Human Identity // Ty Gibson

hey storyline it's so great to be with you because we are launching into a new series on the book of ephesians we're calling this thing power dynamics because we're going to be discovering that according to the apostle paul in this remarkable piece of gospel writing that power dynamics define human experience in human existence now i want to emphasize what ally mentioned that is that there are outlines for all of the messages study guides that you can either have open on your device or you can download these things in any format that you choose to print them i want you to have if at all possible a note taking device have your bible ready and let's just launch right in to this material the first thing that we want to explore is what i'm going to refer to and this is paul's way of thinking i'm going to refer to human identity think in terms of self-definition for a moment what are you who are you well the apostle paul is going to go to great lengths to communicate to us precisely who and what we are we're going to be exploring in part one of this ephesians series human identity now in order to get there i want to bring to your attention the fact that for the 19th and a little bit into the 20th century there were three great theories of human identity that came into circulation now it doesn't matter if you are well read in these three great theories of human identity it doesn't matter if you can wrap language around them if you are a person who was raised in western civilization and perhaps anywhere on planet earth you have been impacted by one of if not all three of these great theories of human identity now i'm using the word great here not to refer to good not great in the sense of good but great in the sense of big encompassing these are theories that have permeated human consciousness now the first came to us by none other than karl marx karl marx the father of communism was a philosopher a thinker an author an economist he was an individual who went to great lengths to define what he believed to be the essence of human identity karl marx essentially as we're about to discover said that money is the defining characteristic the defining drive in human nature and so communism is at its core an economic theory it is a theory about the exchange of products and services and the exchange of money it is a theory about what has monetary value and how what has monetary value moves in the social community so karl marx essentially said listen if you want to know what you are if you want to know what we are we are you are each of us really is a creature of money of economy of the exchange of goods and services friedrich nietzsche came along also a rather deep thinker and some regard as the father of modern atheism because he popularized the the slogan that showed up on bumper stickers straight through the 1960s and 70s at least in the united states god is dead now friedrich nietzsche he says no human beings are not defined by money human beings are defined by power the defining drive in human nature the thing we want behind everything else we want at bottom at the foundation is power we want to dominate we want to acquire things yes yes money yes material things but material things really have at their base a more fundamental essential passion or drive and that is for power that is for power and then sigmund freud a remarkably intelligent ingenious thinker came along and he says no it's not money no it's not power what human beings want at the foundation of what they want at the core of what they want human beings are defined by sex sexuality sex is the defining and driving force in human nature now karl marx in defining money and economy as the primary constituent of human identity simply says by possessing the property of buying everything by which he means money money possesses the property the the ability to buy everything of appropriating all objects to appropriate means means that you are you are given something in exchange for so he he says listen the fact that you appropriate to yourself you gather to yourself all objects by means of money this means that money money he says is thus the object of imminent possession by which he means money is the thing you want more than anything else because money is the means by which you can get everything else it is the medium of exchange if you have money you can get anything else so it is the object of imminent preeminent most desirable possession get money and you got what you need because you can get everything else he goes on and says the universality of its property that is the property of money is the omnipotence of its being by universality he means the fact that money is everywhere that it's the universal medium of exchange well that makes it omnipotent it is the thing that everybody wants because with it you can get everything else now watch what he says here that for which i can pay that which money can buy that am i myself as the possessor of the money i buy therefore i am in other words he is saying listen the fact that i can get anything with money the fact that everything has a price tag the the fact that you can acquire whatever you want with money well that means that you are defined by the money you have and the leverage you can exert with money to get what you want i am myself the things i acquire by money it's an identity statement that he's making and then he says this the extent of the power of money the extent of the power of money is the extent of my power this is profound it's a great theory not in that it's a good theory but that it is a big theory that has permeated human thinking and it has dominated entire civilizations from the point of karl marx forward after having published his communist manifesto entire nations and people groups were dominated by this idea that money is the bottom line the economy is the bottom line there needs to be a distribution of wealth of money in order to give every person the identity of a purchaser of a buyer of things because whatever i can buy that defines the extent of my power so bottom line i'm a creature of money according to marx but then nietzsche comes along and he says hey wait a minute no life simply is life simply is will to power that's what's driving human nature that's what we want he says defining his theory my idea is that every specific body well you for example me for example any person that you meet on any given street at any given moment whoever you are any given specific body strives to become master over all space and extend its force its will to power that is and to thrust back all that resists its extension so so nietzsche is saying that what you want is power and you're going to do whatever you got to do to get it and you want to extend your power you want to expand the territory over which you dominate whether that be people or material items or whatever it may be the thing you want more than anything else is power but the will to power in any given individual it continually encounters similar efforts on the part of other bodies do you see what he's saying here the moment i try to exert my will to acquire power well i find myself up against you and you want to exert your will against my will to have power over whatever it is the contention happens to be so there is a clash of wills to power and then he says this he says that when this happens when this effort to acquire power is encountered by another person's effort to acquire power well the arrangement an arrangement has to be made a union a treaty between nations an agreement between individuals business partners might have to settle out of court or they might have to settle in court one way or another when two wills to power come up against one another there's going to be a tension and a union a an arrangement a resolve needs to be achieved with the other person who's pursuing power thus they then conspire the two individuals or the two nations or the two communities they then conspire together for power this is called an alliance between individuals or countries nations military powers political powers political enemies for example might unite to exert power together to to conspire together for power and then they'll share the power and the process goes on and on and on niche says that's what history looks like according to nietzsche history looks like a bunch of power mongers people who are pursuing power who come up against other people who are also pursuing power and so treaties and arrangements have to be made i am according to nietzsche a creature primarily defined by power the desire to control while freud as previously mentioned says now sexuality is the key sexuality not money not economics not power not control no if you really want to understand human nature sexuality is the key to the problem of the psychoneurosis of any given individual and of neurosis in general whatever it is that is going wrong in any human psyche whatever that thing is he's saying it is traceable to a sexual urge a sexual desire so much so that he says no one who disdains the key which is human sexuality will ever be able to unlock the door that is unlock the door to understand what it is that makes human beings tick the core issue according to freud is that a human being is defined by their sexuality the behavior of a human being now check this out this is profound you may agree or disagree but he's making an observation as the father of psychotherapy he's observing human beings in action he's had thousands of hours with patients that he has walked through their issues and he says the behavior of a human being in sexual matters the way a person behaves sexually is often a prototype of the whole of his other modes of reaction in life so my sexuality he says is dictating the way i relate on all other levels in all other issues of life i am a creature says freud of sexuality i am defined by my sexuality that's who i am that's what i am it is the overarching identity now i'm going to suggest to you that these are what i'm going to call reductionistic theories reductionistic theories because they reduce human beings to one dimension of the human experience money is definitely a part of human experience we are definitely creatures of acquisition we get stuff we want to have things we want money so that we can buy stuff oftentimes it's stuff we need food shelter for example but those needs oftentimes cross over into wants and those wants can become opulent and extravagant and indulgent and ridiculously destructive so these are reductionistic theories in that money and economy is a part of human experience but marx reduces human experience to money to the exchange of products and services for hard cold cash well power is a part of human experience according to nietzsche he's not wrong in the sense that human beings do seek to acquire space over which they rule right but that's just one dimension of human experience it's okay to buy a 20 acre piece of property build a house on it plant a garden build a fence and govern rule that domain it's okay to start a business and to be the boss in the business you started do you see what i'm saying there's a legitimate use of power just like there is a legitimate ex use of money but to reduce human beings as nietzsche does to the will to power is to reduce a human being to something less than what our potential actually is so think about it like this to the degree that i don't know who i really am please track with me on this to the degree that i don't know who i really am i'm naturally going to fabricate an identity for myself that is defined by money power or sex this is i'm going to say a truism of human experience there's nobody who escapes the matrix of this experiential reality if i don't know who i really am if i have an identity vacuum an identity crisis if i don't know who i really am well then i'm going to create an avatar for myself i'm going to fabricate an image of myself that i'll project to myself and to others and there are three basic categories that i will formulate my identity within and they are money power and sex are you tracking with me now i said earlier that it doesn't matter if you are well read or familiar with these three great theories of human identity whether or not you have read about them in any kind of direct and deliberate manner whether you have become acquainted academically with the theories doesn't matter regardless you have been to some significant degree permeated with these ways of thinking with these ways of being with these ways of self identifying self-identifying you live in a culture i live in a culture that is just sit up and take notice pay attention look at the world around you money power and sex that's what the entire media consists of minus a few different variant rabbit trails that ultimately seem to come right back to money power or sex this is how human beings process reality apart from a solid grounded identity your identity paul says my identity the apostle paul in the book of ephesians says your identity transcends your material possessions identity says the apostle paul transcends your power over others your identity my identity transcends your sexuality my sexuality i am i am more than my money my power my sexuality there's something about me that transcends those parts i am the sum total of who i am in a way that not one of these things can fully define me so the apostle paul in the book of ephesians communicates to us the most astounding perspective imaginable regarding what it means to be a human being now track with me here as we in this introductory study to the book of ephesians break down what paul is doing for us here first of all we need to understand that the book of ephesians is very skillfully written it is a piece of literary art in fact if you look at the literary structure of the book of ephesians and we don't have time to go into the details and there are many details regarding the literary structure but on the face of it the aerial view is that the literary structure of the book of ephesians is that there are six chapters and the first three chapters have something to say along a similar line a similar vein of thought the first three chapters and then the last three chapters have something similar to say similar ideas and concepts that are expounded upon in the first three chapters the apostle paul is talking to us about who we are in christ what is my primary identity what is your primary identity as a human being well paul says that if you want to know who you are lock your gaze upon christ look at jesus examine him and when you look at jesus you will see humanity as humanity was always meant to be you will see in christ the ultimate human the prototypical human the eschatological human you will see in christ exactly and precisely what your potential is in christ you have an identity according to the apostle paul but check this out when he comes to chapter four he opens chapter four verse one with the word therefore if you are in christ dot dot dot well therefore something follows there's a logical progression in paul's thinking your identity is defined in christ therefore you're going to live out the implications of that identity in all of your power dynamics in all of your relational dynamics he says in the first three chapters well this is his story this is the story of jesus in the remaining three chapters he says okay that's his story now here's your story here's my story as a human being jesus lived out a particular narrative and now i am called and you are called to live out a particular narrative that is reflective of the narrative that we encounter in christ he says listen in the first three chapters he says here is objective history a historical record of a man named jesus christ and he lived an actual life he was born he lived he died he resurrected he ascended and this christ event constitutes what it means to really be human and what god's desire and purpose is for all human beings jesus represents for us a objective reality that is outside of us as a historical fact it's something we can read about in scripture it happened and because it happened it's objective it's external to me it's external to you objective facts on the table in christ well then the apostle paul says okay if those are the objective facts of the christ event then he delves into chapters four through six he delves into the subjective experience that i am called to in response to the objective facts in history that i encounter in christ so going back to chapter one he begins by introducing himself hey i'm the apostle paul grace and peace be to you i've got some things i want to communicate to you and then in verse 3 after he makes his little introduction of himself he says listen in chapter 1 verse 3 he says blessed be the god and father of our lord jesus christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm in the heavenly places in christ now that's a little complex language for us in our modern vernacular but essentially what paul is saying here is that hey how many blessings has god gifted to us provided for us in christ well well paul says every spiritual blessing there's no lack jesus represents a complete picture of what god's purpose and will and desire is for human beings jesus in himself has brought the gift of all spiritual blessings in the one gift of himself and this according to the apostle paul this is something that god has done past tense remember our language objective reality it's a done deal it's not something that you and i can contribute to or add to you can't ramp up salvation by anything you might do you can't contribute to it salvation is an accomplished reality in christ he's done it for us apart from us outside of us in history boom it's done now paul says this is done and the first three chapters he expounds on that idea and then when he comes to chapter four which is the transition point and verse one he says i therefore the prisoner of the lord beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called do you see what he's doing here he's saying god has done all that he could possibly do which is everything in christ and then paul says okay therefore in the light of that i beseech you as a prisoner of the lord i'm admonishing you to walk that's a metaphor for live relate exist walk worthy of the calling with which you were called the apostle paul then goes on throughout the entire book of ephesians to use one word to define the totality of god's purpose for human beings and the way that god relates to us the word that he uses repeatedly which we will explore in greater detail in future studies in this series for right now i just want to introduce the concept to you over and over again paul uses the word love it is the word in the greek as paul employs it it is the word agape from which we get from from which paul derived his understanding having been grounded in the old testament hebrew idea has said let me say that less complicated the most prominently used word in fact the most frequently used word in the old testament to define the identity of god the character of god is the word has said it is sometimes translated as mercy sometimes translated as unfailing love sometimes it is translated as just love faithful love he said is god's default mode it is the essence of the divine identity god is love according to the old testament and the word is has said well you come to the new testament and paul and the other apostles had to find a greek word that would serve as the greek equivalent of the hebrew concept of hesed so they grabbed the word from greek language agape and they said that's it what we encounter in christ is the agape love of god and as we'll see in this series as we continue this is paul's prominent pervasive thought and it relates very very clearly and carefully in paul's thinking to the formation of human identity money power and sex according to paul as we're going to discover become corrupt and destructive when they are separated from love money without love is destructive power without love destructive sex without love destructive these are these are dimensions of human identity that if they are wielded outside of if they are exercised outside of the context of love they become corrupt degrading reductionistic experiences that delete from our identity that subtract from our identity rather than adding to our identity so the apostle paul in two passages i want to close by calling your attention to in ephesians chapter 1 verse 19 paul speaks of this agape love of god that is manifested in christ in the christ event he refers to it with this very fascinating language he says what i'm here to tell you is what is the exceeding greatness of his that's god's power toward us in christ that is his power toward us manifested in christ is a power that comes into effect paul says when we believe it the act of believing that what we see in christ is our own identity as a gift from god to us the act of believing sets that power in motion it ignites the power of god's love in our lives it doesn't manufacture the love of god god's love already exists and that's why he gave the gift of his son but that already existing love we're alienated from it we're separated from it and the exceeding greatness of the power of god toward us it kicks in it ignites it revs up like an internal engine when we believe it and this he says is according to the working of his mighty power this series is called power dynamics and the power dynamic by which god relates to us is the power of his love toward us but watch this in chapter 3 verses 20 and 21 now unto him who is able paul says to do exceeding abundantly above all that we could ask or think according to the power that works in us to him be glory by the church by in the church by christ jesus to all generations forever and ever amen do you see the difference in the language here the apostle paul just said in chapter one that god brings his love toward us in christ this is god's posture toward us it's external to us first and foremost it is on display in christ outside of us historically as an objective reality and we encounter the love of god in christ toward us in christ well then as we believe in that love it becomes his power in us first his power toward us then his power in us it becomes our own experiential reality i am according to marx the sum total of my possessions of my material ability my purchasing power i am the sum total of my possessions according to nietzsche i am the sum total of my power over others to the degree that i can exert power that's who i am that's what i'm really defined by i am the sum total of my sexuality according to freud but listen you guys listen my identity transcends my material possessions my power over others and my sexuality that's what paul is teaching us the book of ephesians is seeking to persuade us to locate our identity outside of merely purchasing power in the acquisition of things the exertion of power and control over others or over my environment or my sexuality as the defining things that thing that makes me who i am in christ according to paul in the book of ephesians i discover that i am a creature of majestic love that's who i am that's what i am that's who and what you are in christ the power dynamics that are in display on display in christ are remarkable this is part one of our ephesians series i hope that you will join us for the succession of this series one after another as we discover what it means to find our identity in the person of christ and it is a beautiful remarkable identity indeed the outline that is provided is for your convenience to capture this material to take notes and to pull together the ideas take a look at the storyline website where you can bring the outlines for the future studies up on your device or print them out as they are prepared as they are ready thank you so much for pausing to take the time to explore this remarkable theme of human identity in christ would you pray with me as we settle and rest in the contemplation of all that god has done for us in the person of jesus christ father in heaven you're amazing you're remarkable thank you for blessing us with all spiritual blessings in christ there is no lack in him everything is complete accomplished finished achieved in christ we look at him and we see that we are more than we've ever imagined we are more than money more than power more than sex our identity transcends all of that to compose a creature of majestic love living out the implications of your love in our relationships in all our power dynamics thank you for all that you have done for us in christ in whose name we pray amen

Channel: Storyline Church

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Keywords: storyline church, ty gibson

Id: 4U1lpUcowLI

Length: 36min 37sec (2197 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 10 2021