member of God's family.
So that is a statement
that directly impacts our identity.
You're in the family.
God is your father.
All of these other people
are your brothers and sisters.
It's a statement about identity.
So in verses 15 and 16,
just to sort of put it in our own words,
here's what Paul is arguing.
He says, you know,
we used to think that God accepted us
because of our Jewishness.
Because we were born Jewish,
because we were circumcised,
because we kept the ceremonial law.
But now, Paul says,
we've realized that holding on
to our Jewishness wasn't helping us.
It was actually a roadblock.
Holding on to our Jewishness
was actually preventing us
from entering into God's family.
And Paul goes on to say,
you know, we've realized this.
We've realized that you can't be born
into God's family.
And you can't earn your way
into God's family.
And now that we've met
and seen Jesus face to face,
we've come to a life-altering realization
that there's only one being
in existence
who is worthy enough
to be called a member
of the family of God.
And that's Jesus Christ.
And so Paul says,
we've realized that
the only way to enter
into God's family
is through faith in Him,
which means fully identifying
yourself with Him,
saying, I'm here because of Him,
not because of me.
I'm here on His merit,
not my own.
Paul says this has changed
everything for us.
So another way we might
summarize this
is by saying it this way.
God does not accept us
into His family
on the basis of our identity.
He accepts us
on the basis
of Christ's identity.
That's how we enter in
to the family of God.
So this is something
that enables us
to return back
to our original question
and understand
what the answer actually is.
What is the impact
of the gospel
on my identity?
Is it something
that I simply add on
to my existing identity?
And Paul would say,
certainly not.
Absolutely not.
The gospel isn't something
we add on
to our existing identity.
The gospel is actually
something that
redeems
and then begins
to rebuild
an entirely new identity
in us
from the ground up.
He jackhammers up
even the foundation
and begins to build
something new
from the inside out.
It's a total transformation.
And I think this is something
that we need to hear
again and again and again.
If you'll bear with me
a moment,
let me offer you
a metaphor
to try to understand this.
Imagine that you
are a smartphone.
Imagine that you're
the smartphone
in your pocket.
And that smartphone
has an operating system
on it.
That's like
your identity.
Right?
You're a smartphone
and you have an operating system
which is your identity.
And then you have
all of these things
that if somebody
were to ask you,
who are you?
What's your identity?
You would tell them,
well, you know,
I'm from the South
and I'm white
and I went to this school
and I care about these issues
and I'm, you know,
you would begin to describe
all of the aspects
that make you, you.
And those are like
the apps
on that operating system.
Right?
And all of those apps
kind of constitute you.
And the problem is
most people
when they hear the gospel,
when they hear about Jesus
and even when they put
their faith in Jesus,
they assume that the gospel
is like another app
that you add
to your smartphone.
Now you have
the Christianity app.
You have the gospel app.
You know?
And so you can use
different apps
in different situations.
So when you're at church,
you use the Christian app.
You know,
that's the one that's open
and running
on your operating system.
But then maybe
when you're at work tomorrow,
you close down that app
and you open
the work person app.
And that's the app
that's running.
Right?
And then maybe
when you're with
your college friends,
you open the college app.
And that's kind of
who you are there.
And then when you're
with your family
over the holidays,
you open the
me when I was a kid app.
You know?
And in all of these contexts,
we have the right app
for the situation,
but it's all me
because it's all running
on the same operating system.
And our Christian faith
for many of us
becomes one of those apps
that we put into use
when we feel like we need to.
But then we can swipe it
and close it
when we don't need to.
But here's the problem
with that way of thinking.
What Paul is saying
is that if you hold on
to your old identity,
if you try to hold on
to that old operating system,
it is actually going
to begin to distort
your entire understanding
of Jesus and the gospel.
You're going to begin
to see Jesus
through the lens
of that old identity.
Right?
So this is what was happening
with the Jews.
They were holding on
to their Jewishness,
and so they were trying
to distort Jesus
to fit into their Jewishness.
Yes, you have to be circumcised.
Yes, you have to keep
the ceremonial law.
These things are
of ultimate importance
because for them,
being Jewish was ultimate.
That was the ultimate thing,
and Jesus was added on.
But right,
we can do this
in a number of ways.
Any aspect we can talk about.
If you hold on
to your racial identity,
then you will distort
the gospel,
and you will distort Jesus
through the lens
of that racial identity
because that is
what is ultimate for you.
Right?
So we could pick any race,
but since we're, I think,
a majority white church,
let's just pick being white.
If you hold on
to your whiteness,
and the gospel
is something that is added on,
it will begin to distort
your understanding
of the gospel.
Why do you think
all of those portraits
from the mid-20th century
of Jesus portray him
as a white man
with blonde hair?
Isn't that weird?
Nobody would argue
that he's a white man
with blonde hair.
We know he's Middle Eastern.
But why paint a picture
of Jesus as a white man
with blonde hair?
It's because our sense
of Jesus
is being distorted
through that lens, right?
Why did so many churches
not only fail
to speak up against,
but actually support
and uphold
racist practices?
It's because it was
a massive blind spot
for them.
Because the gospel
had been added on
to a racial identity
that they had never
even considered.
Right?
Why were there weird,
you know,
churches arguing
for slavery
based on the Bible,
churches arguing
against interracial marriage,
based on a very shallow
reading of the scriptures?
It's because the whiteness
was never questioned.
And all of the blind spots
and all of the privileges
and all of the biases
that came along with that,
it was never questioned
because that was central.
The gospel was an add-on.
But see,
this can happen
in any sphere
of our identity.
If you hold on
to your sexual identity
and you say,
this is ultimate,
this is the untouchable
part of me,
then you're going to
distort and twist
the faith in ways
that uphold
and justify your lifestyle.
You know,
if you hold on
to your political identity,
these are my politics
and these are not changing,
this is who makes me me,
then you're going to
begin to approach
your faith
in ways that support
all of your
pre-existing opinions.
You're going to find
a church that already
lines up with all
of your opinions.
It doesn't challenge you.
Right?
If you hold on
to your national identity,
then you're going
to distort the faith
in ways that support
and uphold
your nationalism.
Right?
This is how this
plays out.
So here's the point,
the first point
we need to see.
The gospel is not
just an app
that you add on
to that operating system.
The gospel is an
entirely new
operating system.
It's a system reboot.
From the ground up,
it rebuilds something
entirely new
in you.
And just,
you know,
if you'll permit me,
I want to push
the metaphor
a little further
and then we'll
leave it there.
But what happens
when you have to
update that operating
system on your
smartphone?
What happens to
all of those apps?
Well,
they have to be
updated too.
Because unless
they're updated,
they're not going
to run on the
old operating system.
And so for a lot
of your apps,
the developer has
to go back and
they have to update
the app so it'll run
and you then have
to update that app
so it'll run
on the new
operating system.
And in the same
way,
when Christ
enters in
and when Christ
begins to rebuild
a new identity
in us from the
ground up,
all of those
aspects of your
identity need
to be re-examined
and they need
to be updated
in light of the
gospel.
So then you have
to go back and
you have to re-examine
your race.
You have to re-examine
your politics.
You have to re-examine
your sexuality.
You have to re-examine
your ethics and
your values and
your priorities and
your relationships and
the way you think
about your enemies and
the way you engage
various issues.
All of that needs to
be updated so that
it will be compatible
with the gospel
operating system.
And every now and
then you know there's
an app that doesn't
get updated because
the operating system
is so fundamentally
different from what
it was that that
app is just simply
no longer compatible
and you just have to
delete it because
it's completely
incompatible with the
new system.
And this has to
happen in our lives
as well.
There are things that
maybe were a part of
your old life,
things that were a part
of your old identity
that you say this is
not compatible with
the gospel.
This has to be
deleted.
It doesn't fit anymore.
And if I try to run
this app,
old app,
on the new operating
system,
it's just going to
crash.
It's not going to
work, you know.
So this is how the
gospel impacts our
identity.
It's not just an add-on.
It completely redeems
and transforms it.
So then we need to
ask our second question.
Okay, well that gives
us a preview of where
we're going to go,
but how does this
then impact the way
we live?
How does it change
what we do in our
day-to-day lives?
This is a very
important question for
many reasons.
Here's one that's
personal to me
because I think
everybody in this room,
if you're here and
you're a Christian,
and maybe if you're here
and you're not a
Christian, maybe you
can connect with this
too.
You experience a
profound disconnect
between the person that
you want to be and the
person that you are.
And it can be deeply
discouraging.
Deeply discouraging.
You know, I was
thinking about this
this week.
I can wake up in the
morning and I can
spend the first 20 or
30 minutes sometimes
in prayer.
And I'll pray and I'll
do morning prayer and
the Book of Common
Prayer.
I'll simply sometimes
just spend time
praying.
And I'll pray and as
I'm praying I feel this
deep sense of connection
with God growing in my
heart.
And I'll feel this sense
of love kind of
flooding in, you know,
where I'll feel close
to God.
And I feel love for
God.
And then I began to
feel a sense of deep
love and affection for
my family.
And I'll sit there and
I'll be upstairs and I'll
be hearing little
murmurings of my kids
waking up and I'll
think, oh, I love my
boys.
You know, they're so,
I haven't, you know,
I feel it's been all
night and I can't wait
to see them.
And I start thinking
about how sweet they
are and how funny they
are and how awesome they
are.
And I just, I want to go
downstairs and my heart
is like overflowing by
this point in my prayer
with love and I can't
wait to get downstairs
and just embrace them.
And I think we're
going to have such a
great morning.
I'm going to kiss them.
I'm going to hug them.
I'm going to make sure
they know I love them.
And then I'm going to
send them off to school.
It's going to be an
awesome morning.
And then I go downstairs
and I go into their
room.
And what happens?
Total chaos breaks out,
right?
It's insane.
And I literally go in about
10 seconds from heart
overflowing with love to
screaming at my children.
And I go, and I, you
know, I'm like, you know,
put your shoes on.
What's wrong with you?
Stop doing it.
You stop eating that.
You need to eat that.
That's your breakfast.
Don't eat that.
That's not breakfast.
You know, don't hit him.
Don't touch him.
Don't do that.
And I'm screaming and I'm
like, guys, we're going to
be late.
And I'm like, go, go, go.
And it's like some kind of
horrible boot camp, you
know?
And I'm like, get in the car,
get in the car.
And then I like drive to
school and I'm in horrible
traffic and I'm like,
and then I get in this
massive unending line to
drop them off at school.
And everybody's screaming
at each other and people
are cutting in traffic.
And then I, you know, I
drop them off and I'm
like, go, the teachers are
leaving.
You're going to be late.
And I get them out of the
car.
I'm like, go, go and be
good.
And don't, don't get in
trouble and do what your
teachers say, you know?
And I, and they get in
and then I just sit there
and I'm like sweating, you
know?
And I'm like, oh, and I'm
thinking maybe they should do
aftercare today.
Maybe.
I don't think I want to see
them until dinner, you know?
And, and then I think what
happened to the love?
What happened to the
affection that, what happened
to them being cute?
Like that wasn't cute.
They're monsters, you know?
And it can happen that
quickly, that quickly.
And, and then it sets in, oh,
maybe I'll do better tomorrow.
Maybe I'll try again, you
know, but after a while that
just crushes you.
Maybe I'm not that person.
Maybe I'll never be that
person.
You know, or the person
struggling with addiction.
You know, somebody says, I'll
never use again.
You know, I'll never drink
again.
I'll, I'll never, I'll never,
I'll never look at porn again.
I know that that's horrible.
It's destroying my soul.
You know, they say that in the
morning and then that night
they stay up half their night
on their computer.
You know, and that
extraordinarily
discouraging, crushing
sense of repeated failure.
fear.
That disconnect that I think we
all experience in different
ways.
What do you do with that?
Right?
This is why verse 20 is so
important and profound.
It's one of my favorite places
in all the Bible.
Verse 20, Paul says this,
I have been crucified with
Christ.
It's no longer I who live,
but Christ who lives in me.
In the life I now live in the
flesh, I live by faith in the
Son of God who loved me and
gave himself for me.
See, this is what it means to
be a Christian.
Not that when I was 12 at
summer camp I intellectually
assented to the gospel,
although that's important.
What it means is that you have
union with Jesus Christ.
It is no longer I who live.
I've been crucified.
I died.
The old operating system has
been obliterated.
And now I've been raised with
him and in him.
And we're one in the same.
So his life is your life.
His identity is your identity.
They're inextricably linked.
And you know, sometimes
scripture talks about Christ
dwelling in us.
And sometimes scripture talks
about us dwelling in Christ.
And you say, well, is that a
contradiction?
No.
These are both ways of talking
about union with Christ.
And as Rankin-Wilbourne, who
wrote a book called Union
with Christ, as he says,
it's a great book, he says
that both of those are vital
for understanding what it means
to the Christian life.
Christ in us and us in Christ.
And here's why.
If Jesus Christ is in us,
that gives us power.
That gives us spiritual power.
And if we are in Christ,
that gives us assurance.
Power and assurance.
Right?
So Christ in us gives us power.
Power to live holy lives.
Power to actually expect
that we can change.
One of the criticisms that Paul
faced from the false teachers
in Galatia went like this.
They said, okay, and maybe you've
heard something like this
in your own life.
Okay, Paul.
So if we're really saved by grace,
by having faith in Jesus,
if that's all that we need
to enter into God's family,
to be justified,
then why do we need
to worry about sin?
Why should anybody try
to live a holy life?
Does that mean that we can
just do what we want,
sin rampantly?
God doesn't care because
it all comes through Jesus anyway?
Okay?
Who cares?
And so they accused Paul
of encouraging and promoting sin.
They said that you're not only
doing this, Paul,
but you're making Jesus complicit
in encouraging people
to live sinful lives.
You're justifying that.
How dare you, Paul?
You're blaspheming here.
And here's Paul's response
in verse 17.
He says,
but if in our endeavor
to be justified in Christ,
we too were found
to be sinners,
is Christ then a servant
of sin?
Because that's what
they were saying.
You're making Christ
a servant of sin.
And he says,
certainly not.
And I don't think
that's quite strong enough
to capture what he really says.
For if I rebuild
what I tore down,
I prove myself
to be a transgressor.
But through the law,
I died to the law
so that I might live
to God.
What's he saying?
He's saying,
even thinking that,
even suggesting that
means you're still operating
out of the old
operating system.
You need to understand
that I have a new
operating system in me.
There's an entirely new
system at work,
which means I'm not living
for myself anymore.
I'm living to God
and Jesus Christ
is in me right now.
The spiritual power
of Jesus is in me.
If you have genuinely
come to faith,
if you have genuinely
believed the gospel,
I dare you
to go off
and to try to do
whatever you want.
I dare you
to try it.
You may do it
for a little while,
but the Holy Spirit
will begin
to convict you.
The Holy Spirit
will convict you.
And you can try
to deny
and minimize that voice.
You can try to drink
or numb yourself out
from that voice,
but it will convict you
and it will not
leave you alone.
You will not escape it
because the presence
and the power
of God himself
is in you.
You have a new
operating system.
That thing
that you're doing,
those choices
that you're making,
they're incompatible
with that operating system
and you're going
to feel that tension.
You're not going
to feel okay about it.
It's going to haunt you.
Paul says,
I'm not living
for me anymore,
I'm living for God.
And Jesus Christ
makes all of this possible.
Jesus fills us
with power.
You know,
this is the eternal word
that in Genesis 1
brought order
out of chaos
and made a world
where there can be life
and flourishing
and beauty
and goodness.
And that same eternal word
is now at work
in you
if you're a Christian.
So Christ in us
means we have power.
You can strive
to live a holy life.
You can practice
spiritual disciplines.
You can seek
to cultivate self-control
and all of the various
virtues of character.
You can seek
to cultivate
a deeper love for God
and a deeper love
for neighbor.
You can seek
to become a better wife
or husband.
You can seek
to love your kids better.
You can seek
to be less attached to
and enslaved
to the idols
in your life.
You can put effort
into that.
You know,
Dallas Willard
famously said,
grace is not opposed
to effort.
Grace is opposed
to earning.
Thinking you can
earn favor with God.
But the Holy Spirit
is there to enable us
to put effort
into living
laws of holiness
that actually
changes us.
That's what it means
to have Christ in you.
But here's the other
side of it.
Every bit is important.
We not only have
Christ in us,
but we are also
in Christ.
Meaning we not only
have power,
we have assurance.
Meaning you can fail
again and again
and again.
You can blow up
at your kids.
You can,
you can,
you know,
parents,
it's just this
constant sense
of disconnect.
Here's the parent
I thought I was
going to be.
You know,
here's the parent
I kind of hope
I am now.
And here's the parent
I was today.
You know,
that's kind of how
it feels all the time.
You always feel
like you're failing.
You can fail
again and again.
You can go back
to that addiction.
You can go back
to porn.
You can go back,
you can fall back
into your patterns,
whatever they are.
And you can do that
over and over and over.
And guess what?
You are in Christ,
which means
that that will not
diminish God's love
and delight in you,
even one tiny fraction.
That God will only
ever always look at you
with sheer love
and delight.
That God will only
ever say to you,
you know,
we think that God,
you know,
we talk about this
from the time,
that God carries around
the sense of disappointment
with us.
You know,
that, you know,
I've given so much
to this person,
you know,
I've poured out,
I've died for you,
I've loved you,
and I just,
I keep putting up
with your crap
and you just keep failing,
you know?
Like, you know,
I imagine, you know,
God is like this,
you know,
look at all I've done
for you and you can't
even call me,
you know?
You know,
like your mom,
you know?
And,
and yet this tells us
that that's actually heresy.
The saying,
God is disappointed in me
is heresy.
That if we believe
the gospel,
that we are in Christ,
it means that God
will only ever look at you
and say,
this is my beloved daughter
in whom I'm well pleased,
in whom I delight.
You just failed as a parent.
You just feel like
an abject failure.
You just failed
in your addiction.
You just failed
in your friendship.
You just failed
in your dating life.
You just failed
in your job.
You just did something horrible
and you say,
I can't believe I did that.
And God looks at you
and says,
this is my child
in whom I'm well pleased.
I delight in you.
That's the assurance
that we have
of being in Christ.
He continually looks on
at us
with delight and affection.
So through the power
of Christ
and the assurance
of Christ,
God renews
who we are
and how we live
so that we come
more and more
to reflect the glory
of His Son.
So,
just to come back
to the question
we asked at the beginning,
this question of identity,
this is how the gospel
helps us discover
who we really are.
It completely redeems
and transforms
our old identity.
identity.
And then it gives us
a way to live out
of that new identity
in Jesus Christ.
I'll end with a little example
that I love,
a story that I love,
and that's the story
of John Newton,
who, you know,
many of you know,
is the pastor
who wrote
Amazing Grace.
And John Newton,
actually,
in his life,
experienced a profound
transformation
of his identity
because,
as some of you know,
in his young life,
he was a slave trader.
And he made his money
off the slave trade.
And then he encountered
the gospel,
and Jesus came into his life,
and that old operating system
was thrown out,
and Jesus began to build
a new identity in him
from the ground up,
and everything began to change.
And so this man,
who used to be a slave trader,
later in his life,
not only became a pastor,
but he became
one of the leading,
most prominent abolitionists.
And in his day,
he saw the end
of the slave trade
in Britain.
And here's what
John Newton says
about his Christian identity.
I am not what I ought to be.
I am not what I want to be.
I am not what I hope to be
in another world.
But still,
I am not what I used to be.
And by the grace of God,
I am who I am.
Let's pray.