Identity Theft – 6

Identity Theft – 6

Subject – The Lost Need to Know Who They Are in Christ

By Rick Welborne

1 Peter 2:9-10&12 (NLT)
⁹  But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.
¹⁰  “Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God’s people. Once you received no mercy; now you have received God’s mercy.”
¹²  Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world. 

--We have looked at people who have struggled with their identity and who have questioned what their real purpose is in this life. Many would question this familiar verse:

Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV) ¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

--Maybe you would question whether God has a plan for you or not. Maybe the thought of living a prosperous life is beyond your comprehension. A hope and a future…you think…I have no hope or future.

--Many could stand and testify today that their lives were empty and they seemed to have no hope at all. Many of them may have had ‘things’ but they did not have true happiness or joy! Maybe you were destitute.

--Don’t misunderstand me, growing up we were never without food or shelter but when I was born we lived in an 800 sq. ft. slave tenant house…My first bike came from the junk yard…junk!

--What was funny, as a very young kid, I did not know how poor we were…when we were in the third grade my parents bought a house in a real neighborhood with paved streets…Clampets had come to town.

--The house cost $6900 and I remember my parents talking about how tough it would be to make a $76 payment every month. When they sold it four or five years after I graduated they got $35,000 dollars. Up town.

--We definitely were poor spiritually…church was never on the radar, and God and Jesus were talked about often but never in ways that was respectable or honoring. We were lost with no plan or hope.

--By the time I was 17, not only was I poor, my life was bankrupt. Without love and guidance, I kept falling deeper and deeper into a spiritual abyss. This is when I met Ronnie Chunn…he saw identity.

--He started a two-year process of witnessing to me. He took much abuse but remained faithful to what I truly believe was God’s mission for him at that time…Imagine being assigned with that task!

--I finally went with him to a revival service…the rest has been history…that one encounter with Jesus has impacted me for eternity…I found my identity…I obviously found out God had a plan for my life. 

1. We must know who we are in Christ!

1 Peter 2:10 (NLT) ¹⁰ “Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God’s people. Once you received no mercy; now you have received God’s mercy.”

--We once had no identity as people but now we have received the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ and everything has changed, or at least, it should have changed.

--Once you have given your heart to the Lord, the devil has only one plan for you, and that is for you to not know who you are in Christ…for you to lose your identity.

John 10:10 (NKJV)
¹⁰  The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

--Jonah was an Old Testament example of what happens when we do not know our identity in God and how that affects our lives.

--Jonah thought like many of us do, it does not matter what I do or what I am called to do…I will do my own thing and go my own way. We don’t have time to read all of the book of Jonah but:

--First the people on the ship he was taking to Tarshish were affected…They found themselves in a storm that was sent for Jonah…wow…our decisions do affect others who are around us.

--His decision cost others financially…because of the storm and Jonah they had to throw their cargo off the ship to lighten the load…the bad decisions you make can cost others bigtime. 

Romans 14:7 (NKJV) ⁷ For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself.

--Even though Jonah told the men on the ship to throw him overboard, they wanted to preserve his life…they rowed harder and harder…our decisions make others have to work harder. 

--He ends up in the belly of a big fish…addiction can be a big fish…the wrong decision can be a big fish…not doing what God called you to do can be a big fish…we can disobey but there is a cost.

--Because Jonah tried to choose a different identity and a different plan an entire city could have been affected. When he obeyed, the people of Nineveh heard the Word and repented…revival came.

Romans 11:29 (NCV) ²⁹ God never changes his mind about the people he calls and the things he gives them.

2. We must know what we are called to do!

--Do you know what is sad? We are so much like Jonah, in that we know what God has called us to do but we choose to go a totally different direction. 

--When we speak of being called by the Lord we quickly think about specific ministries that God may or may not be calling us into.

Ephesians 4:11-12 (NLT) ¹¹ Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 

¹² Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.

--This next list expands on the first and really opens up the areas we can be called into.

Romans 12:6-8 (NIV)
⁶  We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith.
⁷  If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach;
⁸  if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.

Galatians 5:13 (NLT) ¹³ For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love. 

--I do not want to over simplify this message but according to what we just read, I come up with this basic conclusion…We are called to serve God and serve one another. Agree?

--I truly believe that we, after we have been saved, should feel a call from God to love, serve, and disciple those who have received Christ. But what of those who have not received Christ? His call for us is to go!

Mark 16:15-16 (NKJV) ¹⁵ And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
¹⁶  He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.

--Once we lead them to Christ, our next job is to disciple them into who God wants them to be…in other words…once they are saved we are called to serve them.

--The reason so many Christians are not enjoying their life in Christ is because they are neither going nor serving. We think, we pay others to go (missionaries) and others to serve (pastors). Out text:

1 Peter 2:9 (NLT)
⁹  But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. 

--Because you are royal priests, because you are God’s very own possession, because you are saved you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. 

3. We must know our identity is found in helping others find their identity.

--Right after Peter tells us that we can show others the goodness of God (in others words we show them their identity in Christ) we see that it says…Once we had no identity as a people and now we are God’s people.

--Once I did not know who I was or what I was supposed to do with my life, but now, because of finding God’s mercy…I know my identity.

--The sad woman at the well in John 4 did not know who she was and she surely did not know God had a plan for her life…Jesus knew His identity and that He came to seek and to save the lost.

--This woman thought her identity was found in having the right man, and she was right, it was the Son of Man, Jesus Christ. Once she found Him and her identity she became just like Him…what did she do?

John 4:28-42 (NKJV) ²⁸ The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men,
²⁹  "Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?"

--Watch this…the woman finds her identity in Christ and goes to tell the men of the city about Jesus. She did for them what Jesus had done for her!

--Jesus is saying the time is now to go and help people figure out who they are. Many received Christ because of this woman! A job well done!