Believe - Identity
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Please turn to John 1, Luke 19, Col. 3
Welcome to week 5 of Believe. As we go along, I hope you see how each consecutive chapter builds upon the previous chapters. We believe there is one sovereign God revealed as Father, Son and Spirit. We believe He is personal and involved in our lives. We believe that a relationship with God is only by grace through faith in His Son Jesus Christ. We believe that the Bible is God’s revelation and has the right to command by beliefs and actions. And through the Word of God we discover this truth:
“I believe I am significant because of my position as a child of God.”
And the idea there is that our true identity is in Christ.
Our identity is an odd thing. How many have wondered “Who am I; Do I fit it; What do people think of me; Am I good enough, smart enough, attractive enough ….”
Our identity is an odd thing. We want to own our identity – be our own person, autonomous - yet, our identities are immensely intertwined with people and other outside influences. Our identities can be crushed or cultivated, influenced for good or for evil, they can be abandoned, disguised, corrupted or they can be nurtured, rediscovered ….
I believe
Each person has a true identity that God wants to expose.
The problem is that our true identity is often buried underneath sin, mistakes, mistreatments, failures and false perceptions. Many of us hide our identities with facades. We dare not let the real us become exposed.
Interestingly, humanity was created in nakedness. Yet, we spend much of our lives covering up something. Not how we were designed. I think God spends a lot of time trying to uncover what we try to hide. God is interested in genuine relationships, genuine fellowship …. Hard to be genuine when we build walls, facades ….
God is interested in the truth. If we allow God to get to the truth of who we are and who we should be - there’s freedom.
Unveiling our true identity has much to do with reaching our potential and position in Christ.
Our true identity is discovered by knowing who we are through the eyes of our Creator.
Until then, we flounder. Our desire here at Sunnyside is to help people reach their full potential in Christ.
Our potential is reaching that point of being all that God created us to be and doing all that God created us to do.
So, in essence,
We want to help each other uncover our true identities in Christ.
That’s the Biblical mandate to build each other up.
Our key verse this week is John 1:12. I included verses 11 and 13 as well.
He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.
Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—
children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
In a Biblical worldview, whose one father is, is of the utmost importance. That’s why we often read “so-and-so,” son or daughter of “so-and-so.” For instance, I might be addressed as Chad, son of Douglas, son of John ….
This is a Biblical worldview, not an archaic practice. Our identification with a father or a family line is critical. We don’t have time to discuss the importance of earthly fathers, but understand that spiritually, a Biblical worldview offers only two family lines to be identified with – Adam’s family or God ‘s family.
We’ve talked extensively about this, but in brief, all are born into Adam’s family. We’re all born into this massive family of disfunction and death separated from God. Therefore, our identities are whacked. Don’t think right, behave right …. But God, sent His Son into this chaotic family, and through His death and resurrection offered salvation and adoption into His family. To all who believe and receive this gift of salvation receive the promise of new life, freedom from sin, and restoration of their true identity.
To those who receive , God gives the right to become children of God.
The word “right,” in verse 12 comes from the Greek word exousia (ἐξουσία) - often translated as power. But this power (not dunamis - my power will come upon you) is power of choice, power of capability, power of authority.
For those who choose to receive, God gives the ἐξουσία - the authority to rightfully and legally declare I am a child of God.
So when anyone says, especially the devil - “Who do you think you are! What gives you the right …!” John 1:12! If you have received Christ - you have the authority …! So, my identity comes from my position as a child of God.
Let’s look briefly at Luke 19 and see how this plays out in real life. I want us to remember what I said earlier -
Our true identity is discovered by knowing who we are through the eyes of our Creator.
- you’ll see it - grasp onto it ….
Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through.
A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy.
He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd.
So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.
Zacchaeus – no doubt his identity was wrapped up in his occupation and social acceptance, or lack thereof. First, he was a tax collector. TCs were Jewish agents employed by the Roman Empire to extract taxes from their fellow Jews. It took a really heartless guy to make a living by cheating and stealing from the people in your community. Like children who steal from family.
Because of that, he was socially unwanted. Tax collectors were the scum of society. They were traitors, hated, unpopular and unwelcome. They were cut off and disowned from Jewish society – which was huge in that culture. To top it off, Zacchaeus was more than a tax collector - he was the regional director. This guy was super scum. He was on Jericho’s Most Unwanted List.
He heard Jesus was passing through, and for whatever reason he wanted to see Jesus, but he had a problem. What was the problem? The crowd! Being short wasn’t the issue. The crowd could have said, “Aye, make way for the wee little man and let him see Jesus.” But no. They didn’t budge one bit - because they didn’t like his identity.
If you read through the gospels, you’ll notice something about the crowds that followed Jesus. They gave the appearance of “following” without really following. It may have felt good to be in the “Jesus crowd,” but in reality, they were the greatest obstacle to those who wanted access to Jesus. These “mobs” crowded around Jesus, taking up valuable space - mumbling and grumbling and blocking people from seeing Christ!
We’re not here to talk about crowds this morning, but we do need to consider something. Not everyone wants to see Jesus like Zacchaeus did, but for those that do - am I like the crowd blocking their view? Am I so consumed with my identity, my life that I - am I so consumed with the label that I place on people that I’m just standing in the crowd? Oh, I can see Jesus - but too bad for those who can’t. That’s another topic.
When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.”
So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.
5 When Jesus reached the spot (when you’re looking for Jesus, He’ll meet you where you’re at), he looked up and said to him… What? Zacchaeus. Jesus called him by name. Not tax collector; not shorty. Not you heartlessness no good lying cheating scumbag.
Jesus didn’t call him according to what the crowd saw, but according to what God sees - a person with a name!
Notice the crowds’ reaction.
All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”
Zacchaeus was nameless to the crowd. Identified by behavior, failure, and sin. Even though Jesus called him by name, to the crowd he still bore a Scarlet Letter upon his chest.
I wonder how many people in our world get up each day hoping their Scarlet Letter would disappear? How many people have become nameless because their identity is covered by a label that we put on them? Do you know that every prostitute has a name? Every illegal immigrant. Every drug addict. Every homeless person. Every Republican. Every Democrat. They all have a name and a true identity that for many, is covered up. It will remain covered up until they meet Christ. Many do not know the weight of living under a false identity until they meet Jesus.
“She had not known the weight until she felt the freedom,” – Nathaniel Hawthorne. The Scarlet Letter. I imagine, like Hester Prynne in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Zacchaeus did not know how heavy he was until he felt the freedom of a Savior calling him by name.
But, it was more than just calling him by his name.
But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”
Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.
For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
Zacchaeus, cut off from his people, ostracized from his Jewish brothers and sisters, cut off from the promise and lineage of Abraham - was reinstated by Jesus Christ.
It is the kindness of the Lord that leads us to repentance.
Jesus restores our identity.
Zacchaeus took action. I want to be careful here - I don’t want to get into judging, but we can know a tree by its fruit. People who discover their new identity in Christ make changes, live differently ….
Turn to Col. 3 for a few closing thoughts.
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
Our identity should no longer be tethered to this world. This world is temporary, it is not godly, it is corrupt, and the god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers - so why would I as a child of God continue to receive my identity from this fallen world!
I’ll tell you why. Too many have not died yet.
For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
Hidden - buried, covered, tucked away - let my identity come from Christ. But that only comes from dying!
There should come a time in a Christian’s life when they die - when they die to their old way of living, old way of thinking, old way of doing things …. They die to their past sins, past failures, past wounds, past offenses etc. etc. We are to be crucified with Christ! And the life we live we are to live by faith in the Son of God who loved us and gave His life for us! But too many people in the church haven’t died yet! Still hanging onto the past ….
Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
“I have laughed, in bitterness and agony of heart, at the contrast between what I seem and what I am.” ~ Hester Prynne. The Scarlet Letter.
1 Peter 2:9-11
“And now with God’s help I shall become myself.” ~ Søren Kierkegaard.
Closing questions:
Other than the Spirit of God, who or what shapes my identity?
In what ways do I allow ___________ to define and/or shape my identity?
How would I live differently if I was truly crucified with Christ; if my identity was fully hidden in Him?
What in my life has yet to be taken to the cross?