Identity: Called

Jan 15, 2017 by: Sam Hestorff| Series: Identity
Scripture: Luke 4:14–30

We are in the middle of a sermon series entitled “Identity” because there is just something about this time of the year that causes us to reflect on our lives and ask . . .

"Is this what I’m supposed to be doing?"

And so we make resolutions that essentially say, “This year I am going to become a better version of me; I’m going to diet, I’m going to work out, I’m going to stop spending so much time on Facebook/twitter.”

But what I’ve been suggesting over the past couple of weeks is that the only way to be become a better version of you . . . is to know who you are; to understand your identity.

But in our culture, that’s difficult because we tend to value image and performance.

We tell little girls . . . you’re so pretty.
We tell little boys . . . you’re so big and strong.
We reward students who achieve academically or physically
and gives raises and perks to employees who excel at their jobs.

Not that these are bad things and I don’t believe that we should give trophies to everyone but we’ve been culturally trained to do whatever it takes to perform and create an acceptable public image of ourselves, even if it compromises our character . . . our identities.

There’s a problem when what you do or what you look like becomes more important than who you are.

And if you spend your time trying to perform rather than understanding who you are . . . you are never going to be able to do what you were designed and called to do. Life will just become a series of broken resolutions.
So Instead of asking what works or what’s going to impress . . . start asking what’s true.

What’s true about God? What’s true about me?

Let’s watch our text this morning.

Jesus had come home to Nazareth . . . and there was quite a buzz that he was there. Everyone had heard about the things Jesus had been doing along his journey in the Galilean countryside. He’s been healing people, casting out demons, and teaching mind blowing, life changing spiritual truths.
So everyone flocked to town to see the boy from Nazareth and to have conversations with each other about what part exactly each person had in his success.
From the reaction of the people, I am almost certain that there must have already been a sign posted at the outskirts of town that read: “Welcome to Nazareth, Hometown of Jesus.”
You see, the people of Nazareth were about as far from Jewishness as any Jew could be. In fact, it was said that nothing good could come from Nazareth.
And so to have Jesus, one of their hometown boys do great things in life would help bring credibility to this small village because when a person reaches prominence in Jewish culture, their hometown will assume a sense of prominence too by virtue of the fact that the important person came from there.
When he arrived, he went to church to attend services, just like he had every week growing up.
And because it was an honor to welcome this homegrown celebrity back among them, the rabbi asked Jesus if he would do the special task of unrolling and reading the scripture for the day.
Jesus looked through the writing on the scroll and he read from Isaiah 61, a passage that described the relationship he intended to have with the people he encountered during his ministry.
He chose and read the passage that represented who he was and what he intended to do.
And then, he sat down.
The eyes of everybody in the synagogue were fixed on him. They had waited with anticipation to hear what he would say, and now that he’d read this passage, they didn’t quite know what to think.
The part he chose to read was all about bringing good news to the poor and releasing prisoners and restoring sight to the blind.
In general, it all sounded good to them, but he was missing the best part . . . right after the promise to set the captives free the text says that God would inflict vengeance on those who had oppressed his people . . . now that stuff will preach, right?
So everyone just kept looking at him, and you can almost imagine the silence hanging heavy in the air, the whole town eagerly awaiting a political call to arms.
Then he got up again and began to preach—not just read the text, but proclaim a message.
“Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
That was it—that was the phrase that was at the heart of this gospel Jesus was preaching.
Today the promise of the Messiah . . . the one whom they had been anticipating for hundreds of years to set them free from oppression and to restore them back into a relationship with God . . .The promise that I will be your God and you will be my people . . . is being proclaimed . . . right here, right now!
But it’s a message that comes on the wings of grace, not vengeance . . . and all of you, you who know me best, get to experience the radical living out of God’s message of love for the world.
Wait, wait, wait just a second.
When he’d first started reading, everybody loved the it—after all, Israel was a nation living under crippling oppression, with no power at all. Reading passages like this made them feel vindicated, like God was on their side.
But right there in the temple, Jesus was looking his community, people of faith, straight in the eyes and saying: this has to start here. Now. In you, and you, and me, and all of us.
And this message of God’s love will spill out of this room and cover the entire world.
And do you remember what happened? The people listening were filled with rage. Not annoyed, disappointed or bored . . . filled with rage.
They organized and made moves to take Jesus and throw him off a cliff. That’s how mad they were. That’s how offended they became . . . when they came face to face with the gospel.
You see, they were unable to see Jesus for who he was because they couldn’t accept what that meant he would do.
He was the Messiah, the Son of God, interacting with the world in bold and fresh ways; bringing good news to the poor, releasing those who were oppressed, restoring sight to the blind, and extending God’s grace to all who would listen.
Jesus offended all the people in the synagogue that day because he wasn’t giving them what they wanted or expected—a nice, sterile, self-righteous pep talk.
He wasn’t concerned about looking good or trying to impress his home church with his performance.
He was asking them to stretch, to make hard decisions on behalf of the poor and the outcast, people they didn’t like and folks they’d worked their whole lives to avoid.
Not because they have to but it’s who they are in Christ.
And when they saw him clearly, they were so mad they wanted to kill him. Eventually, they did.
After Jesus lived out his identity and he came to the end of his life, he looked at his disciples and said, “Whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these”
Now, I have to be honest, this scares the heck out of me . . . he’s got a pretty impressive resume . . . and it almost sounds as if Jesus is saying, I’m Junior Varsity but you’re varsity . . . so you’d better step it up.
And if Jesus is expecting us to do better than him; then let’s get honest . . . this isn’t going to work out well for us.
But that’s not what he saying. He’s telling them that he could only be in one place at one time; teaching one group of people, feeding one group of people, loving and serving one group of people.
And there are 11 of you sitting around the table . . . and God is getting ready to do something through you that is going to change this world . . . not that you’ll do things that are better than Jesus but you’ll have more hands. You’ll have more feet. You’ll be able to teach more people, love more people, and share the goodness of God to more people.
“You’ll be doing things that I’ve been doing but you will do them with greater multitude.”
And then he says, “And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything, in my name, and I will do it.”
He’s telling them that if we’re going to do the same things that he’s been doing, and we’re going to do them with greater multitude and in such a way that will bring glory to God . . . then the key is that we pray “in Jesus name”.

Not so that God will do what we want, when we want and how we want it done but that through those prayers, God will change us and put us in the movement of his will.

You see, the primary function of prayer is to change the hearts of God’s people. Prayer helps people understand who they are and what they’ve been called to do.

And when you pray in Jesus’ name . . . you begin to see the world differently. You begin to see a world through the lens of God; the God of compassion and love and grace and hope.

And as you look out, you see a world that’s broken and hurting . . . you will begin to think, I need to do something about this. And that’s scary because it seems like an overwhelming task. God, how am I going to make any kind of difference?

That’s what the disciples want to know so they ask . . . “How are you going to change the world with 11 guys? This is a big task. It seems like we would need at least 13 or 14 guys to change the world.”

Jesus says, “Piece of cake . . . I’m gonna give you the Holy Spirit”.

The Holy Spirit will come with power and will give you an identity. All you need to do is love me, live your life, take some risks, get out there, infect the world with God’s love one person at a time and guess what? The Holy Spirit will do everything else.”

Look around the room . . . How did this conversation with 11 guys get to us?

The Holy Spirit gave love to someone, who gave love to someone, who gave love to someone, who gave love to someone . . . We sit here in an aerobics room at a YMCA in South Tampa worshipping the God of creation because the Holy Spirit took 11 guys at a dinner table and used them to change the world; to make a difference, one life at a time.

And I can’t help but wonder as I look around this room . . . If we are willing to pray and be defined by Jesus, what’s the Spirit of God gonna do through us?

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