COLERAINE EVANGELICAL CHURCH
SERMON NOTES SUNDAY 21 JUNE 2026 – MR CIARAN THOMPSON
ROMANS 8 VERSES 1 TO 17
Well, I felt drawn to speak on the theme of identity. It's
often good to look up when we look at a theme or a word or something like that,
it's good to know what it actually means. So in the Cambridge English
dictionary, the word identity is defined as a person's name, other facts about who
they are, their reputation and characteristics, the fact of being or feeling a
particular way, and it refers to information that proves who a person is. Our
personal identity and the ways in which we identify are clearly foundational to
our life, to our existence, to our sense of well-being and our ability to
function in the society in which we find ourselves in. There are many self-help
guides, aren't there, out there to try and help you boost your identity and think
and feel better about yourselves. We hear a phrases or we use phrases like “I
identify with that” or “I identify as a whatever”. Terms like identity cards, identity
theft, false identity, identity politics and national identity are quite common
in today's society. And the personal identities of the members of any country
will shape the overall national identity and in turn this affects those who are
born into the next generation in that nation. We know that social disorder
leads to more insecurity for example. We I'm sure we've all heard of the phrase
“broken Britain”, haven't we? And the UK and the Western world I think in
general is suffering from an identity crisis really. We hear of people changing
their gender identity and I think it's very difficult for children growing up
in today's society. There's so much confusion even about the very basics of
humanity really. Who would who would have thought that 10 or 15 years ago you'd
hear of teachers who were sacked for misgendering a child? And they've even had
teachers and church leaders encouraging children to identify as whatever they
want rather than accepting the truth that they're a boy or a girl. And the BBC
has promoted this as well saying that there are a hundred genders and this
leads to so much confusion. And we know where confusion comes from don't we and
disorder. And of course, today is Father's Day and one quarter of all children
in the United Kingdom have no contact with their father. That is massively
detrimental and explains a lot of the problems we have in the world. Boys, I
think especially struggle. They're getting behind girls, aren't they, in
school. They have for the last 30 years academically. And I think a lot of this
is to do with the fact they don't have enough good male role models or father
figures or their own father to be with them. The family unit has broken down
and we know that one half of marriages end in divorce. But what led to this
mess and this confusion? Well, decades ago, much of our national identity was
rooted in Judeo-Christian values. the same in the United States where on the
dollar bills they have “In God we trust.” What we saw in society was that
people generally accepted that God and his ways, his principles, his values,
his laws were at the top. They were the highest authority in civilization. Then
the next thing was nation. You were willing to give up your life for God and
for your country as it were. Then the next important strata of society was your
community. There's a phrase that says “it takes a community to raise a child”
and then your family and then after that you as the individual you are at the
bottom as it were. But society's flipped that now where they say you know your the
individual needs and the individual person should trump everything else. And
also you had in the past God and his ways were also the foundation of all that.
So, at the top and the bottom. The Bible says in Psalm 33 “blessed is the
nation whose God is the Lord.” And in Psalm 11, “when the foundations are being
destroyed, what can the righteous do?” And from the Bible we get the very basic
view right from the opening chapter of scripture of the Bible that we all of us
in this room and everyone on this planet has been made in the image of almighty
God. We are divine image bearers you might say. We have worth and value because we're made in his
image. He's formed us and therefore we're also accountable to him as well. We
are his creatures. We're subject to him. But because we've lost that sense much
in in the UK and much of the Western world, people now behave in a way that
they say, "Well, who are you to tell me what to do or how to behave?"
People have lost that sense of respect for one another because they don't see
each other as created in God's image or accountable to Almighty God. I think in
the past there was a general agreement on what was the social norms and the
right standings and now many are afraid to challenge social disorder because of
the backlash that you may receive. Neighbours I think more in the past, even in
my lifetime were perhaps more connected years ago perhaps based on the concept of
love thy neighbour but now often many people on the same street don't even know
each other's first names. And this has led to more social disorder, loneliness,
crime, and mental issues, mental health issues. And it's easy for us to blame
the world, isn't it? And say, "Look how the world has gone. Oh, it's
fallen apart." But really, the church has a lot to answer for because it's
the church's job to restrain evil and to promote respect and love, to promote
ultimately the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the only thing that can really
bring hope and salvation as the scripture says. Well, in 1 Corinthians 10, Paul
says that the stories of the Old Testament about Israel, God's people, Israel,
were written as warnings for us, for all generations. He reminds his readers,
he reminds the Corinthian church that God wanted to have an altar for people to
worship him and to sacrifice in his temple. But sadly during the history of
Israel, many false gods were worshiped and altars erected on high places which
understandably angered the Lord. And this led to societal collapse and moral
decline and exile for the people of Israel and for Judah. Israel got taken over
by godless nations and I say exiled and then it took a period of time where they
had to repent and God destroyed their enemies and then he brought them back to
the land. And it happened a few times in their history as we know. The Bible
says in the proverbs that “where there is no vision, no revelation, no
prophetic dreams of God and his word, the people become unrestrained. But happy
and blessed are those who keep his law, who stick to his word.” In the UK, and
I think especially in Northern Ireland, we used to worship God at the Christian
altar. You might say a key example of this was during the Second World War when
churches were packed to the hilt when the Archbishop of Canterbury or Winston
Churchill or the king called people to pray and every time people prayed and
there was a national day of prayer and I think there was seven of them. The
tide turned in our favour in the war. God intervened and he answered our
prayers and we won the war against an evil ideology. But nowadays many people
worship themselves. People have become very inward focused, haven't they? Me
myself and I, you know, the unholy trinity, you might say. Singer and
songwriter Bob Dylan years ago wrote the song License to Kill. It's nothing to
do with James Bond. And he the lyrics say now man worships at an altar of a
stagnant pool and when he sees his reflection he is fulfilled. Oh man is
opposed to fair play. He wants it all and he wants it all his way. Later Bob Dylan
actually became a born again believer. I don't know if you know that. And he
was inspired by Christ's example and he and Christ's example of serving others
in his command to love people as he loved them. and to love their neighbour as
thyself. And he wrote the song, You've Got to Serve Somebody. And this actually
became quite popular with some of his fans and other musicians. John Lennon wrote
a sort of rebuttal song called Serve Yourself and he was very much about no you
serve yourself you know whereas Bob Dylan was like no in serving others we
become free. You see, when we reject God and his ways, we stop we slowly stop
loving him and loving our neighbour ourselves and we begin to lose a sense of
putting others first. But as someone once said, the word joy can be an acronym
for Jesus first, others second, and yourself last. And that's where real joy is
found and peace as well. The Bible is clear that or the New Testament in
particular is clear that we are living in the last days. These days began with
the first coming of Jesus Christ more than 2,000 years ago. And they will
culminate with his second coming. Acts 2, Hebrews 1, for example, make it clear
we are in the last days. And Paul says in 2 Timothy 3, he says, "Now
understand this that in the last days there will come much difficulty for
people will be lovers of self." Have a look at these two images here.
These are of Kim Kardashian, the reality star, the celebrity. She released a
book in 2015 called Selfish. And they were just selfies of herself, just photos
of herself. That's all the book contained. And then the following year, if that
wasn't enough, she released a second book called with the advert More Me. And
that tells you quite a lot, doesn't it? Paul goes on to say that “people will
be lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful,
unholy, heartless, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the
appearance of godliness, but denying its power.” That to me sounds a bit like
humanism, doesn't it? Having a form of righteousness and almost like godliness
but without God. The American Humanist Association, their slogan is good
without God. So many celebrities like Kim Kardashian and others preach values.
They're very sort of I find particularly nowadays they're quite self-righteous
buy they don't want God involved. And of course, when one generation rejects
God, the next generation rejects godliness. And the blessings that you have
from one generation become less and less with each new generation. There was
someone though very special who was a key part of our society for decades who
provided a link to better times. I think she was a person who retained her faith.
She had an unwavering sense of duty and faith in Jesus Christ. And that was
Queen Elizabeth II. Had she lived, she would have turned 100 this year, as you
probably know. You can see there that she had a lovely glow in her eyes. I
think a lovely grace about her. She was a naturally pretty woman, wasn't she?
But there was something in her eyes. I think and her smile that reflected
something very special and I actually believe it's because she knew the Lord
Jesus Christ. Jesus said that the eyes are the lamp of the body and the doorway
to the soul. And the queen in her Christmas messages especially repeatedly
espoused how Christ was the guiding light of her life. She said one year that
the teachings of Christ provided a framework for her life and also an accountability
before almighty God and she encouraged people to turn to him. She was good
friends with Billy Graham and they had many conversations and she used to enjoy
those conversations with him and the spiritual insight that he would give. There
was a lovely story I heard by the preacher David Pawson. You've probably heard
of him. And he spoke about how he was in a congregation once and he saw this
very elderly, very wrinkled woman, but there was something about her face that
sort of glowed as it were, you know, and he went up to her afterwards and he
said, “you know, apart from my wife, he said, I must say that you are to me the
most beautiful woman I've ever seen.” And she said, “you know, you're not the first person
to say that to me.” And he said, “how is that?” And she said "Well, when I
was a young woman, I was very plain and that was very difficult for me."
She said, "But she said, I encountered the Lord Jesus when I was about
24." And she said that her demeanour and her face and everything began to
change. And people used to comment on that. Kim Kardashian, the woman we saw in
the previous slide, is a pretty woman herself, but she looks very augmented and
plastic and self-absorbed. And I don't mean that in a judgmental way. We become
like the people we spend the most time with, don't we? And we should all, Paul
speaks about this in Corinthians as well, that we should reflect the beauty and
the glory of God. Remember how Moses literally did and he was he was so bright
people couldn't look at him. We're meant to have a joy and a grace in our face
and in our manner that should reflect the Lord Jesus Christ. According to
extensive research that was done in Time magazine in 2013, Jesus Christ came
out as the most significant and influential person in human history. And some
people say that history, that word is really his story. It's absolutely
amazing. I think it's something we take for granted that actually nearly every
country in the world has adopted a calendar that counts down towards his birth
before Christ BC and then counts up AD. We're in the year 2026 because it's
roughly 2026 years since Jesus came to be. Isn't that incredible that amazing?
I think we're so used to it. We don't think and none of the calendars of the
world did that. They've adopted them over centuries and it's become the normal
calendar for pretty much every nation on earth acknowledges the person of Jesus
Christ and counts the numbers downwards towards his coming and then upwards
from I find that absolutely amazing. That tells you something about Jesus
Christ. And yet he only lived 33 years. Only the last three or three and a half
years of his life were significant. But he came to earth in obedience to God
the father and set the perfect example of godly living. The Bible says many
times that we are to take on board his identity. Could we please turn to
Philippians 2 a very familiar passage. So from verse five, “let this mind be in
you which was also in Christ Jesus.” So we are to have the mind of Christ, he
says, “who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God, but he made himself of no reputation, and took upon himself the form of a
servant, and was made in the likeness of men. and being found in fashion as a
man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Wherefore
God also has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every
name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of things in earth on in
heaven and things in earth and things under the earth. And that every tongue
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.” We
will see that one day when Jesus returns where every knee will bow and every
tongue confess that he is Lord. So Paul is saying we are to take on board his
mindset. We are to live to think the way that Jesus did just as Jesus gave up
all the riches and glory of heaven. He gave up his omnipotence, his
omnipresence, his omniscience. He gave up all that to take on the form of a
human being. We are to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow him just as
he humbled himself to death. Even death on the cross, even crucifixion, the
worst, most excruciating suffering and death you could possibly imagine. And
that passage is often seen as a theological statement like a creed. But it's
more of a moral statement, isn't it? Because it's telling us about the nature
of Christ that as I say, he gave up everything for us. He, the son of God, who
shared in the glory of the father and the spirit for all eternity, God
almighty. And yet he was willing to come down to our level and walk the dusty
streets of Israel and Jerusalem and you know the word became flesh and dwelt
among us. He pitched his tent among us. He wanted to come and live amongst us
and show us the father. Paul says in Galatians he says I have been crucified
with Christ. He identifies with the death and crucifixion of Jesus. And he
said, "It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me. The life I
live now in this body, I live unto the son of God who loved me and gave himself
for me." That was Paul understood his identity in Jesus. How much that the
Lord had loved him that he gave himself for me.
He personalizes it. And Jesus himself knew his identity. He was secure
in God his father. Remember at his baptism when God the father spoke these
wonderful words over him, he said, "You are my beloved son. In you I am
well pleased. I am well pleased." Now bearing in mind Jesus hadn't even
begun his ministry, but he said, "In you, I am well pleased." And
Jesus ministered then for the next three, three and a half years from a place
of that approval. People, sorry to keep picking on Kim Kardashian, but people
like her try, they get it the wrong way around. They're doing things to get our
approval. They're trying to take selfies. They're trying to look at me, look at
me. They're trying to get our attention and our approval. And of course, when
that fades, they try and do something else. I remember there was a quote from
Madonna, you know, another famous celebrity, and she said that she was never satisfied.
She was quite honest about herself to give her credit. At least she understood
there was a problem. She said, "I do these weird and wacky things because
she said it gets attention." And then she said, "It fades and I feel
really dull and normal." And she goes, "I can't bear that." So
she goes, "I think of something else to do to get people's
attention." That's why she does these ridiculous displays and dances and
all sorts when she does her concerts and stuff. and she's never satisfied.
She's in that constant kind of vicious circle of attention seeking. But Jesus,
Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, came from a place of approval. There was a
place of peace. When you know, Jesus didn't have to be born again. We know
that, but we do. And when we're born again, we receive the Father's approval.
When we repent of our sins, God's approval rests on us just as it did on his
son and we become sons and daughters of God, the father and brothers and
sisters of Jesus. Also at Jesus baptism, remember how the Holy Spirit descended
on him like a dove. So we see father, son, and spirit there. It's wonderful,
isn't it? We see the trinity there. Paul says in Romans 8, "The spirit you
received brought about your adoption to sonship. So, you've been adopted into
God's family. And he says, By him, we cry Abba Father by the Spirit. The spirit
within us testifies with our human spirit that we are now God's sons, God's
children.” You see, my salvation isn't found in this book. my sense of
assurance. It's found in the fact that the Holy Spirit is living within me.
This book tells me how to find the assurance. But we have to remember it's the
Holy Spirit living within us that that gives us the constant assurance that we
are God's children and that we can cry out, "Abba, Father." We have
the right then to call God father just as Jesus did. That's our identity in
Christ, isn't it? Loved, adopted sons of the father, brothers of Jesus,
brothers and sisters of Jesus, and anointed by the same Holy Spirit. The same
spirit who raised Jesus from the dead is living in us. Just dwell on that. We
need to meditate on that. Remember then straight afterwards, the Holy Spirit
led Jesus into the desert to be tempted. He was there for 40 days as we know.
It's interesting that at the beginning of his ministry there was 40 days and
then at the end he was with the disciples for 40 days. Satan is the father of
lies as we know. How did he tempt Jesus? On what basis did he tempt him? He
said “if you are the Son of God.” The Father had just said “you are my beloved Son”.
He had spoken that in front of a crowd of people who have been baptized alongside
Jesus and he said “this is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased.” Satan says
“if you are the Son of God”. So he's attacking his identity his sonship and
Satan does the same to us or his demons do he questions our sonship and our
identity in Jesus. He tries to destabilize it but again because Jesus overcame
the devil at each turn and ultimately through the cross and the resurrection. We
who are in Christ and if Christ is living within us by his Spirit, we can
overcome the devil as well. We have victory. The Bible says we are more than
conquerors. Not just conquerors, we're more than conquerors. Why are we more
than conquerors? Because the victory's already been won. Jesus’ death and
resurrection was sort of the nail in the coffin for the devil. And the Bible says
that yes, the devil still has a degree of power, but he only has power over
those who follow him. But for the rest of us who know the Lord, we are not
under his power anymore. You see, when we repent of our sins, when we confess
our sins, God will forgive and forget our sins. But the devil doesn't. We have
to remember that. And he tries to remind us of past sins and bring them up. We
need to learn how to speak to quote the scriptures to know the word of God in
the Spirit, in a spiritual way just as Jesus did in the desert with the devil.
Jesus quoted the right scriptures. He knew the word of God. He was the word of
God in in flesh. A great scripture I find that we can personalize just as Paul
personalized his identity with the Lord is 1 John 4:4 where it says “greater is
he that's in you than he that's in the world.” So if we feel that we're being
attacked there's horrible thoughts coming into our mind and it does happen, we
can say “no greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world.” Satan is
a defeated foe. We can say “no I am saved. I'm redeemed. I'm dearly loved and
I'm forgiven. I don't need to be reminded of past sins because God's forgotten
them. I don't need to be reminded of them. I'm not going to think about them.
I'm not going to feel guilty for them because Christ has paid the price for
them and I've repented and the work of the cross has been applied into my life.”
There's a wonderful hymn from the I think it's the 18th or 19th century - His
be the victor's name
“Though the vile accuser roar of sins
that I have done
I know them well and thousands more
but Jehovah he knoweth none.”
In Ephesians 6, Paul gives us the armour of God and he gives
us seven parts as it were and he bases it on the armoury of a Roman soldier that
he would be familiar with at the time. He says that we don't wrestle with flesh
and blood. In verse 11 we put on the whole armour of God not just some of it
that we may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we don't
wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers, and rulers
of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. And
he goes through the various parts. He says you are to “put on the belt of
truth.” That is integrity. He says, “put on the breastplate of righteousness.”
That's purity. He said, "Put on the shoes of peace." Shoes of
readiness to spread the gospel of peace. That's tranquillity. He said,
"Put on the shield of faith." That represents certainty.
He said, "Put on the helmet of salvation on your head.”
That's sanity". And what he's saying there, I believe, is to fill your
mind with the things of God. Protect your mind from the lies of the enemy
because the battle is always in the mind. It begins in there. Sinfulness always
begins in the mind. But if we fill our minds with the things of God, evil
things can't get in so easily. We should meditate on our salvation. That's what
the helmet of salvation is. Focus on my salvation in your mind, in your
thinking. Have the mind of Christ as Paul says. And then he says, the sword of
the spirit. That's sensitivity or tenacity. And the Holy Spirit can give us
words at the time when we need them. Jesus said that, didn't he, when he said
to the disciples, you will be persecuted, but don't worry, the Spirit of my Father
will give you the words you need to say that no one can contradict or count. And
then he says, “pray in the Spirit at all times.” In other words, allow the Spirit
to guide your prayers to pray through you to the Father and Jesus. And we pray
in the name of Jesus who intercedes for us as well. I've come across some
Christians and they say that they do the hand actions, you know, for the armour
of God. It's a nice thing on one level, but they miss the point that it's not a
daily ritual. I don't think Paul is saying this is how you are to live. So in
other words, he says when you say “put on the belt of truth”, make sure that
truth is quite tight around you. You are a deeply truthful person. When he says
“put on the breastplate of righteousness,” he's saying be righteous. Put on
righteousness. You know when he says “put on the shoes of peace,” he's saying where
you walk in this world, make sure that you are peaceful. Spread the gospel of
peace. “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news, who bring
peace, who bring joy” as we read in Isaiah. See, Paul says elsewhere, put on
Christ. How are you supposed to do that? He's obviously saying, "Put
Christ on like a coat, like a cloak. Wear him. Behave like him to those around
you."
I just want to share something personal about me because you
don't really know me that well. And I'll just share a little about myself. My
own identity. Only in recent times, I would say that I've grasped more this
sense of the importance of identity in Christ. I was born in the mid 80s and
grew up then and into the 90s and naughties. That was my generation. And I come
from a Roman Catholic background, an Anglo Irish one. My mom comes from County
Mayo. My dad was born next to Aston Villa actually in Birmingham. And we grew
up in Birmingham. I was one of six, the youngest of six. And there were very
good Christian principles, which I know that Roman Catholicism is not a good
expression, I believe, of Christianity, but there are certain principles that
are compatible. There are good things. It is a strange mix of truth and
deception really as I've found. So there was a positive side but there was a
negative which there was Catholic guilt. It bred perfectionism. There's
idolatry of course and it led to a distorted view of God. And the identity that
I developed was one of insecurity. There was also violence in the home that I grew up in as
well. It was quite difficult and it weirdly began the year that I was conceived
or the year I was born actually. So that's all I knew for about the first 20
years really actually. And I started to develop this sort of performance-based life
and of course that's quite draining at times. I was very very shy as well,
highly sensitive, overly concerned with what other people thought of me or were
saying about me, apologizing too much for things. Kind of apologizing just for
living as it were. Feeling kind of, you know, scared or nervous just because of
the environment I grew up in. Easily agitated and easily rejected as well and overly
defensive at times. Now, that wasn't the whole story. There were good aspects
as well. There were good aspects to my childhood. My siblings would all say
that as well. There were certain, not to sound proud, but there were good
aspects, I'd say, to my character as well. But I found that I often couldn't
handle, for example, people disagreeing with me or correcting me. I would
interpret that as if someone said, "Well, no, I don't agree with you on
that or you've what you've done is wrong." I would interpret that
rejection of something I've said or done as a rejection of me as a whole
person. Oh, they're rejecting me when really they were just rejecting something
I've said or done. So, I was confusing the two. And the biggest mistake I
discovered that I was making, that the Lord has shown me, was I was expecting
other people to be God for me if that makes
sense. I was putting them in the place of God. So I was
expecting them to be perfect, to never let me down. And of course, when they
did let me down, as they would, and I let people down. I would let people down
all the time, just as we all do, I'd feel so upset and so rejected and why have
they done that
kind of thing? And the Lord has shown me that I was kind of
putting certain people in his place to an extent. And I would pray to God and
God has worked through my life even from childhood and I had a faith in him. I
came to know the Lord when I was only seven and God has worked through me ever
since. But I was kind of putting people in his place often and kind of
expecting too much of them. And bit by bit the Lord showed me that that was
wrong. And he reminded me of certain scriptures. For example, Paul says,
"Have no confidence in the flesh.” Remember the first commandment, “have
no other gods before me." And in the Proverbs, it says, "The fear of
man or trust in man is a snare." And there's been a few turning points in
my life over the last five or six years and one this year as well. I've
suffered for many years with a severe health condition and it's led to real
sort of depression at points and joblessness as well. I haven't been able to
work always because my health has been so bad. But I've really cried out to the
Lord and particularly this year in the last six months, the Lord has really spoken to me and
promised me that he will heal me and has given me a real hope and I've drawn a
lot closer through that suffering. I've drawn a lot closer to him as I've
focused on who I am in Christ. That's helped me to overcome certain sins. I've noticed
certain situations that don't upset me anymore that would have in the past.
I've become more peaceful, gracious to people, more confident, not dwelling
on past hurts or mistakes that I've made. And I enjoy my prayer times with the
Lord as well more. And I can enjoy my health condition more as well. I found,
you know, to be in Christ is to know that we are valued, that we're special in
him, not because of anything within us. It's because of him in us and because
of what he's done for us. It's because of who God is rather than who we are.
Although we are special in God's eyes as well because we're made in his image,
but we are fallen creatures without him. And with God's Spirit living within
us, which is such a privilege beyond words, isn't it really when we think about
it, we can do all things. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens
us. We must, as Paul says, we must identify with his suffering, his burial, his
death, and his resurrection. We have to, as it were, die to self, don't we? We
have to crucify the flesh and allow the old man to die, the old self, and so
God can raise up the new man and Christ comes. Remember what John the Baptist
said, “he I must decrease as he increases.” God who made him who had no sin to
become sin for us so that in him we would become the righteousness of God. What
a divine exchange. What a sacrifice. That Jesus who was the only sinless person
who ever lived both God and man as well. He didn't just take on board our sins,
he actually became sin for us. Remember he said “just as Moses lifted up the
serpent on the pole, I will be lifted up.” He identified the very thing that
was killing us and destroying us, Jesus became that. He took it on board and
became that to take it away from us. And if we repent of our sins, as we know,
if we confess the work of the cross, the achievement that Jesus made for us in
his death is applied into our lives. But we must also focus on the
resurrection. An observation I've made in the last year that I've been living
in Northern Ireland is when the gospel is preached, it seems to end at the
cross. And they say, "Oh, just remember to put your trust in what God did,
the Lord did for you at Calvary.” And then it stops there. But my Bible says that “if you confess Jesus
is Lord and you believe in your heart God raised him back from the dead, you
will be saved.” We have to believe in the resurrection as well and preach the
resurrection that Jesus is alive. Because putting it bluntly, coming from a
Roman Catholic background, if we only preach the death of Jesus, we're no
better than Roman Catholics, are we? Wherever you go into a Roman Catholic
church, it's always Jesus dying or dead on the cross. But Jesus isn't on the
cross anymore. He's alive and he reigns at the right hand side of the father.
And we have to preach Christ crucified, yes, but Christ risen and exalted as
well and Christ coming again.
I just want to end with just reading a few key passages from
the writings of Paul all about our identity in him. They're all scriptures
where Paul says the phrase “in Christ.”
Romans 8 verse 1, “there is no condemnation for those who
are in Christ Jesus.” So you see in Christ we neither debase ourselves neither do
we promote ourselves.
2 Corinthians 1 verse 20 “no matter how many promises God
has made to us they are yes in Christ.” So we have to persevere in believing
that God will change us and change those around us who we find difficult.
2 Corinthians 5 verse 17 “If anyone is in Christ, the new
creation has come. The old has gone. The new is here.” So we have to stop
allowing the trauma and the pain and the sin of the past from informing our
present.
Ephesians 2 verse 13, "But now in Christ Jesus, you who
were once far away have been brought near by the blood of Jesus Christ." At the
Passover, the first Passover in the book of Exodus, God says, "I will pass
over you when I see the blood." He didn't say, "I'll pass over you if
you've got a lot of money, if you've got a lovely house, if you're particularly
good-looking, if you've got a high standing." He said, "When I see
the blood," and he says the same to us. He wants to see the blood of the Lord
Jesus cleansing us from all unrighteousness.
Ephesians 2 verse 7, “God raised us up with Christ and
seated us with him in heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.”
The powerful evangelist who thankfully was saved from the
concentration camps during the Second World War, Corrie Ten Book said, "If
you look inside, you will become depressed. If you look at the world, you'll be
distressed. But if you look to Christ, you'll be at rest.” And I'll end with a
quote from Jesus himself “Come to me, all ye who are weary and burdened, and I
will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle
and humble of heart, and in me you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke
is easy and my burden is light.” That's Matthew 11:28-30. Over the last 20
years, I've done many visits to Northern Ireland. And God placed on my heart
when I was only 15 that I'd be living on the island of Ireland. He gave me a
heart for the Roman Catholics as I used to be one of them, but also for all
people to reach out to people of all political and religious persuasions. And I
think when I was about 19 or 20, he said, "You'll be living in Northern
Ireland." Now, I thought it was going to happen a lot quicker than what it
did. I only moved here last year, but over the last 20 years, God kept sending
me over here and sometimes to the Republic of Ireland as well to do ministry.
And in 2009, I and a friend of mine did some ministry in Rostrevor, you know,
near Newry. And we were sitting in the park there, the most beautiful park, as
I'm sure many of you know, Kilbroney Park, at the foot of the Mournes. And we
saw a man driving two horses and he was pulling a trailer and it was a lovely
image of these children with their parents, families being taken around the
park, you know, being taken around by two horses. My friend who had grown up in
rural Ireland, he grew up in County Roscommon on a farm and he knew a lot about
horses and different farm animals. He looked at the horses and he said the yoke
is uneasy. It's not balanced across above the horses that was connecting them. He
said it's uneasy. He said, "One horse will have it too easy and the other
horse will be clapped out by the end of the day." And there and then I
understood what Jesus meant when he said, "The yoke, my yoke is easy and
my burden is light." You see, Jesus comes alongside us and shares the
burden, shares the load with us. And as we know, when he says easy, he doesn't
mean, as we know, oh, everything's going to be easy from now on. It's going to
be a bed of roses. What he means is he brings ease. He brings a lightness of
spirit. He brings a sense of peace that passes all understanding. And as I say,
he shares the burden with us. He comes alongside us on the journey. We must
grow in our identity of Jesus so that people see in us something that they need
and want, something that's missing in their lives. And on this Father's Day, we
remember that Jesus came to reveal the Father to us. And in Christ, we can come
closer to God our Father.
