Gospel Identity

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.

Galatians 2:15–21

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.

Let's pray.