Living Our New Identity

Introduction

Good morning, dear family! I am so happy to be here together with you in week 2 of Harbinger Gospel Church and our 2nd week in our study of Ephesians. Just like last week, I want to start us off by reminding us of one of our Harbinger distinctives. These messages that I give each week are more in line with homilies, rather than traditional sermons. They’re intentionally shorter and sometimes take different formats than what we may be familiar with from sermons. Sometimes they’re verse by verse and I’ve even preached I think the last 6 weeks verse by verse, but sometimes they’re thought by thought, or even sometimes just general thoughts and encouragements from the text.

I view preaching at Harbinger like a parent on a road trip - turning the music down and hollering to get your attention, pointing out that funny road sign, that we’re about to cross a bridge, or to look at those sheep, cows, and horses, because the destination isn’t always the whole story, the things we encounter on the way are special and often its those things that make up much of the substance of the journey.

These homilies are meant to be more pastoral than scholastic or theological, like little coaching sessions where I offer the refreshments and encouragements that I don’t want you to miss from the text, all with the aim to nourish and strengthen us in our journeys.

The real highlight of our communal scripture devotions is the group discussion time, where we get to come together as Christians who have been filled with the Holy Spirit, and encourage each other with the things the Lord has been teaching and showing us throughout the week.

With this in mind, I’m literally only preaching from one verse from our text this week, but it’s going to take us to some different places and I think it’s going to be fun, so let’s get started.

Verse 15 & 16

Ephesians 1:15-16 CSB

This is why, since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, [16] I never stop giving thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers.

Remember that Paul didn’t include the chapters or verses when he wrote this; it was just a letter. Verse 15 is not a new thought, and it flows out of verses 13 and 14.

Ephesians 1:13-14 (CSB): "In him you also were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed. The Holy Spirit is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of the possession, to the praise of his glory."

So, verse 15, then, is not simply a statement of thanksgiving, but it is also a teaching on the work and fruit of the Holy Spirit. If you would indulge me, I would submit to you this paraphrasing of the text:

Paraphrase: "You heard the gospel, believed the gospel, and were sealed with the Holy Spirit, and then I heard about your faith in Jesus and how it was accompanied by loving others, which to me solidified the testimony that this was not you merely mustering up good morality, but that you truly were sealed with the Holy Spirit of God, which is proof that you really are co-heirs together with our Lord Christ Jesus! So now, every time I think about you in prayer, I am overjoyed at this knowledge, because I remember that we share the same inheritance, to the praise of His glorious grace!"

I take this same posture when I think about each of you. And I’m going to talk about that a little bit more in just a minute, but for now, I hope to quickly give us some application and encouragement.

Application and Encouragement

Theologically, what we see here is that the Holy Spirit fills, enables, and empowers the Christian to obey the law of Christ, which is to love the Father and to love our neighbor.

Matthew 22:37-40 (CSB): "He said to him, 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.'"

John 13:34-35 (CSB): "'I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.'"

Galatians 5:14 (CSB): "For the whole law is fulfilled in one statement: Love your neighbor as yourself."

The consistent theme in the teachings of Jesus, Paul, and the other Apostles is that love fulfills the requirements of the Law. This love is directed first towards God and then towards fellow human beings.

Again, the Holy Spirit empowers the Christian to obey the law. Now, Jesus obeyed this law perfectly. Do we? Of course not. But like Paul notes in our text today, though we may not obey this law perfectly, we should at least be faithfully living it out, such that we are characterized by it.

Think of any athlete. For illustration purposes, I’ll mention LeBron James as basketball in the Olympics starts later this month. Say we watch a game together, and during the game, LeBron James misses a shot. Would it then be accurate to say that LeBron is a terrible basketball player? Of course not. But why? LeBron has had an incredible 21-year NBA career where he has won 4 championships and holds the record for scoring more total points than any other player in the history of the NBA. LeBron’s legacy is not characterized by one missed shot. Not only that, but his track record shows that he can be counted on to make a shot, and one missed shot, or even many missed shots, have no right to alter those expectations.

A Spirit-filled follower of Jesus is someone who is characterized by being a saint, so much so that in the New Testament, at least as far as I can tell, a saint is never again referred to as a “sinner” by title, or to say another way – “sinner” is never again ascribed to a Christian as an identity. Even in Paul’s letters, he addresses believers as saints, holy ones, and beloved. Does the saint still sin? Yes, but not such that it alters his identity.

If I did a spiritual welfare check with you and we talked about your love and devotion to God, should I expect you to tell me that you spent every free moment this week praying? Or that you read the entire New Testament twice this week and Leviticus three times? No, of course not. But should I find it strange and concerning if you told me that you hadn’t read a single Bible verse, prayed a single prayer, or given a single thought or ounce of effort to fighting sin? Yes. If I checked your budget or bank account, should I expect to see that every last cent is given to the homeless or to charity? No. But should it be strange if every line item in your budget was inwardly facing? Yes. If I reviewed your agenda or calendar for the week, should I expect to see that you’ve not watched a single minute of TV and that you’ve spent every moment serving your family or other people? No. But should it be strange if I checked your calendar and there wasn’t a single appointment or set aside, dedicated time, for the good of someone else? Yes.

When we are reborn, through God’s grace and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, our new DNA is to love God and love people. It is utterly a part of us. It is our party affiliation, our family ties, our privilege, our legacy, our inheritance. It is our very identity, the fibers that make up who we are.

And as you well know, obeying Jesus, loving God, and loving neighbor, is one of the primary pillars on which Harbinger Gospel Church is built. But why? Is it because when we live this out our lives are so much better and we experience health and wealth, and we build this city on a hill where we live these lavish lifestyles in palaces with high walls and locked gates? No. It is, as Paul says, to the praise of His glory. When we build a community and the law of the land is to love God and love people, and we live this out as a city on a hill in plain sight for the world to see, we are not only calling, but we are utterly begging outsiders to come into our walls and to taste and see that the Lord is good, and to share lavishly the bounty of his grace that was poured into us so lavishly so that the world might see the kindness of the Lord and be drawn to repentance!

1 Peter 2:9 (CSB): "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light."

Matthew 5:14-16 (CSB): "You are the light of the world. A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven."

The broken world, the widows, the orphans, our neighbors, our friends, the people we love and are so desperately longing to see come to know Jesus, all of these people need to hear the gospel message. It is true- the gospel is the power of salvation. But they also need our time, our presence, our resources, our selfless, outward-facing, sacrificial love towards them.

As we live this out, our neighbor will be changed, then the street, then the block, then the city, so on and so forth until eventually, one way or another, "at the name of Jesus every knee will bow— in heaven and on earth and under the earth— and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Philippians 2:10-11 (CSB)

Amen?

Final Thought

One final thought I’d like to leave you with before we go into our discussion time. As you know, on Monday, we had our first Harbinger governance team meeting. One of the elders spoke about how difficult it can sometimes be to get people to buy into a vision and follow you as a leader. He noted the distinctives of Harbinger and asked if I was having a hard time getting everyone on board. I’m going to tell you my answer to him, as much as I can remember at least; this is a direct quote. I said:

"Not everyone, but many of my people share a similar background. We were either a part of or a product of the 'young, restless, and reformed' movement, and we’re all just kind of tired of being puffed up by theology. We’re tired of being hearers only and not doers of the gospel. We’re tired of reading commands from Jesus and not thinking that we’re actually supposed to obey them, or even that we could. We’re a community, transformed by the Holy Spirit, who is sold out for Jesus. We want so badly to just know Him, and in knowing Him, love Him, and in loving Him, obey Him, and in obeying Him, help others to do the same."

I love you all so much. And I am so proud of the people you are. Let’s be careful. Let’s be humble, walking low and in the fear of the Lord. Let’s not become complacent or arrogant.

May the Lord bless us and keep us, and in His power, may this always be our identity, I ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.