Who are you part 3

Who are you?  - Mr. Hearne

·        If you have accepted Christ’s sacrifice on the cross for your sins, and believe that he rose from the dead, you are already a whole person and possess a life of infinite meaning and purpose as a child of God. 

o       As I said last week, the only identity equation that works is YOU PLUS CHRIST EQUALS WHOLEMENSS AND MEANING.

·        In order to understand who you really are, you need to understand what you inherited – both good and bad – from your great, great, great grandpa Adam. 

o       Just as you inherited physical traits from your parents and grandparents, you inherited certain traits from your first ancestor. 

o       Today we are going to look at the good things we inherited from Grandpa Adam and next time the student council is leading chapel we’ll look at the bad things we inherited from him.

·        Genesis 2.7 reads: “The Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being”.  That’s where we all got our start.  God created Adam, and we have all been born in his likeness.

·        Just like Adam, we have a physical body and an inner self. 

o       The physical body relates to the world around us through the five senses: taste, touch, smell, hearing, and sight. 

o       Our inner self, sometimes called the soul, is the part of us that is created in the image of God. 

o       In our inner self we find our mind, emotions, and will, allowing us to think, fell, and choose. 

o       Our inner self is also spiritually connected to God.

·        At creation, God breathed into Adam’s nostrils the breath of life and every part of him sprang to life.  Adam was fully alive both physically and spiritually.

·        Each and every Christian has inherited 5 positive traits from Grandpa Adam. 

o       We are physically alive, spiritually alive, have significance, possess safety and security, and finally belong to the family of God. 

o       One at a time, your student council members are going to come up and discuss each one of these traits with you.

We are Physically Alive – Caitlin

We all walk around in a living, breathing earth suit made up of skin, muscle, bone, blood, fat, hair, etc.  This is our physical body, the house that our inner self lives in.  In 2 Cor. 5.1-4, Paul refers to the believer’s body as a tent, the temporary dwelling of the soul.

When we were conceived, our body was connected to our inner self.  When we die, our body is separated from the inner self, and physical life ends.  It’s plain from this verse that the Christian’s identity is more than physical attributes and skills because the body is left behind at death when our inner self goes to be with the Lord.

Even though our true identity is more than physical, in this life, we can’t exist without our physical body.  Our inner self needs a body for physical life to be possible.  And our body needs an inner self or it’s no better than one of those horror film zombies.

For example, that physical brain inside your skull is life a computer, and your mind, which is part of your inner self, is like a computer programmer.  A computer can’t compute without a programmer, and a programmer can’t program without a computer.  You need your physical brain to control your movements and responses, and you need your immaterial mind to reason and make value judgments.  One won’t function without the other in this life.

As long as we live in the physical world, we must do so in a physical body.  So we need to take care of ourselves by eating right, exercising, resting, etc.  But in reality our bodies are wasting away.  They are only guaranteed for one lifetime, then they will be thrown away.  We must find our identity and significance in something more than our physical looks and abilities.

In Christ, We Are Spiritually Alive – Christina

Adam was created physically and spiritually alive, in perfect relationship with God.  God never created mankind to live separated from or independent of God.  In 2 Cor. 4.16, Paul writes, “Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day”.  He was referring to the spiritual life of the believer that doesn’t age or decay like the other shell.

For the Christian, to be spiritually alive is for the inner self to be united with God.  Like Adam, we were created to be in relationship with God.  But, Adam sinned and his relationship with God, and ours as well, was broken.  That’s why we were born spiritually dead and why Christ came to die on the cross for us.  Every person who accepts Christ’s sacrifice for sin has his or her relationship with God restored.

It’s God’s eternal plan to bring His children back to Himself and restore the relationship He enjoyed with Adam and Eve at creation.  That restored relationship with God, which we find only in Christ, is the basis of our true identity.

We Are Significant and Important to God – Monique

According to Genesis 1.28, humanity has a divine purpose, that the creation of people carried significance.  Adam was extremely significant, which means he was very important.  God have him a divine purpose.  He was like the king of the whole planet, ruling over all the other creatures God had created.

Satan was on the scene at creation, but he wasn’t the god of this world at the time.  Gad gave that responsibility to Adam.  It belonged to him until Satan tricked him out of it.

Do you know someone else who is very important and significant to God?  Sure you do.  That significant person is you.  Satan stole Adam’s significance, and ours as well, when Adam sinned, but Jesus won it back for us through His death and His resurrection.  That’s part of our inheritance in Christ.  Satan has no authority over us.  Our true worth to God is now determined by Christ’s death on the cross.  If you were to put a price tag on yourself, it would have to read, “Jesus”.  His death on the cross was the payment for our sins.  You are “worth Jesus” to God because that is what he paid for you.

We Possess Safety and Security – Camile

In the Garden of Eden, all of Adam’s and Eve’s needs were provided for.  Before Adam sinned in the Garden, he enjoyed a sense of safety and security.  Adam was completely cared for in the garden.  He had plenty of food to eat, and there was plenty for the animals he took care of to eat.  He could eat of the tree of life forever in God’s presence.  He lacked nothing.

Safety and security is another part of our inheritance in Christ.  We have the riches of His kingdom at our disposal and His promise to supply all our needs.

Finally, we don’t have to worry about being alone because we Belong to the Family of God – Nick

From Genesis 2.18 and following, it is clear that God created a sense of belonging in Adam and Eve.  They experienced a sense of belonging in the perfect garden.  Adam enjoyed an intimate, one-on-one relationship with God before Eve came on the scene.  Then God introduced Adam to another level of belonging: “The Lord God said, ‘It is not good for man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for Him.’” (Genesis 2.18).  God gave Eve to Adam – and Adam to Eve – to give them a deeper sense of belonging.

The fullest sense of belonging comes from an intimate relationship with God, and that’s what we have in Christ.  But belonging also comes from our relationship with each other.  When God created Eve, He started human companionship and community.  It’s not good for us to be alone.  Being alone can lead to despair.  God’s way of preventing loneliness is to create intimacy – meaningful, open, sharing relationships with one another.  In Christ, we have the opportunity for intimate fellowship with God and with other believers.

Challenge - Al

·        Why do so many believers fail to see or believe that Christians are already whole people with lives of infinite meaning and purpose as children of God? 

o       The answer is because they have been tricked in believing Satan’s lies, just as Adam was tricked. 

o       Satan has managed to distort our true identity in many different ways. 

o       We often forget about the five positive traits we have inherited from Adam. 

o       When we fail, we often see ourselves as failures, which only causes us to fail more. 

o       We sin and see ourselves as sinners, which only causes us to sin more. 

o       We’ve been tricked by Satan to believe that what we do makes us what we are. 

o       And this false belief sinks us deeper and deeper into the muddy pit of hopelessness and defeat. 

o       The only way out of this pit is to get a grip on who we really are as children of God. 

o       The only equation that works is YOU PLUS CHRIST EQUALS WHOLENESS AND MEANING. 

o       As you go about your lives this week, focus upon your true identity, focus upon the fact that if you believe in Christ, you already possess spiritual life, security, safety, and belonging in the family of God.