(An angel said) "She (Mary) will give birth to a Son, and you are to give Him the Name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins."[Matthew 1:21]
Have you ever heard of the company LifeLock? It's founder and CEO comes on the radio and says his name and gives you his Social Security number because he is so sure his company can protect his identity and keep him safe from all kinds of mischief that people would want to do with that information. Identity theft is a growing problem in the world and let me tell you, when someone steals your identity, it is a nightmare trying to get things back in order with your banks, your business, your creditors, even your friends.
Yesterday, we talked about an identity loss even worse than that, one that can't be overcome by our technology or wisdom, our money, or our fame. It's the loss of our humanity because of our sin, our guilt, and our shame before God and each other. We also talked, though, about Jesus, a Savior, who would come into this mess and not just overcome that problem, but also grant us new life, a new lineage, and yes, even a new identity in Him, into the worst struggles you may find yourself, either because of what you have done or what others have done to you. Into the greatest abyss of struggle, even shame, comes a Savior with a Name above all other names, Jesus, the world's Savior.
His identity was not merely a family name or a privileged lineage; it was a fulfillment of all of God's promises from the beginning of time. His Name described His very purpose for being here. Jesus -- God in the flesh -- came to take our place, identity loss and all, to save people like you and me and to grant us a new status like His as a son or daughter of God.
You know, one of the reasons I have LifeLock is because Yvette's and my identity was stolen at one time. A woman stole checks from our mailbox and then started buying things all over Southern California. Suddenly, our bank account was near zero; creditors were calling for payments for things we didn't buy, and they all said we wrote the checks, which of course we never did. It took months and months for that to be overcome. But, what a day it was when all of that money was suddenly back in our checking account, as if it never happened at all.
As wonderful as that feeling was, it's nothing compared to the reality that because of Jesus Christ, the sins that drove you away from God have been paid for, the guilt you struggle with is something that can be released and overcome, and the status of being a child of God with real hope for the future is something that Christ Jesus earned and delivers to all who trust in Him by faith. That's a deposit of life into your account that should give you a joyful sense of what it means to overcome identity theft by His identity gift.
THE PRAYER: Dear Jesus, help us see what it means that as our Savior, You not only overcome the loss of our eternal identity because of our sin, but that you grant us Your status as a son or daughter of God as a gift -- to be lived out with joy, now and forever. Amen!
Have you ever heard of the company LifeLock? It's founder and CEO comes on the radio and says his name and gives you his Social Security number because he is so sure his company can protect his identity and keep him safe from all kinds of mischief that people would want to do with that information. Identity theft is a growing problem in the world and let me tell you, when someone steals your identity, it is a nightmare trying to get things back in order with your banks, your business, your creditors, even your friends.
Yesterday, we talked about an identity loss even worse than that, one that can't be overcome by our technology or wisdom, our money, or our fame. It's the loss of our humanity because of our sin, our guilt, and our shame before God and each other. We also talked, though, about Jesus, a Savior, who would come into this mess and not just overcome that problem, but also grant us new life, a new lineage, and yes, even a new identity in Him, into the worst struggles you may find yourself, either because of what you have done or what others have done to you. Into the greatest abyss of struggle, even shame, comes a Savior with a Name above all other names, Jesus, the world's Savior.
His identity was not merely a family name or a privileged lineage; it was a fulfillment of all of God's promises from the beginning of time. His Name described His very purpose for being here. Jesus -- God in the flesh -- came to take our place, identity loss and all, to save people like you and me and to grant us a new status like His as a son or daughter of God.
You know, one of the reasons I have LifeLock is because Yvette's and my identity was stolen at one time. A woman stole checks from our mailbox and then started buying things all over Southern California. Suddenly, our bank account was near zero; creditors were calling for payments for things we didn't buy, and they all said we wrote the checks, which of course we never did. It took months and months for that to be overcome. But, what a day it was when all of that money was suddenly back in our checking account, as if it never happened at all.
As wonderful as that feeling was, it's nothing compared to the reality that because of Jesus Christ, the sins that drove you away from God have been paid for, the guilt you struggle with is something that can be released and overcome, and the status of being a child of God with real hope for the future is something that Christ Jesus earned and delivers to all who trust in Him by faith. That's a deposit of life into your account that should give you a joyful sense of what it means to overcome identity theft by His identity gift.
THE PRAYER: Dear Jesus, help us see what it means that as our Savior, You not only overcome the loss of our eternal identity because of our sin, but that you grant us Your status as a son or daughter of God as a gift -- to be lived out with joy, now and forever. Amen!
In Christ I remain His servant and yours, 
Rev. Dr. Gregory Seltz
Speaker of The Lutheran Hour®
Lutheran Hour Ministries
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Today Read: Psalms 9,11; John 8:1-27
Psalms 9:1 (0) For the leader. On the death of Labben. A psalm of David:
2 (1) I give thanks to Adonai with all my heart.
I will tell about all your wonderful deeds.
3 (2) I will be glad and exult in you.
I will sing praise to your name, ‘Elyon.
4 (3) When my enemies turn back,
they stumble and perish before you.
5 (4) For you upheld my cause as just,
sitting on the throne as the righteous judge.
6 (5) You rebuked the nations, destroyed the wicked,
blotted out their name forever and ever.
7 (6) The enemy is finished, in ruins forever;
you destroyed their cities; all memory of them is lost.
8 (7) But Adonai is enthroned forever;
he has set up his throne for judgment.
9 (8) He will judge the world in righteousness;
he will judge the peoples fairly.
10 (9) Adonai is a stronghold for the oppressed,
a tower of strength in times of trouble.
11 (10) Those who know your name put their trust in you,
for you have not abandoned those who seek you, Adonai.
12 (11) Sing praises to Adonai, who lives in Tziyon;
proclaim his deeds among the peoples.
13 (12) For the avenger of blood remembers them,
he does not ignore the cry of the afflicted:
14 (13) “Have mercy on me, Adonai!
See how I suffer from those who hate me;
you raise me from the gates of death,
15 (14) so that I can proclaim all your praises
at the gates of the daughter of Tziyon
and rejoice in this deliverance of yours.”
16 (15) The nations have drowned in the pit they dug,
caught their own feet in the net they hid.
17 (16) Adonai made himself known and executed judgment;
the wicked are ensnared in the work of their own hands. (Higgayon; Selah)
18 (17) The wicked will return to Sh’ol,
all the nations that forget God.
19 (18) For the poor will not always be forgotten
or the hope of the needy perish forever.
20 (19) Arise, Adonai! Don’t let mortals prevail!
Let the nations be judged in your presence.
21 (20) Strike them with terror, Adonai!
Let the nations know they are only human. (Selah)
11:(0) For the leader. By David:
(1) In Adonai I find refuge.
So how can you say to me,
“Flee like a bird to the mountains!
2 See how the wicked are drawing their bows
and setting their arrows on the string,
to shoot from the shadows at honest men.
3 If the foundations are destroyed,
what can the righteous do?”
4 Adonai is in his holy temple.
Adonai, his throne is in heaven.
His eyes see and test humankind.
5 Adonai tests the righteous;
but he hates the wicked and the lover of violence.
6 He will rain hot coals down on the wicked,
fire, sulfur and scorching wind
will be what they get to drink.
7 For Adonai is righteous;
he loves righteousness;
the upright will see his face.
John 8:1 But Yeshua went to the Mount of Olives. 2 At daybreak, he appeared again in the Temple Court, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3 The Torah-teachers and the P’rushim brought in a woman who had been caught committing adultery and made her stand in the center of the group. 4 Then they said to him, “Rabbi, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. 5 Now in our Torah, Moshe commanded that such a woman be stoned to death. What do you say about it?” 6 They said this to trap him, so that they might have ground for bringing charges against him; but Yeshua bent down and began writing in the dust with his finger. 7 When they kept questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “The one of you who is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Then he bent down and wrote in the dust again. 9 On hearing this, they began to leave, one by one, the older ones first, until he was left alone, with the woman still there. 10 Standing up, Yeshua said to her, “Where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She said, “No one, sir.” Yeshua said, “Neither do I condemn you. Now go, and don’t sin any more.”
12 Yeshua spoke to them again: “I am the light of the world; whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light which gives life.” 13 So the P’rushim said to him, “Now you’re testifying on your own behalf; your testimony is not valid.” 14 Yeshua answered them, “Even if I do testify on my own behalf, my testimony is indeed valid; because I know where I came from and where I’m going; but you do not know where I came from or where I’m going. 15 You judge by merely human standards. As for me, I pass judgment on no one; 16 but if I were indeed to pass judgment, my judgment would be valid; because it is not I alone who judge, but I and the One who sent me. 17 And even in your Torah it is written that the testimony of two people is valid. 18 I myself testify on my own behalf, and so does the Father who sent me.”
19 They said to him, “Where is this ‘father’ of yours?” Yeshua answered, “You know neither me nor my Father; if you knew me, you would know my Father too.” 20 He said these things when he was teaching in the Temple treasury room; yet no one arrested him, because his time had not yet come.
21 Again he told them, “I am going away, and you will look for me, but you will die in your sin — where I am going, you cannot come.” 22 The Judeans said, “Is he going to commit suicide? Is that what he means when he says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” 23 Yeshua said to them, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. 24 This is why I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not trust that I AM [who I say I am], you will die in your sins.”
25 At this, they said to him, “You? Who are you?” Yeshua answered, “Just what I’ve been telling you from the start. 26 There are many things I could say about you, and many judgments I could make. However, the One who sent me is true; so I say in the world only what I have heard from him.” 27 They did not understand that he was talking to them about the Father.
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