WEBVTT 00:00:05.929 --> 00:00:09.050 Kia ora and welcome to the St Francis Church 00:00:09.050 --> 00:00:11.570 sermon podcast. We're so glad that you've joined 00:00:11.570 --> 00:00:14.970 us. Our prayer is that as you listen, you would 00:00:14.970 --> 00:00:17.910 encounter God's presence. Be refreshed in your 00:00:17.910 --> 00:00:20.769 faith and equipped for everyday life with Jesus. 00:00:21.629 --> 00:00:24.289 As a church, we are learning to faithfully follow 00:00:24.289 --> 00:00:27.879 Jesus by practicing His way at His pace. For 00:00:27.879 --> 00:00:30.899 more info about who we are and what God is doing 00:00:30.899 --> 00:00:36.799 among us, head to stfrancis .co .nz. Grace and 00:00:36.799 --> 00:00:42.759 peace. Good morning, family of God, because that's 00:00:42.759 --> 00:00:46.579 what you are. Sometimes we forget that greeting 00:00:46.579 --> 00:00:49.899 that really places us into the heart of God's 00:00:49.899 --> 00:00:55.789 presence. Who likes experiments? As long as they're 00:00:55.789 --> 00:00:58.909 not on you, isn't it? They're OK. But here's 00:00:58.909 --> 00:01:01.649 a little experiment for all of us. I want you 00:01:01.649 --> 00:01:03.750 to think about how you introduce yourself to 00:01:03.750 --> 00:01:06.170 a stranger, whether that's at a barbecue or work 00:01:06.170 --> 00:01:10.530 too on the street. After your name, what's the 00:01:10.530 --> 00:01:14.290 very next thing out of your mouth? Maybe the 00:01:14.290 --> 00:01:16.250 general one. That's not what the world does, 00:01:16.250 --> 00:01:19.489 is it? But that's a good one as well. But for 00:01:19.489 --> 00:01:25.250 nearly all of us, it is what we do. I'm a teacher. 00:01:26.069 --> 00:01:29.430 I'm at the hospital. I'm second year at uni. 00:01:30.150 --> 00:01:34.469 I'm retired now. But I was an engineer for 40 00:01:34.469 --> 00:01:38.189 years. Now notice that last one. I was an engineer 00:01:38.189 --> 00:01:42.650 for 40 years. Even in retirement, we reach back 00:01:42.650 --> 00:01:45.890 for the job. Because the job is carrying something 00:01:45.890 --> 00:01:48.969 much heavier than the income, it's carrying actually 00:01:48.969 --> 00:01:54.120 who we are. That's our identity. And you find 00:01:54.120 --> 00:01:56.620 out how heavy that is the day that that actually 00:01:56.620 --> 00:02:00.359 wobbles. Ask anyone who's been made redundant 00:02:00.359 --> 00:02:03.019 and they'll tell you the pay was a smaller loss. 00:02:03.200 --> 00:02:06.879 The bigger one was not knowing what to say at 00:02:06.879 --> 00:02:08.900 the next family gathering or the barbecue or 00:02:08.900 --> 00:02:12.080 whatever it was. Ask the new mum who loved her 00:02:12.080 --> 00:02:16.900 career and now feels actually invisible. ask 00:02:16.900 --> 00:02:19.479 the injured athlete, ask the student whose whole 00:02:19.479 --> 00:02:22.439 identity is grades and then one bad semester 00:02:22.439 --> 00:02:25.819 in, it falls apart for them, or they fall apart 00:02:25.819 --> 00:02:31.719 really. When what I do becomes who I am, every 00:02:31.719 --> 00:02:36.080 setback becomes an identity crisis. At every 00:02:36.080 --> 00:02:40.120 rest, and every rest is a threat for it. That's 00:02:40.120 --> 00:02:43.860 why we check emails on holiday. We're not maintaining 00:02:43.860 --> 00:02:45.759 our jobs, we're actually maintaining ourselves, 00:02:45.819 --> 00:02:49.080 the importance of who we are. Our identity is 00:02:49.080 --> 00:02:53.319 in answering the call of our work. Three weeks 00:02:53.319 --> 00:02:57.000 we've been at this, about this rest series of 00:02:57.000 --> 00:03:01.960 why we rest, because the feast is free. Who we 00:03:01.960 --> 00:03:04.039 rest in, because it's a person whose hand is 00:03:04.039 --> 00:03:05.979 faster than our thinking as we saw with Peter. 00:03:06.800 --> 00:03:09.919 And what rest is for? It's a table with room 00:03:09.919 --> 00:03:13.770 for others together. And today our series lands 00:03:13.770 --> 00:03:19.409 at its foundation, which is our identity. Because 00:03:19.409 --> 00:03:22.409 here's the claim of this whole month in one line. 00:03:22.830 --> 00:03:26.050 You carry, you can't truly rest until the question 00:03:26.050 --> 00:03:28.689 of who you are is settled. And once God actually 00:03:28.689 --> 00:03:32.669 settles it, work itself actually changes. We 00:03:32.669 --> 00:03:35.870 stop working for an identity and start working 00:03:35.870 --> 00:03:39.389 from one. So I'm not in my previous life a sign 00:03:39.389 --> 00:03:41.759 writer. and doing all these other things and 00:03:41.759 --> 00:03:45.500 a business owner. That was one of my identities 00:03:45.500 --> 00:03:49.759 that helped crush me. But my identity in Christ 00:03:49.759 --> 00:03:54.039 frees me to be who I am and need to be as God 00:03:54.039 --> 00:03:57.960 calls me. So I want you to come with me to a 00:03:57.960 --> 00:04:00.680 place called Caesarea in Philippi. You'll notice 00:04:00.680 --> 00:04:04.159 that some of this is Peter shared last week. 00:04:04.759 --> 00:04:08.439 Well, as we go back to that place, Jesus has 00:04:08.650 --> 00:04:10.969 walked his followers along the way north to a 00:04:10.969 --> 00:04:13.990 city that's built at the base of a massive cliff. 00:04:14.629 --> 00:04:17.069 And he's chosen this venue deliberately on that 00:04:17.069 --> 00:04:20.230 day, because that cliff face was basically a 00:04:20.230 --> 00:04:25.089 billboard of every identity in the ancient world. 00:04:25.850 --> 00:04:29.589 It was carved into the rock, shrines to the nature 00:04:29.589 --> 00:04:33.810 of God, Pan, temples to Caesar, the emperor who 00:04:33.810 --> 00:04:37.069 called himself the son of God. The city is literally 00:04:37.069 --> 00:04:40.750 named after him. and springs where people threw 00:04:40.750 --> 00:04:45.089 sacrifices into the water. So Jesus is taking 00:04:45.089 --> 00:04:48.410 us in one rock face, covered in options. There's 00:04:48.410 --> 00:04:52.250 nature, power, empire, pleasure. Pick your God, 00:04:52.949 --> 00:04:55.769 and as you do that, you pick your identity. But 00:04:55.769 --> 00:04:58.329 today, our cliff faces look very different from 00:04:58.329 --> 00:05:03.170 that. But they're the same wall. Money, image, 00:05:03.709 --> 00:05:07.129 achievement, the feed that's going on online. 00:05:07.439 --> 00:05:10.740 the brand of you, of who you are in your workplace. 00:05:11.279 --> 00:05:13.220 And standing in front of all of it, Jesus asks 00:05:13.220 --> 00:05:16.000 his friends, who do the people say that I am? 00:05:16.620 --> 00:05:19.000 And they give back to him the survey results. 00:05:19.600 --> 00:05:21.600 Some say John the Baptist back from the dead, 00:05:21.660 --> 00:05:26.220 some say Elijah, Jeremiah, maybe one of the prophets. 00:05:26.779 --> 00:05:30.240 All respectful answers, all impressive and all 00:05:30.240 --> 00:05:35.980 wrong. The crowd always has takes on Jesus. Great 00:05:35.980 --> 00:05:40.339 teacher. Moral example, historical figure, whatever 00:05:40.339 --> 00:05:43.639 this week's documentary says and the crowds takes 00:05:43.639 --> 00:05:47.879 always fall short. They never name who he is. 00:05:48.680 --> 00:05:50.800 Then the question turns and looks straight at 00:05:50.800 --> 00:05:54.240 them. And do you, in the original and emphatic, 00:05:54.879 --> 00:05:59.740 you can hear it as Jesus says it, but you, you 00:05:59.740 --> 00:06:03.680 that are sitting here, who do you say that I 00:06:03.680 --> 00:06:07.089 am? And Simon Peter, as we heard back then, The 00:06:07.089 --> 00:06:09.410 same man we watched sink in the late a couple 00:06:09.410 --> 00:06:12.790 of weeks ago says a sentence the last 2000 years 00:06:12.790 --> 00:06:16.110 have been built on. You are the Messiah, the 00:06:16.110 --> 00:06:18.730 Son of the Living God. Now watch what happens 00:06:18.730 --> 00:06:22.589 next, because this is the hinge of this series. 00:06:23.250 --> 00:06:27.810 And it turns on the order of events. Jesus does 00:06:27.810 --> 00:06:32.329 not say, OK, correct, here's your job. Before 00:06:32.329 --> 00:06:34.670 any job, he does something else. He names him. 00:06:35.370 --> 00:06:39.089 He said, blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. 00:06:39.730 --> 00:06:42.110 Flesh and blood didn't reveal this to you, my 00:06:42.110 --> 00:06:45.629 father in heaven did. And I tell you, you are 00:06:45.629 --> 00:06:48.769 Peter, and you're the rock. And on this rock 00:06:48.769 --> 00:06:51.529 I will build my church, and the gates of death 00:06:51.529 --> 00:06:55.029 itself will not win against it. See the sequence? 00:06:55.430 --> 00:06:57.790 And often we just breeze through verses and don't 00:06:57.790 --> 00:07:03.170 see it. Peter says who Jesus is, and Jesus tells 00:07:03.170 --> 00:07:07.170 Peter who Peter is. There's confession, then 00:07:07.170 --> 00:07:10.850 identity, then and only then, the commission. 00:07:11.410 --> 00:07:14.149 He's given the keys, the responsibility, and 00:07:14.149 --> 00:07:18.410 the work to do. Blessing before assignment happens. 00:07:18.990 --> 00:07:24.069 Name before task. We find out who we are. That 00:07:24.069 --> 00:07:26.750 is the exact reverse of how the world actually 00:07:26.750 --> 00:07:31.269 runs. The world says achieve, maybe you'll earn 00:07:31.269 --> 00:07:35.069 a name. God says receive your name. and then 00:07:35.069 --> 00:07:39.569 go and work. Because now the work can't threaten 00:07:39.569 --> 00:07:44.230 you and it's not a one -off. It's how God treated 00:07:44.230 --> 00:07:48.370 his own son. As we hear the account of Jesus' 00:07:48.990 --> 00:07:51.850 baptism, before one servant, even a miracle, 00:07:52.230 --> 00:07:54.810 one follower, one measurable result, the sky 00:07:54.810 --> 00:07:59.149 tears open and the Father says to him, this is 00:07:59.149 --> 00:08:02.089 my son whom I love. With him I am well pleased. 00:08:03.680 --> 00:08:08.779 loved before useful, and pleasing before productive 00:08:08.779 --> 00:08:12.759 every time. That's how God works. That's the 00:08:12.759 --> 00:08:15.399 family pattern, and in Christ, it's yours as 00:08:15.399 --> 00:08:18.500 well. And let's be very honest as we read these 00:08:18.500 --> 00:08:20.779 scripture readings about who's getting called 00:08:20.779 --> 00:08:24.279 the rock here. Peter, impulsive Peter, isn't 00:08:24.279 --> 00:08:27.779 it? Sinking Peter when he takes his eyes off 00:08:27.779 --> 00:08:32.210 of Jesus. Peter who five verses after this reading 00:08:32.210 --> 00:08:36.110 you heard this morning gets it so wrong Jesus 00:08:36.110 --> 00:08:39.450 calls him a stumbling block Peter who before 00:08:39.450 --> 00:08:43.070 the end he will deny ever knowing Jesus three 00:08:43.070 --> 00:08:47.309 times to a servant girl by a fire Jesus knows 00:08:47.309 --> 00:08:50.289 all of that when he names him and names him rock 00:08:50.289 --> 00:08:54.269 anyway because a name from God is not a performance 00:08:54.269 --> 00:08:58.360 review it's actually a promise to us God doesn't 00:08:58.360 --> 00:09:00.899 name you for what you've proven, He names you 00:09:00.899 --> 00:09:03.379 for what His grace intends to make true in your 00:09:03.379 --> 00:09:07.279 life. Some of you, let's say, I will include 00:09:07.279 --> 00:09:09.960 all of us, because I think that's truer, have 00:09:09.960 --> 00:09:12.299 been carrying other names for years. It could 00:09:12.299 --> 00:09:15.240 be failure, you're useless, you're not good enough, 00:09:15.460 --> 00:09:17.460 you're the one who wrecked it for the family. 00:09:18.000 --> 00:09:21.100 You could be carrying something like that that's 00:09:21.100 --> 00:09:24.340 buried but still is on your back. Hear this one. 00:09:24.460 --> 00:09:27.000 The only voice with the final naming rights over 00:09:27.000 --> 00:09:31.320 you tore open the sky to say beloved and he doesn't 00:09:31.320 --> 00:09:34.360 take it back. John puts it this way, see what 00:09:34.360 --> 00:09:36.879 love the Father has given us that we should be 00:09:36.879 --> 00:09:40.059 called children of God and that is what we are. 00:09:41.519 --> 00:09:43.940 If we don't claim that we will never live it, 00:09:44.159 --> 00:09:46.860 we will never carry that into our workplaces, 00:09:46.960 --> 00:09:50.779 our families. We don't maybe not even bring it 00:09:50.779 --> 00:09:53.830 into church if we don't believe it. Call the 00:09:53.830 --> 00:09:56.169 children of God and that is what we are. This 00:09:56.169 --> 00:09:58.669 is our identity. This status gives believers 00:09:58.669 --> 00:10:01.830 a new identity that does not depend on how the 00:10:01.830 --> 00:10:04.889 outside world views or understands them. Martin 00:10:04.889 --> 00:10:08.649 Luther, well he knew how hard it is to hold on 00:10:08.649 --> 00:10:12.470 to. When despair came for him, and it came often, 00:10:12.750 --> 00:10:15.929 he had a habit. He would say out loud, sometimes 00:10:15.929 --> 00:10:19.529 chalk it on the table in front of him, I am baptized. 00:10:19.740 --> 00:10:22.759 Not I feel close to God today. Not I've been 00:10:22.759 --> 00:10:27.940 doing well lately. I am baptized. Anchoring who 00:10:27.940 --> 00:10:31.379 he was and something God had done outside of 00:10:31.379 --> 00:10:33.919 his feelings of the day or the moment. That had 00:10:33.919 --> 00:10:37.419 no bad day he could actually undo. That's the 00:10:37.419 --> 00:10:41.639 move that we need to take and learn it. Not rely 00:10:41.639 --> 00:10:45.220 on our feelings but know that I am baptized. 00:10:45.379 --> 00:10:47.419 And baptized in the name of the Father, Son and 00:10:47.419 --> 00:10:50.179 Holy Spirit. they've got my back wherever I am. 00:10:50.259 --> 00:10:52.460 And that's exactly where the Isaiah reading goes 00:10:52.460 --> 00:10:55.139 this morning with. God's people are in exile 00:10:55.139 --> 00:10:59.200 again, feeling like nobodies. And God's remedy 00:10:59.200 --> 00:11:02.879 for a shaky identity is fascinating. It's memory. 00:11:03.279 --> 00:11:06.179 It says, look to the rock from which you were 00:11:06.179 --> 00:11:08.220 cut, the quarry from which you were dug. Look 00:11:08.220 --> 00:11:12.659 to Abraham and Sarah. In other words, you didn't 00:11:12.659 --> 00:11:15.580 make yourselves one old man, one woman who couldn't 00:11:15.580 --> 00:11:19.580 have children. And God quarried a nation out 00:11:19.580 --> 00:11:23.860 of them like stone, and your existence was grace 00:11:23.860 --> 00:11:25.820 from the first chisel strike. And then a few 00:11:25.820 --> 00:11:28.320 chapters earlier, God had already said it as 00:11:28.320 --> 00:11:32.340 tenderly as can be said, I've called you by name, 00:11:32.679 --> 00:11:35.919 you are mine. Not I have reviewed your output, 00:11:37.559 --> 00:11:41.379 but called by name, and you are his. And then 00:11:41.379 --> 00:11:44.500 God lifts their eyes, and he sees something. 00:11:45.269 --> 00:11:47.330 Staggering. The heavens will vanish like smoke, 00:11:47.450 --> 00:11:49.750 the earth will wear out like an old jersey, but 00:11:49.750 --> 00:11:52.629 my salvation will last forever. Everything that 00:11:52.629 --> 00:11:56.389 the world builds, and we build as we join in 00:11:56.389 --> 00:11:59.190 with the world, and everything the world builds 00:11:59.190 --> 00:12:02.149 identity on has a use -by date. Just take an 00:12:02.149 --> 00:12:04.529 example when you go to shopping in the supermarket 00:12:04.529 --> 00:12:09.370 and you think, oh, that's 29th, and you put that 00:12:09.370 --> 00:12:10.590 back and take the one at the back because it's 00:12:10.590 --> 00:12:13.649 got a few more days. But there's still a use 00:12:13.649 --> 00:12:17.639 -by date on it. And for us it could be careers. 00:12:18.039 --> 00:12:21.480 It could be our strength goes. How's this get 00:12:21.480 --> 00:12:24.019 someone else's name on the title? And even the 00:12:24.019 --> 00:12:27.559 hill's a road. There is exactly one foundation 00:12:27.559 --> 00:12:30.259 that outlasts the sky. And if who you are is 00:12:30.259 --> 00:12:32.500 quarried from that rock, then no redundancy, 00:12:33.120 --> 00:12:36.559 no health diagnosis, no retirement, no failed 00:12:36.559 --> 00:12:40.259 semester. No failure of any kind can touch the 00:12:40.259 --> 00:12:43.340 core of you because you're solid in your identity 00:12:43.340 --> 00:12:46.980 in Christ. That is why a Christian can rest, 00:12:47.419 --> 00:12:50.440 not because the work is finished, it never is, 00:12:51.340 --> 00:12:54.419 but because the self is actually safe. So what 00:12:54.419 --> 00:12:56.720 does a safely named person do with their life? 00:12:57.059 --> 00:13:00.340 Romans 12 .1 is a famous Bible verse that calls 00:13:00.340 --> 00:13:03.340 believers to give their entire everyday lives 00:13:03.340 --> 00:13:08.320 to God as an act of worship. Paul answers in 00:13:08.320 --> 00:13:10.940 our third reading, and the first word is a whole 00:13:10.940 --> 00:13:14.519 argument. He uses the word therefore. Whenever 00:13:14.519 --> 00:13:16.700 you read that or hear it, you know Paul's got 00:13:16.700 --> 00:13:20.240 something solid to say afterwards. Therefore, 00:13:21.240 --> 00:13:24.440 in view of God's mercy, offer your bodies as 00:13:24.440 --> 00:13:27.820 a living sacrifice. This is your true worship. 00:13:30.059 --> 00:13:33.059 Now Paul, he's just spent 11 chapters stacking 00:13:33.059 --> 00:13:36.659 up what God has done. Loved, forgiven, held mercy 00:13:36.659 --> 00:13:40.879 on mercy on mercy, and only then, therefore, 00:13:42.159 --> 00:13:47.149 offer yourself. The offering answers the mercy 00:13:47.149 --> 00:13:50.190 that is given us. It never actually applies for 00:13:50.190 --> 00:13:53.929 it. That's working from rest in one sentence. 00:13:55.129 --> 00:13:58.149 And secure in ourselves and God. We don't serve 00:13:58.149 --> 00:14:01.049 to be loved. We serve because we already are. 00:14:01.210 --> 00:14:03.830 And there's a universe of difference in how those 00:14:03.830 --> 00:14:07.649 two lives feel from actually the inside. I've 00:14:07.649 --> 00:14:10.350 shared with you multiple times that I served 00:14:10.350 --> 00:14:13.230 in my early lives in my twenties. the world and 00:14:13.230 --> 00:14:15.889 the marketplace and that crushed me. It broke 00:14:15.889 --> 00:14:20.870 me. And the God started to give me my identity 00:14:20.870 --> 00:14:24.129 in Him and set me free. But then we hear these 00:14:24.129 --> 00:14:28.409 words, do not be conformed to this world. Don't 00:14:28.409 --> 00:14:31.009 let the age squeeze you into its mold. Don't 00:14:31.009 --> 00:14:34.769 let what people say, what you think they say 00:14:34.769 --> 00:14:36.570 and what's happening around there squeeze you 00:14:36.570 --> 00:14:39.350 into a mold. The mold that says you are your 00:14:39.350 --> 00:14:42.690 output. Whatever you do, That's who you are. 00:14:43.129 --> 00:14:45.590 But be transformed by the renewing of your mind. 00:14:47.090 --> 00:14:49.289 And then Paul gets wonderfully ordinary here. 00:14:50.049 --> 00:14:53.250 He says, one body, many parts, different gifts, 00:14:53.429 --> 00:14:56.570 teaching, encouraging, giving, healing, showing 00:14:56.570 --> 00:15:00.669 mercy, practical service. Go back and take a 00:15:00.669 --> 00:15:02.990 look at that list this afternoon. It's not a 00:15:02.990 --> 00:15:06.889 stage full of superstars here. It's a working 00:15:06.889 --> 00:15:09.769 church on a normal Sunday, someone with the kids, 00:15:09.850 --> 00:15:13.279 someone doing the morning tea, someone helping 00:15:13.279 --> 00:15:14.960 out with the reading, someone who always spots 00:15:14.960 --> 00:15:19.480 the person alone by the door. You see, the transformed 00:15:19.480 --> 00:15:23.320 life that you hear about as a Christian isn't 00:15:23.320 --> 00:15:27.100 everyone becoming spectacular. It's everyone 00:15:27.100 --> 00:15:29.659 safely named, putting their particular gift on 00:15:29.659 --> 00:15:32.960 the table, free of charge, because nobody's using 00:15:32.960 --> 00:15:37.340 it to earn anything anymore. We don't stand there 00:15:37.340 --> 00:15:39.919 to say, look at me, haven't I done that well? 00:15:40.360 --> 00:15:44.940 We just do it. So how do you find yours? Well, 00:15:45.039 --> 00:15:48.399 Friedrich Büchner gave the most, I think, a useful 00:15:48.399 --> 00:15:51.700 compass for us to actually gauge this. He says, 00:15:52.279 --> 00:15:55.200 your calling is a place where your deep gladness 00:15:55.200 --> 00:15:58.299 and the world's deep hunger meet. Now, when you're 00:15:58.299 --> 00:16:01.580 doing something and it fills you with gladness 00:16:01.580 --> 00:16:05.419 and joy, you know that's more of you. There are 00:16:05.419 --> 00:16:07.779 other tasks like vacuuming and thinking, ah, 00:16:08.299 --> 00:16:11.690 I'll do it anyway. It doesn't give you gladness, 00:16:11.730 --> 00:16:15.070 but you know the task has been done. So it's 00:16:15.070 --> 00:16:16.690 like in that ministry booklet that we've got 00:16:16.690 --> 00:16:19.470 out. It's like anything in life. Once you know 00:16:19.470 --> 00:16:23.669 what that gladness in you, you can do that and 00:16:23.669 --> 00:16:27.490 give it very freely. So let's set out four practices. 00:16:27.970 --> 00:16:31.549 And then basically, it's like go and live it. 00:16:32.029 --> 00:16:35.690 Do it in you every day. The first one is name 00:16:35.690 --> 00:16:37.850 your name before the phone. And I use the phone 00:16:37.850 --> 00:16:40.200 because that's It's like another appendage to 00:16:40.200 --> 00:16:42.399 most of us, isn't it? We carry it everywhere. 00:16:42.919 --> 00:16:45.279 We started right back at the beginning of this 00:16:45.279 --> 00:16:50.000 month with, Father, I receive from you. Now, 00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:53.259 we can upgrade that. Tomorrow, before you do 00:16:53.259 --> 00:16:56.000 anything, phone or prayers or anything else, 00:16:56.299 --> 00:16:59.220 say, I am God's beloved child. Put yourself in 00:16:59.220 --> 00:17:02.320 front of Him of who you are. That was true before 00:17:02.320 --> 00:17:05.400 you started, and it'll be true when the day ends 00:17:05.400 --> 00:17:07.980 for you. And the second thing, answer the... 00:17:07.849 --> 00:17:10.849 the question yourself, which is who do you say 00:17:10.849 --> 00:17:14.130 I am? Who do you say he is? You can't outsource 00:17:14.130 --> 00:17:17.269 that. You can't do that to your parents, or to 00:17:17.269 --> 00:17:19.670 your spouse, or to the church. The cliff face 00:17:19.670 --> 00:17:22.529 is still standing with all those modern shrines 00:17:22.529 --> 00:17:24.509 carved into it, and Jesus still stands in front 00:17:24.509 --> 00:17:27.609 of it asking you this week in the quiet, in your 00:17:27.609 --> 00:17:32.309 own words, where you can answer him. Whatever 00:17:32.309 --> 00:17:36.730 you answer honestly right now, tell him. He can 00:17:36.730 --> 00:17:41.549 work with it. Who do you say I am? And the third 00:17:41.549 --> 00:17:45.049 thing is the identity audit. Take this one honest 00:17:45.049 --> 00:17:48.950 question. Whose approval am I actually working 00:17:48.950 --> 00:17:52.529 for? Whose voice, whose scoreboard, whose imagination 00:17:52.529 --> 00:17:57.329 and applause? And name it. Am I doing these things 00:17:57.329 --> 00:18:01.829 because I know they'll say, that's good, Tony. 00:18:02.210 --> 00:18:05.700 Well done. Then out loud say, that verdict is 00:18:05.700 --> 00:18:08.920 already in. In Christ I'm loved and I'm enough. 00:18:10.759 --> 00:18:13.240 You'll need to say most probably more than once, 00:18:13.460 --> 00:18:17.460 even in a day. And the fourth thing is one gift 00:18:17.460 --> 00:18:21.359 on the table. Romans 12 has a list and you're 00:18:21.359 --> 00:18:24.920 on it somewhere. Encouraging, practical help, 00:18:25.160 --> 00:18:28.900 generosity, leading, mercy. This week name one 00:18:28.900 --> 00:18:32.279 gift that you have. Ask someone who knows you 00:18:32.279 --> 00:18:36.160 if you're stuck to help you and offer it once 00:18:36.160 --> 00:18:38.099 concretely, maybe to the life of this church 00:18:38.099 --> 00:18:40.980 or to the street or in your workplace because 00:18:40.980 --> 00:18:43.640 whatever gift you have is not contained in these 00:18:43.640 --> 00:18:47.960 walls. It's in your life wherever you walk. And 00:18:47.960 --> 00:18:50.220 it's not to prove anything. The proving once 00:18:50.220 --> 00:18:52.559 you know your identity is in Christ is over. 00:18:53.539 --> 00:18:56.400 Offer it the way named people work, which is 00:18:56.400 --> 00:18:58.990 freely. Four weeks ago we started with an invitation 00:18:58.990 --> 00:19:01.690 to tired people. Come, everyone who's thirsty, 00:19:02.650 --> 00:19:05.049 and the feast is free. And we end with tired 00:19:05.049 --> 00:19:08.490 people who are named. You've been fed at a table 00:19:08.490 --> 00:19:11.869 that you didn't pay anything for. You've met 00:19:11.869 --> 00:19:14.089 the one whose hand is faster than any sinking 00:19:14.089 --> 00:19:17.210 or in troubles there. And you've been seated, 00:19:17.390 --> 00:19:21.589 you of all people, at a table with room. There 00:19:21.589 --> 00:19:24.650 was always room. And now the Father who named 00:19:24.650 --> 00:19:27.700 Jesus beloved before he had done a A thing says 00:19:27.700 --> 00:19:31.920 the same thing over everyone who's in him. You 00:19:31.920 --> 00:19:35.740 are mine. You are loved. Rock solid on the only 00:19:35.740 --> 00:19:39.420 rock that outlasts the sky. That's our assurance. 00:19:40.920 --> 00:19:44.779 You are not what you produce, even in retirement 00:19:44.779 --> 00:19:47.940 or in your working life. You are not your worst 00:19:47.940 --> 00:19:51.480 day, your best day, your title, your grades, 00:19:51.759 --> 00:19:56.819 or your feed. You are who God says you are. which 00:19:56.819 --> 00:20:01.240 is very different from someone else. Eugene Peterson 00:20:01.240 --> 00:20:06.079 rendered Jesus great invitation like this. He 00:20:06.079 --> 00:20:09.819 says, come to me and learn the unforced rhythms 00:20:09.819 --> 00:20:13.099 of grace. Unforced. That is the life that is 00:20:13.099 --> 00:20:17.140 on offer for us. Work that doesn't grind because 00:20:17.140 --> 00:20:20.859 it isn't carrying your identity anymore. Your 00:20:20.859 --> 00:20:23.599 identity is in Him, the one who knows you by 00:20:23.599 --> 00:20:27.980 name. So as you go to work this rest or work 00:20:27.980 --> 00:20:32.660 in any capacity with families and friends, go 00:20:32.660 --> 00:20:37.319 named. Work from the rest that you are secure. 00:20:37.880 --> 00:20:40.819 Work from the mercy that is given to you by Christ. 00:20:41.279 --> 00:20:44.079 And watch what God builds with people who have 00:20:44.079 --> 00:20:48.680 nothing left to prove. Here's room to work with 00:20:48.680 --> 00:20:51.500 you far more when you don't have to prove anything 00:20:51.500 --> 00:20:55.029 to anyone else. So one more Sunday to go. Next 00:20:55.029 --> 00:20:58.190 week you finish where every true rest ends up, 00:20:58.230 --> 00:21:02.869 and that has been sent. What happens when the 00:21:02.869 --> 00:21:05.390 rest that we have in Christ meets the Monday 00:21:05.390 --> 00:21:08.589 to the Saturday that we live out? And why people 00:21:08.589 --> 00:21:11.390 who have already been found can afford to lose? 00:21:11.549 --> 00:21:13.690 That's what's happening in this coming week. 00:21:13.930 --> 00:21:18.309 Let's pray. Father, as we are here before you, 00:21:19.269 --> 00:21:24.220 before we produced anything, you loved us. Silence 00:21:24.220 --> 00:21:26.960 every other verdict that we hear during the week 00:21:26.960 --> 00:21:29.039 that is still ringing from the past, from our 00:21:29.039 --> 00:21:32.720 childhood, from our school days, from our workplaces, 00:21:33.619 --> 00:21:37.440 from those that loved us and still love us, those 00:21:37.440 --> 00:21:41.140 we don't know. Silence the verdict of everything 00:21:41.140 --> 00:21:44.660 else that's come from them. Settle our names 00:21:44.660 --> 00:21:48.160 in Jesus, Messiah, the Son of the Living God. 00:21:49.519 --> 00:21:53.200 And then take our bodies, our lives. our gifts, 00:21:54.059 --> 00:21:58.619 our ordinary weeks as our true worship. People 00:21:58.619 --> 00:22:02.200 with nothing to prove and everything to give 00:22:02.200 --> 00:23:27.490 because you have given everything to us. I mean.