The good news is that there s a third and true way to have a healthy identity birthed in us: Identity By What I ve Received

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1 Born Identity Part 3 The movie The Bourne Identity is about a man who wakes up from a gunshot trauma to find he has amnesia he doesn t know his name, who he is or what he is supposed to do. This is how our fatherless generation is today, including many Christians. In the raw poetic lyrics by Eminem entitled, The Way I Am he raps about his identity or better yet lack of identity: And I am whatever you say I am If I wasn't, then why would I say I am? I'm so sick and tired of being admired That I wish that I would just die or get fired And drop from my label and stop with the fables You can hear the pressure he feels to get his identity from what other people perceive of him or what he has achieved. This is the blowback of our performance-oriented, achievement-driven culture. It s identity by how you re perceived or what you ve achieved. Tim Keller was talking last night at an LA city-wide gathering about how this expressive individualism of our culture to chase after our dream and follow our feelings is crushing us. This mindset of I ve got to live out my dream and desires actually maims and kills our identity rather than giving us a viable identity. The good news is that there s a third and true way to have a healthy identity birthed in us: Identity By What I ve Received God wants you to receive a New Identification. When you come to Christ, there s new identity. Kind of like when you move from one state to another, you register to get a new ID. In Christ we ve moved to a new state! Instead of sinner, you are now called child. Instead of lost, you are called found. Instead of enemy, you are called friend. Instead of unrighteous, you are called righteous. Instead of sick, you are called healed. Instead of poor, you are called blessed. When you understand your new identity in Christ, you ll be stronger in your faith, you ll stand against temptation, rebound from life s hurts, have healthier relationships, serve others and fulfill your mission. (Ken Dew) 1

2 One of the most important revelations we can get from the Word of God is to understand who we are in Christ. Christians who know Christ makes them to be flourish, experience grace, serve others & make a godly impact! So who should determine our identity? You? The devil? Your peers? Your family? Current culture? Your experiences? No, their vote doesn t count. What defines you, who defines you is the Living Word of God. If we can know and believe what God says about us it will radically change our life. Today let s look at Ephesians 1:4-5. It is packed with truth about who God says you are. Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. Ephesians 1: 4-5 NLT Immersed in these verses is enough truth to form your identity in Christ. What is Paul saying here? The key to understanding who we really are is to see that we are fully loved, chosen, and adopted as a son and daughter of God AND this is amazing too - Ephesians 1:5 says, it gave God great pleasure to adopt us He didn t do it hesitantly or with reservation! Let s explore this passage: First, You are chosen He chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. He didn t get stuck with you. He chose you! The message translation says, Even as [in His love] He chose us [actually picked us out for Himself as His own] It s humiliating to get picked last. It s humiliating to stand there & be overlooked. God chose us first, not last! Before the world was made! (story of how in some sports not picked till last, but Chris Sabo baseball first) But God chose us - he actually picked us out - not because we were perfect or the best at something, or measured up - he chose us because he loved us. Period. 2

3 "The LORD did not set his heart on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other nations, for you were the smallest of all nations! But it was because the LORD loved you. - Deuteronomy 7:7-8 Second, you are loved (AMY) The revelation that God loves you is critical to your identity. Ephesians 1:4 says, Even before He made the world, God loved us... Let take that further, even before you were born, God loved you. Let that sink in. Do you really know and believe that God loves you? It s one thing to understand that God loves you, it s another to actually experience His love personally. Sometimes we can't help but wonder: Does God really love me? Does he still love me when I m unlovable? Does he love me when I really mess up? Can he really love someone like me? Let me prove to you that you are loved and valued. In commerce, the value of something is determined by how much someone is willing to pay for it. Last week I went online and found a book for $1.00. I was willing to pay $1.00 because that is all it was worth to me. But would you be willing to pay a million dollars for a book? Henry Huntington was willing to. The original Gutterburg Bible, by Johannes Gutenberg, was printed the 1450s. Only Forty-eight copies survive today. Back in 1911, Henry Huntington paid $50,000 when he bought the Bible at auction, then the highest price ever paid for a book. Today that would be like paying over a million dollars for one book. Why? For Mr. Huntington the book was priceless and valuable to him. It s the same way with us. God sees you as priceless. He sees you as valuable. So valuable that he was willing to pay a high price for you. If you want to know how valuable you are you look at the cross. If you ever doubt God s love for you look at the cross. People who told you growing up that you are not valuable, not worthy of love - they were lying. It s not true. You are so valuable that Christ died for you. That s how much you are loved and valued. Growing up, I lived with a nagging sense that I was not loveable. I carried around the wounds of rejection like I earned them. By the time I was eighteen I decided I would earn love and attention and developed an eating disorder. Even when I became a Christian and learned God loved 3

4 me, my life was not lining up with my faith. I was insecure and walked around defeated with my head down. But as I began to study the Bible I realized my error. I had humanized God s love. I thought if I have to earn people s love, I have to earn God s love. I thought if people stop loving me, then God would stop loving me. I thought if people s love was conditional then God s love was conditional. I had humanized God s love. I made the mistake in thinking if human love had failed then God s love would fail. But that is not what the Bible says. The Bible says God s love is unconditional, unfailing, everlasting. His love is deep and authentic, perfect and pure. Human love, that is fickle, can t compare to it! God loves you because He is love. There is nothing you can do to cause God to love you any more than He already does and there is nothing that will cause God to love you any less. Let that sink in. Many Christians do not know by experience that they are loved by God, they have not grasped it. Because if they did they would act and think a lot differently than they do. God, the most perfect, loving Father, loves me, This so revolutionized my life that I found myself in love with Him, loving people, hugging people. You know what no one can take His love away from me. People can reject me, criticize me, shun me, but I m still loved - completely, fully, extravagantly. Later in Ephesians Paul prays, May you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love, That you may have the power and be strong to apprehend and grasp with all the saints [the experience of that love] what is the breadth and length and height and depth [of it]; [That you may really come] to know [practically, through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ. - Ephesians 3:17-19 God longs for us to take hold of, grasp and apprehend, experience His love by faith. The problem is not we haven t heard God loves us, it s that we have trouble believing it. Even if you don t feel loved, by faith believe it. You have to go after it. You have to pray, God I open my heart to receive your love. You have to study it, You have to say it out loud, God loves me! Not just once but a thousand times until His love begins to fill the broken places in your heart and soul and heals you. When we experience God s love, when we are rooted in love, everything changes, we change and our identity is transformed. Third: We are adopted 4

5 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. Verse 5 NLT Paul uses the term adoption as sons to write to the believers in the Roman Empire, where they would have understood this in a Christian context. Some versions translate these verses differently, obscuring our adoption as sons. But Paul specifically used these words because he wanted to show the relationship between father & son and the privileges of adoption. Usually, you were adopted if you didn t have a son or if your son left or died You were deeply desired and chosen! Even full grown adults were adopted. Under Roman law, if you were an adopted son, you had identical legal rights to a son born naturally in the family. An adopted son had the right to the family name of the person who adopted him and the right to an inheritance of the father s property. Also, the adoptive Father took responsibility and authority to care and nurture the child the previous parents had no more influence or control! That s good news for us! What it means to be adopted: You are an heir to all your father owns: You inherit everything You have all the rights and privileges of the family You take on the family name You are cared for by your father You become relationally rich Maybe you had a dad who was abusive or unloving? Truth is you ve been adopted by God. Maybe you lost your dad. You are adopted. Maybe your dad left? You are adopted. Maybe you never knew your dad? You are adopted. Story of Mephibosheth 2 Samuel 9:1-10 The king did what he did out of covenant! Jesus Christ is the covenant keeping King He s got our back! David chose and called for Mephibosheth we re chosen, too! David loved Jonathan and his son Mephibosheth we re loved, too! Here s the wrong identity that Mephibosheth struggled with: He was the only living relative of Saul & Jonathan lonely identity Lame in both feet victim identity Don t be afraid most kings killed their competition that s why Mephibosheth was afraid. Just imagine him thinking year after year I know some day David s coming to take kill me fear-based identity 5

6 Verse 8 Why should you notice a dead dog like me? useless identity But king David virtually adopted him You re sitting at the family table everyday! After he met the king, he was given a new identity that said, You re chosen, called, loved and adopted you have value to the king! MINISTRY TIME God loves you, has chosen you, and has adopted you. If you can get this truth deep in your heart, God will form a healthy identity in you. 6