Imagine-A Loving Father

It is in this moment, as Jesus is obedient to baptism, that we hear three things about the Father’s heart for Jesus.

The first thing we learn is:

I. GOD IDENTIFIES WITH JESUS.

We read in the text that immediately after Jesus is baptized, the spirit of God descended on Him like a dove and a voice from heaven spoke out these words: “This is my son.”

Illustration suggestion:

I remember the fire time I heard Tammie call me her husband after we got married, and the warmth that filled my heart that I had that special place in her heart that no one else could now have. Many of us who are married have had that experience. We were identified as some one very special in the eyes of the one we loved.

In this text, we see God identify with Jesus and call Him his son.

Jesus’ obedience in baptism was a symbolic representation that He too identified with His Father.

It was out of Jesus’ understanding of whose He was that He could live confidently out of who He was.

As we talk over the next few Sundays about stepping into and living out all that God imagines for us, we must first start here at the foundational point where Jesus models what it looks like to live as a child of God.

Not only does God identify with Jesus, God identifies with us through Jesus.

Galatians 3:26-29 says,

SO IN CHRIST JESUS YOU ARE ALL CHILDREN OF GOD THROUGH FAITH, FOR ALL OF YOU WHO WERE BAPTIZED INTO CHRIST HAVE CLOTHED YOURSELVES WITH CHRIST. THERE IS NEITHER JEW NOR GENTILE, NEITHER SLAVE NOR FREE, NOR IS THERE MALE AND FEMALE, FOR YOU ARE ALL ONE IN CHRIST JESUS. IF YOU BELONG TO CHRIST, THEN YOU ARE ABRAHAM’S SEED, AND HEIRS ACCORDING TO THE PROMISE.

- GALATIANS 3:26-29

That is an incredible promise to all of us to cling to. It doesn’t matter where you work, where you went to school, what you make at your job, or what you wear- let this soak into your hearts and souls- God identifies WITH YOU, and He wants YOU TO IDENTIFY COMPLETELY with Him.

Illustration: When you get a new job somewhere, you are given the privileges of working at the company that you have committed to. If you work for a cell phone company, your cell service is typically free. If you work in fast food, you may get some free food. If work in retail, you get discounts, and the list goes on and on.

It would be crazy to not accept the privileges that come with your new position.

One of the reasons I am a member of the Fire Department is it opens doors I could never step into as only a pastor. I have access to practical things like lightweight tables, chairs, and coolers like the one we used Friday for the movie night. If something were to happen to the church building, we could easily use the station’s day room for church service while our building was fixed.

I take advantage of the positions I have to help the church’s mission in our community.

When you commit to following Jesus with your life, God calls you his child. He identifies with you, and calls you His.

Yet, some of you are not living out of the identity that God has given you. You are weighed down with anxiety, wrecked with fear, wrestling with purpose, and racing through life -barely holding on. Rather than living out of the identity of God’s child, you are living as a slave to the things of this world.