Misplaced Identity

So a lot of you probably know this, but for the most part I have never changed the way I look.

I have (for the most part dressed similar) and have had the same haircut for most of my life.

And the reason is because their have been times where I have changed the hair cut or the way I dressed and I looked awful.

In fact their was one time I tried the Mr. Clean look (and some guys can pull this off, but not really me) (you can probably guess I did this when I was a swimmer)

Then after the mr. clean look grew out I had kind of this sketchy look for awhile where I had a beard and stumble on my head

And some guys can pull this off but I am not joking I looked really sketchy where I would walk into a gas station at night and people would double take me

And then finally then there was this look (where i do not know what to call it), but it wasn’t the best look.

Arika and I both just look awkward.

But because of this I usually do not change how I look anymore, because when I get to far away from this look it never turns out too well.

But you know I think about where we are today in The Story and in the video we watched and the people of God look very different then how they are supposed to look.

Not in appearance, but really they were supposed to be living a certain way, but instead we see them living another

And not only that but on a deeper level we see that their identity as the people of God has begun to change.

And really it is taken and replaced by sin

And if you have ever had your identity taken or stollen you know that it causes a ton of destruction.

And really today thats where we were are starting in our story, because if you were here last week we were looking at the Nation of Israel, which in the Old Testement were called the people of God,

But over time we saw the people of God divide and this nation actually splits in two.

And we see for the most part most groups are straying further and further from God.

And really today like I mentioned we are starting in this place where the people have forgotten their identity in God and begin to worship a false god named baal instead of the true God.

And if you were with us last week we kind of ended where the Isralites looked like these blocks (I know I used Jenga blocks last we, this week we are using these) but they were in a really broken place.

And so today my hope is for some of us who might just feel broken is to understand how we can take our broken identity and find our identity in Christ.

And so we are around 1 Kings 17-19 and there is this one man named Elijah who enters the story and he is a person who is helping bring people back to God.

And look what happens because we will start in 1 Kings 18:19-21 and it starts with this:

1 Kings 18:19–21(NIV)

19 Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”

20 So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. 21 Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.”

But the people said nothing.

So look whats happening here because the people are far from God, but out of this there is a guy named Elijah(who I mentioned) who has the king gather every person in the entire nation to one place.

And as the people come in Elijah says a really powerful phrase. He says:

“How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.”

Basically how long are you going to be lukewarm?

How long are you going to pick God one day and something else the next.

And he tells them you need to pick God or pick the other thing! You can’t be lukewarm!

because if you choose both it will make you sick!

Its kind of like when I was in college there was a buffette by the college called Coyote Cannon.

And they had a ton of food, but the issue was that the food was not very good and not only that, but every-time you went to it you would almost always get sick.

and I am not a restaurant critic, but I think it was they had to many different types of food and because of that it was all bad.

But heres the thing because as Christians a lot of times we will come to church on Sunday and thats our God time, but then the rest of the week we will chase other things above God.

And most of the time other things are sometimes not even bad

Money- is not bad, but what it gets above God it is

Hobbies are not bad, but if we place them over God they are

And there are so many other examples , but what happens as we chase these different things in our life above God we become Lukewarm and its not good for us,

And I love this verse because I believe its asking us the same question it was asking the people back then.

How long are you going to waiver back and fourth?

If the Lord is your God follow Him!

And its kind of amazing because the people say nothing

And so look what happens because everyone is watching and Elijah ends up challenging the prophets of Baal and look at 1 Kings 18:22-29. It says:

1 Kings 18:22–29 NIV

22 Then Elijah said to them, “I am the only one of the Lord’s prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets. 23 Get two bulls for us. Let Baal’s prophets choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. 24 Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by fire—he is God.” Then all the people said, “What you say is good.” 25 Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire.” 26 So they took the bull given them and prepared it. Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. “Baal, answer us!” they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made. 27 At noon Elijah began to taunt them. “Shout louder!” he said. “Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.” 28 So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. 29 Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.

So look whats happening because everyone is here and there are 450 Prophets of this false god baal and then just Elijah, and he tells them we are going t see once in for all who is the real God.

And basically he says we are going to set up wood and we are going to cry out to our gods and whichever God awnsers by lighting the wood on fire is the real God.

And so they set up these terms and the baal prophets began to get to work and they cried out to their god from morning to noon

But nothing happened,

Then they began to dance around the alter they made, but nothing happened

And I love what happens next because now Elijah begins to trash talk these guys and says maybe your god is just busy or on a vacation or sleeping,

Maybe you just need to shout a little louder your god will hear you!

and so they try to do more to get their gods attention and we see them actually get to the point where they are harming themselves to get their gods attention.

And this is just a quick side note, but this really does show the destructiveness of sin in our life.

Because these people have followed this false god and they believed that hit promised one thing, when in reality it delivered another.

And you know when we place things above God, often times it will promise one thing and deliver another.

And what happens is we end up trying to fill a void in our lives.

Its kind of like how there was one summer in college where I lived in an apartment by myself and because I was by myself I and in college I would make speghtti almost every day.

heres the issue if you have speghtti to eat for a month straight you feel pretty nasty right.

I mean it fills you up, but nutritionally their is a void.

And this is so true when we try to find other things to fill our life, it might make us feel full, but ultimately being in a relationship with Christ can do that.

And so going back into the story we see the Baal prophets fail and so now Elijah begins and look at 1 Kings 18:30-39 because this is what Elijah does. It says:

1 Kings 18:30–39 NIV

30 Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come here to me.” They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord, which had been torn down. 31 Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, “Your name shall be Israel.” 32 With the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs of seed. 33 He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, “Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood.” 34 “Do it again,” he said, and they did it again. “Do it a third time,” he ordered, and they did it the third time. 35 The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench. 36 At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. 37 Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.” 38 Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. 39 When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The Lord—he is God! The Lord—he is God!”

you know their is something powerful in this passage, because the baal prophets have this big show going on, but then Elijah just calls everyone over and he is by a shattered alter, and he fixes the alter and grabs 12 stones (which represented the 12 tribes of Israel) and built an alter.

And as he builds it he says your name shall be Israel.

And some of us could look at this and say wow this is a little weird… what is he doing?

But I want you to notice what is happening because as Elijah says this and as he is placing the stones down on the alter, he is reminding them of their identity.

That even though they are split, even though they are far from God, that their identity is not baal or anything else that is in their life, but their identity should be in God.

And he is reminding them its times come back to that identity.

And I know I ended kind of simalerly last week, but I imagine their are some of us here who are looking at our identity and it feels like these bricks, shattered.

And really last week we spoke about our relationship with outhers looking like this, but this week I want to end on our actual relationship with God.

Some of us we look at the things we have done and we say there is no way God could love me

Others we maybe just feel far from God

And still others their might be an obvius place that we have elivated above God and we feel the consequences,

This morning can I just help remind you that your identity is not in your mess ups, or your hurt, but we serve a God who is saying your identity is in me.

Because you might feel like you are a failure, but God say’s you are redeemed

You might feel like you are worthless, but God calls you priceless

You might feel hated, but God says you are loved

You might feel abandoned, but God says you are never alone

I mean I do not know what your identity is, but I can guarentee that this morning if you feel crumbled God is ready to pick you back up.

Because the truth is there is a lot that happens in our life that tells about ourselves, but there is one event that has happened that actually defines us

And really it was what Jesus did on the cross.

He died to bear our sin and because of that we can be in a relatishionship with Him.

In fact even the night he was betrayed he was having a meal with his disciples and he gave them bread and a drink that represted his body and blood shed on the cross.

And as he extended it to each person saying I am dying on the cross for you so that

Your identity is not Peter the doubter

Your identity is not this person stole money,

But your identity is that you have been redeemed by the blood

And so as we close today, we will be receiving communion and the truth in that God is still extending his grace towards us today.

And like I said maybe today you feel uloved or just shattered, maybe recieving communion can be a reminder of what our identity is

and really on a deeper level maybe today you need to accept this identity or accept it again, this would be such an awsome way to do that, because Christ extends this invitation to everyone, but we have to choose how we want to respond.

Receiving this grace or pushing it away.