Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Speaker A: Welcome to the YA Podcast. Lean in as we dive into the practicals of life with Jesus as spirit filled young adults.
[00:00:26] Speaker B: Welcome back to the YA Podcast. This is Thomas and I'm with Jess.
[00:00:30] Speaker A: Woohoo.
[00:00:31] Speaker B: It's the last one for the year.
[00:00:33] Speaker A: It is.
[00:00:34] Speaker B: It's already been a year, which is crazy. Um, we've done three seasons, covered a lot of ground.
[00:00:40] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:00:40] Speaker B: Um, someone messaged us this morning and they're gonna know who they are when I say this, but someone messaged and was like, I just started listening to the podcast and we're like, really? Just now?
[00:00:50] Speaker A: Well, you got a lot to catch up on.
[00:00:52] Speaker B: And they were like, this is so good. And it's like you could have like started listening earlier.
[00:00:57] Speaker A: That's okay. We, we love you.
[00:00:58] Speaker B: Yeah. So if you are just jumping in now. Welcome, welcome. And you've got the whole summer break to catch up.
[00:01:04] Speaker A: Yep. Have fun.
[00:01:05] Speaker B: Yeah. So this season is about identity in Christ.
[00:01:09] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:01:09] Speaker B: We've spoken about a whole bunch of different things.
About pride, about fear, about comparison, all of these sorts of things that we all deal with.
[00:01:20] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:01:21] Speaker B: And we're just going to wrap it up today.
[00:01:23] Speaker A: Yeah, we are.
[00:01:24] Speaker B: So where to from here, Jess?
[00:01:25] Speaker A: Well, let's get straight into it and I think, I mean, whether it is your first episode or whether you've been listening to this whole season, it's always good. I don't know about you, but when I hear something a few times is when it starts to sink in. So why don't we just give a quick refresher on like, what is our identity in Christ?
[00:01:39] Speaker B: Really good.
[00:01:40] Speaker A: And then from there we will talk about what that means.
[00:01:43] Speaker B: Yeah, maybe I'll just read Scripture, which is always good. Galatians 4. We'll start in Galatians 4. Just verse 1 and I'll read through.
This is Paul speaking to the Galatians. I mean that the air, as long as he is a child, is different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. In the same way, we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principle of the world. Essentially the things that are governing this world, the influences of the world, the predominant thought of the world, the predominant culture. That's what he's talking about when he talks about the elementary principles of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, in other words, to say, when Jesus came, God sent forth his son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law. So that we might receive adoption as sons. And because we are, you are, or we are sons, God has sent the spirit of his son into your hearts crying abba father, so you are no longer a slave, but a son. And if a son there, then an heir through God. And so that links back to that first part about saying an heir is the owner of everything.
So we have access to everything because we're a son of God. And so when we're talking about our identity in Christ, really we're talking about receiving sonship, being adopted from nothing as an orphan to actually becoming a son and daughter of God and therefore accessing everything that God is and being restored back to our original identity, which is image bearers of God.
[00:03:25] Speaker A: Yeah, and I love that we call it identity in Christ because it's like it's always been in our identity, but we actually receive it and we can access and live it in Christ through what Jesus did.
[00:03:35] Speaker B: That's really good. And that's like our identity is being free identity of having access to joy, our identity, our identity as conquerors, as co heirs and rulers with Christ. Like these are all the words that the Bible uses to describe us when we're in Christ, when we're actually living out and recipients of the grace that Christ has laid down for us.
[00:03:59] Speaker A: Yeah, it's cool, it's good. I actually want to read just a couple of things.
[00:04:03] Speaker B: Go for it.
[00:04:03] Speaker A: That the Word says about our identity in Christ and maybe we can put the references down below.
Well, in Christ we're all equal in God's eyes. There's no favoritism anymore.
[00:04:14] Speaker B: If you're all an image, then it's hard to be top and bottom.
[00:04:17] Speaker A: Yeah, we've been justified by his grace, not by our works. We're God's children and heirs. As Thomas just said, we're inseparable from God's love. We're seated in heavenly places with Jesus. We have dominion and authority on earth. We have authority in heaven. We are the light of the world. So he is the world. And he gives us that call to be his light too. So his light flows through us. We're made in the image and the likeness of God. We're chosen by God and we're precious to Him. We are priests. We are in transformation to the fullness of our identity. We're connected to Jesus. We're God's workmanship, His creation, or you could say his work of art. We are crucified. We have been crucified and raised with Jesus. We're a friend of Jesus. We're a temple of God, of his Holy Spirit. We're members of Christ's body. We're saints. We are new creations, completely made new. We are ministers of reconciliation. We are the righteousness of God been made righteous. We are citizens of heaven. We are holy, blameless and above reproach.
[00:05:23] Speaker B: Still going.
[00:05:23] Speaker A: We are Jesus's family. We're part of the family of God. And actually this one might not sound positive, but we're strangers in this world too.
[00:05:31] Speaker B: Yeah, it's good.
[00:05:32] Speaker A: We're partakers of God's nature. We are anointed by God and we are forgiven.
[00:05:38] Speaker B: That's good.
[00:05:39] Speaker A: It's a great list of things that we are. And it's a non. It's a non comprehensive list. There's a lot more we can find in the Word as you go discovering it.
[00:05:48] Speaker B: Yeah, there's a bunch there. So I'll ask a question then.
[00:05:52] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:05:52] Speaker B: If you know, you're. As you were listening all that you continually said we are, this is who we are.
Sometimes I don't feel forgiven.
Sometimes I don't feel like more than conquerors. I don't feel like a saint. I don't feel like a priest.
Sometimes I even don't feel like I'm inseparable from the love of God or I'm even a son.
[00:06:15] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:06:17] Speaker B: So how do I reconcile that? Like you're saying that we are these things and, you know, we, of course, just a back step. We affirm that the Bible is truth.
[00:06:28] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:06:28] Speaker B: Come from that. From that standpoint.
[00:06:30] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:06:30] Speaker B: And so we go. Okay, well, I believe that to be true, but my experience isn't that.
[00:06:35] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:06:36] Speaker B: What then?
[00:06:36] Speaker A: What do we do about that? That's a great question. I think the first thing that comes to mind is that, and I've probably heard this a lot, like in the world of. Of mental health and of self help and that kind of thing. Is that all right? Our feelings and our emotions aren't necessarily. Oh, well, they shouldn't be the master. Actually, we are the master of them, but they're indicators of something else. Okay. So if our feelings are telling us that xyz, like I don't feel like I'm forgiven or I don't feel like I'm something, we shouldn't completely dismiss the feeling, but we also shouldn't just take it as truth.
[00:07:12] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:07:13] Speaker A: So if the word is true and cannot be untrue, then I need to go, why am I feeling this way? What is this actually signaling to me? Is there a part of me that hasn't grasped the revelation of the way that God's made me to be. What do I need to do in response to that? Do I need to run to Jesus and actually read the word and actually begin to believe it again? Do I need to get around counsel of people that are going to speak life into me and maybe help me understand why I feel that way and what I can do about it and actually use those reactions and feelings that we have as a motivator to seek the truth and to believe the truth.
[00:07:49] Speaker B: Yeah. I would 100 agree. I think even that, you know, you're asking questions of your emotions.
[00:07:56] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:07:56] Speaker B: It's not just, oh, okay, that's. That must be what it is.
[00:07:59] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:08:00] Speaker B: It's actually going, no, no. Why do I feel that way? What. What experiences have I had that contribute to me feeling that way? Absolutely. You know, is there actually. Okay, I believe this, but is it that I have a past experience that has contradicted that truth?
[00:08:17] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:08:18] Speaker B: That I'm now living out in my emotions?
[00:08:20] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:08:21] Speaker B: That I need to then go back and process that past experience of disappointment, of trauma, of guilt, of grief, of all the above before I actually can feel like I'm in alignment?
[00:08:33] Speaker A: Yeah. And I think that there's probably an old way of thinking that is like, oh, if you. If you feel something that's un.
Not in agreement with the word, then like, oh, we'll just shut up your thoughts and your feelings. But actually, no, it's really good to address that. So I'll give an example. In my own life, there was a time where I was faced with a lot of disappointment after disappointment after disappointment. In fact, in one day, I think I had three extreme disappointments. And I was just like, that is it, Lord? Like, why do I even pray anymore? Because I clearly don't hear my prayers. And I was getting angry at God, but actually being honest with myself about how. What I was really feeling. And then that Sunday, actually, I will name and shame that Sunday. Sam Adebago prayed for me.
I went up and I was like, hey, like, I've just had all this stuff and I just feel like I don't know if God hears my prayers. And I knew that that wasn't true, but that's how I was feeling. And I was just honest about my feelings and actually sharing it with someone else and allowing them to pray for me and to sort of be reminded of all the times that God did actually answer my prayers and to not just focus on an isolated experience, but to even use other experiences to remind myself of the Truth that I think. Yeah. We have to be honest with ourselves and to not completely dismiss.
[00:09:46] Speaker B: That's actually something I want to, like, stop for a moment and talk about because I feel like it's something as we're getting there. But I think the church needs to learn that. Of being honest.
[00:09:57] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:09:57] Speaker B: And being truthful about what the situation is.
[00:10:00] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:10:01] Speaker B: Like, denying that a situation's bad is not helping anyone.
[00:10:05] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:10:05] Speaker B: It's not. It's not being faith filled.
It's. It's glossing over the reality of what, like, the situation is. And I think it diminishes the glory that can be given to God in the end of all of that. Because if you're just constantly like, no, God's good, it's fair, it's fine. Like, everything's all good. Like, yeah, that sucks, but I'm all good. It's like, no, can we actually sit in the terribleness of sometimes what life is like, Job had no issues with that, right?
[00:10:33] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:10:34] Speaker B: But there was, I think even that of the. The thing that we can learn from Job and not his friends was that he managed to have this place of admitting to others and to God about how bad his life was at that point.
[00:10:51] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:10:51] Speaker B: But his friends would say, curse God and die. But he never cursed God. He never questioned God's character. He never questioned God's goodness. But he was okay to be like, hey, God, this sucks and it's really bad.
[00:11:06] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:11:07] Speaker B: And even what you said before of like, you knew that God heard your prayers.
[00:11:12] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:11:12] Speaker B: But you didn't feel like it.
[00:11:13] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:11:14] Speaker B: But actually just admitting that and going, hey, I don't feel like God hears my prayers. Even to God and other people.
[00:11:19] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:11:20] Speaker B: Actually enables you to then start to address that with him and with others. But if we don't acknowledge it, like, good luck.
[00:11:27] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly. I have to bring it to life.
[00:11:29] Speaker B: I think we need it as a church. Get better at that and not. Not brush over it.
[00:11:34] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:11:35] Speaker B: When someone actually shares that with us and goes, hey, my life is being really hard right now. I'm struggling with this. This is what I'm up against. Not just go, oh, that really sucks, but God's good.
We need to learn to sit with people in the terrible stuff.
[00:11:51] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:11:52] Speaker B: And not just get to the God's good part. Because most people know that.
[00:11:56] Speaker A: Yeah. And I think that if we do, like, I think it is still obviously important to, like, encourage the truth, but to actually tell them why God is good and to actually pray with them, not just say, give them the wholeness yeah, yeah, yeah. To actually contribute as your part of the body, to actually bless that person, to encourage what is good and what God has done that is good in that situation.
[00:12:17] Speaker B: Totally.
[00:12:18] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:12:18] Speaker B: Yeah. Honesty is helpful.
[00:12:19] Speaker A: Yeah. So what about when. Not when it's not just an internal thing and I don't feel like I have my identity or I don't feel like these things are true. What about when other people don't see what is true about me? Like when other people don't view me as a son of God.
[00:12:36] Speaker B: Yeah. There's two ways I could answer this question.
The first way is actually living in the reality that some of your identity is yet to be expressed.
[00:12:50] Speaker A: That's good.
[00:12:51] Speaker B: And so the Lord might be speaking to you about who you are, might be sharing with you. And we're talking maybe in this realm talking more about those specifics of, like, how you're wired, your personality, what you're called to do, what's your part of the body. God might be speaking to you about that.
[00:13:11] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:13:11] Speaker B: But he's not necessarily speaking to others about that.
[00:13:13] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:13:14] Speaker B: And it might not even be expressed yet in your life, but you're starting to feel like that's your identity. That's the whole point. The Holy Spirit's walk, working on us and going, hey, I need you to see yourself like this. So we start to behave like that.
[00:13:28] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:13:29] Speaker B: Because that's the walk of Christian is be and then do.
[00:13:33] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:13:33] Speaker B: But the problem as humans is we witness the do part and not the B part. And so sometimes what's happening is you're feeling like that's who I am, and no one sees it.
[00:13:47] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:13:48] Speaker B: No one sees it yet. And that. That's actually okay.
[00:13:51] Speaker A: That's okay.
[00:13:52] Speaker B: Because they haven't seen it yet.
[00:13:54] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:13:54] Speaker B: Because, yes, we are spiritual beings, but we still have a human reality that we sometimes don't see it.
[00:14:00] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:14:00] Speaker B: And I think that is a difficulty living without the prophetic and living out of our flesh. We lean on that more.
[00:14:11] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:14:11] Speaker B: But if we live in a prophetic culture where our first question isn't what do I see of that person? But what does God say about that person?
[00:14:20] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:14:21] Speaker B: Then we won't have that tension as much. We still will, but it won't be as much because the people around us are starting to hear from the Lord the very things you're hearing from the Lord about you.
[00:14:32] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:14:33] Speaker B: So I think from the outside, what we can do is ask God about our friends.
[00:14:39] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:14:39] Speaker B: About the people we lead, the people that we are in our worlds, our Family members, like, do you know what God is saying about your mom?
Because that might help you approach your mom. And it might also decrease some arguments.
Like, if we can approach from that perspective. And then I think we decrease that tension. But there's still a tension of our identity is not fully expressed. So sometimes we can't expect people to treat us how we know the Lord's treating us.
[00:15:09] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:15:09] Speaker B: I think that's the first part that's really good.
[00:15:11] Speaker A: And I think that especially applies to, like, the righteousness part. Like, we are the righteousness of God. He's made us righteous. That's done. So we don't need to earn our righteousness, but each of us will have the individual ways that the Holy Spirit is convicting us of specific sins. Like, for some people, it might be something that most people would agree you shouldn't do that. Like, it might be really obvious. Maybe they're getting drunk every weekend or whatever it is. And most people be like, okay, yeah, you know, if you walk with the Lord, you shouldn't do that. But then for someone, it might be like the amount of time they spend on social media or watching a specific show or just like, little things that not everyone will be on the same page as you with. And that's okay, because that's your journey with the Lord in your transformation to being. You are righteous, but being transformed into the fullness of that righteousness.
[00:15:59] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. And I think the other side of that question of what do we do when others don't necessarily see it is that sometimes we also need to heed what others do see.
[00:16:11] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:16:12] Speaker B: And submit to that.
[00:16:13] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:16:13] Speaker B: And ask them, okay, why do you see that in me? Why don't you see this in me? And be the family and the body of Christ and be okay to hear other people's perspectives on our identity.
[00:16:26] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:16:26] Speaker B: And not just go, oh, I've heard it, so that's who I am.
[00:16:29] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:16:29] Speaker B: But sometimes journey with. With wise counsel, of course. But, yeah, I think it's not just, oh, it's okay, they don't understand me. But no, how do they understand me? What is the Lord speaking to them about? I think that can help resolve some of that tension as well.
[00:16:43] Speaker A: That's really good, because there's always going to be parts of ourselves that we cannot.
[00:16:47] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:16:47] Speaker A: It is impossible.
[00:16:48] Speaker B: Blind spot. Right.
[00:16:49] Speaker A: It's impossible to fully see yourself, like, even. It's weird to think about. But, like, we only ever see ourselves in a mirror. So we've never actually seen ourselves, like, I don't know.
[00:16:58] Speaker B: What my nose looks like.
[00:17:00] Speaker A: So I think it is really, really important to heed other people. Actually, a young adult asked me this the other week. She said, what's more important to our intentions or our actions? And I was like, oh, my gosh, what a great question. And like, my immediate response was, well, God looks at our heart, and so our intentions and what he's doing in us is more important. But at the end of the day, the way that other people are going to respond to us is based on our actions, not our intentions. And they're going to see things that our actions are going to be, you know, communicating. Yeah. Our actions are going to communicate something that even if our intention was seemingly right, that if we behaved in a certain way, it's revealing something about an intention. So we do really need to actually listen to what other people perceive and take that into consideration when we're on that transformation process with Jesus and submitting to totally what he's doing in us.
[00:17:49] Speaker B: Yeah. And ultimately it's going, okay. If they don't see me in that way, firstly, is the way I see myself biblical and godly. And if the answer is yes, then it's being secure in that and being okay with other people's opinions.
[00:18:06] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:18:07] Speaker B: Because ultimately, if we are more concerned with others opinions of us. Yeah. Then we are. We have some fear of man to deal with. And then I say, go back and listen to the previous episode with Jade and Kelsey.
[00:18:19] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:18:21] Speaker B: Yeah, I just thought this one. Then we're talk, you know, talking about things that might contradict the reality of God's identity for us. Emotions, other people.
[00:18:31] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:18:32] Speaker B: What about culture?
And maybe like the. My thought was to a conversation I had just a week ago with someone who was talking about their ethnic culture and how that doesn't always line up to what is biblical, but people going, but that's my identity, because that's my culture. And not willing to sometimes lay down their ethnicity or their ethnic culture and their upbringing in order to pick up the truth of God's word.
[00:19:05] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:19:06] Speaker B: Do you have any thoughts on that?
[00:19:07] Speaker A: That's a really good one. I think it kind of. We're talking about this earlier, but like, I think it kind of comes back to looking at the early church model and actually like, okay, our church was birthed. Our. When I say our church, I mean the body, the Christian movement that we are part of. It was birthed in. Out of a people group that were Jewish.
[00:19:28] Speaker B: Yeah. Ethnic.
[00:19:30] Speaker A: Like, yeah, ethnically Jewish. And received Jesus, but then also had to go on a process of including people from other ethnic groups.
[00:19:38] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[00:19:39] Speaker A: And so then they had to go, well, just because this is the way we've always done things, it doesn't mean that this is the way moving forward, because then how does that include it and exclude other people? So I don't know if that really answers your question, but I think it's really important to know that, like, we're not alone in that. Like, it's actually, that's kind of where this is all founded on and that everything that even that Paul was writing in his letters is wrapped up in this idea that the. Your old way of doing things in your culture was about a particular.
Well, it's about the law ultimately, and about receiving something.
And he says, stop going back to your old way when you've been free from your old way.
[00:20:21] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[00:20:22] Speaker A: And it's not to say that like in today's world and culture and family traditions and ethnic groups and all that kind of stuff, that there's going to be negative things that can always need to be laid down. But I think it's important to take that into consideration.
[00:20:38] Speaker B: Totally. And it's going on the journey of becoming more Christ. Like, isn't removal of your entire personality and ethnic, like, cultural identity? Right.
[00:20:47] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:20:47] Speaker B: But I think when. I guess the main encouragement and what this person was trying to decipher some people through was when a cultural identity is not in alignment with someone's biblical identity.
[00:21:01] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:21:02] Speaker B: The biblical identity needs to prevail, which is hard, I think, especially in today's world where, like, cultural identity is really framed as, like a high. A high value because religious identity is probably a lower value in our today's society.
So I can, I can empathize with that.
[00:21:21] Speaker A: Yeah, It's a massive wrestle. Honestly, I think that everything needs to go through, like, that trial almost of like, yeah, okay, this is. If I bring this up against the word, where does this stand? But also take into consideration, as you said, that we don't all. We don't all need to be the same. Like, to go back to the unity, uniformity conversation is like, we're actually supposed to be different and diverse, have different personalities, different ethnicities and all of that. And that all plays a part in the way that God's created us to be. But to go, is this against my identity in Christ, or can this actually play a part in who God's asking me to be?
[00:22:00] Speaker B: Yeah. Great. I got a practical question.
[00:22:02] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:22:03] Speaker B: If you came up against any of these contradictions in your life and. Or even you read Something in the Word, and you're like, oh, I don't know if I believe that about myself yet.
What would the journey of the next couple of weeks look like for you to actually start to journey that with the Lord and get to the point of. I believe it. And I'm starting to see the fruit of that in my life. Like, impractical. Like, what would you do literally, to.
[00:22:29] Speaker A: Go really, really, really, really practical if. Yeah. If there's a scripture that I'm like, I know this is true, but I just can't. Like, I don't see it yet. Is. I would keep reading it and repeating it to myself. Like, I've had seasons where I've waking up every morning. I've told many of you this, but wake up every morning and be like, I've been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And actually just like, verbally repeating it to myself until I start to believe what this is. Even though, like, when I first read it, I didn't believe it. You know, actually, that repetition and that practice.
[00:23:07] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:23:07] Speaker A: The practice of becoming like him. I think it's. We're talking about this earlier, but I think also just continuing to recognize that we are on a transformation journey. And the scripture talks about how we're being renewed day by day.
[00:23:24] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:23:24] Speaker A: So just keep in every moment asking Holy Spirit, would you help me? Would you remind me in a moment where I'm not in alignment with you, would you remind me in that moment and will you help me to believe the truth?
[00:23:38] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:23:39] Speaker A: About myself, about another person, about the situation. And that every time we do that, we actually get a little bit closer to it becoming our.
[00:23:47] Speaker B: That's good.
[00:23:47] Speaker A: It's like almost building a habit around truth.
[00:23:51] Speaker B: Well, yeah. I mean, you even use the word a practice of it.
[00:23:53] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:23:54] Speaker B: Like you're practicing the truth, like, it's a practical app. Are out working day by day. I think even like the other two probably things I do is I reflect and remember how far I've come in that. So testimony is like, oh, actually, I thought I hadn't experienced this, but I have there and I have there, and I'm a lot closer than I am now. And it's like, oh, the grace of God is still. Still available.
And the other one is have conversations with people.
[00:24:23] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely.
[00:24:25] Speaker B: Especially if I feel like I can't recall times where the Lord is where that's been evident.
[00:24:30] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:24:30] Speaker B: Then I have a conversation with someone, hey, this scripture or this reality, I'm struggling With it, I affirm that it's true, but I just. I can't feel like that. I can't even live like that. And then often someone, especially if they're a good brother or a good sister, they'll be like, hey, do you realize it's there in your life?
[00:24:48] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:24:48] Speaker B: And do you realize, hey, it might even be just a tiny, tiny seed at the moment, but it's right there?
[00:24:53] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:24:54] Speaker B: And they start to point it out and they like, oh. And then, you know, the places that you can go to actually grow it, you're like, oh, it's there. Cool. I'll start to go to that place again.
[00:25:03] Speaker A: That's really good.
[00:25:04] Speaker B: Yeah, that's cool.
[00:25:05] Speaker A: I think that's why we need each other, informing our identity.
[00:25:09] Speaker B: Yep. Yeah. I think your identity can't be formed without the family, right? Yeah, it's pretty hard to do that.
[00:25:14] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:25:15] Speaker B: Yeah. So, last thing I think we should go through and then wrap up on, because really our identity in Christ is a journey of receiving, not earning, and learning to live in a greater expression of, but not working to gain more of.
[00:25:32] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:25:34] Speaker B: Yeah, that's a big statement. Do you have any thoughts around that? Any scriptures, what does the Word say, or what do you say from your journey with God about how do we sit in and receive by grace this identity rather than trying to work for gaining the identity?
[00:25:52] Speaker A: Yeah, I think, you know, the first thing that comes to mind, even when I was listening to previous episodes in this, and especially talking about pride, is that it's been innate in our human fleshly nature that we're trying to earn something that we've already received.
And so, yeah, coming back to that revelation, I mean, Romans 3, where it talks about that we receive righteousness by faith, in verse 23, it says, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. So it's like, okay, we're not good enough on our own anymore. But then it says in verse 24, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by his blood through faith to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance, God had passed over the sins that were previously committed to demonstrate at the present time his righteousness, that he might be just and the justifier of those who has faith in Jesus.
And yeah, just remembering that we've been justified by his grace.
[00:27:03] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:27:04] Speaker A: And not try and earn again, not try and work for again what he's already given us. It's like it literally doesn't make sense if we put this in a practical sense, like, okay, it's nearly Christmas. If someone gave you a Christmas gift and then you were like, okay, I need to pay you back for it. Like, we would be like, you're stupid. Like, who does that? Why are you trying to pay back for something? Or why are you trying to earn something that you've freely received? And so sometimes we. We kind of miss that.
[00:27:30] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:27:31] Speaker A: We miss the fact that, like, no, God, actually, because God's the only one that really does that, that actually freely gives us righteousness and freely gives us freedom and identity. And so we go, oh, I need to. I need to do something about it. But what we need to do is actually walk in it. Walk in it.
[00:27:47] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:27:47] Speaker A: Not trying.
[00:27:48] Speaker B: Yeah. And that's that distinction there. Hey, like, I think sometimes we struggle with that distinction of walking in the identity we've received versus earning and, like, earning the identity and working for the identity. It's like, no, no, I know that's who I am. And so now I'm going to live in alignment to that.
[00:28:10] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:28:11] Speaker B: Rather than working to get to that place. Yeah. There's slight distinctions, but it's, you know, the difference between I am affirmed by God, so I'll. I'll actually do something versus I need to get his affirmation.
So I'm gonna do something the way you do. Though it could be the exact same thing you're doing.
[00:28:37] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:28:37] Speaker B: Like, let's just take serving in the house of God.
[00:28:39] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:28:40] Speaker B: If you're to serve in the house of God from a place of, ah, God affirms me. He loves me like, he. He has given me everything. So I want to serve and I want to express his love to other people.
[00:28:52] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:28:53] Speaker B: That's a different way of serving than if it's, oh, I need the affirmation of God, which often becomes I need the affirmation of man.
[00:29:01] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:29:02] Speaker B: And so you're going to work for that. The way you do the service changes completely.
[00:29:09] Speaker A: Yeah. And other people can tell.
[00:29:10] Speaker B: Yeah, other people can tell.
[00:29:12] Speaker A: It's like when you have a friend that, like, they want to be your friend because they love you and they want to be your friend versus someone that just is trying to prove that they're a nice person or that.
[00:29:22] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:29:23] Speaker A: You can tell when someone's trying to prove something and it's just not nice. Like, it just makes you feel a bit. Yeah.
[00:29:28] Speaker B: Disingenuine. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I agree. And this is like that journey that I think we were even speaking about briefly before is the Israelites going on, going from a place of, oh, we actually had to do all of these things to get into the presence of God. But now, because of Christ, we don't have to do all these things. And like, undoing that paradigm, which is a lot of the New Testament, is Paul undoing that paradigm of, hey, yeah, Sabbath is a great gift, rest is a great gift, but it doesn't make you a Christian.
[00:30:01] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:30:01] Speaker B: Hey, circumcision, you want to have circumcised, go for it, but it doesn't make you a Christian.
[00:30:07] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:30:07] Speaker B: Like, the things that you eat doesn't make you a Christian. And like a lot of Paul's writings especially is undoing some of that of it's no longer what you do that makes you a Christ person.
[00:30:19] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:30:19] Speaker B: And like, that's Galatians 5. For freedom, Christ has set us free.
[00:30:23] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:30:24] Speaker B: And therefore, do not submit again. Even that, like, do not. Do not submit again. We have a choice in the matter.
[00:30:30] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:30:30] Speaker B: To a yoke of slavery. Look, I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be no advantage to you.
Right there. It's like if you try and become something by your own actions, then you actually can no longer be something that you already are. And that's, you know, like you said back in the garden, Adam and Eve were like God, and the moment they tried to become like God, they were removed from all of the benefits.
[00:31:02] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:31:03] Speaker B: So, yeah, it's good.
[00:31:05] Speaker A: And then further down in Galatians 5 talks about walking in the Spirit. He's like, you've been given this liberty, and now this liberty means you have a choice to serve. And like, again, what you're talking about serving the body, verse 13, it says, do not use opportunity. Do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love, serve one another. And then he's saying like, okay, you don't have to serve each other to earn something, but you can now serve out of love. And then here's how you can live in this freedom by walking in step with the Spirit and not fulfilling the desires of the flesh.
[00:31:38] Speaker B: Yeah. It's like, okay, you. You are that. So now walk in alignment to it. Yeah, yeah. Sounds simple.
[00:31:46] Speaker A: Does sound simple.
[00:31:46] Speaker B: But we're still here working it out and in our lives still trying to do that as well. Do you have any last thoughts to add before we wrap up, Jessica?
[00:31:55] Speaker A: No, I just think, like, okay, I do. I just said no, but I do. I don't want to lie.
Walk it out with Others and be accountable to other people. Very good.
Because, yes, we can hear the truth, we can know the truth, but it becomes a reality when we actually do it. And we do need accountability. And so, you know, we can often think accountability is for negative things, but accountability can be positive things.
[00:32:20] Speaker B: Encouraging someone towards it.
[00:32:22] Speaker A: Yeah. Get someone around you that you can encourage and that they can encourage you to call out your identity when you are not walking in alignment with it and when you are.
And that's how I feel like Jesus actually gives us that opportunity to become more like him with each other.
[00:32:39] Speaker B: What about you? Yeah, I would just say, like, just reflecting in this moment. Like we're very close to Christmas, close to the end of the year. I think Christmas at the end of the year is a perfect opportunity to reflect. And two ways reflection can go is we can reflect and become shameful. We can feel like we've missed the mark, or we can reflect and go, oh, I need God's grace. And one causes us to shrink back from God, the other causes us to fall into God.
And I think, like you're saying having people that can point us in that direction of, yeah, we all need grace, so fall into grace.
And yeah, they might. We might have been talking about identity at the end of the year, and you're going, oh, I don't measure up. It's like, great, so fall into the one that did measure up.
[00:33:28] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:33:29] Speaker B: And I think Christmas is the great reminder of that and the opportunity for us to reflect on the year and then to reflect on the great gift that Jesus is and was and will be, and we can start to align to that.
[00:33:43] Speaker A: Yeah, that's great.
[00:33:45] Speaker B: Well, thanks for coming, everyone. Thanks for listening. And I'll say it now, we'll be back for 2025.
We'd love to continue these chats and hopefully be a blessing in next year. Yeah, we'll see you somewhere soon. Bye.
[00:34:02] Speaker A: See ya.
