Christ At The Centre

Identity in Christ in Galatians

Today we are looking at Galatians – that phenomenal book which is actually a letter Paul wrote to the Galatian believers. We’re looking at a specific verse this morning, found in Galatians 6:14–16, so if you want to turn to that, that would be great.

Sorry for the cap this morning. I couldn’t get my half-term haircut done before Monday – that’s the only reason I’m wearing one. If you’re offended by hats in church, please don’t be. My hair’s worse, believe me.

It says this:

“May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the whole world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision” – don’t worry, guys, we’re not talking about that this morning – “means anything; what counts is the new creation. Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule—to the Israel of God.”

That’s to the people of God. That’s to you. He’s writing to the believers in the Galatian churches, but the great thing about the Word of God is that we know it’s also written to us.

This morning, can anybody guess what we might be talking about? There are a few clues up here. These are ID badges. I’ve got a few different ones. That’s my British Army ID – a bit weird that I’ve got one of those, but I have: official army ID, called a MOD90. That is my ministerial certificate, to say that I’m Reverend Brompton. This one lets people know who I am when I’m going in and out of different countries. Most of you probably have lots more stamps than me – you’ve got places like South Africa and Andorra and stuff like that.

I’ve also got this thing – if you don’t know what it is, it goes inside one of those black shirts. Anybody have an idea what we’re talking about yet? It’s not all about me. What’s the word, Alan? Identity. Identity. It’s all about identity. So this morning we’re talking about identity.

These are just some of the things that people might know me for. People at school know that if they see an orange mug lying around, I’ve been there and forgotten to take it. People also know I like my trainers. But I’m also, more importantly, a dad, a husband, a fan of Wales, a drummer, and I like to smell nice. All of that stuff. But as Paul says, none of that is really important in terms of who I truly am.

So I’m going to take some of this stuff off, because I’m not really just a drum teacher at Magnus – I am, by the way. I’m not really just the chaplain at Samworth – I am, by the way. But what’s left, when you strip all that away, is what I really am, because it’s all gone askew otherwise. Really, what it’s all about is the cross. All of that other stuff is just the stuff I do.

I can talk to us a little bit about identity this morning, and it’s really important – our identity and our understanding of who we are. I’m in my 40s. You might think identity is something you sort out in your teenage years, or maybe your early 20s – those times where you hear about people going on a gap year to “find themselves”. They do some school, then A levels, and decide, “Maybe I’m not going to go to university straight away, I’m going to go and do a gap year,” or do that after uni, before they start their job. They go to “find themselves”.

But identity is not just for young people. Your identity right now is really important. Your understanding of who you are is really important. And it’s not about any of this stuff. That’s the stuff I do, but I do that out of who I am, who God has created me to be.

One thing we learn from this letter is that Paul is obsessed with Jesus. That’s a good thing, right? Paul is obsessed – a bit like Mick – obsessed with Jesus. What a great thing to be known for. Just think about that for a moment.

That was a challenge to me, because people might know me because I like cool trainers and I like coffee and curry and I like to smell okay, and I play drums and all that kind of stuff. But if people say that stuff before they say, “He loves Jesus,” then I’ve got some things a bit askew. There’s some stuff that maybe needs working out.

Jesus is mentioned or referenced in one out of every three verses in Galatians. Almost a third of Galatians directly references Jesus. Paul is making a really powerful point.

Boasting Only in the Cross

In a nutshell, in the light of Jesus’ death and resurrection, the cross means that our identity is no longer found in who we are and what we have done, but in who he is and what he has accomplished. Amen? Do we all believe that this morning? Tell your face.

When we boast in Jesus, it leaves no room for pride. I think I’m a bang-average drummer—every pun intended. I can’t really boast about that, and I shouldn’t, because that would be prideful. I’m probably an okay husband—don’t ask my wife. I think our kids are all right. We all mess up our kids; it just depends how much, right? So I can’t really boast in those things because they’re not all that.

But what we can boast in is what Jesus has accomplished for us on the cross. It leaves no room for pride. If you’ve earned a million pounds—so what? Good for you, that’s cool. If you have a twelve-bedroom house, that’s cool too. There’s nothing wrong with that, just like there’s nothing wrong with coffee or any of these other things. There’s nothing wrong with them in themselves. But if that’s what we’re boasting in—if we’re boasting in our achievements, in what we can do, in what we have—then we are definitely looking at the wrong thing.

What we need to be boasting in is purely and simply what Christ did on the cross through his death and resurrection. When we boast in Jesus, it leaves no room for pride.

Now, don’t misunderstand what I’m saying. That doesn’t mean we can’t take pride in our work and all of that kind of stuff. Of course we do all things as though we’re working for the Lord, right? So it’s really important that we do things well. But we shouldn’t boast in those things; we use them to point the way to Jesus.

True Transformation and the End of False Humility

Just as important as dealing with pride is dealing with this false humility that people can have.

I saw a video the other day which was phenomenal, because I’ve seen this happen in real life and we’ve got to find a careful balance. In the video, a guy came up to one of the worship singers and said, “Thank you for leading us in worship this morning. The vocals were great.” Now, there are a few ways you can respond to that, aren’t there?

You can say, “Oh, thank you very much, I really appreciate your feedback. Brilliant, amazing.”
Or you can go the other way and say, “Oh, it wasn’t that great. That bit was a bit pitchy, I got the wrong key there,” and so on.
Or you can do what this other guy did and swing right to the other extreme: “It’s not me, it’s God using me. He speaks through me. Everything points to Jesus.” Now, he’s right – dead right – in what he’s saying. But that kind of “false humility” isn’t actually helpful. Take the compliment. It’s okay if you did well. It’s okay.

So when we say, “Don’t take pride,” it doesn’t mean, “Be down on yourself.” It doesn’t mean, “God is great and I’m a worm.” That’s not what Paul is talking about. Paul is talking about understanding who we are, understanding who God has made you to be, so that we can fulfil all the things that God has promised to us and wants to work in and through our lives.

Romans 8:14–15 says this: “Because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. You received the Spirit of sonship.” You received the Spirit of son- and daughter-ship, if you like. You are a son or daughter of Christ, accepted by God. Romans 15:7 says, “Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.” That’s who you are. That is who you are.

True transformation doesn’t come from endless self-help. Who’s ever read a self-help book? Did it revolutionise your life? No. Who’s read the Bible? Did that revolutionise your life? Point made.

There is nothing wrong with seeking help. There is nothing wrong with seeking professionals either. If you need counselling or any of that kind of support, I’m not the one to say you can’t do that. You absolutely should use professionals and all of that kind of help. But there is nothing more life-transforming than the power of Jesus Christ in your life and the power of reading God’s word.

Romans 12:2 says, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” How do we do that? We do that by getting into God’s word. The peace that is beyond all human understanding only comes when we are fully surrendered to Him. Only then will your identity in Jesus be fully realised.

We started perfect, didn’t we? Pastor Dom alluded to it earlier: Adam and Eve. It was pretty good. In fact, God said “very good.” Creation was good, and they were very good. So we know they were pretty awesome. We started pretty well.

Sometimes we use the language of “being human” or “humanist” as something negative or derogatory. But actually, to become more human is to become more like Jesus, because God’s initial plan for humanity was perfect. Therefore, the closer we are to Jesus, the closer we are to God, the more truly human we become, according to God’s blueprint for humanity. Don’t let the language around that persuade you otherwise. To become more human is to grow to be more like Jesus, because that was God’s original plan.

Everyone else has tried to steal that. “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; but I,” Jesus said, “have come that you may have life, and have it to the full.”

Authentic Identity in Changing Circumstances

As humans, our sense of identity can sometimes feel changeable. I don’t know if you’ve ever had this, but in different situations I often find myself acting slightly differently. Not because I’m trying to be weird, or trying not to be authentic, but because different situations sometimes call for us to act differently.

Let me give you an example. I work in a school, and every now and then they let me loose teaching. But if I were to teach a classroom of thirty kids in exactly the same way that I stand and deliver a message to a thousand young people, it just wouldn’t work. It’s a different context. A room of thirty and a room of a thousand are very, very different.

When I first became a chaplain, I went to a meeting where I was sat with lots of different bishops and church leaders. I thought it was really exciting and really cool. It turned out it wasn’t quite as exciting or cool as I’d imagined, but we still had a great time. And I realised that in that situation, I didn’t need to live up to anything other than who I actually was. In fact, it was right for me to be very authentic in that moment. But I also couldn’t leap around like I sometimes like to do. I couldn’t be telling funny stories all the time, which I also love to do. It was a time to be serious and to be present in the moment.

Pastor Dom did a phenomenal job a few weeks ago at Al’s funeral. Absolutely phenomenal. Just incredible. It sounds strange to say “one of the best funerals,” but you know what I mean by that: someone doing exactly the right thing at exactly the right time. It was beautiful. And that’s not a situation you’re in all the time. You wouldn’t act the way you do at home when you’re leading a funeral. You just wouldn’t.

So our outward behaviour can change depending on the situation and circumstances. In that sense, parts of how we express ourselves can move and shift. But there are also things that are fixed. There are things about who we are that don’t change.

And this is where my spoon comes into play. Where’s my spoon? Here it is. This is my spoon. I was not born with it in my mouth—don’t worry—it’s stainless steel, not silver!

For the scientists in the room: do we remember the difference between convex and concave? “Cave” – concave – curves in. Sometimes, if you’re anything like me, we can get really pernickety about these details.

Seeing Ourselves Through Christ’s Eyes

As people, our moods change all the time, don’t they? I can be in a great mood one minute and then someone says something that annoys me, and my mood changes. That’s just being human. It’s the human condition. All kinds of things can wind us up and make us a bit annoyed, and other things can make us super, super happy.

Yesterday was a roller coaster for all the rugby fans. I’m not sure about the English fans—that wasn’t much of a roller coaster, it was pretty dire all the way through. But for Wales yesterday, and we needed it, right? It was a proper roller coaster. Sometimes it was, “Yes, we’re winning!” and other times, “Oh, you’ve just thrown it all away.” And we’re a bit like that as people. We go up and down.

I want to liken it to when we get up in the morning and we’re preparing our breakfast. We go to the drawer and pull out a spoon. Sometimes we’re looking at that spoon one way. Sam, when you look into that spoon, what do you see? You see yourself. It’s not the cleanest spoon—I didn’t polish it—but you can still see you.

Even on our best days, the view we have of ourselves is skewed, isn’t it? Even on our best days, the lens through which we see ourselves is a little bit distorted.

Now, look at the other side of the spoon. When you look at the concave side, you’re upside down. On our worst days, we can feel like that, can’t we? We can feel all upside down. We can feel like, “I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t understand what God’s doing. I don’t understand where God is. I don’t know what’s happening.”

So on our good days, we think we’re looking good—I’ve covered my forehead, but I’ve got very big glasses on—but even then, it’s still not our true reflection. And on our bad days, we can feel completely flipped and out of place.

Listen: stop living with “spoon complex.” Stop getting up in the morning and trying to figure out, “What side of the spoon am I today? Am I upside-down spoon? Am I convex spoon? Am I concave spoon? Is my identity looking warped? I’m not sure who I am or what God is doing.”

Let’s stop looking at ourselves through the lens of a spoon. Let’s look at ourselves through the lens of what Jesus says about you, and what the Word of God says about you.

Redemption and the Hope of Eternal Life

I'm going to read some verses out to you now, and these are verses that should encourage you.

Firstly, if you are a Christian in the room, Ephesians 1:7 says, “In him we have redemption through his blood.” You see, we’re back to the cross. We’re back to the cross. In him, not in us, not in what we do, not in who we are. In him we have redemption. You’re forgiven.

John 3:16 says you have eternal life: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that whoever believes will have eternal life.” Don’t you find that incredible? It is amazing. I’m really excited by eternal life.

I’ve got lots of questions I’d like to ask people when we’re all in that place—wherever it is, whatever your theology is. I believe we’ll be together with all believers, whatever your theology. That’s what I believe: we’ll be together with all believers. I’ve got loads of questions, not just for Bible characters and people like that—though I’ve got those questions as well—but I’ve got lots of questions for lots of different people, and it’s going to take me a long time to get some answers to those questions. But I’m really excited by that.

You are baptised into Christ’s body: “For we are all baptised by one Spirit into one body.” That’s 1 Corinthians 12:13. If you’re a believer in Jesus, you are baptised into one body by one Spirit.

You’re saved by grace—Ephesians 2:8–9. You’re sanctified. That means you’re made whole.

Finding Our True Identity in Christ

Identity is something I’ve struggled with for a very long time. I’m not going to go into all the reasons why this morning, I haven’t got time for that. But I know some of you here will be struggling with identity too.

You’ve probably heard about how, when “empty nesters” have sent the kids off to university or wherever, and they’re suddenly at home on their own, they can find themselves thinking, “What have we got now?” Some, not all, lose their sense of identity. They’re not sure who they are anymore, because everything they’ve done has been around their kids and for their kids. And then, all of a sudden, they’ve got all this time and space with this other person they live with, and that can be a struggle. “What do we do with this next bit?” It can be a really tricky time.

But when you know who you are in Jesus Christ, that’s okay. That doesn’t have to be a struggle.

Some people grew up in phenomenal families. They know who their mum and dad are, they had a very loving relationship, and they’re quite secure in their identity as a member of a family. Others may not have had that. One of my own struggles was that I didn’t quite know where I was from. I didn’t know my parentage, and who I thought was a parent wasn’t a parent, and all of that kind of stuff. It was a little bit complicated. So when I was a teenager trying to work all that out, my identity was just, “Ahhh!” It was all over the place.

It was only when I found my identity in Jesus that I properly started to live the way God wanted me to live, because I was assured of who I was. I was assured that I was loved. I was assured that I was priceless to him.

When we preach the gospel, we sometimes say, “Salvation is free.” It’s a bit like the NHS in that it is free at the point of entry, but the cost is massive. The cost is massive. It cost God everything. But, just like Paul alludes to, not only did it cost God everything; really, it should cost us everything too.

I’m going to go back to that verse I started with: “May I never boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”

Now, there’s a caveat here. We cannot separate ourselves from the world. We are here. We are part of the world, part of God’s creation, and we are part of God’s great plan for creation. We are here to worship him and to point others to worship him too. That is our purpose.

So I’m not saying this morning that you have to hate the things of the world. I’m not saying, “Don’t go out for a cup of coffee, don’t buy a pet, don’t play the drums,” or don’t do any of those things that you like to do, those things people think of when they talk about you. Just hold them in the proper way.

Now this could backfire… These are size 8s – I’ve only got little feet. These are a size 8. Does anybody need a pair of size 8 trainers? No? But if you did, that would be fine, because it’s not about what we have and what we accumulate. Like I said last time I preached, when I talked about stewardship: it’s not mine anyway. It’s all God’s.

Anybody want a Welsh…? No, we’re too far, too far. You wouldn’t want it anyway!

But it really is about holding things in the right way.

Called and Received as You Are

Let’s close our eyes together for a moment. I want to create a little bit of time and space this morning, because I believe God wants to point out who you are. I believe He wants you to leave this place feeling a little bit taller. I believe He wants you to leave here feeling ready to take on the challenge of all the things He has for you to do.

We will only ever do that if we see ourselves through the lens that God uses to see us. God doesn’t see you like a warped reflection in a spoon, convex or concave. God has perfect vision. Perfect vision. He sees you as you are. He loves you as you are. He has plans and purposes for you as you are.

He’s not waiting for you to sort your life out first. If He were, there wouldn’t be many of us doing anything for Him. He’s not waiting for you to get it all together. He’s not waiting for you to say, “Lord, just wait until I’ve sorted out that thing I keep getting wrong. Just wait until this relationship is fixed, and then I can concentrate on You. Just wait until we’ve moved house, or learned to do this or that.”

No. Now is the time that God wants to do some work in you.

John 1:12 says, “Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.” You have a right to become a child of God this morning.

If that’s a decision you’ve not yet made—if you’re thinking, “I haven’t got it all sorted. I don’t really know what I’m doing. I’m not an expert in the Bible. I’m not an expert in church or what we’re supposed to do when we sit and when we stand”—who cares? God has a plan and a purpose for you. He loves you just as you are.

Everything I’ve shared on this stage this morning is the stuff I don’t mind people seeing, because we’re all in two parts, aren’t we? There’s the part we’re happy for everyone to see, and then, if we’re honest, there’s the other stuff that’s not very nice—the things we think and say sometimes, because we’re not perfect.

The great thing about Jesus is He’s not waiting for us to be perfect. He makes us perfect through our relationship with Him. So this morning, you might not feel perfect—I certainly don’t—but I want to give you an opportunity.

I’m not going to prolong this or ask you to do anything crazy like dance in the aisles—maybe that’s for next week. I simply want to invite you, if you want to say, “Lord, here I am. I want to accept You as my Lord and Saviour so that I can find my identity in what it really means to be human, in what it really means to be Christlike, whatever journey that takes me on,” then this moment is for you.

If that’s a decision you want to make this morning, I just want you to slip your hand up. The only people who will see are me and one of our stewards, who will chat with me afterwards so we don’t miss anybody. And if you’re too shy to do that, I’ll be down at the front with the prayer team after the service. If you want to come and chat and pray, we would love to do that with you.

I’m going to give about five seconds for anyone who wants to give their life to this Jesus who brings life—not just life in eternity, but life in all its fullness right now. Not life in its easiness, but life in all its fullness. If you’re someone who’s struggling with identity for a hundred different reasons, you can find it in who God says you are. You can find your identity in Him.

So I’m going to count down from five to one. When I get to one, just pop your hand up, and then we’ll make sure we get some literature to you and follow you up.

Five… four… three… two… one.

Now I want to speak to the rest of us in the room—to those who’ve been Christians for a little while but still struggle with identity. Maybe you’re trying to throw some things off, but you’re holding on a bit too tightly. Maybe it’s a sin you were caught up in, or something you did wrong and kept doing wrong. Maybe it’s a relationship issue. Maybe it goes right back to your childhood. I don’t know, and I’m not going to ask.

But I am going to ask you to do something a little more brave. I’m going to ask you to come to the front, and I’m going to pray with you and for you. And I’m simply going to pray that God will start to reveal your identity to you.

You have your part to play in that. Your part is to get into His Word. Your part is to become part of a church family that can support you and help you, because that’s God’s model for how He does this—He does it in family. And that’s what we are.

So again, I’m going to count from five down to one. If nobody comes, I’ll just be here by myself, and I’ll pray for myself—that’s never a bad thing to do. But if you want to be prayed for this morning, to discover who you really are in Christ Jesus, then as I count down, I want you to come to the front.

Five… four… three… two… one.

Heavenly Father, we thank You this morning that You first loved us. Lord, we thank You that You call us sons and daughters of the Most High King. Thank You that You saw fit to send Your only Son to die on the cross so that we could be in relationship with our Father.

Lord, we thank You that we are not to boast in anything we can do, anything we have done, or anything we have, because it all points to how amazing You are. Thank You that You are at work in this place.

I pray for these dear ones down at the front right now, Lord Jesus, that You will do an incredible work in them. Will You keep working in them and through them, Lord? Holy Spirit, will You reveal who they are in Your light?

Help us all to boast only in the work of the cross—not in our own skills, not in our abilities, not in the things we’ve accumulated, but to boast purely in the name of Jesus and in Your accomplishments through the death and resurrection of Christ.

Amen. Thank You, Lord.