Dear Friends,
My sister left last night. We had a great time together for the past twelve days. One of our highlights was visiting Kauai for three days! During our Kauai trip, we did have one snafu at the rental car company. I did not have a physical credit card on me and they would not accept Peter's credit card for the security deposit because the contract has my name on it and I am legally responsible for the car during the rental, so only a card with my name is acceptable! It took us two hours to sort things out, but thankfully none of us lose our cool. The slight delay did not dampen our holiday!
Identity is an extremely important thing in our society. You are responsible for everything that has your name attached to it. We must know and protect our true identity!
Scriptures:
1 Corinthians 4:3-5
3 It is of little importance to me that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I don’t even judge myself. 4 For I am not conscious of anything against myself, but I am not justified by this. It is the Lord who judges me. 5 So don’t judge anything prematurely, before the Lord comes, who will both bring to light what is hidden in darkness and reveal the intentions of the hearts. And then praise will come to each one from God.
Ephesians 2:1-10
1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Reflection:
1. In 1 Corinthians 4:3–5, Francis summarized the words of Paul in these verses by saying Paul didn’t care that people judged him. Paul didn’t even care how well he judged himself because he knew that God was the ultimate judge who saw everything and would rightly judge everyone. How have you allowed the world, your friends, or even your family to dictate your identity? How could Paul’s perspective on caring about the opinions of others help you in your life?
2. Francis confronted another lie about our identity by referencing Ephesians 2:1–10. In this passage, Paul talks about how we used to be dead in our sins, living however we wanted to live. But in Christ, we are alive. Let's take a look at how this passage is helpful in understanding your identity.
G - God
Who is God? God is holy. He hates sin and yet he loves to show his salvation. We see his holiness, his peace, and his mercy in this passage.
verse 4... because of His great love of us, God, who is rich in mercy
O - Offense of Sin
What did we do? We have offended God in our sins. The Bible described us as objects of God's wrath because we love gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts.
verse 1... you were dead in your transgressions and sins
S - Sufficiency of Christ
Who is Jesus? Jesus is God. He was sent by the Father to do what we could not do and that is, to save us from our sin. His life, his death, and his resurrection made salvation possible. This is Good News!
verse 5... (He) made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions
P - Personal Response
How do we respond to this Good News? We place our faith in Him. Our personal response is to trust in what God has done for us, not try to do a bunch of things for God.
verse 8... For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God
E - Eternal Life
What happens to me spiritually? We will have eternal life. A life raised with Christ. And that life calls me to trust him, to tell others because eternal life and everlasting death hang in the balance of how we respond to Christ. There is eternal urgency!
verse 6... God raised us up with Christ and seated you with him in the heavenly realms
L - Life Transformed
What happens to me now? My life is transformed. It is a new creation and has a new purpose. The Bible says,
verse 10... we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works
In closing, I want you to imagine three chairs.
Chair no. 1 represents a life without Jesus
Chair no. 2 represents a life with Jesus
Chair no. 3 represents a life growing in Jesus
What chair are you sitting on? What chair do you want to be sitting on?
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