Sermon Tone Analysis

Identity In Christ

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Who do you think you are?

If someone was legitimately curious and asked you that question, how would you answer.

One place to find ways people identify themselves is online.

Here are a few pictures of people I follow on YouTube.

This is Eric and he calls himself the “10th Generation Dairyman.”

Here is Joel and he is known as the “3d Printing Nerd.”

This is Adam from Florida who calls himself “Haxman.”

Here is someone closer to home.

Kent grew up near Hollis and calls himself “Cowboy Kent Rollins.”

Who do you think you are?

Who did you want to be when you were a kid?

I wanted to be a motorcycle guy.

I even made an email account named “KTM_kid.”

In school we took aptitude tests that were designed to help you see what you were good at so you could work toward a specific profession.

I’ll never forget how devastated and confused I was when they came to me and said, “Congratulations!

You scored straight across the board.

You can do whatever you want.”

Wait a second.

That’s not supposed to happen.

You are supposed to tell me what field of work I should go into.

How am I supposed to know what I will enjoy or be good at?

Who am I supposed to be?

Psychotherapist Robin Stone shared how growing up with asthma shaped her identity:

As a child growing up with asthma, I was often cautioned against strenuous physical activity out of fear that I might have trouble breathing or suffer an attack.

My mother disagreed and encouraged me to try.

On the other hand, my father and other relatives suggested I stick to what they considered safer, less physically demanding pastimes.

Even with my mother’s support, the belief that I couldn’t engage in challenging activities stuck with me over the years.

I would do short runs or sprints but avoided long-distance running.

As an adult, I was the queen of power-walking, until one day, while I was walking on a track in Harlem, an older woman ran right past me, her silver locks flowing with each step.

Just seeing her out there inspired me, so I decided to give distance running a chance.

Today, after building up to longer runs over time, I can run for half an hour without getting winded or provoking my asthma.

Now I can confidently say that I am a runner, and it is a part of my identity… I’m exploring a 5K run and possibly even building up to a marathon.

We all have a set of core beliefs about ourselves in our hearts.

These beliefs guide and direct our lives every day, whether or not we are aware of it.

These beliefs have been created by different experiences throughout our lives and have built up over time.

Your life experiences, good or bad, have shaped who you are because they have created beliefs about yourself, true or not, that have become your identity.

We’ve been talking about true freedom, freedom that can only come from God.

Today we are going to talk about true identity.

If we want to live in the truth and freedom God has provided, then our identity MUST line up with what God says is true about us.

What is in God’s heart when He thinks about us?

How does He see us?

While I was preparing for this weekend I was a little unsure about this subject.

After all, it wasn’t that long ago that we did a whole series on identity.

So I started tossing it around, “Should I, should I not...” Then God popped a couple of thoughts into my mind.

First of all, right now identity is a huge struggle in our country.

People are so desperate to find their “identity” that they might latch on to the most unique and crazy thing they can find and then force it in your face until you accept it.

“How do you identify?” has become a common question.

Beliefs about themselves have lead them to completely ignore truth in search of what “fits” or makes them feel happy.

Secondly, being a follower of Christ doesn’t exempt me from the identity struggle.

Though I may not wrestle with the same questions as others, I still believe things that are not true about myself.

A few weeks ago we had our first organized bicycle ride at the refuge.

After the ride Mike, Russell, and I were putting on the shirts that we had recieved for participating in the ride and I made the comment that I didn’t like wearing shirts like that because I am overweight and thought it looked bad.

Catching me completely off guard, Russell interrupted me and said, “What does God say about you?”

I just stood there grinding gears in my head, “uh…” He repeated the question, “What does God say about you?”

Experiences, good or bad, feed and develop the beliefs we have about ourselves, whether they are true or not.

We store and hold these beliefs way down deep and they define who we are.

That exchange with Russell made me realize that even though I know what God says about me, I still let the message of my own experiences shape what I believe about myself and determine who I say I am.

Who do you think you are?

Last week we talked about God’s Word.

We discussed meditating on God’s Word, chewing the cud, thinking about what He says and then letting it sink deep within us.

Some of the scripture that we looked at was in Proverbs.

In it God said to listen carefully to His words and let them penetrate deep into your heart.

Now we are going to look at the very next verse and, if you are taking notes, it is our key thought for today.

We listen to God’s word and let it sink deep into our hearts.

While you are down there putting God’s Word into your filing cabinet, notice the drawer just beside it that says, “My Identity.”

If you are like me there are no filing cabinets, everything is just in somewhat organized piles.

Most of the time we don’t realize that these two filing cabinets are right next to each other.

Probably because when we bring stuff to the identity cabinet we sneak through the back entrance because we don’t want anyone to see the awful things we are putting in it.

When we have files called, “What God says about me” we usually just put them in the “God’s Word” cabinet.

God wants me to realize that what I believe deep down inside my heart determines the course of my life.

Because of that fact, I must guard my heart above all else.

I have to curate everything that goes down into this filing cabinet.

I have to be diligent with what I believe about myself.

I must pay close attention and listen very carefully to God’s words.

When It comes to my identity, the first step in knowing my true identity is understanding that God gets to define it.

GOD DETERMINES IDENTITY

God gets to set my value!

He created us.

When we messed up and sold out, He purchased us back.

We belong to Him.

He defines identity.

God gets to set my value.

So who does God say that I am?

We probably have heard these verses a thousand times and we already know this, but have you let it sink deep within your heart?

So deep that when you think of your identity, this is what comes to mind.

God knew this would be difficult for us to wrap our heads around so He sent His Spirit to help us understand this truth.

Paul says that The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit about it...

You are children of God.

You belong to Yahweh.

You can take that filing cabinet deep inside of your heart that is full of all of the beliefs you have about yourself and throw it away because your Heavenly Father has made you into a NEW creation.

All of your past experiences don’t define you, He does and He has made you into something entirely new that has never existed before.

Just like a caterpillar that changes into a butterfly, you have been changed into something new.

Unfortunately, many Christians still believe they are caterpillars and act like caterpillars when their true identity is that of a butterfly.

One reason for this is that when we fail to be a good butterfly we think that God is mad at us or disappointed.

Some people may even see God as harsh, cruel, and judgmental.

This impacts the way we approach our relationship with God.

Now our prayers and devotions are checklist items to “make Him happy.”

What does God say though?