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Jan 26, 2020

Given is Greater Than Gotten

Given is Greater Than Gotten

Passage: Romans 8:12-17

Speaker: Patrick Lafferty

Series: Elevator Pitch: The Good News in One Chapter, Romans 8

Why has identity risen as the thing most sought, and most championed, and therefore elicits the greatest emotion when it’s even slightly threatened? Why is there now a whole politics associated with identity? What does it mean to have an identity in Christ, and why does it serve you both when you are adored and when you are maligned?

Order of Worship

Pre Service: Romans 8:14-15
Call to Worship: John 1:1, 2, 11-13
Sermon Title: Given > Gotten
Old Testament Reading: Hosea 2:14-23
Central Text: Romans 8:12-17
Benediction: Romans 15:13
Post-Service Text: Romans 8:16-17

01.26.2020 Sermon Notes

Illustrations

Saving Private Ryan - Good Life

Readings & Scripture

Pre Service: Romans 8:14-15
14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

Call to Worship: John 1:1, 2, 11-13
LEADER: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.
PEOPLE: He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
LEADER: But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name,
PEOPLE: he gave the right to become children of God,
LEADER: who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh
ALL: nor of the will of man, but of God.

Old Testament Reading: Hosea 2:14-23
“Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
and bring her into the wilderness,
and speak tenderly to her.
15 And there I will give her her vineyards
and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.
And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth,
as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.

Hos. 2:16 “And in that day, declares the LORD, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’ 17 For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. 18 And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. 19 And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. 20 I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the LORD.

Hos. 2:21 “And in that day I will answer, declares the LORD,
I will answer the heavens,
and they shall answer the earth,
22 and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and they shall answer Jezreel,
23 and I will sow her for myself in the land.
And I will have mercy on No Mercy,
and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’;
and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’”

Central Text: Romans 8:12-17
So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

Benediction: Romans 15:13
LEADER: May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
PEOPLE: Amen

Post-Service Text: Romans 8:16-17
16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

Related Scriptures:

  • Hosea 2:14-23
  • John 8:31-38
  • Acts 9:4ff
  • Acts 14:22
  • Galatians 3:29
  • 2 Corinthians 1:3-7

Discussion Questions & Applications:

  1. What were you most known for when you were younger? Did you take pleasure or regret in that reputation that became a form of identity?
  2. Take a stab at a loose definition of identity--what is it? Why do we think it’s important? How do we get one--how is it formed? Take another stab at a deeper question: why do you think identity is something we hear so much about today--something sought after so desperately, championed so highly, and defended so deeply when it’s threatened?
  3. Paul ascribes to those in Christ with certain descriptors of identity? What are those? What does each mean? Why, if true, would each matter?
  4. On what basis are any of those identity labels ours? How are they different from some of the aspects of identity we hear spoken of today?
  5. When have you ever felt the identity you got came into conflict with the identity you’ve been given by virtue of belief in Jesus? (Maybe you sense that even now.) How have you sought to find your stability in that given rather than gotten identity?
  6. How does the Holy Spirit help us put to death the deeds of the body? How does He help us with our confusion over identity?

Quotes:

  • For many people, it is impossible to think without simultaneously thinking about what other people would think about what you’re thinking. And this is exhausting and deeply unsatisfying. As long as your self-conception is tied up in your perception of other people’s conception of you, you will never be free to occupy a personality with confidence; you’re always at the mercy of the next person’s dim opinion of you and your whole deal. - Frederik deBoer
  • Who has a fiercer struggle than he who strives to conquer himself? - Thomas á Kempis
  • This is but a little word, and yet notwithstanding it comprehendeth all things .... Although I be oppressed with anguish and terror on every side and seem to be forsaken and utterly cast away from thy presence, yet I am thy child and Thou art my Father for Christ's sake. I am beloved because of the Beloved.. - Martin Luther
  • Do you mortify; do you make it your daily work; be always at it whilst you live; cease not a day from this work; be killing sin or it will be killing you. . . . a sense of the love of Christ in the cross; lie at the bottom of all true spiritual mortification. - John Owen
  • Parents glow with extra fervor when their child studies hard, practices hard, wins first place, gets into a prestigious college. This sort of love is merit-based. It is not simply: I love you. It is, I love you when you stay on my balance beam. . . . Children in such families come to feel that childhood is a performance. . . .The shadowy presence of conditional love produces a fear, the fear that there is no utterly safe love; there is no completely secure place where young people can be utterly honest and themselves. - David Brooks
  • Parental love is supposed to be oblivious to achievement. It’s meant to be an unconditional support—a gift that cannot be bought and cannot be earned. It sits outside the logic of the meritocracy, the closest humans come to grace. - David Brooks

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