Holy Spirit Works – Your New Identity

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A sermon by Adam Barcott

June 23 2019

Let’s begin with prayer. “Heavenly Father, we thank you. As we learn to fear, love ,and trust only you, we begin to find life, joy, and peace all around us. You’ve called us to yourself today to worship you. And we receive that call and respond by saying, ‘Thanks, Lord. Here we are.’ We gather around your Word with the hope and the promises of God applied to us, your children. Holy Spirit, fill this space, apply to us the work of Christ: his joy, his peace, and his healing. Crown us with your steadfast love and mercy. We love you and thank you and worship you in Jesus’ name. Amen.”

Today,I want to start with a prayer for spiritual growth. I’m going to read it out loud for us, but I want you to follow along and make it your prayer as our time of confession and absolution, that in the prayer we’re confessing that we want to grow in our faith. We want to grow, and we approach that through repentance and receiving the grace of God.

“So Lord hear our prayer for spiritual growth. I humble myself and pray to the Father, the creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from your glorious unlimited resources you empower us with inner strength through your Holy Spirit. I pray that Christ will make his home in our hearts as we trust in him so that our roots will grow down into God’s love and keep us strong. I pray that we may have the power to understand how wide, how long, how high, and how deep Christ’s love is. I pray that we may experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully, so that we will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Lord, we give all glory to God the father who was able through His Holy Spirit to work within us to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to God and the Church and Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever. Amen. Lord, we give ourselves to you and we receive your forgiveness as you forgive us for our sins. We hear you say, ‘I’ve given you my son to die for you and it’s for his sake. I forgive you all your sins. Grow deeply and abundantly and richly in beauty and aroma and fruit.’ In Jesus’ name. Amen.”

I will read two passages today. The first one is from Luke chapter 8, Verse 26 to 39:

Luke 8:26-39“Then they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. When Jesus had stepped out on land, there met him a man from the city who had demons. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he had not lived in a house but among the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him and said with a loud voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me.” For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many a time it had seized him. He was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the desert.) Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Legion,” for many demons had entered him. And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss. Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned. When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country. Then people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. And those who had seen it told them how the demon-possessed[e] man had been healed. Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.

This is the Word of God.

I like reading one of the Gospels every week, because we’re going to be talking about the book of Galatians. But it’s good to hear a story of Jesus every week. It’s one of the reasons we gather to remember our savior. And this story is so interesting because it is a shocking story. Jesus leaves the boat, and there’s a man who’s been so tormented by the demonic that he torments the city. So when you go to sleep at night in your little ancient village, you hear a demoniac screaming and wailing. He’s freaking you out. So what do you do? You kick him out of the city and put him out in the tombs in the wilderness, but he’s so loud. You still hear him from your city at night while you try to fall asleep. The townsfolk would chain him up in the tombs, but he would break the chains. He tormented the city. It was a nightmare. You’ve had noisy neighbors before, right? And it’s a nightmare. Well, imagine having not just noisy neighbors, but also ones that are so full of demons their called Legion because there’s so many. Goodnight, kids.

Okay, so this was what Jesus walks into, but Jesus does an extreme makeover. I’d love to see that show. The one that cleans you of demons instead of making you prettier. It’s an extreme makeover, and in fact, it’s a totally new identity for the guy. And what’s funny is the town had gotten used to his demonic screams and groanings and violence. He’d cut himself because demonic hates the image of God. They got comfortable with that guy, and when he’s cleansed of all the demons, the city becomes scared of Jesus. They were no longer scared of the demoniac. They were used to him, but now they’re scared of Jesus. They begged, “Jesus, please leave. You’re hurting our economy and you’re scaring us.” And the demoniac then becomes a guy in his right mind who is told by Jesus, “You can’t come with me.” That’s what the guy wants, so he asks, “What am I supposed to do?” Jesus replies, “Go home and tell everybody about God. You’re a carrier of peace, reconnected to God, and free of the demonic.” It’s been a total flip of identity.

This is what Jesus does. He switches up our identity. And the world that liked your old identity isscared by it. They say, “Leave. You’re hurting my economy of how I receive love or attention or profit. Get out of here. You’re no longer useful to me.” Yeah, but I’m free. It turns out the world doesn’t care if you’re free or not.

Now let’s read our second passage. Galatians chapter 3, verse 23. We’ll start there and go through chapter 4, verse 7.

Galatians 3:23-29Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.

Galatians 4:1-7I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

There is a lot in this passage, but this is the reading of God’s word. Praise be to God.

We read about the extreme makeover. Now what Paul is doing is trying to apply what’s happened since Pentecost. Pentecost, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit accompanied it, came through the baptism into Jesus Christ, which came because Jesus Christ died and rose again. There’s a series of events. Jesus says, “I have to leave, but I’m not going to leave you as orphans.” He sends fifty days later at Pentecost the Holy Spirit who is poured out, and then Peter preaches that Jesus is the king. He’s better than David. And then Peter says, “And you killed him.” And then they said, “What do we do?” Peter preached the first gospel sermon which I’ll explain to you as we go. But the first gospel sermon is, “Here’s what you do. Repent and be baptized.”

And the promise of your repentance is you’ll be forgiven for your sins, and at your baptism, you’ll be adopted officially under the king of Jesus into his realm. You will receive the promise of the Holy Spirit. It’s for you, and for your children, and for all those who weren’t even born yet, who are going to believe in Christ. That’s cool, but there’s a problem because there are Jews and gentiles. So how’s it all going to work? Now what do we do? The question of identity is always going to be brought into who people are and what they’re supposed to do. So Paul is saying to us, “I want to be very clear as we begin this little journey, the Holy Spirit always convicts.”

You want to know what the Holy Spirit does? The Holy Spirit doesn’t have to be so mystical. It’s very clear in His Word. The Holy Spirit will convict you to the point where you confess, “I need help.” Then He’ll say, “Great. If you know you need help, here’s the gospel. You’re forgiven.” The Holy Spirit will convict you. The Holy Spirit will lead you to repentance and give you forgiveness, and then the Holy Spirit will recreate you. That’s the idea of baptism. You died with Christ and now you’re recreated with Him water. You are cleansed. You’re brand new. The work of the Holy Spirit we engage is this recreative work. Paul is trying to explain it to a church in Galicia. Every city has its own issue. And the issue in Galicia is the Judaizers, people who are really good at the law. And they’re saying, “The gospel is really cool, but we still think you should be Jewish.”

Jesus was a Jew. There are bumper stickers that say, “My boss is a Jewish carpenter.” What do we do with the gentiles? What should we do with them? If you’re like me, you’re a good gentile. I want to be the best Christian. What does that mean? Should I follow the Old Testament law just to be safe? And Paul says, “You’re missing it. You don’t know your identity.” The first thing the Holy Spirit does is fix your identity. Which is actually very relevant to every culture. It’s so funny how identity is always the question. We live in a culture right now where you have to figure out your identity. I mean down to are you a boy or a girl? Do we live in a culture where you have to choose if you’re a boy or girl? Just let me know you’re alive and with me.

Yes.

Your identity is going to set the agenda for your life. It’s going to tell you who you’re against. It’s who you are for, and who your friends are. It’s going to constrict your life. It’s going to set your life free. It’s your hopes. It’s your dreams. It’s your identity. And if you can find it, you know who you are. And then we have Disney that has all these movies that say, “I don’t want to be a farmer. I want to sing with the birds or something because I don’t want to be under my dad’s identity. I’m not a farmer. I’m this.” I made that movie up. But it sounds like a Disney movie. It’s not a real one. Stick with the story folks.

Identity is huge. And here’s the tragedy with this. The tragedy with identity is God did not create us to be one thing. You are not just the pastor. You’re not just the parent and all you do is parent. You are not just your sexual orientation. That’s what kills me with that. No, you’re not just a boy or a girl. You’re not just an athlete. You’re not just one thing. I’m Republican and Democrat or this or that. You’re not that. You’re reducing your creation and who are down to one created thing, and God weeps over it. He says, “why are you putting yourself under some idol that’s only going to crush you?” Because if I am Super Dad, I’m only going to be crushed when my kid is human and makes a mistake. If I am super mom, or I am super worker, I’m only going to be crushed because the work keeps coming and coming. It’s a created thing, and your identity is not under a created thing. Your identity is under the living God who created life by His Word. He created you to be fully human. Don’t grab one thing as your identity.

That’s what the Holy Spirit is working on us. He says, “I’m going to give you your identity and now under that identity you are free to be all those things but with health and with balance and with joy. You get to be a mom. You get to be jock boy, or girl, or soccer player, or whatever you want, but it doesn’t identify you completely. It’s just a thing you do. There’s an identity question here for the original audience, because they’re saying, “What do we do with the gentiles?” There’s Jews and the gentiles. There’s Roman, there’s Greek, there’s slave, there’s men, there’s women. And Paul says, “For as many of you were baptized into Christ, you’ve put on Christ.”

This is your identity. There is neither Jew nor Greek, nor slave, nor free, nor male or female. They all are one. What the Jewish folks, and even the well meaning Christians, what we always try to do is we want to be the best and justify ourselves. So what do I have to add to it? And Paul says, “Stop adding. A true Jew, a true Israelite is not a person who is circumcised and completes the law.” That’s the first thing we’re wrong about. In the Old Testament, you were saved not by keeping the law and being circumstanced. That’s not what saves you.

In the Old Testament, it was law and promise. In the New Testament, it’s law and Gospel. Here’s the difference. In the Old Testament, you’re saved like Abraham. Abraham was counted righteousness. How he was counted righteous? He believed the promise of God. Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. The identity of God’s people was and is and always will be people of faith. We’re the people who believe the promise of God, even though it looks ridiculous. That’s all it is. Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. We are the people of faith.

In fact, did you know why the people Israel are called Jews today? Because all of Israel identified themselves as people who keep God’s law, and they failed and were totally wiped out. Judah was the main tribe that survived. The only reason Judah survived was because God promised David to keep someone from his line on the throne. Out of the twelve tribes, the only one that survived was Judah and little Benjamin, so that now today we call them the Jews after the tribe of Judah. It’s a shame and that’s what Paul is saying. We’re not trying to go back under the law. The law wasn’t what defined us. What defined us as a people was, “We are the people who believe the promise of God, even though we couldn’t see it, touch it, and it was really hard to believe. That’s what defines us.

Paul talks about a guardian. The law is there and still is there to guide us. Here is an example. How many of you have worked with little kids? Have you ever smelled a little kid? Maybe it’s your own or someone else’s. They look so cute, but they have the breath of a rotten kitten. What do you say? “Oh, did you brush your teeth today?” Kids need to be told to brush their teeth, right? Have any of you known a child of three or four that just knew the intrinsic value of brushing teeth? Who can think ahead and say, “You know, I really care about my dental hygiene and I’m going to have these a long time. I know these are baby teeth and the other will be coming in, but still I want to get good habits, Dad.” I’ve never met a child like that. They need a guardian. They need someone to say, “Brush your teeth, brush your teeth. It stinks. Brush your teeth.”

That’s law. And then you promise them, “One day you will want strong teeth, and one day you’ll do it on your own.” In the Old Testament, we have the laws that keep us going in the right direction. And the promise is you can look at the temple. There’s a sacrifice. Someone’s going to sacrifice for us. The temple was surrounded by all these basins of water. You’re going to be cleansed. And then what happens when there’s sacrifice and the cleansing of the people? The glory of God fills the temple. And that was the promise that the people had in the Old Testament. They believed the presence of God was with them. He’s our God, and he’s protecting us. He’s our God, and He’s here now.

The promise was, “We’re going to be cleansed. There’s going to be a sacrifice, and we’ll have the presence of God. And we believe that, and that’s what makes us righteous. Now imagine the child that we taught to brush their teeth. There comes a point for most of us, usually it’s in middle school, when someone says, “dude, your breath stinks.” And it crushes you just enough to think, “I don’t like that feeling. I think I’ll brush my teeth from now on.” It motivates you to start brushing your teeth. You remember that? Or when you first realized how important deodorant is. I was with a friend in high school. He’d gone to college and a lot of people sitting in his dorm room about to watch a movie. Everyone took their shoes off and my sock smelled like rancid bag of Doritos. It was that day as a 17 year old that I realized how important it is to wash your socks.

Now in the New Testament, we have law and Gospel, before Christ it was a promise. One day we’ll get it. One day we will love God. When Jesus comes it’s that moment. My socks smell. I never want this to happen again. The Holy Spirit’s given to us, and we have law and Gospel. And what Gospel means, “it’s good news.” You have access to the Father and all his glory as a child right now. That’s the difference. And Paul is saying we don’t want to go back to being like children guided by the law hoping something will happen.

We are children now having full access to the Father. It’s happened, and we begin to access this account of God. Now that’s why it’s good news. That makes sense, right? This all leads up to your new identity. You have to know this. Your new identity leads you in a relationship where God has adopted you. He is actually your Father. The Gospel is applied to you by faith. He’s given us baptism, because that’s the day you can look back and say, “I was adopted officially into God’s house.” Now you have all the benefits of being a child of the living God. And now I’ll just tell you how God looked at the temple. He said, “At the temple, I am going to put my eyes, my ears, and my name on you.” Through Jesus Christ and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit says, “I’m going to apply to you God’s eyes. He’s watching you. I’ll apply His ears. He’s hearing you. I’ll apply His name. All the inheritance is yours, but I need you to be rooted into this identity because most of us live like orphans. Or we live like the neighbor kid. Paul said, “You’re not a neighbor kid. You’re a real kid in this”

Who are the only people on earth who deserve nothing but get everything. Let me say that again. Who are the only people on earth who deserve nothing but get everything? Kids. Isn’t it true? Great. You need to settle into that. That’s your identity. Of course, you deserve nothing. He created you. He doesn’t expect you to have anything. God says, “I created you just like the sweet babies we got back there.” You need to be rooted in this identity. We don’t tell the little baby Sam or Pepper back there, “Did you do these things before I feed you? Did you look cute? Look cute. No food until you look cute.” They just are cute, so we feed them. You are a child, so that means you can come to God. You need this identity.

Let me be honest. When I get a phone call or a text, you know the priority for me, right? You should know this. Well surprise, here’s the priority. If I’m busy doing something, I’m like, “Okay, cool, Lauren just texted me. I’ll get to that. Byron just called me. All right, I’ll get to that later. But if one of my kids or my wife calls me, what do I do? I pick up immediately and say, “What’s up? How’s it going?” There’s immediate access, right? Why? Because I’m responsible for them. I know if it’s an emergency, most of you have friends. You have a family. You have someone else you can go to. It’s not just me. For my family, it’s just me, so I answer. I also love them more. I’m a little more invested. “What can I get to you?” That’s how God is with you.

See, all the distinctions of identity have been broken down. It’s no longer Jew or gentile, rich or poor, black or white. If you’re a Christian, it’s either, you’ve been baptized into Christ, or you have not yet been baptized into Christ. You have the faith of Christ applied to you and you are a child of God, or you are not yet born into that. Those are the only two groups of people on earth. That’s it.

You have access to God. He hears you, and there’s nothing too small. Lowery regularly will interrupt me to say, “When’s mom coming home?” And I think, “She has a phone of her own. Why don’t you ask her?” But I say, “I don’t know, man.” I still respond to him. Then I’ll never forget the day Haley called me, and she said, “Hey.” I was said, “Oh, hey, what’s going on?” She continues, “My car broke down. Should I call 911?” I’m responded, “I don’t know.” “Well, some men are saying I should call 911.” I’m said, “What? Why are men saying you should call 911? What’s going on?” Then she said, “Well, my car broke down on the railroad track.” “Could you lead with that next time? Call 911!”

Luckily it was the track that was dead, not the SunRail. The Sunrail was like 15 feet from us. But my point is there are those calls that you can take to God, and don’t hide the lead. Just go straight to God. “God help me.” He is your father. He hears you. And then there’s, “Hey, when’s mom coming home?” “Lord. Hey, I need a parking space.” You’re free. He’s your dad. Nothing’s too small. But the more we access that and start to believe that we’re the people who believe things that sound ridiculous because God promised them. And if he says, you’re a son and a daughter, I believe it. And so I’m asking God to bless my vacation and to bless my couch, and make my TV keep working. I’m sorry for watching it too much.

There’s a relationship with God. It doesn’t mean you get everything you want, because parents don’t give their kids everything they want. They care about their future. They care about who they’re becoming. There’s discipline, and there’s things you don’t get all the time. You try to figure out the mind of your parents. That’s fine with God. You get the freedom to be a child and ask, “God, why, why?” And He says, “I love you. That’s why.”

Once you settle into this identity that you can go and you receive forgiveness from him, then you can pick your head up. I daily pray this, “I bind and gag the spirit of the orphan.” I use this language in my personal prayer, I say, “I’m binding and gagging the spirit of the orphan, because I know it’s in me.” I just want to believe no one cares about me. I want to believe everyone turns against me. Can you believe all the people at Church are going on vacation and leaving me? Right? I think like that, but this is what the human situation is. I don’t think that so much any more, because I do this prayer with God every day where I say, “You know what? Get rid of the spirit of the orphan. I’m not left alone. Even if there are people against me, it doesn’t matter because I asked for and I receive the spirit of adoption, which allows me to cry out Abba Father.”

You know what that means in the Hebrew and the Greek? It means Daddy. It’s that term, literally. I received a spirit of adoption and I cry out, “Daddy!” And then I break into all the stuff I want for that day. “Daddy. I would love it if my wife would feel loved, and that you’d be a better husband to her than I am. Daddy, I haven’t been the best father. I can do more and I’m crushed by that. But Daddy, would you take care of my kids, keep them safe, and let them love you. And I want to have great great grandkids that all love you. Daddy bless the reading. I’m reading all this Bible stuff, but no one cares about the Bible. And I’m becoming an expert in something no one cares about. And he’s like, I care about it at him. Daddy would you bless the Wimberlys and bless the Fitzpatrick’s.” And I ask Dad for all of you. I feel privileged I get to do this, and this is what Paul wants for us. This is what I want for us is to sink into the identity.

When you start to identify too much with work, repent, be baptized, let it die, and be raised up as a child of God. The jobs will come and go. The relationships will come and go. When the things you want start to identify you get anchored in your identity as a child of God. Get rebranded. Because when you’re a child of God, He does all the heavy lifting. He’s better than all of our dads. He’s going to live forever. He’s seriously strong. He can really protect you. And so you can really go to Him, and just cry it out and be comforted or laugh or be encouraged or just trust that He knows why you’re not getting what you want. He knows.

The Holy Spirit is at work. If you’re convicted right now about, “Oh, I’ve spent so much time worried about work,” the solution is simple. “Jesus, forgive me.” And He says, “I do forgive you and I’m recreating you.” This is who we are. We are the people of God. I’m just coming to realize as my kids get older, I don’t know if I want to see them every day as they’re adults. But once a week, having a nice meal would be really awesome. God has set that up. He’s like, “Come to church. It’s not mysterious. I speak to you through the Word. I speak to you through prayers. I speak through the Lord’s supper. And then as you go out, you get anchored in this identity, and pray to me, talk to me. Trust me.” The first thing the Holy Spirit had done in this whole new kingdom under the reign of God is recreating your identity. You are a child of God. You’re my brother. You’re my sister. Amen.

Let me pray, “Father, thank you. I thank you that you hear us and you attend to us. Just like baby Cal is crying and Walker attends to him, You hear everything, every noise we make, thank you. Holy Spirit apply to us the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry out daddy and assure us that we are not only loved as children, but we have received the DNA of Christ. We can start to act like Him, experience life like Him, and trust you all the way like Him. And then the promise of resurrection and recreation. Thanks. Thanks be to God. Thank you for Jesus’ death and resurrection and the pouring out of His Holy Spirit. Thank you. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.