Identity
Notes
Transcript
Identity
Identity
Intro:
Main Idea: Our Identity is not defined by others but by our savior.
It is easy for our mistakes to become our label and for those labels to become our identity.
When I was in grade school I was labeled the class clown.
I could make people laugh and I enjoyed making people laugh.
My classmates began to label me as a joker.
Which sounds great, but when you are expected to be fun all the time— it can be challenging to be funny.
So I was growing up with this idea that what I was a clown.
A funny jokey clown.
Everybody likes to laugh at clowns.
But then I got to junior high and we had 5 other school come together to make our junior high.
Guess what.
I wasn’t the only class clown.
No there were others.
And they were funnier.
So now not only was I in junior high— which is hard as it is.
I mean JH sucked.
I wanted to be what everyone else told me I was.
But now they were telling me I wasn’t funny.
That I was trying to hard.
That I need to stop distracting everyone.
And what that did to me was made me question who I was.
I had no idea.
No clue.
I played sports but let’s be real— I was never labeled a star.
I was not a stellar student.
I hated school.
And I thought that I had this one thing that everyone wanted but only I could claim— I could make people laugh.
Until they were laughing at me not with me.
My identity took a hit.
I thought this was who I was but now everyone is saying they don’t want that.
I took some time for me to get over.
I wanted people to accept me, I just wanted my friends to like me.
And you see your identity— the piece of you that is you.
Who you are has been radically assigned to you by others.
Other people tell you who and what you are.
They tell you if you are funny, smart, hot, popular, ugly, weird, artsy, or just a loser.
And you see what we have allowed to have happen is what other people think of us— that is what we roll with.
We do not try to buck the system.
We take it for what it is worth and we accept our fate.
We allowed others to label us and in-return we label ourselves with their labels.
But what if you were more then other people’s labels.
What if your identity was more free?
What if Our Identity is not defined by others but by our savior.
What if our identity moved from bondage of labels into freedom in Christ?
Now not only is identity tricky to navigate but so is freedom.
Let me give you an example.
ME:
When I got to college, I thought I had made it!
Freedom was mine.
Imagine if you will— I stayed up late//as long as I wanted to.
Guess what you live with people who want to hangout no matter the time.
You want to play video games until 2am or 4am you got people who will play with you.
You want to stay up and talk about how silly boys are— you got friends for days.
I loved the first couple of day at college.
I thought I had it made.
Freedom was mine and it was good.
One night I was hungry and you know what I did at 2am— I went to Taco Bell BABY!
I wasn’t worried about heart burn or diarrhea!
I had it made!
Oh and no one is there to wake you up!
Who is ready to go to college now?
It sounds like a dream.
Until you realize that if you stay up all night, you are not going to go to class.
And if you don’t go to class then you won’t pass the exams— because college is actually hard and challenging.
And if you don’t pass the exams then you will eventually get booted out.
Because college is expensive and if you are there to just taste freedom you will quickly be tasting back at home.
I recall my second semester of college I choose to enjoy freedom.
I did whatever I wanted.
I was up late— pulled a bunch of pranks— played video games— didn’t have homework— because I never went to class— problem solved there.
I loved being in control of my life.
I loved my freedom.
But freedom is more complex then that.
Freedom is what I picked but it came at a cost.
I got really bad grades, and was going to have to retake several classes.
Not a good situation at all.
And all I needed to do was just lay down my pride, give up control, and stop doing what I was doing and change my life around.
But man when freedom is sweet it is hard to ignore it.
I eventually woke up but a lot of damage had been done and I really had to work hard to get out of that hole I dug myself in.
Freedom is more complex than what immediately meets the eye.
Tonight we are talking about this idea of freedom and moving past our past—moving into what Christ gives us as we are redeemed, accepted and chosen.
WE:
Have you ever been stuck?
Like you can’t move forward?
What are things that you can’t move forward from?
Maybe it is a sin that you keep going back too.
That addiction or habit has its teeth into you and you are weighed down by it.
Maybe it is a label that you can’t move past because no one will let you.
Maybe it is a cage that you have put up yourself.
A cage that says you aren’t good enough.
That no one will want you or like you or even love you.
Let’s think about this:
what are some common labels that students get tied too that it becomes their identity?
Let me give you a few.
Jock, wise guy, popular, rich, poor, happy, angry and etc...
While those things aren’t bad if those get stripped away what are you left with?
Because some of those labels we take to heart.
It is great to be called a jock— but what happens when sports are done for you.
You might be hot stuff now— but what happens if you get a car wreck and your whole left side of your face was burnt off?
You may be rich today but tomorrow the stock market could crash and leave your family broke.
You may be the funnest today but what if someone else comes and is more witty then you?
What I am really getting at here— is what if you were free from those shackles of identity and sin?
I am not saying that being labeled whatever you are labeled is sinful but it could become that way if you allow it to.
What if your identity was more than just a label but what if it was a battlecry for war.
What if your identity was more then just what you are good at or not good at.
What if your identity was not locked down in bondage but was given freedom.
That your past, your past mistakes, and your future mistakes do not define who you are.
Or even that if you were to lose everything tomorrow— you still would have something more precious then anything on this planet.
Christ.
Here is what God has to say about our Identity and the freedom that comes with knowing Christ.
GOD:
When Jesus was here on this earth he ran into this often.
People misplaced their identity.
They allowed others to tell them what they where and who they were.
But Jesus was different then everybody else.
Jesus did things the way God intended for them to be.
So if you have your Bibles, I want you to open to John 8 tonight.
We are going to see what happens when someone who was caught in sin, labeled by her sin and ultimately freed from her sin.
So let’s read this passage.
At dawn he went to the temple again, and all the people were coming to him. He sat down and began to teach them.
Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, making her stand in the center. “Teacher,” they said to him, “this woman was caught in the act of committing adultery. In the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” They asked this to trap him, in order that they might have evidence to accuse him.
Jesus stooped down and started writing on the ground with his finger. When they persisted in questioning him, he stood up and said to them, “The one without sin among you should be the first to throw a stone at her.” Then he stooped down again and continued writing on the ground. When they heard this, they left one by one, starting with the older men. Only he was left, with the woman in the center. When Jesus stood up, he said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
“No one, Lord,” she answered.
“Neither do I condemn you,” said Jesus. “Go, and from now on do not sin anymore.”]
So let me set this up a bit.
Jesus was teaching— he was an amazing teacher.
Notice how the people came to him.
Not just some but all.
This is an important detail— so remember that.
Then those religious leaders they came to Jesus.
For in their possession was a woman who had committed adultery.
Meaning that she either cheated on her husband or she cheated with someone else’s husband.
This was a big no no.
Look back at Deut. 22:22
“If a man is found lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman. So you shall purge the evil from Israel.
This is a continuation of the law— the ten commandments.
Both shall die.
So this women is brought before Jesus and all the people.
Do you know how people were stoned back in the day?
Look at Deut 17:7
The hand of the witnesses shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.
They caught you doing an act that the punishment was being stoned.
And those who witnessed you do it— they got to throw the first stones.
And then all the people got to as well.
All the people were listening to Jesus.
But they got distracted by other things.
They wanted to pick up the stones to kill this women who has sinned.
But before they let the stones fly— the religious leaders asked Jesus what they should do.
They say teacher this woman has sinned— she is has sinned against God.
they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?”
You know the law what should we do.
They asked it this way to trap Jesus.
They hated Jesus.
And they wanted to trip him up.
Because they did not like Jesus and they were trying to get rid of him or at least destroy his following.
So what does Jesus do?
He doesn’t answer back.
But he crouches down and begins to write.
No one knows what he was writing.
There are many guess and some a better then others, but the reality is we don’t know.
To be truthful it does’t matter.
And when it has been a bit— this leaders pressed Jesus for more.
Jesus what do we do with this woman?
You know the law what do you say about it?
You are part of the all people, if we stone her are you going to join in?
And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.”
Here is Jesus flipping the law upside down.
Jesus is not giving a request rather he is giving a command.
Who is qualified to throw a stone at this woman.
Who is qualified to judge her?
And the only qualification was they are to be one without sin.
One of the resources I use often puts it this way.
John Explanation of the Text
The force of the command, then, is that Jesus is commanding judgment to take place by a sinless one—literally, one who is entirely without sin. This is not a denial or rejection of the law, for the statement only demands that this single qualification be met “first” (πρῶτος). It is, rather, a demand for the right—even perfect—execution of the law. This statement spoke past the legal maneuvering right into the heart of the scribes and Pharisees, who at that moment could not sidestep their own law or Lawgiver. These are the only words spoken by Jesus in response to the public scene at hand.
Then Jesus goes back to writing on the ground.
And one by one the stones start to fall out of all the people’s hands.
One by one everyone leaves the scene.
Until it was just Jesus and this woman— who has no name.
They came to hear Jesus teach— they flocked to Jesus— and the moment Jesus challenged their heart— they said nah, I need to leave.
Here’s my stone I’m out of here.
But here is the deal.
It was only Jesus and this women left.
What was Jesus’ criteria?
You could stone her if you were what?
Oh thats right: “The one without sin.”
Jesus is left.
The perfect one.
The one without sin.
He was the only one left.
This women who was dragged her— and while Jesus was writing in the dirt— she witnessed everyone dropped their stones.
Every stone dropped was a label dismissed
In the original language it says that she was still in the midst.
She hadn’t moved an inch.
Jesus notices that nothing is happening.
And he looks up and notice how Jesus stood up.
He never addressed her while squatting down, he respected her.
But now the true judge will hear the case.
He asks “Women where are they? Has no one condemned you?
It would have only taken one person to throw the first stone.
and she would have been died.
But no one did.
To which Jesus says— neither do I— go and sin no more.
The women goes away free but not without a challenge to sin no more.
Jesus is still the judge.
And Jesus still hates sin.
But here is the best news.
Jesus doesn’t want you to walk around life being labeled by your past, by your sin or by others.
YOU:
When you bring your mess to God he is not looking to stone you.
He wants to offer your freedom.
When you bring your labels to God he is not looking to define you.
He wants to offer you freedom.
When you bring your guilt, your shame and your sin to God he is not looking to condemn you.
NO He wants to love you.
God loves you.
But for many that means that God is okay with my sins.
And He is not.
Do you want freedom from sin today?
It is found in Christ.
You feel like you have sin in your life that you just can’t let go of, freedom is found in Christ.
Laster on in chapter 8 Jesus would say this.
So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”
Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
Those who practice sin are a slave to sin.
Many of you walked into here tonight feeling exactly what that woman felt like.
To have to look at people who have stones in their hands.
Just waiting for you to mess up and when you do they are going to throw stones at you.
They define you- they label you- they hurt you- to the point where you give up and you allow yourself to become whatever they determine.
YOU ARE MORE THAN THAT!
You are free
If you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior then you are FREE from that!
You free from the bondage of sin.
Your past does not define you— it does not determine your future.
You are no longer a slave to sin.
You are a child of God.
So what will you do with this freedom in Christ?
After tonight you could do one of two things.
1) You can continue to let other define you or you can find freedom in Christ.
Let me just paint you a picture of what this could look like if we did this.
WE:
You no longer would struggle with who you are.
You would not be defined by who you are, but whose you are.
Those labels that others give you:
Jock/cringe/nerd/small/fat/ugly/slut/hoe/player/loser/nothing— they mean nothing.
We can feel and get into places were we identify with our circumstances too right.
From being abandoned, we are inferior, we are rejected, we are a prisoner of our actions.
But through Christ we are so much more.
We are not abandoned, no we are redeemed.
We are not inferior we are chosen.
We are not rejected, we are accepted.
We are not longer prisoners, we are free.
Repeat after me:
I am redeemed.
I am Chosen.
I am Accepted.
I am free.
Do you believe that tonight?
Because if you believe that then you can impact God’s kingdom.
Right now right where you are.
It begins as soon as you walk out those doors.
Believe that Christ has set you free.
Believe that what he calls you from 1 Peter 2:9-10
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Jesus will cause the stones to fall you just have to be willing to stay in it with him.
It is easy to walk out and to give up— but Christ has something better for you— its freedom.
Conclude:
Bring it all home.
If you allow your identity to be defined by Christ you will be redeemed, chosen, accepted, and free.
Doesn’t that sound better then anything this world can offer us?
I hope the answer is yes and you begin to live out your identity in Christ.
Let’s Pray