Identity

Identity  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  29:50
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I have another dad joke for you this morning to kick off today’s topic. Someone once said, “I am very upset with my mom. When I was growing up she told me, ‘You can be whoever you want to be.’ That’s not true. Turns out Identity Theft is a crime!
Today we are starting a new series called “Identity”. We live in a world that tries to confuse our identity every single day.
-We are told that we shouldn’t think about others in terms of race or color, and in the same breath told that we should feel guilty about our race. It doesn’t even matter what race you are, the world tells you to feel bad about it.
-The world wants you to believe that your gender is the problem. You need to stop acting like a man! Enough with the macho mindset. Stop acting like a woman! Be more like a man. In fact, you should all swap. Men to women, women to men. It’s not science, it’s assignment.
-This world even tries to confuse the identity of our enemy. Tells you that a certain person or a certain group of people are the bad guys, not Satan! He can’t be real!
-It confuses the identity of our friend and savior. The world says Jesus can’t be real. He can’t be the WAY, TRUTH, and LIFE because there are many ways, everyone’s truth is different, and your life can be whatever YOU want it to be. YOU can do it without anyone else. YOU don’t need a savior.
-Another “Identity Crisis” we face is the attack by our adversary. Our true enemy wants us to believe that we will never be good enough. Never be pretty enough. Always be a loser. Always mess up. Always fail. Never be loved. God especially, could never love us because of...
Your identity faces an attack on a daily basis. The adversary swaps truth with lies and want’s you to believe things God would never say about you. Feel bad about who you are. Don’t be the person you were created to be, instead become something else. Your enemy is your friend and your friend is your enemy. God could never love someone like you.
What happens when we face these lies every day is that we start to believe them. Even if we don’t believe them we start letting them affect our decision making. We begin seeing another person as our enemy instead of someone who God loves just like me and wants to have a relationship with. We start to feel guilt and shame for who we are. Like there must have been a mistake when I was born and maybe I was supposed to be someone else. It’s just another disgusting lie! We hear these lies and feel ugly inside and out. Then we see a pimple in the mirror! CONFIRMED! I AM UGLY!
Now that everyone in the world carries a computer and camera in their pocket the phenomenon known as a “selfie” has stormed the internet! Does anyone in here take selfies? According to an article written in 2015, in a survey from “Luster Premium White”, a teeth whitening brand based in Boston, the average millennial could take up to about 25,700 selfies in his or her lifetime. An article written in 2019, just 4 years later, claims that Google reports that its Android devices take 93 million selfies per day, and in one poll, 18-24 year-olds reported that every third photo they take is a selfie. Some subjects reported taking more than 8 selfies per day.
I have a hard time even wrapping my head around these numbers. I did the math and if a person got a phone at 15 and took 8 selfies per day for the majority of their life they would take almost 200,000 selfies in their lifetime! When I was a kid I thought my parents took too many pictures of me and you could fit all of those into 2 large photo albums. With numbers this big, it is clear that we are facing an identity crisis.
A psychological study in 2015 showed that it doesn’t matter whether you just take a selfie and post it or if you take 10, pick the best one, photo-shop it, touch it up, and enhance it before you post it. Posting selfies on social media increases anxiety, decreases confidence, and makes people feel less attractive. They concluded there was no evidence of a positive psychological effect of selfie posting.
Before we dive into the study this morning I want to play a short video for you. In this video, some teenagers share their selfie habits and why they take them. Let’s watch...
*Video: Elevation - Death to selfie - Confessions of a Teenager
We started out in the deep end of the pool today, so let me tell you another cheesy joke: A guy went to a psychiatrist because he was having an identity crisis. “Some days I feel like a teepee” he says. “Then other days I feel like a wigwam. I don’t know which one is true. One day, tee pee! The next, wigwam! Teepee! Wigwam! Teepee! Wigwam! Teepee! Wigwam!” The psychiatrist yells, “Get a grip, man! You’re too tense!
Faced with such a crisis in Identity, how do we find our true selves? How do we let go of who we pretend to be and take hold of who God says we are/who God has created us to be? If you have your bibles, go ahead and turn to Genesis 25. Today we are going to look at Jacob. Jacob was a wrestler. When Jacob was still in his mother’s womb he wrestled with his twin brother, Esau. Throughout his life Jacob wrestled with his family, his identity, and even with God. Just like Jacob, we often find ourselves wrestling with who we think we’re supposed to be and who we really are.
Today we are going to talk about 4 key thoughts that are important to realize in order to find our true selves and giving up my fake identity...
GETTING RID OF MY FAKE ID:
ME FIRST IS MISERABLE.
We live in a “me first” world. Now-a-days when a new product comes out you just download it or pre-order it on Amazon. When I was in college we still bought things in stores. There was a popular video game at the time that had it’s own books, games, action figures, and now it even has some movies. At the time I had read all of the books and me and my cousin would sit and come up with theories about why things were the way they were in that universe and predictions about what might happen in the future. When they came out with the second video game it was the most anticipated video game releases of all time. I remember going to Walmart that night and waiting in line until they were allowed to sell it at midnight. Everyone wanted to get it first!
We live in a “me first” culture. Subconsciously, we all strive to be recognized to some degree. Strive to portray a certain identity. We may not always take pride in a specific possession, but we often might take pride in having more of it than someone else. Ours is better. We may want to be thinner, smarter, or even better than someone else. Jacob also had this “me first” mentality.
Genesis 25:21–26 NLT
21 Isaac pleaded with the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was unable to have children. The Lord answered Isaac’s prayer, and Rebekah became pregnant with twins. 22 But the two children struggled with each other in her womb. So she went to ask the Lord about it. “Why is this happening to me?” she asked. 23 And the Lord told her, “The sons in your womb will become two nations. From the very beginning, the two nations will be rivals. One nation will be stronger than the other; and your older son will serve your younger son.” 24 And when the time came to give birth, Rebekah discovered that she did indeed have twins! 25 The first one was very red at birth and covered with thick hair like a fur coat. So they named him Esau. 26 Then the other twin was born with his hand grasping Esau’s heel. So they named him Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when the twins were born.
Before Jacob was even born he wanted to be first. So much so that they even fought before they were born, then Jacob was born holding Esau’s heel. It’s like he wanted to be first so bad that he literally could not just let it go. Always struggling to be the best, they would become rivals. Their lives would be surrounded in misery. Even before they were born, this “me first” mentality caused their mother misery. Can anyone relate to her story? Not just with having children, but maybe there was something in your life that you wanted so badly and then when you finally got it it just caused you misery.
Just like Jacob, when we have a “me first” mentality we are always going to be miserable. God puts something or someone on our hearts, or He gives us a mission or a calling, but we are stubborn and don’t want to do that thing. “God, that’s not fair! That’s not what I wanted! This other thing is what I want. How about we do what I want first? God, ME FIRST!
In Matthew 20, Jesus even addressed the “me first” mindset that people have that makes them envious and jealous. In that parable He teaches us that God is generous and wants to give to all of us generously, not just the first. He said that the last will be first and the first will be last. In this world, we claw and clamor at things trying to find happiness. Trying to find purpose and identity. Jesus came to shatter the “me first” mindset and challenge us to give up what we think is important and live God centered lives focused on Him and loving others...
Luke 9:25 NLT
25 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed?
How could serving someone else today help you to break free from the misery of “me first”?
The first key to letting go of who I am pretending to be and taking hold of God and the identity He has for me is to realize that “me first” is miserable. Second...
GETTING RID OF MY FAKE ID:
2. GOD CANNOT BLESS WHO YOU PRETEND TO BE.
Fast forward Jacob’s life a little ways and you will find a story in Genesis 27 where he tricked his father into giving him the blessing that was meant for his older brother. His father was losing his eyesight, so Jacob dressed up in animal skins so that he would look and feel hairy like his brother, then he pretended to be Esau, his older brother. It worked and he got the blessing that was meant for his brother, but he spent the next 20 years on the run from Esau. He got exactly what he wanted, but didn’t even get to enjoy it.
We all put on costumes at some point. We pretend to be someone we are not. We try to impress our boss and fudge our talents and abilities on our applications. We try to wow the girl across the room with our unique skills and uncanny respect. Ladies, maybe you spend 3 hours getting dressed in the morning so that you will look perfect when you bat your eyes at the cutie who sees you from the other side of the room. At some point, we have probably even lied to our parents to get what we want, just like Jacob.
No matter what disguise we try to wear in front of others, they don’t fool God. He sees right through our costumes. God cannot bless who we pretend to be. How could God bless something that isn’t even real? Who are you comparing yourself to? Why would God even be interested in blessing us for trying to be something that He didn’t even create us to be? Even the small blessings we do get this way are not even real blessings that we can fully enjoy. What do you need to stop pretending so that you can fully experience the person God has created you to be and the blessings God wants to share with you?
Who are you, truthfully? When it comes to our identity, we should stop pretending to be someone we are not because trying to be first is just miserable, and God cannot bless the person you are pretending to be. Third...
GETTING RID OF MY FAKE ID:
3. OUR IDENTITY IS GOD’S TO GIVE.
That might sound confusing, but let me explain. I didn’t just want to say that our identity is found in Christ, which is true. There is a small conflict in letting your identity be defined by God, and that is that in order for God to give you an identity you must approach God honestly about about who you already are. To help me explain, let’s look at Jacob when he wrestled with God. You can find it in Genesis 32.
Genesis 32:22–31 NLT
22 During the night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two servant wives, and his eleven sons and crossed the Jabbok River with them. 23 After taking them to the other side, he sent over all his possessions. 24 This left Jacob all alone in the camp, and a man came and wrestled with him until the dawn began to break. 25 When the man saw that he would not win the match, he touched Jacob’s hip and wrenched it out of its socket. 26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking!” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 27 “What is your name?” the man asked. He replied, “Jacob.” 28 “Your name will no longer be Jacob,” the man told him. “From now on you will be called Israel, because you have fought with God and with men and have won.” 29 “Please tell me your name,” Jacob said. “Why do you want to know my name?” the man replied. Then he blessed Jacob there. 30 Jacob named the place Peniel (which means “face of God”), for he said, “I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been spared.” 31 The sun was rising as Jacob left Peniel, and he was limping because of the injury to his hip.
When you read this story you might think, “Wow! Jacob must have been strong! God couldn’t even beat him! Maybe like Arnold Schwarzenegger in his 30’s. He must have a 2 hour workout routine every day and drink whey protein like water.” Well.... Not exactly. At this point in his life Jacob was 97 years old. Everybody knows that 97 is the prime age for wrestling. That’s why so many young fighters retire at 30 so they can train for their comeback tour when they turn 97.
Jacob is 97. He has spent much of his life either conning or being conned. He was named Jacob because of his “me first” mindset. His name actually sounds like the Hebrew words for “heel”, “wrestle” and “deceiver.” Now he is wrestling with God and refuses to let go until God blesses him. That’s when God asks him what his name is. Obviously God already knows his name. I believe, on some level, God wanted Jacob to acknowledge who Jacob was. And that is exactly what he did. He didn’t pretend to be Esau or anyone else. He didn’t even say that he was the son of Isaac in order to gain more favor with God. His simply said, “Jacob”. Grabber of heels. I fight for what I want. I am a deceiver.
Who are you REALLY? What is your name? “Chad. The sinner. I’ve missed the mark. I am selfish. I get angry. I lust. I put myself first.” Just call me Jacob. What’s your name? Pastor Steven Furtick said that in one of his bible studies with his children they had talked about Jacob and how he tricked his father into giving him Esau’s blessing. Afterward he went to pray with them and he put his hand on one of their heads and when he was about to pray the other grabbed his hand and moved it to his head. Then he said, “Just call me Jacob, sucker!
No matter what you are going through or what costume you have worn throughout your life, when God knocks on your door hold on tight to Him and be honest with Him about who you are. Never let go of God because He is the only one who can TRULY bless us. Admit who you really are to Him. God wants for us to come to Him as we are. That’s what Jacob does and then God gave him a new name. He said, “now you will be called Israel.” Essentially, the name God gave him means, “he who triumphs with God.”
Just like Jacob, if you come to God as you are, admit who you are, He will give you a new identity in Christ. Here is another interesting parallel though. Even though God changed his name, the bible continues to call him both Jacob and Israel. Why is that? If you are taking notes this is our 4th and final thought. To let go of who I pretend to be and grab hold of who God say’s I am I have to realize that He is the God of CHAD too.
GETTING RID OF MY FAKE ID:
4. HE’S THE GOD OF JACOB TOO.
God is not just the God of the parts of us that are pretty. He’s the God of our failures and our selfishness. Everything in my life will change when I stop trying to be someone I am not and admit, “I’m just Chad.” God says, “I will be the God of Chad too.” What have you done that you are afraid to talk to God about? Have you ever believed that God didn’t love you because of something that you’ve done? We know that Jacob messed up. He did some pretty shady things, but God still claimed to be the God of Jacob. Listen to what God said to Moses...
Exodus 3:14–15 NLT
14 God replied to Moses, “I Am Who I Am. Say this to the people of Israel: I Am has sent me to you.” 15 God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: Yahweh, the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you. This is my eternal name, my name to remember for all generations.
God told Moses that He is the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. He didn’t say Israel, He said Jacob. He wanted to be known as the God of the guy who was a deceiver. He loved Jacob first. Before his victory with God. Paul describes God’s love this way...
Romans 5:8 NLT
8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.
So if you are facing an identity crisis today, my prayer is that you will be honest with God. Wrestle with Him if you have to, but be honest about who you are. Then look to God for your identity. Not who everyone else tells you that you should be. Just God. Just like Jacob, wrestle with Him one on one until you see the identity He is giving you. Because He wants to bless you, but He cannot bless a fake identity.
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