Identity Matters

1. What are some of the messages the world tells you about your identity, and how have these messages influenced you through your life?
2. What are some false ideas you still believe about yourself, and how has that affected your relationship with God and others?
3. Read Ephesians 1:3-14 out loud together, counting how many times the passage emphasizes “in him” or “in Christ.” What does this passage tell you about your identity?
4. What does God think about you right now? Can you back up your answer biblically?
5. How can we practically work on taking off our old ways of life, renewing our minds, and putting on our new identity in Christ? In other words, what are specific steps you can take in your daily life to fully embrace your new identity in Christ?

Prayer + Practice:

One practical application of this sermon is to regularly immerse ourselves in the Word of God and meditate on it. As mentioned in the sermon, studying and knowing God's word is essential in understanding our true identity in Christ.

Read Ephesians 1:3-14 each day this week and reflect on who God is and who you are in light of him. Write down your thoughts in a journal and pray that God would help you live into the identity he has secured for you. Talk with God about any barriers you have in fully believing and walking in this identity. Who else in your life can you share this with to help encourage you? Who can you encourage in this way as well?

Jeff reffered to a do ument talking about all the places in scripture that relate to identity. You can find that document linked here

Well, good morning, everybody, and thank you so much for allowing me to be up here back to back weeks. You'll get your minds and hearts rested after that. But I am excited to be able to talk with you this day. Last week we talked about your work matters. This week we get to talk about your identity matters.

And you know, the scripture when I was thinking about this really is full of people who've struggled with the issue of their identity at one time or another. Oh, let's go back for a second. They're already.

Yeah, I'm not trying to get it. I wanted to go back for a second. There we go. That's fine.

You know, we all want to know who we are. We seek and search and try to find ourselves. Many of us have taken personality tests and other assessments. If you've done that, raise your hand. Take a picture of everybody here.

All right.

We learned that we're a lion or a beaver, a golden retriever. Maybe you have discovered you are an ENFP champion, an activator or a competitor or an architect. Maybe you're a high I or a low d. Or maybe you're a type three wing, two, type five wing, six. All you laughing people.

You enneagram people, right? I know what's going on. But as helpful as those tests can be, have we ever stopped to ask, what does God think about me? What does he say that I am? In all my years as a believer, I found myself not really reflecting on that until recently.

And I found is that God has a lot to say about what he thinks about us. Boy, it's a Bible, fool. You see, in our world, we are constantly bombarded with messages that tell us who we should be. It's easy to lose sight of our true identity. But as Christians, we're called to find our identity in Christ Jesus.

Our identity in Christ is not just a label that we put on ourselves like some fancy clothes, but it's a transformational experience that changes the way we see ourselves and the world around us. Plus, it's a journey to discover the truth about who we are and who we were created to be, which we spoke on last week. It's tempting to base our identity in Christ on what we do for him if we go to church. My engagement in ministry, reading our scriptures, while these are good things, they can't determine our identity because at the end of the day, those are things that we accomplish. In reality.

Your identity in Christ is based on the things that he's done for you, and it's an identity that's based in God's truth, and it will not falter because his word is flawless and trustworthy. Identity in Christ is all based upon who God says you are. So, in essence, identity in Christ starts with God. Amen. So let's talk about this.

I was thinking about this the other day, too, that the scripture, though, is full of people that have struggled with this idea of identity. And you see that little lifelock symbol? It's a little bit different, isn't it? It's got a cross in that person's soul. So this is a christian version of lifelock, biblical identity theft.

And I want to think about this. The first individual or created being that I thought of that had a problem with identity was Lucifer. Because what did Lucifer want from God? Remember the five eye wills in Isaiah 1413 through 14? He wasn't satisfied with his role that God had established for him.

He wanted it all. He wanted a different identity. He struggled with that also. Lucifer then took what he did after God, cast him again from the heavenlies down to earth. And he thought, well, listen, since I can't get what God has, maybe I'll foul up the plan that he has established for his creation.

And so what does he do? He goes after Adam and Eve. In Genesis, chapter three, humankind were image bearers of God himself. Remember, God was a worker. We are coworkers, created as image bearers for him.

But again, Lucifer decided to try to upset the apple card a little bit. And we're going to talk about that in a little more detail in a second, and we'll specifically think about the temptation that he had with Adam and Eve. But Lucifer again sought to deceive God's creation, wanted them to think differently than other, what God had planned for them. How about false prophets throughout the Old Testament that tried to speak on Israel's behalf, but they weren't. They had a different identity that they wanted to resolve or bring forth.

And they pretended to speak for God, but they simply defrauded God's people. And in many cases, Israel followed. How about the New Testament Pharisees, who had the truth from the scriptures, from the Torah, but they distorted God's truth. They thought they were identified with God, but they really weren't. And then in the temptation of Jesus in Matthew four, devil's back at it again.

Look at. He starts in the first one, he's up in the heavenlies and he wants it all. He then comes down to earth and goes after Adam and Eve, but he decides to go after God himself in the person of Christ. In Matthew four. That's one of the best interesting stories that I've read in the scriptures, because Jesus and Lucifer were the only ones that were there.

So that means Jesus had to have personally told that story to his disciples. Can you imagine that? Hey, boys, come around the campfire. I've got a story to tell you. That's what Matthew four was.

And what did the devil try to do? He made it an identity issue with Christ and he put God to the test. Old Testament again. How about Daniel in Babylon? When he was.

His nation was captivated. Babylon took them in. It was a cultural assimilation. Names were changed. And we're going to speak about name changing as well, because there was something that God does to create an image for us, for himself.

And then finally Saul of Tarsus. Now, Saul loved God. And remember, his love for God became an inflamed hatred for the followers of Christ. His identity was, I'm serving my God. No, he wasn't.

He was yet to find out what it was that God was going to do. Is this making sense? We have an identity that gets skewed, right? And we want to make sure that we do what God says that we need to do. Now, as we go forward, I want to just mention real quickly, because I put together a variety of verses and I'll talk with Brady about this, but we're going to post it on the website.

I've got about 110 verses of things that we are in Christ from the scriptures. It's going to be on a PDF word file that I want you to take this week and review it, meditate on it, reflect on it, because it's what God says about us that we need to be mindful of. However, here's some quick things we can think of. Do you know that you're a new creation? Old things have passed away, right?

If any man is in Christ, he is in what new creation? Second, we're children of God. We're heirs of God, fellow heirs, with Christ sharing his inheritance. We're also not alone. We have the Holy Spirit in us to comfort, to teach, to guide us, to intercede for us, to strengthen us.

This is your identity. We have God's fullness in every spiritual blessing in Christ. We've received every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Ephesians one, we have the spirit of power, love and well balanced, disciplined mind. Second Timothy two, we have the mind, thoughts and feelings of Christ.

First, corinthians two, we have the grace, strength and power of Christ in us, and we can renew our mind daily to align with the word of God, which is also the will of God for our lives. Romans twelve two. Is that not amazing, what God gives us? We have an identity that's very specific and he has a pathway for us to follow, and that's an important part. But I want to go back, if I can, and talk about something that's important, because in the scriptures there was two temptations that I think are quite interesting.

One happened in the Old Testament and one happened in the New Testament, and we talked about them briefly a second ago. But I want to go in just a little bit more detail. First of all, in Genesis three, this was Adam and Eve, right? Now, again, what preceded the devil talking to Adam and Eve was that he was cast out of heaven because, again, he had a misidentification problem. He wanted to be in God's role.

God said no, and he threw him out of the kingdom. But he immediately took the struggle, and now he decided, if I can't affect him, I'll affect what he created.

And remember what the devil did. And this is what happens in our own world. Right? He posed a question to eve with regards to what did God tell you? Did God say that you would surely die?

Now, I've got to hand it to Eve, because here's what she tries to do. She says, well, no, you must not eat from the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden. But you know what Eve did? She added something. I underlined it, and you must not touch it.

Did God say that?

I think she meant well. But then I started thinking, how often do I take scripture and bend it a little bit in a way that might accommodate where I am when I think God's big enough and gave us the truth enough to be able to handle that? And as a result of all that, this was the result, right? It was spiritual death, which eventually became physical death. They were banished from the garden and God had to give us a savior, because what went on in Genesis chapter three that took place was, again, that prophetic foretailing of that, again, he would put enmity between the serpent and the woman, and a savior would have to come.

And that's what our identity in Christ is about. But then in Matthew four, we have the devil attacking again. And this is always intriguing to me. So what the devil starts to do now, if I can get this to advance, fellas, can you advance that? Because I think we.

There we go. The devil, he actually goes after Christ in three specific instances. Right? First of all, if you were the Son of God, he tells the stones to what? Become bread.

How many days was Christ in the wilderness? 40. You think he might be hungry? I can't get past going to McDonald's, let alone having to wait 40 days. He also said, if you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, because he knows that the scriptures taught, and the devil is familiar with the scriptures, that your angels will watch over you.

They have concern over you. And then at the final temptation that he gave Christ, he put him up to foresee everything, the world that he had to offer. And he said, all this I will give you if you what? If you bow down and worship me. But what did Jesus do?

Each time I think Eve tried that, her problem was she added some stuff. And that's what confused them, right? Created doubt. But Christ said the first time, if you were the son of God, to help these stones to become bread, Jesus said, it is written, man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. If you are the son of God, throw yourself down.

And Jesus said, no, no, no, no. It is written. Do not put the Lord your God to the test. And then finally he said again, all this I will give you if you bow down and worship me. And Jesus said, for it is written.

And finally he said, away from me. And what happened? The result was the devil took off because Christ knew his identity. See the difference? When we understand God's, our identity in Christ, that enables us to respond appropriately.

I'm not saying easily, but we understand what it is we should do. And what really happens is, if you think about this, we had two specific temptation attacks. One person wanted to straighten out the devil's theology and lost. Who was that? Adam and Eve.

But the other person rebuked the devil's approach with God's word and won. And I want to reinforce that, because that's why we have to default back to the scriptures to find out what our identity is in Christ and stand on that, revel in that, because it's quite amazing passage that I want us to just run through. And again, I'm going to read this and I want this to bathe on you. I was trying to think about this when our children were younger, we had a little pool in our backyard, and it was that little area that you could kind of walk in. It was maybe about eight inches of water, but it was just enough to cool you down, right.

I want the scriptures just to kind of rush over you a little bit, and I want you to reflect on these. But this is Ephesians chapter one. If I had to give somebody a passage and say, hey, Jeff, I need to read something that tells me about my relationship with Christ also. You do Ephesians, chapter one, verses three through 14. It's an amazing passage because it does a couple of things in nine specific occasions.

It talks about us being in Christ. And if somebody says something one time, I'm listening. Twice. I'm really listening. You say something nine times, I'm really listening.

But not only does he talk about what we have in Christ, but then he does a wonderful thing theologically and explains what that means to be in Christ. So walk with me as we go through. We'll start with verse one. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God to God's holy people in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus grace and peace to you from our God and father and Lord Jesus Christ. Praise be to the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has what blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing, in whom altogether in Christ.

For he chose us in him right before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight and love. He predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ in accordance with his pleasure and will, to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the ones he loves in whom. In him. In him we have redemption through his blood. We have the forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.

He made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ to be put into effect when the times reach for fulfillment, to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ. In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, when you believed you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession to the praise of his glory. Is that not a nice, tidy little section that tells you what your identity in Christ is? And there's some theological stuff in there that will give you a headache because you have to figure it out?

But I do want to say this one thing, remember, as a result of what happened in the temptation in the Garden of Eden that affected mankind going forward. But remember, while in that garden, God immediately promised the savior. Did he? Did he not? I always think it's fascinating that in Genesis chapter four that when Eve had her first one of her children, it was a male child, she actually thought that child was going to be the savior.

They knew some details about what was going on more than we did at that point in time. The conversation with God was amazing, but it breached the relationship forever.

And what I want to do now is just emphasize a couple of things, and we'll go back to the, to the name changes. What I want to emphasize is this. We went through Ephesians chapter two, and what I would like you to chapter one, and I want us to make sure that we swim deeply in God's word, and I want to challenge you in that area. St. Augustine said, the scriptures are shallow enough for a child to drink and deep enough for theologians to swim and never touch bottom.

Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach, and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms and hymns and songs of the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. That's what Colossians 323 16 says. But also Ephesians 518 says, be filled with the spirit. And guess what? The same things that happened in Colossians three, when you let the word of God dwell, richly happens in Ephesians five, the same manifestations.

You will sing songs and hymns, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. There is some mystical correlation between the Holy Spirit and God's word, but that's where we find our identity. Amen. Ephesians or Hebrews twelve says, for the word of God. Probably 412 says, for the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two edged sword.

It pierces to the division of the soul and of the spirit, of the joints and of the marrow, discerning the thoughts and the intentions of man. Jesus again in Matthew four said, but it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. You see a pattern here. See, God establishes what our identity is in him. Even in psalm 119, he says, your word, o God, is a lamp unto my feet.

It is a light unto my path.

You know, the moment that Adam and Eve really allowed the serpent to feed them lies and saw that the serpent said as truth, that was when their identity came crashing down and God was no longer at the center, truth was no longer at the center. And as a result, they were both exposed. They felt the guilt and fear for the first time in their lives, and they were instantly ashamed and scared, and not just a little bit. They were absolutely shaken. They were absolutely terrified at the very core.

But the promise was made for us that a messiah would come, that a savior would be there. And the scripture reminds us again to study, to show ourselves approved unto God as workmen, that need not be ashamed, but for us to continually and rightly divide his truth.

I need to be challenged to rightly divide God's truth. I need to be challenged to spend time in my investment of God's word, because that's such an important component for us as we go forward. That's the reality of our faith, is it not?

You know, when I think of the two temptations, again, just to remind ourselves, you know, the serpent offered Adam and Eve, and again, both were present. The promise of ultimate godlike knowledge. At the outset of his exchange with the woman, the serpent suggests that God isn't trustworthy. Did God say that? The serpent began sewing seeds of doubts.

You're not going to die. Contradicting the very words of God.

And as a result, he undermined Adam and Eve's confidence in God. And the serpent then invites them to what? Establish themselves, craft your own identity, become independent from your relationship with God. When you eat of it, your eyes will be opened. You will be like him.

Because now you will know good and evil. Who needs God after all, when you can be like him and just insecure enough to fall for the serpent's ploy? They do indeed attempt to define themselves apart from God. Can I ask you this? Do you times try to define yourself apart from God?

Do you feel that sometimes you're kind of on the outside looking in and that we're disconnected and we just do things on our own because we're independently living from him?

Or do we have our identity in him?

And then in Matthew, remember, the devil's temptation just to reinforce it included that capacity to Christ could have turned those stones into bread, but that's not what he was meant to do, right? Each again is primarily about identity. And the devil begins to try to undermine the identity that Jesus had been given him at his baptism. Remember, the Lord God himself said, the heavenly Father said, this is my beloved son. In what?

In whom I am well pleased. Devil knew that. So he immediately goes after Christ from that standpoint. And he says, if you are the son of God, that is functions to call that identity into question. And with this exchange just like with Adam and Eve, the devil seeks to rob Christ of his God given identity and then to replace it with a false sense of one from his own manufacturer.

But again, I love this, and this is our challenge and our opportunity. Christ resists the temptation, not through an act of brute force or sheer will, but rather he took refuge in the identity that was founded and secured through his relationship with God, a relationship that implies absolute dependence upon him and identification with all others. Christ will be content to be hungry as others are hungry, dependent on God's word and grace for all good things. He will be at risk and vulnerable as all others might be, finding safety in the promises of God. And Christ refused to define himself or seek power apart from that relationship with God, giving his worship and allegiance only to the Lord who created and sustains him, Christ understood his identity.

So really, what does all of this mean? Jeff, where are you taking us? I just want us to be mindful, again that we're on that subtle precipice. And I think there are some who are in this auditorium that have come to Christ, and you're struggling with that identity. And my challenge for you is to make the investment in God's word.

And as Jesus said, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. But I also know, too, there may be some in this audience that are on the other side of that separation from God because of what happened in the garden of Eden. And God's word is explicit in terms of how we can trust in him and come to a saving knowledge.

I want to challenge you for those that know Christ, to establish your identity by knowing the truth that Christ wants us to know. And for those of you that have entertained or considered or maybe thought about coming to Christ, I want to challenge you to make that decision that is important and critical and has a place for eternal destiny as a result. Because the identity apart from Christ is separation from God. The identity apart from Christ is that we will be like by nature children of wrath. And all of that is established in the scripture.

So remember, we are given a new identity in Christ Jesus. Amen. Make sense. We need to embrace this. As the apostle Paul described.

Three ways to do that. First of all, you got to take off your old, former ways of life. There are still some things that we like to do that's like that old jacket the apostle Paul said, put off. Put on. What he was saying is, put off the old self, put on the new.

We're kind of in an interesting world here. Until God translates us back into glory, we are positionally with Christ, co seated with them in heaven, Ephesians says, but I still walk on terra firma. I still, even though my heart has been transformed, I still lean toward not necessarily wanting to do those things, but I have to choose to do them. But I have the Holy Spirit and God's truth to guide me through those. But Paul, I love what he said.

Put off the old, put on the new. We have to make deliberate decisions each day because of our identity with Christ, to put on new and put off old. Next, we have to renew our minds. That whole point in Romans chapter twelve is not to be conformed to this world, but be transformed. It's an internal change, just like if I was through an orchard in its dormant season and didn't know what those trees were.

If I hang around long enough, the inside of that tree comes out, because its nature is reflected in the fruit that it bears. And the nature in your life is reflected in the fruit that you bear through your actions and attitudes.

And then finally, you got to put on the new self. Take some time each morning to be mindful, to reflect, to remind yourself, to review, to refresh, to rethink, to reframe your day, your walk. Last week, we talked about our jobs. We do them as a means of honoring God because God was a worker. He created coworkers, and we are image bearers of him.

But my challenge for you again, to find our identity of Christ is therefore to embrace the pattern that he sets forth for us of victory and weakness is to say with the apostle Paul about uncomfortable areas of our life, that I'm content for the sake of Christ. And it's okay to be inferior because I know I'm being obedient in that process, and I know that I am what I am by the grace of God. Let's bow in prayer. Father God, we're grateful that we have this opportunity to speak with you, to learn from you. Father, I pray for those that are in Christ, that they will be mindful again of their identity, to stand in it and establish themselves with it, knowing that everything starts with you, God, and how foolish it is for us to wander like we do.

Lord, draw us back and help us to choose to put off the old, to put on the new. And, Father, for those that are in this auditorium who don't know your son, Jesus Christ, we extend it that opportunity. Now, Father, your scriptures teach us to be ambassadors for Christ, compelling people to come to Christ. And we say, but, Lord, I don't know who it's going to be. That's not what you've asked us, God.

You've asked us to compel. And I pray that, Father, if anyone is in here that has been close to moving forward in that decision, that they would do just that and recognize that God will fill their hearts, give them faith to believe, regenerate them, quicken them to new life, all because of a decision that is made as God calls them back. Lord, thank you for our fellowship. Thank you for the opportunity for us to preach your word. Thank you, Father, that we live in this fellowship, knowing that our identity is in Christ.

And we want to be wholly committed followers of him. And, Father, help us be mindful this memorial day weekend, not only of the sacrifice that Christ gave for us, but, Lord, the sacrifice that so many of our service men over the years that were willing to give up their life for the sake of their country. Greater love has no man than this than to lay down his life for his brethren and God. We pray these things now in Christ's name. Amen