Identity 1 | I Am

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus... Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world... having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself... In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace... In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will... In whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory. — Ephesians 1:1–14

Who you are in Christ defines what you do—identity comes first, and grace makes it yours.

Know Thyself: An Ancient Maxim Turned Inside Out

We are beginning a new series called Identity, considering from the Scriptures—out of the book of Ephesians—who we are, who we were, who we will be, and who we should be in Christ, and how God has enabled us to live that out.

The Greeks had a celebrated maxim: know thyself. Pausanias, a second-century A.D. Greek geographer and travel writer, records in his guide to ancient Greece that this saying was inscribed on a stone in the forecourt of the temple of Apollo at Delphi. It traced back to the sixth century B.C. and the seven sages of Greece, who produced some 147 sayings for the help of men's lives—and "know thyself" was number one.

In ancient Greece the point of this maxim was humility. By comprehending your limitations, shortcomings, and weaknesses, you would relate to people with a humble nature. But thousands of years later, in twenty-first-century Western culture, humility is no longer the aim of self-discovery. Self-discovery now exists for self-expression—to show people how great you are.

Frozen, Self-Expression, and Galatians 6

That modern bent is summed up in a lyric from "Let It Go" in Frozen: "It's time to see what I can do, to test the limits and break through. No right, no wrong, no rules for me—I'm free." Philosophies are always promoted through pop culture, especially music, so when you deconstruct the hit songs of the day you discover the worldview being put forth. Ours is a culture where self-discovery exists so you can "let it go" and let the world see who you are.

People say, "I've got to figure out who I am." There's a sense in which that's not bad—if the aim is to discover your weaknesses so you can work on them. Every one of us has areas of weakness. But most people pursue self-discovery to accentuate the positive and hide the negative. Paul writes in Galatians 6:3, "For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself." Every one of us—especially us guys—has thought we could handle something, only to discover the strength we thought we had was actually weakness. Some of you still have the back pain to prove it.

Socrates said, "The unexamined life is not worth living." There is an aspect in which we should consider who we are. But our self-examination should always be in respect to who God is. If you measure yourself against other people, you'll always look for those weaker, less smart, or less attractive, and then declare yourself better. But if you set yourself next to Christ, it puts you in the proper place.

Four Questions Every Worldview Must Answer

In our day, self-realization produces new maxims that have nothing to do with humility: "I can do anything if I put my mind to it," "I've got to live life on my own terms," "I've just got to be me," "I've got to look out for me and depend on no one else." That is the orientation of twenty-first-century American culture. If those are the outcomes of your self-discovery, your measuring rod is the wrong one—you're discovering your identity through the wrong lens.

People today want to figure things out on their own and craft their own worldview. When you talk with someone who doesn't know Jesus, they'll say they're not religious but "spiritual," and as you push on that you find a private philosophy built on their own experience with no firm foundation. "You have your truth, and I have my truth."

For a worldview to be worth its salt, it must answer four basic questions. First, identity: who am I? Second, origin: where did I come from? Third, destiny: where am I going? Fourth, purpose: why am I here? Everyone has some answer to these, and a philosophy worth holding should answer them coherently. Over the next six weeks, my aim is to consider these questions from a biblical point of view, using Ephesians to see what God says through the apostle Paul.

Why Look to Scripture

It is my conviction that the Bible presents the most compelling and coherent philosophy and worldview on life. It has better answers to these questions than Muhammad, than Buddha or Confucius, than the Quran, the Upanishads, or the Vedas. It has better answers than Carl Sagan, Stephen Hawking, and Richard Dawkins. That is my presupposition.

Our culture is always espousing a worldview. The nightly news doesn't just report; it editorializes—telling you why an event like the one this week in France happened, framing it through its own lens. So does the radio. Country music has some funny philosophies; deconstruct the lyrics and every song tells a story carrying a worldview—whether it's Maroon 5, Taylor Swift, or even a Christian artist like Matt Redman or Brenton Brown.

The more we listen to something, the more it shapes our philosophy. That is why it is important to repetitively put the Word of God into your heart and mind. If you began reading through the Scriptures this year, keep doing it. As you put it in, your worldview will change; you'll begin to see through a different lens.

Paul warns in Colossians 2:8, "Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ." If someone's worldview—however they constructed it—is not founded in Christ, it is empty and answers these questions incoherently. Don't let anyone cheat you with empty philosophies.

There's a further benefit: when you adequately answer identity, origin, and destiny, it becomes far easier to answer purpose. Among Christians, the most common question—underneath all our theological constructs about Calvinism and eschatology that often cover our deep hurts—is, "What does God want me to do?" That question is easier to answer when you know who you are, where you came from, and where you're going.

Your "I Am" Affects Your "I Do"

A caveat: we could spend a year in Ephesians, but we're not going to go verse-by-verse parsing every Greek word. I believe the Lord wants to target a specific thing for us as we start a new year, tied to these questions and what they mean for our lives. When you know who you are, you will better understand what you are supposed to do. So jot this down: your "I am" affects your "I do."

We see it in the opening words of the letter. Paul, the founding pastor and church planter of Ephesus, established this church on his third missionary journey, spending some two or three years ministering in Asia Minor. Now, nearly a decade later, he is under house arrest in Rome, unable to visit his friends, so he writes them this letter. He begins, "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God." Paul understood who he was in Christ.

Notice the repeated phrases in these opening verses—"in Christ," "in Him," "in whom." Anytime something is repeated in Scripture, key in on it; it's like telling a child "look both ways before you cross the street" over and over. Paul grasped who he was in Christ, and that changed everything about his life and what he did with it.

For most people the orientation is reversed. René Descartes said, "I think, therefore I am." But for most men it's, "I do, therefore I am." When men meet, one of the first questions is, "So what do you do for a living?" Our activity defines our identity. Jesus wants to flip that around so that our identity crafts our activity.

Paul's Identity Crisis

Paul came to discover his true identity later in life. None of us start with an understanding of who we are in Christ; we come to a point called conversion. Before his conversion, Paul identified himself by his activity. In Philippians 3:4–6 he shows off the way he formerly identified himself: "circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless."

Paul's entire identity was bound up in his activity. His heritage set him on the right trajectory, but his confidence was in being a law-following, blameless, zealous Pharisee. Then, in Acts 9—which some of you read this week—everything changed. As he moved in his zeal to kill Christians, he was stopped by Jesus, and his identity got completely shut down. He had an identity crisis. Everything he had put his stock in flatlined in a second. Thrown to the dust, he cowered and asked, "Who are You?"

In discovering who Jesus is, his understanding of who he was completely changed. He became a sent one—which is what "apostle" means. At that moment he asked, "What do you want me to do, Lord?"—an attitude of submission from the man who had been the greatest until then. Jesus sent him to wait in the city for three days, like a child sent to his room, mulling over how everything he believed about himself had vanished. Then Jesus told him, "You're a chosen vessel of Mine." Paul's "I am" changed, and so his "I do" was completely altered.

Saints Who Are Faithful

This is true not only of Paul but of the Ephesians. "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God"—not by his own will or directing—"to the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus." Notice the separation: "saints" is identity; "faithful" is activity. They were saints, and their activity sprang from that identity.

Many Christians spend their entire lives trying to be faithful so they can earn the identity of saint. But in Christ it is the inverse. If you're a Christian today, you are a saint—that's your identity—therefore your activity ought to be faithfulness. It is our fallen nature to default to religion, thinking our religious activity makes us what we are: "Because I do these things, therefore I'm righteous." That is the lie of the enemy, who wants to trap people in religious effort to be good enough—and you will never be good enough. But since you are a saint, therefore be faithful. Your "I am" affects your "I do," not the other way around.

We Must Fully Embrace Our "I Am" in Christ

If you're ever going to live this life in faithfulness, you need to fully grasp who you are in Christ. But how? The first answer comes in verse 2: "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." You are what you are not by your own effort but by the grace of God. The Ephesians became saints by the grace that came from Him; their faithfulness sprang from that identity.

In 1 Corinthians 15:10 Paul says, "By the grace of God I am what I am." Underline those words. That is a drastic change from "circumcised the eighth day... according to the law, blameless." His identity now sprang not from effort but from grace. And notice what follows: "and His grace toward me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me." His "I am" was by grace, and that grace moved him to labor. His "I do" came after the grace of God came to him.

What We Have and Gain in Christ

We must also comprehend that all we have in Christ is by God's grace. He brought us into this identity, and He has given us great gain. Jot this down: I have and gain in Christ.

Verse 3: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ." Not ten percent, not ninety percent—every spiritual blessing. What are they? Things like love, joy, peace, kindness, patience, gentleness, self-control. Peter says God's divine power has given us everything that pertains to life and godliness (1 Peter 1:3).

Verse 4: "Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love." He chose us to be these things; we don't manufacture them ourselves, and He who began a good work will complete it. Verse 5: "having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will." It makes God happy to bring you into His family.

Verse 6: by His grace He "made us accepted in the Beloved." Verse 7: "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins"—you're forgiven of all you've done and anything you might do—"according to the riches of His grace, which He made to abound toward us." Not a single drip you're waiting on, but abundance. Then revelation: He "made known to us the mystery of His will"—we have revelation of what He wants us to do. Verse 10: in the fullness of times "He might gather together in one all things in Christ." He will gather us to Himself forever; we're not trying to win a spot on His island hoping our torch doesn't get extinguished, or get in by the skin of our teeth. Verse 11: "In Him also we have obtained an inheritance."

How Can You Be Sure This Is Your "I Am"?

So He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing, chosen us, predestined us, adopted us, accepted us, redeemed us, forgiven us, revealed His will to us, given us an inheritance, and will gather us to Himself. The question is: is this your "I am"? And how can you be sure?

Look at verses 12–13: "that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise." Simply put, it comes by trust and belief in Christ. Your identity is according to His grace, by your faith—not your activity.

If you have put your faith in Christ for your salvation—not in being a self-made person, not in pulling yourself up by your bootstraps, not in self-actualization—then all of these things are yours. Not waiting for the check to clear, not hoping the stock market doesn't fall. This is who you are, and it defines every aspect of your life. It is more compelling and coherent than any empty philosophy the world offers.

Created for Good Works

If this is your "I am," then what? Ephesians 2:10: "For we are His workmanship"—words of identity—"created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." You are not in Christ because of your good works; you don't have the identity of saint because of your activity. But because you have the identity of saint, you have new activities God prepared beforehand.

It doesn't automatically follow that you will walk in them—you have to take a step. Most people say, "I should serve, give, go on a mission trip, and read my Bible, because that will make me more holy." That's backwards. You are holy already; therefore, as the holy people of God, you should read the Scriptures, worship, give, serve, and go—as an expression of who you are. If you're in Christ, you're in Christ for a purpose, placed in Him for good works.

Servant Sunday: Step Into the Good Works

Jot down point five: I am what? We need you to be a part of the work of God. If you're a Christian who's been part of this church for any length of time, we want you to step into the good works God created for you to walk in. On Sunday mornings we need about 120 new servants.

We need a refresh team to keep the campus and restrooms ready between services—because nobody likes a bathroom with no toilet paper. We want a parking team to direct traffic and welcome new people. We need a greeting team on the patio to help lost visitors find the children's ministry or the restrooms—every one of us came in once not knowing where anything was. We need more help at the hospitality table with Delano Martin's team; my son Ethan's favorite part of church is getting a doughnut from Rich and Sally Wall. We need people at the connection point to help folks get plugged in, a security team for those who can't quite manage a greeter's smile, and an usher team in the sanctuary to seat people, receive the offering, and serve communion.

These are seven of the areas we need most—and seven is the number of completion. Grab a card from the back, the lobby, or the connection point, write your name, phone, and email, circle a service, and leave it with Pastor Mark or the connection point. We'll be in touch this week.

Here's the thing: you will never grow to maturity in Christ until you start exercising your faith through faithfulness. As you do, you'll grow—everyone who's taken that step knows it. God wants to accomplish exceedingly abundantly above all we can ask or think. Our desire for 2015 is that we would grow in maturity, grace, service, and faithfulness, so that if God wrote His letter to Cross Connection, He would say, "To the saints who are in North County, and faithful in Christ Jesus." May that be our testimony.

Closing Prayer

Father, we thank You for Your great grace. We thank You that our position and identity in You are not according to our activity but according to Your grace, which You poured out upon us when we were totally undeserving and without strength. As we think on this through the next five weeks—who we are, who we were, who we will be, who we should be right now, and who we can be by Your grace—Lord, transform us and set us on a different path for Your glory this year. We pray in Jesus' name, and all God's people said amen.