Identity (Part 2)

Thank you to the Vocal Ensemble for the very beautiful special music. I told my wife when I sat down, I said, I sure hope I didn't announce them as a quartet. I didn't. Did I? I didn't say quartet. Okay, I had a moment where I was like, did I announce them as a quartet? There's like nine of them. That's not a quartet. I can count, I promise. One, two, three, four. Yeah, yeah, they gotta use your fingers after that. So, well, brethren, on the sermon on the first day of Unleavened Bread, we introduced and we explored the concept of identity. And we explored that concept as it pertains to these spring holy days. We examined how the world around us is deep in the throws of an identity crisis, fueled by a pandemic, questioning of who and what they are. The result, utter confusion and chaos. Subjective definitions of identity are encouraged, they're entertained, and ultimately, they're enforced. We explored and examined how identity is a measure of objective standards. We saw how God defines his identity objectively when he introduced himself to Moses in the burning bush. It was based upon the facts. It was based upon the facts of who and what he is.

It was based upon his characteristics, his self-existent, unchanging nature. That God is eternal. His existence is not contingent on any other being. He simply is and was and will be.

He identifies himself as the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. And when God delivered his people, the children of Israel, from their captivity, he established their identity with the events of the Passover. They were instructed to strike the posts and the lintel of their door with the blood of the Lamb. And in doing so, Israel was protected from the events that would occur.

God identified his people with that sign, and he made a distinction between them and between the Egyptians. Now, after the congregation of Israel was brought into the wilderness, they began to question God's providence. They began to ask questions about God's protection, about his deliverance, about his sustenance. They made accusations against Moses and against God.

They experienced hunger. They experienced thirst, discomfort. Their faith wavered.

Their faith wavered, and they began to question who they were. Maybe, just maybe, they weren't really the people of God after all. After all, they were out in this desert.

Things were difficult. They wanted meat. They wanted the comforts of the land that they had left.

Their identity was wrapped up in who they were, not who they had become.

Who they perceived themselves to be, not who they really were.

And we saw in the example in Exodus 32 how during the 40 days that Moses was atop Mount Sinai with God, that the people of Israel made the first of many outright rejections, outright rejections, of their identity. They were uncertain of what happened to Moses during that time, and they desired something familiar, something comfortable, to go before them. They desired a return to the variety of gods and the kinds of religious revelry that they had experienced in Egypt. They wanted to go back to what it was like. They made a golden idol in the facsimile of the bull god Apis, an Egyptian fertility god, and they profaned themselves before it. They committed wickedness in the sight of God, and in doing so they sent a message. We don't want this identity that you've given us. We want to be what we want to be. We want to identify, if we steal a phrase from the common vernacular today, we want to identify as something else. This message continued to be sent throughout Israel's wanderings, a series of choices that they made throughout their early history as a nation, as they rejected God, they rejected his leadership, and determined instead that they'd rather be like the nations around them, just like everyone else, rather than embrace their true identity as God's chosen people. The end result, when you follow that far enough down through history, at least for the northern ten tribes of Israel, was a complete loss of their identity as God's people. Today, by and large, the vast majority of descendants of those tribes have no idea who they are. They have no clue. They don't look anything like they once did.

They've lost the law. They've lost the Sabbath. They've lost the Holy Days. They're going through the motions of life with little to no recognition of who they truly are, who their true identity is.

The story of Israel is a cautionary tale. It's one in which a person's identity matters. It's one in which a person's identity matters. So how does this pertain to us on this last day of Unleavened You know, as we closed part one of this message, we explored our identity as Christians.

We have been identified as the people of God. We were bought with a price. Christ is our Passover.

Jesus Christ is that Passover lamb. His blood shed on our behalf has forgiven us of our sins.

It has delivered us from the death penalty. And similar to the ancient Israelites, as part of His ecclesia, we've been marked by that blood upon the posts and the lintel of our home, so to speak, as we have accepted Christ as our personal Savior. That blood identifies us as forgiven. It marks us as the very children of God, born not by the will of men, but of God. We are His. That's who we are.

That is our identity. And in the process of coming into that identity, we entered into covenant.

We entered into covenant with God, and we received a helper. That helper, that Spirit of God, was not available to the majority of the ancient Israelites. There were some who received that Spirit, a handful here, a handful there, but we don't see it poured out upon the people of Israel as a whole who entered into covenant with God, as we do in the fulfillment of the terms of the new covenant today. But brethren, that deposit of that divine nature began a process of transformation within us, a conversion within us that will be completed at the resurrection. And these days of Unleavened Bread, they are about that transformation. These days of Unleavened Bread are about that process of transformation, that process of conversion. There's a famous Greek philosophical thought experiment that some of you might be familiar with. It's called the Ship of Theseus.

Who's ever heard of the Ship of Theseus? Okay, a couple of hands here and there. About as many people as who knew John Newton. No, a small handful of people here. The Ship of Theseus involves the concept of identity. Identity is core at the concept of the Ship of Theseus thought experiment.

And the question of whether a change in material or a change in form alters the identity of the object or not. As the story goes, Theseus was a mythological hero of the city of Athens. And according to the myth, after Theseus sailed to Crete and killed the Minotaur, which dwelt in the labyrinth, he returned victorious with the children of Athens, who had been sent his tribute to Sait the Minotaur, on a ship with white sails. So he returned from the island of Crete back to mainland Greece on a ship with white sails. And that ship, according to the writings of Plutarch, was docked at the marina in Athens. That ship was preserved. And yearly, the people of Athens would take that ship and in commemoration of what Theseus did, they would sail to Delos. Now, the story itself is a bunch of hogwash. I mean, at the end of the day, it's a myth, complete and total. Nothing more than a myth that got wrapped up in the false gods of Greece and the belief systems of the Greek pantheon, because there's a whole bunch of other stuff to the story that we're not going to bother with. But like most myths, there was likely a shred of truth somewhere in it that spawned the myth that inspired it. But as that story has been embellished throughout the years, the connections to the false gods of Greek culture have caused it to become a very fantastical and unreliable account of a man that history cannot prove existed. With all of that said, in the story and in the thought experiment that accompanies it is an interesting question.

Supposedly, Theseus' ship remained docked at the marina in Athens since he arrived victorious from slaying the Minotaur. And because of its cultural importance, according to Plutarch, the ship was preserved. And not for a couple of years, not just for a couple years, but for almost a thousand years, Plutarch said, that ship was preserved. The original event took place in the very early Greek period. Plutarch writes in the very later part of the Greek period.

It was a Greek trireme-style ship, so you're familiar, at least with the trireme. It was made entirely of wood. It had 15 ores on each side, had a set of large white cloth sails.

As you might imagine, a marine environment is a nightmare on a wooden ship. It's an absolute nightmare on the wood that makes up a ship like this. And over time, and according to the story, as parts of the ship wore out, the ship became less seaworthy. As planks began to rot, they would replace them painstakingly with newer boards. They would cut a perfect facsimile of the board they removed, and they would put it back in place, and they would tar and pitch over the top of it, and they'd seal the cracks, and they'd seal all the things. And so you can imagine in your mind a picture of a wooden ship that's rotting, but periodically here's a nice brand new board.

Here's a nice brand new board over here, and eventually more and more and more and more and new boards start to be put into this ship. As the sails tore and as they may be rotted due to exposure to the elements, they'd re-sew and they'd replace that cloth, and they'd replace the sails.

Until, again, as the story goes, eventually as the thousand years progressed here, as this time period went on, no original component of the ship remained. It was completely new. It was completely different in that sense. So the Greek philosophical thought experiment asked the question as follows. At what point did it cease to be Theseus's ship? At what point did it change so substantially that it was no longer what it was before? Was it after the very first part was replaced? Did it cease to become the ship of Theseus at that point? After more than half of the parts were replaced? Now more than 50% of it is new, therefore it's definitely no longer the original.

After all of it was replaced? At what point did it cease to become the ship of Theseus and ultimately become something completely different? The title of the sermon today, on this last day of Unleavened Bread, is Identity, Part 2, the Ship of Theseus. This is the second half of this message that we've been undergoing here. And in many ways, the process that we undergo as Christians during these days of Unleavened Bread is akin to the process of preserving this ship in the harbor of Athens. Over the years, as parts and pieces of that ship were discovered to be rotten, they were painstakingly removed. Painstakingly removed. Painstakingly replaced with a brand new part that fills the hole that was made by the removal of the old part.

But at the core of the ship of Theseus is a question of identity. As soon as you replace that first part, is it still the ship of Theseus? Or is it something different?

Now, when we think about topics as critical as identity, philosophy is really good at asking questions. Not so good at answering them. Philosophers sit around asking questions all day.

It's kind of what they do. They're not always great at answering them. But when it comes to who and what we are, we need to turn to Scripture. We need to turn to the Word of God to be able to answer questions of that level of importance. If you would turn with me, please, to 2 Corinthians 5.

2 Corinthians 5. We're going to begin here in 2 Corinthians. And in 2 Corinthians, Paul is writing to the Gentile converts that are living in the city of Corinth. These are members of the church that were newer to the faith. They were learning. They were growing. They were understanding what it meant to have their identity in God. The Israelites, at the time, relied on lineage in a lot of ways.

We see Christ take them to task over this, right? They kind of relied on that pedigree, so to speak, back to Abraham. But for the Gentiles who had been newly grafted into the faith, they were just beginning to understand what it meant. What that identity was to be a follower of Jesus Christ.

So Paul here in 2 Corinthians 5 is writing to them about the concept of reconciliation, what enables us to be able to come to the Father through the death of Jesus Christ. And he brings out an analogy in verse 17 that's important for us to consider. 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 17.

2 Corinthians 5 verse 17. Paul writes, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

Old things have passed away, and behold, all things have become new.

Paul says, if anyone is in Christ. That terminology, in Christ, is a term that Paul uses frequently.

Now, in fact, we see this quite a bit throughout Paul's writings, this idea of in Christ. And to Paul, within his own context and his use of the term, the way that he uses it, it signifies a state of union, a certain relationship with Jesus Christ. That they are united with him through the receipt of the Spirit of God. That they are united with him through this Spirit. That they are a branch now in this vine. That they are a branch now in this vine with Christ abiding in them and them abiding in him. We might say, again, using today's vernacular, that that person's identity is in Christ. And Paul writes that when that person's identity is in Christ, that they are a new creation. The Greek term that's used here for the word new is the word kenos. It's the word kenos in Greek. It doesn't just refer to something that's new in time, something that we might say is recent. What it references is something that's new in a sense of being new in quality or new in character. It implies something that's novel, something that's unprecedented, or something that's even completely unprecedented, even something of a different kind, a different species, so to speak, in a sense. The word describes something that has become better or more superior to the old. It is new in essence. It is new in nature. And so in that sense, based on what Paul writes here and what we see in other places in Scripture, when we receive the Spirit of God, we become something new. We become something new. Not something recent, not something fresh in that sense, new in time, but something new in quality and character, something novel, something unprecedented, something that is of a different kind, a different species, if you will. That's the term kind as we see it used in Scripture, is that idea. Brethren, the ship is no longer the same ship. The part has been changed. It's become something significantly different, something new in quality, new in character, a different kind than what it was before. It might be familiar.

We might look in the mirror and see that same old face looking back at us. But it's something new, something different. Barkley writes as follows. He says Paul goes on to the moving motive of the whole Christian life. Christ died for all. To Paul, the Christian is, in his favorite phrase, in Christ, and therefore the old self of the Christian died in that death, and he arose a new man, as if he had been freshly created by the hands of God. In this newness of life, he has acquired a new set of standards. He no longer judges things by the standards the world uses.

He says there was a time when Paul had judged Christ by human standards and had actually set out to eliminate Christian faith from the world.

But not now. No, his standards now are different. Now the man whose name he had sought to obliterate is to him the most wonderful person in the world because he had given to him that friendship of God, which he had longed for all of his life. Paul had been forgiven. He had been brought into reconciliation with the Father. And what he writes about when he talks about a person who is in Christ, he says the entire outlook of this person has changed. He has new standards. He has a new manner of life. Just a little bit further down, if you want to go past the section here at the bottom of chapter 5 down into chapter 16. 2 Corinthians 16. I'm sorry, 2 Corinthians 6.

I'm not going to find 16. You can look if you want, but it's not there. 2 Corinthians 6. My apologies. 2 Corinthians 6. We'll pick it up in verse 14. Kind of skip down just a little bit here. He builds on this idea more as he brings this idea to bear, this idea of this new identity and how that new identity impacts us, how this new thing impacts each of us.

It says in verse 14, do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. 2 Corinthians 6.

Verse 14. 2 Corinthians 6 and verse 14. Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers.

He says, for what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? What communion has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever?

And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? He says, for you are the temple of the living God. Paul contrasts their identity in Christ with that of the world, who and what they are, with what they've been called out of. And he contrasts the two. He says, you are righteousness, you are light, you are in Christ, you are believers, you are the temple of the living God.

And what's interesting is he continues quoting several Old Testament scriptures in paraphrase.

So he paraphrases a variety of Old Testament scriptures here as he goes through. He says, as God has said, I will dwell in them and walk among them. He says, I will be their God and they shall be my people. Paul asks the question to those in Corinth, who are you? Who are you?

Who and what are you? And Paul's answer to that question is the same answer we see throughout the Old Testament. Through all of those who were a part of the Old Covenant, there's been no change in that sense to the identity of the people of God. God said, I will dwell in them, I will walk with them, I will walk among them, and I will be their God and they shall be my people. In that sense, there's been no change in that identity. He goes on in verse 17 with an imperative. So he goes on in verse 17 with an imperative. Paul, inspired by God to write this, says as follows, he says, therefore come out from among them. Be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. Verse 18, I will be a father to you and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. So Paul writes, because of all of this, right, that word therefore, because of all the stuff I already said, Paul says, because we're the people of God, because we're in Christ, because we have that blood on our doorposts, so to speak, and because in receiving him, we've been begotten by his will as his children, because we've received his spirit. God says, come out from among them and be separate. Do not touch what is unclean, he says, and I will receive you.

I will be a father to you and you shall be my sons and daughters. The history of the people of Israel, as we explored in the first part of this message, was on the whole pushing against and a rejection of that identity that God had provided them. They went after Canaanite gods, gods of Moab and Ammon, all the nations that surrounded them. They intermarried with their daughters, and their hearts were drawn away from God as a result. They allowed the world around them to influence their perception of who and what they were. And when you look at the laws, and when you look at the statutes and the ordinances that God gave Israel, at their core, they are holiness principles. We were talking about this with the young people as we were going through the fundamental beliefs. We were talking about the food laws recently. We were talking about the food laws fundamentally as a holiness principle, and what we see the way that God sets us up, they were things that made Israel distinct from the nations around them. Things that made them different. Things that set them apart from all of the other people that God had in the surrounding areas. For example, and I'll just jot a couple of these here, Leviticus 11 verses 44 and 45.

So at the conclusion of the food laws, so at the conclusion of the food laws, the conclusion states the following. All these things are said, right? He goes into all of what we can, can't eat, etc., etc., etc., and then he says the following. For I am the Lord your God.

You shall therefore consecrate yourselves, and you shall be holy, for I am holy. Neither shall you defile yourselves with any creeping thing that creeps on the earth. For I am the Lord who brings you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.

Why don't we eat pork, shellfish, etc.? It's not just for health reasons. It's because God said, be holy, be different, be distinct from those who are around you. Leviticus 10 verses 10 through 11.

The priesthood under Aaron was to distinguish between the holy and the unholy, the clean and the unclean, and they were to teach the children of Israel all of the statutes which the Lord had spoken by the hand of Moses. And then again later in Ezekiel, God takes him to task because they didn't do that. They didn't differentiate between the holy and the unholy, the clean and the unclean. They didn't teach the people of Israel to discern those things. Brethren, that hasn't changed. These holiness principles have not changed. Paul, as an apostle in the New Testament, talking to a gentile congregation in Corinth, is saying, be holy, be distinct, be different.

It brings this concept to a conclusion in 2 Corinthians 7 and verse 1. It's kind of one of those weird things where the thought passes over a chapter break. But 2 Corinthians 7 and verse 1, again, and therefore, talking about all this stuff that came before there in 2 Corinthians 6, says, therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God, perfecting holiness in the fear of God, because of their identity in Christ, because of who and what they were. Paul pleads that they cleanse themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness, perfecting that distinction, perfecting that separation as they are set apart.

That Greek word for perfecting is epithelio, epithelio in Greek, and it translates as completing, as accomplishing, and it can mean to bring to an end, to bring about, or to fulfill.

Within the word is an implication of an end point. Within the very word is an implication of an end point, a directional process that leads to completion, a process, we might say.

Similar to the Ship of Theseus concept that we began with today, as soon as that first piece is replaced, it's no longer what it once was.

It's been changed. And as a result of that change, the perfection or the completion of that process, a full piece by piece refitting of the ship is implied in the use of that word.

I know that many of you are pretty handy. I know that many of you are pretty handy. You've done home projects before. You've remodeled something on your house, or some of you have built homes and, you know, different things. Maybe you have a house that was in need of new siding or a new roof for, I don't know, maybe even new windows all the way around. Maybe that need came as a result of damage that was done to a single part of the house as a result of, you know, water penetration from the roof or a burst pipe regardless. Whether it's you or a contractor that does the work, frequently, if you live in an old house like me, the new work looks really out of place when it's done, when you compare it to the house around it. When you have new work in one spot and you can see that old house all around that thing, that new work sticks out like a sore thumb.

It does. You look at it and you just go, wow, that's a band-aid. And sometimes it's a pretty obvious band-aid to a much larger issue. Our family lived this for a whole lot of years. Some of you remember the house that may have oozed. Maybe remember the house that oozed. We had at one point in time, they came in in retrofit insulation. They came in and they drilled a bunch of holes in the sides of our house and put the insulation in there. Well, we couldn't afford to replace the siding at the time. And so I had the brilliant idea that just fill it with spray foam. What could pos it? That stuff's good stuff. I'll tell you what, spray foam is used for a lot of... I could have used duct tape, but spray foam seemed like a much better way to go. At the end, it looked like our house was just oozing from the holes in the side of the house. Eventually, we got the siding replaced, thankfully, and the problem was ultimately solved. But I'll tell you, we lived it for a long time. And I don't know about you. Maybe you're not as OCD as I am. But when I see a new section like that that is contrasted with the rest of the decaying structure around it, it causes two things to take place in my head simultaneously. I am thankful that the problem was fixed.

However, it grates on me that it doesn't match the rest of the house. It just does. It grates on me.

I'm too much of a perfectionist in the sense that it needs to match. And so, for a lot of the time, we lived in that house. It was stressful. It was very stressful because it wasn't done and it needed to get done. I can see the difference. I can see that it's not uniform. And it quite frankly drives me a little bit bonkers. It really does. But the solution is not to take the new part and make it old. The solution is not to let the new part decay at the same rate along with the rest.

The solution is to update the rest of the house to match. To make the rest of the house new.

The beginning of the process requires a continuation of that process. If you start it, you've got to finish it. You've got to finish it. Philippians 1 verse 6. You can jot it in your notes if you'd like, or maybe the guy can get it up on the screen for you, even.

He who has begun a good work in you will complete—that word is the same word—epitelio.

He will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. The process of perfecting holiness is something that God will see to its end. He will complete it. He will complete it.

And brethren, He does that through our submission to the process.

He does that through our submission to the process. Or, or there's an alternative.

He will do it in whatever fashion it becomes necessary for Him to do so if we will not submit to that process. Israel's story illustrates their unwillingness. Israel's story illustrates their unwillingness. And in some ways, without the Spirit of God, they're in capability to fully surrender to and accept that process of perfecting holiness in them as a people.

Throughout their time in the wilderness, throughout their history as a nation, we see a group of people who were unwilling to accept their identity. They rebelled against God.

They rebelled against His leadership in the wilderness. And we see time after time, when the nation gave in to idolatry, when they committed wickedness before God, by worshipping these gods in their fashion, the gods of the lands around them.

They desired to be like the nations around them, not distinct, not holy before God.

Time and again, Israel resisted. They struggled against, and they often rejected outright their identity as the people of God. And as a result, God had to get their attention.

They would not willingly submit themselves to the process, and God needed to get their attention.

And so, during the time of the Judges, difficult times befell the nation.

They were in direct rebellion against God. Outright rebellion!

And so, God raised up a judge, restored the law, restored the way of God, and the people prospered.

Only to then have the nation ultimately slide back into rebellion, back into idolatry, and the nation would decline.

Raise up a judge, and this pattern just cyclically continued, as we talked about in the first message for hundreds of years. When Israel complied, maybe they didn't fully understand, maybe they didn't fully even accept. But when they complied with the instructions that God gave them, they were blessed exceedingly. And when they did not, they experienced challenges, and they experienced difficulties. As parents, when we work to train up children in the way they should go, the relationship that we have with our kids develops over time. Initially, when they're very young, they're not fully able to understand the reasons behind the various rules and expectations that we might have in place. Obedience and compliance to those rules has to be taught.

The child may not fully understand the reasons. They may not fully even get why you're asking them to do these things. They're too young to understand.

But eventually, at certain developmental ages, as time goes on and that relationship deepens, you're able to explain these things more fully. You're able to let them know why it is that you ask for this, or why it is that you ask for that. And so for a time, when they're very young, compliance and obedience is the expectation. If those things don't happen, well, then consequences are a result, because you need to ensure that you train the child up in the way that they should go.

But again, as time goes on, and as that child grows, and you're able to explain the reasons for those rules, you can enable your heart to be seen. You're not just mean. You don't just want to take away all their fun. There's reasons why. There's reasons why. They can see that heart. They can see the love that you have for them, that sense of preservation, that sense of care that underlies the rules and expectations that you have. You can enable them to understand more fully those things.

You might even, as time goes on, remove some of those requirements that you might have had. Their bedtime gets a little bit later as they get more responsible. Maybe it shifts a little bit, but as they come to understand them, that relationship deepens. Now, you expect little children to make mistakes. It's given. Little kids are going to make mistakes. They're going to test boundaries. They're going to look for places where the fence isn't fully electrified, you know.

They're going to beep, beep, beep, beep, beep. Where can I get through this? How can I get around this?

You expect that. That's part of the training process. That is part of the training process.

Obedience and compliance is the expectation. Consequences take place when they cross those boundaries. But when a child grows up and when that relationship deepens more fully and the reasons are understood and the heart is understood and the care and all those aspects are understood, rebellion is a choice. Rebellion is a choice. Rebellion is a determination and an exertion of their will over the will of the parents. Definition is rebellion. In a sense, Israel as a nation was like a child to God. A young child. And it's really difficult to understand how much the average Israelite understood of God and his care for them. Did they have glimpses beyond what we see written in Scripture as to the mind of God and his reasoning for his law? We mentioned before they didn't have the Spirit available to them in the same way that it's available to us today.

They didn't have the writings of the New Testament to make clear the Old Testament.

The things that were then were shadows of what was to come. It's not abundantly clear outside of those who had the Spirit of God how deep that relationship went in terms of that first covenant.

They didn't have his Spirit. And so in that sense, they weren't fully capable of understanding the underlying reasoning behind the laws that they gave them or that he gave them. They didn't have a glimpse into the mind of the lawgiver, so to speak, that comes as a result of the pouring out of God's Spirit on the day of Pentecost. But brethren, for those of us who have been called at this time and are part of this new covenant, we have insight into that mind. We have insight into that mind. We understand the reasons for its existence. We know that God desires what's best for us. We know that he loves us. We know that we love him. We've accepted that blood of Christ. We've taken on that identity. We've become something new. And in that sense, the relationship between us and God has deepened beyond simple obedience and compliance to avoid consequences. I want to be clear. Obedience and compliance is still the expectation.

God still expects obedience and compliance. He hasn't relaxed his standard. That didn't go away as a result of the deepening of that relationship. But we begin to obey. We begin to comply with because we understand what God is doing because we love him. Because it's become our identity.

It's become who and what we are. If you'd begin to turn over to 1 John 2, we'll explore what this love does for us. What does this love for God do for us? 1 John 2, and we'll go ahead and turn over there. I'm going to stop in a couple of spots along the way. Okay, I'm just going to mention them. We'll reference them if you can get them up on the screen. Great. But we see the love for God defined in Scripture in a lot of places. Christ likened the law of God to two great commandments.

He said that the law of God was wrapped up in two primary concepts. That one, you love the Lord God with all your heart, all your being, all your mind. And two, you love your neighbor as yourself. That all of the commandments of God fall under these two categories. All of his laws, his standards, his statutes, they all fall under these two categories in the sense of how do you show love for God, how do you show love for your neighbor. Loving God means keeping his commandments.

That is how Christ defines it in John 14 and verse 15. John 14 and verse 15, and then again in verse 21. John 14 and verse 15, and again in verse 21, God says, if we love him, we will keep his commandments. He who has my commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my father, and I will love him, and I will manifest myself to him.

He will come to us when we show that love. It means that we build, pardon me, a relationship with him through prayers, through study, meditation, and fasting. It means that we honor and we respect him as the authority in our life. When it comes to loving our neighbor, it means that we treat those around us with honor and with respect, loving others as Christ loved. And by fulfilling this aspect, we also show love for God as he inspired John to define loving him through the love that we have for others in 1 John 4 and verse 12.

1 John 4 and verse 12, John writes, if we love one another, God abides in us, and his love has been perfected in us. Again, that word, perfected, completed, it has reached the pinnacle, so to speak. When we are acting in love toward others, we are expressing the love of God in its final form, so to speak. Not leaving the other undone, we can't just love people and throw all this stuff loving God out. It's both.

It's both. We don't leave one undone and just do the other and say we're good. Vice versa, we don't just show our love for God and then throw the world and all the people around us out, either. It's both. The illustration of love is both. Obeying God, showing the love of God to others, says he who abides in love abides in God and God in him, but there's an aspect to loving God that we might not often think about as showing a lack of love for him.

But we need to take it into consideration. That's in 1 John 2. Throughout this first epistle of John, God inspired John to talk much about love and what it entails. I've mentioned before the epistles as you look at James and Peter and John really are faith, hope, and love. I mean, they deal with these three topics so succinctly as Peter, or rather as James describes faith and Peter describes hope and ultimately John describes love.

But beginning in 1 John 2 and verse 15, he contrasts two loves. He contrasts two loves. He says, do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world. Verse 17, the world is passing away and the lust of it, but he who does the will of God abides forever.

Now John's clear. If we love the world, the Greek word here is cosmos, the orderly arrangement that's often used to refer to the universe. In this case, in this context, it's referring to an ordered system and arrangement of what Satan has counterfeited today.

It is the ordered arrangement of the system that Satan has in place in the world around us today, and that encompasses society, it encompasses culture, it encompasses all of these things that Satan has put into place and upon which the world runs. Within that system is the lust of the flesh, the various sins that we see outlined in Galatians 5 verses 16 through 21. Galatians 5, 16 through 21 gives us the various sins that are considered to be lusts of the flesh. We see the lusts of the eyes here mentioned, sinfully grasping for the things that God has placed out of boundaries for his people, outside the fence, so to speak, of what God has given us.

And then we see a pride of life, a certain sense of arrogant assumption, trust in our own importance, our own power and wisdom over that of God. And what John says is that this world, this system of Satan is passing away. In fact, the Greek that's used here indicates it's already begun. The Greek that's used here actually talks about that concept of decay, that it is in decay, that it is putrefied or putrefying, rather, which is kind of a gross word to think about, but it's putrefying.

The analogy here is that it is like a corpse that is yet unburied, that the world that John is speaking of here is right outside rotting, just waiting to be buried. That's what he's talking about. That's the analogy that he uses.

God called us to be different. As part of that identity, he called us to be different, to have our identity in him, not in the quote-unquote nations, so to speak, who are around us.

And so, brethren, when it comes to what we do, how we do it, why we do it, God defines it.

God defines it because that's who we are. So why, then, does the world even have a voice in the discussion? Brethren, why is there even a discussion? Why is there even a discussion?

How often do we justify or rationalize? Because we see something out there, so to speak, that we want more than what God has commanded us to do.

There are times that we want to be just like the world. We want to look like them. We want to act like them. We want to live like them. And as a result, we will justify certain behaviors.

We will justify certain actions. We'll justify our choices. And we'll rationalize our reasoning.

Why? Why? Why, if our true identity is a child of God, do we care one iota what the world is thinking? Or what the world is doing? What society or our nation? Or who cares? Who cares?

Let's turn to John 17. John 17. Following his final Passover with his disciples, Christ left the upper room where he and his disciples kept that Passover. They left. They departed for the Garden of Gethsemane. Slightly before they reached the Garden, we see kind of this passage here in John 17 that was provided. Because before he was arrested, he took a moment with his disciples here to pray to the Father, asking for a blessing to be put upon his disciples. John 17. John 17 verse 6.

Christ says the following. He says, I have manifested, speaking here to the Father, I've manifested your name to the men whom you have given me out of the world. They were yours.

They were yours. You gave them to me, and they have kept your word. They're yours. Their identity is in you. It says, for I have given to them the words which you have given me.

Oops, sorry, I skipped verse 7. Now they've known that all things which you have given me are from you, for I have given to them the words which you have given me, and they have received them, and they've known surely that I came forth from you, and that they have believed that you sent me.

Disciples were given to Christ out of the world. God took them from their original identity, so to speak, and offered them an opportunity to become something more, become something beyond that. Ultimately, not just someone in the world who got to remain exactly the same, but got to add Christian to their resume.

But the part of them whose passport listed the world as their nation of origin died in baptism, and the new them got a new passport and a new identity with kingdom of God as their nation of origin, that they were gods in the sense of possession, the sense of possession. They were in the world, but they were not of the world. Their identity was in God. It was of God. He goes on in verse 9.

He goes on in verse 9. He says, I pray for them. I do not pray for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours, and all mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to you, Holy Father, keep through your name those whom you have given me, that they may be one, as we are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in your name. Those whom you gave me, I have kept, and none of them is lost, except the son of perdition that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I come to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. He says, I do not pray that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth. Set them apart through your truth, through your word. As you sent me into the world, I have also sent them into the world, and for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.

They belonged to God, and while they remained in the world, Christ was clear they were not of the world. Their identity was not that of their nation, their society, or their culture.

Their identity was built upon God, and built upon His truth. Did the disciples fully realize that at this point? No. They did not. They were still working it out. But John is clear. Their identity had changed whether they realized it yet or not. They were no longer of the world. Brethren, conversion is a process. Thankfully, in the case of the disciples, as we can see in their examples in Scripture, that conversion process is on display for us to be able to go through and look at. It is on display. The Ark of Peter's story, the Ark of John's story. Now these men became deeply converted, deeply converted. The process continued as they received the Spirit of God, as they continued to remove the rotten pieces of the ship, so to speak, replacing it with new components.

And as they did this, they became something entirely different. Something familiar, but something completely new. You know, in the church, we tend to discuss the concept of someone coming to God as that person coming into the truth, coming into the truth.

Truth of God is revealed to them. They begin to understand who and what God is. They begin to understand their part in His plan, the Sabbath, the Holy Days, the food laws.

That person who comes into the truth begins to obey these things, which is all well and good. It's all well and good. But what we don't often discuss is where the process of conversion fits in. Process of conversion. Obedience.

It's not conversion. There is obedience in conversion, but it is not the end-all, be-all. The question comes down to, when you talk about conversion, is what has that person done with the truth? How has it changed them? How has it changed them at their core, as to who they really are? Have they submitted themselves to God? Have they ceased arguing with Him, trying to justify their antics and their behavior? Have they submitted to Him completely?

Or have they simply come into the truth? It is entirely possible for someone to have the truth and be unconverted. It's entirely possible. It's entirely possible for somebody to spend 20, 30, 40, even 50-plus years in the Church and still be just as bitter, just as angry, just as unwilling to submit to God, living in habitual sin, experiencing the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life that John describes. It's not just possible. It happens all the time. It happens all the time because they still haven't fully accepted that identity of God. They are still subconsciously identifying as the world around them.

Um, brethren, this isn't a new concept. I didn't make this up. President Shabey shared a letter this week that is from 1958 written by Mr. Herbert Armstrong. And I want to read it to you because some of the language that I just used is right in this letter. I figured it'd sound better coming from him than me. I have just noticed he writes December 12, 1958, in going over letters written in the letter answering department, a tendency which, as this reminds me, most of us have unconsciously followed. It is the habit of speaking of salvation only in terms of living out a life of obedience to God. We seem to have a tendency to speak only and solely of obedience. Commandment keeping, which, as we've mentioned, is part of it. We seldom mention that experience of conversion.

Utter surrender. Total repentance. Accepting Christ in living faith as our personal Savior and receiving the Holy Spirit. We do not seem to stress sufficiently Christ as Savior, faith in Him, and then His faith in us, living faith which is inseparable from obedience.

We must remember that the Orthodox, fundamental worldly churches, and evangelists stress almost solely just Christ and faith in Him and accepting Him as personal Savior. Our more or less general omission of this leads many automatically to assume that we preach a gospel of earning salvation by works. To a world accustomed to hearing almost all together about Christ and a born-again experience, which, of course, in parentheses, they do not understand, we put ourselves and God's truth in a wrong light. Instead of speaking of being converted, changed by real repentance, surrender, faith in Christ in receiving God's Holy Spirit, we speak of coming into the truth. A man may come into the truth, that is, let a certain amount of truth into his mind and still be totally unconverted.

We must not lead people to gather that we believe only in commandment keeping, which to them means Saturday keeping and earning salvation by works. We must stress the whole truth more. Repentance, surrender, Christ as Savior, being changed by God's Spirit as His gift, by grace, or following our conforming to His conditions of repentance and faith in Christ.

The change from carnality to spiritual-mindedness, being begotten, and then the overcoming and enduring and growing life of obedience and living faith with Christ living His life in us.

Let's not leave Christ and grace out of our speech and letters with love, in Jesus' name, Herbert W. Armstrong.

The first few pieces of the ship, when we come into truth, have been changed. The old rotten husks that are letting water into the hull, green with mildew and insects chewing holes in the wood, damaging its integrity. Few of those pieces have been changed. Just enough to keep it from sinking, keep it from capsizing. But the wind still whistles through the holes and the cracks in the wood, open spots in the hull. Just enough to keep the boat afloat. In a sense, it has changed.

There is much work still to complete. It's not feces's ship anymore, but it's also not completely new. You know, we've all seen the projects sitting out in front of people's homes when we drive old country roads. Some of you that have been around in back and forth, you know, in in around some of these back roads here out in the country, we see these old projects that are out in people's front yard. Frequently, it's a boat. Seems like it's always a boat. It's a boat, or it's an old car, or it's something along those lines sitting out there in the middle of the field. Hasn't moved in 20 years. Slowly decomposing on the trailer or the car that might be more rust than car at this point. You know, you'd be afraid to kick the tires because the car would disintegrate. You might even stop in and ask the owner if you could take it off their hands and rehabilitate it. And what's the answer every single time? That's not for sale. It's not for sale. I'm planning on fixing it.

I'm going to take care of it. That's my plan. What happens nine times out of ten?

Nine times out of ten, the owner dies. Still hasn't moved. The work never gets done, and one of two things happen. Someone buys it as a labor of love, painstakingly replaces all the parts, and either puts it back in the water or back on the road of a testament of what it was created to be, or it goes to the landfill, or it becomes a test burn for the fire department.

Brethren, you were bought with a price. It's not for sale anymore. It's been bought.

These unleavened bread, these days of unleavened bread, represent the conversion process in our lives. They represent a time in which, symbolically, we're removing leaven, we're removing sin from our lives, we're replacing that sin with the unleavened of sincerity and truth, with the very nature of God.

It's a time in which we are acknowledging and we are confirming our true identity, who and what we really are. And each and every time we remove one of those rotten planks, the board that we replace it with is spiritual, in a sense. It's not physical. It's being replaced with the very nature of God as we replace the pieces of this ship. With each subsequent...reproval...reproval...reproval and replacement...there's the two words...each subsequent removal and replacement, we are becoming more and more like the image of the Son of God. It's an imperfect process due to our humanity.

It's not God's imperfection. It's ours. It's an imperfect process due to our own humanity.

It's impacted by our own shortcomings. And I hope we recognize that those boards are not replaced through our own power. We cannot pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, so to speak.

We have a part to play. We have a part to play. We have decisions to make to allow progress and to make the effort. But the real progress in this comes through our submission to God in our lives.

Through that deepening relationship with Him is we yield to the Spirit of God working in us.

He will finish the work that He has begun in each of us if we let Him. If we allow Him to do that work, He'll finish it. Well, He'll finish it either way. We just may not like the way He does it.

Each time that we respond, as God would respond, not carnally, we replace a piece.

Each time God grants us repentance and we overcome the sin that we've been dealing with, we replace a piece. We won't fully achieve the final pieces of that ship until Christ's return.

We're made fully into the image that He's creating us to be this glorious spiritual creation that the very creation yearns and desires to see revealed when we become His own children.

Brethren, these days that we're here to commemorate represent the conversion process that God is doing in each and every one of us. They are an acknowledgement and a confirmation of who and what we are. Though the symbolism of these days, through that symbolism, God is strengthening us to be able to remove the leaven, to be able to take out the parts of us that don't align with that identity that are separate and replace it with that which does. And each time we do that, the ship becomes more seaworthy. We cannot afford to go through our calling, living a life of rotten wood and mildew. We can't afford it. A life with decay as a result of the choices that we make. The good news that is so prominent in these days of Unleavened Bread is that Jesus Christ is alive. He is at the right hand of the Father, and He is dwelling in us.

And for that reason, it's not too late. It's never too late to remove the old boards and to replace them with something eternal, piece by piece, becoming more like Christ and the Father.

So brethren, as we go forward from these days, let us continue to make a concerted effort in our lives to allow God to finish the work that He has begun in each of us. As soon as that very first piece was replaced, we were no longer the ship of Theseus, so to speak, and implicit in the first change is the conclusion of the process. We have seven weeks until the day of Unleavened, or the day of Pentecost, roughly. Actually six weeks now. Let's make the most of them spiritually.