Self Made or God Defined

Opening Framework:

Prayer

Series Intro: Theology Today

Message Title: Self Made or God Defined

Key Verse: Ecclesiastes 1:9 NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN - Identity Today

ME: Belonging & Performance

Ethnicity Questions

Not feeling fully one way or another

Belonging Tention & Sibling Tension

BUT EVERYDAY LIFE IN ADULTHOOD TOO

Performance in ministry

Performance at home

And the thoughts in my mind

We: We live in a world that asks us to define ourselves

What do you do? What do you believe? Where do you stand on xyz? What do you identity as?

AND IF YOU DONT DEFINE YOURSELF - THE WORLD WILL

We’re labeled by… Career Politics Race Success Failure Social Media Followers Relationship Status

But if you do label yourself how do you know if it’s true?

Our culture leaned into Moral Relativism… There’s no truth, except my truth. You do you. I do me

But things have shifted a bit into something called Moral Absolutism… Now it’s… You must agree with me or you’re wrong.

Both though have the same flaw… It’s self constructed. And when you build something yourself you have to defend it… and that’s tiring. That’s unstable!

So where does identity actually come from? Because if we don’t get this question right, everything collapses.

God: Moses

Exodus 2:1–10 - (Teach through 1-10 as I read) Tension from the beginning Born Hebrew by blood, adopted, and grows up Egyptian in culture.

Exodus 2:11-13 - He went out to his people. He feels Hebrew

Exodus 2:14 - Rejection… Doesn’t belong to Egypt - Not accepted by Israel. (Identity Cracks)

Flees to Midian - Marries

Exodus 2:22 - Names his son Gershom. Meaning A Stranger / Traveler in a foreign land.

Prince - Fugitive - Sheparding… identity collapse.

Exodus 3:11 - The Question…

Exodus 3:12 - The Answer…

Exodus 3:13-14 - Good Question - I AM (Self Existant Independant God

Before Moses finds out who he is. He first finds out who God is.

imago Dei - Created By God - Genesis 1:27

Moses tried… Position - Justice - Isolation… Nothing worked.

God shows up… You don’t need to figure out who you are. You need to know who I am.

You: Where have you been trying to question “Who am I?”

Your career? Political Stance? Ethnicity? Performance? Failures - Trauma - Approval?

It’s exhausting.

Your identity is not something you figure out. It’s something you receive.

Created. Known. Called You are created by an almighty God that loves you. You are known by that almighty God. And you are called with a purpose for that Almighty God found in this book

Your identity doesn’t begin with “i am” it begins with “I AM”

We: We’re living in an identity crisis today

Not because people are evil. But because they are not connected to the source.

We tried Moral Relativism - There’s no truth but mine. But that had no stability.

We’re drifting toward Moral Enforcement - Agree with me or you’re wrong. But that doesn’t give stability either.

Because both have the same mistake… The source is yourself. Exodus 3 shows us that the source has to be God.

See the problem in our culture is not that people are asking “Who Am I?” The problem is that we’re answering the question without asking God!

This is theology today… We have a modern crisis. But it’s not a new crisis. And we have the solution as the church.

We ground ourselves first to God and as we learn more about Him… we will learn about us.

But we also approach this culture with an understanding that they are not evil. They just need a connection to God themselves.

That is the call of the church

Alter Call:

If you’re exhausted trying to build yourself… If you feel like you don’t belong at times… If you’re tired on basing your life on performances… Or if you’re identity feels shaky… You need the presense of the I AM. God himself. You need to come back to the source of Who You Are…

If you’re praying for someone struggling with their identity. If you’re crying out for someone else. They don’t need answers. They need a touch from God to be their answer…