Our Risky Identity: Empowered Dependence
Psalm
86:3-5 Be merciful to me, O Lord, For I cry to You all day long. 4 Rejoice the
soul of Your servant, For to You, O Lord, I lift up my soul. 5 For You, Lord,
are good, and ready to forgive, And abundant in mercy to all those who call
upon You.
Mark 10:17-22 Now as
He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked
Him, "Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?"
18 So Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One,
that is, God. 19 "You know the commandments:`Do not commit adultery,'`Do
not murder,'`Do not steal,'`Do not bear false witness,'`Do not defraud,'`Honor
your father and your mother.'" 20 And he answered and said to Him, "Teacher,
all these things I have kept from my youth." 21 Then Jesus, looking at
him, loved him, and said to him, "One thing you lack: Go your way, sell
whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven;
and come, take up the cross, and follow Me." 22 But he was sad at this
word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
Our focus throughout our Risky Gospel series is seeing how God equips us to be bold and
courageous in our faith. The last message in this series looked at the parable
of the talents, where we saw that God expects us to trust Him above all else
and that we use our treasure of the gospel to build His kingdom. This is not
always an easy task, for several reasons. Sometimes we are hindered by dangers
and persecutions from outside ourselves, at other times we become our own worst
enemies by self-inflicting sinful wounds on our hearts.
We take a look today at one way that we can either be
further empowered by God or we can create bigger problems for ourselves. The
pivot point of our text today is our identity. Is it rooted in God or in
ourselves? Our lesson flows from the curious case of a rich man who approached
Jesus. What we learn ends up hitting home deep in our hearts.
At first, we see several indications of correct intentions
from this man. In fact, four things strike us from verse 17 alone:
·
Ran up to to Jesus – sought Him out.
·
Knelt before Jesus – sign of respect.
·
Called Him “Good”
·
Asked what he needed to do to “inherit”
(receive at no cost) eternal life
Clearly, this man’s understanding of God’s Word was
advanced. And, furthermore, he recognized something in Jesus that would help
him in his life with God. This was far beyond the understanding of many at this
time, even among Christ’s own disciples. With all these things spot on, one
might expect this story to conclude as an evidence of great faith, as a lesson
on true holiness. However, we all know how this story ends. With such a
promising beginning how could things end up so differently? Answer: The young man’s
identity was not in God.
Here we see a perplexing thought. A person can be acquainted
with God’s Word yet be distant from God. A person can know the commandments of
God and desire to follow them, and perhaps even do a good job outwardly at it,
and yet be far removed from life in heaven. This man knew the Bible, followed
the Bible, yet was in the same camp as the Pharisees and Sadducees when it came
to faith. Outward signs can be misleading, and even dangerous, when it comes to
a skewed identity.
As our text moves on we see the true reason why the man
thought he was doing well in life. Verse 20 reveals the problem. Upon hearing a
summary of God’s Law as the correct path to heaven, the man replied, "Teacher, all these things I have kept
from my youth." The man already knew the answer to his question. He
was looking for something else. He didn’t want advice or instruction from
Jesus. He wanted a pat on the back. He wanted to be made a stunning and noble
example by Jesus. He wanted to hear, “Keep it up. Stay faithful to those Ten
Rules. Live a clean life. Enjoy yourself. You’ll get there in the end.”
Have you ever been in a situation where you could recognize
that a person was just doing something as a means to something greater? Perhaps
you’ve been that person. Someone says they want to help you with a task, maybe
trimming the bushes, mowing the law, or helping you move. Simple tasks, not a
big deal, but important ways to help one another. But, in the end they get
upset if you don’t react the way they want you to; if you don’t shower them
with praise, or tell others of how great they were. They didn’t really want to
help just to be kind. They wanted something more.
Jesus was in a similar situation here. This man didn’t want
to learn. No, he had a preconceived agenda to be praised. You can almost see in
your mind the expression on Jesus’ face as the text tells us that He was moved
to compassion for this wayward man, that His Savior loved him even in this
moment of self-absorption. And you don’t have to imagine the man’s reaction to
Jesus’ final words, because the text tells us clearly. The man went away
sorrowful. The words actually contain picture language that points to a cloudy
appearance, like that little raincloud hanging over someone’s head in a comic.
This man was sad, not because he was confronted with his
sins and was reflecting in a moment of Godly repentance. No, his sorrow was
much more superficial than that. He was sad because his ulterior motive had
been exposed. His pride was not stoked as he thought it would be. He didn’t
want to think about having to sacrifice his great treasures of the earth. By
the way, the word “great” in the last verse of our text does not speak to
value, but quantity. The man had a lot of stuff, but compared to faith in
Christ it was all worthless. The same could be said of the many earthly
treasures we hoard day after day.
Suddenly, this text becomes real for us. This is a lesson
we know well, we’ve learned it many times from this story, yet we continue to
be plagued by the same problem. We look down on this man as someone who just
didn’t understand such a simple thing, namely that Jesus is greater than
possessions. Helping others is better than shopping for ourselves. Yet, is
there a single culture in history more attached to materialism than ours?
Hardly. This man’s sorrow continues to haunt us too. It’s true that the lesson
is simple. But, it’s one we need day after day.
We clamor and hound for the latest technology, often
destroying relationships to get it or throwing fits when we don’t have what we
want. We would rather save our money to get what we want, rather than invest in
church. We plan and plan for vacation time and we save for long, expensive
trips but we don’t take time to help a fellow person in need or offer an
encouraging word to build up church members. Too often, we are investing in the
worthless things. We look dejectedly at the Lord’s Word of where our priorities
should be, because we too have “great
possessions.”
It all comes back to identity. It’s easy to say that we treasure the Lord above all,
but have we thought lately about what that really means? Time with the Lord
means less time with the treasures of the earth. That is a fearful prospect to
our flesh, but only if our identity is rooted in the wrong things. If it is
about possessions, we will go away sorrowful. If it is about our own cares or
dreams, we will go way sorrowful. Rather, our identity should be firmly in God.
We should desire to follow and obey what He tells us. To our flesh, this is
intimidating, but Christ has defeated our flesh. We are a new creation in Him.
That means we trust His plan and we realize it is really the most prosperous
for our lives. Paul writes, 2
Corinthians 5:16-18 Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the
flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know
Him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation;
old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 18 Now all
things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and
has given us the ministry of reconciliation.
Identity is important because it shapes the way we think
about things. The reason the man thought he had kept all the commandments was
because his self-identity taught him that being a good and decent person, but
not perfect, would be good enough. He never thought of God’s standard that
demands total perfection because he was not aligning his thoughts to God’s
will.
Strachan calls this our “calculus.” When we put all the
information together, what does it compute? What is the answer to the equation?
You may have all the correct numbers, but if the calculus, the formula, is off,
so too will be the answer. You could also think of it in terms of baking.
Following a recipe is very much like solving an equation. You complete each
step, in turn, at the right time, and the product is complete. But, some steps
are based on the validity of those that have preceded them. If I make a mistake
early on, it will change the outcome, regardless of faithfully I follow the
recipe.
This is what we must understand about ourselves. The
mistake of sin, early on, first in the Garden of Eden and also at the very
onset of our lives, has distorted our identity, our calculus, our recipe. We
have the instructions before us. The Law of God is clear and simple. But it
doesn’t speak praise and honor to us. We have been changed from perfection.
That is the reality of the matter and with that basis alone there is absolutely
no hope. The only result that a self-based identity will lead us to is an
inflated, self-absorbed, false image of our lives. It will cause us to believe
that the basis of salvation resides in ourselves, even if we still believe God
helps in some way. It will lead us to focus on preserving our own interests,
instead of repenting and seeking God’s help to change.
Strachan calls this Narcissistic Optimistic Deism. It is
a form of positive pride where we become convinced that it’s everyone else that
needs to do things differently, not us. It causes us to demand things from God,
rather than humbly submit to His Word. Is God the granter of all my wishes
or the righteous ruler of all things? Does God exist to make me great or do
I exist to glorify Him? In the end, basing our identity in ourselves, no matter
how “optimistic” it sounds, saying things like: “you are fine the way you are.”
“follow your dreams.” “Don’t let the anything, church or God’s Word, hold you
back from your potential.” Saying all those things is really idolatry in the
end. It is self-deification.
We look at the ancient rulers who deified themselves.
Nebuchadnzzar, the Pharaohs, the Caesars, Japanese Emperors. We think of that
as rudimentary, archaic thinking, that a mortal could actually think themselves
to be a god, or be worshipped by others. But that’s really how all narcissistic
spiritual thinking works. It deifies the self. We may not build a towering
image of ourselves and command others to pray to it. But, if we are constantly
absorbed in ourselves, if that is where our identity rests, the result is no
different because our complete calculus is off.
Rather than narcissistic optimistic deism, God calls us to
empowered dependence. That’s the beauty of the gospel in Christ. It establishes
our identity firmly on what He has done for us. And, yes, that is empowering.
The grace of Christ is able to unbind you from the shackles of self-inflicted
pride. It will lead you to appreciate others more. It will cause you to look to
God as the center of the universe, not yourself. There is healthy humility in
the gospel and it produces the beautiful completion of God’s plan for your
life, in a way that only God can accomplish.
But, God doesn’t work by patting you on the back. He
doesn’t expect you to do everything and then He will take credit at the end.
The grace of Christ also leads us to depend on Him. That means that we aren’t
good on our own. It means that our intentions, even when they are directed in
the right place, are not enough to be saved. It means that trying harder is
only digging a deeper hole. God’s great promise in His Son is that the most
fulfilling, liberating, and joyful life is a completely free gift, but it
generates dependence on Him, not independence from Him. That’s the same
difference between identity in yourself or in God.
The pain of losing your self-identity is only painful
because of your old-man flesh. God says, Romans
6:4-8 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just
as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also
should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united together in the
likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His
resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the
body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.
7 For he who has died has been freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we
believe that we shall also live with Him.
What amazing hope! We are free from sin, but only through
Christ. Don’t get going so quickly in life that you lose that identity. Try to
solve the equation any other way and you will fail. Your calculus is off. The
hardship and pain of obeying God’s will as a sinner on this earth is only
temporary. Is risking eternal life and complete holiness really worth a few
more moments of earthly ease, which in the end will mean nothing? Where your
identity resides will determine your answer to that question. Today, and every
day let us boldly confess. In Christ Alone. Amen.
The peace of God which surpasses all understanding will
keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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