Identity Crisis 2

Intro

Students!

Man week 2 of our series “Identity Crisis” and I’m just as fired up as I was last week!

See last week we talked about how our identity must come from God who is creator

We were made in the image of God after all so our identity must be wrapped up in Christ!

Well this week we are going to take the next logical step by asking the question:

What should Christian identity look like?

This was a question Ihad a lot

See I knew a lot of people that claimed to know Christ They would go to church on Sunday But man they would be going crazy on Saturday So once I got saved it really made me question what it actually truly means

To help us answer this question we are going to look at the very start of the church — this is right after Jesus ascended into heaven

So lets jump right in:

Acts 2

Acts 2:42–47 ESV

42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

This passage in the book of Acts gives us a picture of what happened once Peter preached the Gospel

See Peter shared and the Bible tells us that 3,000 people got saved in one day!

That’s 3,000 people that had their identity crisis solved

No longer were they lost, they are now found!

They are trusting in Jesus to save them

But the common question for a lot of people — myself included when I was younger was:

What should Christian identity look like?

The good thing is that we don’t have to question it — the Lord shows us through the early church in the book of Acts exactly what it means

You’ll be devoted

What should Christian identity look like?

The first thing:

You should be devoted to God

Notice what is said about them:

Acts 2:42 ESV

42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

They devoted themselves to the apostles teachings

Another way to translate the Greek word for devoted is “busily engaged in” or “persistent in”

Quite literally it means that they spend their time seeking the Lord, reading His word, praying

They weren’t just fans of Jesus — they weren’t just happy that Jesus came and died for them

They instead made it their life mission to know Him more

I mean this isn’t a foreign concept for us

We in fact do it all the time!

Think about it:

You don’t have to guess who is a devoted Taylor Swift fan versus just someone who listens to a couple songs

You don’t have to guess who watches football when it’s on TV compared to those who watch every single game and join multiple fantasy football leagues

There’s a difference between someone who plays video games when they have down time and someone who is devoted to video games

It’s really easy to see who is devoted to it, and who just kinda likes it

They make it their entire personality!

Kinda like someone who is doing a new diet trend, or for my new stage of life the parents that only ever talk about their kid.

Gideon I love you, but I also love Jesus and football — AMEN?

But what about us and God?

We talked about how Jesus came to give us a new identity — to set our life back in motion

So are you fully devoted to Him?

Or is He just the guy you run to when you feel like you can’t handle your stress?

The reality is we should be fully devoted to Him! Giving Him everything we have!

That’s why Paul says:

Galatians 2:20 ESV

20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

It is no longer our life, it’s Christ’s!

We should be passionate about Jesus

Spending our time, effort, and energy on Jesus!

You should be generous

The early church gives us a second that when it comes to the question

What should Christian identity look like?

And that is:

You should be generous

Listen to what they were doing:

Acts 2:44–45 ESV

44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.

They were together constantly

Which is already crazy in 2025 when we prefer online presence to being around actual human beings

But not only were they in person — they were selling their belongings to help others in need

Can you imagine that for a second?

Like this is so far removed from Western culture — we are a culture that is all about self

Yet the early church knew that when Jesus changes your identity you must be generous

Yet we often view money as something that we need to spend all our time, energy, and focus on

For some of us we are more devoted to the pursuit of money than we are to Jesus…

Listen to how Jesus describes money from two different passages:

Matthew 6:19–21 ESV

19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Luke 21:1–4 ESV

1 Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, 2 and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. 3 And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. 4 For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”

In Matthew Jesus tells us not to make our treasures on earth our priority but instead make them in heaven

Basically don’t worry about the money — worry about your Heavenly currency

Then in Luke Jesus points how the widow who gave two copper coins

This is the smallest coin in value that was in circulation in the Roman empire. I won’t bore you with all the conversions I’ll just say this — the amount she put in was worth 3/8 of a penny

YET

Jesus looks at the amount she gave and blessed her compared to the wealthy who put in huge bags of money

WHY?

Because she was being generous giving from all that she had, where as the rich were giving out of their abundance

Students if our Identity is found in Christ this is the kind of generosity that needs to be a mark of our life

We should be like the early church selling what we have to help a brother or sister in need

Being generous is a mark of every believer I’ve ever interacted with

Some believers are stronger in generosity than others

But I’ve never met a believer that is selfish only caring about self

Because that’s exactly what it looks like to follow after Christ

You should be missional

However there is one more thing that the early church models

What should Christian identity look like?

You should be missional

We should be missional with our life, priorities, and interactions with people

Listen to what was happening in the early church

Acts 2:47 ESV

47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

They had favor with all people and God was blessing them with new converts or believers

This means they were going into the areas they live, work, study, play, and shop and were sharing the Gospel

How do we know this?

Well A — The Lord was adding to their number and we know people can’t be saved without hearing the Gospel

Paul affirms this saying:

Romans 10:14 ESV

14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?

So obviously they have to be going out and sharing the Gospel

But B — We are told that they are going out preaching the word

Acts 8:4 ESV

4 Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.

Right after Stephen was stoned for following Jesus there was a great panic and many people fled Jerusalem to the surrounding areas

YET notice they continued to share the Gospel

They viewed their main goal in life to be on mission — this didn’t stop when the threat of death was knocking at their door

They continued to share Christ

We need to have this be true about us

Be willing to share Christ with those that are lost regardless of what it would cost

There needs to be some urgency there

That’s what we spent the last couple series talking about — living life on mission!

We need to make this a priority!

Living a life that is not passively following Jesus, but actively going into a world that is dying and hurting and sharing the gospel truths with them

Conclusion

Students our Identity is meant to be rooted in Christ and the Gospel!

This means that we should be fully devoted to Christ

This means we should be generous

And this means should be living our life on mission

Lets start representing our family well

Discussion Questions

In what ways can you actively show your devotion to God in your daily life?

How can you balance being devoted to God while engaging in daily activities like school or sports?

What steps can you take to become more generous in your community?

How can understanding our identity in Christ change the way we view our possessions?

What does it mean to be missional in the context of our identities as Christians?