The root system of the tree

Introduction

Think about our culture for a moment. The media and advertisers try to tell us who we are. The younger generation has been relentlessly marked to since the day they were born. They seek to form people in their image in order to make money off of them. They sell an identity, who you should be, and then create an anxiety in them that they don’t measure up, then they you a product to take away that anxiety.

Think about it. A company that sells beauty products will try to make us find our identity in appearance. They show a supermodel without any makeup or whatever their product is, they show them plain or empty, then they use the product and show the same supermodel looking beautiful and perfect (probably airbrushed). They have just tried to sell us an identity, who we should be. They have shown that without their product we will be plain and ordinary, we will fail in our appearance identity. They have just spoken to you. Are you listening to them?

Voices

Voices. They are everywhere. How many voices did we hear this week? We may have heard them coming from the outside…others. Or, we may have heard them coming from the inside…us. They speak to us.

They tell us who we are, who we aren’t, who we should and who we shouldn’t be. They tell us how we have failed or succeeded. They tell us what we should be doing. They tell us things we want to hear and things we don’t want to hear.

Lady Gaga’s words resonate with many today, when she said, “Don't you ever let a soul in the world tell you that you can't be exactly who you are.” This has become the battle cry of the younger generation. There is one problem with this. We weren’t made this way. We weren’t made to answer the question, “Who am I?” We were designed for another person to tell us who we are.

What voices are you hearing?

In a music video for the Switchfoot song, Voices, in collaborateion with Lindsey Stirling, they included text that was pulled from actual comments that people said to them over the years. These words are written on them. Words and phrases like: "I don't matter." "Ugly." "Loser." "Idiot." "Stupid." "Fraud." "Fake." "Poser." "Lame." "Annoying."

Suddenly, the song transitions and they start wiping the words off. The lyrics say, "…every moment crowded with choices, speak to me and drown out the voices". Then the clothes they were wearing go from black or dark colored to a white or lighter color.

What voices are we hearing? Words like the ones that were spoken to Switchfoot and Stirling, or other words. Do we know who we are? Who are we allowing to speak to us?

If we are speaking to ourselves or letting anyone else other than God speak to us and tell us who we are, we have a big problem. We won’t ever be able to meet our own or other’s expectations, and so we need another voice.

What if there was someone who knows exactly who you are? What if there is somebody who simply loves you and wants to tell you who you are? Not to make money off you or take advantage of you, but to help you live a life where you can thrive. To help you live a life where you can be fully alive. Where you can be that tree planted by streams of water, with roots going really deep.

By the life, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, and the fact of our union with him, or being clothed in him, we now can know who we are, our true identity, because the Holy Spirit who lives in us tells us who we are. Will we listen to what he has to say?

Background

The church at Galatia was going through an identity crisis. It was made up of both Jews and Gentiles. They were worshipping together and doing life together. But a Satanic idea came up that made them forget who they were. They thought that there was one way to be a real Christian. It wasn’t just faith in Christ alone by grace alone. You needed to do something more. If you were a Gentile, you needed to convert to Judaism, you needed to follow the Jewish law, you need to stop eating bacon and shrimp. You needed to follow all the 600 plus laws of the OT. If you did this, then you would be acceptable, then you could be part of the community. Then you could be sure of your identity as a Christian.

So, the church in Galatia who had once had their identity in Christ by faith, began to find their identity in obedience to the law. Suddenly, the church was divided. Their unity was shattered. Their peace was gone.

Paul tells them that he knows what happened to them, they forgot who they were. Paul reminds them of their identity. It’s not in what you do, or even in who you are, it is in whose you are. The question: “Will you listen to what God is saying about whose you are?” Let’s look at and see what God, the only one who has the authority to tell us who we are tells these Galatians who have amnesia.

Exposition

A reminder of who we were (3:23-25a)

In order for us to figure out who we are, we must know who we were. Paul reminds us. He says to the Galatians that before they came to trust in Christ for their salvation, they were prisoners. They were held captive under the law. As verse 10 says, they relied upon the works of the law to give them their identity. This is the same thing that we do. We rely upon our morality or religiosity, or a myriad of other things to give us our identity. The problem is that if we rely upon ourself to define our identity, we are cursed and not blessed (3:10). As Paul tells the Galatians in verse 11, you are condemned instead of being justified.

What does this mean? It means that instead of God declaring you righteous or perfect because of the righteousness of Christ, you will stand before him in your own righteousness. And that, my friend, won’t turn out very well. The law isn’t bad though, it is actually good. It has three uses, but today we will only look at two.

Like a “guardian” or a slave responsible for training a child (this was a thing back in Paul’s time), who would point out and punish misbehavior in order to make the child into a responsible adult, the first use of the law is to curb sin. The law brings fear of punishment and keeps the sinful nature under check. The problem is that it can’t stop sin in the heart, it just keeps us from seriously damaging others.

Like a “guardian” would show the child the ideal way of living and where the child would fall short, the second use of the law shows us what our heart and life should be like, it is like a mirror.

The reality of who we are (3:25b-29)

Now that we know who we were, Paul helps us see who we are in Christ. He shows us that we no longer need to have a guardian. Now faith in Christ has come. We have put all our trust in Christ. And because of this, we are all, all of us, sons and daughters of God through faith. We are “in Christ” or united to Christ Jesus.

Because of our union with Christ that was demonstrated by our baptism into Christ. We have died with Christ in our baptism and been made alive with him. We have put on Christ. Quite literally, we are wearing Christ like a garment. He clothes us. In other words, just like we have clothes to cover us to protect us from the cold, wind, and the shame of our nakedness, we have Christ to protect us from others and ourselves. He takes away our guilt and shame. When God looks at us, he doesn’t see our naked body with all its defects and flaws, rather, he sees the perfection of Jesus Christ. That perfection is ours.

And the reality is that it is not just ours as individuals. It is ours corporately. Because we are all united to Christ, our identities are not found in what others say about us.

We aren’t defined by our racial or ethnic distinctions, there is no more Jew and Greek. We aren’t defined by our economic or class distinctions, there is no more slave or free. We aren’t defined by our sexual distinctions, there is no more male or female. We are all one in Christ.

What does this mean? Well, when I was in grade school, I went to a Christian school. At that school we had to wear school uniforms. Do you know what school uniforms do? They are a great leveler. When you go to school you can’t tell who is rich or poor, smart or not so smart, who is from this area or that. The uniforms level all this stuff out. Why? They give us a new identity.

I think this is what Paul is saying in these verses. You have all been baptized. You are all united to Christ. You have put him on like a school uniform. You are no longer defined by what the world says about you, what you say about you, or other Christian people say about you. You are defined by “whose you are.” You are all one in Christ Jesus. And, if you are one in Christ, then you are heirs to all the promises that God made to Abraham which was before there ever was all this Jew/Greek distinction. You don’t have the liberty to make a distinction anymore. You are unified or united in Christ. If we are dividing over things, we probably have forgotten who we are.

What does this mean? It means that we are no longer defined by what we do or who we are. We are defined by “whose we are.” We are defined by who we are united to. We are who God says we are.

A warning to remember who we were (4:1-3)

After Paul tells us who we are, he wants to give us another reminder to help us remember. You aren’t like the Roman child who had to wait until he grew up to receive his inheritance. You are not under the control of a manager who is making sure you do the right thing at the right time. You don’t have to fulfill the obligations of the law in order to be accepted by God. You are free.

You no longer are slaves to elementary principles. The Greeks viewed these as the basic elements that made up the world: earth, wind, water, and fire. Some worshipped these as if they governed how we lived and what happens to us.

Paul might be thinking about the Jewish calendar with all its feast and festivals and rites, which were all governed by the seasons and the heavenly bodies. Legalism holds us under the structures and control of the world. So, Paul is telling us not to be bound by these elementary principles that tell us who we are and what we should do and when we should do it, but rather, we should be free in Christ.

The power to remember (4:4-7)

The power to remember that we are not slaves to these fundamental principles of the world and the laws that were given to make us see and know our need for Christ comes from the reality of what Christ did.

We must never forget that Christ came at just the right time. He came at the time that the Father had pre-determined, the end of the ages. At this time, Jesus, the eternal Son of God was sent by the Father. Let this sink in for a minute. The Father sent him! The Father wanted you!

So, Jesus was born of a woman, born under the law. Because he was born of the virgin Mary, conceived by the Holy Spirit, and so without sin, with a true body and a reasonable soul, he was obligated to keep and obey the law. He was the only one could keep the law.

But he redeemed us. He bought us back. He allowed himself to be hung upon a cross, taking our sin and guilt and shame upon himself. He bore the eternal wrath of God for our sin. He became a curse for us. He took our curse. He did this so that we could be adopted and become the very children of God.

What is this adoption?

First. It is a gracious act. It is not merited, or deserved. God is not compelled to adopt us, just as he is not compelled to redeem us in Christ.

Second. It is a movement from legal acceptance, justification, to filial (family) relation. No longer are we looked at as subjects that the judge has exercised a verdict on, rather, we are looked at as children.

Third. It is grounded in Christ's work. It is permanent. He paid such a great price for us, it wasn't just for us to be good citizens, but rather for us to be brought into relation and sweet communion with Him.

What do we become? Who are we?

We are given a change of relation legally. Prior to our justification before God, we were actually sons of the first Adam in his rebellion. We were sons of the Devil. We shared the traits and family values of Satan. We were children of wrath, because we were unrighteous rebels.

But through Christ, God adopts us. He brings us into His family through the work of Jesus Christ. He came and sought us out.

We are brought into the family of God. We become members of it. God places his name on us. In other words, my name is James Pavlic. My family name is Pavlic, and I am identified by it. I am part of John Pavlic's family. I share in his traits, and I am considered his son. He loved me, cared for me, prays for me, and he has me in his will.

So, when God adopts us, he gives us his name. Thus, upon adoption, my name is no longer just "James Pavlic", but now my name is, "James Pavlic, son of God", whose elder brother is "Jesus Christ", Son of God. Wow! A son of God. God has placed his name on me! On you! And so, we are now said to be in relation to God. It is no longer about what we do or who we are, but “Whose we are!”

But, if all we had was simply a declaration, we would have a rough go at this thing we call life. But, we have more than that, we have been given the Holy Spirit. He has come down and made his home in our hearts. He is speaking to us. He is speaking for us. He says to God the Father, “Papa!”, “Dearest Father!”, “Dad!” He makes God no longer an abstract concept or idea. God himself lives in our hearts and tells our hearts that we really are children of God. Real children of God.

The Spirit tells our spirit that we are God's children. Do you know what our problem is? We can't hear him. He is speaking to us everyday, but we aren't listening. Our lives are too loud and we are too busy that we can't hear him saying…”You are a child of God.” And hearing him help us say…”I am a child of God.”

Here is a question. How can you create rhythms or practices in your life and create spaces in your life so you can actually hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, so you can hear God tell us who you are?

In the Disney movie, the Lion King when Simba is trying to figure out who he is, Rafiki finds Simba and says to him, you are Mufasa’s boy. He then takes him to a place where he will get a vision. At a pool of water, Simba sees his reflection and then gets a vision of his Father, his Father says to him, “You have forgotten me.” Simba says, “How could I?” His father says to him “You have forgotten who you are, and so forgotten me.” He continues, “Remember who you are. You are my son.”

Have you forgotten that you are God’s child? And because you have forgotten whose you are, you have forgotten the who that made you and saved you?

Let me challenge you this week to do something. Remember who you are by listening to the Holy Spirit speak through his word and prayer. Make space and time this week to allow the Spirit to speak in your heart…Abba, Father. Meditate this week on the reality of you being a child of God. Use the going deeper guide in your missional community.