Anna Chaplain looks at the Identity of Jesus

Our Lay Minsters are Preaching at today’s services. In the first Sermon our Anna Chaplain, Dr Helen HIndle studied the Identity of of Jesus.

She said:

Most of my work colleagues have been talking about BBC Traitors over the last few weeks. You might love it or loathe it, or be blissfully unaware of it. At the heart of the programme is the issue of identity, and the contestants working out:

Who is a traitor?
And who is a faithful?
- What is their true identity in this game?

Identity matters.

This morning on Christ the King Sunday…

we will begin by thinking about the identity of Christ
and then our identity in Christ

The beginning of each of the Gospel accounts set out to tell us something about who Jesus is. They set out his credentials.

Matthew tells us the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah
Mark tells us that this is the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God
Luke sets out an orderly account of who Jesus is
And John places Jesus in the cosmic dimension… In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God and the word was God

Who Jesus is, matters.

When I left home to go to Leicester poly and I was on a wibbly wobbly path of returning to faith, the thing that thing that drew me back was the message of God coming to us in Jesus. The more I pondered on that, I realised that there was no other path to take.

The gospel for today underlines who Jesus is.

All through Jesus’s ministry people questioned his identity…

When Jesus was in the wilderness before he started his public ministry, he was tempted with the words,

“If you are the son of God…turn these stones to bread”.

The first temptations were to question who he was. And later in his ministry, even John the Baptist sent word to ask

“Are You the One Who was to come, or should we look for another?”

And Jesus replied,

‘Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.’

This is the good news of God’s kingdom.

And all through his ministry, Jesus spent time in solitude with God the Father.

And at key points, God the Father publicly affirmed who Jesus was and is. When Jesus was baptised, a voice from heaven said,

‘This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.’

Towards the end of his earthly ministry, Jesus went on a mountain, with Peter, James and John, with his face set towards Jerusalem and the cross, and a voice from heaven said,

‘This is my Son, the Beloved, with him I am well pleased; listen to him!’

And with his identity affirmed to this group of disciples and to himself, he carried on, on the road that led to the cross.

And now on the cross, he is scoffed at, derided and mocked, with words again that strike at his identity, because his identity matters.

‘Let him save himself if he is the Messiah’

‘If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself’

And yet, this is who Jesus is, and more. And in his life and death and resurrection, he is saving the whole world.

Who do we say Jesus is?

Is he reigning in our hearts?

And what does that mean?

Our identity in Christ matters…

Over the last few weeks I have heard a few people talking about their identity.

One of them is Ellie Ratu – an English national netball player. She said that when she was injured and dropped from the national team she struggled with her sense of identity. This was who she was – Ellie Ratu who played national netball. She went on a 2 year journey of healing, and not only her physical injuries. During this time she spent time reading the Bible and praying and working out what her identity was. She found her identity in Christ. She is back playing netball, and has a netball career, and gives her all to Christ at the same time. She is secure in her identity.

For all of us during our lives there are times that our identity might be challenged. Sometimes that might be due to changes that take place as we get older or as our situations change. Or it might be how we perceive ourselves.

Lauren Daigle wrote a song about our identity in God…

‘I keep fighting voices in my mind that say I’m not enough
Every single lie that tells me I will never measure up
Am I more than just the sum of every high and every low?
Remind me once again just who I am because I need to know
You say I am loved when I can’t feel a thing
You say I am strong when I think I am weak
And you say I am held when I am falling short
And when I don’t belong, oh, You say I am Yours
And I believe (I), oh, I believe (I)
What You say of me (I)

The only thing that matters now is everything You think of me
In You, I find my worth, in You, I find my identity
Taking all I have, and now I’m laying it at Your feet
You have every failure, God, You have every victory’

When our identity is in Christ, that is one thing that remains firm

the solid rock on which stand and build
the refuge that hides us
the love of God surrounding us and holding us tight whatever is going on

And when our identify is in Christ we are set free to be our authentic selves… the person that God created us to be.

As we grow closer to Christ, we are liberated more and more. But this freedom is not only for ourselves. It also brings freedom for others. When we are living with our identity in Christ, with Jesus reigning in our hearts, we are set free to share what we have with other people, to give without counting the cost. Our values are different. They are different to what the world tells us is important. Our eyes are opened to see past media headlines and argy bargy on social media.

Jesus noticed the people who were marginalised, seen as ‘less than’ or even despised and made it clear that God’s kingdom was for such as these

Foreign Samaritans
Tax collectors
Women
Children

This was counter cultural.

Today, we are reminded that Jesus is our king. A king who gave his life for us. How do we respond?

Catherine Booth – co founder of the Salvation Army writes passionately about laying everything on the alter, dedicating everything to God, and about how when she did that, she was set free to follow God’s call, even to a place of uncertainty.

How far are we prepared to go?

Judson W. Van De Venter was a painter who became an evangelist and he wrote this hymn in 1896. He said that it was written “in memory of the time when, after a long struggle, I had surrendered and dedicated my life to active Christian service.”

1 All to Jesus I surrender,
All to Him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust Him,
In His presence daily live.

2 All to Jesus I surrender,
Make me, Saviour, wholly Thine;
Let me feel Thy Holy Spirit,
Truly know that Thou art mine.

3 All to Jesus I surrender,
Lord, I give myself to Thee;
Fill me with Thy love and power,
Let Thy blessing fall on me.

I surrender all, I surrender all;
All to Thee, my blessed Saviour,
I surrender all.

It is in in surrendering to Jesus our King, who loves us with such tenderness and such strength, that are truly free.

Who Jesus is, matters.

Our identity in Christ matters.

When he is our king and we have truly surrendered all.. we are set free to be fully human, to know life in all its’ fullness. We are set free to work for God’s kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven… and to share the good news of his kingdom with the people we meet.

Will you join me this week in spending time with God, thinking about what it means to have our identity in Christ. What it means to live with Christ reigning in our hearts… I know for me there is always further to go.