GOSPEL IDENTITY

When we think about identity:many events and moments and people –shape who we are today…

Pics

1-BABY (baby fat)

2-(Traumatic moments) Kindergarten

3-Church life

4-Love of my life

5-Senior pic

6-Erin

7-Girls

Looking at old pics helps us remember who we are--Identity

TONIGHT – What does the Gospel have to say about who we are?

Romans 3

21 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

In this text:

We see the CENTRAL MESSAGEof Christianity: there is righteousness from God that comes freely to us through faith in Jesus.

Gospel: GOOD NEWS:Jesustook our sin and shame upon himself (He became sin!) and we get his sinless life and perfect record imputed to us! We are saved by his life and his death – he lived AND died in our place

SO NOW…God looks at those who believe fully and solely in Jesus– not better version, best version – but as if we lived the life Jesus did!

andsays I SEE NO SIN IN THAT MAN, I SEE NO SIN IN THAT WOMAN Declares we are righteous AND treats us as we are righteous

The gospel says wecan’t get in or stay in through human efforts Galatians 3:3 Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? ... Are you so foolish that you began in The Spirit and now you finish in the flesh?– no earning, no fixing ourselves, no buying our way back…it’s ALL the grace of God.

Romans 3:27 Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle?On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. 28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.

The gospel declares that no matter how dutiful or prayerful we are, we can't save ourselves. What Jesus did was sufficient- Brennan Manning

No list of sins I have not done,

No list of virtues I pursue,

No list of those I am not like

Can earn myself a place with you.

We cannot make ourselves righteous!

The Gospel is RECEIVE RIGHTEOUSNESS not ACHIEVE RIGHTEOUSNES

TIM KELLER NYC: Helpful Definition (not theological): Righteousness is a validating performance record which opens doors…

This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is a VALIDATING PEFORMANCE RECORD WHICH OPENS DOORS that comes freely to us through faith in Jesus.

This is the heart of the Gospel!!!

HAUNTING QUESTION FOR ME:

Do I live like that’s true? Do I find my identity in that?

And why is it so hard to REALLY trust in a righteousness apart from the law – apart from myself—my accomplishments, achievements, etc…?

HERE’S THE PROBLEM:

IFRighteousness is a validating performance record which opens doors…

THENLife is one opportunity after another to prove yourself, justify your existence – to PROVIDE THAT VALIDATING PERFORMANCE RECORD…SOMETHING TO BOAST IN

Lilia – BITING NAILS…

Be a good girl and listen to mommy and you will get a toy/get to watch your show, eat your meal and you will get ice cream…share your toys and we’ll call you a good girl and be so proud of you…

Kids –report cards, physical fitness tests

Classes – gold stars for bringing Bible, offering, etc…

Royal Rangers/Mpact girls – earning badges

Youth – BQ, Fine Arts, STL

COLLEGE!!! - TRANSCRIPT – RESUME…RELATIONSHIPS

Adults – success, family, church attendance, ministry leadership, spiritual gifts, etc…

We leverage so many things to try and justify ourselves…to try and build a righteousness of our own!!

AND…What or who we use to justify (VALIDATE) ourselves becomes what or who we worship…

Use successto validate ourselves and we worship success – we will make sacrifices to have it, we lift it up, we center our lives on it…we define ourselves and our value in the light of it...ONE THING I AM GOOD AT

We all do it – the Bible gives us an explanation for it – we’re created to worship and fill our lives with God…Christians have an explanation for this…

"When we cease to worship God, we do not worship nothing. We worship anything."G.K. Chesterton

Andeven self-aware honest non-Christians realize this…

-David Foster Wallace (Commencement Address…2005 Graduating class at Kenyon College)

Award winning American Novelist (Born in Ithaca, NY)

In the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And an outstanding reason for choosing some sort of God or spiritual-type thing to worship…is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive. If you worship money and things -- if they are where you tap real meaning in life -- then you will never have enough. Never feel you have enough. It's the truth. Worship your own body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly, and when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally plant you... Worship power -- you will feel weak and afraid, and you will need ever more power over others to keep the fear at bay. Worship your intellect, being seen as smart -- you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud, always on the verge of being found out. And so on.Look, the insidious thing about these forms of worship is not that they're evil or sinful; it is that they are unconscious. They are default-settings.

Self-justification is the default mode of the human heart… Martin Luther

We all have tendencies to try to build a righteousness apart from Christ…we all have ‘saving faith’ in something or someone…but it’s a hopeless endeavor…”if I just had…then I would know…”

IF ONLY or AT LEAST

THE PROBLEM IS….Most of the time we fall SO far short of having a validating performance record…MAKES US SO MISERABLE (blame or shame)… but even when we think we’ve arrived…there’s ALWAYS something else that escapes us

Trying to go to bed richer than I woke up – Mr. Wonderful SHARK TANK

The only thing worse than not getting what you want, is getting it and realizing it’s not enough.

Happiness is the moment before you need more happiness. Matt Weiner (creator of AMC’s hit show, Mad Men)

We need a righteousness that is completely apart from the law because you and I are wired to use the law, to use life, to use religion, to use each other, to use ANYTHING to build our own righteousness – to save ourselves!!!

PROBLEM:You won’t receive, rest in and rejoice in His righteousness as long as you’re trying to manufacture our own.

You will either trust in His work or yours…

When we consider the idea of righteousness we need to see there’s two aspects to it…

Righteousness: right living

Righteousness: right standing

behavioral righteousnessAND Positional righteousness

WE NEED BOTH!!! But often we get the order switched around…

AND people considering Christianity think it’sonly about right living and don’t realize it is first and foremost about right standing!

Grew up thinking I could impress God with my goodness

BEST DAY EVER

Scriptures: All your trying, all your efforts, all your right living – yourABSOLUTE BEST!!! Are FILTHY RAG (Isaiah 64:6) PILE OF CRAP (Paul in Phil 3:8)…BUT because of JESUS you can be justified

Behavioral righteousness (RIGHT LIVING) separated from positional righteousness (RIGHT STANDING) always results in self-serving attitudes, self-justifying efforts AND self-salvation projects.

Pursuing changed lives without changed hearts is not Christianity—it is moralism.

Teaching people to simply 'do' what the Bible says is not Christianity, it is morality. It actually gets us nowhere but hell. – Josh Cousineau (church planter in Maine)

WHY???

BECAUSE Moralism or Works Righteousness puts US at the center of our own salvation—it is rejection of salvation by Jesus

ALL spiritual growth/disciplineis important and necessary, BUT it must be in line with the Gospel!!

The Gospel…we cannot assume people get this…we can’t assume WE GET IT!

“One of the surest signs that you may not grasp the unique, radical nature of the gospel is that you are certain that you do.” – Tim Keller

LANDING POINT!!!

I’m not sure there’s a place in the world where building a righteousness of our own can appear to be more noble and right than in the religious circles….in church…in Chi Alpha?

ALL Good goals in those circles – pray better,witness better,attend church with more regularity, be a ministry leader…

But when we allow them to become a VALIDATING PERFORMANCE RECORD…we’ll be CRUSHED when we can’t achieve them

…and as long as we seek approval in those things…

  1. wewill never have the right heart motivations for the good things we do and
  2. we’ll never have the level of transparency needed for health…

If we think we have achieved it---we won’t be grateful, worshipful…

VENDING MACHINE

I can't think of a single thing more exhausting than manufacturing a righteousness of your own.

I’m so thankful for Christ's perfect record! On the cross – took everything I have earned and deserve through my sin and gave me everything He earned and deserved through his PERFECT obedience and SINLESS life…

To be a Christian means to throw yourself (your hopes, your dreams, your affections) completely upon Christ, knowing that he has thrown himself completely upon you…

GOSPEL IDENTITY:I am more profoundly sinful than I first imagined yet I am more radically saved and loved than I first hoped.

21 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.