Who Are You?

Identity Crisis

There is something I have come to notice in my life and the life of many of my friends and a lot of people I meet. We are still trying to figure out who we are. We joke about what we want to be when we grow up. We all have dreams for the future, at least I hope we do. And all joking aside, while I know the roles I perform in my life sometimes I don't acknowledge on a daily basis, on an hourly basis who I really am at my core, in my soul.

I think this is a problem in our country and our world today. People have lost their identity, they are seeking purpose for their lives and looking in all the wrong places to find it. The Olympics were on TV last month and I love the Olympics. I have actually come to love the Paralympics as well. All of the athletes and what they can do from a physical standpoint amazes me. But one of the stories that made me smile was Michael Phelps turn-around. If you remember, even after his success in previous Olympic games he came home and kind of went off the deep end. He was seen smoking marijuana, he was arrested for driving while intoxicated. If memory serves me right he was in a treatment program in order to quit drinking. I learned that he is also friends with Ray Lewis the former star linebacker of the Baltimore Ravens and Christian. Ray Lewis visited Michael Phelps in treatment and gave him the book Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. Phelps said it really helped him. Now I don't know if Michael Phelps has accepted Jesus but it appears that he has really changed his life. He seems to have found new purpose, a new identity if you will. Our identity has a lot to do with how we act, how we see life. One of the most important things we can do for our kids is give them a sense of identity. Too often in our current culture we leave that up to society. I hear things like he/she is still trying to figure out who they are.

Charles Colson writes in his book, How Shall We Live, the solution to the modern day identity crisis of the American Christian. "How do we redeem a culture? How do we rise to the opportunity before us at the start of a new millennium? The answer is simple: from the inside out. From the individual to the family to the community, and then outward in ever widening ripples. We must begin by understanding what it means to live by Christian worldview principles in our own behavior and choices. Unless we do, we will interpret the biblical commands according to the spirit of the age and will therefore be conformed to the world rather than to God's Word" (307).

Who are you? John answers this for us in 1 John 3:1-3

If you will, turn there in your Bibles to 1 John 3:1-3

1 John 3:1–3 NIV84

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.

We are God's children! John confirms for his audience who they are. First and foremost they are children of the Most High God. This is an amazing thing to think about. It is only because of God's love for us.

How does this happen? How did these early Christians John is writing to become God's beloved children.

If you go back to chapter 2:24

1 John 2:24–25 NIV84

See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is what he promised us—even eternal life.

These people had accepted the message of the Gospel, they believed that Jesus was the Son of God, that He died on the cross, was buried, and resurrected on the third day. They acknowledged their sin and need for Christ, they repented of their sin, confessed their belief in Jesus and had been immersed as was the practice when the church began.

John 1:12–13 NIV84

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

So what does this mean for us? It means everything because this sets the stage for our relationship and inclusion in God's family and kingdom. We speak of being born again, Jesus told Nicodemus that a person must be born again to enter the Kingdom of God. Our new birth is as a child of God. We are God's children.

Being a child of God means we are part of God's family.

In Starting Points Series that was developed by North Point Ministries there is a unit on The Role of Rules and in this unit Andy Stanley discusses two models of relationship. These two models are the family model and the club model. Both of these relationships are based on rules. The difference in these models is the role that rules play in relationship.

First off, in the family model rules only apply to the family. Growing up we probably all had rules that our parents set for us. I had to do chores, make my bed, take my shoes off when I came in the house, do my homework before going outside and the like. As parents we set rules for our kids. The interesting thing about this model is our rules only apply to our family. There are times we wish that our rules applied to others but that's not the case. I've wanted to ground some of my kid's friends before, haven't you. "In the family sense of the model the rules only apply to the family. They don't make you part of the family, the rules are because you are part of the family."

The other model is the club model. "In the club model you agree to a set of or to keep a set of rules in order to get into the club or to begin the relationship." You have to agree to the rules in order to get in and if you don't keep them you're out.

I am really thankful for my father and his love for me. I was a good kid, but I was a rotten teenager. I got into a lot of trouble and did a lot of things that we against my dad's rules. but you know what he still loved me and loves me to this day. Scripture compares our earthly fathers to God and God's love is by far greater because as good a man as my dad is he is still a sinner. But not God, He is the Father of light and every good an perfect gift comes from Him.

But even in a family there are rules.

Being a child of God means we are expected to behave a certain way

Just like parents have expectations for their children to behave a certain way, God has expectations for us also.

We are expected as God's children to do what is right. If we back up to chapter 2:28-29

1 John 2:28–29 NIV84

And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him.

The NASB says, "abide in Him" meaning that we need to remain in Christ and do what is right because he is righteous. John comes around again to the idea of obedience. Children of God should live in light and truth. Our truth does not come from our culture or our society but our truth comes from God's Word. God's Word is truth!!

Being a child of God means acting out of love and confidence.

If we love each other and do what is right, we can be confident and unashamed when Jesus returns.

So often times we see and sometimes act out of selfishness and fear. There is much that has been done in the name of God that was not from him that was done out of fear and selfishness. Even in God's church this has happened. We sometimes tear each other down in order to get our way. We fear change so we inhibit the growth of the church. Sometimes we sow seeds of hate instead of love and this should not be. Being born again means letting go of fear, hate, and jealousy and loving one another as brothers and sisters.

1 Peter 1:22–23 NIV84

Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.

Love one another deepy from the heart.... That's strong language. But that is how God loves us. It's that kind of love that sent Jesus to the cross and gave us the privilege to be called children of God. We have been born into a family. I think we forget that sometimes. We look at each other as fellow members of a club instead of as brothers and sisters.

I guess one of the sad things I often notice we seem to have more fun at our clubs than we do at church.

Country club raffle-

Helen and Ursula's argument - We sometimes don't treat each other as family because we don't consider each other family. Especially here in America, because of the religious freedom we enjoy and because we have so many choices, we get upset and leave. We take our ball and go somewhere else or we go home and pout.

I don't think this is what Jesus meant when he said love one another. We need to love one another as real brothers and sisters.

It's pretty easy to tell who is a real child of god and who is just pretending as well. A real child of God will continue to grow and mature. They will seek to become more like Jesus, to abide in him. As we do this we become more and more confident in our identity as children of God and no longer wonder who we are. We know, as John put it, "That is what we are!" and we act accordingly.

As obedient children of God we have certain blessings and privileges.

Just like my granddaughter feels secure in her mom and dad's arms we can feel secure in our relationship with God. We need not wonder about eternity.

In the Gospel of John 8:35

John 8:35 NIV84

Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever.

Here Jesus is telling the Jews that their physical ancestry will no longer save them. He tells them in verse 31, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” The truth, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, makes us sons and daughters of the Kings. We are no longer slaves to sin.

We are co-heirs with Christ.

Romans 8:17–19 NIV84

Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.

This verse tells us two things in particular. First, we are heirs to the God of all creation and we are co-heirs with the King of kings. Second is that there to cost to being a child and heir of God. Jesus said that there would be suffering in this world. It's becoming more more difficult to be Christian today, and I really don't think that it will get any easier regardless of who our president is. Right now in a lot of ways we are the silent majority. One day we may be the silent minority. It is already becoming more and more difficult to share the Gospel with people. Some of you may be scared to talk about God at work because if someone complains you could be reprimanded. Christians in Indonesia may not get promotions or jobs even just because they follow Jesus. But as long as we are faithful our inheritance is so great! and those who live by worldly desires not only not receive any reward they will inherit eternal punishment.

Revelation 21:6–8 NIV84

He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

There is great blessing in being a child of God and great anguish for those who aren't. They will face a second death, eternity in hell.

There aren't many things that are certain in this world but a few things are.

One is that Jesus is coming back. No one knows when but we need to be ready. A second is that everyone will fall into one of two categories, we will be a child of God or a child of the devil. When you go home I encourage you continue reading chapter 3. Are you confident of who you are?

My prayer is that you know you are a child of God and behave accordingly. If you don't know I invite you become one this evening.