Preacher: Jeremy Herbert
Text: Ephesians 2:1-10
Theme: What Does the Bible Say About Identity: Who Am I In Christ?
- Personal Identity
- Social Identity
- Restored Identity
Notes:
- Questions:
- How did I get here?
- Who am I?
- Why am I here?
- What is true?
- How do I know right from wrong?
- What happens when I die?
- Ecc 3:11, “…He has put eternity into man’s heart….”
- Questions of Identity:
- The answers to these questions will determine who you are and what you do with your life
- Who am I?
- Why am I here?
- Personal Identity
- Your individual personality and characteristics
- How you perceive yourself
- What distinguishes you from others?
- Social Identity
- Your shared values with others
- How others perceive you
- How are you alike with others?
- If we tie either our personal identity (what I think about myself)
or our social identity (what others think of us) to the wrong things,
we are going to have a flawed view of our identity- Since God is the author of who we are, He has the authority to rightly describe who we are
- The structure of the book of Ephesians points to the issue of identity
- As believers, our identity is inextricably tethered to Christ
- Every other source of identity is a false foundation of shifting sand:
- Being a spouse
- Being a parent
- Being wealthy
- Being creative
- Being an American
- Being employed
- Being successful
- Am I still who I am when I lose one or more of these things?
- Am I still OK when I lose one or more of these things?
- The “Disney problem”: when a protagonist looks inward to find truth, and lives out their own subjective truth apart from their any other truth
- But we are born without any indwelling truth
- We must find truth outside of ourselves
- Eph 2:1, “…you were dead in trespasses and sins….”
- Our will is by nature bound to oppose God
- Apart from the regeneration of the (external) Holy Spirit, we will not come to the truth
- Sin distorted our identity
- But through Christ, we have been given a new identity
- Our old identity has no power over us
- 1 Cor 6:11, “And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified….”
- Eph 2:1-2, “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked….”
- 1 Tim 1:13, “though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent…”
- We don’t define ourselves by how we feel or how well you do:
- I’m doing great–I’m better than those other sinners
- I’m doing terrible–I will never change or improve
- A right perspective on our identity as believers:
- I am loved
- Not because I am inherently lovely
- But because Christ has made me lovely
- We don’t derive our identity from what we say about ourselves
- We derive our identity from what God says about us
- We are freed from either shame or pride because
- God acknowledges our sin,
- Christ atoned for our sin,
- God accepts Christ’s sacrifice,
- God transforms us,
- God calls us His own
- Live It Out!
- Root out false ideas with the truth:
- 2 Cor 10:5, “We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,”
- Meditate on truth of God’s word
- Pray that God would empower your future through hope in what Christ has done
- Root out false ideas with the truth:
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