Week 5 identity in Christ

BELIEVE: Identity in Christ (Week 5)
RUMC September 25, 2016

  Have you ever had your identity stolen? Thankfully, I have not. We have had the credit union call a couple of times to tell us that they believe our card has been compromised, and we should come get cards with new numbers. That is bad enough. But it is scary to think of someone getting your social security number and opening up accounts in your name. It can be a real hassle. Our insurance company offers an ID theft-monitoring rider. It is comforting to get the emails from them saying everything is OK. But what if it isn’t some day?
We don’t want anyone to steal our identity. But sometimes we ALLOW it to happen? I’m not talking about a Social Security number or credit cards. Sometimes I think we give our identity away by letting other people define us. They call us…
  Liberal or conservative,
Republican or democrat or independent,
The define us by where we live
The type of clothes we wear,
The car that we drive.
They may call us lazy, losers or loners
We’re smart or dumb.
We are love or unloved.
If you are still in school, you are defined y by your grade point average, the athletic teams you play on, or the group with whom you hang.
If you are in the working world, you are defined by blue-collar, white-collar, your job status, or your income.
If you are retired, you are defined by your retirement savings, your travels, or your physical ability.
You are defined by your accomplishments and your failures.
You are defined by your relationships- I am my wife’s husband, or my boyfriend’s girlfriend. I’m divorced. Or I’m between relationships.
You are defined by your illness. You are depressed; you are diabetic, etc…
There are all these voices yelling at us from our neighbors, and family, and the media telling us we are this or we are that. They are stealing our identity; and labeling us according to their identity. Which voice at we to believe?
Let me tell you… none of them. Those voices are lying to you. There is, however, another voice... a more authoritative voice… a true voice, if only we will listen.

  We started this BELIEVE series talking about GOD, and how GOD CARES, we talked about the fact that he cares so much he sent JESUS TO SAVE US. And then he gave us a book by which we live, the BIBLE.
  In that official user’s guide to the human soul, in John 1:12, the Bible tells us who we are. If you turn to page 77 in your BELIEVE book you will find it. The Key verse for the week is, “Yet To all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” (John 1:12)
That is the way God defines you: child of God. That is what the voice of truth says; you are a child of God. Jesus says you are worth dying for because you are a child of God.
Let’s say the key verse together. “Yet To all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” (
On page 82 of the BELIEVE book, we find a great story about Jesus redefining who someone was. It comes from the book of Luke, chapter 19.

There was a man named Zacchaeus who didn’t really know who he was. His job was collecting taxes, his neighbors said he was scum, his rabbi said he was a sinner, the governor said he was a hard worker, his children thought he was an embarrassment. And to top it all off, he was short. Short people get no respect.
Jesus came into Jericho. Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus, but the crowds were so big there was no way to get close enough to see over them. Therefore, Zacchaeus ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see Jesus.
When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, (Zacchaeus had to be shocked. How did he know his name?) He said, “Zacchaeus hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” Zacchaeus did as Jesus said, and all who saw it began to grumble and fell back into labels… he is a sinner and Jesus went to his house, Jesus must be a sinner too.
Zacchaeus saw himself for who he really was and said, “Half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.” Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because you too are a son of Abraham.” In our language today, “Because you are a child of God.”
Suddenly Zacchaeus went from being no one to being someone;
he went from being a worthless sinner to a priceless disciple,
He went from being defined by his job, and culture, and neighbors, to being redefined by Jesus as a child of God.

Let’s break that down. Zacchaeus went from being no one to being someone.
I used to hate picking teams in PE. Because no one would call my name. They picked the big, coordinated, popular, good-looking kids by name. Then when they got to the leftovers, the PE teacher would say, “OK you guys are on this team, and you guys are on the other team. No name just “you guys.”
Jesus sees you for who you are… a child of God… and calls you by name to be on his team.
Ephesians reads, “Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household.”
Your head might say you are no one.
You heart might say no one caress
You gut might say you are all alone.
Don’t listen to them
Because in Jesus sees that you are someone sees that you are a child of God, and calls you off your limb to be part of the household of God, part of God’s Kingdom.

Second Jesus moved Nicodemus from being a worthless sinner, to being a priceless disciple.
There isn’t much worse than being guilty and knowing it. Waiting in your bedroom for dad to come in and dispense the punishment. Waiting outside the principal’s office. Waiting for the jury to return. There is no denying it… you are guilty… there is no going back to change it. You would if you cold but you can’t.
Romans Chapter 6 reads, “For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.”
Still guilty… he can’t change that. But we are no longer slaves to sin.
We are the ones that got ourselves out on that limb, but Jesus doesn’t see a sinner. He looks inside of us and sees a child of God. He calls out, “I’m staying with YOU today.” We are still sinners, but we are no longer worthless. Jesus paid the ultimate price to gain our forgiveness. But it was worth it because we are not worthless, but priceless children of God.

  We are accepted, and forgiven, and now Jesus gives us a new identity. It is as if Jesus puts us in the witness protection program to protect us from the voices that call out to us. To protect us from the lies that have defined us.
No matter what others may say about you.
No matter how the world may label you.
No matter what your feelings may dictate to you.
No matter the experiences you have had in life.
No matter what you have done, or
who you have been, or
how many times you have failed, or
how many times you have sinned,
No matter what lies the devil may whisper in your ear.
Jesus sees you differently.  Romans 8 says, “For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ,”
How about that!? Not only does Jesus notice us, not only does Jesus forgive us… instead of saying, “go and sin no more.” he says welcome to the family. Let me introduce your brothers and sisters. You are a child of God. You are a Child of the most high, most wonderful, most forgiving, most loving God of heaven and earth.

  That is what defines us.
Not the culture.
Not the people around us.
Not the job we have or the
grades we get.
Not the friends we have
or how we look.
Not even what our own minds tell us about ourselves. Those are all Lies, lies, lies.
  The only one who can tell you who you are is the one who
created you as a child of God,
accepts you as a beloved child of God,
forgives you as a redeemed child of God, and
makes you an heir of the kingdom because you are rightfully a child of God.
Hear that. “To all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”
  You are a child of God…. Say it with me. “I BELIEVE I am significant because of my position as a child of God.” That’s who you are. One more time. “I BELIEVE I am significant because of my position as a child of God.”

You are child of God. A child of the one true king. You have been saved, you have been changed, you have been set free. You are a child of the one true king.