WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:03.200 So we're in the season of Lent, like Sam mentioned. 00:00:03.279 --> 00:00:06.400 And so Lent is the season leading up to Easter. 00:00:06.480 --> 00:00:14.240 And so we're following the lectionary, which is a teaching guide, and it gives us different scriptures each Sunday leading up to Easter. 00:00:14.400 --> 00:00:16.960 So this morning we have the 2nd Corinthians passage as well. 00:00:17.120 --> 00:00:21.920 We have Luke 15, the Prodigal Son parable, which we talk about a good bit here in this church. 00:00:22.000 --> 00:00:24.640 And so we'll be talking about these two different passages. 00:00:24.800 --> 00:00:30.960 Now, when I was in the first grade, I took two little rubber bracelets, sort of like these two. 00:00:31.280 --> 00:00:34.240 These are actually hair bands that I found in my daughter's bathrooms. 00:00:34.320 --> 00:00:35.039 But they look like this. 00:00:35.840 --> 00:00:47.920 One was blue and one was uh kind of a navy blue, and and uh I took them to school, and they were kind of do you remember you could do this little trick like this, and this was like super cool, and if it was cool anywhere where you put like you intertwine them and you do that. 00:00:48.000 --> 00:00:49.679 And this was cool for girls and boys at the time. 00:00:49.759 --> 00:00:53.840 They were rubber, everybody had them, and so I took these two bracelets to school. 00:00:53.920 --> 00:01:03.119 And on this particular day, when I took these two bracelets to school, my friend Matthew, he had he had brought$40 to school. 00:01:03.359 --> 00:01:06.000 Now we were in the first grade, we were six years old. 00:01:07.439 --> 00:01:08.799 Matthew had$40. 00:01:09.519 --> 00:01:21.760 I had two junky bracelets that I probably found underneath the couch, and I sold to Matthew these unbelievable bracelets. 00:01:21.840 --> 00:01:24.640 He could get nowhere else for the$40. 00:01:25.040 --> 00:01:29.840 So at the beginning of the day, started out with Matthew with these$40 and me with the bracelets. 00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:34.640 And sometime during recess, I sold, and there was an exchange, right? 00:01:34.799 --> 00:01:37.840 So there's an exchange, and now I had$40. 00:01:38.319 --> 00:01:42.400 This was as much money as I had ever seen in my entire life. 00:01:42.640 --> 00:01:46.000 I was wealthy beyond any means possible. 00:01:46.159 --> 00:02:00.319 When I got on the bus, I am showing it to everyone, I'm showing it to Todd and Jimmy and Jason, I'm showing it to all my buddies and the neighborhood because I was I was the savviest businessman that had ever come off of Shannon Way. 00:02:00.480 --> 00:02:05.280 I mean, nobody, Jimmy had been selling blowpots for six months, he hadn't seen$40, right? 00:02:05.359 --> 00:02:15.520 And I was in first grade, I had$40, and so I'm talking about it, and of course, at some point by the time I get home, it's only about 30 minutes before my sisters mentioned it to my mom. 00:02:15.680 --> 00:02:22.719 My mom has now informed me that the$40 will be returned to Matthew tomorrow, and I will get my junkie bracelets back. 00:02:22.879 --> 00:02:29.439 But for just a little bit, for just a little bit, what an unbelievable exchange happened. 00:02:29.840 --> 00:02:30.240 Right? 00:02:30.400 --> 00:02:35.280 And a great exchange, a great exchange can change everything. 00:02:35.439 --> 00:02:37.360 Like maybe you've had a great exchange, right? 00:02:37.439 --> 00:02:40.960 Like you had a great deal, you found a deal, or you got a deal. 00:02:41.199 --> 00:02:42.800 And it can change so much. 00:02:42.960 --> 00:02:48.159 Now, at age six with Matthew with this situation, we don't think much about this, right? 00:02:48.240 --> 00:02:53.680 We we kind of laugh, we go, Matthew, he's so innocent, he's you know a little naive, he hadn't learned quite like the numbers. 00:02:53.759 --> 00:02:58.319 Like for him, he was thinking like one piece of paper for one bracelet, right? 00:02:58.479 --> 00:03:02.719 But now let's say this same exchange happened and we were 12. 00:03:03.120 --> 00:03:05.680 Now all of a sudden we would all think a little bit differently about this, wouldn't we? 00:03:05.759 --> 00:03:09.599 We would think, well, boy, this Matthew, he's pretty needy, right? 00:03:09.919 --> 00:03:16.719 Like you go, like, I really hope his mom or dad pulls him aside and say, hey, Matthew, you you don't have to buy your friends, you don't have to buy friendship. 00:03:16.879 --> 00:03:18.800 Like, you don't have to do that, right? 00:03:18.879 --> 00:03:20.319 Like we would think he's pretty needy. 00:03:20.400 --> 00:03:43.840 Now, if we we extend it even further and say we're 50 years old, I have these two junky little bracelets, and Matthew has made it big in some way, and let's say, just for the sake of making this illustration as grand as possible, he he buys off of me my junky little bracelets for$40 million for the sake of the illustration. 00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:45.039 Work with me. 00:03:45.680 --> 00:03:48.560 Well, now we would say, well, he's not naive. 00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:51.599 He's probably not needy. 00:03:52.240 --> 00:03:56.159 Because at this point it only becomes like lavish. 00:03:56.719 --> 00:03:57.039 Right? 00:03:57.199 --> 00:03:59.759 I mean at this point you just go like, what, what? 00:03:59.840 --> 00:04:00.479 Like, is that true? 00:04:00.560 --> 00:04:01.840 And you're Googling it, you're reading it. 00:04:01.919 --> 00:04:03.759 Like, why would somebody, why would somebody do something like that? 00:04:03.840 --> 00:04:04.560 That doesn't make any sense. 00:04:04.719 --> 00:04:07.039 I can't get my mind around that sort of exchange. 00:04:07.120 --> 00:04:08.000 That doesn't even make sense. 00:04:08.159 --> 00:04:09.360 That exchange doesn't make sense. 00:04:09.520 --> 00:04:13.439 What a lavish act of giving and grace and love. 00:04:14.159 --> 00:04:21.600 And it's then, only then, you have to do all that work to get that little first grade story to actually work for us with 2 Corinthians 5. 00:04:21.680 --> 00:04:31.920 I had to do a lot of work, I had to get you somewhere, because it's only then can we understand how lavish this exchange is that we read about in 2 Corinthians 5.21. 00:04:32.879 --> 00:04:40.079 For our sake, he, God, made him, Jesus, to be sin, who knew no sin. 00:04:42.560 --> 00:04:46.959 So that in him, not in us, but in him we might become the righteousness of God. 00:04:47.040 --> 00:04:55.680 So the exchange was made, his righteousness, fully righteous, a wealth of righteousness exchanged for our sin. 00:04:56.319 --> 00:04:58.240 And that exchange was made. 00:04:59.519 --> 00:05:19.680 So all of our sin, we can't quite get it all together, our behaviors that are just pure rebellion and selfishness, and we want to be our own authority, all of that, all the ways that we self-justify with different identity structures, all the ways that we do that in religion, all the ways we do that in the world, all of it, the greed and the anger and the lust, all of it, all of it, has been put upon him. 00:05:20.639 --> 00:05:22.480 And his righteousness is given to us. 00:05:22.560 --> 00:05:27.120 So we are fully forgiven and we're fully righteous. 00:05:27.600 --> 00:05:33.680 If we jump back in, back up at 17, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. 00:05:33.920 --> 00:05:35.839 The old is passed away. 00:05:36.639 --> 00:05:39.920 Behold, the new is come, all this is from God. 00:05:40.079 --> 00:05:52.160 And I love that, so declarative, so we just know, like, oh, this is a this is God doing this for us and through us, who's through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. 00:05:52.240 --> 00:05:53.600 So let's begin by saying this. 00:05:53.680 --> 00:05:54.319 Point number one. 00:05:54.480 --> 00:05:57.759 We'll begin by saying, you are a soul. 00:05:58.720 --> 00:06:03.680 You are a soul, not what you do, have, or can get. 00:06:04.959 --> 00:06:15.279 And that's just another way to say there's a part of you that is below the skin, below success or failure. 00:06:16.879 --> 00:06:25.680 Deeper, more profound than your relationships on earth, deeper and more profound than anything you achieve, or any applause you get, or the lack thereof. 00:06:27.519 --> 00:06:30.879 It's below, it's more profound, the stuff, or the behaviors. 00:06:31.120 --> 00:06:33.360 It's what I call, it's the it's the just you. 00:06:33.600 --> 00:06:36.079 Like when you go like, this is just me. 00:06:36.160 --> 00:06:48.000 Like there's always sometimes we like you finally see yourself as that, and you go, like, oh, the career thing didn't quite build me up like I thought it was going to, or, or the relationship or the family, or you go like, oh, this is just me. 00:06:48.800 --> 00:06:50.240 And it's like, yeah, that is. 00:06:50.399 --> 00:06:51.600 There's a just you. 00:06:52.480 --> 00:06:53.680 And that's your soul. 00:06:53.839 --> 00:06:59.360 But what Paul says is he says in verse 17 that in Christ, that's where you're made new. 00:06:59.759 --> 00:07:01.519 That you can be new there. 00:07:01.839 --> 00:07:04.319 In that true inner self that's the soul. 00:07:04.480 --> 00:07:25.040 And then verse 18 says, the old has passed away, so all the old ways that we use religion and try to be good enough and be enough, or in the world, or irreligion, and try to use the world and rebellion to be good enough and experience enough, and then I'll be finally I'll be pleasing to God or pleasing to myself or pleasing to somebody else. 00:07:25.360 --> 00:07:27.279 And that old way is passed away. 00:07:27.360 --> 00:07:28.879 You don't have to keep doing that. 00:07:31.199 --> 00:07:32.560 And we are justified. 00:07:32.639 --> 00:07:41.519 That verse 21, where it says his righteousness is given to us, that word is not only righteous, like we are fully right, it actually means that we're we're justified. 00:07:41.600 --> 00:07:46.079 So all the justification we're looking for for value or worth or identity, that's what this is. 00:07:46.160 --> 00:07:52.000 It's all the righteousness, all the justification as children of God and just as human beings. 00:07:53.519 --> 00:07:55.279 And all this is from God. 00:07:55.920 --> 00:07:57.199 And we are made new. 00:07:57.360 --> 00:07:58.720 We have a new identity. 00:07:58.879 --> 00:08:01.279 Now, identity is simply the core of who you are. 00:08:01.360 --> 00:08:02.800 This is how you think of yourself. 00:08:02.959 --> 00:08:07.680 It's actually, it's how you regard yourself, it's the just you. 00:08:07.839 --> 00:08:15.360 The traditional narrative about identity would be that we find identity in our roles in family, community, or tribe. 00:08:15.600 --> 00:08:19.439 That would be a very traditional way of how we think about ourselves, how we regard ourselves. 00:08:19.680 --> 00:08:30.560 A modern way, a modern narrative of identity would be that we find this same idea of who we are, but it's by what we can produce or what we can achieve. 00:08:31.360 --> 00:08:32.879 So I'm a pastor. 00:08:33.759 --> 00:08:38.960 One fear I have is that I'll rest too much of my identity in our church. 00:08:40.240 --> 00:08:53.600 And I well, if it grows and it's healthy and things are good, and sermons are good, people are happy, and then all of a sudden, my identity will be feel good, I'll feel good about myself, and I'll have an identity structure by our church. 00:08:54.480 --> 00:08:56.879 But what if things aren't healthy? 00:08:57.519 --> 00:08:58.960 What if it doesn't grow? 00:08:59.120 --> 00:09:00.000 What if things aren't good? 00:09:00.080 --> 00:09:02.159 What if the sermons just aren't that great? 00:09:02.960 --> 00:09:05.360 What if I feel like a failure and all that? 00:09:05.919 --> 00:09:13.279 Or equally as scary, it would be what if our church is healthy and it does grow? 00:09:13.600 --> 00:09:18.000 Or maybe it's healthy and it doesn't grow, but it's healthy and it's good and things are good. 00:09:19.120 --> 00:09:21.360 And it's still not enough. 00:09:23.679 --> 00:09:25.519 See, either way it's a trap. 00:09:26.159 --> 00:09:27.679 You could play this out in your life. 00:09:27.919 --> 00:09:33.440 Either way, it's a trap because it's identity, it's justification by my work. 00:09:34.960 --> 00:09:37.039 And all of that's very modern. 00:09:38.080 --> 00:09:41.200 So we could react to it and go, I'll go the I'll go the traditional route. 00:09:41.360 --> 00:09:51.120 I'll find my identity, I'll find my justification of my soul by my role as mom, dad, husband, wife, friend, son, daughter? 00:09:51.360 --> 00:09:55.360 Role in my community, role in my family, role in my tribe, traditional route. 00:09:56.240 --> 00:09:58.480 But what if home life gets hard? 00:09:59.840 --> 00:10:01.440 What happens when your mom dies? 00:10:02.799 --> 00:10:04.159 What happens if your child dies? 00:10:04.320 --> 00:10:06.399 What happens when your spouse dies? 00:10:08.080 --> 00:10:12.159 What if my wife doesn't soothe my ego like I thought she would? 00:10:12.879 --> 00:10:14.480 Which happens a lot? 00:10:15.759 --> 00:10:18.879 What if one of my girls' daughters goes off the rails? 00:10:19.120 --> 00:10:23.519 What if I'm just not as good at being a dad as I thought I would be? 00:10:24.720 --> 00:10:30.879 Well, you see that even the traditional route, as good as this is, or as good as the modern route, but they have limits. 00:10:31.120 --> 00:10:32.159 They have limits. 00:10:32.399 --> 00:10:34.639 Because it's still justification by work. 00:10:35.759 --> 00:10:37.440 But what if identity? 00:10:37.919 --> 00:10:53.919 Your soul and who you are, how you come to be justified as a human being and righteous before God, what if that is not by your work and your merit, but it's by a ridiculous exchange that is made. 00:10:56.320 --> 00:10:59.120 So this prodigal son story in Luke 15. 00:11:00.799 --> 00:11:02.559 This ridiculous exchange happens here. 00:11:02.639 --> 00:11:03.200 You remember the story? 00:11:03.279 --> 00:11:06.320 There's this family, a dad, wealthy dad, two sons. 00:11:06.559 --> 00:11:08.080 The younger son comes to the dad. 00:11:08.159 --> 00:11:30.879 You remember he comes to the dad and he says, Hey, I would like my inheritance now, which is a bit uh would be upsetting to the father, but the dad says, Okay, I'll give you your share of the inheritance, and he takes off and he goes to a foreign country, and he just starts to live lavish in his own means, in his own way, pure rebellion, justifying himself by being his own authority, no regard for right and wrong. 00:11:30.960 --> 00:11:32.000 He's just gonna do whatever he wants. 00:11:32.080 --> 00:11:40.960 And so he's just spending money, he is living it up, and this is just symbolic of how we say to God, like, I'll go my own way, I'll make this happen, I'll do this. 00:11:43.039 --> 00:11:43.360 Right? 00:11:43.440 --> 00:11:53.360 The boy's just doing what we've all tried to do, like, I'll buy my way into happiness and sufficiency and adequacy. 00:11:55.519 --> 00:11:57.759 But eventually what happens is what happens to us. 00:11:57.919 --> 00:12:00.720 You realize I can't consume enough. 00:12:01.759 --> 00:12:14.639 The money starts to run out, and then the people leave, the friends leave, and eventually he's working like feeding pigs, jealous of their life and their food. 00:12:15.039 --> 00:12:17.679 There's nothing left at this point for him. 00:12:18.399 --> 00:12:22.879 There's nothing left for him to busy himself out of seeing himself. 00:12:23.039 --> 00:12:26.639 And so what's left is just him and his poverty. 00:12:27.120 --> 00:12:28.320 Everything's been stripped away. 00:12:28.399 --> 00:12:30.080 All the identity structures have been stripped away. 00:12:30.159 --> 00:12:34.879 All his rebellion he was using to cover up his need of the father have been stripped away. 00:12:36.320 --> 00:12:39.120 He's starving to death, but he remembers his dad. 00:12:39.840 --> 00:12:42.240 And he thinks, well, maybe I can go home. 00:12:43.519 --> 00:12:45.759 Maybe dad'll still take me back. 00:12:46.399 --> 00:12:47.360 So he starts home. 00:12:47.519 --> 00:12:48.879 Remember, he starts in on a speech. 00:12:48.960 --> 00:12:54.480 He's going, like, okay, I'm gonna get my speech ready because this has got to be about confession and like working my way back in. 00:12:54.639 --> 00:13:02.879 Maybe God'll maybe the father, my father will forgive me, but I think I'll probably have to like work my way back into favor or status. 00:13:04.000 --> 00:13:05.120 But it doesn't work that way. 00:13:05.200 --> 00:13:06.240 It's interesting. 00:13:06.559 --> 00:13:13.440 And what it shows us is that it's we are fully forgiven and we're fully righteous all at the same time, which is totally ridiculous. 00:13:14.879 --> 00:13:23.840 He gets near and this Middle Eastern father runs toward him, which would be completely undignified right away, showing that the father's taking on the humiliation. 00:13:25.200 --> 00:13:26.399 The confessing begins. 00:13:26.559 --> 00:13:31.519 I've sinned against you, and it's almost like the father's like, yeah, I got that, I got the confession, or else he wouldn't be coming back. 00:13:31.679 --> 00:13:40.159 And the father wraps him up, begins to kiss him, bring the robe, put it on him, bring a ring, put it on him, put sandals on his feet. 00:13:40.240 --> 00:13:43.200 We're gonna have a feast for my son is home. 00:13:44.240 --> 00:13:45.840 We see the exchange. 00:13:47.440 --> 00:13:57.519 And Jesus is telling us that the Heavenly Father lavishly forgives us and lavishly covers us with his righteousness. 00:13:58.240 --> 00:14:01.279 So we have a secure identity as his beloved. 00:14:04.320 --> 00:14:13.120 Point number two is this your Heavenly Father desires to give you a new identity as justified, righteous, and beloved. 00:14:15.279 --> 00:14:17.440 This is who we are as a new creation. 00:14:17.600 --> 00:14:18.480 It's our identity. 00:14:18.639 --> 00:14:26.240 It's not traditional identity, we'll find some goodness in that in our lives, and it's not modern identity, and we'll find some goodness in that in our lives. 00:14:26.320 --> 00:14:28.000 But all both of those have limits. 00:14:28.080 --> 00:14:32.240 It's gospel identity, identity in Him, in Jesus. 00:14:33.039 --> 00:14:35.279 And at that point, it's objective. 00:14:35.600 --> 00:14:36.960 This is objective at this point. 00:14:37.039 --> 00:14:38.480 This is declared upon you. 00:14:38.639 --> 00:14:42.080 That's what makes it so good, is that it is objective. 00:14:42.240 --> 00:14:47.840 It is secured outside of you and it is given to you, and whether you feel it or not, it's true. 00:14:48.000 --> 00:14:52.240 But here's here's kind of the problem, not the problem, here's the challenge. 00:14:52.480 --> 00:14:54.159 What does this mean? 00:14:54.559 --> 00:15:00.320 So it's true, but then what about all the moments in life we go, like, I know it's true, and that's freeing. 00:15:00.480 --> 00:15:01.679 That's freeing. 00:15:02.080 --> 00:15:05.279 But how do I appropriate that into my life? 00:15:05.600 --> 00:15:08.639 Because I don't feel any of that today. 00:15:09.200 --> 00:15:16.960 As I'm wrapped up in traditional identity or modern identity or rebellious identity, and I don't feel this objective gospel today. 00:15:19.360 --> 00:15:21.679 On Monday, I went to Costco, had a list. 00:15:21.840 --> 00:15:23.200 I think I had eight things. 00:15:23.440 --> 00:15:26.639 And so I make my way, and I like to sneak into Costco. 00:15:26.720 --> 00:15:29.440 I don't know if you do like when you go in, you know, they check the card. 00:15:29.519 --> 00:15:30.720 I like to see if I can get in. 00:15:30.879 --> 00:15:38.320 Because it gives me the rush I had of when I was like 16 and I was sneaking into things, but like I already know I'm a member, so if I get caught, I'm like, yep, I got a card. 00:15:38.399 --> 00:15:45.840 But it gives me that little, so I tried to sneak in, and he caught me, and I was like card, and he's like, I know you old guys who are still trying to live the dream. 00:15:46.000 --> 00:15:47.120 And so I do that. 00:15:47.600 --> 00:15:51.759 I get in, I get our almond melt, rotisserie chicken. 00:15:51.840 --> 00:15:53.120 You had the rotisserie chicken. 00:15:53.200 --> 00:15:54.879 I don't know how they're doing that for five dollars. 00:15:54.960 --> 00:15:55.840 It's unbelievable. 00:15:56.080 --> 00:15:58.159 Rotisserie chicken, slices of cheese. 00:15:58.240 --> 00:16:00.960 I'm working my way back down, vanilla extract. 00:16:01.120 --> 00:16:11.519 I I get some um Ziploc baggies, I find a like a like a carton of copper tone sunscreen, there's like 18 of them in there, put that in the buggy. 00:16:12.080 --> 00:16:15.039 It's probably about a hundred dollars worth of worth of stuff. 00:16:15.120 --> 00:16:23.919 And I I get up to the to the register and I I pull out my wallet, I have seventeen dollars cash. 00:16:24.000 --> 00:16:27.919 And then you go, well, you know, it's 2019, Russ. 00:16:28.000 --> 00:16:29.120 I mean, that shouldn't be a problem. 00:16:29.279 --> 00:16:30.320 Here's the problem. 00:16:30.559 --> 00:16:35.039 I have a MasterCard, I have an American Express. 00:16:36.480 --> 00:16:38.399 Costco only takes Visa. 00:16:38.799 --> 00:16:40.320 And I have$17. 00:16:42.080 --> 00:16:47.039 So the clerk's looking at me, and she says, Yeah, like, okay, well, do you have a um a debit card? 00:16:47.600 --> 00:16:54.960 I'm weird and I only have an ATM card, like, there's no Visa sign on my debit, like this 1990 version of the debit card. 00:16:55.039 --> 00:16:56.240 Some of y'all maybe know what this is. 00:16:56.320 --> 00:16:59.039 It's called an ATM card, it only works in ATMs. 00:16:59.279 --> 00:17:02.399 And is I'm weird and I think people are gonna steal my money. 00:17:02.480 --> 00:17:04.720 And so I only have the ATM card. 00:17:04.960 --> 00:17:11.440 And she's never seen this before, and I have to explain what this card is, and she's like, Well, mate, let's go to the over to the ATM. 00:17:11.519 --> 00:17:12.720 And so we walk over the ATM. 00:17:12.880 --> 00:17:16.480 A card didn't work, I think it expired in 1990, apparently. 00:17:16.640 --> 00:17:20.720 I hadn't used it in literally a decade, so it doesn't surprise me. 00:17:20.880 --> 00:17:23.759 And at this point, I'm actually getting embarrassed. 00:17:23.920 --> 00:17:28.799 Like, I when she wasn't looking at me, I looked down at what I was wearing. 00:17:29.920 --> 00:17:33.440 Because I was like, does she think I can't afford any of this? 00:17:33.519 --> 00:17:38.880 And and I'm like trying to con my way into like 57 copper tone sunscreens. 00:17:40.079 --> 00:17:43.839 And I look down and I'm like, I kind of don't look that great either. 00:17:44.000 --> 00:17:46.640 Maybe I maybe I am trying to con my way. 00:17:46.880 --> 00:17:53.680 And the thing that was so frustrating about all of this is there's money in my account. 00:17:55.279 --> 00:17:58.880 I know there was more than a hundred dollars in my account. 00:18:00.160 --> 00:18:02.960 I just couldn't, I couldn't, I couldn't get it. 00:18:03.039 --> 00:18:07.839 I couldn't I couldn't appropriate it into Costco. 00:18:10.640 --> 00:18:12.880 I couldn't appropriate it in right then. 00:18:12.960 --> 00:18:15.440 And that's the point, because we all know this feeling. 00:18:15.519 --> 00:18:20.160 Like, I know that in the gospel I am fully forgiven and fully righteous, I am his beloved. 00:18:20.400 --> 00:18:20.799 I know that. 00:18:20.880 --> 00:18:23.200 That is true and it's objective, and that's why I'm free. 00:18:23.279 --> 00:18:24.720 I get it, I get it. 00:18:25.519 --> 00:18:27.680 But I'm not feeling it right now. 00:18:27.839 --> 00:18:33.839 How do I appropriate that objective truth into my life today? 00:18:34.160 --> 00:18:35.519 Because this is what Paul does. 00:18:35.680 --> 00:18:41.359 Paul carries this objective truth into an empowered effect on our life. 00:18:41.519 --> 00:18:42.799 In this passage, he does this. 00:18:42.960 --> 00:18:48.880 He says, Because of this objective exchange that's so ridiculous for you, you have a ministry of reconciliation. 00:18:48.960 --> 00:18:50.160 You're gonna be a reconciler. 00:18:50.240 --> 00:18:53.279 So there's an empowered effect that occurs. 00:18:55.200 --> 00:19:08.880 And there's gonna be days where you hear the sinful nature inside of you telling what you deserve and what you can do and what you should do and what you should say, and there's gonna be the voice of shame that says, Oh, yeah, by the way, you're not really that righteous or that deserving or that lovely or that worthy. 00:19:09.039 --> 00:19:12.799 And what do we do, what do we do when this happens? 00:19:14.319 --> 00:19:20.559 And the answer, I think, at least for me, is what I've learned at this point, is something I never expected. 00:19:20.880 --> 00:19:27.440 And this is that you become, and I become a repenting preacher. 00:19:28.079 --> 00:19:28.880 Sounds odd. 00:19:28.960 --> 00:19:29.920 You wouldn't have guessed it. 00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:31.519 I would have never guessed it. 00:19:32.799 --> 00:19:35.039 That we joyfully repent. 00:19:35.759 --> 00:19:39.680 And we get to joyfully repent because the objective gospel's over us for free. 00:19:39.759 --> 00:19:41.759 We're fully forgiven, fully righteous already. 00:19:41.920 --> 00:19:46.160 So we get to joyfully repent as many times in the day as you need to. 00:19:46.720 --> 00:19:48.400 You got me, there I go again. 00:19:48.559 --> 00:19:49.599 Lord, forgive me. 00:19:49.759 --> 00:19:53.039 I confess it, help me not to live in that way. 00:19:53.759 --> 00:19:56.240 And then you start to preach. 00:19:57.119 --> 00:20:02.079 And you've got to become a good preacher for yourself, to yourself. 00:20:02.640 --> 00:20:06.720 That you preach that objective gospel over yourself. 00:20:06.880 --> 00:20:10.720 Though I may be a sinner, I am a saint. 00:20:10.880 --> 00:20:18.160 I am already accepted, I am already valued, I'm already worthy, I'm already righteous, I am already loved. 00:20:18.480 --> 00:20:23.440 I do not have to rely on that, I do not have to do that, I do not have to think that, I don't have to go that way. 00:20:24.079 --> 00:20:28.720 Even in this, in this moment, I am his beloved. 00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:33.119 You become a repenting preacher. 00:20:34.400 --> 00:20:37.200 And then you can do something you've never been able to do before. 00:20:37.359 --> 00:20:50.480 Or at least if you live in modern identity or traditional identity, because you're really busy in those two different identity structures, you're very busy pretending and performing, justifying yourself. 00:20:51.440 --> 00:20:57.119 But in gospel identity, then you can say, Lord, why am I like this? 00:21:01.440 --> 00:21:02.880 Why do I keep doing this? 00:21:51.440 --> 00:21:52.160 What are you doing? 00:21:55.359 --> 00:21:58.960 You're breeding the wealth, the wealth that is already in you. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:09.599 In Jesus, the wealth that's already in you, that wealth of righteousness and value and love, you are appropriating it into the now, into this moment, this day. 00:22:11.440 --> 00:22:14.160 And this passage tells us something happens along the way. 00:22:14.240 --> 00:22:17.039 And it's not perfection, it's love. 00:22:17.759 --> 00:22:20.160 We get this ministry of reconciliation. 00:22:20.319 --> 00:22:28.799 Verses 19 and 20, that is in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them. 00:22:28.960 --> 00:22:30.000 Good news. 00:22:30.960 --> 00:22:35.599 And entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 00:22:37.599 --> 00:22:43.039 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. 00:22:43.200 --> 00:22:47.759 We employ you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 00:22:48.000 --> 00:22:57.920 Last point, when you are freely reconciled to God, and reconciled means to be brought back into relationship or to harmonize. 00:22:58.000 --> 00:23:00.400 Isn't that a beautiful image to harmonize? 00:23:01.759 --> 00:23:04.960 Two people singing together in unison. 00:23:05.119 --> 00:23:09.599 It's together, it's one, that you were brought back into that harmonization with God. 00:23:09.759 --> 00:23:14.240 When you are freely reconciled, you are freed to be a reconciler. 00:23:16.799 --> 00:23:36.480 So you see him or she or they or that family or that thing, and usually you know start off, you're like, oh, I can't believe they think that, or how they do that, and I can't believe they raise their kids like that, or they join that, or they do that, or whatever that is, and oh, she's with him, or he's with and all that, and you you see all that, and usually so quick to go to judgment, like, oh, you know, right? 00:23:37.599 --> 00:23:39.279 That's a quick way for identity, right? 00:23:39.359 --> 00:23:40.319 Like that we love that, right? 00:23:40.400 --> 00:23:44.960 Like we love a quick judgment to make ourselves feel very sure about ourselves. 00:23:45.759 --> 00:23:51.839 But what happens in gospel identity is you go, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 00:23:52.240 --> 00:23:53.839 I know about that. 00:23:54.880 --> 00:23:57.440 I sort of, I sort of do that too. 00:24:00.240 --> 00:24:15.279 And you don't move toward judgment, you move toward love, you move towards being a reconciler in their life, a voice of truth and a voice of love, trying to move them into being in harmonization with God to know about Jesus. 00:24:16.880 --> 00:24:25.279 Because you know, because you know what we're all doing, what we're all learning, and that is that we are we're just beggars. 00:24:27.279 --> 00:24:31.599 We're just beggars looking for some bread. 00:24:32.720 --> 00:24:33.920 And you found some. 00:24:35.200 --> 00:24:41.279 So, my brothers and sisters, may we boast in all of our weakness that we might rest in Jesus. 00:24:41.440 --> 00:24:42.480 Let's pray together. 00:24:42.799 --> 00:24:44.640 God, thank you for your goodness. 00:24:46.079 --> 00:24:51.200 That we are reconciled and we get to be reconcilers. 00:24:51.359 --> 00:24:55.680 Thank you, that our identities, our justification, our righteousness is not based on our work. 00:24:55.839 --> 00:25:02.240 Thank you, that our forgiveness and absolution is not based in our work, or our worthiness or our loveliness is not based in our work. 00:25:02.400 --> 00:25:13.680 Thank you that we have a soul and we are made new because of your love for us, that when we come home, you are already running toward us. 00:25:15.759 --> 00:25:29.440 And you are willing to humiliate yourself on the cross to wrap your arms up around us and cover us with your righteousness, and that you don't just forgive us and say, work your way back into the family, but you say, You are fully forgiven, fully righteous. 00:25:29.599 --> 00:25:31.519 Your status is secure. 00:25:32.319 --> 00:25:33.680 You are my beloved. 00:25:34.720 --> 00:25:36.880 Help us to know that more, remember that more. 00:25:36.960 --> 00:25:44.880 Help us to become repenting preachers, joyfully repenting and preaching the gospel upon our own souls. 00:25:46.319 --> 00:25:47.839 Because you are good. 00:25:49.200 --> 00:25:52.000 May our lives honor you and all things in Jesus' name. 00:25:52.240 --> 00:25:52.880 Amen.