Sermon Recap: Mother's Day Weekend

Who am I now?

Good Afternoon Church! Thank you for reading along with us as we recapture the sermon from Mother's Day weekend. Maybe it was a month or so ago when I actually told my husband these words as we argued about some silly parenting issue, "I'm a mother. By nature I am hard on myself and feel the weight of guilt all the time". I remember him looking at me like I had the print of Sasquatch on my face. He pressed the why and as we reflected, I told him that I fully understood how absurd that sounded but the rational did not actually remove the weight on my soul. I am a mother. But what would happen to me if that title shifted, as many titles already have in my life. Single. Bay Area dweller. College student. Roommate. Teenager. Who am I once the title shifts or is removed? Who am I in the title? Whose am I in the title? 

Pastor Steve Osborn led us through Romans 8, which happens to be one of my most favorite books in the Bible. When I was a child, my pastor at a Lutheran church gave me a Bible with a kind inscription and Romans 8:28. After going through Confirmation in the Lutheran church, I was given another Bible from the Youth Pastor with the same Biblical inscription. After I graduated from high school, a Max Lucado book was given to me with, you guessed it, Romans 8:28. Maybe God was poking His head in to tell me something I'd need to depend on. And of course, it was true. Romans 8:28 tells us this, "All things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose". There has been more than one occasion when I really needed to know this, which is likely why He made sure that I received those words on more than one occasion. Only God, right!

So here we are, recapturing Romans 8 in the four sections that Pastor Steve shared, as the Apostle Paul shows us how to live in Christ, as the greatest, eternal identity to bear.

1. Law Court- Romans 8:1, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus".

The Greek translation for "no" is "there is not one". There is not one condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Do you live in that world free of judgement? Apparently I don't based on the weight I put on myself as a mother. But I could. And so can you. What would it look like to live free of self-judgement as a parent? As a spouse? A sibling? An employer? A teacher? What condemnation, in your life, have you absorbed?

2. Family Dinner Table- Romans 8:15-17, "For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him".

Ok, I can completely relate with the story Pastor Steve shared about joining friends for dinner who had 4 girls. We have 3 young girls, ages 6-10 and they talk at me all the live long day. It is a wonder that women have that many words. I guess that means women are a wonder of the world? I'll take it!

Do you consider yourself, honestly, the child of a loving God? Is your idea of a father figure blemished or broken, which affects how you read or hear God being a father and you being His heir? What do you need from your Abba Father today? I urge you to lean in to that ask of Him, as we are in Christ, be met by the Father today.

3. The Arena- Romans 8:18-24, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved".

I'm trying to imagine what creation awaiting looks like. Is it the sound of thunder and earth violently shaking? Or is it the build up? Maybe it's similar to our longing for the fullness of redemption. We live patiently, and some days impatiently, in the right now and not yet, full of both tension and hope, turmoil and peace, because we know that this is not our final identity. The eternal glory of being in Christ awaits us.

4. The Finish Line- Romans 8:34-39, "Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, 'For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.' No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord".

How do we walk out the hope we have and ever-shifting identities? How do we align this all to the identity that is eternal? How then, are we allowing our shifting identities to be shaped by that which is eternal?

As we are in Christ, as Pastor Steve said, it will never be about us. The weight of motherhood should never be about me. If this is all about Jesus, which it is, then His ability to deliver is promised. They are gifts for us to receive that we, in ourselves, in our wavering identities, could never merit. And likewise, there is not condemnation from Christ that would remove the gift of Himself from us. Amen for that.

Thanks again for being here and recapturing these words from Sunday's message. If you would like to watch the message on YouTube, click here. If you would like to speak to a pastor, please contact the church office at 209-532-1381. For more information about Sierra Bible Church, our pastors or the ministries here, please visit sierrabible.com. See you next week!