Finding your Identity

[Music] we're gonna spend some time here in Exodus chapter 2 and in Hebrews chapter 11 but before we get to those passages I need to just kind of give you an observation that I have look I'm not a social scientist I don't think necessarily that I have the keenest eye and observing the culture in the world around me I'm not the expert on all those things but I'll just tell you what I see and what I perceive I look at how things are today and invariably someone from my generation I compare them to what I understood when I was young I was born in 1962 I pretty much have an awareness of things and the culture and life around me you know starting in the 1970s and I came to faith in Jesus Christ in the mid 1970s when I was 13 years old again coming from that nominally Roman Catholic home but but I came into faith in Christ in the mid seventies and so I had understanding of what the world in general was about at least the Western world the United States at that time I also had some understanding about what the Christian culture was like in the mid 1970s and this is what I observe I observed something that probably seems completely foreign to you into your generation and I don't think that it can necessarily be replicated let me explain you what I mean what I saw in those years was an incredible interest on behalf of the culture at large and believers they were asking these questions these questions were big in the culture and among believers what's going to happen to this world where does the future lead how does it all end up these were years when the idea of ecological crisis first began to come very heavily a think a population explosion nuclear annihilation the Cold War on and on people really wondered if humanity was gonna last another five or ten years now I don't know I mean you you you guys live in the atmosphere today where there's anxiety about global warming and future and things like that but I don't think you can relate to the kind of things literally people lived in fear that presidents or politicians were gonna push a button and that the world could end I mean this kind of this kind of fear and anxiety was like a fog that hung over everything again because of the ecology because of population because of social trends and especially because of the nuclear threat there was a very high anxiety people were asking these questions what does the future hold is this world gonna make it how does it all shake out now what I find fascinating about that is that at that time in place the church had an answer for the world and the answer was rooted in what we would call Biblical prophecy or eschatology the answers say you know the Bible talks about the future the Bible says what's going to happen the Bible says it's going to happen with these nations the Bible says this is going to happen look you can see it happening all around us this is the world and in a way that again I don't expect your generation to connect with but but I just want you to understand it even in a detached sense in an amazing way hundreds of thousands of people if not millions of people came to Christ through preaching on prophetic end times eschatological subjects the can you imagine that I imagine from somebody from your guys for a second that must seem like on the Dark Side of the Moon somebody gets up and preaching to a popular audience lots of people who are not yet believers in the odds and they're talking about the end of the world the rapture of the church the rheostat of Israel that and then they give an altar call and many many people come to Christ you know for you I could see whether how do two things go together at a outfits together because the church had an answer for the questions that the culture was asking in those times I saw it the church had an answer for the questions that the culture was asking now fast forward to 2018 the cultures asking different questions the same questions aren't connected now I believe that what the Bible says about prophecy eschatology end times I believe that it is just as true today as it was in the 1970s in the 1970s by some measures the best-selling non-fiction book of the decade was a book about prophecy titled the late great planet Earth written by a guy named Hal Lindsey that was the best-selling book of the decade nonfiction and why because it answered questions or at least it spoke you could judge for yourself whether or not to answer the questions but at the very least it spoke to the questions that the culture was asking our culture is asking different questions today and I see I don't know if I understand it entirely again I gave that little you know disclaimer that I'm not really a pundit I'm not really a great keen social absorber I don't know all that stuff but but it does seem to me like today more than ever the culture is asking these critical questions they want to know things about identity it's out there in the air people want to know Who am I and to whom do I belong in other words Who am I myself and to what people do I belong to IIIi don't know if this is the only question the cultures asking but I know it's somewhere on the list it's got to be up there in the top five people want to know these things these things are dry our modern culture and so much of what we see in the present day it revolves around those very questions look you got to be blind if you don't see that political and social issues today revolve around identity Who am I and basically what team am I on if I'm on team red and I'm team red and team blue can do no right if I'm on team blue then team blue man they're angels and team red they can't do any right that's how its divided in our country today politically socially we see it today in the way that people perceive sexuality and gender roles there is an ache that this young woman in the in the video spoke to that there's an attraction to certain groups and teams as much as anything not so much that they particularly want to act out in those particular voices I'm aching to have an identity this group will give me an identity at least I Know Who I am and I can understand some things from their consumer choices brand identification fits into it all there's national ethnic tribal identities man at a in a way that that is remarkable in our modern culture it is all about identity about those questions Who am I and to whom do I belong and I got good news for you listen the Bible has an answer to those questions now it may not be an answer that the culture will fully embrace I Got News for you in the 1970s lots of people didn't embrace the Bible's answer from where the world was going and how the future would play out so we're not saying everybody's going to accept the Bible's answer but everybody should know the Bible speaks to these issues these are things that God wants us to understand and God addresses in his words it's not an answer that everybody or even a mature is going to accept but it is an answer nevertheless and it speaks to the deep need inside the human heart inside the human soul to have these things resolved now we believe that we're Christians that were focused upon Jesus and we believe that the Bible speaks to us not only through the words and the person of Jesus Christ but also through the work that God has done through other people so now this morning and talking about this idea of identity I want to talk to you about Moses not because we are followers of Moses were followers of Jesus Christ but God's work in the life of Moses I think tells us a lot about these issues of identity right so we read take a look at this Exodus chapter 2 beginning now at verse 11 now it came to pass in those days when Moses was grown that he would out to his brethren and looked at their burdens and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew one of his brethren now Acts chapter 7 verse 23 tells us that this happened when Moses was forty years old so you have something about the trajectory of Moses his life Moses was born among a slave people the slave people were the Hebrews who were in the land of Goshen in Egypt and for hundreds of years they had lived under slavery slavery had identified them completely it's very interesting to me to make a parallel between slavery as it existed in the United States and slavery as it existed for the people of Israel in Moses and just this one likeness I'm gonna make how long did slavery as an official institution last in the United States well it began in colonial times Yami's pre-war I mean should we say maybe 1700 let's say that I mean I know that's not an exact figure but we're just looking for a round number here and you could say that at least officially legally it ended with the Civil War the Emancipation Proclamation of Abraham Lincoln that's what about 1860 let's just say 1865 for a round number I know it was a little bit earlier than that so basically you have a hundred and sixty-five years and again that's not an exact number it goes a little bit before that and otherwise but let's just say roundly a hundred and sixty-five years of slavery among African Americans in the United States now did that leave a lasting legacy among the african-american community in the United States that goes beyond the end of slavery you better believe it it wasn't just something that they just shook off and said well okay great everything's good now I mean we still live today and you can debate how much that's actually very valid debate to have how much does that legacy continue how much does it affect things today but what I just want to say is that when slavery was declared over it's not like all its ill effects just went away now that was with a hundred and sixty-five or so years of slavery and I said you know I find fascinating how long was Israel's slavery in Egypt something like 350 years well what I want you to sand was this was a slave people the habits the ideas the culture the identity of slavery had deeply impressed itself upon them now the leadership of Egypt felt threatened by the population growth of the Hebrew slaves in Egypt and so they commanded infanticide abortion after the fact if you want to call it that they command that all the male babies among the Hebrews be killed when they're born kill him they commanded the midwives to do this and one of the children who should have been killed by drowning in the Nile River was this baby Moses so what did Moses his parents do well in faith they put him in a little basket they coated it with asphalt or tar sand it would be waterproof and float and they scented them they put him in the Nile River they just put him in a little boat and they pushed him down towards Pharaoh's daughter she took him and adopted think so understand Moses ethnically genetically he comes from the Hebrews of slave people but he grows up in the palaces of privilege he grows up not just with a little bit of privilege with the greatest privilege he grows up with leaders and a family that was thought to be directly descended from the gods of Egypt now that's a heavy thing and according to Josephus the ancient Jewish historian the Bible doesn't tell us this but Josephus does so take it from what you will Josephus tells us that Moses was in line to be the next pharaoh that he was a greatly successful military general he was a great leader yet he was in line to be the next okay taking all that into consideration take another look at this verse here Exodus chapter 2 verse 11 now it came to pass in those days when Moses was grown he's 40 years old he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens do you realize what a remarkable statement that is he looked at their burdens it says now by the way that phrase in the original Hebrew it has more than the idea of just to see it means to see with emotion it to see and be moved he saw their burdens and it moved him and then it says he looked at their burdens and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew one of his brethren do you see the idea that's repeated twice and verse 11 what is it one of his brethren do you understand what a radical thing this is for Moses Moses understood that his brethren were the Hebrews the slave despised oppressed class not the privilege that he grew up in that's unbelievable he understood something about who he really was Moses understood who he was and he understood to whom he longed it's as if Moses could say this look I know I've been raised as an Egyptian and a very privileged Egyptian at that the world of Egypt the world of the of all that around me it has a lot of opportunity for me but you know what those aren't my people my people are the Hebrews now I'm gonna jump ahead a little bit and talk to you about something from Hebrews we'll turn to in a few minutes but I want you understand something Moses did this by faith Moses did not define who he was primarily by his environment where he came from if he were to identify himself primarily where he came from he'd say I'm an Egyptian listen he grew up from babyhood as an Egyptian he's an Egyptian through and through that's who he is culturally background all that stuff education all of it comes forth from Egypt his future man it's in Egypt I mean if you're in line to be the next pharaoh if in fact that's true from Josephus that's you are he didn't define himself from his cultural background nor did he define himself merely because of his genetics the reason why I say that is because Hebrews tells us that Moses did this by faith Moses didn't say I'm a Hebrew because of genetics he said it by faith on the basis of faith it was because of his relationship with and trust in God that he defined himself this is who I am this is who my people are he saw that Egyptian beat him and he said that's my brother I belong with those people now check this out verse 12 so he looked this way and that way and when he saw no one he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand man was talking about last night about kind of reading the Bible in drone mode automatic pilot you know it'd be so easy oh yeah okay yeah you saw this and then he killed the Egyptian buried him in the sand do you do you realize how radical it is do you realize what that would be like to see that happen before your eyes do you think that the Egyptian that was beating the Hebrew slave do you think that when Moses came upon him he just said oh yes Moses he want to kill me please kill me I mean this had to be a struggle this had to be a fight that this had to be something brutal and Moses murdered the guy now we're not exalting Moses this was a sin for Moses to do I'm just saying this was something radical and he did it springing forth this understanding of who he was and to whom he belong by the way how do we know that it was wrong for Moses to do it we know that this was wrong for Moses to do we're not defending Moses here one bit but we know that it was wrong for Moses to do from what it says in verse 12 can I play a little you know try to read the teachers mind here you hated that in school when he said but try to read the teachers mind verse 12 tells you that Moses knew this was wrong where does verse 12 tell you that what tell me the words tell me the words he yeah he looked on each side and so nobody looks around to see if anybody's watching unless they know what they're gonna do is wrong if you know what you're gonna do is right it's like who cares but the fact that he that Moses knew it was wrong and it was wrong for him to do this and he killed the Egyptian now Acts chapter 7 tells us more about why Moses did this it's fascinating he did not do it only out of anger it's not like he just was raging and went to this psychotic thing I gotta kill this guy ah you know it wasn't like that no Acts chapter 7 tells us that Moses did this because he really believed that it would trigger a slave revolt among the Hebrews and that they would look to him as their leader and that he could lead them out of Egypt he thought it would happen right then but what happened instead they rejected him is that kind of radical think about it this is who I am this is to whom I belong and then they reject you now what's interesting about that is it was all completely within the plan and timing of God that they rejected him it was all gonna work out in the end but you can imagine how crushing that must have been for Moses at the time now verse 13 and 14 and when he went out the second day behold two Hebrew men were fighting and he said to the one who did the wrong why are you striking your companion and he said who made you a prince and a judge over us do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian so Moses feared and said surely this thing is known you see Moses had reason to believe that because his background his edge Asian his status his success his sympathy with the people of Israel that they would embrace him as their leader but they didn't this a man who are you verse 14 who made you a prince and a judge over us you know a prince has the right to rule over people and to expect their loyalty a judge has the right to tell you what to do and to punish you if you don't do it in rejecting Moses this is what they said to him they said we don't want you to rule over us we don't want you to tell us what to do by the way there's a real analogy here people reject Jesus Christ for the same reasons make no mistake about it one of the greatest difficulties in evangelism today is when Christians I'm here today sometimes we as preachers were the worst at this sometimes we as preachers we are the most guilty of this of anybody we're guilty of presenting Jesus as just something you add to your life okay add Jesus to your life and your life will be better is your life not so good add Jesus and your life will be better now that is a ok I'm not gonna say it's a 180 degree difference in Treves because listen I believe that Jesus does make people's lives better but not always sometimes surrending your life to Jesus Christ will make your life worse at least in the short term you may lose a lot of friends you may lose some privilege you may lose this or that no no we don't present Jesus that way instead we make sure that people understood that coming to Jesus Christ means he will be a prince and a judge over you he's a prince he has the right to rule over you and you owe him your loyalty number 1 number two he's a judge he has the right to tell you what to do and to deal with you when you don't do it geez I I recognise you as Prince and judge over my life that's what they didn't want from Moses that's what some people don't want today from Jesus Christ now keep all that in mind what does Moses do after this he flees to the desert he spends another 40 years on the far side of the desert tending sheep in a very humble existence as different from the marvelous marble palaces of Egypt as you could imagine okay that's Moses story now I want you to turn to Hebrews chapter 11 and we're going to take a look at how in Hebrews 11 they took a look at Moses and some of these events hebrews chapter 11 beginning at verse 24 I want to show you how Moses understood his identity and how the Bible shows us we can understand our identity here's the verses Hebrews I was gonna say Moses no Hebrews chapter 11 starting at verse 24 by faith Moses when he became of age refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt for he looked to the reward I think those three verses have so much to tell us about identity that it's scary will impact them the first thing I want you to see look at the first few words of verse 24 by faith Moses now we live in a really weird age we live in an age that can't make up its mind between two ideas the one idea is you are determined who you are by your genetics by your upbringing by your culture that's who you are and there's no escaping it that's one message from our culture is it not another message from our culture says this you can be whatever you want to be you can identify in any way you want to identify you know have your dreams have your aspirations you can be whatever you want to be that's another message it's in our culture it doesn't take a genius to figure that those messages will conflict with each other they bump up against each other pretty hard now are those messages true or false true or false - that is yes listen there's no denying that genetics and culture and upbringing have something to do with who we are but I believe that here is the message of the gospel is that who you are is not ultimately determined by those things that God can transform your identity by faith Moses now once you see how this was true for the life of Moses I think really in a startling way number one by all his culture all his but bringing all his privilege he was Egyptian an Egyptian at the highest level yet Moses had the power to say I'm not that nevertheless he wasn't just a slave to who he was genetically either for thérèse inside that because number one Moses looked at the slaves in Egypt the Hebrew slaves and I don't think for a moment Moses said I'm that Moses never thought of himself a slave he may have thought of himself as a Hebrew but not a slave but secondly notice this the first few words of Hebrews chapter 11 verse 24 say it was that by faith Moses did these things a living breathing true relationship with God through Jesus Christ can transform identity in a way that nothing else can you do not have to be a prisoner to who you were in upbringing genetics culture you shouldn't be a prisoner to any of those things instead by faith God can speak to who you are and who you should be by your identity that's the first thing to notice second thing I want to notice here in verse 24 is take a look at what it says there when he became of age I think that if you want to say identity awareness identity awareness in Jesus Christ it's a mark of maturity when he became of age Moses had to come to a certain age before he could figure this out and demonstrate it now as children maybe even especially as adolescents we are expected to be unclear maybe even confused about our identity but you know what as adults we're supposed to have that stuff sorted out I don't know I I'd be interested too I don't know what to me it would be very interesting survey to do among you all do you guys consider yourselves adults and if I could guess the answer is something like this yes and no in some ways yeah you're not a kid you know come on you're not sixteen you know 18 you know yet yet you're adults but in other ways when you think of like what adults maybe are and what like well I'm not that either you kind of in this weird in-between sense that you might think possibly but here's the idea is that we understand that in healthy adulthood I mean you you have this understanding and this one it was for Moses I think God wants you to live in a confident sense I Know Who I am and I know where I'm going and far too many of us don't and then it's like um it's like a big hindrance in her life it leaves us adrift confused now here's another thing our identity awareness is demonstrated by our life choices what do I mean by that look at verse 25 it says they're choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God Moses made a real life choice his identity wasn't just an idea in his head it was evident in real life choices that he made now look I'm gonna speak in general about you all here so if this doesn't apply don't take offense I mean I'm just speaking in a very general way but in a very general way it makes sense to me that you all would identify yourselves as Christians how well listen not knowing anything else about your life I know that on a Saturday morning you're here wanting to know something more about the Christian life again I don't know about every life I don't know where you guys are at I don't know how much that's true about how you perceive yourself but at least I know that you've done something that points in the direction yes this person I just now you probably know people or maybe this has been you in the past that they identify themselves as Christian but there is no action in their life that would indicate that nothing just nothing they and I mean I'm not saying that these things are the things that make a Christian but these are things that Christians might do they don't go to church they don't read their Bibles they don't talk to other people they don't associate with other Christians for the purpose of talking about their Christian life or sharing the Christian life with the people yet somewhere in their mind they have it I am a Christian I identify that way but again if it's a true identification there's gonna be something in your life Moses notice that word in verse 25 choosing rather now again your choices say something about who you are um the kid or the adult who spends way too much time entertaining himself with gaming now that isn't just something he does it's something that says something about who he thinks himself to be I'm not saying that in a good way or a bad way although it's kind of hard to escape that at least somewhat negative but yeah what we do says something about who we are I don't think that's the entirety of it but Moses had a choice that declared something about his identity here's the third aspect our identity awareness as believers it'll cost us something look at verse 25 it says choosing rather to suffer affliction Moses chose this he chose to embrace affliction and when you think about the opportunities open to him it's a remarkable choice look make no mistake about him Moses had in front of him a life of all moe just unceasing comfort and ease as being at the top levels of Egyptian society that was his future but he made a choice knowing that it would cost himself and you know what whatever choice you make for an identity it is gonna cost you something and I think that this awareness of identity in Moses answered three questions for him okay here's the three questions and I think these are three questions that you need to answer personally for yourself in your life number one who I am not number two who I am so first in the negative first then in the positive and then thirdly to whom do I belong who are my people okay those three questions Who am I not who I am and to whom do I belong now I don't know if those questions need to be asked in that order but this is the order that I see them in the text notice first of all Moses understood who he was not do you see that in verse 25 he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter now why everything in his life led him to have that expectation the Bible tells us why by faith he understood this there was something in Moses that went far beyond getting back a DNA test from 23andme saying your Hebrew it went far beyond that it wasn't based on that it was based on faith by faith Moses said those ivory palaces of Egypt that's not me someone else I'm someone different now that's a radical thing to say when you've had that much privilege that much comfort in front of you I think of what it said about Moses past what it says about his future what the culture would say around him but he understood first who he was not and it ended up being a renunciation at least in some ways of his past I'm not defined by my past everything in my past says Egyptian Egyptian Egyptian I'm not defined by my past I'm defined not necessarily by my genetics I'm defined by the calling of God God has a call on my life I embrace it by faith listen in our last session today I'm gonna talk to you a lot more about this idea of calling because I think it's really important and really important for any impact that you or I are gonna make on this world but right now just just shelve that idea and understand that Moses embraced this by faith I don't belong to those people secondly notice this it says he understood who he was and who was that he was a Hebrew by faith and by birth I understand who I'm not I understand who I am and then verse 25 indicates that he understood to whom he belonged notice it says there in verse 25 with the people of God he chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God now let's get back to those questions that people ask in the culture Who am I and to whom do I belong now think about all the things that people do today to try to answer those questions for themselves and please I hope nobody takes us in any kind of personal way there's any kind of personal evaluation or criticism of anything or anybody or any practice but think about the practice and the popularity of tattoos the tattoo is not just something nice that you get I suppose for a few people it is but for many people it's meant to be a meaningful statement about Who I am this marks me this is a declaration of who I am something about me that I regard as important it's an effort to brand oneself and sometimes people literally do that with a hot iron I want to let everybody know and remind myself Who I am and to whom I belong but listen it goes far beyond something like that it's almost an everything it's not just this it's like hey I prefer Apple computing products it's know I'm a Mac guy it's not just I prefer Starbucks no that is something that defines me it's not just I like a certain kind of technology in my smartphone no that's kind of what team I'm on everything comes back to this kind of identity who do I belong to now I think that this question connects so big to people in our world today which is really all of us that's really want to know who they are and who they belong to now I understand that the question excuse me that the answer we give to the culture horrifies them Who am I to whom do I belong hey you can be a follower Jesus Christ you can be a Christian and for many many people who are that answer horrifies them that's the last people to whom I would want to belong are you kidding me that collection of ignorant superstitious haters because really I mean this is how many times the Christian community is perceived by the world is it not why would I ever want to belong to that well listen I'll tell you one thing it has to be a work of God that happens in people you tell me why would Moses choose to identify with the despised slave people in Egypt God had done something in him and God has to do something in people before they say this is who I want to be and this is whom I want to belong to now it's very much important for us as believers to live both as individuals and as our community to the best of our ability to the very best of our ability to live in a way that puts all those accusations - the lie in other words people say we're ignorant and superstitions and haters we should never live in a way that justifies those accusations while at the same time understanding that even though they say those things about us um they're still gonna say those things about us rather the sisters I'm here to tell you Christians have been lied about from the very beginning so you know in the days of the early church the lies that they told about Christians this is what they said about Christians in the Roman world in the early church they said number one they're cannibals number two they said that they're sexually immoral and number three they said that they that they hate humanity say they have Christians being haters let's go back to the Roman times okay well why would they say that they hate humanity I'll tell you why because when everybody was all getting ready to go to the gladiatorial games and see two people literally butcher and kill each other on the glass the Christian said no man no thanks I'm not going like what do you hate us when everybody was running down to the temple of aphrodite to employ the team of prostitutes that worked at the brothel at the temple of Aphrodite and they asked the Christian guy from work to come along since no way man I'm not going to that what do you hate us that's how they haters of humanity why did they get accused of being sexually immoral because Christians would get together and have something that they called the love feast and it was just for their group it wasn't open to everybody it was just for their group it was the Luffy's we know it was times when they get together and have a potluck dinner and have communion but the Romans said oh man when they close the door at their love feast who knows what happens behind there then why would they say that Christians were cannibals because they say do you know what they do they get together and they actually eat the body and drink the blood of some dead guy and these are the accusations that went around we hear those now hundreds of years later as we smile those were popularly believed in the Roman world look we can't stop the world from lying about us but we do need to live in such a way that says what they say about us is a lie but it does make us realize that god has to do a work in somebody before they'll say this is who I want to be these are the people to whom I belong but listen I got to admit to you it's it's a dicey thing that I see Christians in the world in the media and they embarrass me am I alone in this man they embarrassed me it could be from a lot of different ways that they might embarrass me and I just kind of out of my head and just go oh man this is that and and there's something in me sometimes that wants to stand up and scream I'm not like them I'm not like them but you know what I realized that I realize look at the end of it God needs to deal with that person and if there are some weird people in the Christian family then there's weird people in every family there's weird people in your family aren't there look you might be the weird person in your family for all I know but that's how it is with family right family will have some weird people in it and they can still be family and we can just hope and trust and believe that God will deal with them but we still say look at the end of the day we're still the body of Christ even at times it embarrasses us alright so back to this idea when the Trott one that we're not confident in God's power to change lives and when raat confident in his ability to really transform identity then we can present it to people that you can answer God's call with no change in identity run sisters that's um that's a problem to answer the call of God in the Christian life is to say I am gonna embrace a new identity in Jesus Christ and I'm gonna allow this to become my chief identity whereas before I might have fundamentally seen myself defined as my race my class my culture my education my hobbies would ever be those things in the past I may have let those in my mind and in my expression to find Who I am to be a follower of Jesus Christ says no he becomes my identity I look to him first and foremost now this gets back to something that I mentioned before it affects the way that we do evangelism and that we understand evangelism too many people understand coming to Jesus Christ as alright the figure I used before it was adding Jesus to your life let me use another figure it's making Jesus part of your story in other words it's like there's a movie of your life or you can if you want to think of it as a theatrical production whatever there's a movie of your life you're writing the movie you're directing it who's the lead actor or actress it's you it's the story of your life this is it and there's some people who think that having Jesus in your life means that Jesus comes into your movie and makes it a way better movie meant Jesus this movie was really stinking before but since you came into it Wow everything's better in the movie and she's so amazing you are so good I'm gonna give you a leading role now not the leading role of course the leading role is me but Jesus man you're gonna get top billing and I got a good film you're gonna get Best Supporting Actor for your role in my life because man this is great that's your job Jesus to be Best Supporting Actor in my life but it's still my story my movie my script I'm the director do you realize that being a Christian is such a fundamental change of identity that being a Christian means that we take the script of our own movie and we rip it up and throw it in the trash and we say Jesus I want to be an actor in your movie I don't get your movie is what's important and instead of trying to make you part of my story I want to be part of your story my identity is now found in you that's what it's about that's this fundamental shift so we have something very power full to speak to ourselves and to present to the world and it gives us a new set of values take a look at this in verse 26 it says esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt in other words he had an entirely different set of values so who we are in Jesus seems so big so impossible that it needs to be grasped by faith who are you in Jesus Christ let me tell you I'll give you just a very very brief incomplete overview you're forgiven you're made righteous you have the righteousness of Jesus Christ you are adopted into his family as a son or a daughter of God you are filled with and sealed by the Holy Spirit of God your old man is dead and you reckon it so you are now a new man or a new woman in Jesus Christ and that new man is patterned after Jesus you are called and gifted to serve Jesus and his people you have an important place in God's eternal plan of the ages I mean all these things are true this is who you are in Jesus Christ each individually or taken together are huge and it takes faith and finally what I want you to knows is all of these things were true of Jesus now I put before the example of Moses the guy who knew who he was who knew he was not and knew the people they'd identified was even more so it's true of Jesus do you think there was ever a person more aware of his identity than Jesus himself listen at 12 years old he said I need to be about my father's business at 12 years old he had a sense of his identity he knew who he was he knew who he was not he could stand aside from a corrupt and sinful and rebellious and and terrible world and so I'm not of that and he knew to whom he belonged as well his father in heaven and his people here on earth this is something that Jesus Christ wants to recreate in every one is now your task here is as you read and hear and understand the Bible to continually ask yourself these questions what does this tell me about Who I am what did this tell me about who I'm not and who I used to be and what does this tell me about the people I belong to I'm gonna suggest to you I'm using a little bit of hyperbole here I'm gonna suggest to you that that is written on every page of the Bible deals with one of those three questions who you are who you're not or who you used to be and and the people you belong to the more settled and secure you get in this the more you're gonna see your life thrive in Jesus Christ [Music] you [Music]

Channel: David Guzik

Views: 5,244

Rating: 4.9359999 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: a6NWiEaFeyA

Length: 54min 43sec (3283 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 30 2019