Speaker 0 00:04 Hi and welcome to that makes total sense. The podcast where we talk about faith, finance and everyday life in a way that makes total sense. I'm your host Alexis city. On this podcast you'll hear the personal stories of friends I'll be interviewing who are doing familiar things in new and innovative ways. We'll answer questions specifically about money and our relationship with it and we'll explore faith and Bible teaching together. In all of these. It's not about changing our convictions as much as it is about messing with our methods. We'll have a lot of moments here together where we pause and say that makes total sense. Hi, I'm Alexis B SETI and welcome to that makes total sense. Thanks for joining me today. Um, today I've got just a little teaching that God put on my heart a while back and I want to share it with you because it was so revolutionary for me.
Speaker 0 00:59 It's one of those like I have gone back and re-read this teaching. I actually wrote a shorter version of it for family Christian, which I'll put in the show notes for you, but it's one of those like when you write something and you, you go away from it for a little while and you come back and you're like, Oh my goodness, I'm preaching to myself. So anyway, this is one of those, I hope you don't feel preached to today necessarily like I have, but I hope you feel encouraged and edified and um, loved just as a loved child of God. I hope you feel that way when you hear this. So what got me thinking recently about it is we just celebrated our girls 10th birthday and it's like so hard to believe. I cannot tell you this decade and I can barely say that this decade since they were born has just zoomed past way faster than I ever dreamed it would.
Speaker 0 01:54 We would like walk down the street. My husband and I when the girls were babies, you know, in this double stroller. And we would walk past the neighborhood school and my husband would say before, you know, when they're going to be going off to school. And I was like, no, don't say it. But here they are. They're 10 they're beautiful. And they're amazing. And they were our first born. And so I'm recording this in December, but they're our first firstborn. They have these December birthdays, but all of our kids actually have winter birthdays. So right now with all of the birthdays around us and Christmas coming upon us, I have just been spending some time, as I'm sure you guys all have in this advent season, thinking about Jesus coming to earth as a baby and what a miracle that is, that the Messiah of the universe would come to earth as a little baby.
Speaker 0 02:47 But you know, he was also a part of a growing family. And I think that's amazing that God created the family. He created the family to grow and to expand. And I think about what it's like for us to be a part of God's family. But when I start thinking about that, of who God is and who I am, and then, you know, how I see him in his magnificence and how incredible he is and how good, and then I see myself, I just, this concept of being a part of this family, it just blows my mind. I kinda think me, you know, like, are you looking at the person behind me? No. Me as a part of God's growing family and you, and sometimes when I can't see it, I remember that he can, that he actually saw me and you as a part of his family since before the beginning of time.
Speaker 0 03:41 He speaks over us. Some really powerful words that remind us who we are in him. And I want to share those words with you today. I want you to remember these words when you feel like you don't belong or when you feel down or when you question who you are in him, which is normal. Um, it's normal. But I don't want you to live there. I want you to live inside of his thoughts about you because the scripture says that his thoughts about you there is as numerous as the seashore and his thoughts in general are above our thoughts. And so I want you to live inside of his thoughts about you. So this morning I was walking my youngest to school and you know, we do the same routine every school morning and he turned around after he had gotten in the building a few feet away and he just turned around and said, I love you mom.
Speaker 0 04:33 You know, and I'm just, for some reason my heart melted today more than it usually does. And I was just walking away thinking I love him. Like I love him so much. And I prayed a little extra prayer for him as as I was walking home and I smiled the whole way home and I just thought, this is how God sees us all of the time. We are loved, we are valued, we are included, we are befriended and we are handpicked for the very family of God. We have an identity that is all his that he defines that can never be taken away from us because it's not based on anything we have ever done or anything we ever will do. Our identity is based entirely on him, on who he is and the work he's done. So I want to explore with you guys the facets of our identity as members of his family.
Speaker 0 05:33 And we'll start with those words first. We are loved, loved probably the most well known famous verse in the Bible is what John three 16 so even if we weren't raised in church, we can probably quote this one. I haven't watched baseball in a long time, but when I was a kid, I remember seeing like behind the umpire there was like a poster board and somebody had this hand painted John three 16 you know, behind the umpires so that everybody could see it. And it's become synonymous with the Christian faith in a lot of ways. And so the verse, you know it, we can all say it, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting light. Okay, so I'm memorize that one in like some version of the old KJV, the old King James.
Speaker 0 06:25 And so I think I actually memorized it. Who? Whosoever believeth. So I'm looking at that like whosoever, like who says that? But, but that's what it is. That whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. But the beginning of that and waiting to hear those words again, for God so loved, it's how the whole statement starts. But we often miss that part or we just kind of skip over it in our minds. I mean, it's like so familiar. I get it. But I want you to let that sit on you for just a minute. Loved. He loved us. He loves us. He will always love us. He has loved us since the beginning of time. Even before we were, he loved us. But both inside the church and outside the church, there's a focus on sin. And we need to understand and recognize sin and, and, but we often say that sin is the reason that Jesus had to die.
Speaker 0 07:29 Now hear me for just a second. I want you to stay with me on this. God doesn't mess around with sin and he does explicitly say in the Bible that there must be blood atonement for our sins. And Hebrews nine and we're going to go there and just a minute, but sin doesn't explain why he took the punishment upon himself. Love does for God so loved the world that he gave. And Hebrews nine there's the famous verse, verse 22 that's often used to explain why Jesus had to die and shed his own blood. And specifically while the why, the old system of animal sacrifice by the priest and the tabernacle and the temple was insufficient. And so here it is in the passion translation. Hebrews nine 22 actually nearly everything under the law was purified with blood. Since forgiveness only comes through an outpouring of blood in the English standard version, it reads like this.
Speaker 0 08:25 Indeed under the law, almost everything is purified with blood and without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. But I want us to go back just a little bit further and gain the context of this concept. Um, it's kind of a long passage, but hang out with me here for just a minute because it sheds light on many of the reasons Jesus died. And actually in my opinion, puts the spotlight on the love. So the writer spends the first section of this chapter, Hebrews nine, going back and reiterating the sacrificial system that the Hebrew people would have been very familiar with. Um, the writer talks about all the prescriptions for how things had to be done by the priest in the old Kevin. And we'll start in verse eight, where the comparison and the transition into the new covenant under Jesus' blood begins.
Speaker 0 09:18 So here's Hebrews nine eight through the end of the chapter, we're going to skip a couple of verses, but I'll let you know. Now the Holy spirit uses the symbols of this pattern of worship. Remember that's the old covenant sacrificial system to reveal that the perfect way of holiness had not yet been unveiled for as long as the tabernacle stood. It was an illustration that pointed to our present time of fulfillment, demonstrating that offerings and animal sacrifices had failed to perfectly cleanse the conscience of the worshiper. I want you to remember that for this old pattern of worship was a matter of external rules and rituals concerning food and drink and ceremonial washings, which was imposed upon us until the appointed time of heart restoration had arrived. I love that. But now the anointed one has become the King priest of every wonderful thing that has come for.
Speaker 0 10:13 He serves in a greater, more perfect heavenly tabernacle, not made by men. And he has entered once and forever into the holiest sanctuary of all, not with the blood of animal sacrifices, but the sacred blood of his own sacrifice. And he alone has made our salvation secure forever. Under the old covenant, the blood of bulls, goats and the ashes of a heifer were sprinkled on those who were defiled and affectedly cleanse them outwardly from their ceremony, ceremonial impurities. Yeah. How much more were the sacred blood of Messiah thoroughly cleanse our consciences for by the power of the eternal spirit. He has offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice that now frees us from our dead works to worship and serve the living God. So Jesus is the one who has enacted a new covenant with a new relationship. That's what we're talking about, a new relationship with God, so that those who accept the invitation will receive the eternal inheritance he has promised to his heirs for he died to release us from the guilt of the violations committed under the first covenant.
Speaker 0 11:25 So now we're skipping down to verse 21 and later Moses also sprinkled the tabernacle with blood and every utensil and item used in their service of worship. And here's verse 22 again, actually nearly everything under the law was purified with blood since forgiveness only comes through an outpouring of blood. And so it was necessary for all the earthly symbols of the heavenly realities to be purified with these animal sacrifices. But the heavenly things themselves required a superior sacrifice than these for the Messiah did not enter into the early earthly tabernacle made my men, which was but an echo of the true sanctuary. But he entered into heaven itself to appear before the face of God in our place under the old system. Year after year, the high priest entered the most Holy sanctuary with blood that was not his own, but the Messiah did not need to repeatedly offer himself year after year for that would mean he must suffer repeatedly ever since the fall of the world.
Speaker 0 12:26 But now he is appeared at the fulfillment of the ages to abolish sin, to abolish sin once and for all by the sacrifice of himself. Every human being is appointed to die once and then to face God's judgment. But when we die, we will be face to face with Christ, the one who experienced death for all, to bear the sins of many. And now to those who eagerly await him, he will appear a second time not to deal with sin, but to bring to us the fullness of salvation. So I know there's a lot in that passage, but so much of that passage has to do with our insides. It's talking about what Jesus did for our hearts and our consciences and our relationship with him. Our inheritance cleansing us from guilt, our salvation. If Jesus' death on the cross hear me. If Jesus' death on the cross was just to get out of jail free card or a substitute for our punishment for sin.
Speaker 0 13:25 That doesn't explain why the Bible says for God so loved the world that he gave his son. So think about it this way. The governor can pardon a death row inmate or he can release somebody from jail on a technicality and save them from punishment. But there's no relationship there. It's a onetime act. It's not an ongoing eternal relationship like we have with our heavenly father. Through Jesus. We are loved by him. Love explains why he sent his son. Love explains why he died in our place. Love explains his resurrection. Love explains the abundant life he offers us as a result of his death. It's love. It's, it's always, always been love. Next. We are loved and we are valued. We are valued in God's family.
Speaker 0 14:21 As a child of the most high King of the universe, I want you to hear that you are the most important thing in his life. What I think that sounds crazy sometimes to me, but that's exactly what James says in James one 16 through 18 it says, so don't be misled my dear brothers and sisters, whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God. Our father who created all the lights and the heavens, he never changes or casts a shifting shadow. He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation became his prized possession. He birthed us and out of everything he created in the entire universe, their creation we can see and the creation we won't ever see. We, you and me are his most prized possession. Take a moment and let that sink in.
Speaker 0 15:19 You are specifically and eternally valued by God. Okay. So I know you're, you're listening to that verse and you think, um, possession. Okay, so don't let the word possession put some kind of wrench in your thinking on this topic. Possession here doesn't mean he treats us like some sort of antique jewelry that's like set aside and locked up in a box somewhere for safekeeping. Possession doesn't refer to some kind of inanimate object. It's possession as in belonging, not in as in something you own. And the new King James, the verse 18 actually reads like this of his own will. He brought us forth by the word of truth that we might be a kind of first fruits of his creatures and that language first fruits in place of possession here, it's probably ringing a bell for you. There are first fruits offerings all over the place and the old Testament and in the books of the law and in the new Testament, Paul actually names Jesus himself as the first fruits.
Speaker 0 16:27 First Corinthians 1520 through 23 but now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep for since by man. That's lowercase. M came death by man, uppercase him. Jesus also came the resurrection of the dead for as in Adam, all die. Even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order, Christ the first fruits afterward, those who are Christ's at his coming and some versions say afterwards, those belonging to Christ, we belong to Christ. That's us. We are in him. We are actually included as a part of God's first fruits, this special ones to him because we are in Jesus. In another passage we'll see again, I'm a little bit later, Paul says it in different way. It's from the first chapter of Ephesians. Paul emphasizes that the same love he meaning he the father has for his beloved one, Jesus.
Speaker 0 17:34 He has for us. And I remember the first time that that verse kinda hit me. Um, we only had three kids at the time when we only had one son. And I was sitting at the dining room table reading this passage in one and trying to meditate on what that meant for me. Like what that meant for me, that God loved me with the same kind of love that he loved Jesus. And I could see my sweet little boy bow as he was my only son at the time. He was playing on the floor in the room next to me and I just started tearing up thinking about loving another child from another family with the same kind of love that I loved Boaz, like, you know, thinking about that. Like if it were, if it were possible for like me to kind of love them through through this love I have for Boaz, I couldn't even, I couldn't even imagine it.
Speaker 0 18:32 I couldn't even fathom it. Now I know we all have friends or nieces and nephews or neighborhood children and we say, Oh, we loved them like they were our own. But we're humans and there really is a real difference between loving someone else's kid and loving your own kid. But for God, it's just not that way. He loves us wildly. Like he loves Jesus. He values us in this way. We are his children. We're his possession in the sense that we belonged to him. And that's what he says about you and me. He values us as his belonging. We belong to him. He places value on you and he loves you with the same love as he loves Jesus as crazy, but you're his, you're valued just like his only son is to him. So next we have included, we're gods, we're loved, we're valued and we're included.
Speaker 0 19:32 It feels so good to be included, doesn't it? I mean, I think it feels better than we realize sometimes. So this happened to me a few years ago. I was feeling pretty lonely, but I didn't realize kind of how lonely I was feeling. We had just brought our youngest child home from Africa. My older three were in school and my husband was working and it was a really tough season for me and for our family, but I didn't realize how lonely I was until I received this invitation to a little daytime party with, with some old friends actually. And um, I hadn't seen these friends in a while and the invitation came through my email and I just like burst with excitement. And then I'm like, Oh my goodness. My response actually surprised me and I thought, okay, like why am I feeling like this? And it was because I didn't know I had this deep need to be and feel included so badly until it actually happened, and then all of these thoughts and feelings, you know, they kept flooding in.
Speaker 0 20:41 I kept thinking about the invitation and I'm thinking they want me there like they want me to be with them. They thought about me, I was included and it felt amazing. It felt amazing, but what's more amazing is that God invites each of us every single day to be with him. He is including us. He's inviting us to be a part of what's he, what he's doing. He wants us there with him at his party. He just wants to hang out with us. He thinks of us and then he acts on his thoughts by extending invitation after invitation for us just to be with him. We can actually see this invitation that Jesus extended in his life here on earth. When Jesus was praying to the father right before he was going to be executed, he was thinking about us, which is just so sobering.
Speaker 0 21:40 He was thinking about us and he was thinking about how he could include us. He said, I am praying not only for these disciples, but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. I pray that they will all be one just as you and I are one as you are in me, father and I am in you and may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me. That's John chapter 15 verses 20 through 21 our inclusion is so important to Jesus that it was literally his dying request that we would come and be a part of what he is doing alongside him and his dad. He wants us to include each other with the same kind of unity that exists between father and son and he wants us to experience the inclusion. He died for us to receive between him and us is so good, so, so good.
Speaker 0 22:47 Moving on. Next, we have befriended, we are a part of God's family, but we're also his friends. That sounds kind of crazy, but we're his friends and it's by his design. In John 1515 Jesus says, I no longer call you servants because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends for everything that I learned from my father. I have made known to you where his friends, so he shares with us and we have a special kind of relationship that's not based on any kind of legality. With my kids, I tell them I love them like all the time like like they can't even handle, I just tell them all the time, but I also tell them that I like them.
Speaker 0 23:43 I also tell them that I like because we're commanded by God to love even our enemies, but we don't have to like everybody and get along with everybody. But I like my kids. I like my husband and I like my friends. Our friends are the ones we get to hang out with by choice. We spend time with our friends because we want to, not because we're somehow obligated to and that's how God is with us. We're his friends, he wants to be with us. But have you ever been apart of what feels kind of like that unlikely friendship? Like when were you look at each other and you kind of laughed at yourselves and think, Oh my goodness, what are the odds? Like maybe it's one of those opposites attract kind of situation where like super physic superficially you have nothing in common, but you get along so well that you can't imagine life without the other person.
Speaker 0 24:40 Well, my relationship with God, my friendship with God feels like that to me sometimes. Honestly, I think, how in the world does this happen that God and I are friends, but then he reminds me, Oh yeah, he sought me out. He prayed for my friendship. He loves me at my most unlovable times. He speaks to me gently. He listens even when I yell or get kind of mad. Romans five 10 through 11 says, for since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his son, while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his son. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God. And while the initiation of our friendship with God, I can tell you was one sided. The relationship itself isn't.
Speaker 0 25:40 Yes, he did come after us. He came after you. You and I were walking around as unlikely friendship candidates, enemies really? And he saw us, he looked at you and said her, him, I want to be her friend. I want to be his friend. But he enjoys our friendship and our relationship with him as anything but one sided. It can't be because we respond to his initiation and we respond to his pursuing our friendship. It's just so amazing. So next after befriended, I want us all to remember that we are hand picked by God. So I mentioned earlier that our youngest, a little boy who I walked to school, the one who I had just brought home, we had just brought home and I got invited to the party. He is um, our adopted little boy. We have four kids, three biological, and he is our adopted fourth child.
Speaker 0 26:41 And so people will ask my husband and me what made us want to adopt. And at this point, honestly we have kind of this canned but truthful answer. You know, we tell them something like we always wanted to pursue adoption. We are waiting for God's timing, et cetera, et cetera. But if I'm being completely honest, it feels a little awkward for me pretty much every time it comes up. And I know people are just curious and I really am happy to field questions and talk about our family in this way. But I guess sometimes it feels awkward because I don't feel like I have just a great answer for their question. But doing this study, it made me realize maybe the best answer for this question is actually God's answer for why he adopted us. You want to know what that is? Because he wanted to, uh, seriously, it's, it's really true.
Speaker 0 27:36 He adopted us into his family because it was his desire. So here's the other part of that verse from Ephesians that I mentioned before. Most of the versions I've read re read something like this. This is a visions one four through five even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be Holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do and it gave him great pleasure. So why did he adopt us? Why did he hand pick each and every one of his sons and daughters? Because it gave him great pleasure to do so. That's pretty much it because he likes having house full of kids running around because he can't stand to see anyone be lonely.
Speaker 0 28:29 So we sets them in. Families. Psalm 68 five and six he sets us in family specifically, he sets us in his own family. You are handpicked by God, my friend to be in his family. I am handpicked. You have a place in his house, one that he prepared just for you even before you made the journey home. He was nesting. It gives him great pleasure as a dad to have you as his very own. You're handpicked. So if you find yourself in the next week, month, year, struggling with your identity at all with who you are or who you were meant to be, start with these five words. You are loved, valued, included, befriended, and handpicked by God. But I feel a little bit like reading rainbow, but you don't have to take my word for it and it's true. You don't. You don't have to take my word for it.
Speaker 0 29:36 Just ask God for yourself. Ask him to give you some other words that to you directly. I promised, promised you he never gets tired of answering this kind of request from us. It's kind of like a parent never gets tired of, of telling his kid their birth story and, and how the baby came home or the toddler came home or the teenager came home to be adopted or born or from God never gets tired of telling us that story. He never gets tired of sharing with us why he picked us, how much he loves us, who we are in him. His face is beaming over you right now, and he wants to share with you through his smiling lips about the place you hold in his heart and just who you are to him as a part of his family. God bless. So thank you again so much for listening. Don't forget to subscribe. See what missed an episode. Share the link with your friends. You can visit
[email protected] and until next time, this is Alexis. Be SETI, remembering to do well for ourselves so we can do good for others.
Speaker 1 30:51 <inaudible>.
