Identity, Part 2: The Life of Faith

As I shared in my last post, when I enter a church, with all the beauty, the songs, the liturgy, it’s as though something within me says, “Ahhh, this is who I really am.” Being at church reminds me of my identity as a follower of Jesus Christ.

 

A Destination and a Reality

And it is out of that identity we are meant to walk on this planet between now and the time God chooses to take us home, into that place where we see all the things that these things remind us of: the beauty and the joy of heaven, a life where there is no pain or grief, where God wipes away every tear in every eye, the conflict is gone, sickness and disease are gone. It is a place where we literally gather together, fully clothed, fully fed, at the marriage supper of the Lamb, where we feast with great joy forever.

I don’t know what your picture of heaven is, but if it’s somehow Casper the Friendly Ghost sitting on a cloud, that’s not the picture the Scriptures present. Instead, it is choice meats. It is fine wine. It is glorious singing. It is beauty incomparable with anything. It is literally a remade heaven and earth, where we gather with the saints forever, coming out of the clouds, “the new Jerusalem,” the book of Revelation calls it.

You see, that’s where people who bear this identity go, and the more extraordinary thing is not only is that a destination, but it’s a reality God has put in us right now. When we receive the Holy Spirit, a part of what that means is that we receive the Spirit of the age to come, the Spirit of heaven placed directly inside the deepest part of who we are, so that we are, as the Scriptures tell us, “born again.” Something new happens in us. And it is that newness that gives us the capacity to, in essence, see life from a very different perspective.

 

A New Life and a Foretaste

The new life God has planted in us is a foretaste of things to come. And amidst all the horror of political rivalry and bloodshed, what is actually happening is that God is laying out a stage for Jesus to literally take heaven and earth. And we, in a way that we certainly don’t deserve, get to be a part of that. And that has already begun in the foretaste God gives us: the Spirit of the age to come, the power of the Holy Spirit, the new nature, all grafted and poured deeply within us.

You see, if you don’t believe that to the very soles of your feet, then statements like “Blessed are you poor … woe to you who are rich” (Luke 620b-24a) make no sense whatsoever. Because the gospel, in an extraordinarily stark way, turns upside down the values our culture and society hold incredibly dear. And if you don’t believe in the gospel, in the triumph of our Lord Jesus Christ and the new heaven and new earth, your only job description, your only way to live is “take what you can and get what you can,” and woe to anybody who gets in your way.

 

But, if you believe that God has given you a foretaste of the age to come, and that he is pouring life in you supernaturally, and that he really is committed to filling you with good things, and carrying you, even in the midst of the worst of circumstances, into the age to come, then you can live with the kind of generosity and kindness described in this Scripture passage. And that’s not being naive, that’s actually being prophetic. It is being courageous. It is living out of that supernatural power within you even in the face of circumstances that would tell you, “You know, to live like that, you’re just crazy.”

 

Crazy Talk and a Job Description

In other words, it makes no sense. It’s crazy talk. You have to believe this stuff, in other words, to live out this kind of life. Because that is, in fact, the call God places upon us. And that is the witness of saints in ages past. To say, “and I mean to be one too” (a line in the hymn “I Sing a Song of the Saints of God”) is to say, “I’m willing to live out of this storehouse that God has placed within. I’m willing to set my life based on the agenda that is laid out in the Scriptures. I do, in fact, believe in the powerful triumph of Jesus Christ over every single wrong and that even now, God is at work in the world amidst the gore and the violence and the bloodshed and the acrimony, in a way that is literally preparing the way for the return of his Son. And I want to be one who is found faithful when he returns.”

Crazy talk? Or the most realistic way to live? The decision is one you must make. But if you “mean to be one too,” then this becomes a job description. That even the worst of circumstances when we mourn and grieve and are hungry, we believe with all of our heart that God is coming to set things right. And that for those who laugh in this world full of the riches of good things, with no care for other people, and it’s just about protecting and taking care of mine; it is to those people that Jesus says, “Woe.” Because they are under judgment.

 

An Identity and an Invitation

So what is your truest identity? What is the definition of who you really are? Is it in the Scriptures? Is it reflected in what you see in the church? Is this your true home, that foretaste of the age to come as we gather together here, in the midst of “angels and archangels and all the company of heaven”?

That’s why I need to come to church. I need to be reminded of that. Of who I really am. Of who God is making me be: imperfect, broken, sinful as I am. And that I’m on a destination God has defined as a new heaven and a new earth. That he has prepared for me and for you, what the collect calls “ineffable joys.”

So come. Say yes to that which we declare to be true because God has said it. Say yes to living out that identity. Praying. Involved. This is not a call to withdraw. Praying for our leaders, speaking peace to your neighbors. Giving out with great kindness the resources the Lord has given you. Choosing to live without fear. Choosing instead to live in faith, knowing that amidst whatever we face, the kingdom is being handed over to God.

 

Is your identity wrapped up in faith? Share this blog and your response on Twitter. Please include my username, @revgregbrewer.

 

(This post is an adaption of Bishop Brewer’s sermon on November 6, 2016, at All Saints’ Episcopal Church, Enterprise, Florida.)

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.