Identity Crisis

Does anyone ever struggle with their identity? Let me explain. I was sitting out on the porch the other day and Keshia came out and made this comment, “I need to talk to you about something”. I said, “OK babe, what’s up”? She said, “No. I don’t need to talk to my husband, I need to talk to my pastor”. I said, “Yes ma'am. How can I help you today”?

See, we all wear so many different hats that it can sometimes be confusing with who we are at the moment. See I am a husband and a pastor; a pastor and a student; employee and a manager; a son and a dad. We all have so many different identities, that sometimes it can be confusing as to who we are at the moment. Unfortunately, most of us simply fall into the role that is necessary at the moment and flip-flop back and forth all day, every day, as to who we are.

In today’s message, I hope that I can offer some clarification as to one identity that you might possibly have all wrong. The identity that I am speaking of, is your identity in Jesus.

I want to speak to you for just a few moments today on the topic of “Identity Crisis”.

The Importance of Our Identity

Our Natural Born Identity

When we are born into this world, we are identified by the world and to the world. We are given a birth date, which identifies us with the day that we were born into this world. We are given a name, which identifies us with the worldly family that we were born into and to which the world will know us by. We are given a social security number, which serves as a means of our identity so that the government can keep track of us. All of these things are done to provide us with an identity as we live out our lives.

Spiritually speaking, we are brought into this world as sinners. We are born with sinful tendencies and we live our lives in sin, which is anything that breaks God’s law, as long as this identity remains the same. Every person brought into this world, outside of Jesus, was brought into this world as a sinner. Even the precious little babies that are so cute and cuddly are sinners. You have never had to teach your children how to lie, but you have to teach them how to tell the truth. You do not have to teach a child how to be selfish, but you do have teach them to share. You do not have to teach a child to get angry, but you do have to teach a child how to deal with that anger in a healthy way. You do not have to teach a child to break the rules, but you do have to teach a child the importance of living with the consequences of their actions. We are all born into this world with the same spiritual identity: A sinner.

God’s Identity

Now that we understand the identity that we are brought into this world with, let’s look at one other person’s identity. We have something today that we call a Bible. The Bible is what we call the Word of God. God supernaturally impressed upon some 40 men throughout history to write down instructions, historical accounts, genealogies, special revelations, prophecy, and even characteristics of Himself. God’s Holy Word has proven to stand the test of time and still to this day, remains the #1 best selling book of all time. It has proven itself over and over again through special revelation, prophetic passages, and archeological evidence that it is truly a work of God Himself. Within God’s word, we are given enough evidence to see not only our identity, but His as well. To no surprise, His identity is exactly the opposite of the one we are born with. God is perfect. God’s nature is exactly the opposite of ours. While we continuously sin, because that is our identity, God is continuously perfect, because that is His identity.

The Bad News

With that being said, the only logical conclusion is that because of our polar opposite identities, there is no way to live in communion with one another. Unfortunately, this is not only a truth for the present time, but a truth that stands for all eternity. If we cannot live in communion with God here and now, then we will not be able to live in communion with God there and then, in eternity. Now this poses a big problem. The Word of God makes it crystal clear that there are only two options for a dwelling place once we leave this physical world. There a is a perfect place called heaven where there is no heartache, pain, or suffering, and then there is a place called hell, or hades, to which there is eternal torment, pain, and suffering. Instantly, if only given those two options, I think it would be safe to say that we would all pick heaven. Therein lies the problem: that is where God dwells. God dwells in heaven and that is his home. Because of our different identities, we have already stated that a sinner and God cannot dwell in communion with one another. Not only would it not work, but God simply will not allow it. God requires for all beings that dwell in His presence to be absolutely perfect, as He is perfect.

The Good News (Gospel) of Jesus Christ

The good news is that we do not have to maintain the natural identity that we are born into this world with. We are born with the identity of being a sinner, but we are given the opportunity to change that identity to one of being a saint. We are born as an enemy of God, but we have the opportunity to become a child of God. A saint is an individual who was once a sinner, with sinful tendencies, but is forgiven of their sins, freed from the power of those sins, and then given a new identity in Christ Jesus, as one who lives outside of sin.

Well that sounds great, but how does that work? What must one do to be able to change their identity? Let’s take a look at the process.

God Moved

As we have already stated, we are all born with a sinful nature. The Bible teaches us that God is a righteous God. This is to say that he cannot, by His very own nature, overlook the sin against Him. He must punish that sin. The Bible tells us what that punishment is is Romans 6:23, and it tells is that the wages of sin is death. The punishment earned for doing evil works is death, physical and spiritual. The Bible also tells us that there is one, and only one, way for our sin to be atoned for: the shedding of blood. In order for us to live, something else must die. That is the price that must be paid. The death of something, or someone, innocent will become what the Bible calls a substitutionary sacrifice. That sacrifice will die in our place and our sins will be upon it. The sins will be forgiven and there will be a clean slate.

In the OT, this atonement was exacted by using animals for their sacrifice. God had provided a list of certain animals that He would accept as a sin sacrifice. The person was to bring that animal to the temple priest, confess their sins, pray to God, and then the priest would offer this animal up as a sin sacrifice on behalf of the individual. Though the animals served their purpose as a temporary sacrifice, they were just that, a temporary sacrifice. Every time the person sinned again, they would have to offer up another sacrifice. If someone lived a sinful lifestyle, this would get real expensive real quick. Not only that, but if they continued in the same sinful lifestyle, the sacrifice would have been given in vain.

In the NT, we see Jesus of Nazareth enter the picture. He is the son of God and proves this over and over through his sinless lifestyle, his prophetic knowledge, his ability to perform miracles, and his understanding God’s Word and ability to teach it. Jesus lived a perfect lifestyle, and therefore by God’s Word, did not deserve to die. The wages of sin is death. Because Jesus had no sin, Jesus never had to die. He could have lived forever on this Earth, but He chose not to do that. Jesus, God’s son, decided to give His life as a substitutionary sacrifice for all of mankind. Because of His sinless lifestyle, and willingness to die in our place, Jesus was a perfect sacrifice. Therefore, it was not like the sacrifice of the OT, to where it would have to be made over and over, but rather a once and for all sacrifice. The sacrifice of Himself was so powerful, that it could atone for not only all of the sin of one individual, but for the sin of the whole world. Jesus died in our place. God sent His only son to die for us, so that we could live in Him.

God Moves Again

God moved first by sending His one and only Son to die for the sins of the world, but in order for those sins to be forgiven, God has to move once more. See we are born with a tendency to sin because it is our nature to do so, and because it is our nature, we are perfectly ok with having that sin in our lives. We are ok with being sinners because that is what we are by nature. In order for a person to be saved, they must act upon faith by believing in Jesus Christ as their substitutionary sacrifice. The only way for this to happen, is for that person to first be convicted that their sinful lifestyle is not ok. See God moved first by sending His Son, and then He moves again by sending His Spirit. The Holy Sprit of God comes and convicts us of our sin, and makes us aware of God’s love, God’s grace, Jesus’ sacrifice, and the opportunity to a new life and identity in Christ.

We Must Believe

After God moves a second time in our life, then it is time to move towards Him. Once we are convicted of our sin, we must decide whether or not we are going to accept this new life. We must decide whether or not we want this new identity.

Though it seems simple enough a decision to make, it is like most other things in life: it is hard to break a cycle that has been a certain way for a ling period of time. While we are sinners, we are bent on relying upon ourselves for everything. We are naturally self-righteous people because of the sin nature within us. To admit our sin, is to admit that we cannot achieve what God requires of us without help. It is to stoop down to the point of recognizing someone else as the supreme being of our lives instead of ourselves. It is to admit defeat and willingly surrender ourselves to another governing body. It is to swallow our pride, get out of our own way, and allow God to be in control of our lives.

Our New Identity

Once we believe in the work of Jesus at Calvary, we become a new creature in Christ. We are born again with the new identity of being a saint, but what exactly does that mean for us? What changes? Well, all things become new. We are created as new creatures “In Christ” and all things become new. Let’s look at just a few examples of what exactly changes for us.

We Have A New Position

Before we were saved by God’s free gift of grace, we were alienated from God. We were enemies of God, and therefore outside of His wisdom, knowledge, love, grace, mercy, forgiveness, guidance, and help. Now that we have been changed and have a new identity in His Son Jesus, we have access to the Father through the son. We now have the ability to go to the God of the universe with whatever we need. We now have a position of worth through Jesus, that we did not have before. We are now able to have a relationship with the God that we use to slander and fight against. Through Jesus, our position has changed from enemy to Son.

We Have A New Understanding

Before salvation, our focus on life was the here and now. We focused on what we needed to do to make us happy in this life. Now that we have a new identity in Christ, our understanding of what the focus of life should be has changed. We now have a new understanding that allows us to see what we did not see before. We are able to see:

That it is not about us. We use to live in such a way that made us happy. Now we live in such a way that makes God happy. We now understand that it is not our name that saves one from eternal separation, but the name of God. We now understand that it is not us who died for the sins of the whole world, but God. We now understand that life is a vapor but eternity will never end. We now understand that our focus should not be on this physical life, but rather on the spiritual life that will last forever.

A new understanding of who God is. We use to look as God as some distant all-powerful being that lived somewhere way out there. We use to think that God simply created everything, put it into motion, and then stepped away to see what might happen. Some of us might not have even thought about God much at all. Now we a completely different understanding of who God is. We now know that God is a God of love. He is loving by nature and therefore acts out of what He is. His love is everlasting and has no boundaries. He loves us so much that He was willing to send His only Son to die in our place, pay our price, and suffer and our punishment. He loves us so much, that he promises to never leave us nor forsake us. He loves us so much that He was willing to spend centuries of His time moving men to write down in a book what He said so that we might know Him and understand our purpose in life.

A new understanding of who we are. See, when we are recreated, we are created through Jesus, by Jesus, for Jesus. Though it is great to understand more about God, we must also understand who we are created to be. This is huge. Many people in the church today, have not come to grips with this yet. They viewpoint of God has expanded to see the deeper truths of who He is, but they have yet to understand the fullness of who they are in Christ. They view Jesus as their savior, but they still view themselves as sinners. They have never come to grips with the fact that they are no longer identified with the sin of their old selves, but rather with the savior who saved them from it. We are not sinners saved by grace. A sinner has not been saved and still needs grace. We are saints saved by grace. The changes that come with this new understanding are paramount to living a Christian lifestyle.

We are free from the bondage of sin. When we view ourselves as sinners, we still expect ourselves to fail God daily. We still expect to sin, and therefore we not only do it, but we are not even bothered by it. We sin and act as if it is normal. We do not ask forgiveness for it, we do not get broken because of it, and we do not realize how many people are turned away from God because of our sinful lifestyle. Sin is not ok. The Bible goes as far as to say that God hates sin. It is our sin that separates us from God. Because we still view ourselves as sinners, we continue sinning and then wonder why we cannot get any closer to God than we do. If we are going to get close to God, strengthen our relationship, become a more dedicated Christian, move mountains, defeat the Goliath’s of our lives, and lead other people to Christ, we must stop viewing ourselves as sinners saved by grace. This is neither theologically accurate or spiritually healthy for a child of God.

We are free to live for Christ. One of the main reasons that we do not see people serving God more and making a spiritual impact in the lives of those around them, is that they feel completely inadequate to do so. They feel as if they are not equipped to lead someone to Christ, council with someone in their walk with God, or lead someone in a prayer that might bring them into closer relationship with God. This is not in every case, but the #1 reason for why this is, is that they still have active sin in their lives. When you are willfully sinning against the God who loves you enough to die for you, it fills your heart with shame and dampens your spirit. It causes you to shut down and it separates you from God. If we can come to grips with the fact that we are no longer identified as a sinner but rather as a saint, we will free ourselves to serve God like never before. We must get out of the mindset that sin is ok, and stop letting sin control our lives. When we do this, we can say that we have completely given ourselves to God and then, and only then, will we be able to live a faithful life unto God that is full of good works.

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