Name & Title

Good morning. We’re glad that you are here this morning. I am Pastor Ben, and it’s my privilege to share from God’s word with you this morning. as this is actually our last sermon in Genesis, part four. Now, we’re not quite done with Genesis yet. We’re going to pick back up in Genesis part five, where we’ll actually finish out the entire book of Genesis. We’ll pick back up in January, but after today, we’re going to go into the Christmas season. I think, as many of you are already aware. and so we’ll have some our Christmas series that we move into next. But we’ve been going through chapter by chapter, verse by verse, word by word. We just heard some of chapter 35. it later in the message, we’re actually going to be hearing a reading from chapter 36 as well. to move us all the way up to, to chapter 37 for our next part, part five. But just by way, reminder, we’re following Jacob. this is the patriarch that we finally we’ve come to. It’s been Abraham. Isaac. Now, Jacob. We’ve been following him for his life. Now, where he’s gone away. Got a few wives. He’s come back. It’s near the Promised Land. Reconciled with his brother. Last week there was a horrible, horrible account where they’re near the promised land. And, of course, that was a PG 13 week. if you missed it, you can go back in, but we don’t suggest it for kids. and then at the beginning of chapter 35, which we really didn’t touch on. just to remind you, this is what’s taking place at the beginning of chapter 35. God tells Jacob to go to Bethel. So now he’s supposed to move his family again, move closer to the Promised Land. Jacob tells his people to get rid of idols because one of his wives had stolen idols from her father when they were leaving that homeland.

Now God continues to protect Jacob as he travels, because now a whole bunch of people are upset with them because they had just wiped out almost a whole city. Yet God protects them, and Jacob builds an altar and worships God, which is a reoccurring theme that we see in the life of Jacob, or in really anyone’s life in Scripture when they have an encounter with God. God puts his promises on them. They respond by worshiping him that that that is the natural response. And so now, in the rest of 35, what we’re going to see today is that there’s a few major themes that come out. One is going to be identity, and the other one is death. And since we had a pretty heavy week last week, we thought we’d go with something light this week, like death. So. I don’t know if you’ve ever had a thought like this, but maybe some of you have. Maybe you’ll think about it for the first time. What will your last words be? It’s not often that you think about something like that. We see in our account today in chapter three five, as we see someone’s last words and the weight that they can carry. But have you ever stopped to pause, to think like what? What will what if I had the opportunity? If I knew when my hour was going to be, what would I say?

Who would I say it to? Actually, a number of years ago, actually, when I was first starting off in ministry, this was an exercise that we did at some church, and you actually wrote a letter to your loved ones telling them what you needed to tell them. And at that time, I was actually already married to my wife, Stephanie, and she carried this thing in her purse year after year until I asked her this week where it was. And she doesn’t know. So. So I guess she’s assuming she’s going to die before me so she doesn’t need the note anymore. But I’m sure it was filled with wisdom, you know, beyond my years when I wrote it, when I was like 22 years old or something. but I do know this, that in it I did try to point, even in my loss to the loss of me, that there would still be hope, because it’s not about me, it’s ultimately about God. Throughout history, there have been other people that have, of course, recorded their last words or actual last words. We’re going to look at a few of them. you know, an artist, maybe you’ve heard of him. Leonardo da Vinci. He had this to say. I have offended God and mankind because my work did not reach the quality it should have. Isn’t that astounding? So this is the guy who, like, painted the Sistine Chapel, and. And he’s like, it was not that good. And I’ve offended. I’ve offended God. That’d be true if I said it. Like with my artwork, I have offended people. Like, it’s just terrible. My kids are excelling. You’re, you know, well beyond me at this point.

Well, how about this one? You might not be familiar with this individual. I’ll give you a little context. He said, this is Thomas, and he said, I did not get my spaghetti O’s, I got spaghetti. I want the press to know this. Is the convicted murderer complaining about his last meal? And things were his last words. Now forever recorded that he didn’t get SpaghettiOs or Grover Cleveland. Kind of the same vein as, Leonardo da Vinci. I have tried so hard to do right. As I read it, I can almost feel like a little bit of angst. Like I’ve. I’ve tried, I’ve striven, I’ve tried to do the right thing. It’s almost feels empty, doesn’t it? But maybe it wasn’t enough. Or theologian from over 500 years ago or just about 500 years ago. Martin Luther, they have his last words recorded, and he said this. We are beggars. This is true. From the man who really sparked the entire reformation and rediscovered the beauty of the gospel. He could say so many wonderful things. Wrote volumes and volumes of books, translated the Bible into German from Latin. And he chose for his last words, we are beggars. This is true. When I first heard this, I had to tell you I was, I was thrown, I had to like, start digging into like, what in the world is he talking about? What did you mean what? And hopefully, as we move through this message together, we can understand that there was more than a nugget of truth in what he said.

But what about not just what you would say when you pass? Since we’re talking about death today, what will people say about you when you die? You know, some of it depends on who it is, doesn’t it? What would your spouse say about you when you pass? What about your kids? Depends on which kid. Doesn’t it? Your friends? Your siblings? Your coworkers. I mean, we’ve all been there, and we all do say nice things, but what will they really remember you for? What will be the thing that is seared in their minds that they associate with you, that defines you in their mind? What is it for you that defines you? There’s a few factors that I think this is a kind of a crisis that we have in our society today of identity, because people are trying to define their own identity, and they look to all of these other factors that their personal factors, they have a personal preference towards this or towards that is the culture that they’re born into or their social circles that they have. Is it the relationships that they carry with family and friends? Is it simply just are you a product of your environment or their generational influences? Because certainly we can see that there are certain traits that are not just in nature, but they’re also nurture that passed down through family lines. And and then to what we really come to, especially in our society, is our self-perception.

And what do I really think about myself that’s, you know, the determining factor for who I am, my core identity at its center. The center of my being is what I perceive it to be. The problem with that is that that’s not always in touch with reality, is it that there has to be something else that ultimately defines us? And with all these factors, some of them can change. You can change where you live. If you don’t know your parents and you’re adopted into another family, well, then, okay, how does that affect it? That there’s so many different things at play, some that can change, some that can’t change? What is it that ultimately defines you? Who you are? And some would look to you. Well, it’s not just your name or your family name. It has to be your reputation. Right? So that’s what’s most important is is it your name? Is it how you are identified by others or how you identify yourself, or is it really your reputation, how people know you and really your character? What would you say my name or reputation? Are the two divorced from each other in any way? Is your name carries forward with it a bit of reputation? If if you hear someone’s name, it carries a weight to it, doesn’t it? Because you associate a name with actions. If I was to say a name of this candidate or that candidate, you would already have certain things in your mind. If I said the name Hitler, there’s certain character that goes along with that, right? If I say the name Stalin, all of a sudden things come to mind. So name and reputation are like intertwined. Yet because many people can have the same name. I, I thought this was fun. This last week I took a look at this 15,284 individuals on the face of this planet who are all assume, I mean, out of all of these have to be all the handsome geniuses because they all share the name Ben Marsh.

And you know how how could you have a name like that and not just be just an outstanding person, right? So it can’t just be the name, right? There’s something tied to that name because they’re all going to be unique individuals, different careers, different paths, different families. But there is something interwoven with name as well. It does tie back to your reputation. It does tie back to character because there’s another theologian, a modern day theologian. You’ve probably heard of her. She had a talk show for a little while. Oprah Winfrey, and she said this every day. You’re only as good as your last show. How many would say that is a sentiment within our society. You’re only as good as your last show, your last at bat. You’re only as good as the last thing that you did. Your last encounter with an individual, the way that you perform at work, the way that you provide for your family. You are that you are only your work. You are only what you are able to produce. And if you can’t produce, then you’re really not anything. It’s such a dangerous thought and it can be helpful for being productive. It can be helpful for caring for others to a certain degree, but it’s actually to the detriment of your own identity, because then you associate your core identity, who you really are with what you do. But that isn’t who you are. A good number of years ago, when I was in the middle school basketball team, we had an amazing coach and he would take down all the stats every single game. He’d go back and he’d watch the film and he’d double check all the stats. And he was doing this not only to have accurate stats, but the next practice after any given game, he would go around and he would give out those special iron on decals that you could put on the back of your shirt.

You’ve been on a sports team. Maybe you’ve seen these that you would would mark you as the okay, you were the player that had the most points in the last game. You’re the player with the most rebounds in the last game. You’re the player with the most blocks, steals, whatever stat. And so at the beginning of the season, everybody had warm up shirts that were blank on the back, blank slate. And then game after game after game decals started getting added to certain players shirts where they would have it filled. I had one friend. It was so filled it started to wrap around the front of his shirt. He had put them on his sleeves. He had so many amazing statistics because he was the best player on the team. But then on the other side of the bench, the ones that don’t come in until two minutes left. Still had one row. Great attitude. A team player, you know, coming up with things to just try to give to those that really weren’t seeing the play in time and weren’t getting the minutes that they needed. And while it can be fun, right, to count those things down, but what that does to the psyche of middle schooler that I am is good, is how I perform on that court. That is my self-worth. And now, not only that, but now I get to walk around and people get to know, okay, that’s the starting line up. They have their backs covered, okay, these guys are going to be on the bench. But these signifiers, how many of us would like that in our day to day life? On the back of your shirt, right on your forehead, just all the great things about you, all the wonderful things. Hey, here’s how much they make every year before taxes.

Here’s the last time that they lied. What if they started including negative things to. All of a sudden it would be a lot harder for a lot of us to carry ourselves in the identity that we try to portray, because it would just be the facts right there in front of everyone. I mentioned we were going to take a look at Genesis 36. and I will warn you, we have committed to reading every word of Genesis and Genesis 36. Put it to the test. This is a genealogy, where we’re going to be going through, and we’re going to hear not of Jacob’s family who are going to continue to follow for all of Genesis part five, all the way to the end of the book of Genesis, but rather this is a genealogy of his brother Esau, the one who was willing to give up his birthright and his promise that that he would actually be the Chosen One, not his brother. We’re going to follow this genealogy. So in here there’s about 200 some odd names. So in this season, if you’re going to get a puppy for Christmas and you’re looking for a name and you want to after one of the descendants of Esau, you know, make sure to jot it down. But I do find this redeeming to about genealogies in Scripture. While they might might not be the most exciting things to read, what they do for us is firmly plant Scripture within history. This isn’t a fairy tale. This isn’t reading a story of Mother Goose. It firmly plants this in history that all of the places mentioned in Scripture and now all the people mentioned in Scripture were in fact people that have lived, that did live, that have passed and their names are recorded here.

So with that in mind, let’s go ahead and watch this together. Genesis chapter 36. These are the generations of Esau that is eaten. He sold, took his wives from the Canaanites, the the daughter of Ellen the Hittite, a whole Obama, the daughter of Anna, the daughter of Zibby, the highlight and Bassem and Ishmael’s daughter, the sister of Debbie. Off and aboard the Esau elephants past the math board. Real. And the whole Obama board. Jewish. John and Cora, these are the sons of Esau who were born to him in the land of Canaan. Then Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the members of his household, his livestock, all his beasts, and all his property that he had acquired in the land of Canaan. He went into a land away from his brother Jacob, for their possessions were too great for them to dwell together. The land of their sojourning could not support them, because of their livestock. So Esau settled in the hill country of cedar. He saw his item. These are the generations of Esau, the father of the Edomites in the hill country of cedar. These are the names of these four sons. Eliphaz, the son of Adam, wife of Esau. Real, the son of Bassem. Matt, the wife of Esau. The sons of Eliphaz, Rittiman, Omar, Jethro, got them, and Kena. Timna was a concubine of Eliphaz. He saw his son. She bore Amalek to elephants. These are the sons of Adam. He saw his wife.

These are the sons of real nard, Zera, shammah. And these. These are the sons of Basim. And he saw his wife. These are the sons of a whole Obama, the daughter of Ayanna, the daughter of Ziba. On Esau, his wife, she bore two Esau, Josh, Janam and Cora. These are the chiefs of the sons of Esau, the sons of Eliphaz, the firstborn of Esau, the chiefs team and Omar’s afo kin as Cora got them, and Amalek. These are the chiefs of Eliphaz in the land of Edam. These are the sons of Arda. These are the sons of real Esau, his son. The chiefs. They have zero Shama and Musa. These are the chiefs of real in the land of Ede. These are the sons of Bassem. He saw his wife. These are the sons of a whole Obama. Esau, his wife. The chiefs Jewish, Joram and Kora. These are the chiefs born of a whole. Obama, the daughter of Hannah. He saw his wife. These are the sons of Esau that is Edam. And these are their chiefs. These are the sons of Seir the Hor. Right. The inhabitants of the land, Lotan, show Baal Zibby and honor DeShawn iser and decide.

These are the chiefs of the Huaraches, the sons of Seir in the land of Egypt, the sons of Lotan or Hori and Hema, and the Lo tens sister was Timna. These are the sons of Schauble, Alden, Manahan, Abel Sheffield, and oh, now these are the sons of Zebedee, Aya and Anna. He is the who found the hot springs in the wilderness as he pastured the donkeys of Simeon, his father. These are the children of Hannah, DeShawn, and a whole Obama, the daughter of Arnold. These are the sons of DeShawn Hamdallah, Esteban, Israel, and Cheryl. These are the sons of Cesar Millan Zavala and Akon. These are the sons of DeShawn uz and are. These are the chiefs of the Horwitz. The chiefs Lotan show balls. Libyan honor shot Aser and be shot. These are the chiefs of the horizon. Chief VI. Chief in the land of Seir. These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edam. Before any king reigned over the Israelites. Bello, the son of Bor, reigned in Edam. The name of this city being din harbor. Bello died, and Joab, the son of Zira, a Bosra, reigned in his place. Joab died, and whose share of the land of the terminates reigned in his place. Who sham died and had the son of B dead, who defeated Midian, and the country of Moab reigned in his place, the name of his city being Abas had died, and Sam law of Moses Raca, reigned in his place. Samaila died, and Shaul of Rehoboth on Euphrates reigned in his place.

Shaul died, and bowel Hanan, the son of Akbar, reigned in his place. Bowel Hanan, the son of Akbar, died and had our reigned in his place. The name of his city being power. His wife’s name was head of Bel, the daughter of matron, daughter of Messer. Have these are the names of the chiefs of Esau. According to their clans and their dwelling places by their names. The chiefs Timna, Alba, Jeff of a whole Ibama, Isla Pinon, Qin as team in mid czar and Magda. And around these are the chiefs of EDA. That is Esau, the father of according to their dwelling places in the land of their possession, and. Sorry I got so caught up in the video. It’s thrilling, isn’t it? Interesting names. Right? And again, if firmly planted within history, it tells you not only are the Esau his family who tells you of those that are kings in the area that this is. These are real people. But what’s interesting is, is that all those descendants of Esau and those in that region, we don’t hear anything else about them for the rest of Scripture, other than the fact that these are the Edomites.

Yet so much time is now going to be dedicated to Jacob and his sons because they have God’s promise. They are the ones that hope is ultimately going to come through. That Messiah is ultimately going to come through. So really, just like in any good show, when you have to tie up loose ends and you go, what ever happened to that character? And that’s exactly what’s happening in Genesis 36. Is it wrapping up what happened with these four? Just like if you’ve been with us through all the Genesis series, they did the same thing with Ishmael. They gave us the descendants of Ishmael, but ultimately didn’t matter what his line led to, because there wasn’t hope that was going to come through his line. So we pick back up and now we’re gonna look at our text. We’re going to look at just a section of our text is setting up this idea that you’ve already heard, right, that that identity, it matters. But where does it come from? Where does our identity come from? And then also this tension that’s found is what does our last dying words, what do they have to say about identity and what power and significance do they have? And we see these two things intersect with one another here in these few verses. Then they move from Bethel, and they were some distance from Ephrathah. Rachel began to give birth and had great difficulty. We remember that Jacob had two official wives. He also had the maidservants that he had children with his two wives, Rachel and Leah. And his favorite wife is Rachel because she’s beautiful but Leah some weak eyes.

Ryan that’s what we’ve heard earlier. So this is his favorite wife about to give birth. And up into this point, does anyone know how many sons has Rachel bore for Jacob? One one so far. The second is about to be born, and that chapters ago that there was a baby making competition between Rachel and Leah and Leah ended up being the fertile one. And Rachel is not. But Rachel is the loved one. The one that Jacob ultimately really wanted to marry. And and Leah just happened to marry him as well because he was tricked into it. So his beloved wife, his life wife who only given birth to one son so far not a whole bunch of them is about to give birth. But there’s a problem. And she was having great difficulty in childbirth. The midwife said to her, don’t despair, for you are having another son. This almost transports us back to the birth of her first son, who’s Joseph. Which means add one more son. Again, the names in the Old Testament, they have a lot of significance, not only in their meaning, but sometimes they’re even prophetic as she’s praying, even as she names her first son that she wants one more son. Could I have one more son? Is her prayer. She loves her husband. She wants to be able to provide. This is how she wants to show. This is her merit badge. This is her decal on her back. I want more sons so I can be more loved. So I can be more appreciated. So I can be the wife that you really want me to be.

And so here comes the second son. And as she breathed her last. For she was dying. She named her son Benoni. There’s nothing else in the text to tell us why she would name him this. But what you need to know to understand what’s taking place here is the meaning of Benoni. Benoni means son of sorrow, son of pain, son of suffer. Shame. So this child that she’s been waiting years and years for, watching her sister, watching her maid servant. Watching her sister’s maid servant give birth and supply sons and daughters for her husband, the one that she loves and the one who loves her. And she just wants to have another son. And finally, that son comes and she names in Benoni. Son of my suffering. Son of my sorrow. Son of pain. Son who killed me. That for the rest of his life, playing with his siblings for the rest of his life, when he’s tending to sheep and someone calls out for the rest of his life, anyone that is going to lift their voice and call out Benoni. That he would hear his ears, hey you! Who killed your mom? Hey you! Who killed dad’s favorite wife? Hey, you! You’re the one that’s brought suffering to our family. Like I said, there’s nothing else in the text to tell us why Rachel do this. Other than the fact that she’s in great pain, that she is in suffering. But the consequence, the consequence of having to live out a name, not just a name, but that new identity, that new reputation that follows that name. You’re the one. You’re the one that’s brought suffering to us. Could you imagine just for a moment, I mean, now here he is. He’s just being born. But yet has he really done anything but. But we ourselves, not infants.

Consciously choose sin time and time again. And rather than the name that you can carry, rather than being called, then rather than being called whatever your name is, if the worst thing you’ve thought, said or done was your name. If instead someone calling out, hey, Bill, if they called out hey you who gossip behind everybody’s back or who you who cheated on your wife? Or her? You who continually lies on your taxes. To walk around and carry such a name and name. That is more than a name. It is a reputation that you are known within that society that that is who you are. It’s a terrible thing to be known in that way. The other side of it is, what about when you’re the one that has the ability to speak someone’s name? How do you speak about other people? Not just when they’re in your presence. How do you speak about other people when they’re not around? How do you speak about your children? How do you speak about your family members? How do you speak about your coworkers? How do you speak about even your own situations that you’re in if you face hardship or difficulty? Is it what it is? You and God must hate you because this situation is terrible. And so you’re naming that situation a terrible suffering.

And really, it’s unfair. It’s an unfair situation. Or even with other people. You have to be careful. I recognize this being the father of three, that when you say even a nice thing about one child, that the other two are listening. What gets us recognition, what gets us attention, what gets us affection? Is it being a good listener? Is that the thing? Is it being a good artist? Is it being good at reading what are the things? What are the things that will give us approval and attention from our parents? So those are the things. So even as parents, you have to be careful what you speak to affirm your kids, even if they’re good things. Because that’s where they’re ultimately going to try to find their identity. Well, one step further. There’s what people call you. There’s what you call other people. What do you call yourself? How do you speak about yourself? What’s your internal dialog as we’ve talked about? I mean, what what are people going to say after your past? You have no control over that. You do have control over what you tell yourself. And nobody talks to you more than you do.

And so what is that dialog like? Is it that you are God’s gift to your family? You’re amazing how people aged. Are they that you are in that family or on the other side of it? You just see yourself as a poor, poor, miserable sinner. There’s nothing good that you can do. I remember I again, a good number of years ago in college, that after the first semester I did well, somehow, by the grace of God, and I got invited to join the honors program. So I went I had straight A’s my first semester. My first year, I went to the honors program. I sat down the class. They were talking about this like giant list of books that they were going to read, and they were going to be extra courses so I could graduate with honors. And I remember I went up to the professor immediately following that first class and I said, yeah, this isn’t me. And I recognize now that there was something that I had been telling myself all along. I was surprised when I even had made it into the honors program. And I did. I dropped out of I didn’t. So I stand before you having graduated, but not with honors. My apologies. But I recognize it was because of my internal dialog. I didn’t think that I was good enough. I didn’t think I was in the right place. I thought I was the wrong person. That was a wrong class. It didn’t match. It couldn’t be me or my older sibling. Yeah. No no no, they’re they’re they’re smart. I’m not the smart one. So my internal dialog actually became my external reality.

Started to live out what I was telling myself. I’m not good enough. I’m not smart enough to be there. Something amazing happens next in our text. She breathed her last. Rachel’s dying. She named her son Ben only, but. His father, Jacob named him Benjamin, the greatest name known to mankind. Benjamin? He just flips the entire thing. Ben. Only son of suffering. Sort of pain. One who killed your mind. Benjamin. Son of my right hand. Son of power. Son of my son, whom I love. That he’s watching his beloved wife pass away before his eyes. The one who he truly loved. And even in the midst of it, her last dying wish is that her son’s name be Ben only, and that that’s how he would forever be remembered. But rather than fulfilling that last wish of hers, he says, no, he’s not going to live with that identity. He’s not going to live with that name. That is not who he is going to be. He is going to be my beloved son. He’s not known for suffering. He’s not known for pain. He’s in power. He’s the son of my right hand. Raises this question. Then let me. Who has the power to change a name? We’ve talked about this in Genesis. Some who has the power to change a name. Because what’s happening again is it’s not just a name. It’s not just a name tag that’s changing, not some label, but the very fiber of that person’s being. Their future is changing. When a name is changed in Scripture, their character is changing. Their nature is changing. Before we get to who can change a name, we have to recognize why would Jacob ever even think to change his name? Because he himself experienced it. After Jacob returned, God appeared to him again and blessed him. And God said to him, your name is Jacob.

Jacob, meaning deceiver, heel grabber. Sir, planter, liar, sir. But no longer shall you be called that your name shall be Israel, the one who wrestles with God. So he named him Israel. And if you’ve been following along with us, Jacob is all the things that Jacob is. He is a liar. He is a deceiver. He is one that swindles people. He’s always trying to figure out a way that he can get the most out of any deal. Yet God looks down and it’s not because of his actions, not because God says, oh, that was the wrong name. Let me actually change it. You’re more of an Israel than you are, Jacob. Really? Now that I see you know God sees him and says, I’m going to change your name because I am the one who can change names. And then Jacob, in the same way as God has changed his name, changed his character, changed his very being, and nature looks at his own son. So he’s not going to have a life like I’ve had. He’s not going to be known for being a liar, deceiver. He’s not going to be known for suffering and pain, and he’s going to be known for being loved by me. This is the tension that we live in as Christians, because the one who can change a name is the one who ultimately gives names. And so you have to go and say, it’s really not matter of my opinion or my self-perception. It’s not how others perceive me as well, because their opinions ultimately don’t matter. For my core identity, I am a creature.

And for a creature to be named, you have to go back to the creator. And what does the creator say about us? And this is where we find tension. In Romans chapter seven, we see this. Paul’s writing it as a believer, someone who believes. And he says, for I know that good itself does not dwell in me. That is in my sinful nature. He goes on in this chapter to say the good things that he knows he should do. He doesn’t do them the evil things that he knows he shouldn’t do. Those are the very things he does. What a wretched man is he? So he feels the weight of his own sin. He recognizes his own brokenness, and he sees it because he recognizes that God is holy and righteous and perfect, and he is far from it. We cannot miss this because I think all too often in our society we want to say, well, they’re everyone’s all God’s children, we’re all loved, and we’re all created in God’s image, right? Yes, yes, we are in a fallen image, in a broken image that has now been tarnished with sin. And that part of our nature and part of our identity is sinful.

And you can’t miss this. You have to have this to actually have the gospel. And then you end up with this Latin phrase similar. Was this at Peccata? Does anybody know what that means? No. Latin majors. Simultaneously sinner and saint. Simultaneously sinner and justified. This was Scripture points to over and over again. It’s this you just don’t. You don’t carry one name. You’re not just been, only you’re Benjamin. You’re both. You’re not just your sin and righteousness. You’re both at the same time. And you need to be both at the same time. Because otherwise, if you’re just a sinner and you’re wretched, as Paul says, I’m wretched. I have a sinful nature, and you only see yourself that way, then you’re not really believing what God says about you, that you’re righteous. On the other side, even if you go, well, I’m God’s beloved child, and I’m always, you know, I’m a righteous and I’m perfect. Well, I could follow you for about 30 minutes and I would watch you sin. You would think, I thought you would do something. You would say something. And I know that true of you, because it’s true of me. And so then I would be a liar to say that I am just holy, and I am just righteous in this tension, on this side of eternity, for us to see ourselves with clear eyes and actually see us how God sees us has to feel this tension.

This is the tension that Martin Luther was referring to, says, when we’re all, we are beggars. This is true. We are sinners. We are beggars. When it comes to God. We have nothing else to bring. We don’t have merit badges and we don’t have special basketball decals. We don’t have good works to bring him. We are sinners in the presence of a holy God, and it’s him who looks at us and calls us righteous, because the name and identity that ultimately matters is not our own. We can’t fabricate it. We can’t come up with it on our own. You have to look for something outside of yourself that is a firm foundation, unmovable, unshakable, that gives you identity. It comes from God. He goes forward in our text after God names. He says, I am God Almighty. He says the same thing he said to Abraham in Genesis 17, I am El Shaddai. He calls himself a couple different names, but Al Shaddai means God Almighty, all powerful, all sovereign, and all sufficient. I am the one who will supply everything that you need. I am the Alpha and the Omega. So your name, the simple changing of your name in the simple changing of your nature is nothing for me. We see it even clearer in the person of Jesus, the the visible image of the invisible God. And in Galatians three it says this. So in Christ you are all children of God through faith. For all of you were baptized into Christ into his name, just as we saw here today. Have closed yourself with Christ. Therefore you are neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor male nor female. You’re not your accolades and you’re not your sins anymore.

You are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, connecting us all the way back to the text that we’re looking back. Not only Abraham, not only Isaac, Jacob’s seed. Now we are the heirs of the promise that was given to him, a promise that there would be a king that would come through his line, and that king has come. And Jesus Christ, that is the name that is the power that we need to look to. As it says in acts chapter four, Jesus is the stone the builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone. Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved. Jesus, which literally means God saves. That is the name we look to. That is the God we look to, and that is where we find our firm foundation. That is where we find our identity and my prayer for you is the tension that we live in, that you no longer look to your actions, the way that you carry yourself here in the world, and you don’t look to your shortcomings to tell you who you are.

The questions are wrong. I can’t ask you who you are, but I can ask you this. Who is are you? You are children of God, sons and daughters of the Most High because of what Jesus has done for you, giving him his righteousness in exchange for all of our sin. So now, here in this world, we get to live in that tension until we see him face to face. And we can drop the sinner and we can fully be saints. Amen. Let’s pray. Gracious Heavenly Father God, we thank you for the reminder contained in Your word that who we are as people comes from you. That we are your beloved children. No matter how much we fall, no matter how much hammock, no matter how much we sinned and fall short time and time again. God, that you look upon us and you love us. Because when you see us, you see your son. Let us carry that identity forward so that when we interact with others that they would see less of us and more of you. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.