GRACE, IDENTITY, PURPOSE | SUNDAY 13TH SEPTEMBER | PS AARON MORE

How are we doing this morning?

Four people are good.

That's nice.

Where's your all blacks one?

Any South Africans in the house?

Don't know, maybe they're at home

watching the rugby.

It is on right now. Hey, um

what a good day, eh? Man, we are uh so

grateful for everything God is doing in

our midst. And uh just pray that even as

uh we have this next time together, just

that we would just sense that spirit of

God filling us. Um,

anyone uh here uh ever back in the day

or maybe even today was a fan of layby?

Did anyone used to lay by stuff? Um, you

know, uh, if you're wondering what layby

is, that was when you couldn't afford

something and what you would do is you

would get them to put it aside for you

and you would pay a little bit each week

to the shop. But you didn't get the item

until you'd paid your last layby

payment. And then when eventually you'd

finished your layby payment, you got the

good and you got to take it home. And

that sounds far too painful for our

instant gratification culture right now.

And so um uh it was maybe available a

lot earlier but really I think in like

the late 80s early 90s what became

really popular was consumer debt. So it

began to be like hey don't worry about

doing a layby do a higher purchase

instead. So the difference between a

layby and a higher purchase is a higher

purchase means you get the good now like

you get it straight away and then you

pay it off. But the other difference

between a layby and a higher purchase

was

>> interest you uh actually have debt and

now you pay interest on the amount. So

you get the thing straight away but it

costs you more. But most people were

like, "Hey, I I'll take it straight away

if I can get it and I'll pay more to get

it straight away than I will to save and

uh and have it cheaper, but it taking

more time." And then what they began to

do was they'd be like, "Oh, you know,

particularly during the '9s, you'd see

it everywhere was like 0% interest

free." Um on uh but what you discovered

is if you went and said, "I'm paying

cash." they'd be like, "Oh, you can have

$300 off." So, you were paying the

interest just uh in another form. And

so, one of the interesting things is

when laybys were Oh, sorry. When higher

purchase and consumer debt became really

popular, one of the things you found was

this. It was very hard

to plan and pay for the future when

you're paying off your past, right? Like

what would happen is you would come and

make all of these purchases and young

people would get their first job and

they'd be like, "Hey, you can buy a in

those days a mini disc player or a DVD

uh player and a and you can do all of

this and you can buy all of these things

and so it'll be like this is amazing and

so I'll just get this on tick and that

on tick and that on tick and all of a

sudden you had all of these payments uh

which were facilitating things that you

had purchased, but you're actually

paying off things that you already had.

And it made it really hard to uh plan

for the future.

But that's not just true in the area of

our finances and higher purchases. It's

actually true in life that many times

when we are struggling or paying a debt

to our past, it's really hard to step

into the future. It it can be really

hard to step in to what God has for us

when we are bound by things from our

past.

And just like payments to things from

the past actually stop us stepping into

the future, sometimes the regrets from

our past means we spend our time

reimagining what that past could have

been like and we're actually using the

energy that we're supposed to be using

to create a new future. And so we

actually use the energy that's supposed

to create a new future and instead have

it consumed by reimagining and regret

for our past.

Because as humans we are created

to form futures.

Man says it like this. Bees create

hives. Ants create colonies. Humans

create futures. To be human is to uh be

stepping forward and creating the

future. Right now as I'm preaching, some

people are creating the future in their

mind. They're thinking about what

they're eating for lunch. Like they are

like, "Man, this will be over soon. And

uh I cannot wait to go and buy a hot

chicken and buns. And uh if I'm a real

Christian, it might be poor orange juice

mixed with a little bit of lemonade, the

the Christian uh mix. And uh and uh

you know, we're creating the future. And

all of us are creating futures all of

the time. But as believers in Jesus, we

are actually created to bring the

kingdom of heaven. We are created to

bring the nature of uh what Jesus' rule

on the earth would look like. We are

called to play our part in bringing that

reality to this place.

And so, how does that work? If so often

we feel like, man, I am trapped in the

past and things from the past don't

really make me feel like I'm a person

that can step into that. Well, this is

where the good news of the gospel of

Jesus comes to us. And if you have your

Bible, you can turn to Ephesians chapter

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

2, uh, verse 8, or you can flick on your

screen, uh, however you want to do that.

But if you want to turn to Ephesians 2,

uh it should come up on the screen

behind me. It says, "For by grace you

have been saved through faith and that

and this is not your own doing. It is

the gift of God, not a result of works

so that no one can boast." You see, our

journey towards God always starts in the

place of grace.

It always starts with God's grace

reaching out to us. And you know, I was

watching online a video of someone

critiquing Christianity. And what they

were saying was this. Well, the problem

with Christianity is it's just so shamed

base and it makes people feel like

they're not good enough. And uh I

understand where that critique's coming

from, but have you ever had that person

that tries to encourage you just in such

an artificial way where so it doesn't

actually land? Like I remember we used

to have one pastor within our elim and

he he didn't really know me, but he'd

see me and he'd be like, "Hey Aaron,

GOOD TO SEE YOU. YOU'RE A CHAMPION,

BUDDY. YOU'RE A REAL CHAMPION. You're

amazing. Good to see you." And he'd walk

on. Can I tell you, I never left going,

"He's right, man. I am so amazing. I was

like,

YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW ME, MAN.

And if you did, YOU PROBABLY WOULDN'T BE

SAYING THAT.

If you knew what was GOING THROUGH MY

HEAD ABOUT YOU RIGHT NOW,

you wouldn't be thinking I was amazing.

You'd be thinking I needed to repent.

And I sometimes think the world system

is a little bit like that. It comes to

us in our brokenness and goes, "No,

don't worry. You're just amazing the way

you are. You're so amazing. Wow, you're

so incredible." And actually on the

inside, we're kind of like, "Oh,

yeah, I I I get it." And obviously the

flip side is a version of Christianity

that says all you are is filthy rags.

And and that's certainly not true

either. But here's what I'd say. All of

us were created with the image of God. A

mogo day. All of us were, no matter

whether you're saved or not, you were

created in the image of God. Are you

affected by original sin? Yes. But

there's also original glory as well, the

image of God. But what grace does is it

comes and takes that image of God and

says, "Now I want to transform you into

the image of Christ."

and may go Christy that you would be

like Christ for by grace you have been

saved. You see, we do not earn our way

in. And I actually think it is amazing

news that you do not have to be good

enough, but you were worth enough.

See, it's actually freeing news. I don't

consider the idea that I am not good

enough for everything that God has has

given me to make me feel like wow I'm so

uh useless. I actually think like how

good it doesn't have to rest on me. Oh

that that is good news that I do not

have to be good enough. It is good news

that I do not have to make a certain

level to make myself worthy of the grace

of God. that I may not be good enough,

but I am worth enough to God. That he

would send Jesus, that grace would come,

and that I would be saved through faith,

not my own doing. It is a gift of God,

not a result of works, so that no one

can boast.

So actually

uh I mean the church is sometimes known

for being arrogant and that's the most

crazy thing that the people of Jesus uh

would ever allow ourselves to be known

as being arrogant because the whole

message is that we got saved not because

of how good we were. It's actually

because we weren't good enough. But we

don't need to spend forever sitting

there thinking about how I'm not good

enough. Instead, we can lean in to the

fact that Jesus was good enough and we

are deeply loved. So it's not by works

and it means that we cannot boast.

And so we're saved by grace,

but that doesn't mean uh that we that

there is that that we just do nothing.

And that's not the nature of grace

anyway. And so we're not suggesting that

we add grace plus works, but I do think

Dallas Willard's uh uh statement here is

really good. Grace is not opposed to

effort. It is opposed to earning.

Earning is an attitude. Effort is an

action. You see, grace is opposed to

earning, not effort. You can actually

the grace of God comes and empowers you

to make decisions and to step into what

God has for you. It's not opposed to

doing something. It is opposed to

earning. You don't have to earn what

god's grace for you, but there can

sometimes be things that we do need to

step into. So, we have this first thing

that all of our journey starts by grace.

Why don't you turn to your neighbor and

say, "Your journey starts by grace."

Feel free to turn to your neighbor and

say, "I hate it when he makes us speak

out loud.

And if you really want to, you can say

that kind of makes church feel like a

cult. No.

So everything starts with grace.

And can I encourage you, man? If you're

here this morning and you don't know

Jesus yet, everything starts with not

you being good enough, but with God's

grace being poured out to you. And can I

remind you if you're here this morning

and you are a follower of Jesus and

maybe you are struggling with things of

all kinds of ways and there are things

in your life that you are like, "Man, if

people knew that about me, what was

going on?" Can I remind you that

everything starts with grace? That the

Lord wants to pour his grace over your

life. That it doesn't mean we stay where

we are. But if you're feeling in that

place of not being good enough, the

great news is that Jesus is good enough.

And maybe even in the midst of where you

are, he's wanting to release fresh grace

over you.

It then says in Ephesians 10, "For we

are his workmanship,

created in Christ Jesus for good works

which God prepared before that we should

walk in them. For we are his

workmanship." See, when we come to

Jesus, the Bible calls it being born

again and we actually become the

workmanship of God. So there is this

identity transformation that happens as

a result of grace that he's actually

like now you are my piece of art.

It's like everyone who has come to Jesus

he's like now your identity is you are

my workmanship. You are a piece of art

that God has crafted through the rebirth

thing of you through Jesus and the Holy

Spirit. Isn't that awesome that now our

identity is not tied up in everything it

used to be tied up in, but it is tied up

in the reality that we are created new

in Christ. See, that's identity. And

then it says this that there are good

works that he has prepared in advance

for us to do. And so you can see these

three things grace, identity, and

purpose that God has for all of us. And

sometimes when we get these out of order

and we're like, "Wow, I want to find my

purpose, but it's actually outside of of

first knowing our identity or first

knowing the grace of God, then we

actually end up in a spiral of confusion

because actually what happens is we

receive grace. We receive identity and

then we begin to live out the purpose

that God has for us." But isn't it

amazing to stop and think you were

created in Christ Jesus for good works

which God prepared beforehand that we

should walk in them.

Every person here

who's given their life to Jesus, God has

actually prepared good works for you to

walk in. Isn't that amazing?

Like to actually think that

when you encourage that um workmate

tomorrow when they're having a bad day

and you just speak some encouragement

that's kingdom based and uh that just

changes something that actually God's

like, "Man, I had something prepared in

advance for you to do." You see, I do

believe in divine appointments. You

might hear sometimes people like, "I

knew I walked into a divine

appointment." And I I think we all know

or many of us would know what that's

like where you turn up somewhere and

you're like, "Wow, this just seems like

it was a divine appointment." Like God

opened the door for this opportunity.

But can I suggest to you, I think divine

appointments are a billion times more

common than we think they are. Can I

tell you, I I believe a divine

appointment is with you everywhere you

go. You are a walking divine appointment

because God has created good works in

advance for you to do that. No matter

where you are, you are a walking divine

appointment. And maybe sometimes it's

like, wow, that sounds a little bit uh

that's nice in theory. I don't really

feel like I'm a walking divine

appointment. That's why there is a grace

and a new identity. There is a grace, a

new identity because we are supposed to

be a walking divine appointment. Not not

because of us, not that we could boast,

but actually that as we go about we

carry the kingdom and we are able to see

uh lives impacted in both small and

seemingly insignificant ways. But I

would remind you that Jesus sees those

who give a cold cup of cold water in his

name.

And so we have this opportunity

to partner

by grace. You have been saved.

Identity. We are as workmanship created

in Christ Jesus. The purpose is for good

works. And uh I just want to look at

this very quickly through the life of a

biblical uh character. And uh in Luke 19

says um he saying Jesus entered Jericho

and was passing through and behold there

was a man named Zakius. He was a chief

tax collector and was rich. And so um I

um w as some of you will know I worked

for the Inland Revenue before I was a

pastor. Um, and I can tell you that

sometimes, um, it was not necessarily

the greatest thing to say at a party

when someone said, you know, what do you

do for a job? And depending on different

people's opinions, sometimes when you

said, I work for the Inland Revenue,

they would um, yeah, they would just

look at you a little bit funny. And so,

you know, sometimes it was easier to say

I'm unemployed or I'm uh you know, and

so

even in our culture, a tax collector was

something. But Zakius being a te a chief

tax collector and being rich, what that

really meant was he had exploited people

to gain their taxes. So, he was someone

who was exploiting people and was rich

as a result of others. But he was

seeking to see who Jesus was. But on the

account of the crown of the crowd, he

could not because he was small in

stature.

So he ran ahead and climbed up onto a

sycamore tree to see Jesus, for he was

about to pass that way. And when Jesus

came to that place, he looked up and

said, "Zakius, hurry and come down for

today I must stay at your house." I love

this picture because here you have

Zakius that is actually uh he is

self-dependent, independent. So in one

sense he is both successful and

incredibly ostracized. He is both an

example of worldly success in that he

was very rich and also an example of the

brokenness of humanity because he was

very rich exploiting others. And so here

you have this wealthy man who was

wealthy because he had exploited others.

And in the midst of that, Jesus says,

"Zakius, hurry and come down for I must

stay at your house today." You see,

grace is that Jesus comes to us where we

are.

Jesus comes to him and calls out to

Zakius.

So he hurried and came down and received

him joyfully. And when they saw it, they

all grumbled and said, "He has gone to

be the guest of a sinner." You see, the

crowd looked and were like, "Man, that

grace just seems to lavish like that.

Why would he choose him?" And so, here

we have for Zakius, there's this grace

that Jesus calls to him. There's this

identity that Jesus says, "Hey, I'm

someone that's going to spend the day

with you. Come in." like there is a

reidentity for Zakius. I don't just see

you according to your former life while

everyone else would say you're not

someone worthy for me to stop and have a

meal with. I'm going to have a meal with

you. You know what's interesting is the

story before this Jesus heals uh a

beggar and he tells them to come and

follow him. Right? So you can imagine

this beggar begins to follow Jesus. He's

got nothing. He's walking along and he's

been transformed by Jesus. And this is

me ad livinging. The Bible doesn't say

this, but in my mind I like to think, I

wonder what that beggar thought when all

of a sudden the guy who was rich and

exploited everyone got invited to be

with Jesus.

In my mind, I kind of go I reckon he

probably would have been a bit I'll use

good words brastoff.

He might have been a little bit like,

man, why is the exploited guy? I thought

Jesus was different. Now he's having

lunch with the guy who's exploited us

all. Like that doesn't really make sense

to me. And in my mind, I like to think

that maybe that bigger. As I say, this

is just me making up the this part of

the story, but as the crowd grumbled, I

like to think maybe he grumbled as well.

Like, yeah, what's he doing? What's he

going in there for? Why would Jesus take

time for him? That guy's ripped us all

off. We don't like him. Why is Jesus

saving him?

Have you ever had Jesus save someone

that you don't like?

Of course not.

What's amazing is this. I can imagine

that beggar sitting outside complaining

like, "Why is he in there?"

Then what happens?

Zakius comes out,

stood and said, "Behold the Lord. Half

of all my goods I give to the poor. And

if I was def if I've defrauded anyone

else, I will restore it four-fold. I

love to think of that beggar sitting

there complaining. Why is Jesus meeting

with that guy? That guy who exploited us

and he's in the middle of his complaint

and then all of a sudden the door opens

and Zakius says, "Hey, IF THERE'S ANYONE

POOR HERE,

I've got half of my wealth and I'm going

to distribute it to you." All of a

sudden that big is like, "Oh, I'm really

glad Jesus stopped and took TIME FOR

ZAKIR, MAN. YOU SHOULD HAVE LUNCH WITH

MORE ZAGAS. LET'S GET MORE TAX

COLLECTORS. COME ON." CUZ ALL OF A

SUDDEN, IN a moment, this man who was

exploiting them was now the man who was

going to bless them. Why? Not because of

him, but because he had encountered

grace. He had had his identity restored.

And now he is living out a new purpose.

You see, the good news I have for you is

it's not that, well, you need to spend

38 years working on grace, 22 years

working on identity, and then maybe one

day you can uh be involved in the

purposes of God. No, this happened in a

morning for Zakius. He literally goes to

lunch and he comes out a different

person. He goes to lunch as someone

exploiting, ripping people off. and he

comes out as a conduit of grace where

now his resources are being used to fuel

a a move of God amongst people. Can I

encourage you that Jesus has saved you

through grace? He has given you a new

identity and it is a day to step into

the good works that he has for you that

you don't need another level.

Like we should grow in our faith. We

should be doing spiritual disciplines.

We should be reading our word. We should

be gathering with community. We should

be doing all of those things.

But can I tell you, if we think, well, I

I'm just not ready and I just need to

wait till I get to a certain point till

I begin to live out the purposes and

step into the things that God has

prepared for me to do. Can I suggest

that we will be waiting forever?

Very rarely uh do you ever feel equipped

to do what God has for you.

In fact, Bill Johnson said it like this.

It's the willingness to do what you're

not equipped to do that equips you to do

it. It's the willingness to do what

you're not equipped to do that equips

you to do it. It's actually the

willingness to say, "God, I understand.

Wow, I'm just who I am, but your grace

has poured onto my life and you've

actually made me a new creation and

you've actually given me a new identity.

And now the natural fruit of that

identity is to step in to the good works

that you have for me. That I could not

only be a recipient of grace, but I

could be a conduit of grace to others.

Not that I could boast, but that the

kingdom could come. And so I wonder as

you think of those three areas this

morning, grace, identity, purpose,

I wonder which one

uh the Holy Spirit is highlighting to

you.

You know, if you are not a follower of

Jesus yet, um we believe that the Bible

teaches that Jesus came to pay a price

we couldn't pay by dying on the cross so

that we could have new life in him. And

that's grace from him. when we give our

lives, when we turn from our sin and we

repent and turn to Jesus that he gives

us new life, not because of how good we

are, but because of how good he was. And

that's grace.

And as I said earlier, maybe there are

some of us that are followers of Jesus,

but also need need to be reminded, wow,

everything starts with grace.

You know, maybe

there's a transformation and even as uh

Pastor Brody and Kristen have shared the

last couple of weeks, maybe you're on a

journey of that identity piece of

realizing that when you are born again,

you are a new creation. The old is gone,

the new has come. And it doesn't mean

that there is not sometimes effort and

outworking that. But actually there is a

call for us to live out of that new

identity. Can I tell you if Zakius after

one lunch

after a life of exploiting people can

then step in to his new identity. I'm

sure he wasn't perfect. I'm sure there

were lots of things that needed to be

worked out in his life. But actually he

so got hold of his identity. And maybe

some of us this morning need to choose

to let go. Wow, I realize I'm defining

myself by this mistake or I'm still

defining myself by this word that

someone said over me. And you know,

sometimes those other definitions of us

can actually become like a security

blanket. Even though they're not good

definitions, they actually make us

comfortable because we we we get comfort

from them. And maybe this morning

there's the invitation to drop that

false identity and take on the fresh

identity of what Jesus has for you. Or

maybe it's purpose. You know, maybe it's

the reminder that God has created good

works in advance for you to do. And so

as you have those three words in your

mind, grace, identity, and purpose,

we're actually going to uh finish the

song by finish the service by putting on

a song on the screen. And it um goes for

about three and a half minutes. And the

words will be on the screen. You're

welcome to meditate on it. You're

welcome to sing along. But just as this

plays, what I really want to encourage

you is just have those three words in

your mind. Grace, identity, purpose.

Lord, which one are you inviting me to

step into in a greater measure this

week? Awesome. If we can pop that on,

that would be great.