Identity Crisis September 2015 Leader s Manual
Week #1: Who Am I? Opening Prayer Heavenly Father, thank you for gathering us together to study your Word and encourage one another in the lives you have blessed us with. Please prepare our hearts and minds for this time together. You put a lot of care into creating us to be who we are. We are your children. Make us evermore into the people that you desire us to be. In Jesus name. Amen. Icebreaker If your group doesn t know each other well, spend some time introducing yourselves (names, place of work, etc). And answer this question, When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? Watch Video (9:24) Study Imagine that a loved one went missing. What identifying characteristics would you give to authorities to accurately describe the person? The purpose of this and the next question is to set the stage as we move into the reading from Genesis where we see how much of our identity is rooted in what God gives us. How many of the identifying characteristics you just mentioned are fixed (i.e. given to you by God) and how many are changeable? Read Genesis 2:7-17 The man was a creature. Dependent on God. According to the Bible, when God created Adam, He called all the shots. Adam didn t get to choose where he would live, how tall he would be, or what he would look like. He was a creature and his Creator determined exactly where and how he fit into this world. You didn t get a choice either. You didn t choose where and when you were born, who your parents were, or what your physical characteristics would be. If you could call the shots, what would you change about your identity? To be clear, where does your human identity come from? Short answer: God gives it to us Page 2
Read 1 Peter 2:9-10 What identifying marks of Christians are specifically stated here? Chosen race, royal priesthood, holy nation, people for His possession How do you get this Christian identity? It is given to you by God through His grace and love, just as your physical characteristics were given to you by Him. Your Christian identity is more than a list of characteristics. It is also how you use those things to accomplish God s will. According to this reading, what is that purpose? To proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. You are a whole person created by God. Your whole identity is to be used for his purpose. What unique gifts/talents/characteristics have you been given that could be used by God to fulfill His purpose? Get people talking about what they are good at or even what they enjoy doing. How do they do these things as Christians? Do they? Final Application Organizations and companies are famous for writing vision and mission statements. These statements detail what the identity of an organization is and how that will affect its work. Have you ever thought of writing a vision and mission statement for yourself? Now is your chance. This week, write a vision statement (a brief statement describing who you are) and a mission statement (what it is that you will do in your life because of your vision). If you re in this study as a family, feel free to make one statement for your family s vision and mission. Take into consideration what you learned in this Bible Study, that ultimately your identity comes from Christ. Plan on sharing these statements with your group next week. Closing Prayer Heavenly Father, thank you for creating us with such care and purpose. Give us satisfaction to live as your people, content with our identities. Thank you for claiming us as your people through the sacrifice of Christ. We are yours because you have brought us from darkness to light. Allow us to live as people of the light and to continue growing together as a group. In Jesus name. Amen. Page 3
Week #2: Labeled Opening Prayer Heavenly Father, thank you for bringing us together again. Thank you for our lives and for blessing us with work to do in your creation. Bless us now in our time of study that we may be reminded, above all else, we are yours. You have claimed us and we belong to you. Amen. Discussion Share your vision and mission statements. Watch Video (8:54) Study How many of you were labeled in junior high or high school? Share some of the labels you were given or that you gave to others (if they re appropriate) Pretend that you are starting a new job. On the first day you walk into your place of work, and someone says, Tell us about yourself. How many of you would say for your very first answer, I am a Christian. Why or why would you not? Most people introduce themselves by telling a little story about themselves (where they re from, where they live, what their family is like, etc). Most people will not introduce themselves as Christians for a variety of reasons: perhaps because that s a big label, they don t want to offend others, or they don t want to be judged. Read Philippians 3:4b-11 List all the labels that Paul gives to himself. -circumcised on the eighth day -of the people of Israel -of the tribe of Benjamin -a Hebrew of Hebrews -as to the law, a Pharisee -as to zeal, a persecutor of the church -as to righteousness under the law, blameless. Page 4
Paul does not put hope in these things. They are all a loss compared to knowing Jesus. Which identifying marks of your life would you be willing to give up, and which would you be more apprehensive to let go? The purpose of this question is to demonstrate how much hope we put in maintaining our identifying characteristics. We often even make idols out of ourselves Why is Paul willing to give up everything? (v. 11) Paul says that the key to Christian identity is that we are united with Christ in His death and resurrection. Read Colossians 3:1-17 This reading shows God s vision for what a Christian community can look like. Is it too unattainable a goal to strive for? Or is it possible to focus on forgiving one another in order to see all people as God s dearly loved children? Even if it is an unattainable goal, we should still strive towards accomplishing it. You have been labeled by God as His. In Baptism, God marks you as His child. This label goes with you beyond the Christian community into every area of life. How comfortable are you always wearing the new self in public? -You can reference the example in the video of putting on a pair of new jeans. -It can be embarrassing -Sometimes we want people to know that we are regular people too, but we are people who have hope where others are hopeless. Would it be easier to just leave the old self and everything that goes with it behind and move to a monastery secluded from the world? Is that what God has in mind? No we should not. The world needs us in it. Final Application Choose one person from your life (It can be anyone from your spouse to a co-worker, but it should be someone that you know fairly well and have open conversations with.) and write down what you think is that person s greatest identifying characteristic. Then, ask that person what they would say is their greatest identifying characteristic. Compare what you wrote down with what they said. Is it the same thing? Have a conversation about how easy it is to place labels on people. Closing Prayer Gracious God, we so quickly pass judgment on people. It s easy to build shallow ideas about other people, and it s also easy to be shallow about our own identity. However, you are not shallow. You have gone to the depths for us to create us and to buy us back. Remind us of your claim on us, and may we live boldly as your people in our church and in our lives. Amen. Page 5
Week #3: Identity Theft and Protection Opening Prayer Lord, we are often attacked by the evil one. Protect us and our families from attacks of the evil one. Help us to remain steadfast in your truth. Please give us peace and contentment during this time of study. Help us to set aside the stress of this day and be open to hear your Word, that it may bring us the security and peace that we need. In Jesus name. Amen. Discussion How many of you have identity theft protection? How many of you have had your identities stolen? Share some stories. Watch Video (8:39) Study What parts of our Christian identity do you feel are being stolen by the devil and the world? Is it a blatant attack, or is it stealthy? Consider the changes in societal morality, etc. Read 1 Peter 5:1-11 This word is written to elders/pastors (shepherds). What sort of animal is used to describe God s people that are placed in their care? And what animal is used to describe the devil? God s people = Flock of sheep; Devil = Lion Have a conversation about what sheep do to survive and what lions do to survive. Sheep survive by avoiding predators. Lions survive by hunting/killing sheep and other prey. If we are sheep and the devil is a lion, how do we survive? Why does the devil attack us? We survive by trying to avoid attacks of the evil one. We stay in God s word. We rely on him to guide us. The devil attacks us because the only way that he survives is by attacking prey. What is the shepherd s job in all of this? Who is the Chief Shepherd? -Shepherd s job is to protect the sheep. -The Chief Shepherd is Jesus How easy is it to avoid the attacks and temptations of Satan? Is it impossible? Not easy. Maybe it s impossible to avoid That s why we move to the next reading where we see how Jesus protects us as we are constantly under attack. Page 6
Read Ephesians 6:10-20 Since we may not be able to avoid the attacks, God has given us identity protection: the armor of God. Which piece of armor do you use the most in your daily life, and which do you use the least? Clarifying questions you can ask if needed: -Do you put up a defensive shield more often? -Do you wield a sword in attack mode? -Do your feet run into battle, or do they run away? The purpose of this discussion is to guide the participants in thinking about all the ways that God offers them His protection. There are many places in our lives where we take matters into our own hands and don t rely on God. We need to be aware of those places and rely on God s protection instead of fighting the devil on our own. There are many theories about why these pieces of armor are listed and what they mean. That s why we will conclude this session with the description written below. Read This famous picture [of the armor of God] sums up the letter [to the Ephesian church]. The armor represents both a promise of divine protection and an exhortation to battle. Like a general encouraging his troops, Paul tells us that the victory is certain because Christ has already won the war, and He has made us well-prepared to stand with Him to face any last-ditch assaults. In ancient legends, the weapons and armor of a hero could give certain victory to anyone who wore them (1 Samuel 17:38). The armor Paul describes is not simply from God; it is God s own armor, what He Himself wore in battle. Dressed in Christ s amor, we look remarkably like Christ, for through Baptism we are clothed with Him (Eph. 4:24; Rom. 13:12-14; Gal. 3:27). (From the Concordia Self-Study Bible ESV version. p. 2027) Final Application The best identity protection comes through prayer. Martin Luther wrote both a morning prayer and an evening prayer. Each prayer asks for protection from the evil one. Your goal for the week should be to pray the evening prayer each night and the morning prayer each morning. They re both printed below, and your leaders have a card for you that you can carry with you if you desire. Pass out the prayer cards now. Closing Prayer Close with the prayer that is appropriate for the time your group is meeting. Morning Prayer I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please You. For into Your hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen. Page 7 Evening Prayer I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have graciously kept me this day; and I pray that You would forgive me all my sins where I have done wrong, and graciously keep me this night. For into Your hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen.
Week #4: Identity at Work Opening Prayer Lord, thank you for these weeks of study in your Word. We thank you for the people in our group. We pray that you would continue to build us up to be your people in this world. Prepare our hearts and minds at this time to focus on what you want us to hear. You have given us important work to do in this world. Whatever we do, we do it as your people. Amen. Discussion On an average day, what do you spend the most time doing? Is the amount of time you spend equal to the importance of the work? Watch Video (10:15) Study Can you imagine what life would look like with absolutely no work to do? Is it something you would enjoy? Remind them work means anything you do, even preparing food Read Genesis 1:26-31 For what purpose did God create humans? To have dominion over creation and to reproduce and multiply. Is dominion equivalent to domination? Which do you see more people doing in their work? -Dominion means to be responsibly in charge. Domination means to take over and not care about what it is you re dominating. -Many people try to dominate creation in their work. Think of how we try to dominate everything: even darkness. We have almost complete domination over the night. Is this a good thing for us? It s been said that humanity s greatest sin is trying to be like God and not being content with what we have been given to manage. Do you agree or disagree? Why? This was the very first sin and it is the root cause of all sins. This is why the first commandment is, You shall have no other gods before me. The god we often put first is ourselves. Where do you struggle most in being content when it comes to your work? Page 8
Read Philippians 4:10-13 Where does the Apostle Paul find his contentment? Through the strength of Jesus Christ. He remains the same throughout all the struggles and joys of our lives. Is contentment the same as happiness? No. Many people strive for the shallow pursuit of happiness without really being able to define what they are after. Happiness is not a bad thing, but it is more appropriately understood as a result of contentment. Contentment in Christ brings happiness. Happiness does not bring contentment. How could an attitude of contentment in Jesus Christ affect you as you work? It should bring about more purpose and meaning. Happiness is a self-focused reward. Contentment in Jesus Christ allows you to be other-focused. Final Application Look back on the vision and mission statements you made the first week. Is there anything you would change after further study? Write down your final version and commit it to memory, so that your identity in Christ might always be at work. Closing Prayer Father, you have created us to be people who are at work. Yet, due to our sin, selfishness, and the busyness of this world we are often people who try to dominate your creation for the pursuit of happiness. Teach us constantly to find all hope, purpose, and contentment in you the creator and giver of our identity. Amen! Page 9