Uncommon: Love
Pastor Rollan Fisher
Focus: The uncommon love of the Heavenly Father gives us a new name and a new identity to redeem our pain in Christ.
Defined by Pain
Your Old Name
Your New Name in Christ
Defined by Pain
So many of us struggle being defined by our painful experiences in life.
Genesis 35:16-39
“Then they journeyed from Bethel. When they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel went into labor, and she had hard labor. And when her labor was at its hardest, the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for you have another son.” And as her soul was departing (for she was dying), she called his name Ben-oni; but his father called him Benjamin. So Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem), and Jacob set up a pillar over her tomb. It is the pillar of Rachel’s tomb, which is there to this day. Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder. While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine. And Israel heard of it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve. The sons of Leah: Reuben (Jacob’s firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. The sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s servant: Dan and Naphtali. The sons of Zilpah, Leah’s servant: Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram. And Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, or Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned. Now the days of Isaac were 180 years. And Isaac breathed his last, and he died and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.”
As Rachel experienced the pain of childbirth, she spoke out of that pain and named her son Ben-Oni.
Ben Oni is translated as “son of my sorrow.”
Jacob stepped in and renamed him Benjamin, which means “son of the right hand.”
“The only love that won’t disappoint you is one that can’t change, that can’t be lost, that is not based on the ups and downs of life or of how well you live. It is something that not even death can take away from you. God’s love is the only thing like that.”
-Timothy Keller
What experiences, traumas and pains have marked you most significantly in life?
These experiences can include sin, violations or sustained circumstances that were out of your control.
“But resurrection is not just consolation — it is restoration. We get it all back — the love, the loved ones, the goods, the beauties of this life — but in new, unimaginable degrees of glory and joy and strength.”
-Timothy Keller
Your Old Name
With an uncommon love, the Heavenly Father comes to meet us in our pain and redefine our identity in Christ.
The pain and heartache that previously defined us living in this fallen world will not forever define us in Christ.
Jacob knew a thing or two about having a past, having a reputation and even the power of names.
Whereas Jacob can be translated as “supplanter” meaning one who seizes, circumvents or usurps, after his encounter with God, Jacob would be renamed Israel with a new reputation and identity.
This is the essence of the gospel.
Genesis 32:22-30 ESV
“The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had. And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, "Let me go, for the day has broken." But Jacob said, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." And he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob." Then he said, "Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed." Then Jacob asked him, "Please tell me your name." But he said, "Why is it that you ask my name?" And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, "For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered."”
How have you chosen to be identified by the pain or loss in life that you’ve experienced?
What hard things is God calling you to wrestle with that you might fully realize your new name and identity in Christ?
“There are the good things of this world, the hard things of this world, and the best things of this world—God’s love, glory, holiness, beauty. The Bible’s teaching is that the road to the best things is not through the good things but usually through the hard things. . . . There is no message more contrary to the way the world understands life or more subversive to its values.”
-Timothy Keller
Do you believe that God has a new name and identity for you?
Your New Name in Christ
In Jesus, you are given a new name and a new identity by a Heavenly Father who made the ultimate sacrifice for you.
I Peter 2:1-12 ESV
“So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture: "Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame." So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone," and "A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense." They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.”
As we repent of our sins and turn to Christ’s perfect sacrifice at the cross for us, not only can we be forgiven, but we can be separated from the shame that used to be attached to our name and experience.
This is why we are to be ready to declare the excellencies of him (Jesus) who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light.
“I’ve always said that I don’t respect people who don’t proselytize. I don’t respect that at all. If you believe that there’s a heaven and a hell, and people could be going to hell or not getting eternal life, and you think that it’s not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward—and atheists who think people shouldn’t proselytize and who say just leave me alone and keep your religion to yourself—how much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize? How much do you have to hate somebody to believe everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?
“I mean, if I believed, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that a truck was coming at you, and you didn’t believe that truck was bearing down on you, there is a certain point where I tackle you. And this is more important than that.”
- Penn Jillette, self-proclaimed atheist
It also means that rather than being a victim, we get to walk in the new authority of our new name, being dual citizens of our country of origin and the Kingdom of God.
This is given to us by our Heavenly Father to whom we belong in Christ.
“All Christians have dual citizenship. By natural birth, they are citizens of earthly nations, and they are subject to all the ordinances and requirements of their nations’ lawful governments. But by spiritual rebirth, through faith in Christ, they are also citizens of God’s heavenly kingdom. This is the basis of Paul’s statement, already referred to in the previous chapter, ‘we…are citizens of heaven.’ (Phil 3:20 NEB) As citizens of heaven, Christians are subject to the laws of the heavenly kingdom, but they are also entitled to share in its authority.”
-Derek Prince in Shaping History Through Prayer and Fasting
Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher