Our Identity - Ephesians 1 (4)

 

When the day came for me to appear in Anne Arundel County court, I found myself waiting outside the hearing examiner’s office. As the time drew near for the hearing a young woman came and also sat outside the room. She looked at me briefly, went inside the hearing room, and shortly afterwards I was called inside. The young woman was sitting in front of a desk at which a court official was seated.

            The court official spoke, “I’m sorry Mr. Withers, there has been a mistake. Since we couldn’t locate Robert T. Withers we went through the Department of Motor Vehicles registry and found the closest name to his and issued the summons.”

            As the young woman and I were walking out of the office she said to me, “I am sorry you had to come here. I told them before that you weren’t the right person, but they insisted on issuing the summons.”

            Talk about bureaucracy!

            I knew who I was, even if no one else did; and I knew who I wasn’t.

            But even if Anne Arundel County has proceeded with the farce, even if they insisted that I was Robert T. Withers – that would not have changed my identity – for my identity is not found in the Department of Motor Vehicles or the Anne Arundel County Court System…or even on my US Passport (as much as I value that document) – no!

            My identity is found in Ephesians 1:1 – 14, my identity is found in Jesus Christ – from before the ages – through time and space – and then throughout all ages – my identity is in Jesus Christ – and because I esteem Him great I esteem myself secure in His love. Let me say that again – Because I esteem Him great I esteem myself secure in His love.

            And I do get junk mail, I get junk mail from the Anne Arundel counties of the world – messages from Madison Avenue advertisers and from old internal tapes playing back things said or done decades ago – but when they arrive in my mental and emotional mail – I look at my Lord Jesus and take them to the trash can – and when I close the lid of the trash can I don’t look back in – because I’m looking at Jesus the entire time. Ephesians 1:1 – 14 is my junk mail shredder.

            What do you do with your junk mail?

            Our daughter Joy used to love junk mail when she was four or five years old. She’d hoard junk mail. The first thing she’d do when getting home from daycare was to look in the kitchen trash can to see if there was any junk mail in it that she could retrieve.

            In her bedroom she had one of those cardboard playhouses that she could get inside of…and that’s where she’d take her junk mail. I recall once that I hauled five or six tall stacks of junk mail out of her little house…

            What’s inside your house this morning? Maybe instead of a 5,000 pound elephant you have 5,000 pounds of junk mail sitting on you. Are there some old tapes that are played on a regular basis? Things others have said about you? Maybe things you’ve done that you shouldn’t have done? Are there things you’re struggling with in your life this morning – things that get the upper hand all too often? If you’ve come into a relationship with Jesus Christ then none of these things are your true identity – for Christ has become your identity – and all those other things are junk mail. And let me share this…and we’ll explore this on a future Sunday…but if you are struggling with things in your life right now…this morning…the way out of those things isn’t by focusing on yourself – it’s by focusing on Jesus…as I behold Jesus I am transformed…

            Okay…if you still get junk mail in your life…especially if you get recurring junk mail…even though you’ve asked to be taken off the mailing list…I’m going to pray with you right now…and then…after I give the benediction…I’m going to ask the elders to come and stand right over on my left…and if you want to talk to someone or pray some more…if you want to further seal this time in your heart…the elders will be here for you…

            Please take the Ephesians handout and hold it…now what you have in your hands is a junk mail paper shredder…now whatever this junk mail is that you’re getting…with your eyes closed…visualize yourself putting it into the Ephesians paper shredder…with Jesus standing right next to you…

            Let me pray with you right now…

AMEN