YOUR NEW IDENTITY

By Bryan Chapell

Text: Galatians 2:1520

Topic: Easter hope in Christ

Big Idea: Easter means that we have the identity of Christ:

were dead and alive in him.

2014 Christianity Today International

PreachingToday.com
Sermon Outline:
Introduction
Rabbi Hershel Schachter was the first Jewish chaplain to enter the Buchenwald
concentration camp. He found hundreds of starving men. Though they had been
freed they remained in their barracks until Rabbi Schachter spoke to them in their
own language: Shalom Aleichem, Yidden, Ihr zint frei!Peace be upon you, Jews,
you are free!
These are not words unlike what the Apostle Paul is uttering in Galatians chapter 2.
Jews are gathering together with Gentiles, and though they have been freed from
trying to make their performance what makes them right with God, they are falling
back.
It becomes not only shackles to them but shackles to the Gentiles who are beginning
to worship with them.

Crucified with Christ

We have the same experience. What we inadvertently say to one another is, Youve
got to measure up.
But the Apostle Paul says, No, you can be united to Christ for freedom like youve
never known.
That freedom begins with Galatians 2:20, I have been crucified with Christ.
These are familiar words to Christians in the 21st century, but for a first century
Jew, these were astounding, revolutionary words. You are not going to be justified
that is made right with Godby what you do, but by faith in what someone else has
done

Christs sacrifice is the antidote

It is a horrible image, but as horrible as the image is it is actually the antidotefirst,
to spiritual pride and then to spiritual despair.
For if I am united to the death of Christ, if I am crucified with Christ, what that
means is my achievements no longer distinguish me.
At the same moment, its the antidote to spiritual despair. Dead people dont get
demerits. If were dead, then whats true of us does not condemn us anymore.
What difference would it make? You would be able to say, There are things in my
life that Im ashamed of, but theyre nailed to the cross.

Dead but alive

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 Isnt it great to be dead? To recognize that we are united to the death of Christ, and
all that is true of us that brings us shame and hurt and heartache and guilt is gone.
Thats the blessing of the crucifixion but its not the end of the story.
Someone lives. Who lives? Christ lives. Where does he live? In me. Im not just united
to the death of Christ. I am united to the life of Christ.
Its actually saying his identity has been put in your place. The life of Christ is now in
my place and all that is true of him has been accounted to me.

Transformed spiritually
Sometimes people say, Wouldnt it be great if God were like Jesus? And those of
you well trained in the faith know that, well, actually he is.
And sometimes when we have failed or look back over lives of struggle or pain, we
say, Wouldnt it be great if God would love me the way he loves Jesus. And the
Good News of the gospel is, he does.
And then we begin to wrestle back. We say, But God, dont you know these
struggles, these sins, these difficulties. Im not what I should be, I know that.
But thats not the end of the story. I am crucified with Christ, I no longer live but
Christ What? Lives. Where? In me. What that means is the same power that raised
Jesus from the dead now lives in me and in you. We have been transformed
spiritually.

Conclusion
What does that mean? It means tomorrow doesnt have to be like yesterday. It
means real change is possible. It means there is hope again.

I am free from the fear of rejection because I am profoundly loved, but I am free from the
power of sin because of the indwelling of the resurrected Lord who is by his Spirit in me
this day. What that means for you and me is we are free. Free from the guilt of sin, free from
the power of sin. By faith this resurrected Jesus is ours this day. You are free.

Sermon Transcript
Introduction
At age 95, Rabbi Hershel Schachter died in the Bronx, New York. A name that doesnt mean
much to most of you, but a few of you will remember an event 69 years ago that made
Rabbi Hershel Schachter famous. Pattons third army had just liberated Buchenwald and
one hour later Rabbi Schachter was the first Jewish chaplain to enter the concentration
camp. There he found what we now know by newsreels to be realityhundreds of starving
men piled in bunks from floor to ceiling. Though they had been freed, they remained in
their barracks. After all, those who now came and claimed to be liberators were in uniform,
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just as their captors had been for years, and they suspected that new uniforms just meant
new oppression and new abuse, and they would not leave the barracks. Until Rabbi
Schachter spoke to them in their own language: Shalom Aleichem, Yidden, Ihr zint frei!
Peace be upon you, Jews, you are free! The words of freedom from one that they knew to
be their own created first a trickle and then a stream of men out of that one barracks, then
the stream became a flood as they went from barrack, to barrack, to barrack with the
words, You are free, you are free, you are free.

These are not words unlike what the Apostle Paul is uttering here in Galatians chapter 2.
After all, those in Galatia are now gathering under the banner of Jesus Christ. But Jews are
gathering together with Gentiles, and though they have been freed from trying to make
their performance, their labor, what makes them right with God, they are falling back into
the sense of what we must do to make ourselves acceptable to God.

It becomes not only shackles to them but shackles to the Gentiles who are beginning to
worship with them. People come together and begin to compare one to another, Have we
done all that we should to be acceptable to God? These Jews who have for so many
centuries been part of the faith, they know so much more than we do. They are more
mature than we are. And as we look at our lives, we dont measure up to what we know God
requires. We wont measure up, we wont catch up, we cant overcome whats in us. The
way the church was beginning to practice the faith became a new prison both for Jew and
the Gentile, and to that reality the Apostle Paul says, You are free, why would you stay in
prison, why would you go back there? And the words of freedom are these words of
Galatians 2:20.

Crucified with Christ

Now, this may seem remote to us, but we have the same experience. I mean, look at us. We
come together on an Easter Sunday where Christ broke the shackles of death, but its not
the same for all of us. We come in our Easter best, but what we inadvertently say at times to
one another is, Youve got to measure up too, there are things you have to know.

After all, there have been people here for years and years and they just know so much more
than you do. Maybe youre wondering whether youll measure up or catch up, still
struggling with something inside of you. But the Apostle Paul says, No, you can be united
to Christ, you can be part of a stream that becomes a river, part of a flood that is uniting to
him for freedom like youve never known.

That freedom begins with very unusual words. Paul starts Galatians 2:20 saying, I have
been crucified with Christ. Somehow he is saying in order to unite to Christ you have to
unite to his death. It seems like horrible words. And the explanation of what it means is
actually in the preceding verse. Right before Galatians 2:20 is Galatians 2:19. Here, the
Apostle Paul defines what it means to be crucified with Christ. He says, For through the
law I died to the law that I might live for God.

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Now, heres the situation. Imagine you are a first century Jew. You have been taught that
God said, I am holy so you should be holy. And the way that you get holy is to follow my
law. This will be a path to life with God. You just stay in the parameters of the law and you
will have a life with God. Sounds pretty easy. Just one little problem. Nobody can stay on
the path. The requirements are too much to be like a holy God. So Paul says in verse 15 of
the same chapter, We ourselves are Jews by birth. We know the law. Were not Gentile
sinners, yet we know Verse 16 says, that a person is not justified by works of the law
but through faith in Jesus Christ. So we also have believed in Christ Jesus in order to be
justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law, no one
is going to be justified.

These are familiar words to Christians in the 21st century, but for a first century Jew, these
were astounding, revolutionary words. You are not going to be justifiedthat is made right
with Godby what you do, but by faith in what someone else has done, Jesus Christ. Ive
been taught all my life that I have to keep the traditions, that I have to obey God, that I have
to keep the Ten Commandments, and yet Paul is saying, Thats not whats going to make
you right with God because if you are a real Jew you understand no one has kept that
perfectly. And that means youve got to look for your being made right with God through
some other means. After all, what you do is not the essence of what counts in making you
acceptable to God. As a first century Jew thats a radical thought. What I do doesnt make
me right with God?

We might compare that, if we pulled it into our day, to one of those campy movies about
somebody who wakes up one day, and speaks to their spouse, who doesnt hear or
recognize what theyve just said. (I hope Im not speaking about anybody in particular in
the house tonight!) So the person is speaking to their spouse Hey,and begins to wave
their hands and jump and say, Hey, Im talking. And theres no recognition, no hearing of
what the person is doing. They begin to think, I must be dead. I mean, nothing Im doing
seems to affect the situation; it doesnt count.

Of course thats precisely what the Apostle Paul says. If all of your doing and all of your
striving and all of your being is not what makes you rightyou might as well be dead.
Through the law I died to the law, he said. Its not what makes me right with God
although Paul doesnt take a campy movie example. He says something far more stark. He
says, If all of my doing and all of my being is not what makes me right with God, I am
crucified. With Christ there are nails in my hands, thorns on my brow. There is my mother,
she is weeping for me. There is blood that pools at my feet but it is not the blood of another.
It is my own blood, I am crucified with Christ.

Christs sacrifice is the antidote

It is a horrible image, but as horrible as the image is it is actually the antidotefirst, to
spiritual pride and then to spiritual despair. For if I am united to the death of Christ, if I am
crucified with Christ, what that means is my achievements no longer distinguish me.

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Now, this isnt the kind of pride that says Im perfect. Every one of us will say, I know Im
not perfect, thats not what makes me right with God. I know Im not perfect. Im just better
than you. But if youre dead, your achievements do not distinguish you at all. After all, dead
people dont get good report cards, dead people dont get sports trophies, dead people
dont get certificates of merit. Theyre dead. And so what sometimes distinguishes us in the
church in our struggles and our battles: My worship is better than your worship, my dress
is better than your dress, my family is better than your family, my actions are better than
your actions, my theology is better than your theology. Hey, youre dead, whats it matter?
Crucified with Christ. Its the antidote to spiritual pride.

At the same moment, its the antidote to spiritual despair. Dead people dont get demerits.
Dead people dont get traffic tickets. Dead people dont get in trouble. Just as our good
works do not distinguish us, our failures do not destroy us. If were dead, then whats true
of us does not condemn us anymore.

Whenever we are at a large gathering of people we recognize that there are things in our
lives, there are things in our hearts that trouble us and cause us to think, If God really held
me accountable, if other people really knew, I have no chance of being right before God. But
what if you really believed that being united to Christ, that your being, your doing is not
what makes you right before God. Thats not what counts on the final ledger. That what
really counts is that you are dead.

What difference would it make? You would be able to say, There are things in my life that
Im ashamed of, but theyre nailed to the cross. Theyre dead. The way in which Ive
achieved may have been through some lack of integrity, and that which is confessed is
nailed to the cross. There may be persons that I even meet in church that bring to my heart
and mind a sense of shame, a sense of guilt. But if you truly believe it was dead, joy would
be possible again. The idea that it could actually be put aside, nailed to the cross of Jesus
Christ and on your account no more. That would be wonderful.

Dead but alive

And Im not just talking about other people, but about myself. The first church that I
pastored wasnt exactly the size of this church. On a good Easter we had about 30 people.
While my wife and I were serving at this church, one Thanksgiving weekend shortly after
we had a new child, we were driving back from parents house when we got caught in an
early freak snowstorm. Now, we were driving up Highway 55 in our vintage Ford Pinto.
You know the ones that when you hit them they explode? Yeah, that one. And the snow was
beginning to pile up on the road. Im driving along and Kathy who is holding our new baby
said, Bryan, could we pull over and stop in a hotel? Its getting slick. Now, I quickly did the
math. Did I mention it was a small church? Small salary. And Im thinking, If we stay in a
hotel it will literally take us months to catch back up. The snow is piling up, and Im still
driving. Kathy says, Bryan, the baby. I kept driving. I kept driving until the snow got so
high they had to close the highway and we had to pull off and stay in a hotel.

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Every time we visit my parents now I have to drive past that same hotel. I hang my head. I
think to myself, Who was that guy, that for a few dollars was willing to put at risk everything
most dear to him? And I feel such guilt and such shame until this is what I recall: My sin, oh
the bliss of this glorious thought, my sin, not in part but the whole, is nailed to the cross and
I bear it no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, Oh my soul.

Isnt it great to be dead? To recognize that we are united to the death of Christ, and all that
is true of us that brings us shame and hurt and heartache and guilt is gone. Thats the
blessing of the crucifixion but its not the end of the story.

Galatians 2:20 starts with these words: I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I
who live But thats not the end of the story. Someone lives. Who lives? Christ lives.
Where does he live? In me. Im not just united to the death of Christ. Paul is saying I am at
the same moment united to the life of Christ. Now, if you feel that spiritual reality has
trouble at times penetrating into our daily reality and you find yourself asking, What
difference would it make? Well, Ill ask you what difference this made.

Now listenthis is not a hard question but its going to make you struggle a little bit. You
ready? If youre dead, and Jesus isnt alive in you, who are you? Now, see, it is Easter so
nobody wants to say, Im Jesus. Alright, Ill make the question a little easier. If youre dead
and Jesus is alive in you, whose identity do you have? Christ Jesus. That is the point. It
actually begins to change how you read the Scriptures when you understand that this is
more than saying, I have the love of Jesus deep, deep, deep down in my heart. Its actually
saying his identity has been put in your place. Therefore Paul can say in Philippians 1:21,
For me to live is what? For me to live is Christ. Colossians 3:4: Christ is your life.
Someone has put himself in your place. Someones identity has become yours. And while
your sin is dead, your identity covered, there is another identity in your place and it means
that Christ is yours. I mean, this is the miracle of Scripture. This is something spiritualwe
dont have math for it, we dont have a science for it. But the spiritual reality is the life of
Christ is now in my place and all that is true of him has been accounted to me.

Imagine that you are on a mountaintop and I am speaking to you and I say, Look at the
birds of the air, they dont sow or gather into barns and yet your heavenly Father takes care
of them. Arent you better than they? And the wisdom of that Sermon on the Mount is
mine. All thats true of him is now mine. Theres a widow coming down the road in a funeral
procession and the one in the casket is her only son. And as they get close I reach out and I
touch the casket and I raise the boy to life and I give him back to his mother, and the
compassion of that act is mine. Im in the desert 40 days and 40 nights, and the devil comes
to me and tempts me with the power and the pleasures of this world. I resist him with the
Word of God, and the righteousness of that act is mine, and it is yours. That is actually what
the Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1. Christ has become for us wisdom from God, our
holiness, our righteousness, our redemption. Why, because I earned it? No, Im dead. But
the identity of Christ, the risen Lord, is now mine. His life. Not in a tomb somewhere, not
even remote in heaven somewhere. His life by his Spirit now indwelling me gives me an
identity that is not my own so that when God now registers who I am, he sees his only child
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in my place with his wisdom and holiness and righteousness now accounted to me in my
place. You know, we cant make sense of it even in a modern time.

Transformed spiritually
A number of you in the room are old enough to remember when you did not pay for gas at
the pump. Remember when you had to actually take your wallet out and the dollars out and
go into the station house and pay for it? You dont do that anymore, right? You just pay at
the pump. Actually, I discovered I dont have to go to the gas station at all. I can send my
daughter. At todays gas prices when she goes to pay, she cant pay for it. So what does she
take? She takes my credit card. She takes my identity. She takes my riches (such as they
are) and they are hers. What is mine is put into her account. What is mine becomes hers.
The credit is hers. Not because she earned it. Not because it could be hers in this moment.
But because what is mine has been given to her in that moment for that purpose.

Were being told in the Scriptures that because were dead and the identity of Christ has
become ours, what is true of him has been accounted to you and to me so that we have
been profoundly loved and powerfully changed in ways that challenge our imagination
entirely. After all, think of what the Apostle Paul says here: Ive been crucified with Christ,
it is no longer I who live, Christ lives in me and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith
in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Because I am united to the death
of Christ and united to the life of Christ, his identity has become mine and now I/you/we
are profoundly loved.

Sometimes people say, Wouldnt it be great if God were like Jesus? And those of you well
trained in the faith know that, well, actually he is. And sometimes when we have failed or
look back over lives of struggle or pain, we say, Wouldnt it be great if God would love me
the way he loves Jesus. And the Good News of the gospel is, he does. For you who have put
your faith in Christ Jesus, sin is nailed to the cross and the identity of Christ is yoursso
that God looks at you and says, You are my precious child, I love you.

And then we begin to wrestle back. We say, But God, dont you know these struggles, these
sins, these difficulties. Im not what I should be, I know that. And so the same God who
loves you, who has put the power of Jesus Christ in you, says, Listen, youre not only
profoundly loved, you are powerfully changed. Jesus died for your sin.

But thats not the end of the story. I am crucified with Christ, I no longer live but Christ
What? Lives. Where? In me. What that means is the same power that raised Jesus from the
dead now lives in me and in you. We have been transformed spiritually. There is a reality of
spiritual transformation that is here now, present, changing you. And at times we listen to
the lie of Satan that says, You cant help it, you cant change, you cant be fixed. And God
says by his Word, That is a lie. Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.
Theres a reality of Jesus Christ thats not visible to the world, which people cannot accept
until they begin to say, Im not going to put faith in my power, my strength, my doing. Im
going to put my faith in Jesus. And when that happens there is a power of the resurrection,

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what Easter is really about, that comes and begins to indwell us so that we have hope again,
that we have to say, I can change because God by his Spirit now indwells me.

Conclusion
What does that mean? It means tomorrow doesnt have to be like yesterday. It means real
change is possible. It means there is hope again. I am free from the fear of rejection because
I am profoundly loved, but I am free from the power of sin because of the indwelling of the
resurrected Lord who is by his Spirit in me this day. What that means for you and me is we
are free. Free from the guilt of sin, free from the power of sin. By faith this resurrected Jesus
is ours this day. You are free. When you believe that, it changes everything.

Kathy, my wife, taught high school for a number of years and one of the special moments in
her teaching experience is when a learning specialist came and began to examine why some
of the children in her class had not done very well in school. As the learning specialist
examined one young man, she found that there was this strange disconnect between what
went into his brain and what he could reproduce on paper through his hand. Now, if youd
just ask him the questions and he would speak, he could give you the answers and he could
tell you. But if he had to write it down he could not do it. How well do you think he had
done in school? Miserable. But he did not know why until that day.

At the faculty meeting at the end of the day, the learning specialist invited this young man
to speak to the teachers and she asked him a question: Johnny, before today, what did you
think about yourself? And he said the words in high school terms: I thought I was stupid.
Then she said, Johnny, now what do you know about yourself? And with tears streaming
down his cheeks he said the words, Now I know Im not stupid! Wasnt that a great gift
that she gave him? She told him who he really was and what he could really do. She said,
Now, theres still some work to do but now you know you can.

What did God do for you this day? Among us, there are some people who think to
themselves: God must hate me, knowing who I am, whats happened, God must hate me. He
says, You are profoundly loved. But I cant help it, Lord. No, you are powerfully changed.
Now there is still some work to do, but now you know you can because you are free.

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For Your Reflection
Personal growth:
How has this sermon fed your own soul? ___________________________________________

Skill growth:
What did this sermon teach you about how to preach?
____________________________________________________________________________

Exegesis and exposition:

Highlight the paragraphs in this sermon that helped you better understand Scripture. How
does the sermon model ways you could provide helpful biblical exposition for your
hearers? ____________________________________________________________________________

Theological Ideas:
What biblical principles in this sermon would you like to develop in a sermon? How would
you adapt these ideas to reflect your own understanding of Scripture, the Christian life, and
the unique message that God is putting on your heart?
____________________________________________________________________________

Outline:
How would you improve on this outline by changing the wording, or by adding or
subtracting points? _____________________________________________________________________

Application:
What is the main application of this sermon? What is the main application of the message
you sense God wants you to bring to your hearers?
____________________________________________________________________________

Illustrations:
Which illustrations in this sermon would relate well with your hearers? Which cannot be
used with your hearers, but they suggest illustrations that could work with your hearers?
____________________________________________________________________________

Credit:
Do you plan to use the content of this sermon to a degree that obligates you to give credit?
If so, when and how will you do it? ____________________________________________________

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