Sermon Tone Analysis

Issue of Identity

Did you know that we’re soon set to reach a world population of 8 billion people?

When I checked the world population clock this morning, we were at 7 billion, 970 million, 555 thousand, and counting.

That’s getting pretty close to 8 billion!

Imagine if you had that amount of money in your bank account!

It’s easy to understand why, in a sea of 8 billion faces, that people ask the question “what differentiates me from other people?”.

From a purely scientific standpoint, people are just numbers, moving parts in a system.

But we know that science or scientific surveys don’t fully capture the whole picture.

We have almost 8 billion people on this planet who are made uniquely according to God’s design, in the image of God.

But we also have almost 8 billion people who were born into inherited sin under the fall of Adam and who have initially rejected God on their own, spurning the purpose for which they were made, which is to image God here on this earth.

And so, with our primary function removed, it’s little wonder that we often feel lost here on our planet.

We look for things that tell us what our purpose is, and how we fit into the bigger picture.

And with this idea in mind, we begin to construct what is commonly known as an identity.

An identity is a perceived notion of the self that informs and directs the actions you take in life.

And we’re all trying to form an identity, and to answer a very simple question, quite clearly communicated in the words of the caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland, “Who ... are ... you???”

Identity will give you direction.

It will inform every decision in life that you make.

The perception of the self will give direction to your actions, your attitudes, your thoughts, your behaviors.

So let me ask you, how would you describe yourself?

Setting all church answers aside, Who are you?

Maybe you’d begin with your physical composition, male, female, blonde hair, dark hair, light skin, dark skin, and then describe your role in society: teacher, logger, construction worker, so on and so forth, and then maybe you’d branch out to national and regional identity, perhaps your lineage.

For the newer generation, it’s their horoscope, what stars they were born under, or perhaps a category in a personality test.

And it’s easy to describe all of these things that inform who we are, what our identity is.

But at the end of the day, without God, we’re left guessing at our identity.

We make up roles for ourselves based on how we interact with the world around us.

And every human being is looking to describe their place relative to everyone else.

It’s because we were made to be in community and to participate in community.

How we perceive ourselves is integral to how we live life.

It’s also why people get so offended when you call them out for their sin.

To them, it’s something personal.

It’s because they’ve allowed that sin to define them, to become their identity.

So thinking about identity, thinking about who we are and what informs the decisions we make, there is a very special identity of a group of people before God’s eyes.

In the hubbub of asking the question “Who are we?” God gives a response: You are mine.

Who are we?

God’s Response: You are Mine

God creates what we have known as the church out of the rest of the world.

And he gives them a specific identity.

Let me read a portion of scripture for you that helps show the new identity that God gives to those who believe in him:

There are people in the world who are specifically for God’s own possession!

Notice, that with this identity also comes a purpose and a mission: “That you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness and into his marvelous light.”

Those who have been saved by God are saved in order that they may worship and give honor to him.

And their identity is formulated around mercy, mercy from God.

And when thinking about the identity of the church, having reflected upon this passage and many others, Marcus and I pieced together a statement of faith that summarizes a Biblical definition for the church.

Our Statement:

We believe the church is made of those redeemed by God who are called to live according to his purpose.

They are the body and bride of Christ, his people, united in the Spirit, led by Jesus, and welcomed into the Father’s presence.

As members of his body, they are filled and commissioned by God as ambassadors of Christ to the world.

As his bride, they worship Him in spirit and truth in response to His love.

There’s a lot included here, but for the sake of the sermon I have shortened the statement down further into three key principles of identity for the church:

Those three points of identity are:

Sinners Saved

Beloved Bride

Sent Servants

Let’s pray, and then dig into the truths of scripture that God has for us.

(pray)

Sinners Saved

In order to understand our present, we must first understand our past.

we were dead in our sin

We weren’t waiting around in anticipation until a drop of grace might fall upon us.

No, we were running headlong toward eternal destruction and we were happy to do so.

We were content to trespass on holy ground and to defile the land which God has made.

We were content to follow after our own passions to the point where when Christ came, we put him to death on the cross because we did not want the voice of God telling us what to do.

This was our past.

It’s the present for many people.

And perhaps you can relate with those people to one degree or another.

But there’s a greater hope for humanity.

The church bears witness to that.

But God made us alive

Through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God has atoned for the forgiveness of sins and has granted new life to humans.

There are now a group of humans on the planet who deny their own passions.

There are now a group of humans on this planet who believe that marriage is between one man and one woman, as designed by God.

There are now a group of humans who believe that every human life is worth something because of the inherent value that God has placed on it.

Without God, we would not have seen any of these things.

We would be dead in our sins and trespasses, leading unholy lives which leads to the hurt and harm of those around us.

So what does being a saved sinner mean for us?

Well, it means that We are not perfect people.

We do not have a holier than thou attitude to the rest of the world.

We were a part of that world, following after the same things.

But we are a people whose lives have been changed because of divine intervention.

And there’s nothing that we ourselves did to merit this salvation … it was an act of God’s grace.

We didn’t earn it.

So knowing that you are a sinner saved by grace should give you great humility: toward the way you approach God and the way you approach others.

But also a Saved life is to be a transformed and holy life:

Holy means not going back to those passions of the flesh.

Remember the list we read from Ephesians 2, following headlong after the things of this world?

Being holy means Not going back to Egypt, as God warned the Israelites.

Not returning to those patterns of sin that you were so familiar with before you knew Christ.

Not returning to drugs or to extramarital sex or to anything else that the world promises will provide happiness.

Not returning to influential figures who will speak an identity into your life.

No, being holy means you go to God to determine who you are.

You have been purchased by God at the cost of his Son.

Therefore, who you are and what your identity is is not defined by you, but by God.

And God tells us this: he says that you are not your own:

Being a saved sinner means understanding that you have been redeemed, purchased as you will, by God.

He has the receipt for your salvation and can show proof of purchase.

Our actions, our thoughts, our minds, belong to God.

It’s for him to use.

And we are just vessels of mercy that the Lord has made purse for honorable use within his house.

Now, there is grace for when we do sin.

But the idea is to maintain holiness.