Identity Series - I Am Known

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Introduction

Today we are going to start off with the Top 10 terrible excuses for missing this series on Identity.

10. The next season of your favorite show just dropped on Netflix.

9. You are having a bad hair day.

8. You believe the Apocalypse may be coming.

7. You forgot it was Sunday.

6. You were scared to leave the house.

5. It’s your pet’s birthday.

4. You were doing your hair.

3. The weather was just too good.

2. You were stuck in traffic.

You overslept.

Welcome to Cornerstone church, we are continuing our series on Identity. This is a deep subject and something I believe that God cares deeply about since he created us.

Jeremiah 1:4–10 ESV

Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.” But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the Lord.” Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the Lord said to me, “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”

In the text, we see God say four very important things when it comes to identity. We will look at them all individually, but here they are: I formed you, I knew you, I consecrated you and I appointed you.

I believe taken together, this is the entirety of the Christian walk. Each phrase represents the stages of our own development in Christ. Let’s look at each one individually.

I Formed You

God is going to give Jeremiah the biggest building block right at the beginning of his ministry. You were formed by me. You were created by me. I am your creator. I formed you.

In other words, God is taken ownership here. He’s saying I did this. I formed you. I created you. You are mine.

You have formed us for yourself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in you.

Augustine of Hippo

A crucial part of our identity is wrapped up in these statements he is making to Jeremiah. You were formed by God. He created you. If you don’t believe that, it will lead you to all types of false ideas like evolution and survival of the fittest. You get this wrong and the whole foundation is wrong. We spent the first week of this series talking about this - You were created in his image.

The word here for formed in the Hebrew draws its meaning from a potter forming the clay. You can picture it on the potter’s wheel being molded into whatever the potter desires. The Lord would repeat this imagery later in his prophecies.

Jeremiah 18:3–6 ESV

So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do. Then the word of the Lord came to me: “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the Lord. Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.

God is the potter, we are the clay. We are formed into what he wants us to be.

I Knew You

When it comes to identity, this is a powerful statement. I’ve read in various places that one of the most fundamental ties in life is that all people have a thirst for knowledge and that knowledge revolves around two very important questions - Who is God? And, what does he want from me? Now as Christians, we believe in the God of the Bible. The God who has a plan and purpose for our lives. That’s what we discussed when we started this series.

But this is different. Paul the apostle, sees a difference. There’s something that’s put into our DNA that we want to know God, but it’s a bigger deal to be known by God. It’s not just that we can know God that makes a difference in our lives, it’s that He knows us as well! We are known, we are not forgotten. We are known, we are not overlooked. We are known, we are not lost.

Galatians 4:9 ESV

But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?

Paul gives us the juice. We are known by God, why should we turn back to the worldly principles that are weak and worthless? We should be lead by the Spirit instead and the Spirit leads us into truth. So who is he talking about who, is known by God?

Nahum 1:7 ESV

The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him.

Nahum is saying that the ones that take refuge in the Lord, those are the ones that God knows. He knows them deeply because he is their stronghold.

So this is a huge part about identity. But look at the context of our passage today. He knows you, before he even forms you. He knows you, how? What dos this mean? How can you know someone before you form them? This word for knowing is a word of intimacy. It’s intimate knowledge. It’s the Hebrew word “yada” which refers to the intimacy between a husband and wife.

Here God is saying he knows Jeremiah in the most intimate way possible before he was ever formed. That means he created you with purpose. He created you with knowledge. He created you with forethought. You aren’t a divine accident. You are foreknown. The King of Kings knew you before you were you and he had plans for you before the dawn of time.

I Consecrated You

God then looks at Jeremiah and says, I consecrated you before you were born. What a statement. We need to think about this for a second. There’s several implications here. First, what does consecration mean? It means to make holy. It means Jeremiah was found to be righteous. Now we know that no one is righteous, except that they be found in Christ. So even though Jeremiah is written years before Christ, God’s plan for redemption allows for Jeremiah to be found righteous before Christ has come. How is that?

Because God set forth his plan before time began. Don’t believe me, listen to Paul:

Ephesians 1:4 (ESV)

Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him...

In other words. We are made holy in Christ and that was God’s plan before we ever drew our first breath. This is why I believe Paul says so confidently that it’s not by works of the law, but by his grace. It’s not based on what we’ve done, but what He has done! Praise God!

Now this doesn’t mean that Jeremiah is perfect. We tend to think in these terms, but that’s not what it means. He’s going to struggle. At one point in his life, Jeremiah curses the day he was born. We all go through rough times. Jeremiah was holy before the Lord not based on what he had done, but what Christ was going to do for Him.

I Appointed You

Now we get to an identity statement that infers purpose. God says, I formed you, I knew you, I consecrated you and finally I appointed you. There’s a purpose behind what I have done. You have a purpose Jeremiah. I have appointed you to be a prophet to the nations.

Now Jeremiah’s call was unique to him. He was called to be a prophet, we are not all called in that way. But we are appointed for something. We have a purpose and a calling. All of us are appointed.

Ephesians 2:10 ESV

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

God has prepared something unique for each one of us. It’s not going to look like someone else. Stop comparing yourself and your purpose to me and my purpose or Erin and her purpose. When we come to the Lord, we say, Father what would you have for me to do? What good works have you prepared for me? Open my eyes to see what you are doing in my life Lord so I can partner with you.

I Bring My Excuses

Notice in this passage that Jeremiah doesn’t take ownership of his shortcomings, but uses those as excuses to not do what God is asking him to do. That’s how we all act when God speaks to us. We say Lord, I can’t do this and these are the reasons why. We justify our disobedience with excuses. What excuses does Jeremiah use? I see two right away.

Ignorance

He first says to the Lord, I do no know how to speak. He uses ignorance as an excuse. He is essentially saying, I don’t know what I’m doing. How many of us have used that excuse with God before? I don’t know what I’m doing Lord! What would you call me? I have no experience in this area. I know I have. When the Lord called me to preach many years ago, that was one of my thoughts. I can’t speak, I don’t know how. I’m not smart enough to do this.

Ignorance is closely followed by obstinacy.

John Calvin

When we claim ignorance, what we aren’t doing is telling God anything he doesn’t know. He knows we are ignorant and yet he is asking us anyway. What should be the proper response? Lord, show me the way.

Unqualified

Here’s the second excuse Jeremiah uses. He says, I’m only a youth. What is he saying here? I’m unqualified. Lord, you need to call someone older. You need someone with more experience. You should call the pastor. I’m not qualified for this job.

I’m not saying this to demean qualifications. We need some qualifications in life, but if the Lord is calling you to do something, he has also qualified you to do it. Meaning, He is the one who sets the qualifications for the call, so He is the one who sets the qualifications. If needed, the Lord will provide the training as well. So we can’t look at our lives, and say, we aren’t qualified to serve God in such and such way. If He is asking us to do something, our hearts should say, yes Lord, wherever you lead, I’ll go.

Christ’s choice of the apostles testifies to the fact that God can use the unworthy and the unqualified.

John F. MacArthur

What MacArthur is saying here is that God can use anyone. So don’t look at your past and say, I’m disqualified. I can’t do this. Your qualifications for gospel ministry to anyone is simply this - are you washed in the blood?

The Main Point - A Mature Christian Doesn’t Bring Excuses, He Accepts Responsibility

This point goes all the way back to the Garden. Adam is caught red-handed as it were and he doesn’t own his sin. He blames Eve. He plays the victim. He doesn’t accept responsibility for his actions. This is typical of people who are “in Adam”. When we look at how the flesh works, it seeks to cover sin and blame others.

A Mature Christian, those that are “in Christ” are those that accept responsibility. Rather than blaming others, we do what is right. We obey what God asks of us. We take responsibility for our actions. We have ownership over our faults, failures and mistakes.

This is the heart of maturity. This bears witness in the world today. What do we see? Victim-politics. Both sides of the aisle do this. We play the victim and paint the other side as the enemy. This is unhealthy and its part of the poison that infiltrates our political environment right now.

Maturity says I will not play the victim, I will not shun my responsibilities. I will take ownership. When we take ownership over our faults as Christians, what does it teach others? It teaches them that we are not the same as the world.

Our identity as disciples of Christ is that we would be marked by maturity in Him. This doesn’t mean we always get it right. We won’t and that’s the point. What do we do when we don’t get it right? We should take ownership.

For each of us this idea has a unique flavor. If you are a mom, your excuses might be very noble and godly things. You might say things like, I’ll do what you are asking of me Lord once these kids are out of the house. Or the dads, Lord I will follow you but I don’t have a lot of time right now, so you’ll need to fit into my schedule.

Our older saints may be saying, Lord I’ve already put in my time. I’m supposed to let the younger folks take this from here. I’m just looking to enjoy retirement.

Our single moms might be saying, Lord I don’t have any time, I’m working and trying to take care of these kids, I just can’t. And that’s ok. God bless you. But here’s what I’ve found. If you give God your “yes”, a lot of time what he may be asking of you in that season isn’t a big time commitment, but a series of small moments of you being obedient in your daily life. God knows where you are. He’s not trying to condemn you, he’s trying to partner with you.

God Brings His Wisdom

And this brings us to the response from God to Jeremiah. God brings His infinite wisdom to the situation. Essentially he says, I have heard your excuses Jeremiah, but let me encourage you that I am with you.

The Lord offers a rebuttal to Jeremiah’s doubts about his qualifications and his admission of ignorance. Do not say you are only a youth. Don’t say it. Don’t use that as an excuse. You will go everywhere I send you. And the Lord touches Jeremiah’s mouth and put his words into Jeremiah’s mouth. In other words, He is not asking much of Jeremiah. Just be open. Just be open to what I want to do in you. I’ll give you the words. I’ll send you to the places. Just trust me.

This is the same thing he says to us. Be open to me. Open your heart to what I want to do in your life. Trust Him to lead you. Where does God want to take you? What does he want to do in you that you keep making excuses on?

Closing

Let’s stand and sing.