Christ-Centered Soul

I want to start this message off with a question this morning. It might seem odd at first, but I want you to give this some thought. Who are you? Where do you find your identity?

What makes you… you? If you were going to take a moment to write about who you are and what makes you tick… what would you include in that writing?

Would your identity be found in your name? For instance, would you highlight the history of your family heritage and legacy?

Would your identity be found in what you do? “I am a farmer” or “I am a teacher” or “I am a homemaker” or “I am a student” or “I am a husband, wife, father, mother?”

Would your identity be found in the way the world looks at you? “I am popular” or “I am quiet” or “I am liked on social media” or “I am a valued coworker?”

Would your identity be found in what your feelings say about you? “I am strong” or “I am weak” or “I am good” or “I am bad” or “I am valued” or “I am worthless? I am this because that’s how I feel?”

Knowing who you are… is kind of a big deal! And… having the proper source regarding your identity is also a big deal!

Consider the options I gave a moment ago. The source from which a person finds their identity will have a lot to do with what that person’s identity might look like.

Those listed example sources were family name, what you do (or do not do), people’s perception of you, and your feelings and/or emotions.

What I find to be interesting is this: despite all of our “forward motion” as a society, people are losing sight of who they truly are. Church, I would suggest that we are facing a growing issue… an identity crisis… and it is growing at an alarming rate.

This crisis is impacting people on every level. Not only do we see a crisis of people not knowing who they are, but we see people trying to pretend to be something they are not.

People do not know if they are good or bad, useful or useless, a contributor or a consumer, a person of influence or distraction, or even if they are a man or woman. “Am I this or am I that? Will that make me more happy or will that make me more sad? Will I find peace or will I find more distress?”

We have more labels to throw at people than ever and yet people are more confused than ever regarding their identity!

Why the confusion? Why the struggle? Why is it so hard for people to know who they are? Why are we trying so hard to identify with the labels created by a secular society? Why is it so difficult for people to find purpose and meaning in life?

The answer is quite simple. We have drifted away from the One who gives us identity and purpose. We have drifted away from the One who pieced us together in our mother’s womb. I am not speaking of our biological mother and father. I am speaking of the God who created all things… the One who created us in His image. I am speaking of the one that breathed life into these earthly bodies… the God who gave us… our soul.

This morning, we continue our series Experience the Difference by talking about the importance of having a Christ-Centered Soul. We know this morning that Jesus… is the difference! He made the difference in you and me and church, what a difference Jesus can make when our soul is fully focused on Him!

First off, what is our soul? And secondly, how do we place Christ at the center of our soul? How do we make Him the focus of our soul?

Our soul could be described as the core of who you are - the REAL you. It is what makes you… you!

Your heart and your soul are similar, but they do have some differences. Your soul has to do with your deepest longings. Your soul will harbor your innermost convictions. Your soul will impact your emotions and decisions.

In Scripture, the word soul is presented with two distinct meanings

One, the soul is often referred to that which brings life to the body. In fact, there are several passages in both New Testament where the Greek word for soul is translated as life. There are several places in the Old Testament where we see this same kind of usage.

Secondly, the soul refers to the inner life of a man or woman, the center of human personality.

And even as we attempt to define what the soul is using our terms and words… I don’t know that we can completely describe it. However… we are aware of our soul and very aware of the condition of our soul.

Secondly, how do we make Jesus the center or the focus of our soul? I’ll start that answer by rephrasing the question a bit - how do we find ourselves in Christ? How does a person find their true identity in Jesus?

That answer is found in the answer Jesus gave the Pharisees when they tested His identity.

Remember, the Pharisees and Sadducees didn’t get along, but they shared a common problem - they didn’t believe Jesus.

When the Pharisees tried to test Him again in Matthew 22, Jesus gave an answer that no one could begin to argue with.

“What’s the greatest commandment” they asked.

Matthew 22:37–40 NIV

37 Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

First and foremost, Jesus said to Love God with ALL that you are - including your soul - the REAL you. In doing so, you return back to your God-given identity and purpose - something that can ONLY be found in God!

But… how is that a possibility when people are struggling to know who they really are? “How can I love someone with the real me if I do not not who the real me… is?

Is the real me how I feel? Is the real me what the world tells me I am? Is the real me what I do? Is the real me who I see myself as?

What makes the difference in knowing… is knowing the One who makes the difference!

Jesus came to the earth to save lost souls… souls who are searching, souls who are longing, souls who hunger and thirst, souls that are empty and dry, souls that are entangled in sin and corruption… souls… who have lost sight of who they are because they lost sight of who God is!

This morning, we are going to journey through Scripture to explain how Jesus makes ALL the difference in the real you.

Coming to know the Lord is FAR more than learning proper behavior and displaying appropriate attitudes. God… through His Son, desires to restore you, to renew your identity, and to set free your struggling soul.

We are going to look at two areas this morning.

How the soul (identity) is lost.

How the Soul (identity) is found.

And we will close with a call for all to love God with all your soul - with the REAL you - with all that you are!

How the Soul is lost.

He had had it! He couldn’t take anymore! He had a different way, a different path in mind for his life and it was time for him to venture out on his own.

So he packed his bags, and he began the journey that would leave him to complete and utter… ruin.

But… before he set out on his own… he demanded that his father give him everything he felt was owed to him… his inheritance. The father divided it up between his two boys… then this younger son left.

The story I am speaking of is the Prodigal son or the parable of the lost son - a parable that Jesus shared in Luke 15 . It is the third parable given by Jesus referring to someone or something that was… lost.

Its a story of a lost soul… of a son who lost sight of who he was. The son attempts to find his identity, his belonging in everything outside of his father.

What we will see in a moment is… even thought the son lost sight of the father… the father never lost sight of His son!

The story begins with the son basically telling his father, “You are dead to me.” In Luke 15:12, the son said to the father,

Luke 15:12 NIV

12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.

In his demand for his inheritance, the younger son was severing ties with his dad. Traditionally the inheritance was not given until the father had passed on. This form of request in Jesus’ day was insulting and extremely offensive. It was a sin against the father.

Once he had what he wanted, the son left and did what he wanted. Jesus does not give much detail in how the son squandered his inheritance, but the wealth disappeared through what was described as “wild living.”

That term wild stands out to me. Jesus didn’t say sinful or unrighteous… the original word used here was asotos (ah so toce) and it means recklessly, wildly, in debauchery, in excess.

He was spending his money without restraint, without restriction, without any care, without any direction, without any consideration. He had lost his way. He was searching for that which would satisfy what he longed for. He was trying to gain the whole world… but he was rapidly losing his soul.

Now… at what point did the son begin to lose his way? I would argue that it happened before he spent a dime of his money. I would argue that it happened when he lost sight of his father… when he told his dad, “you’re dead to me.”

Losing sight of the father is where the loss of our soul begins. The soul is lost when we sin against God. The soul becomes “wild” in the separation that sin creates.

The soul begins to long or to thirst for satisfaction… and that satisfaction can only be found in one place - in the loving arms of the Father.

Yet we try… don’t we? In that lost sense, we try to fill our soul with things or people to fill the void. We try to find our identity outside of God.

And I’m going to tell you something that you already know… but maybe have a hard time admitting. You will NEVER find what your soul is longing for outside of the Lord. Never.

We pretend. We put on masks. We say the right words and do the right actions and conform with the appearance… while we die a little more each day, struggling to know who we are and what the point is to all of this.

You might be gaining the world… but you lose more and more of your soul - the real you. In this, Jesus said, is found no profit, no benefit.

Jesus is the One your soul is longing for as Jesus is the ONLY one that can bring healing and wholeness to your soul! God is the One who made you… to be you! Our purpose is found in Him. Our satisfaction is found in Him. Our peace and hope is found in Him. Our identity - who we are - is found in Him!

When a person choose not to love God with all their soul… they are denying their soul the connection it has been so desperately longing for. And the more substitution a person tries to implement… the less satisfied the soul will become.

GOD is the answer the real you is looking for! And God is hoping for every soul to come to this understanding.

Go back to the story of the lost son. It wasn’t until he hit rock bottom that he began to look… up. He decided to go home, but not with the same identity he had once before. How could the son return back to his dad after what he had done? So he came up with a plan. He would not go home as son, but as servant. Watch this: He had now accepted the identity he found in sin. “I am no longer worthy to be called your son” was his thought in Luke 15:19.

No good. Failure. Mess up. Embarrassment. The laughing stock. Pig feeder. That is how the son now saw himself. He was lost… lost in an identity that he accepted while he was separated from the father.

So the son goes home while seeing himself different… and the father… sees him coming. And what happens next is VERY revealing.

The father takes off in a dead-on sprint to meet the son!

Now remember, the son no longer saw himself as worthy. Instead, he would identify himself as one of the hired help - just another set of hands to do the work.

Is that how the father saw the son? NO! He was full of compassion. He ran to him, embraced him, and kissed him! The father NEVER saw the son differently. Yes, the sin had created a separation between the two but it never caused the father to stop loving the son! Look at the father’s response.

Luke 15:22–24 NIV

22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

My point? God the Father knows who you are! God the Father has not given up on you! God the Father loves you and cares for you and has made a way for you… to come back home to Him… as His Son or as His daughter!

The soul might be lost in sin. The soul might be lost in separation from the Father. But the Father, through the Son, has made a way for the soul to be found… to be whole again!

How the Soul is Found

Jesus IS the way! Jesus is the key! Knowing Christ is the answer to knowing God and knowing who God created you to be.

Jesus came to this earth as the light of the world. He guide to be a guiding light… to make a way where there seemed to be no way.

John 1 gives us insight to this truth.

When Jesus came, He was not received for who he was by all that He came for.

Again… why were the Pharisees testing Jesus? Because they didn’t recognize Him for who He was. They questioned His identity because the message He preached, wasn’t exactly what they expected.

Many would reject Christ throughout His earthly ministry as they remained lost in their ways. But I want you to see what John had to say regarding those who did receive Jesus for who He was.

John 1:12–13 NIV

12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

Those who received Christ received their renewed identity - they become children of God!

They become His sons. They become His daughters. They are given a new identity. An identity that does not come from human decision or family descent - but born of God.

No longer are they marked or labeled by their actions, emotions, their feelings or their friends. They are redeemed into a new reality that can only come by way of Knowing Christ.

Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. Those are His words in Luke 19:10. He came so that the lost might be found… so that the real you… could become the redeemed you!

All of us have made a mess of ourselves through sin. If we’re willing to be honest, all of us know what it feels like to search for satisfaction in things or in people outside of Christ.

We know that this pursuit is hopeless. We know that the more we try to feed this huger or quench this thirst with the wrong stuff… the more hungry and thirsty we become.

Christ is the only source of satisfaction your soul is looking for. In Christ, we find our identity. In Christ, we are children that are born of God. To be born of God… we must be… born again!

Jesus spoke of this need in John 3 as He was giving instruction to Nicodemus - a Pharisee who was a teacher to the people of Israel. Nicodemus did not fully understand what Jesus was talking about, so Jesus gives him this explanation.

John 3:5–6 NIV

5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.

Jesus is talking about spiritual regeneration. Regeneration, or spiritual birth, is an inward re-creating of a person spiritually - a life transformation that occurs from the inside out. It transforms… your soul! This impacts:

The person’s attitude.

The person’s way of thinking.

The person’s words.

The person’s actions.

This impacts the entire person because it gives birth to a new you - a new you that has come alive through Christ Jesus!

Being born again through Christ strips away from you any old identity that this world… or even you… might have given yourself. You become a new creation through and through!

2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

IF you are in Christ, then Christ is in you! ALL THINGS… have become NEW! Your soul is no longer lost but is found! your identity as God’s son or daughter has been realized! Your sins have been forgiven and forgotten. You are no longer defined or identified by your past… but have found renewed purpose and identity in the Father! Your soul… is set free!!!

Closing

And in that new freedom… we do what Christ commanded that we do. We love God with all of our soul. We love God with our spiritual self.

We surrender that part of our being… to Him. Jesus… who is the lover of our souls… becomes the Savior and the center of our souls.

Jesus fulfills and satisfies what our souls have been longing for.

Jesus reconnects us back to the Father as His blood redeems us of all sin. That which separated us from God is now under the blood of the Lamb!

Our identity is no longer confused or skewed by sin, emotions, feelings, labels, etc. Our identity is found in the One who created us in His image… for His purpose.

Why are so many facing an identity crisis today? Why are so many people feeling lost, without hope, without direction, without purpose? Because their soul… that real you… has been aimlessly and wildly running every which direction looking for what is missing.

Jesus is the answer. Jesus is the difference between a lost soul… and a soul that has been found! Jesus is the ONLY way for a soul that is dead in sin to come back to life!

Maybe you are listening and you can relate to the prodigal son. Maybe you have been doing things on your own… going this way and that… looking for satisfaction in all the wrong places. Maybe you’ve hit rock bottom… or you recognize that you are almost there. Maybe you’re struggling with who you are or who the world thinks you are. Maybe your having a hard time… finding the real… you.

It is time to cut through all the noise, all the emotions, all the labels, all the uncertainties, and to come back to Jesus.

God has not turned His back on you. God has given His very best for you. God wants you to find yourself… in Him… by coming back to who He created you to be - His son and his daughter.

If you desire to love the Lord God with all your soul… the old has to go. Jesus… wants to make all things new… IN YOU!

Will you make that choice today? Will you give Him your life… all that you are today? Do you desire for the Lord to make you new?

PRAYER - Salvation

Lastly, I wonder if we can thank God for the renewing of our souls. I want us to stand and to worship… I want us to sing our praise to the One that has brought us out of the miry clay.

Jesus has set our souls free! Knowing Jesus… makes ALL the difference!