Identity In Christ
Identity in Christ • Sermon • Submitted
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· 7 viewsThis is the fourth and final week of looking at Christian identity through the lens of the fruits of the Spirit. This week we consider how Jesus shows us faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control as we celebrate Palm Sunday, and prepare for Good Friday.
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Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’ ” The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”
The last three Fruits of the Spirit: faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, are almost too perfect as we consider the week Jesus is about to face.
Loud “Hosannas” on Sunday
“Crucify him” on Friday
Through all of it, Jesus remains faithful to his calling.
He remains gentle, even toward those who would betray Him
He is self-controlled throughout...
If this sermon series has provided one benefit to me, it has been the growing realization of how little we can rely on external circumstances for Godly internal qualities.
A crowd that cheers us and tells us how amazing we are today...
Could turn on us and want us dead tomorrow.
A world that feels safe today
Can experience pandemic tomorrow
I wonder if you have had a similar witness over the last several weeks.
Maybe you’ve identified why your life has had so little Godly fruit.
Maybe you’ve grown to see that only awareness of God’s presence can bear the fruit we desire.
A million Hosanna’s can be gone in a moment.
God’s presence, His qualities, His promises, and His gifts are eternal.
Today we look to Jesus as he rides into Jerusalem on a donkey, and we see to his death all of the fruits of the Spirit.
Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self-Control
Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self-Control
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
Our story today actually begins before the creation of the Earth.
The Gospel of John reminds us that the very human, and yet eternally divine Jesus, has always been for us, creating us, and loving us.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
The humanity of Jesus has been an offense to many people who have heard of us speak of Him as God.
Could God be so close to us?
Would God lower Himself to be born in a manger?
Would God speak and spend time with thieves, prostitutes, tax collectors, and the lowly?
Would the Word, that was there in the beginning, truly lower Himself in such lowly and base ways?
Transcendence and Immanence
Transcendence and Immanence
Theologians have often marked the distinction between God’s transcendence, and His immanence.
God’s ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts.
That’s transcendence…that His ways and thoughts are far holier than our our own, for we are sinners.
And, yet, God is so close and loving that He would put on flesh like us, and be one of us.
That’s immanence…the idea that God is right here. Right now.
So, the answer is, yes, that God would be both beyond our ways, and so close that we could hug Him, walk with Him...
In His transcendence, God does not hide. He invites.
He invites through Jesus, and it is as if He says,
"All of the qualities that are mine, I share with you. Right now.”
And, so, Jesus, is both eternally divine, and caught up in one moment of time.
He gave up some of the rights of his divinity, so that he might be able to better identify with us through his humanity.
But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
This Eternal Word, the logos, God in the flesh, made Himself one of us for a little while…so he might taste death for everyone...
Why?
For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying, “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.”
Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
Have you ever thought of Jesus as your brother?
Jesus physically suffered, just as you and I will physically let go of our bodies, perhaps in physical suffering
He watched people die
He healed many
He suffered slander and persecution.
Yet, our brother, Jesus, God in the flesh, teaches us through his witness...
Faithfulness
Gentleness
Self-control
Our brother, Jesus, has reunited us to our Father, God, who is infinitely greater than we could have ever imagined.
He loves when we are unlovable
He forgives people who feel unforgivable
He heals when it seems all hope is lost
Jesus not only exhibits the fruits of the Spirit…He IS faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control
He is also...Bread of Life, Advocate, Bridegroom, Chief Cornerstone, Deliverer, Good Shepherd, Great High Priest, Immanuel, I Am, King of Kings, Lamb of God, Light of the World, Mediator, Messiah, Our Hope, Our Peace, Redeemer, Son of Man, Savior...
Brother
Our brother, the vine...
We, the branches
Most of all, he will teach you
That your loving Heavenly Father
Pours out His love on His most beloved Son
Who calls you brother
And now all of the fruits, and more than the fruits belong to you
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
The fruits that Jesus exhibited in Jerusalem during Holy Week, are available to you now
The fruits that Jesus exhibited in Jerusalem during Holy Week, are available to you now
And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for “ ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “ ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’
You are already known by God
To know God is not complicated.
Look to Jesus and you will see in Him all that the Father offers to you.
Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
Close your eyes…
Can you see Jesus encouraging you to walk with Him?
Can you see his faithfulness, his gentleness, and his self control as he goes to the cross?
Can you see that he has forgiven you of all past, present, and future indiscretions?
Can you see, like Jesus, that God is in your very life, your movements, and in your being?
He never leaves. He never forsakes. He is always right here.
Amen