A HEART SET FREE

3/2/02 and 3/3/02

(Solving Your Identity Crisis # 2)

Psalm 119

32 I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free.

REVIEW

Last week I began a series called “A HEART SET FREE”. It is a look at our identity in Christ and solving our identity crisis. We talked about the fact that many things can kick off a crisis such as a passage from one season of life to the next, loss of a loved one, or whatever. Often we build our identity on the wrong things so we have nothing to fall back on in a time of crisis.

          Isn’t the big question in life, WHO AM I AND WHY AM I HERE? Many people have done many things to try to make their mark or mark their territory. Everyone needs a purpose and significance. I am going to go intentionally slow and look at this from several different directions over the next few weeks or so. It is very important to see and experience the truth about GOD, YOURSELF, and OTHERS.

          I love this Scripture because it speaks to me about the real you getting out of the cage of others expectations, and being REAL. God made you unique for this age and the one to come. Your identity is shaped by Jesus Christ and expressed in your unique personality and being. Religion tries to make us feel bad about who we are. Jesus tells us the truth and releases us to enjoy life and be secure. It is possible to be humble and confident and secure at the same time.

1 Samuel 16:7 says,

…..”Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

Galatians 2:6 says,

“As for those who seemed to be important—whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not judge by external appearance—those men added nothing to my message.”

Proverbs 23:7 NASB

“ For as he thinks within himself, so he is.”

Maxwell said, “You cannot consistently perform in a manner that is inconsistent with the way you see yourself.”

-We looked at the REASON why God did what He did. The Bible calls that THE ETERNAL PURPOSE. That tells us WHY.

-We looked at the METHOD God used to get us back to Him. That is called THE MYSTERY OF THE AGES. That tells us how.

-God is planning to use us as an object lesson of His goodness for eternity. Your job description according to Romans 9 is to be an OBJECT OF HIS MERCY.

-We looked at the coming of Jesus as Messiah from the perspective of demons who didn’t understand it, prophets who tried to understand it, angels who long to understand it, and even the apostles who misinterpreted it.

-We are the recipients of the master plan of God. He has poured out His love for us and demonstrated His love for us by Jesus dying for us.

-I want to focus today on what specifically it means to have Christ in us.

Colossians 1

25 I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fulness--

 26 the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints.

 27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

 28 We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.

 29 To this end I labour, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.

CHRIST IN YOU

-What specifically does it mean to have Christ in You?

-The key is not to look at yourself to find yourself.

You can never find out who you are in Christ until you find out who Christ is in you.

-The key is to recognize that our identity is hidden.

Ephesians 3

9 and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things.

-The mystery was hidden for us, not from us.

Col 3:3-4

For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

 When Christ, who is your {Some manuscripts our} life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.}

(NIV)

Php 1:21 ¶ For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

(NIV)

1.           HOW DO WE GET A FALSE IDENTITY?/STOP ASKING THE WORLD WHO YOU ARE.

-It is based on the world, sometimes even the Christian world.

Lu 12:15 Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."

NLT

15Then he said, "Beware! Don't be greedy for what you don't have. Real life is not measured by how much we own."

-False identity is measuring ourselves by the criteria of the world:

AM I PRETTY?

AM I RICH?

AM I TRENDY?

AM I POPULAR?

DO PEOPLE SEE ME AS SPIRITUAL?

Romans 12:2 NLT

2Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.

-Jeremiah was told to DIG UP then PLANT.

-Don’t let someone else define you.

-Amazingly we take the pulse of our 9th grade class to see if we are valuable!!

-Even as Christians we can be based who we are on worldly things.

-Carnal Christians are body ruled.

-That’s why I was confused with crummy Christians.

-Walking down the isle and receiving Jesus doesn’t guarantee a model Christian.

-Not everyone is a good example.

1Co 5:12 What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?

-Look at the fruit of someone’s life before you follow their example.

-Paul said to follow me while I follow Christ.

2.           LOOK AT JESUS

-Example of Peter with Jesus who am I – this is who you are.

2 Corinthians 3

6 ¶ He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant-- not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

 7 Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was,

 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious?

 9 If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness!

 10 For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory.

 11 And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!

 12 ¶ Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold.

 13 We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away.

 14 But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away.

 15 Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts.

 16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

 18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

(NIV)

chapter 4

1 ¶ Therefore, since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.

 2 Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.

 3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.

 4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

 5 For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.

 6 For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

 7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

 8 ¶ We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;

 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.

 10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.

 11 For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body.

Amplified

16But whenever a person turns [in repentance] to the Lord, the veil is stripped off and taken away.
17Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (emancipation from bondage, freedom).(4)
18And all of us, as with unveiled face, [because we] continued to behold [in the Word of God] as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His very own image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another; [for this comes] from the Lord [Who is] the Spirit.

chapter 4

5For what we preach is not ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves [merely] as your servants (slaves) for Jesus' sake.
6For God Who said, Let light shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts so as [to beam forth] the Light for the illumination of the knowledge of the majesty and glory of God [as it is manifest in the Person and is revealed] in the face of Jesus Christ (the Messiah).(1)
7However, we possess this precious treasure [the divine Light of the Gospel] in [frail, human] vessels of earth, that the grandeur and exceeding greatness of the power may be shown to be from God and not from ourselves.

Ps 36:9 For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light.

-When you see the truth about Jesus, the by-product is that the true light shines on you.

-Before that, you are but a shadow of your true self.

YOU CAN NEVER FIND OUT WHO YOU ARE IN CHRIST UNTIL YOU FIND OUT WHO CHRIST IS IN YOU.

-You put off the old you by putting on the new you.

(FOR INSTANCE: Instead of focusing on a habit, you focus on Jesus. He becomes magnified while the problem gets put in its place.)

-The more you look at the exterior to discover the truth about you, the more deceived you become.

-The first step is to discover HIM.

3.           LET JESUS COME THROUGH YOU

-We focus so much on what we do that we miss who we are.

-YOU ARE A HUMAN BEING/NOT A HUMAN DOING.

Mark 3

13 ¶ Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him.

 14 He appointed twelve--designating them apostles-- that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach

-What you are precedes what you do.

Ac 4:13 When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realised that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.

-Notice that the people were looking for exterior qualifications like school or special things. They were ordinary.

-What had transformed these men? IT WAS THE PRESENCE OF JESUS IN THEIR LIVES.

Romans 12

1 ¶ Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship.

 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.

 3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment,

-Notice the term CONFORMED and TRANSFORMED.

-You are conformed when you look at the world.

-You are transformed when you look at Jesus.

Exodus 3

11 ¶ But Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?"

 12 And God said, "I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain."

 13 Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, `The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, `What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?"

 14 God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: `I AM has sent me to you.'"

 15 God also said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites, `The LORD, the God of your fathers--the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob--has sent me to you.' This is my name for ever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.

-Basically Moses asked two questions and the Lord answered him the same whay both times.

-Who am I and Who are you were answered with I WILL BE WITH YOU.

-He was issuing a promise like I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU NOR FORSAKE YOU.

-The answer isn’t based on Moses’ qualifications but his relationship to God.

-Your identity is based on Who God is in you, not just who you are.