The Freedom of Identity

Well, good morning, Summit family.

It's good to be here with you all. If you have your Bibles, please meet me in 1 Corinthians chapter 4. We are in a series continuing on this verse Change My Life, and I want to invite you to a verse in a section of Scripture, a pericope, that I remember being in church some years ago there in Inglewood, California, and listening to my pastor preach this text, and it just revolutionized my life. And it's a verse in a section of Scripture that I really believe if we would just live into the reality of this text, it's going to be incredibly freeing. It's one of the most, not as if other sections of Scripture aren't, but it's one of the most brilliantly argued sections of Scripture that deals with what the Gospel does for those of us who struggle with people pleasing.

And I'm sure there's only like two or three of us who struggle with that, and I just want us to feel the freedom of these words. The guy who wrote this, his name is Paul, and Paul says it this way. He writes, this is how one should regard us as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, verse 2, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court.

In fact, I do not even judge myself, for I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore, do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation, one translation says, praise from God. Lord, I do pray that you would speak to us, Lord God, that there would be a profound sense of freedom as we just walk through this message, as we end this message, and we are released from this place to go back to our various spheres of influence. Lord, I do pray for the seed of your word to fall on good ground, that it would produce great fruits, that it would set the captives free. I pray, Lord, that your son Jesus would be magnified, would be made much of. I pray, Father God, that you would make this word so plain and so practical. Give me concision of speech, clarity of thought, and I pray that your Holy Spirit would be with us right in this moment.

It is in Jesus' name I ask all of these things. Amen. All of us in this room understand what identity theft is. At its core, identity theft is an individual who takes very sensitive elements of our identity, could be social security number, whatever it may be, and having gotten hold of those very sensitive details of our identity, they many times open up lines of credit, they make purchases in our name, some have been known to buy cars, even homes. I've had few friends of mine who have been victims of identity theft, and they would say nothing is more violating than that. Because of this several years ago, my wife and I, even though we haven't been victims of identity theft, we wanted to get out ahead of the game, and so we entered into partnership with a group called LifeLock. This group called LifeLock, they exist to try to make our identities as genuine, authentic, and secure as possible.

LifeLock can be a bit annoying though. Several times a year, I'll get notifications from them when they encounter what they deem to be suspicious activity, and the essence of their notifications, their email notifications, can really be boiled down to three words. Is this you?

Is this you? It's the question of identity. As our text opens up today, you need to understand that Paul is sending us an email notification. Verse one, he says, listen, if you've got to reduce me to anything, if you've got to judge me, scrutinize me, if you've got to cast a verdict on who I am, I want you to come away with this statement of identity, that I am a servant of Christ and a steward of the mysteries of God. I don't ultimately want you to come away with that I'm a church planter, that I'm a preacher, that I'm a pastor, that I've led a whole lot of people to faith in God, that I'm a New York Times bestselling author of 13 books.

I don't want you to come away with any of that stuff. When it just kind of the rubber meets the road, I want you to leave with this conclusion about my identity. Here it is, that I am a servant of Christ and a steward of the mysteries of God.

So I just want to send you an email notification. We ain't got nothing deep to say. Real simple word, is that you?

Is that you? The question of identity though, it is the soundtrack of our souls. We are constantly asking ourselves the question, who am I? Dietrich Bonhoeffer, that great 20th century German theologian asked himself the question of identity, even leading up a few days before he was executed for standing up for the marginalized, for standing up for truth against the Nazi regime.

Here he is on his way to the gallows and what is on Bonhoeffer's mind? It's the question of identity. A few days before he dies, he writes this poem entitled, Who am I?

Listen to what he says. Who am I, this or the other? Am I one person today and tomorrow another?

Am I both at once a hypocrite before others and before myself a contemptibly woebegone weakling or something within me still like a beaten army fleeing in disorder from victory already achieved? Who am I? He asks.

They mock me these lonely questions of mine. And then he concludes, whoever I am, thou knowest, oh God, I am thine. He concludes, I'm not ultimately a writer. I'm not going to ultimately be a martyr.

Here's the email notification. I am thine. I am a servant of Christ and a steward of the mysteries of God.

Is that you? These questions of identity just haunt us. They haunt us.

They haunt the retired athlete who for so much of their life, they were kind of given to this performance driven ethic where their identity maybe was caught up in their stat sheet. And then afterwards they finally retire and they're left with the question of who am I? These questions haunt the individual. Maybe it's some of you and recently maybe you got the call or got the pink slip.

You've been working this dream job and all of a sudden that's been taken away from you and now you're unemployed and you're asking the foundational question, who am I? These questions maybe. One of the things I'm picking up on is living in the triangle and very similar to the Bay Area in some regards, highly educated people, many of you and you've got the letters behind your name and yet in spite of all of the academic achievement, maybe you're still haunted by these questions that letters behind the name can ultimately fulfill who am I? Maybe teenagers ask this question. All of us in our teenage years we wanted to be popular.

The difference between back then and now is you can now quantify it. So maybe you're going to social media and you post something and you're trying to see how many likes did I get and how many followers do I have because maybe these questions are more than just questions, they're questions of identity. Where do I fall out here? These questions aren't just for people who have failed, they're also for people who have succeeded. In our church in the Bay, we had 30 something year old retirees who came to the Bay Area, started the business from scratch, knocked it out of the park, sold it for tens of millions of dollars and now they're 36 years old playing 36 holes of golf every single day and yet they wander into our church because success didn't satisfy and they're asking the question who am I? On and on, the whole sermon I could go with analogy after analogy after analogy no matter where we may fall on the spiritual spectrum, we fundamentally at our core ask the question of identity and this is a question Paul deals with. First Corinthians chapter 1 verse 10 Paul says I've gotten a bad report and here's why I'm writing you this letter. First Corinthians 1 10 he's gotten a report from Chloe's house that things are not going well at the church at Corinth.

Now if I'm Chloe I'm a little annoyed because chances are I gave you this bad report and I thought we were going to keep it between us Paul but now you don't put my name out there for everyone in all of eternity to see. Things aren't going well and Paul says here's why they're not going well there's divisions. He says to the church at Corinth some of you are saying I'm of Paul others of you are saying no I'm not of Paul the founder of the church I'm of Apollos the silver throat orator who came in preaching the birds out the trees no I'm not of Paul I'm not of Apollos another group says I'm of Peter and still another group says no I'm not of Paul I'm not of Apollos I'm not of Peter I'm of Christ. And here is Paul he wades into the division and at the root of the division is there are people who are settling for lesser identities of this world. They're putting their identity many of them in man and one of the things Paul teaches us by implication is that when you and I settle for the lesser identities of this life the next domino to fall will be division. When you and I settle for the lesser identities of this life when our identity is in anything and anyone except for Christ and Christ alone division is sure to follow.

Some of you all your identity is in your success it's in your job performance and so naturally what happens is maybe you look with a sense of jealousy or envy at those who are more successful than you or maybe you look down on others who you deem to be not as successful you have division. Others of us maybe our identity is in our ethnicity and when my identity is in my ethnicity I'm going to be divided from people of another ethnicity. Others of us maybe our identity isn't in any of those things our identity is in our political ideology and convictions. And so what happens when we meet someone who was of a different political ideology or conviction there's divisions from them. Now please don't misunderstand me yes pursue success yes celebrate the fullness of your Imago Dei which would include your ethnicity and yes have your political convictions and ideology you can have these things but the problem is when those things have you. My identity is in Christ and when I settle for the lesser identities of his life there's bound to be division.

Now I want you to notice very carefully and it's a masterfully argued thing. Paul now pulls us into the into the tension he feels from the Corinthians as it relates to forming his identity. On the one hand there's the tension to base his identity in success. Please notice there's a group there at Corinth who are saying we're of Paul. Man Paul we we love you. I don't say any overstatement with this but you need to understand this. Paul has to be in the top five of leaders to have ever lived in the world.

If we're basing his leadership based on the influence that he continues to have top five easy. Right now on this day there are probably millions of people sitting in churches across the world being shaped and formed by his writings today. Here's a guy who planted churches in spades.

Here's a guy with a ton of catalytic and entrepreneurial energy. Here's the guy who's incredibly courageous who in Acts 14 walks into Lystra tries to plant a church. They stone him.

Now I don't know about you you got one time to stone me and I ain't coming back to town but two chapters later he's back. A courageous entrepreneurial visionary catalytic leader who who could write and influence and shape leaders of leaders and now the church at Corinth there's a group of people who are understandably saying Paul we're of you. So what's the temptation here? The temptation is to form my identity over my successes. Paul the church planter, Paul the writer, Paul the leader, Paul the entrepreneur, Paul the courageous.

Paul doesn't do that and maybe that's some of your temptation. Some of you right now you're sitting under the sound of my voice you are very accomplished people. You know how to get it done. You know how to move and shape and influence. You've got quite the following.

Maybe you've based your identity off of your success. But let's not forget that's not where the bulk of the church at Corinth is. The bulk of the church at Corinth they not feeling Paul. You've got some who are saying I'm of Apollos again Apollos silver throat orator could preach the birds out the trees. Here's the guy I mean he was the J.D.

Greer of his day or the Ricky Harris of his day. And here's Paul and what do they say of Paul? I mean they're pretty blunt Paul you really can't preach. I mean at best you're mediocre. You're not very impressive. I mean you're the Brian Loritz of our congregation. In fact some of you when I walked out on the stage man you were disappointed.

Absolutely disappointed. You know I'm telling the truth because you were expecting someone else. That's what we have here. So Paul could have easily formed an identity off of his flaws and failures.

By the way that's very in vogue today. There's whole groups of people who form their identities off of being a victim. Whole groups of people form an identity off of the trauma that happened.

Hear me I'm not being insensitive and yes you should get the help and yes I understand lifelong issues and we're dealing with them and man there's something even redemptive about walking with a limp. But while our past may explain us it doesn't excuse us. So here's the tension. Paul says on one hand I got a group of people who want me to be defined by my successes and on the other hand I've got a group of people who want me to be defined by my failures and yet what does he do? Verse one he says here's how I'm defined.

Look at it with me. I am neither defined by my successes or failures. I am defined this way. I am a servant of Christ. Here's Paul he's writing originally in a language called Greek and the Greek word translated as as servants is literally the word under rower under rower. It spoke of the scores of individuals who would be several floors down on the big Roman ships they're floating around the Mediterranean and they were the ones powering these ships and they were rowing not according to their own will but under the authority of the pilot they would just follow the pilot's instructions and Paul likens himself to one of these under rowers.

He says not only that but not only am I a servant of Christ an under rower but I'm a steward of the mysteries of God. The Greek word for steward is the word oikonomos from which we get the English word economics. It was used literally to describe an individual who managed the house not the owner of the house the manager of the house. This was the individual who ran the affairs of the household under the authority of the owner. The best biblical illustration of that is pot is is Potiphar to Joseph.

Potiphar owned the house. Joseph was the oikonomos the household manager. The common denominator to both of these words servants and stewards is this. It is one who is under the authority of another whose identity is inextricably tied to the one who is over them. Paul says I am not my successes. I am not my failures. I am a servant and steward under the authority of the Lord. The Greek word there kyrios my master and owner. I am under his authority.

He is the one who defines me which is this. Here is the freedom. When I really operate that way what that allows me to do is to put gospel distance between my successes and gospel distance between my failures. Boy if I was in chocolate church we'd be shouting right now.

Because that's what the gospel does. It frees me. It absolutely frees me. Now okay Brian thank you very much. This is incredibly ethereal.

Can you just bring this down. How do I walk in that. How do I walk in that. Paul now builds a masterful argument he gives us three principles to walking in this. Watch it in each principle leads to the next. So when we're when we're released from this place the gospel says to you and I you are not your Instagram followers you are not the comments on your Facebook page you are not what your dad did or didn't do. You are a servant of Christ and a steward of the mysteries of God.

How do I walk in that. Our text I love this. Our text is filled with legal language. Over and over and over again Paul uses words like judge or judgment. The Greek word for judge watch it now doesn't so much emphasize or speak to the verdict. But the Greek word for judge speaks to the process that leads to the verdict. The idea of the word judge watch it now it really is the idea of a person who's being evaluated. Someone who's being scrutinized. Paul now ups the legal language by talking about this phrase human court.

He says for example verse three but with me is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. If you've ever been a defendant in court that's got to be a horrible experience. I've never been a defendant in court but I can only imagine if you've been a defendant in court what that looks like is for weeks or months you are constantly under microscopic scrutiny. Everything about you is being analyzed.

Everything about you is being looked at. And that's what Paul says. Paul says every day you and I wake up we walk into the human court of this world and we are receiving judgment from others parenthetically let's keep it real let's keep it 100 as my kids would say that judgment he is specifically is saying is coming from church folk. I know we don't do this at the summit so I'm talking about other church down the street around the corner but we are constantly being analyzed and scrutinized. This is Paul's ministry. Our worship leader Hank Murphy will appreciate this.

Paul was the LeBron James of his day. Constantly being scrutinized constantly being evaluated wherever he was going again they're scrutinizing the way he preaches. He is being scrutinized in places like Lystra and Ephesus with mobs gathering trying to trying to kill him. He's being scrutinized by religious leaders and say he's not dotting all of his religious I's and crossing all of his religious T's. Judgment judgment judgment judgment judgment and that's you and I. Every day we are at the mercy of other people's opinions.

They're looking at what we drive and if we're married and how many kids we have and how many how we parent and where do we send them to school and if you're not married they're making opinions about that or where you went to school where you went to university how many letters you have behind your name where do you work how much money do you make where do you live where do you vacation. People are making judgments about each other and we can say amen because we do that to others. Constantly forming opinions.

What does Paul say? That's a very small thing that I should be judged by you. He goes on to say I don't even judge myself. The implication is we all struggle with what I call an inner lawyer. All of us have right now an inner lawyer who is constantly working overtime casting their own sense of verdicts based on evaluations and opinions that we have of ourselves. I love Charles Spurgeon it is said of Charles Spurgeon that Sunday afternoons if he felt like the sermon didn't go well he would sit and brood there in his living room in his London home. Oh how I can relate to that. If I don't think it didn't go well man I'm constantly brooding. We are constantly saying why did I say it that way or how come I didn't speak up or we're just constantly evaluating ourselves and all of us need to know the freedom that Paul had. We need to give our inner lawyer a pink slip. So we've all been there.

Okay Brian I understand that. We're judged by others. Constantly judged by ourselves.

How do I break free of that? Paul tells us in verse 4 he says at the end it is the Lord who judges me. Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time before the Lord comes who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God. Paul how are you able to walk in freedom?

You've got all of these opinions coming your way. How are you able to walk in freedom? Paul says I have gotten to the place in my life that there is only one judge who matters. It ain't you.

It ain't me. It's God. And the reason why his judgment matters is because you see in part but he sees it all. You see my actions he sees my heart. You see my activities he sees my motives. And there's coming a day when I will have to answer not to you not to mama not to big mama I'm going to have to answer to God. And so I play to an audience of one. That frees me. That future reality determines my actions today. Later on this summer Cory and I are going to hop on a plane and drop our second son off at college.

Two down one to go praise the Lord hallelujah thank you Jesus. Already we've started making payments. Already. Started making payments. I had to have a really good talk to him. I said son I'm only contributing towards four consecutive years.

If your program is five you better figure out how to do it in four because the money runs out. So here we are and we're able to make these payments because from the day he was born we labored under the assumption that there would be a future day in which he would say I want to go to college. That future fixed day caused us to make some decisions in the present.

Just kind of methodically. Paul is saying there's coming a day when we're going to die. The writer of Hebrews would say it is appointed unto man once to die and then the judgment eat as much kale salad as you want. We're going to die and face the only true judgment that comes from God. Because of that fixed reality that at any given moment God can say give me back my breath may that have drastic implications on the choices I make today. So why are we operating under the tyranny of people pleasing because these individuals aren't our final judge.

May we be freed. Now what happens when I understand that. When I understand there's only one true judge I live in that way what then happens Paul tells us when I live under the reality there's one true judge I'm working for his judgment. What then happens is people become small God becomes big. People become small God becomes big.

Notice what he says in the text. Verse three he says but with me it is a very small thing. Now the typical Greek word for small is micros from which we get the English word microscopic or microscope. This word for small is the superlative of my cross. It is teeny teeny teeny teeny teeny teeny teeny teeny teeny teeny to the nth degree or as my grandmama used to say it's teeny.

It is beyond tiny. Notice Paul isn't saying that other people's judgments are invisible. Yeah he sees it.

Yeah he feels it. But in the scope of the gospel it is beyond microscopic. Paul models this for us with the Galatians. Here is Paul. He goes to the region of Galatia and he plants these churches. All these Gentiles come to faith in Jesus Christ.

He then leaves. After he leaves there's a group of religious leaders called the Judaizers who then come in after Paul and tell these new Gentile converts in the region of Galatia. They say listen you can't really trust Paul. He wasn't a real apostle. He wasn't handpicked by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

So here's what you need to do. In order to be saved you must add to the finished work of Christ circumcision. Paul gets wind of this and he writes the letter to the Galatians and the first thing he does in the first two chapters is he deals with his genuine apostolic identity in Christ. Right out the gate he refutes the Judaizers who tried to attack his identity by saying these words about who he really is.

Look at them with me. He says in Galatians 1 10 for am I now seeking the approval of man or of God or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man I would not be a servant of Christ. Paul is saying that it is absolutely incongruent and incompatible with the gospel to labor under the tyranny of people pleasing and be a servant of Christ at the same time. What is Paul saying?

The Judaizers are small. God is big. I sat in my son's practice yesterday, his basketball practice and I was reminded of the time when he was a little kid when he was first starting to play rec league basketball, seven, eight years old and I'd go to his games and I noticed right away when my son would steal a ball on defense or hit a shot on offense he would actually in the middle of the game look up at me in the stands. I'd give him the thumbs up and he'd continue on and then right after the game my son would come right up to me and would say to me, dad, how'd I do? Now I noticed my son didn't say this to the coach. He didn't ask this of the other players. He didn't ask this of the other players parents. He only asked this of his dad. It was as if my son was saying if dad says I'm good, I'm good. I was big.

Others were small. It's exactly what Paul is saying. My identity is in Christ.

I am freed from the tyranny of other people's opinions. There's one true judge. That judge is God. And when that happens, Paul is saying, God, am I good?

Because if I'm good, that's all that matters. So what happens when we understand God's the one true judge, people become small, God becomes big. Thirdly and finally, what happens? We are emancipated from a performance ethic. Let me say it this way.

Let's go in the opposite direction. When I'm in bondage to what people think of me, when I'm in bondage over other people's opinions of me, when I'm in bondage to what my mother-in-law when she comes to visit thinks of me, when I'm in bondage of other people's opinions of me, what then happens? People become big, God becomes small. And when people become big and God becomes small, I'm now on this treadmill of acceptance and approval. I'm now working myself silly to get you to like me. This is exactly what Madonna at the height of her powers said.

Madonna at the height of her celebrity, she sat down and did an interview with Vogue magazine. Listen to what she says. My drive in life comes from a fear of being mediocre. That is always pushing me. I push past one spell of it and discover myself as a special human being, but then I feel I am still mediocre and uninteresting unless I do something else. Because even though I have become somebody, I still have to prove that I am somebody.

My struggle has never ended and I guess it never will. Wow. Millions of dollars.

World famous. Not satisfied. Still having to work and prove and prove and prove. Oh friends, when your identity is in Christ and Christ alone, we don't work for approval.

We work from approval. Here is Paul and Paul sits down and he writes the Corinthians. He wants them to understand he's my one true judge and because of that, God is big and people are small.

And when that happens, I am free from the tyranny of your opinions. We get this because Paul says these astounding words. Remember, the Corinthians hated his preaching. And in 1 Corinthians 2, one through five, hear it through the lens of a person who is absolutely free in Christ, whose identity is in Christ, not in their work. He says, and when I came to you, brothers, I didn't come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom, for I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling. And my speech and my message was not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

You know what he's saying here? I intentionally was boring. Can you imagine that? I wonder how that would go over J.D. and I in a preaching meeting. Hey, J.D., I just want you to know I'm just going to be boring this week. Or you think about how many pastors at churches throughout world history got fired from their churches because they didn't have plausible speech.

This celebrity culture has us messed up. Paul says, I came just giving you Christ. And if that's not good enough, I'm okay with that because I'm secure in my identity. When I was a kid, my father used to say to me and my siblings all the time, a little phrase, remember who you are. Especially when I started driving and I would ask my dad for the keys to take a young lady out, the keys to his burgundy Ford Aerostar.

My goodness. Dad would toss me the keys on my way out the door to pick up a young lady for a date and he would say remember who you are. Other times I'd go hang out with my buddies and some of them weren't saved and dad would say have a great time, but remember who you are.

No, dad wasn't asking me to remember my driver's license number or social security or home address. In some senses, he was reminding me, son, your last name is Loritz. The last name Loritz is so peculiar that anybody who has that last name is directly related to us.

So in some senses, dad was saying as you're out with this young lady, as you're hanging out with your buddies, don't do anything that would bring shame on the family name, but dad had something else in view. That name Loritz is a good name because it's connected to a greater name and that greater name is Jesus. Remember, son, that your identity is in Christ, that who you are is found in him, that Jesus Christ several thousand years ago took on flesh and dwelt among us. He came into the human court of this world. He was scrutinized. He was examined and people were constantly critiquing him.

Ultimately, they were discouraged with him because he refused to placate their expectations by becoming a political leader who would overthrow Rome. Ultimately, they led him into a kangaroo court and that kangaroo court gave them, gave Jesus, I should say, a bad verdict. Humans gave Jesus a bad verdict, but on the cross, Jesus took that bad verdict and gave us a good verdict. And that good verdict is we are declared righteous, justified by faith before you ever had a quiet time, declared righteous before you ever shared your faith, declared righteous before you ever gave any money, declared righteous, not by the letters behind your name, but by the name J-E-S-U-S in whose name is no other name.

And if I'm good with him, then I'm good. So, Father, I do pray now in the name of Jesus that you would release us, free us from the tyranny of people pleasing. Free us, Father, from the judgments of others. Free us from judging others. May we rest our identity solely in you. It's in that name, Jesus, the name that is above every name, that I pray these things. Amen. And amen.