Growing in Identity - SERMON NOTES

Below are Pastor Ben's sermon notes from this past Sunday, in case they may be helpful for further study.

Intro: (1) Jeremy’s question of “who am I?” (2) a question of what provides my sense of value, worth, meaning, purpose — Emma Thompson (3) attempts to answer this externally through achievement or internally through soul-searching (4) what about asking God?

Disconnected from Christ (17-19)

1. Dead and dark (17-18): (1) “alienated from the life of God” — “dead in trespasses” (2:1,5) (2) not inclined toward God and no ability to please God (3) does not mean we live out the full extent of our depravity or that we disregard that every person is made in God’s image (4) “darkened in understanding” — idea of fumbling around in the dark (lock-in at DeSoto caverns) (5) applicable only to spiritual (not intellectual, relational, etc.) — Ecclesiastes
2. Callous and reckless (19): (1) “hardness of heart” — stubborn refusal to acknowledge God and/or one’s condition before God (cf. Mark 3:1-6) (2) a going out of our way to ignore/suppress truth (cf. boy with dog in toy box) (3) sensuality/greed/impurity — reckless behavior characterize by self-centered desires, often connected with sexuality — “culture provides a comfortable environment for this direction in life” (cf. Romans 1:21-25 NLT) (4) personal humility, compassion for others

Connected to Christ (20-24)

1. Educated (20-21): (1) contrast starting in v.20 — three education words (2) “learning Christ” learning about, from, and in the context off (cf. Leif/Ashlyn) (3) a learning that is transformative (cf. Col. 2:6-7) (4) deliberate shift from “Christ” to “Jesus” points to importance of historical person and example of Jesus’ life (5) what do we immerse ourselves in that educates us? Reading, watching, listening to (6) church as an expression of ongoing “Christ school”
2. Clothed (22-24): (1) expansions of what had been taught — “put off . . . put on” (2) these are pictures to help us understand what it means to become a follower of Christ — changing clothes as a representation of exchanging one life for another (3) “be renewed” — the ongoing process of continuing to act in line with our new clothes (4) we can always return back to acting in line with our old clothes, but this is to forget our new identity (cf. discharged soldier and drill sergeant)

Conclusion: (1) our identity takes a beating every week, based on our external performance or internal feelings (2) identity not based in our performance in external roles but in Christ’s performance that transforms us in our roles — Scheffler