KNOW THYSELF

Knowing Your Identity In Christ

Learning From John

Text: John 1:19-28

John 1:19–28 (ESV)

And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”

(Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) They asked him, “Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” John answered them, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

A. Who are You?

Who are these asking the questions?

Faithlife Study Bible (Chapter 1)

priests and Levites: These were the official religious leaders in charge of the temple in Jerusalem. See Deut 18:1 and note.

The actual question in the minds of these religious leaders was

“Are you the Messiah?” Which shows that they were expecting the Messiah, and they were in that sense suspecting it might be John

1. He confessed and Did not deny but confessed.

2.I am not the Christ = John knew the nature of the question and answered them directly without gymnastics

B. What then? Are you Elijah

1. I am not

C. Are you the prophet?

2. No

D. Who are you?

We need to give an answer to those who sent us.

E. What do you say about Yourself?

John 1:23–25 (ESV)

He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”

(Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) They asked him, “Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

E. Why are you Baptizing if you are not the Christ, Elijah of the prophet

John 1:26–28 (ESV)

John answered them, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

Observation

1. John Knows who he is

2. John knows who he is not

3. John knows what he is called to do

4. John knows what he is not called to do

5. John knows which questions to answer and which questions not to answer

6. John also knows how to wisely answer

John is humble

a. He acknowledges Jesus to be greater than him

b. John wants to decrease so that Christ may increase.

Practical Lessons in Life

1. Two Cultural ways of Defining our Identity

A. Western Culture

Look in your inside and do not listen to what people are saying. Do you!

Tim Keller talks about the unreliability of basing our identities on us.

1. Your inner self is incoherent: You sometimes even do not know what you want.

2. Not stable: Your feelings are not reliable and you are constantly growing.

3. It is an illusion: the old traditional culture vs the western understanding of strength in the past.

Honor and shame culture vs Guilty and innocence

4. It is crushing because you put too much pressure on yourself; You are carrying the burden that you will never be fit to carry in this side of heaven

It is crushing because you will base your identity in basically three things

a. Yourself; relying on your gifts so much that you are blind to your own weaknesses

b. others; you will be obsessed with impressing people. You will do the best to show your worth

c. Things; You will constantly be chasing after things. and since things are constantly changing, you will always be changing.

And as a result you will become a burden to people

5. It is excluding: C.S. Lewis says, people are not proud of having money, but by having money more than others. You begin to create classes. You will always feel good to be around those who are behind you. You become very uncomfortable to make friends with people who can challenge you and/or even make you feel like you are not who you think you are.

B. African Traditional Culture

The community defines who we are

We might deny it but may be a review of what happens in our lives can be helpful at this moment.

1. When you are born, parents and other relatives are dying to give you a name without seeking the face of God

2. When you are a teenager, parents, relatives and friends want to choose your career based on their preferences and view; God is out of the picture

3. When you are an adult, the society expects you to get married; if you are not married, something is definitely wrong with you.

4. When you get married expect you to have children after a certain period of time; if there is no child, People will start asking questions.

5. The government and learned people will advise you to go for something that can bring you fast money; And God is out of the picture.

6. When you are done with school, people expect you to have a lot of money overnight

Where should we Find our Identity then?

We need to find our identity in someone who is:

1. Stable; someone whom we know will never change

Obviously that person is not you

That Person is not your family

That Person is not your friend

There is no one like that on this plant

4. Who completely knows you inside out

Someone who has the exact knowledge of you really are

Someone who fashioned you to be who you really are

There is only One who can do

a. He loved you so much that died for you

Only Jesus knows us to the core - More than we can imgaine.