Most often we identify who we are by what we do, possibly
our heritage or even the community that we grew up in.
Check out this video “Identity in Christ” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsDQEb-qlyM
Do you have a hard time accepting your identity in Christ?
It is often very hard to accept the identity given to us by
our heavenly Father because we are so drawn to achieve it or prove that we are
worthy of such titles…but everything we have and all that we are is all because
of Jesus, because of His finished work when He paid for our freedom on the
cross.
So, what is our identity as a church?
We believe the
identity God has given us is this and “grace” is our history and our identity. Here is a quote from John Fairchild when we
came to this property
Grace Community Church
is a Christ centered community that celebrates God’s Grace, striving to grow in
Christ, living passionately for Him and sharing the good news of freedom in
Christ with each other and the people we encounter every day.
Grace is made up of
all kinds of ordinary people who’ve become part of our Marden church family for
different reasons. One thing we all hold in common is a desire to understand
how God would have us live.
None of us do it
perfectly and for that reason we have included the beautiful word “Grace” in
our church’s name. Grace describes God’s free and undeserved favor and love to
all of us. God’s grace is about giving us ‘fresh starts’ in our life
adventures.
We want to become “People Living Everyday Grace In Our
Community”
When you know your identity, it allows your purpose have
crystal clear focus.
In our previous vision, we spoke specifically of “a time and
a place where love abounds”
The question I want to answer this morning is, “Why is it so
important for us to shift from “a time and a place” to a people in our vision?”
The answer is threefold:
1.
God has created His people to belong in
community.
2.
God has created His people to be strong and
secure in their identity.
3.
God has created His people to live transformed
lives by the power of the HS
1 Peter 2:9
In this
passage Peter is bringing in the eternal and invisible dimension of our lives.
He is describing to his readers how special they are to God. Everyone knew that
the Israelites were God's chosen people, but God had just increased the
dimensions to His community!
The family
of God expanded beyond the nation of Israel to include all of us who are part
of His family.
1.
God has created His people to belong in
community.
But you are a chosen people.
The Israelite community…look at Deuteronomy 7:6
For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord
your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be
his people, his treasured possession.
The word chosen is spoken of the Hebrew nation as they left
Egypt in Psalm 105:43. It was the word
used that was spoken of Jesus prophecied in Isaiah 42:1
1“Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I
delight;I will put my Spirit on him,and he will bring justice to the nations.
It was also used of the apostles for their work. Acts 10:41
Well here’s the truth about this community.
Romans 9:21Does not the potter have the right to make out of
the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common
use? 22What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power
known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction?
23What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of
his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory— 24even us, whom he also
called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? 25As he says in
Hosea:
“I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people; and I
will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one,”26and,“In the very place
where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called
‘children of the living God.’ ”
It is a community designed intentionally by God and if you
have chosen Jesus as your Savior you are part of this community both in a
worldwide sense and a local one
Have you ever experienced being chosen first or for that
matter last as part of a schoolyard pick?
It provides this lasting impression in your mind… a great sense of pride
or utter humiliation and it has everything to do with people’s perception of
you for that particular team.
God has a perception of you and He knows you the same way He
knew His prophet Jeremiah when he said of him.
1:5“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you
were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations
Let’s imagine a singing competition in our church
We ask a person new to our congregation to randomly select
participants without any knowledge of their gifts and talents…they are just
going by their looks!
Now enter…Kathy Lambkin who intentionally picks based on her
knowledge of their gifts and abilities…no contest right! And that is what Your heavenly Father is like…
He knows everything about your design, your gifting and the
people He has placed you around. It’s
not random and it’s no accident. 1
Corinthians 12
He has you here for a specific reason…It isn’t a place where
you will be just comfortable to warm a seat from week to week. You are here to discover your God-given
purpose as part of this family, this community, this specific group of chosen
people.
Now granted I understand that many of you have chosen to be
part of this church, but ultimately I believe that God chose you to be part of
this congregation for such a time as this.
You will be part of His manifest destiny for the future success of this
church in fulfilling this mandate.
Why am I so confident of this?…it is because God has chosen
US by His design. It had everything to
do with Him and His grace and mercy in our lives and it had nothing to do with
us. The moment we forget that, the
moment we start becoming people of entitlement.
We are the people that God has chosen to connect with those
He has placed around us. We have a
special sense of calling.
2.
God has created His people to be strong and
secure in their identity.
A royal priesthood -
The priest was to “stand in the gap” on behalf of the people and
represent them before God. He was to continually
offer sacrifices on behalf of the people for the forgiveness of sins, teach the
law, take care of the temple. Numbers 18
2 Corinthians 5:17-20
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone,
the new is here! 18All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through
Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:
We are a new creation
and we have been given a ministry of reconciliation. We have been given the mandate to help people
find their way home, to their true home, their destiny to become children of
God!
We are part of the universal priesthood of
all believers.
The priests performed sacrifices
Romans 12:1Therefore, I urge you, brothers
and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living
sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.
A holy nation -
A people have a commitment to one another…you see a Canadian in a
foreign country – there is that comraderie, they are from home.
There is something special about being Canadian – doors are
open for you that are not open for Americans for that matter. Canadians are especially loved in Holland.
The Liberation of
Holland was completed on May 5, 1945 by the First Canadian Army. It had been a
long and difficult campaign. Following the initial Allied landings on the
beaches of Normandy on June 6, 1944, and the breakout from the bridgehead which
saw the Canadians engaged in bitter fighting at Caen and Falaise, the First
Canadian Army was assigned the task of clearing the coastal areas and opening
the channel ports for vital supplies.
Some wonder how the
story of the heroic Canadians lives on in Holland almost 70 years later. The
story of what the Canadians did during the War is passed down through each
generation and is taught to children in public schools in Holland. There are a
variety of war cemeteries devoted to the 7600 Canadian soldiers who gave their
lives for the liberation of Holland. The Dutch lovingly tend to each cemetery.
When the Canadians visit Holland they are treated with much respect and
admiration. The people of Holland are not quick to forget that it was the
Canadians who freed them from the Germans so many years ago.
Melanie Cashin
The bond is even experienced in a stronger way when we
connect with other believers across the nations. Being part of a holy nation means we have a
passport to places where others have limited or no access….the throne
room! Hebrews 4:15,16
15For we do not have a high priest who is unable to
empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every
way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16Let us then approach God’s throne of
grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us
in our time of need.
Where else does your passport as a believer give you access
to???
We are “A people belonging to God” - We have the power of God, we are agents of change. We are carriers of grace and we have the Holy
Spirit
Now, certain cultures and ethnic groups are known for
specific things.
The French – wine and cheese.. Sharon and I had French
friends in BC, Martin and Annie of all places who let’s just say educated our
palette.
Latin cultures are known for great salsa and salsa
dancing…we learned both, well Sharon learned the dancing thanks to our friends
from Mexico.
The Sherpa people in Eastern Nepal elite
mountaineers and experts in their local terrain – those who guide explorers to climb Mt.
Everest. My passport as a Christian gave
me access to the high mountain villages of Nepal where from out of a mud hut a
man walks out and gives me an ice cold coca cola….However, more miraculous for
me was to hear the story of a community of believers who shared with me about a
person in their community had died and during the funeral that went on all
night and that was more a celebration of worship and prayer. At some point during that time of worship,
she came back to life!
What will we be known for?
First and foremost – a people belonging to God! Never forget that.
3.
God has created His people to live
transformed lives by the power of the Holy Spirit
That you may declare the praises of him who called you out
of darkness and into his wonderful light.
That HS communicates with your spirit, you have a spirit in
which the HS resides
The HS wants to reveal the significance of the fact that God
chose you…when you were dead, when you had no options, you were brought into a
family with eternal difference. We are
heirs of God
Creation groans…Christ groans…the HS groans so that we can
understand the significance of our identity.
God is birthing something in you! Romans 8
Syria is a very dark place right now…with the UN reporting
now over 90 000 people have died in this civil war that has lasted more than 2
years.
It was just
the other day that I heard about Canada is going to sponsor 1300 Syrian
refugees… It may seem like a drop in the
bucket compared to the 1.6 million displaced by the unrest in their country. However, these 1300 have been chosen to live
in a new country, with new opportunities…
Who is God
calling you to sponsor? Bring them out
of darkness and into His glorious light.
This means sharing our story.
Brynley had a random text from a neighbour the other night
and he asked if they could just read the Bible…what ensued was a chapter by
chapter reading…5 of them and Bryn had the beautiful opportunity to share her
faith.
Live your life in such a way that it demands an
explanation.
Ephesians 2:8-10
THE TAKEAWAY
Remember we work
from our identity not for our identity.
If I know God loves me, I don’t have to manipulate other to
receive their love.
The whole world lives for their identity…
Only a Christian can live from their identity
When you pursue your own identity… I want to be healthy, I want
to have kids, nice car, great career etc… and if you labour for that and accomplish that, you feel proud… you say look
what I have accomplished, you become self righteous, you have contempt for
other people. I did it why can’t you.
OR
If you try and fail, you feel depressed…nobody asked me out,
we can’t have kids, I thought they would never leave me and I got served divorce
papers…despairing
So, remember, today live from your identity, not for your
identity.
I was cycling last week and Matt Ward was following me,
pushing me to go faster and man, I was just pounding it out as hard as I
could….want to impress the man who went to Kona for the Ironman…Anyways, he
comes up beside me and says Jack you don’t have to grip your aerobars so hard…
you were moving all over on your bike.
He said you need to let your bike work for you, don’t fight your bike…
What’s the point…you don’t have to fight for your identity,
Jesus already did. He fought for you to
become a child of God. Rest in that
confidence.
Second….
When you do this you don’t have to hold or grip as tightly
to your performance, your status, your things, your position etc…
When you know who you are as a child of God, you can hold
loosely to all of it.
1.
God has created His people to belong in
community. You are chosen.
2.
God has created His people to be strong and
secure in their identity. You are
secure.
3.
God has created His people to live transformed
lives by the power of the HS… so live a transformed life by the grace of God!
An action plan for this summer! KEEP AT IT
·
Open your homes and backyards and be
hospitable - It can be really simple.
The power of invitation is an
amazing thing.
·
Open your hearts and make new friends (name some
new ones by end of summer)
·
Open your hands and do good to people around you
·
Open your mouth (when the opportunity arises)
and speak of your faith in Christ
