Step #3 - Your Inner Wiring Personality)

Introduction

Series Intro

We are talking about the process of self-discovery. We began with the premise that, the danger of this process, especially for the follower of Jesus, lies in the overemphasis on oneself. If this time is simply to discover what makes us happy, what we are good at and what brings us the most joy, with a little time, a few trips and some late nights, we can discovery ourselves, at least who we think we are. With this as our foundation, we can venture into living a life completely around ourselves, with the end goal of making ourselves happy.

What if, even after years of self-discovery, we didn’t know ourselves as well as we thought we did? What if we were actually not able to, on our own, really be able to know ourselves, not at least without the help of someone else? Such is what we learn not only from the history of others who have ‘sought to discover themselves’ but also from the teachings of the Scripture. This course is going to take us through a journey of self-discovery. Yet, it will be a journey not from looking at our lives simply from our perspective but from the perspective of another, one who knows us better than we know ourselves.

Review

[Slide]

Week 1 - Discovering What God Says About You

Who you are in Christ

Week 2 - No Turning Back

We must daily fight back against the passions of our “old self”

Today - Your Inner Wiring (Personality)

Intro

Each of us has a unique personality. Each of you is an original, a one-of-a-kind creation of God. There never has been and never will be anyone else just like you. God made us all different. These personality differences can become sources of strength or a source of conflict in a family, workplace and church.

Some people are very organized and structured like me (I like binders and piles). Others, like my wife, have piles of papers everywhere (to her credit, she knows what’s in her piles and it works for her).

Structured people prefer to plan and bring order in their lives vs. unstructured people enjoy the spontaneity of life.

Task-oriented people prefer agendas vs. People-oriented people want to catch-up and talk before any agenda

What Is Personality?

Personality

Multi-layered term that plays host to a cluster of ideas

Definitions [Slide]

“Combination of characteristics or qualities that form an individual’s character”

Unique set of personal traits and preferences

It’s how we react to things, how we do things, how we relate to people, and how we prefer to live.

It’s really who we are and what we’re really like

Differences

Jacob/Esau = Savvy mama’s boy vs. rugged hunter

Peter/John = Rough around the edges (big heart, raw leadership and tons of energy) vs. apostle of love

Scriptures + Church history illustrate personality differences - sometimes vast - among key figures in God’s redemptive plan

Elements of personality are not simply psychological neutralities

No human personality escapes the light of it’s creator nor the darkness of our fall [Slide]

Made in God’s image = reflect Him in ways intended by His design

Genesis 1:27 TNIV

So God created human beings in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

Marred by sin = Chosen autonomy over trust and transgression over obedience

Romans 3:23 TNIV

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Your own personal brokenness or the brokenness of others has helped shape who you are in Christ

Choices you have made

How people treated you and how you have reacted to that treatment (adapt to be liked)

All our personalities stand as evidence of God’s image in us but are corrupt and distorted by our sin

People have been studying human personalities for thousands of years

Hippocrates (‘Father of Medicine’) was the first to define ‘four temperaments’ (460 - 370 B.C.)

Choleric

Phlegmatic

Melancholic

Sanguine

William Marston (1920’s and 30’s) developed the DISC model of human behavior

DOMINANT personalities like to be in control

RELATIONAL personalities like to be with other people and are fun to be around

STEADY personalities are dependable workers and good listeners

DETAIL people like to do things right

Rick Warren (The Purpose Driven Life) believes there are four personalities [Slide]

TALKERS - Love to talk

Important b/c communication is very important in life

FEELERS - Feel things deeply

Important b/c compassion is so important in life

THINKERS - Analytical people who like to think through things

Important b/c reflection is so important in life

DOERS - Get-er-done people

Important b/c life works best when things get done

Myers-Briggs (most famous)

Each Of Us Have An Individual Personality

How did we become who we are?

Every individual’s personality is a creative and unique blend of inborn characteristics and external forces (nature/nurture)

Example - Jacob [Slide]

Nature - Jacob reach for his brother’s heel at birth

Hosea 12:3 TNIV

In the womb he grasped his brother’s heel; as a man he struggled with God.

Jacob means = “Take by the heel” w/the derived meaning of “to deceive, attack from the rear” or schemer

Nurture - Mother Rebekah encouraging and shaping Jacob’s personality as a schemer

Genesis 27:1–10 TNIV

When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called for Esau his older son and said to him, “My son.” “Here I am,” he answered. Isaac said, “I am now an old man and don’t know the day of my death. Now then, get your equipment—your quiver and bow—and go out to the open country to hunt some wild game for me. Prepare me the kind of tasty food I like and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my blessing before I die.” Now Rebekah was listening as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau left for the open country to hunt game and bring it back, Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Look, I overheard your father say to your brother Esau, ‘Bring me some game and prepare me some tasty food to eat, so that I may give you my blessing in the presence of the Lord before I die.’ Now, my son, listen carefully and do what I tell you: Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so I can prepare some tasty food for your father, just the way he likes it. Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may give you his blessing before he dies.”

Christian worldview = Nature/nurture are both involved in the formation of the personality [Slide]

Traits spring (to some degree) from God’s custom design for our bodies and souls

Cultivated (to some degree) by the many environmental factors He uses to shape us along the way

Transition: What’s exciting is that, no matter how poor your “nurture” was, who you are now is not the end of the story.

Jesus Is Redeeming Your Personality

Through the Gospel, God is resurrecting and renewing us in the image of Christ [Slide]

Colossians 3:1–4 TNIV

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

“Set your hearts” = Passions and desires

“Set your minds” = Thought life

Set your strength

Colossians 3:5–10 TNIV

Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

“New self, which is being renewed” = No aspect of our personhood, including our personality, is left unchanged

Through faith our whole being dies and rises with Christ, including those unique qualities and characteristics that make us us!

Our personalities are redeemed and being regenerated and renewed and reformatted.

How obvious this renewal is depends on how blatantly and observably our personalities had been marred by sin

Salvation does not dehumanize us but makes us more human, the way we were intended to be! [Slide]

Quote: “Compelled by the holy love of Christ’s Spirit, our personalities, like the rest of us, freely enlist in the glad service of love. No longer do we follow mantras like “you do you” or “just be yourself.” Instead, our personalities mature and grow, with the gospel energy of our regenerate life pressing our temperaments into a cruciform shape and coloring our hearts with a new creation hue. We grow into a vibrant, joyful life of sacrifice, following the promptings of love and happily laying aside even those aspects of our personality or preferences that are uniquely comfortable to us.” - David Gunderson blog Why Your Persoanlity Shapes Everything You Do In Ministry

Example -Esau

God gave Jacob a new name = Israel (“Prince with God” - cf. Gen. 32:22-23)

Jacob seeks reconciliation with Esau (cf. Gen. 33)

Transition: Though Jesus is redeeming our personality, we must be careful not to view it as “sacred” and protect it at all costs (“that’s just who I am” or “how I was made”). There is a more excellent way. We become more faithful sheep in God’s pasture when we allow the good shepherd to pastor (guide) our personalities and shape our dispositions. We do this as we. . . .

Let Jesus Use You

Your personality is a strength to the kingdom (verge onto Spiritual Gifts - next week’s talk) [Slide]

1 Corinthians 12:15–27 TNIV

Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

Joy-filled - Allow God to use you to bring others joy (Amanda)

Analytical mind - Linger over the stats and details of life = solve life’s problems (Pastor Tim)

Teacher - You bleed teaching, use that to teach others and be a blessing (Rachel)

Find a place/way to serve that reflects your personality [Slide]

Only way to discover God’s unique calling in your life, how God wants you to specifically Be One/Make One

EXTROVERTS - People who draw energy from others, serve God by working with people in some way

INTROVERTS - Have the gift of administration (generally); help those who lead by planning the details

Warning [Slide]

Your weaknesses are the “dark side” of your strength

Your personality should touch your ministry but never overpower it (pepper is a wonderful spice but a terrible meal)

Rich analysis can paralyze someone who is prone to indecision

Humor and wit, though rich, can cause you to loose traction in a conversation or discussion

Conclusion

The bottom line is that God made YOU and He is redeeming you from the ways sin has marred who you are in Jesus. To discovery your true self, you must discover and do what God has uniquely created you to be for Him in this world.

Ephesians 2:10 TNIV

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

So be yourself as you follow Jesus. Allow Jesus to renew you personally by submitting yourself daily to the Word and the leading of the Holy Spirit. Marinate your personality in his life, death, resurrection, Spirit, and Word. And then go, with all the intricacies and idiosyncrasies of your personality, and do this one thing all day long: Be your in-Christ self.

Steps to Take

Study your own personality [Slide]

Look at your spiritual gifts (next week)

Look at the needs and opportunities around you

Serve

Evaluate

Prayer

“Thank you for making me ME. Forgive me for comparing myself to others and trying to be somebody I’m not. Lord, I want You to use the personality You’ve given me to know You and to love You and to serve You. I want to be the unique expression of what You have made me to be. I pray in the strong and love name of Jesus, my Lord and Savior. Amen.”