Identity
Notes
Transcript
Flow:
Flow:
How would people describe you?
If I were to ask your 5 closest friends who you were or what you were like what would they say about you?
Ask 2 best friends to do it
top 3 things to describe them
We all have an identity
Even those who would say no like I keep to myself and I’m a loner and don’t do anything....well that would be part of your identity.
And our identity is always being tested.
We are making daily decisions that affect our identity.
Who we hang out.
What sports we participate in.
What grades you get.
Where you decide to go to college
What church you go to
What you listen to and read and watch
Everything you take in and every decision you make is forming your identity, for better or for worse.
But sometimes we don’t get a choice in our identity
Sometimes people around us begin to say things about us and they try to tell us what our identity is
Or sometimes things happen in your life that are out of your control and people want to tell you that it’s those things that determine your identity.
In the eyes of the world your identity will be a lifelong search.
So when you go to church you might hear a word like worship.
And when we think of that word most often we think of the few songs that we sing before the message or after.
But worship is much more than that.
Now we are called and even created to worship our creator, most definitely, but the reality is is that we worship other things as well.
If you looked at my life you might would say that I worship turkey hunting.
Some might call it crazy but some might say that I worship turkey hunting
I dont sit with a guitar in the woods and sing “how great are you turkey”
If you want to know what you worship you just look at your life.
What do you spend the most time doing?
What do you think about the most?
What do you spend money on?
Etc. etc.
Now these things are bad ok?
These things can actually be good.
My test for if it’s unhealthy worship is if you don’t think you could stop it. You couldn’t imagine your life without ________
I had someone tell me one time you worship that which shapes your worth
Your worship the things that you feel are worth it
So our worship shapes our identity and often times our identity shapes our worship
So I would ask you…What do you worship?
There’s a story in the book of Daniel of a few guys
The nation of Babylon comes and they take over the nation of Judea and when they did they took with them some of the brightest and best of the Jews
3 Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring into the king’s service some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility—4 young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians. 5 The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king’s table. They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king’s service.
Among the men that were taken were 4 men that you would know best as daniel, shadrach, meshach, and abendego.
8 But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. 9 Now God had caused the official to show favor and compassion to Daniel, 10 but the official told Daniel, “I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you.” 11 Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, 12 “Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13 Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.” 14 So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days. 15 At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. 16 So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead. 17 To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds. 18 At the end of the time set by the king to bring them into his service, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar. 19 The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king’s service. 20 In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom. 21 And Daniel remained there until the first year of King Cyrus.
Now we would probably read this story and say “yea it all worked out but wasn’t Daniel being a little picky?”
It was kind of silly for him to ask something like in the position that he was in
But vs 8 will answer the reasoning behind why Daniel did it. Because he doesn’t want to defile himself against God. (It was probably non-kosher because of what we know about the Jewish Law)
If he ate it, it would defile Daniel, shadrach, meshach, and abendago. It would change him
Because of Daniel’s faith, his worship and his identity was wrapped in God and who He said they were.
even something as ,what we might say is, silly as not wanting to eat the royal food is a big deal because it was a big deal to God.
So students, when you are faced with a choice, to sin or not to, no matter how big or small, you are deciding whether you take God’s Word seriously or the opinions of others
And ultimately you are deciding whether your identity is in Christ or in someone or something else. Will you worship the world or the Creator of it?
Just a few chapters laters Nebby makes a golden statue and issues everyone to bow down and worship it.
They realize that not everyone is bowing and worshipping
13 Furious with rage, Nebuchadnezzar summoned Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. So these men were brought before the king, 14 and Nebuchadnezzar said to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the image of gold I have set up? 15 Now when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe and all kinds of music, if you are ready to fall down and worship the image I made, very good. But if you do not worship it, you will be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace. Then what god will be able to rescue you from my hand?” 16 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. 17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. 18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” 19 Then Nebuchadnezzar was furious with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and his attitude toward them changed. He ordered the furnace heated seven times hotter than usual 20 and commanded some of the strongest soldiers in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and throw them into the blazing furnace. 21 So these men, wearing their robes, trousers, turbans and other clothes, were bound and thrown into the blazing furnace. 22 The king’s command was so urgent and the furnace so hot that the flames of the fire killed the soldiers who took up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, 23 and these three men, firmly tied, fell into the blazing furnace. 24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisers, “Weren’t there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?” They replied, “Certainly, Your Majesty.” 25 He said, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.” 26 Nebuchadnezzar then approached the opening of the blazing furnace and shouted, “Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!” So Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came out of the fire, 27 and the satraps, prefects, governors and royal advisers crowded around them. They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them. 28 Then Nebuchadnezzar said, “Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants! They trusted in him and defied the king’s command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. 29 Therefore I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego be cut into pieces and their houses be turned into piles of rubble, for no other god can save in this way.” 30 Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the province of Babylon.
So we look back on their decision to not eat the food and may think it is kind of silly and insignificant. But it was training them even young and early on how to do the right thing and find their identity in Christ
Sot that when this day would come they would have trained themselves in the little things to be able to handle the big ones.
We have to learn how to do the little things so we are ready for the big.
And maybe some of you are already struggling with some big things.
Here’s what I would say: you can search your whole life to find an identity that this world has to offer and it will also be fleeting and leave you feeling empty.
It’s never going to satisfy your soul
But let me tell you about an identity that can
Let me tell you about an identity that never changes, never moves, never leaves, and is always fulfilling.
12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—
Student I would encourage you, quit listening to what everyone else wants to identify you as.
Quit listening to what your friends say you are
What the world says you are
What this culture says you should be
Even what you say about yourself
And listen to the one who made you
Whose love is deeper and wider and bigger than you know
Who formed you just the way that you are for a purpose and plan
Who calls you His own and calls you a Son and Daughter.