10-3-21 Who I Am

 Last week, Krystal talked to us about abiding in Christ, and two weeks ago, we talked about loving God because He first loved us. John 15:9 AMP I have loved you just as the Father has loved Me; remain in My love [and do not doubt My love for you]. In other words, Jesus invites you and me into the highest calling of all - a deep relational intimacy with Him, with the God of the universe. And Jesus loves us because He chose to; He chose to die on the cross for our sins so that nothing could ever take us away from His love. And if we have accepted His offer to follow Him, if we have responded to God's offer of forgiveness of sin and eternal life, then there's nothing that can ever take us out of His hand or away from His love. And this is the first concept we need to understand as followers of Jesus - His love for us and our love for Him. We are learning how to love God completely, and the starting point is knowing that God loves us, how great that love is, and then choosing, from our hearts, to love Him. We could call it 'loving God completely' when we choose to love God with all of our heart based on what He's done for us. This is Matthew 22:37 NKJV Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' It all starts there. But Jesus keeps going. He says, Matthew 22:39 And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' Loving our neighbors as ourselves starts making things a little more complicated, because this is where we actually get to show off the fact that we choose to love God with our hearts. This is where we practice, this is where what's in our hearts moves to our hands, our tongues, and our minds. We're supposed to love our neighbor as we love ourselves - well, to do that, we need to know how to love ourselves correctly. And that's what I want to talk about today - loving ourselves correctly. It's very important, because if you can't relate to yourself in a healthy, loving, truthful way, you won't be able to interact with others that way, either. Why? Because how we interact with others is an outflow of how we interact with God and ourselves - we could say that whoever we really are inside will come out eventually. So we need to talk about it. But before we do, let's pray. Father in Heaven, we praise Your Holy Name. Thank you for loving us before time began, thank you for formulating a plan that allows us to love you free of condemnation, free of guilt, shame, and the effects of our sin nature. I ask You to bless this time today - anoint the reading of Your word, and build Your heavenly kingdom within us; Holy Spirit, fill us all today to overflowing with Your joy, Your peace, Your love, Your grace, and Your power to overcome the works of the world, the flesh, and the devil in our lives. Teach us how to love ourselves the way You love us, and to love You the way that You deserve. We honor You, Jesus Christ, most Holy God, and give You the glory and honor in this place today. Have Your way in us we ask, in Jesus' Name, amen. So first, in order to love ourselves correctly, we have to know who we are; we have to know where our identity comes from. If we get our identity from the world, from the media, from a social group, it's easy to fall into performance based acceptance. So our identity comes from God - He created us and made us who we are supposed to be in Christ. Loving ourselves correctly means seeing ourselves as God sees us.1 And this isn't an automatic thing - you don't just become a Christian one day and instantly understand your identity in Christ or who you are as God sees you. We have to reprogram our minds to see ourselves as God sees us. And we can do that through the word of God and christian community, to name a few ways. And seeing ourselves in God's eyes humbles us without degrading us and elevates us without inflating us.2 Let me say that again - seeing ourselves in God's eyes humbles us without degrading us and elevates us without inflating us. That means we don't get proud because we understand Who God is and how big, awesome, and powerful He is and our place in His created order. But then we also realize our high purpose and calling because that same, Most High God of the Universe has great and precious promises and plans for us. 2 Peter 1:4 NLT "And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world's corruption caused by human desires." When we know who we are in Christ, when we fully understand what God has done for us based on His love and who we are as His children, we can avoid the worm theology (I'm worthless, no good, and just a miserable sinner) and pride. God's grace teaches us that the most important thing about us is not what we do, but who we are and whose we are. The only identity equation that works in God's kingdom is you plus Jesus equals wholeness and meaning.3 And so doing God's will, our actions, should flow out of being, or of who we are.4 Someone once said "we're human beings, not human doings." So let me just walk us through some of the things that God says you are if you've accepted Him. First, He says that you're His child. John 1:12 AMP "But to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the right [the authority, the privilege] to become children of God, that is, to those who believe in (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) His name." It's a privilege to be God's child. And with that privilege comes authority in Jesus' Name because of whose we are, because of who we belong to. If you've a son or daughter of the King, you get the rights and responsibilities of being the prince or the princess. But whether or not you act like royalty right now doesn't change the fact that you are the child of the king. There's a story in the Bible where some people tried to use the authority and privilege we have as God's children. The problem was, though, that they weren't - they hadn't accepted Jesus as their Lord and King, so it didn't work out that well for them. Acts 19:13-17 NKJV "Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, "We exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches." 14 Also there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did so. 15 And the evil spirit answered and said, "Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?" 16 Then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overpowered them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. 17 This became known both to all Jews and Greeks dwelling in Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified." I'm showing you this story today because this still happens. It might not be an encounter with a demon in the exact same way, but people try to confront depression without Jesus, try to confront the meaning of life without Jesus, try to confront their human, fleshly desires without Jesus and it just doesn't work. Why? Because without Jesus, there is no authority over the world, the flesh, or the devil. Without Jesus we're dead in our sins and don't have authority over ourselves or the powers of darkness. We're powerless. You might say you don't always feel like a child of God, with the privilege and authority that carries with it. That's ok, it's still true. Romans 8:16 AMP "The Spirit Himself testifies and confirms together with our spirit [assuring us] that we [believers] are children of God." In other words, if you're having trouble feeling God's love today, if you're struggling with confidence in knowing, beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are God's, the Holy Spirit will whisper, He will speak to you assurance and confirmation that He has accepted you in the beloved. That means that since you accepted Jesus, there's nothing that can stop you from being God's child, nothing that can change the way God sees you and loves you. You're also Jesus' friend. John 15:14-16 NKJV "You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you." Jesus wants to tell you what He's doing so that you can participate in it! That means He gives us purpose in life. I will add that there is an obedience factor - Jesus says we're only His friends if we do what He commands us. Well, the first thing He commanded us to do was to repent of our sins, or change our minds about what we were doing, and turn to Him and try to do things His way after accepting His saving work on the cross. That was Jesus' first command to us. Matthew 4:17 NKJV From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Remember, this isn't the gospel of works. We can't ever serve God enough to become His friend - We accept Jesus work on the cross, and then we are God's friend, and out of that friendship flows obeWe don't serve God to gain acceptance; we are accepted, so we follow Him. We don't follow God to be loved; we are loved, so we follow him. And He calls us His friend, walking right there with us through this journey of life. These are just the first two things you are now that you're in Christ. I am going to move a bit faster through my list now - the reason is that I really want you to begin to grasp how high your calling is and how amazing you are in Jesus! You are a conduit of Jesus' life! That means that you have the life of God Himself flowing in you and through you and out to other people. John 15:3-5 NKJV You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5 "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing." You are justified and redeemed. Justification means that you are now acceptable to the Holy God because of what Jesus did on the cross. Because of justification by grace we are saved from the wrath of God and saved unto relationship with Jesus. Redemption means we are saved, or redeemed, because Jesus paid the penalty of our sin, which was death. Redemption has to do with a cost. Romans 3:24 NLT Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. You are no longer a slave to sin - that means that you have the power to choose to do right now that the sinful nature has been conquered. We still have daily choices to make, but now we're able to choose good instead of selfishness or evil. Romans 6:6 MSG Could it be any clearer? Our old way of life was nailed to the cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life-no longer captive to sin's demands! You're a fellow heir with Christ. That means that you get the same inheritance from God that Jesus gets - which is everlasting life that starts right now. Romans 8:17 TLB "And since we are his children, we will share his treasures-for all God gives to his Son Jesus is now ours too. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering." You're accepted by God. Romans 15:7 HCSB "Therefore accept one another, just as the Messiah also accepted you, to the glory of God." You're a saint now. Not a sinner. The Bible doesn't call a person a sinner after they accept Jesus Christ as their Savior; only before. You're a saint now. A saint is a holy person. 1 corinthians 1:2 NKJV To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours: You have wisdom, righteousness (that means you can live life the right way; a way that works), sanctification, and redemption. You have it in Jesus. 1 Corinthians 1:30 NKJV But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God-and righteousness and sanctification and redemption." Your body is now the temple, or the home of the Holy Spirit. God lives in you! 1 Corinthians 3:16 "Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" Your heart and mind aren't hardened anymore - that means that you can hear God speak to you and you can change your mind to get on board with what God wants. 2 Corinthians 3:14 AMP But [in fact] their minds were hardened [for they had lost the ability to understand]; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed [only] in Christ. You're a new creation in Christ, you have become the righteousness of God in Christ, and you have been made one in unity with other believers. Galatians 3:26-28 NKJV For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. You're not a slave, you're a child of God and an heir, you've been set free, and you've been given every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Ephesians 1:3 NKJV Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, You're chosen, holy and blameless before God, you are redeemed and forgiven by God's grace, you've been predestined to get an inheritance (that's good things) from God, and you've been sealed with the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 1:13-14 NKJV "In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory." You've been made alive with Christ by the grace and mercy of God, you are God's workmanship created for good works, you've been brought near to God by the blood of Christ and you are seated in the heavenly places with Jesus. Ephesians 2:4-7 NKJV But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. You are a member of Christ's body and a partaker of His promise, you have boldness and confident access to God through Christ, your new self is righteous and holy, you're now light in the Lord and you're a citizen of heaven. You've been made complete in Jesus, you have been raised up with Him, and your life is hidden with Him. God loves you, He created you with purpose, and He has chosen you to be His, to be loved by Him. 1 Thessalonians 1:4 GNT "Our friends, we know that God loves you and has chosen you to be his own." And the point of the message today is very simple - God loves you and sees you in Christ. And because He has defined who we are, if we believe Him, we will be able to love ourselves correctly because God loves us and has called us to love ourselves the way He does. Loving ourselves correctly means seeing ourselves as God sees us. When we truly start to grasp how greatly and deeply God loves us and values us, it should make us love ourselves; not in a selfish, prideful, haughty way, but in a way that humbly receives everything we've been given by God. So no matter how you may feel about yourself today, know that God loves you so much, and He is the One who has cemented who you are in Christ Jesus. He's accepted you, made you secure in His love and grace, and has made you significant, a person who now, in Jesus, has a great calling and a high destiny and purpose. And as you continue to follow Jesus and press into His will and His ways, He will fulfill that destiny and purpose in your life. 1 Boa, Kenneth. Conformed to His Image: Biblical and Practical Approaches to Spiritual Formation, P35. Zondervan, 2001. 2 Boa, Kenneth. Conformed to His Image: Biblical and Practical Approaches to Spiritual Formation, P35. Zondervan, 2001. 3 Anderson, Neil T. Victory Over the Darkness, P30. Bloomington, MN, Bethany House, 1990, 2013. Scribd, https://www.scribd.com/read/235012363/Victory-Over-the-Darkness-Realize-the-Power-of-Your-Identity-in-Christ#. 4 Boa, Kenneth. Conformed to His Image: Biblical and Practical Approaches to Spiritual Formation, P36. Zondervan, 2001. --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ Who You Are |