12. Almost Home with Trey Richardson
Today we’re talking with Hunter’s pastor, Trey Richardson, about journeying as chosen exiles toward our heavenly home. Trey is married to one of Hunter’s lifelong best friends, Kristen, and together they have three kids. You can find out more about Ozark Baptist church at OzarkBaptist.church. This conversation with Trey brings our Rest for the Weary series to an end! We pray it has encouraged you to work from the rest Christ achieved for us as you go about the work God has given you within the four walls of your own home, in your work outside the home, and in your local church.
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
What happens when we look to our work or our “ministry” to define who we are? How are we thrown off course when we try to create and achieve our own identity?
So, where should we look to truly understand our identity? How can we turn away from chasing acceptance from the world, and instead, trust in Christ, and find our identity in him?
How does Scripture inform who we are and what we do? And how might knowing that encourage us to get into our Bibles? How does God’s Word sustain us and give us life and offer direction for the journey ahead?
How does the doctrine of election offer us encouragement, even when we’re rejected by the world?
What will help us to stand firm in the identity we’ve been given in Christ, even when we’re undergoing hardship and suffering?
How does remembering that we are participating in the sufferings of Christ help us to endure hardship?
How does knowing that this world is not our home help us to persevere until we make it all the way home? How does the gospel redirect our hope in a world that is not our home?
How does the church help us faithfully persevere as we journey together towards our heavenly home?
What brings you rest when you feel weary?
NOTES & QUOTES
“Idolatry happens whenever we're loving something or worshiping something more than Jesus.”
“We often find ourselves trying to create an identity for ourselves or trying to achieve this identity by elevating those things that describe us—which may be some very good things—but we elevate those things that describe us and make them define us. And I think that's really where it becomes concerning.”
“Things like our job, our spouse, our children, our personality… We begin to think, “Well, this is who I am.” And it often gets us off course because it takes us down a path that ultimately will not lead to life. It's going to lead to discouragement, distress, exhaustion, and burnout whenever we don't achieve those things.”
“The only one who has the authority to define us is the One who has created us.”
“Pursuing an identity that the world tells us to assume or even just seeking to create our own identity often reveals that we're actually dead spiritually, or we're following something that's going to ultimately cut out our legs from underneath us and leave us without a strong foundation.”
“We have to turn from chasing acceptance in the court of public opinion by receiving acceptance that can only come in Jesus that is given to us by God.”
Lauren: As Christians, we talk often about remembering our identity in Christ, but what actually is that? What is true of us in Christ? Trey is going to get into how 1 Peter 1 reminds us of our identity as chosen, elect, exiles, and how Romans 8 tells us that we are God’s heir and Christ’s co-heir, sharing in his sufferings and his glory. But before we go there, let's spend a few minutes rehearsing and reflecting on what else Scripture says is true of us in Christ. Sister, if you are in Christ, you are a child of God (John 1:12) through adoption by the Father. John 15:16 says God has chosen you, appointing you to go and bear fruit to the world. You are united to God through the Spirit (1 Cor. 6:17), an essential part of his body (1 Cor. 12:27). You have been reconciled to God himself through his Son, and he has commissioned you to the ministry of reconciliation. You are Christ’s ambassador, a messenger of God’s righteousness (2 Cor. 5:18-20)! You are chosen, dearly loved, and created to reflect God to the world (Col. 3:12). You are a child of the light (1 Thess. 5:5) belonging to God and not to the darkness of the world. You are a part of a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s possession to proclaim his name (1 Peter 2:9-10). You are sanctified by the Spirit (1 Thess. 5:23), equipped with everything good, that God might achieve his purpose through you (Heb. 13:20). In fact, his divine power has given you everything you need; you get to participate in his divine nature (2 Peter 1:3). You are dearly beloved of the Father (1 John 3:1) lavished with his love, kept and protected from the harm of the evil one (1 John 5:18). You were carefully crafted, you are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:13-14). You are called in righteousness, held and guided by the Father (Isaiah 42:6). You are called to a righteous purpose by one who promises to work all things out for your good (Rom. 8:28). Sister, by God’s grace, this is who you are in Christ. May your identity compel you to know and love God ever more deeply.
“We're not going to be able to do what God has called us to do unless we rightly understand who we are according to how the Scriptures inform us of who we are.”
“The doctrine of election is speaking about God's choosing of individuals to inherit eternal life before they've done anything good or bad.”
“When you know that you belong to God and you're accepted by Christ, then there is no amount of rejection this world can give to you that will ultimately up you and undo you. There's no amount of mocking, there's no amount of slander that is going to cause you to be able to conform to the world or even isolate from the world. When you know that you're chosen by God, you know that there is nothing that can take that away.”
“If God has established our status and he has established our identity in eternity, then there's no persecution that can undo that. Nothing else in all of creation can give us an identity.”
“God placed his love upon you before the world even began.”
“It comforts you to know that God fore-loved you as you face the harsh circumstances of this life, that your circumstances are not a sign that somehow God has left you, but ultimately it's a reminder that you belong to him and he's with you in the midst of those circumstances.”
Lauren: The doctrine of our security in Christ is more than just some helpful theology. It actually impacts us in our everyday. It impacts how we walk through seasons of difficulty, suffering, and deep weariness. Because we know that our God is not uncaring or distant; it’s not in his nature. Because you are secure in Christ’s love, you can know that no matter what God walks you through, he is with you and for you. It’s interesting though, isn't’ it? Because when we try to show love to people we care about it, we often do it through acts of kindness, through words of encouragement, through gifts that make them feel loved and cared for, through hugs and kisses and sweet gestures… But God’s love is sometimes very unlike man’s love. Sometimes I feel that the way God is acting towards me – to put me through some hard thing, to walk me through a dark and difficult season – sometimes I feel that that reflects a lack of love towards me. I feel that God is not showing love to me in those times… Maybe you’ve felt this way too? But friends, it’s especially in these times that we must remember: God’s love is steadfast and sure. It is continuous and comprehensive. God’s love is unchanging, no matter what darkness he walks you through. I pray that today, right now, in the midst of whatever weariness or difficulty you’re walking through, that you would find hope and comfort in the surety of God’s love for you. Like Trey mentioned and like Ephesians 1 says, God’s love for you existed in eternity past, so you can be confident that it is secure now and will be forever. God is the very essence of love, and once he sets his love on you, you can be confident that you will be continually held by it.
“Even when I'm striving to live a holy life, even when I fail, that doesn't upend my identity. My position before God is the same in the day that he saved me as it is today or as it was in eternity past when he fore-loved me, and it's being actualized and worked out even through the work of the Holy Spirit, even today. So for me, it's helpful to go back to the Scriptures regularly, because so many times what happens is we begin to listen to the voices within our culture more than we actually go back to the Word, and the culture begins to inform how we think about ourselves.”
“If you're clinging to the promises of Jesus, when you've lost a loved one or you're going through relational discord, and you keep going back to the Word and you keep spending time in prayer, asking for the Lord's help and strength… that ought to give you assurance that you're doing the right thing. You're moving in the right direction to the One who's actually going to give you comfort versus trying to practice escapism and running after whatever is within reach or whatever the world tells you to do to try to deal with your pain.”
“If we're constantly bitter about our suffering, or we grumble our way through our suffering, we're not preparing ourselves for that day of greater joy. And yet when we're rejoicing in the midst of our suffering now, we're actually preparing for a day of greater joy when we're going to be rejoicing whenever Christ returns. If we suffer with him, the apostle Paul says, then we will be glorified with him. It's easier to rejoice when you know that in sharing in Christ's sufferings we will one day actually share in Christ's glory. That ought to motivate us to rejoice in suffering now, because we're going to share in his glory later. That is such a glorious truth that we can cling to in the midst of our hurt and our pain.”
“Whenever Peter begins his letter, not only does he call us chosen, but he also calls us exiles. He calls us those who live as exiles in our situation right now. Because God has chosen us out of the world, this world is no longer our home. This world is going to be opposed to everything that our newfound identity in Christ and faith in him is all about. And that actually helps me because it tempers my expectations from the world. It reorients what I am then longing for and yearning for.”
“What helps me to persevere until I reach my heavenly home is knowing that my circumstances really map onto the life and the afflictions of Christ. I'm not I'm not the first one who's walked this road. Christ has already blazed that trail for me.”
“When we sign up to follow Jesus, we are joining him in exile. And when we do, we not only sign up to share in his sufferings, but we're also signing up to share in his glory. That suffering is temporary. That glory is for eternity. That is what encourages me to persevere. I'm not alone. Not only do I have other Christians who are persevering along with me, they're going through similar sufferings that I'm going through, but also the fact that I'm not the only chosen exile out here. There's One who is God's chosen exile who already walked that trail for me. That gives me great encouragement to persevere through the affliction we face.”
“The church is going to outlast every empire. And so I would encourage everyone on here to dig your heels into the local church, because the Lord has given you other kingdom citizens, citizens of Jesus’ kingdom, to walk alongside you, to encourage you in those discouraging seasons, to love you in those seasons where you really don't feel loved, to give encouragement in terms of in redirecting your hope whenever you do feel hopeless. That's the point of why the church is there—to help you to mature in Christ, to look beyond yourself, and to actually put your eyes back upon him.”
“What I think is ultimately going to give me rest is not just shutting my mind off and watching Netflix. What's ultimately going to give me rest is knowing that God may not remove my weariness in my season of despair and discouragement. He may not remove that from me, but he can change how I interact with him in the midst of that season.”
“If Christ got up from the grave, he's probably going to get me through this grueling schedule, through this grueling parenting situation, this family situation, and through this restless, weary season that I'm in. If he's up from the grave, there is life to be had in the midst of what I feel is death.”
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
In what ways have you been tempted to create and achieve your own identity? To what have you looked to find your identity?
How does trusting Christ for your identity bring you comfort?
What passages of God’s Word have sustained you, given you life, or offered direction for you in the journey ahead? Consider memorizing one of these passages.
How (specifically) has your local church helped you to faithfully persevere as you journey together towards your heavenly home?
What might you do or implement based on what you learned in this week’s episode?
IMPORTANT NOTE
Journeywomen interviews are intended to serve as a springboard for continued study in the context of your local church. While we carefully select guests each week, interviews do not imply Journeywomen's endorsement of all writings and positions of the interviewee or any other resources mentioned.
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