An identiy crisis

How much thought have you given to your identity?

Perhaps if someone asked you for your identity you would grab for your photo i.d.

When we go to vote we are required a photo i.d. When we apply for a job we are required to have a photo i.d. and social security card.

That’s our identification right?!

Well that is not quite what I mean by your identity, although to some degree it touches the surface of it.

I recently heard a news story about a man named Joe that wanted to change his name to Joanne.

He did not like his name and wanted to change it for some reason.

So this concept of identity goes much deeper than just a name doesn't it.

Our nation is in a state of identity crisis!

How does the dictionary define an identity crisis?

1) a personal psychological conflict especially in adolescence that involves confusion about one's social role and often a sense of loss of continuity to one's personality 2) : a state of confusion in an institution or organization regarding its nature or direction

Is this not the very thing we see happening all around us today?

Many people spend their entire life shackled to some identity that was thrust on them in school by a bully or the cruelty of other children. They live out their lives conforming to an identity meant to shame them so others could feel better about themselves.

Other people seem to be in a constant search for their identity. They are continually in a mode of changing their personalities as they change friends searching for something solid to hold onto.

While yet other people like the bully at school who seem to be confident are really just insecure inside while they push others around trusting no one and nothing but their own strength.

I am not going to go on talking at length about the various forms of what we might call spiritual dysfunction today but I do want to address two of the topics that I have already touched on.

I want to be very clear about these issues in our culture today before we get into the meat of the message.

First, lets touch quickly on the LBGTQ issue. There are only two genders and they are given by God and defined biologically.

Gen 1:27 “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

God is our creator of all things, and the very biological differences of a man and a woman coming together in the covenant of marriage declare the image of God and this is why it has always been under attack by prince of this evil age.

Second, God has created all races of mankind. We all come from the same bloodline of Adam and Eve.

Acts 17:26 “And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,”

God loves diversity in unity. God did not create everyone the same, he made us different. In the church God has given us different gifts. In our being God has given colored skin to different family lines in the earth. God created his creation to be diverse but desires unity among his creation.

So now that we have clarified these two Scriptural truths.

What does Scripture say about your identity as a believer?

How does God see you? How should you see yourself?

Understanding our identity will give us a foundation and protect us from many of the attacks of the enemy.

The first thing I want you to understand is that .... You are a new creation!

2 Cor 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

The Greek word translated new in this verse is kai-nos and it means something that is freshly made unlike anything else. When we believe on Jesus Christ we are made an entirely new creation, just as when God created the heavens and the earth. He made them out of nothing and so he does with us. As someone in one of my Bible studies testified “We see everything different because we have been changed”.

As a believer our identity should be in how God sees us it should NOT be in how others see us. We need to remember who we are in Christ Jesus.

In Christ we have been born again, set apart, and forgiven. The new creation is to have a mindset focused on the Spirit of God and the things of God, where as our old nature was focused on the things of the flesh.

Listen to how the apostle Peter puts it.

2 Peter 1:4 “by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.”

The apostle Peter tells us that through the promises of God we become partakers of the divine nature having escaped from the corruption that is in the world. What promises is Peter talking about! that make us partakers of the divine nature and help us escape the corruption of the world? He is talking about the promised Holy Spirit!

Now being partakers of the divine nature and having been born again changes our inner desires. Our very spirit is made alive by the Spirit of God.

While we used to have desires to only serve our flesh and our pride, we now have genuine desires to serve God and serve others out of love.

Rom 8:11 “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.”

Take careful note: This is not talking about having an appearance of godliness. This is not talking about wanting to follow God’s law so that you appear godly to other people.

How many times have I gone down my street and seen one neighbor improve something on his house and before long the whole neighborhood is doing it. My identity can not be about keeping up with the Jones’ so that I have a feeling of looking good to my neighbors.

How many times have we disciplined ourselves under certain circumstances, for example coming to church or perhaps in front of a police officer? How often is our life about an appearance of godliness so that we might somehow mitigate the punishment for sin rather than confess our sin and face who we really are.

When the Spirit of God brings our mortal bodies to life our identity will be found in knowing that we are a sinner and confessing our sin. It is about knowing that the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus Christ are the only things that bring righteousness into our lives. This is about a righteousness that cannot come though something we have done but only though what Jesus Christ did for us.

The true believer’s spirit has been converted, it has been changed and it desires to serve God and others out of love that Christ has shown them. We love because he first loved us.

The love of Christ gives us victory over sin. If we have been united with Christ and belong to him, we are no longer slaves to sin.

Rom 8:14-15 “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!””

The power that sin once had over us has been dismantled by Jesus Christ at the cross. Christ has disarmed the powers of Satan and put them to open shame. We are now free to serve God without the burden of guilt or shame.

2. We are sealed with the Holy Spirit

As a new creation in Christ Jesus we are sealed by the Holy Spirit.

Being sealed by the Holy Spirit is also important to understanding our identity.

This is part of the New Covenant.

When John the baptist was preaching he said Mark 1:8 “I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.””

In Old Testament times and under the Old Covenant the people of God would travel miles and miles to go to the temple where God dwelt. Even once they got there they could not see him for God resided in a special room known as the holy of holies and his spirit hovered over the mercy seat of the ark of the covenant. However, coming to the temple was a very important thing for Jews in the Old Testament.

When our LORD Jesus died on the cross, the veil that partitioned off the holy of holies was torn in two from top to bottom. Just to give you some idea of what that would take, the veil was 30 feet high and 4 inches thick. At the very moment of our Lords death, the record of sin that stood against us with its legal demands was canceled. It was here at the cross that Christ disarmed the powers of Satan and put them to open shame.

Under the New Covenant God no longer resides in a physical temple. He resides instead in the temple of each and every believer. When we are born of God under the New Covenant we receive the Holy Spirit in us.

We can now come directly into the throne room of God through prayer as Jesus Christ has removed every barrier.

Eph 1:13 “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,”

Did you hear that. Lets read that again.

When you believed in him. Who is him? Jesus!

When you believed in Jesus, you were what?

You were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit!

Now that is a promise you can hold on to.

Have you ever gone to a museum or seen a movie where someone uses a wax seal to seal a letter? Kings and nobles would often use such a seal to ensure that the letter was not read and that it safely at its destination without being tampered with.

You my brothers and sisters have been sealed so that you arrive safely at your destination and there is nothing in all creation that can tamper with the work Christ has done for you.

The Scriptures also refer to the Holy Spirit living in you as Christ living in you.

Col 1:27 “... God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

Beloved, if you have believed on Jesus as your Lord and Savior he lives in you. This is not a metaphor or allegory. This is God actually coming to live inside the believer. The entire purpose of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer is to testify to the work of Jesus Christ.

3.) This brings us to our final point that you are forgiven.

Romans 8:1 “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

The decisive victory in which Jesus Christ overcame the devil at the cross of Calvary puts the believer in the same place of victory. Your sin was placed on Jesus at the cross and his righteousness is given to you through faith.

Jesus fulfilled the requirement of the law and died in our place for sin. So that by God’s grace and through faith in Jesus Christ alone, every believer is free of condemnation.

You are forgiven. Your past sin, your present sin, and your future sin are all forgiven.

What is there in all of the creation that can separate us from this reality? Can demons? Can family? Can your work? Can a secular or even communist government?

Let me ask you an even harder question. Can your sin?

It sure can feel like it can’t it. The guilt and the shame that come when we sin against God can keep us from moving ahead with the Lord.

Let me try and help you with that today.

What does the Scripture say.

1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

and what did we just learn earlier, that Christ himself has disarmed the power of Satan and put the devil to open shame, and who is Satan but the accuser...

Stop living in shame when Jesus put your accuser to shame.

It is true that when we sin it removes our fellowship with God, but it does not remove our relationship with him. We are still his child.

When you have sinned against God and are being told that you are worthless, that this is one to many times, that you need to beat yourself up some more.... that is the accuser.

Confess your sin , be honest with God, and honest with the person you sinned against if that is needed and know that you are forgiven. It doesn’t even matter how the other person reacts.

The atoning work of Jesus at the cross was once and for all. One sacrifice for all sin for all time.

If God the Father did not spare his only Son but he was willing to give him up for us, do you think that the Father is somehow unable to keep those who believe in his Son.

What does the Scripture say?

Rom 8:33-37 “Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”

As you consider these great truths apply them to your life. Apply them to your identity and know who you are in Christ.

You are a new creation

You are sealed with the Holy Spirit

You are forgiven