Here is a message I gave a few years ago on our identity in Jesus Christ. If nothing else, I imagine the story of the letter I rec'd in the mail will amuse you...it was not amusing to Vickie or to me at the time, but looking back it has provided a great story to tell.
Identity
Ephesians 1:1 – 14
Robert
L. Withers
It had been a long week for both
Vickie and me and we were both glad to get home that Friday evening after work.
At the time we were working in the Washington D.C. area and living in Baltimore…and
were we glad to get home…looking forward to a relaxing weekend.
As Vickie walked in the house,
thumbing through the mail that she retrieved, she stopped at a particular
envelope and handed it to me with the words, “I think you’d better take a look
at this.”
My hopes that it was notification
from Ed McMahon that I had won the Publisher’s Clearing House sweepstakes
disappeared as I read the return address: Anne Arundel County, Domestic
Relations Court.
Under the gaze of my wife I opened
the envelope. Within was a summons to appear before a court-appointed hearing
examiner in five weeks in the matter of Robert T. Withers and Susie Q. Smith
(not her real name). It seems that Susie Q. Smith had a child that she needed
support for and that Robert T. Withers was the father.
Now, just for the record, I am
Robert L. Withers, I am not now nor have I ever been Robert T. Withers. Also,
just for the record, I have never known a Susie Q. Smith.
“I can’t believe this,” I said to
Vickie. “This is crazy. I’ve never heard of Susie Q. Smith and I’ve hardly ever
been in Anne Arundel County. I’ll call Monday and straighten this thing out.
This is a clear case of mistaken identity.”
“Monday is a holiday,” Vickie
reminded me.
“Oh great,” I replied, “it’s bad
enough we get this on a Friday when there is no one to call over the weekend,
but now we have to wait another day.”
Need I tell you that the weekend
didn’t have the relaxing element to it that we had anticipated. Have you ever
dealt with bureaucracy before? Maybe the IRS or Social Security or a huge
corporation? Have you ever had that feeling of a huge elephant sitting right
down on top of you and it seems like there is nothing you or anyone else can do
to move the 5,000 pound beast? I kind of had that feeling all weekend as I
looked forward to calling the Anne Arundel Court system on Tuesday…
After getting to the office on
Tuesday morning I dialed the number on the summons and the conversation went
like this:
“Hi. I’m sure you hear this a lot,
but I don’t know Susie Q. Smith. My name is not Robert T. Withers, it is Robert
L. Withers, and this is obviously a case of mistaken identity.”
“Mr. Withers, you’ll have to appear
before the court and explain this. The summons has been issued and there is
nothing we can do to change it.”
That was it. The 5,000 pound
elephant had spoken as it sat right down on top of me – it was not a pretty
picture.
Now if you think that three-day
weekend was a long weekend, imagine how long the next five weeks were – I mean
who knew what would happen? Was I about to be the object of a bizarre series of
events that would lead to who-knows-where?
It was a clear case of mistaken
identity – I just hoped that it would be clear to the people who mattered.
Let’s turn in our Bibles to
Ephesians chapter 1:1-14.
Ephesians is what we might call a
circular letter, it was written to be circulated in a particular region along
with the letter to the Colossians. We get a picture of this in Colossians 4:16
where we read, “Now when this epistle is read among you, see that it is read
also in the church of the Laodiceans, and that you likewise read the epistle
from Laodicea.” So we see that Paul wrote some letters to be circulated in the
general region where churches were located – as opposed to letters to address
specific issues in churches such as 1 & 2 Corinthians.
If you read Ephesians and Colossians
one after the other you will see that there are parallel passages in the two
letters, suggesting that they were written at the same time and sent to the
same region to be circulated among the churches.
Our passage this morning, Ephesians
1:1 – 14 has been called “The Little Gospel.” It is called this because it
presents God’s Story from before the foundation of the world through the
consummation of the ages, of world history, as we understand the term. It
contains the fall of man, our alienation from God, and it contains the
redemption story in Jesus.
During the five weeks between
receiving the notice to appear in Anne Arundel County court and the actual
court date I knew there was only one real issue at hand, the issue of my
identity. The question was whether the court would acknowledge that I was Robert
L. Withers and not Robert T. Withers.
Right now, in your purse or wallet,
how many cards do you have with special ID numbers on them? Social security?
Driver’s license? How many shopping cards do you have? Food Lion? Costco?
Kroger? CVS? Credit cards? Library card? Medical insurance card?
Those of you who have just returned
from the mission trip to Mexico – of all the forms of identity that you carried
with you across the border – what is the one form of ID that you absolutely
could not afford to lose? Yes…your passports. Your passports verify that you
are citizens of the United States of America and that not only would you be
allowed re-entrance to your homeland – but a US passport also entitles you to
aid and assistance from United States embassies and counsels.
If I go through my wallet and pull out a Food
Lion card does that mean that my primary identity is rooted in Food Lion? Or if
I pull out a Kroger card does that mean that my primary identity is rooted in
Kroger…or Costco…or the county library…or even…with my driver’s license…with
the Commonwealth of Virginia? Who am I? Who are you?
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