Reformed Identity
ReFormed • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Introduction
Fill in the Blanks:
“Hi, my name is __________ and I am ___________.”
Remove that one and do the exercise again.
What is left at the end?
I am a . . . these may be true but what is the truest?
Christians today living out of the world’s identity:
ILLUST - Bourne Identity
In the Bourne Identity, Matt Damon plays Jason Bourne—a CIA agent who has suffered amnesia and is trying to figure out just who exactly he is. The fundamentals of his journey are not too different than our own.
In the mountains of Switzerland, Jason has hitched a ride to Germany with a young woman named Marie. He's running from the police—but he's not even sure why. He tries to keep quiet about his situation until the frustration overwhelms him. Finally, in response to her asking a simple question, he turns to her and says desperately, "I don't know who I am or where I am going."
At a truck stop along the snowy highway, Bourne starts to recount what little he knows about himself to her, reaching for clues to who he is.
Bourne asks, "Who has a safety deposit box full of…money and six passports and a gun? I come in here, and the first thing I'm doing is I'm looking for an exit."
"I see the exit sign, too, but I'm not worried," says Marie.
Bourne replies with increased desperation. "I can tell you the license plate numbers of all six cars outside. I can tell you that our waitress is left-handed and the guy sitting up at the counter weighs 215 pounds and knows how to handle himself. I know the best place to look for a gun is the cab of the gray truck outside, and at this altitude, I can run flat out for a half mile before my hands start shaking. Now why would I know that? How can I know that and not know who I am?
“It’s been said that our identity is that which is identical about us in every situation. Identity. Identical.”
“Every action we take in life has a sense of identity behind it. How we see ourselves matters.”
— (Lomas, David; Jacobsen, D. R.. The Truest Thing about You: Identity, Desire, and Why It All Matters . David C. Cook. Kindle Edition.)
Formed deformed reformed
Three graces of the gospel:
Jesus takes the penalty of sin. (Justification)
Holy Spirit breaks the power of sin. (Sanctification)
God will remove the presence of sin. (Glorification)
Identity Formed
Identity Formed
Genesis 1:26–27 (ESV)
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
Adam and Eve were created, were formed, to bear the image of God - to display God on this earth - not physically, but display his character
They were known as the “God image-bearers”
What does it mean to have the image of God?
Distinct from rest of creation
Morality
Love
Their identity was linked to their relationship to God as bearers of His image
Who they were was directly related to WHOSE they were.
Identity Deformed
Identity Deformed
In Genesis 3 Adam and Eve’s primary relationship shifts from God to self.
They wanted to be like God and not be the image bearers - they wanted to be the image itself.
Their identity baceam what they could achieve for themselves.
From this point on, the image of God in humanity became marred - not gone- but marred.
This is the theological idea of depravity - every area of our lives is depraved - not as bad as it could be, but all of it is tainted by sin
Like a coin that falls in the mud, the image is not gone but it is covered by dirt.
When our identity becomes linked to anything that promotes our own image it becomes deformed from how we were originally made.
Identity becomes deformed when it shifts from coming from, and being defined by our creator to being defined by anything or anyone else
Our identity becomes deformed when it becomes grounded in or defined by anything or anyone other than our Creator
ILLUST - Look back at your fill-in-the-blanks
What happens when the “blank” fails? You lose the job?
Do you end up feeling worthless or “worth less?”
Places we find our identity other than in Christ:
Identity rooted in what we DO
Identity rooted in what we DO
Ex: Work
Means you’ll sacrifice relationships for status
“When you find your identity in what you do, your identity will be shaken the moment you change what you do.”
- Lomas, David; Jacobsen, D. R.. The Truest Thing about You: Identity, Desire, and Why It All Matters . David C. Cook. Kindle Edition.
Identity built on what you HAVE
Identity built on what you HAVE
Ex: Money, Looks, Talent
Means you will use others to get When you lose them - identity crumbles
Identity defined by DESIRES?
Identity defined by DESIRES?
Ex: Sexuality?
Identity associated with your RELATIONSHIPS
Identity associated with your RELATIONSHIPS
Ex: Family
Means you must people-please, control, or manipulate
All of the above can describe you but they should never define you
Identity is only a few letters from idolatry
Bible verse that says can the clay pot say to the pot? Why did you make me I would urge us as Christians, to be careful, and how we speak to those struggling with gender identity issues when many of us are struggling with identity issues ourselves. It may not be in the realm of gender, but it is just as self focused. Let’s clean up our own identity issues as we call others to do the same
Identity Reformed
Identity Reformed
Colossians 3:1–4 (ESV)
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Colossians 3:9–11 (ESV)
Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices
and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
Here it is - the new self is already new but it is also being renewed - it is being reformed into the image of its creator
The way it was always meant to be.
Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.
Being in Christ becomes the primary identity - crossing over political, racial, religious, socioeconomic status
Our identity again reflects the image of God as we become like Christ
This happens when we drop the masks of identities we hide behind and see ourselves first as a child of God.
“Living out of our new identity in Christ is the defining root of true sanctification.”
— Gavin Ortlund
What does all this mean?
Your true identity begins with Jesus
Your true identity begins with Jesus
Colossians 3:1 (ESV)
If then you have been raised with Christ,
Without Christ first, I live with a blank in my identity:
Jason = __________, man, husband, father, pastor
Notice how everything we are in Christ is tied to our relationship with him.
Our identity is based on what we receive from Christ, not what we can achieve for ourselves
- born again, adopted, etc.
Without Christ first, second-rate identities begin to take first-rate importance.
This doesn’t mean that being a man or husband or father or pastor are second rate in themselves, but they are when compared to who I am in Christ.
It doesn’t mean those aren’t good, but we must be careful that the goods in our lives don’t become gods we idolize.*
A Jesus-first identity is world-proof.
Colossians 3:1–2 (ESV)
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
As a believer, Jesus secured heaven for you - His ultimate success guarantees your own. You win!
No matter what this world gives you - your true home is in heaven
“When you are lonely, you dwell upon the vast assembly of heaven and say, ‘that is my family’
When you are afflicted with grief, you anticipate the healing of heaven and say to your heart, ‘that is my consolation’
When you are bored, you meditate on the glory of God in heaven and say, ‘that is my inheritance’
When you are afraid, you soak your heart with the strength and stability of heaven and say, ‘that is my home, that is where my name is written.’”
— Gavin Ortlund
A Jesus-first identity helps you fight sin as a stranger.
A Jesus-first identity helps you fight sin as a stranger.
Colossians 3:5–8 (ESV)
Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
On account of these the wrath of God is coming.
In these you too once walked, when you were living in them.
But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.
You are fighting what you are NOT as a Christian
You are not fighting who you really are to be a Christian
A Jesus-first identity means you don’t need to achieve perfection
Colossians 3:11 (ESV)
Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.
1 Corinthians 15:9–10 (ESV)
For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.
Stop trying to achieve what you can only receive.
A Jesus-first identity enables you live out every other identity
A Jesus-first identity enables you live out every other identity
Colossians 3:12–14 (ESV)
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,
bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
My identity as a man makes it possible for me to be a husband.
My identity as a husband makes it possible to be a dad. (Of course, I can go out of order but that usually does not end well - it is not how it is supposed to work)
The primary relationship fulfills the rest. So too, my identity as Jesus-first makes all other relationships possible as they were meant to be.
How does this work? What is the difference between a dad and a Jesus-first dad?
Jesus as primary identity sees all other relationships and areas of life through that lens.
**Nothing other than Jesus is able to bear the weight of your primary identity
Not your spouse, boyfriend, girlfriend, friend, coworker.
To find our identity in God is to be relationally linked to Him - to be known as His - in his image
Our identity was originally formed by our creator
Who you are is directly related to WHOSE you are.
Your identity is what you are in every situation.
Who are you?
Student
husband / wife
doctor
pastor
mom / dad
Colossians 3:17 (ESV)
And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
In Christ
This is an identity statement.
In Christ, I am … the salt of the earth (Matt 5:13)
In Christ, I am … the light of the world (Matt. 5:14)
In Christ, I am … a child of God (John 1:12)
In Christ, I am … part of the true vine, a channel of Christ’s life (John 15)
In Christ, I am … a friend of God (John 15:15)
In Christ, I am … chosen and appointed to bear fruit (John 15:16)
In Christ, I am … resurrected to new life (Rom. 6:5)
In Christ, I am … a slave of righteousness (Rom. 6:18)
In Christ, I am … enslaved to God (Rom. 6:22)
In Christ, I am … a son of God (Rom. 8:14)
In Christ, I am … a joint heir with Christ, sharing His inheritance (Rom. 8:17)
In Christ, I am … the dwelling place of God (1 Cor. 6:19)
In Christ, I am … united to the Lord (1 Cor. 6:19)
In Christ, I am … a member of Christ’s body (1 Cor. 12:27)
In Christ, I am … what I am, by God’s grace (1 Cor. 15:10)
In Christ, I am … a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17)
In Christ, I am … reconciled to God (2 Cor. 5:18-19)
In Christ, I am … the seed of Abraham (Gal. 3:29)
In Christ, I am … a saint (Eph. 1:1)
In Christ, I am … an heir of God since I am a son of God (Gal. 4:6-7)
In Christ, I am … blessed with every spiritual blessing (Eph. 1:3)
In Christ, I am … God’s workmanship, made to do good works (Eph. 2:10)
In Christ, I am … a fellow citizen of God’s family (Eph. 2:11)
In Christ, I am … a prisoner of Christ (Eph. 4:1)
In Christ, I am … righteous and holy (Eph. 4:24)
In Christ, I am … a citizen of heaven (Phil. 3:20)
In Christ, I am … hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3:3)
In Christ, I am … an expression of the life of Christ (Col. 3:4)
In Christ, I am … I am chosen of God, holy and dearly loved (Col. 3:12)
In Christ, I am … a child of light and not of darkness (1 Thess. 5:5)
In Christ, I am … an heir to eternal life (Titus 3:7)
In Christ, I am … a holy partaker of a heavenly calling (Heb. 3:1)
In Christ, I am … one of God’s living stones (1 Pet. 2:5)
In Christ, I am … a member of a chosen race, a holy nation (1 Pet. 2:9)
In Christ, I am … a priest (1 Pet. 2:9-10)
In Christ, I am … an alien and stranger to the world I live in (1 Pet. 2:11)
In Christ, I am … an enemy of the Devil (1 Pet. 5:8)
In Christ, I am … born of God and the Devil cannot touch me (1 John 5:18)
In Christ, I am … participating in the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:3)
“he IS”
It is moving Jesus to the front of the list.