Identity & Purpose

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Introduction:

A few weeks back, I discussed the importance of purpose. Everyone needs a purpose. We talked about the Great Commission and how it gives us a purpose in this life. It ties us to God and his purposes on the earth.

Today we are going to take a deeper look at purpose, but also how we get purpose wrong. Sometimes we put too much into our purpose without grounding it in our identity.

In other words, we tend to find our purpose in what we do, rather than in who we are. In fact, one of the signs of spiritual immaturity is that we find our fulfillment in what we do for the Lord rather than who we are in Him.

In my life, this has most certainly been the case. I’ve shared this story with most of you, but I was 17 years old when I felt a call to go into the ministry. I spent the next 6 or so years, pursuing that calling. I went to Bible college and starting working in churches as a youth pastor and associate pastor.

Now, these are all good things, the problem was this - I was basing my identity in my purpose. I was fulfilled because of what I was doing for God rather than in my identity (who he created me to be).

And this revealed itself when I went through the darkest time of my life and all of it was stripped away from me. All of a sudden, I didn’t have my identity anymore because I wasn’t fulfilling my purpose. In other words, because I wasn’t doing things for God, I assumed I wasn’t loved by him. I was basing his love for me not on who I was or who he created me to be, but in what I did.

Here’s my main point today:

God loves you for who you are, not what you do for Him.

Too often this is how we all live. When we do good, we think God is pleased with us and when we do bad, we think he’s mad. Most of us base this off of how our parents treated us. When we messed up, we felt like mom or dad didn’t love us anymore. We confused the love of our parents with the good feelings you get when you do the right thing.

When it comes to the spiritual side of things, we treat God in a similar fashion. We think because we did the right thing and it makes us feel good that God must be pleased with us and when we do the wrong thing and we feel guilt, then God must be mad. But that’s not what the gospel says. The Gospel says this, but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Rom 5:8

Romans 5:8 ESV

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

In other words, when you were at your worst, that’s the moment God chose to save you. It had nothing to do with you at your best. It was never really about you or your actions at all, it was about him showing his love for you. It’s similar to how as a husband, I show my wife love even on her worst days. I still hug her, kiss her, try to cheer her up, listen to her, so on and so on, because of my love for her, not what she can offer me. It’s a choice I’ve made. And in a similar way, that is how God is with us. Because he created us in his image, because we are image bearers, he decided to show his love towards us by sending his son to die for us on the cross. It is never about how God we are today or how bad we are tomorrow or whether we are “walking in the will of God” or not, it’s about his choice to love us in spite of our actions.

So today, we are continuing our sermon series on Identity by looking at the idea of Purpose and how it ties into our identity.

Genesis 1:26–30 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. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.

Man is created with Purpose

In the beginning God creates man and one of the first things he does is He gives him a purpose. Like I said a few weeks back, purpose is really that important. Think about it. God creates man and some of the first words that he hears are his purpose. In other words, here is what I want you to do with your life. And he gives him three main tasks to fulfill.

Be Fruitful.

Multiply

Have dominion

Be Fruitful - So what does this mean? Now there are several ways to read this. One is we could go out and plant some blueberry bushes. I don’t think that’s what he is talking about. We could also jump ahead to Galatians and say, he wants us to bear spiritual fruit - love, peace, gentleness, kindness, etc. I don’t think this is exactly right either. You could go there, but I think there’s something else here.

What does this mean in context? I actually think the most logical interpretation is found in verse 29. God mentions fruit again in this verse and He notes that every plant and every tree that has seed in its fruit has been given to them for food. So in case you didn’t know this, this is how we designate fruits today versus vegetables. If it has seeds in it, it’s a fruit. So jalapeños are fruit, tomatoes are fruit, cucumbers are fruit. All of a sudden you are realizing you don’t eat as many vegetables as you thought, right?

So God says that fruit carries a seed, which I’m going to say means it replicates itself. It produces something, in their case another fruit. Apple seeds grow apple trees if you will. For an apple to be fruitful, would mean it would have to produce more apples. So logically, for man to be fruitful, man should produce something and specifically we should produce more man. Now I also think its possible to spiritualize this with a New Testament lens. For Christians to fulfill this mandate, we should produce more Christians. Our lives should be fruitful in that way. In context, this isn’t talking about character, it’s talking about replication and reproduction.

Multiply - Now this I believe ties into the command to be fruitful. Multiplication is one of the core ideas throughout Scripture that seldom gets talked about but we see it in the promise to Abraham that he would multiply his descendants like the stars of the sky. We see that the children of Israel had multiplied greatly before the Exodus. We see that God multiplies his blessings toward us in the Psalms. We see Jesus speaking of multiplication in the parable of the talents. We see the early church multiplying in number during the book of Acts. So this idea is exactly what you think it is. We are to be about growth in numbers. And in the New Testament, that is done through discipleship. Every one of us should be trying to disciple others into the kingdom. Period. If you don’t have a heart for discipleship, then you don’t have the Father’s heart, because again this is one of the first things God says to Adam and this idea is repeated in Scripture over and over again.

Have dominion - Now this is a buzz word in Christianity, so I’ll address a little bit about this. Many blogs out there are devoted to being concerned about dominion theology or the seven mountain mandate and so on. I’m going to be honest, most Christians probably don’t know what that is or don’t care much about it. But there is an doctrine within certain segments of Christianity that teaches that Christians need to take over the government, schools, city councils, etc and rule over the earth. Essentially that God tells us to take dominion and that is what we should do. Now, I’m going to tell you this thinking is off. But, its not some sort of damnable heresy that some of these people make it out to be.

Here’s the biggest issue: There are some who believe this is done as a top-down dictator type of dominion. This is not taught in the Bible. Jesus clearly teaches that we are to be humble servants who are ambassadors for his kingdom. Taking dominion comes from the conversion of sinners. In context, this thought comes after the be fruitful and multiply commands. In other words, I believe these ideas build off of one another. If you are fruitful, if you do multiply in discipleship and people are getting saved and changed, this guess what? That means you will end up with Christian rulers. Essentially, that’s what this country had for many decades was a majority of Christian rulers. And thus, God has dominion over society and the country. Now some of the people who are against this idea in totality are living in a dream world in my opinion. For some reason, they believe in a completely neutral world where secular thought can reign and it will be peaceful and beautiful or that we should just remain silent and stand in the corner and wait for the rapture as the world goes to hell.

That is a lie. If we want to see peace, we need Jesus ruling over America. Pastor, are you saying you want a theocratic nation? To that I ask, what is the alternative? If you tell me that the alternative is a secular society, I’ll say, like we have today? A government that applauds pedophiles? A justice system that arrests political opponents but overlooks the crimes of political allies? A school system that endorses the mutilation of children? A medical field that does not value life? This is the alternative? I think I’ll choose God reigning over our country, thank you very much!

So here’s what we see, God gives man purpose and that purpose has an end goal. What is the end goal of this creation mandate from the Lord? Worldwide glory being offered to God. In other words, our purpose is to bring him glory. If we fulfill this mandate, it is by God and through God and for God’s glory alone.

Isaiah 43:5–7 ESV

Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you. I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

So now, I want to ask…How is God getting glory from your life? What is it He is asking you to do? Because He is asking you to do something. He has works planned for you? What are you doing to bring God glory? Because He will get glory from your life one way or the other. And that is primarily because he created you. Remember, you are made by Him and for Him. So if He created you, he has rights over you. As Paul asks:

Romans 9:21 ESV

Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?

So God has rights over you, and he has chosen to show his love toward you by sending his son. How are you going to respond to that? Will you withhold your love from him? Or will you freely give it? Will you run from him or will you run to him? These are questions only you can answer.

Now, that’s the basis of this passage. God creates man and he gives man a purpose. I want to go a bit deeper into this, so here’s one of the big ideas:

Our Purpose and Our Identity are Connected

Because Genesis is a foundational book and because God creates man and gives him purpose right from the beginning, before the fall, I believe that all of us have a purpose and our purpose is connected to our identity. They are intertwined. In fact, this is the way most of us operate, whether we realize it or not. When you go to a party and meet someone new, what’s one of the first questions we ask in trying to get to know this person…so, what do you do for a living?

Why is this important? Why don’t we ask them first what their favorite pizza toppings are? That may solve some problems. Oh, you think pineapple belongs on a pizza? Then we shouldn’t be friends. It’s important because we tie our identity into what we do, our purpose. If you are a teacher, that’s another way of saying that teaching is your purpose.

Think about all of the ways we described ourselves. I’m a pastor (purpose statement). In other words, what I do describes who I am. I’m a homeschool teacher (purpose). I’m a mom (purpose). I’m retired (I’ve lost purpose, kidding). We do the same thing with our hobbies. I’m a goat herder. We homestead. I’m a snowboarder. We link our identity with our perceived purpose. And there’s nothing inherently wrong with that, except if we lose sight of our ultimate purpose or our current purpose overtakes our ultimate purpose. Here’s what I mean. If let’s say we identify ourselves as a homesteader, but God calls us to inner city missions work. If we say we can’t, we are exalting our purpose over our true identity, because our true identity is always - I am the Lord’s servant. I am his son. He is Father. Our heart should always be to obey. And our purpose should always be to remain in relationship with Him, no matter where that may take us.

Man, made in the image of God, has a purpose—to be in relationship to God, who is there. Man forgets his purpose and thus he forgets who he is and what life means.

Francis Schaeffer

Ultimately what Francis Shaeffer is saying is this: When we fail to do what God asks us, the problem is identity. We have forgotten who he is and the purpose he created us for. And I’ve found this to be true. Really good things can be bad for us if we exalt those things over Christ. Our highest purpose, our ultimate meaning in life must always be found in Christ. If we find it elsewhere, that thing, however good it is, has become an idol and therefore sinful.

This is incredibly important because it introduces this concept:

Our purpose should flow from our identity; Our identity should not flow from our purpose

God first creates man. So his identity comes first. He is made in the image of God. His purpose comes second. After he is created, he is given his purpose. Now, God had his purpose in mind when He created Him, but the order in which these things happened is not coincidental. God created man first and then he gives him purpose.

Too often we get this reversed. We put our purpose ahead of our identity. Like I shared earlier. I had put my purpose, the calling of God on my life, ahead of my true identity. My identity is not in being a pastor. My identity is found in being his son. Whether I pastor or not, or whether I am doing anything for him or not does not matter. What matters is that I am found in Christ. Any identity claimed for yourself apart from Him is worthless. The only thing that matters is that you are found in Him.

So our identity cannot flow from our purpose, that is reversing God’s design for us. Our foundation has to always be built on the identity ascribed to us in Scripture: we are sons of the king, we are joint heirs with Christ, we are the salt of the earth, we are a new creation and so on. If we try to build anything on I’m a teacher, or I’m a sales consultant, or I’m a nurse, it will ultimately be burned up. It won’t last. It doesn’t mean those things are bad, but they aren’t the foundation of who we are. And if you get the foundation wrong, the building won’t stand.

All of this to say, we have to get our identity right first and it should lead us to the right purpose. Sometimes we can still get our purpose wrong, but I believe if we have the right foundation, God will help steer us to find our purpose.

To end today, I want to examine the practical effects of this. Our purpose and our identity are so intertwined and if we get either of these two things wrong, it creates all types of issues in our lives. Let’s look at some common ways people see themselves or act and how the root of the issue is a wrong identity.

We see ourselves as slaves. Here’s what that does: We are fearful. We are works oriented. We have a false humility. We are jealous of others.

The answer? See yourself as a son. Here’s what that does. We are no longer act fearful because we know we have the Father’s love. We are no longer works oriented because our identity is based on relationship not on economy. We no longer have a false humility because we know our place is always at the Father’s table. We aren’t jealous of others but rejoice when our brother succeeds.

2. We see ourselves as orphans. Here’s what that does: We act like lone rangers, we shun any form of help, we feel all alone and we struggle to feel loved.

The answer? See yourself as adopted. When you see yourself as adopted and part of a family, then you realize that you need your brothers and sisters around you. You welcome help from them. You don’t feel lonely. You welcome the loving relationship that comes with family, warts and all. Listen, no family is perfect. This church certainly isn’t, but here’s what I know. I can only change me. I can’t change you. I can only change how I look at things and how I deal with issues. But I have found, when I change myself or more accurately, allow God to get in and change me, then I start to see my brothers and sisters in a different light.

3. We see ourselves as sinners. Now to some of you this might be controversial, but its not meant to be. The Apostle Paul never, I repeat NEVER, addressed any of his letters to the sinners at the church in Phillipi. He never addressed a letter to the sinners in Ephesus. He addressed his letter to saints and faithful brothers. Paul understood that how we see ourselves, affects how we live. It affects our purpose. So he called that ragtag group of believers in Corinth, with all of the issues that they had a group of saints. Why? Because that is how God sees them. He sees a group of people covered in the blood of Jesus Christ and they are no longer sinners, but saints in the eyes of God.

Now, this is really important. If you are not saved, if you have not put your trust in Christ. Then yes, it’s very important that you come to the conclusion that you are a sinner and you are in need of a savior. You can’t enter the kingdom without seeing that first. But, once you are born again, guess what? That old identity falls away. It’s gone.

So what is the answer to seeing yourself as a sinner? See yourself as a saint. If you struggle with sin, welcome to the club! If you are here today and you say you don’t struggle with sin, then you are a liar and the truth isn’t in you! But, the truth is, if struggle with it, that means we are fighting it and that is evidence that God is working in your heart to sanctify you. You aren’t perfect and that’s ok, but you don’t have to identify with the old man. You are a new creation in Christ. Old things have passed away. You are an heir to the king. You are forgiven and you are clean. This the word of God over your life. That ole sinner that you were, was nailed to the cross and now you are alive with Christ and seated with him in heavenly places. Don’t accept nothing less than the truth. Again, God loves you for who you are, not what you do.

Let’s close.