Identity 1 | I Am

We are starting a new series here at Cross Connection called "Identity." We will consider, 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 do that. So, open your Bibles with us to Ephesians chapter one, and we'll jump right into the discussion of who we are in Christ.

The Greeks had a saying, translated for us, that means "know thyself." It was considered by the Greeks to be one of their celebrated maxims. Paucinius, who lived during the second century A.D., was a Greek geographer and traveler who wrote a traveler's guide to ancient Greece. In his guide, in the tenth book on discovering Greece, he talks about how, in the city of Delphi, at the Temple of Apollo, that maxim was inscribed on one of the stones in the forecourt as you would come in: "Gnothy," or "know thyself." This saying can be traced all the way back to the sixth century B.C. and the Seven Sages of Greece, the founding fathers of the nation of Greece, who were stoic philosophers. They came up with about 147 sayings meant to help men in life, but among the celebrated maxims, "know thyself" was number one.

The interesting thing is that during that time in ancient Greece, this saying was meant to instill a mindset of humility. The point was that by knowing yourself and comprehending your limitations, shortcomings, and weaknesses, you would have a better ability to relate to people with a humble nature.

However, in our day, the idea of knowing oneself does not have the same underlying bent. As we move from the sixth century B.C. to the twenty-first century today, humility is not the aim or focus of self-discovery for most people in Western culture.

Even though our culture is built on the framework of Greek culture from thousands of years ago, self-discovery today serves the intent purpose of self-expression and showing people how great you are. Humility is not the bent in 21st-century American culture. The idea of "know thyself" can probably be summed up by one of the lyrics from the hit song "Let It Go" from Frozen. You guys remember that song? All the kids in the children's ministry know that song.

There’s a line in that song that goes like this: "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." It’s interesting when you look at the hit songs of the day because philosophies and ideas are always promoted through pop culture, especially through music. When you deconstruct and break apart the songs that are playing on the hit radio stations in our community, you can see the bent, the mindset, the framework, and the worldview being put forth.

We live in a culture today where that is the orientation of self-discovery: knowing yourself so that you can let it go and show off just who you are. In our day, people will say things like, "I've got to figure out who I am." Perhaps you even remember a time in your life when you thought or said something similar.

Now, I’ll admit there’s a certain extent to which that’s not a bad thing if the aim is to discover your limitations and your inability so that you can fill up what is lacking and work on areas of weakness. Every single one of us has areas of weakness. However, most people in our culture today, when moving towards the goal of self-discovery, do so to accentuate all the positive and hide the negative. Let’s not talk about our weaknesses.

The reality is that we should, to a certain extent, measure our abilities and have a proper understanding of who we are. The idea of expressing humility and knowing thyself is very important.

Similar to what the Apostle Paul would write in Galatians chapter 6, it's just one chapter to the left of Ephesians, where we're going to be in a moment. In Galatians chapter 6, verse 3, he says, "For if anyone thinks himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself." I'm willing to bet that every single one of us, especially us guys, has had times in our lives where we thought we could handle something. We thought that we could do it, and it turned out we couldn't. Some of you still have back pain from one of those decisions at a certain time in your life when you thought you could do it, and you realized very quickly that the strength you thought you had was actually weakness.

The concept of "know thyself" is similar to Paul's bent there, but in our culture, it's for the purpose of self-discovery and self-expression. Socrates, a Stoic philosopher of the fifth century BC among the Greeks, is known for making the statement, "The unexamined life is not worth living." There is an aspect where we should consider who we are, but our consideration of who we are should always be, as we will consider in this text today and over the next several weeks as we go through the book of Ephesians, in respect to who God is. We should consider who we are in relationship to who He is.

If your self-discovery and examination of yourself is in relation to other people, you're always going to want to outdo them. You will look for people who aren't as strong as you, or aren't as smart as you, or aren't as good-looking as you, or aren't as funny as you. Then, you will establish that as the common denominator, thinking, "I'm so much better than they are." However, if you flip it around and realize that the one we are setting ourselves up next to is Christ, it puts us in a proper place, as we will see as we go through this.

Today, when people are moving towards this kind of self-realization mindset and trying to figure out who they are, they tend to come up with things that have nothing to do with humility. They often come up with new maxims, new sayings, such as "I can do anything if I put my mind to it," or "I've got to live life on my own terms." Some people will say, "I've just got to be me." These are all fully tweetable too, you know; I mean, they are under 140 characters.

Characters often post these things, and then other people retweet them. If you know nothing about that, that's fine, but they express sentiments like, "I've got to look out for me; I've got to depend on me; no one else." This reflects the orientation of our culture in 21st century America. It's not new, but it has definitely increased, and the flames of that are constantly fanned.

If those are the outcomes of self-discovery, then I would say that your measuring rod is the wrong one. You are establishing who you are on the basis of the wrong thing. You are discovering your identity, which is the series we are currently exploring, in the wrong terms and with the wrong lens. We live in a society and a time where people want to figure things out on their own. As a result, they want to craft their own worldview and personal philosophy.

We know this is the case because when we interact with people today who don't go to church or don't know Jesus, we often discuss religious topics. However, people don't like to call themselves religious; they prefer to say they are spiritual. When you start to push on that button a little and ask, "What do you mean by 'I'm spiritual'?" you encounter a variety of ideas, worldviews, and philosophies. As you talk with someone, they may share their individual philosophy, and you might respond, "That's interesting because I believe this." They often reply, "I'm glad you have that. You have your truth, and I have my truth."

Most people's basis of truth is their own experience of life or their own self-discovery. This is not a good idea, as those who have gone down that path know all too well. There are people with their own worldview and individual philosophy, and for a worldview or philosophy to be worth its salt, it needs to answer some pretty basic questions.

If you look at your sermon guide, point number one outlines four philosophical questions that a worldview needs to address in a satisfactory way. Letter A is the question of identity: Who am I? Any philosophy worth its salt needs to provide an answer to that question of identity.

Letter B addresses the question of origin.

Where did I come from? Where am I going? These questions relate to destiny. What is my purpose? Why am I here?

When you start to ask questions of people, you often break below the surface of just casual conversation. Instead of simply asking, "Hey, how are you?" and receiving the typical response, "Oh, I'm good," you might notice the small talk about the nice grass in someone's yard or whatever it may be as you go to get the mail and talk to your neighbor. As you break below the surface and start to engage with people, you realize that everyone has their own worldview and philosophy. Some of these beliefs are deeply ingrained in Scripture, but many are not.

People may have a few verses they’ve pulled from some book that contains pithy sayings, loosely drawing on Scripture, but they often have a philosophy that serves as the foundation of their lives. This philosophy should, in some way, answer fundamental questions: What is their identity? What is their origin? What is their destiny? What is their purpose? Why are they here? What is the meaning of life? Everyone has some answer to these questions, and if a philosophy is worth anything, it should address these inquiries in a coherent manner.

In this series over the next six weeks, my aim is to consider these questions from a biblical point of view, using the Book of Ephesians. I want to explore what God would say in His inspired Word through the Apostle Paul in this letter written 2,000 years ago. What would God be ministering and how would He answer these questions today?

Why look to Scripture for this? It is my conviction that the Bible presents the most compelling and coherent philosophy and worldview on life. In other words, the Bible has better answers to these questions than Muhammad, Buddha, Confucius, the Quran, the Upanishads, or the Vedas. It offers better answers than Carl Sagan, Stephen Hawking, or Richard Dawkins. That is my presupposition, my foundation: the Scriptures provide better answers that are more compelling and coherent than what is being offered by our friends, co-workers, neighbors, or the culture we live in today. Our culture is always espousing a variety of beliefs and philosophies.

Philosophy is always espousing a worldview. Whether it's the nightly news that editorializes what's happening in the world within a certain framework, it says, "This is what this means." For example, when something happens in France, they are trying to show you their perspective on it. Every time there's an event, like what just happened last week in France, the news is not just reporting; they are telling you why it happened. Was it extremism? Was it religion? Was it the culture that allowed those sorts of things?

Every time you turn on the news, you're getting some sort of idea about their mental framework, their worldview. This is not just limited to the news; when you turn on the radio, whether you listen to country music or pop, there are philosophies embedded in those songs. If you deconstruct the lyrics, you will find that every one of these songs tells some sort of story, even if it's sparsely presented.

So, if you're listening to Maroon 5 or Taylor Swift, or even a Christian artist like Matt Redman or Brenton Brown, there is a philosophy present. The interesting thing is that we often don't recognize this, but the more we listen to it, the more it influences our thinking. This is why it's important to repetitively put the Word of God into your heart and mind. Doing so will change your philosophy.

I encourage you, if you started this year reading through the Scriptures, keep doing it. If you haven't started yet, it's still early—start now. As you read through the Scriptures, you will see your worldview change. You will begin to see things through a different lens, which is actually beneficial and good.

However, we are constantly being bombarded with different philosophies. The Apostle Paul addressed this in Colossians. If you would, open your Bibles to Colossians chapter 2. Paul warns us in verse 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."

This is important, and over the next six weeks, we will explore why.

Because we don't want to be cheated through someone's empty philosophy, we need to be cautious. If someone has their own personal worldview, their own individual philosophy created by their own construct, their own experience of life, their upbringing, the things they've read, the things they've heard, or even what their great-grandma told them, whatever it may be, however they constructed that philosophy, if it's not founded in Christ, it is vain and empty. It answers these questions in an incoherent and non-compelling sort of way.

He says, "Don't let anybody cheat you through their empty philosophies." We must be careful as it relates to these matters because they are truly important. Not only does the Bible present a more coherent and compelling answer to these basic questions of philosophy and worldviews, but discovering these truths from the Scriptures also helps us answer the questions of identity—who you are—origin—where you came from—and destiny—where you're going. When you have clarity on these aspects, it becomes much easier to answer the question of purpose: why am I here?

I would say that among Christians, the most common question people grapple with is, "What does God want me to do?" When we strip away all the doctrinal and theological discussions, which often cover our deep hurts and questions, we find that many people's number one question is indeed about God's will for their lives. It is easier to answer the question of what God wants me to do when you know who you are, where you came from, and where you're going.

That is why we will be looking at these topics over the next six weeks. As a caveat or preface to this section of Scripture, I want to acknowledge that we could spend months, probably a year, in the book of Ephesians. However, we are not going to do that. Many of you have read through it and studied it on your own, or you've participated in teachings on the book of Ephesians that went through it verse by verse and chapter by chapter, deconstructing how this Greek word fits with that Greek word and how this connects with that passage.

We are not going to take that approach, and I realize that for some people, this may be challenging. However, I believe the Lord wants to target a specific thing for us as we go through the Scriptures, focusing on the answers to these questions and what they mean in our lives as we start off a new year. So, if you would, open up to the book of Ephesians.

Ephesians, chapter one. When you know who you are, you will better be able to understand what it is that you are supposed to do. So, before we read from this, point number one on your outline, just jot this down, and we'll look at it more in just a second. Point number two: your "I am" affects your "I do." Your "I am" affects your "I do."

Now, Ephesians chapter 1. Stand with me as we normally do. We're going to read the first 14 verses.

Ephesians chapter 1, verse 1: Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus, faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 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, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.

In Him, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace, which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence. Having made known unto us the mystery of His will according to the good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times, He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him.

In Him, we also have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, 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 the truth, the gospel of your salvation, 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. God, would You lead us, speak to us, challenge us, and transform our thinking and our lives as we look at this passage of Scripture over the next six weeks? As we consider how this is revealed from You through the Apostle Paul to Your church, may it change the framework of who we are, where we came from, where we're going, and what we are here to do.

Lord, as we grasp our identity in You, would You help us to see just what it is that You want us to do? Our "I am," our identity, our position affects what we do and how we live. So, God, transform us by the renewing of our minds with Your living Word, which is powerful, and make us more like You. We ask this in Jesus' name, and all God's people said, "Amen."

You can be seated. Your "I am" affects your "I do." We see that from the opening words of this letter. Paul, the Apostle, the founding pastor and church planter of the church in the city of Ephesus, modern-day Turkey, planted this church on his third missionary journey. This journey began at the end of his second missionary journey when he stopped there to speak into that culture. He then returned and spent probably two to three years teaching and ministering in Asia Minor, specifically in the city of Ephesus.

This church grew, and now, almost a decade later, the Apostle Paul has not been back to this church in nearly ten years. He is now in a prison in Rome, after his journey to Rome, which is detailed at the end of the Book of Acts that we studied at the end of last year. Now, in the city of Rome, he is under house arrest; he cannot come and go freely. Since he cannot visit his friends in Ephesus, he writes them a letter. He begins by saying, "Paul, an Apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God." Paul understood who he was.

In Christ, and if you followed along with what we just read in those first opening verses, the 14 verses, the words "in Christ," "in Him," or "in whom" are seen repeatedly. There's a theme there. Anytime you see something repeated in the Scriptures, you should key in on it and see what it is that God is trying to say through these words that keep being repeated.

It's just like when you were little, or you had little kids. You tell them, "Look both ways before you cross the street." You say it repeatedly to get it into their minds. Here, the repetition emphasizes "in Him," "in Christ," and "in whom." Paul grasped and understood who he was in Christ, and that changed everything about his life. It changed what he did with his life because your "I am," your understanding of your identity, affects your "I do." It's not the other way around.

Why do I say that? Well, some of you have heard the statement by René Descartes, the French philosopher. You may not have known it came from him, but you've probably heard the statement, "I think, therefore I am." Now, for most men, that's not true. For most men, it's "I do, therefore I am." I know this because any time you meet new guys for the first time and they're getting to know each other, what's one of the first questions they ask? "So, what do you do for a living?" That is the orientation in our culture among men: what we do defines our identity. Our activity defines our identity.

What Jesus wants to do, as we see here in the opening words of the book of Ephesians and as we're going to consider over the next several weeks, is to move that around. Our identity crafts our activity. Most men define themselves by their activity; my activity defines who I am. But Jesus wants that to change. Who we are transforms our activity.

Notice the nuance of what Paul says here: "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God." Paul came to a discovery about his true identity later in his life. He didn't start life off with an understanding of who he was in Christ. None of us do. We all come to a certain point called conversion, as most people in the Christian faith would describe it. We come to a certain realization.

At the point of conversion, we discover our true identity. Paul, at a certain point in his life, likely in his early thirties, came to a discovery of his true identity, and everything about his life changed after that moment. He gives a minor description of this in the book of Ephesians. If you turn to Philippians chapter 3, you will see how Paul identified himself before his conversion, before he comprehended his true identity in Jesus.

In Philippians chapter 3, verses 4 through 6, Paul shows off, if you will, the way he viewed himself. This is what gave him his sense of substance and identity. In Philippians 3:4, he states, "If anyone thinks that he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so." What is Paul saying here? He is expressing that he had much to trust in regarding who he was, more so than others. This is a proud, boastful statement, but it reflects Paul's view of himself before Christ. He believed he was better than everyone else, and that was his identity.

Paul elaborates on this in verse 5: "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 righteousness which is in the law, blameless." His identity was deeply tied to his activities. He was a child of Abraham through Isaac, through Israel, Jacob, of the tribe of Benjamin. More than his heritage, he was a law-following, blameless Pharisee. His entire identity was bound up in these activities. His heritage set him on the right trajectory, and he believed he had a good start. He thought, "This is who I am: I am blameless, I am righteous, I am zealous, I am a Pharisee."

However, something changed. If you have been reading through the Scriptures this week using the McShane reading plan, you would have encountered Acts chapter 9 just a couple of days ago. In Acts chapter 9, you are reacquainted with Paul's conversion experience.

The Apostle Paul, who was a Pharisee—blameless, righteous, and zealous—was moving in his zeal to try to kill Christians. He was stopped by Jesus, and his identity was completely shut down. He literally had an identity crisis. Everything that he put his stock in was now flatlined; he lost it all in a second. Laying on the ground in the dust, thrown down by the glory of Jesus, he cowered and asked, "Who are you?" Everything changed in his life from that point on.

In the discovery of who Jesus is, Paul’s understanding of who he was completely transformed. He became a sent one of Jesus; that is what the word "apostle" means. When we read, "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ," he is identifying himself as a sent one of Jesus. Prior to that conversion experience, he was set on his own path, determined to do what he wanted. However, at that moment in Acts chapter 9, he asked, "What do you want me to do, Lord?" This reflects an attitude of submission. He recognized that Jesus was greater than him; he had been the greatest until that moment, but now he acknowledged Jesus' superiority.

Jesus instructed him to go into the city, promising to tell him what to do. He was to sit there for a few days while Jesus would come and speak to him. It was similar to when little kids are told to go to their room after doing something wrong; they sit there, waiting for a conversation. Paul sat there for three days, mulling over everything he thought about himself and the world, which was now completely gone. Then Jesus came and spoke to him, saying, "You are a chosen vessel of mine to carry the gospel." Everything changed for Paul.

His identity was altered, and consequently, his activity was transformed. This change was not just for Paul; we can also see it in the Ephesians. The very next statement that Paul makes in Ephesians chapter one is, "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God." He emphasizes that it was not by his own will or direction; he was not the captain of his own ship or the master of his destiny. It was by the will of God that he now served.

He addresses the saints who are in Ephesus and faithful in Christ Jesus. Here, we see the connection between identity and activity in these statements.

Words to the saints: identity, who are faithful. You see the separation there, to the saints that are in Ephesus and faithful in Christ Jesus. The recipients of this letter that Paul is sending to them in the city of Ephesus were saints; that was their identity, and their activity was faithfulness to Jesus.

Now, many Christians live their entire lives trying to be faithful in activity so that they can get the identity of a saint, but it's actually the inverse in Christ, which is what Paul is going to describe here in the following verses. If you're a Christian today, you are a saint; that's your identity. Therefore, because you are a saint, your activity ought to be one of faithfulness.

We turn things around, and this is the constant challenge among all Christians. It is our fallen nature to default to religion. Religion is not necessarily a bad thing unless you think that your religious activity makes you what you are. Many people believe, "Because I am doing these things, therefore I am righteous; I am holy." Most people live their lives like this, and it's very hard to break out of it.

It's very hard to step into the place where you recognize, "I am a saint, and therefore this is what follows in my life." Most of us try to be faithful, do righteous things, and do good to others because we think that makes us who we are. That is not true. That is the default of our flesh; that is the lie of the enemy. He wants to trap people in religious effort, trying to be good enough, but you'll never be good enough. You'll never succeed at being good enough, and so you'll be trapped there forever.

But Paul identifies them as saints, and their activity following that was faithfulness. Since you are a saint, therefore be faithful. Your "I am" affects your "I do," not the other way around.

Point number three on your outline: we must fully embrace our "I am" in Christ. If you're ever going to live this life in faithfulness to Christ, then you need to fully embrace your identity in Him.

To fully grasp who you are in Christ sounds good, but how? It is great to make kind of puffed-up propositions like, "If you're ever going to fully grasp who you are in Christ," and people respond with, "Oh yeah, amen." But okay, how?

The first thing comes at the end of verse one; I'm sorry, it's actually verse two in Ephesians chapter one. Notice what he says: "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." The first thing that you need to comprehend is that you are what you are not by your own activity or effort, but by the grace of God. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

How did they become saints? Not by their activity. Their activity of faithfulness sprang from their identity as saints. They became saints by the grace of God that came from Him.

Turn just a few books to the left of Ephesians to First Corinthians. You will pass Galatians and Second Corinthians. In First Corinthians chapter 15, Paul is describing here the testimony or the witness of those who saw the risen Jesus. He says in First Corinthians 15 that he was one of the last ones to have an encounter with the risen Jesus among the apostles.

In First Corinthians 15, verse 10, he states, "By the grace of God, I am what I am." Do you highlight those words or underline them? "By the grace of God, I am what I am." That is a drastic change from being circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, according to the law blameless.

It is a drastic change. "By the grace of God, I am what I am." Those are words of identity, and his identity sprang not from his effort or activity, but from the grace of God. "By the grace of God, I have this identity."

Now look what he says next: "And his grace toward me was not in vain, but I labored." That's the word of activity. "I labored more abundantly than they all; yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me." Paul's "I am," his identity, was by the grace of God.

The grace of God, which made Him in Christ, moved Him towards His laboring and working. So, Paul's laboring came after the grace of God came to him. We must fully embrace our "I am," our position, and our identity in Christ by His grace.

Secondly, we must comprehend that all that we have in Christ is by God's grace. He brought us into this identity and position as Christians by His grace. But He has not only brought us in; He has also given us great gain in Christ.

What are the things that we gain in Christ? Point number four on your outline is "Gain in Christ." Over the next few minutes, I will take us through the following verses, verses 3 through about verse 11 in Ephesians chapter 1. We will look at a number of things that we have and gain in Christ. There are a few lines there, and you can jot some things down as I hit on them.

Ephesians chapter 1, verse 3 states, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places." If you are a Christian today, if your identity is in Christ, then you have at your disposal every spiritual blessing—not ten percent, not fifty percent, not even ninety percent; you have every spiritual blessing in Christ.

Now, of course, the question is: What are spiritual blessings? You have to read the Scriptures to find out what they all are, to enumerate them and list them out. Some of these blessings include love, joy, peace, kindness, patience, gentleness, and self-control. These are spiritual blessings that God has given to us.

The Apostle Peter says it like this in 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 3: "By God's divine power, He has given to you and to me everything that we need to live this life in a godly manner."

Everything that pertains to life and godliness we have in Him. Here, Paul says that we have every spiritual blessing in Christ. So, what do we have and gain in Christ? Everything.

He goes on in verse 4, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy, sanctified, and without blame before Him in love. He chose us to be these things; we don't have to make ourselves these things on our own. He chose us to be that, and He who started a good work in us will be faithful to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.

In Christ, we gain every spiritual blessing. Not only that, we are chosen. In verse 5, he says, "Having predestined us," we are the recipients of every spiritual blessing. We are chosen; we are predestined. Predestined to what? Predestined unto adoption as sons by Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of His will. It makes God happy to choose you and bring you into His family.

So, you have every spiritual blessing. You've been chosen, you've been predestined, and you've been adopted to the praise of the glory of His grace. In verse 6, all of this is by His grace, by which He has made us accepted, chosen, adopted, and predestined in the Beloved.

In verse 7, in Him, we have redemption. He purchased us back. We have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. You are forgiven of all the things that you've done in the past and anything you might do in the future, according to the riches of His grace. It's not by your effort or mine that makes us forgiven; it is by the riches of His grace, which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence.

He doesn't have just a little drip of blessing or grace, making you wait for it. No, it is abundant. We will see this again in Ephesians chapter 3, verse 20, in a few weeks. He made it to abound to us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will according to the good pleasure which He purposed in Himself.

What does it mean that He made known to us the mystery of His will? One of the other things we have and gain in Christ is revelation of what He wants us to do. We have revelation of His will. He goes on that in the dispensation, verse 10, of the...

The fullness of the times means that He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth in Him. One of the other things that we have in Him is that He is going to gather us to Himself. We will be with Him forever. That's in the future. We are not trying to win a spot on His island, hoping that our torch doesn't get extinguished along the way. We are not just trying to survive and get in by the skin of our teeth, which is kind of a weird saying; I have no idea what it means. But we are not just trying to make it in. No, He has said you are in by His grace.

The dispensation of the fullness of the times means that at the end, He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth in Him. In verse 11, we read, "In Him also we have obtained an inheritance." It's ours, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will. He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing. He has chosen us in Him, predestined us to be adopted as children, made us accepted, redeemed us, forgiven us, and revealed the mystery of His will to us. He has given us an inheritance, and He will gather us to Himself. This is what the Christian has.

So the question is, is this your "I am"? Is this your position? Is this your identity? The question then follows: how could I be sure that it is? I don't know anybody who doesn't want that to be their identity. How could I be sure that it is? Well, look at verse 12 of Ephesians chapter one: "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, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory."

Is this your "I am"? How can it be? Simply put, as Paul, inspired of the Holy Spirit, writes it here, it comes by...

Trust and belief in Christ define your identity and position in Him. This is according to His grace, through your faith, trust, and confidence in Him—not your activity. If today you have put your faith in Christ Jesus for your salvation, that is the good news of salvation. This is what the gospel of salvation conveys in verses 12 and 13.

If you've placed your confidence in that—not in your own achievements, not in being a self-made man or woman, not in pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps, and not in your own self-realization or self-actualization—then your identity is firmly rooted in the fact that you have put your trust in Him and nothing else. All of these things are yours, not waiting for the check to clear, not hoping that the escrow account doesn't get depleted along the way, or that the stock market doesn't fall and you lose it all. If you've put your trust in Him, then this is your identity. This is who you are; this is what defines every aspect of your life.

As I mentioned earlier, this understanding is more compelling and coherent than anything the world has to offer, any of the empty philosophies of the world. So, if this is your identity, if this is your "I am," then what?

Let’s look at one more verse in Ephesians. Jump over to chapter 2. Right after Paul describes in Ephesians chapter 2 who we were—which we will explore next week—he talks about the grace of God abounding to us. After we have received grace and been transformed from what we were to what we are now, he states in verse 10: "For we are His workmanship." Those are words of identity. You are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that you should walk in.

You are not in Christ because of your good works; you do not have the identity of a saint based on your actions.

Because of your activity, but because you have the identity as a saint in Christ, you have new activities which God prepared beforehand that you should walk in them. It doesn't immediately follow that you will walk in them; you actually have to take a step to walk in them. Make a decision: I'm going to walk in this. This is different than what most people think. Most people will say, "I should serve at church, I should give at church, I should go on a mission trip, and I should read my Bible because that will make me more holy." No, that's not what the Bible teaches. You are holy already, and therefore, as the holy people of God, if you're a Christian today, if that's your identity, then yes, you should read the Scriptures, worship God, give, serve, go on trips—whatever it may be. Do all those things as an expression of who you are. That's who we are. If you're in Christ, you're in Christ for a purpose. You have been placed in Him for good works.

Now, if you would look on the back of your sheet, there is point number five. Just by the way, this is for you to think about this week: I am what? Fill in the blank. On the back of this sheet, at the top of it, you see Uncle Sam. "We want you" for Servant Sunday. In the back of the sanctuary today, and also in the lobby, and at the connection point, which is under the cover because we got some rain today, there are these seven cards. Seven cards are back on the table in the sanctuary, and there are some in the lobby and at the connection point—lots of them. They are also there on that little sheet of paper, a little rainbow of colors. We're reclaiming the rainbow; God created it.

So here's the thing: we need you to be a part of the work of God. You're a saint if you're a Christian today and you put your faith in Christ. If you haven't, do that right now. Put your trust and confidence in Him, not in yourself, to save yourself. He has the good news of salvation. But if you're a Christian today and you've been a part of this church for any length of time, we want you to step out and move into the good works that you should do, the ones God created beforehand that you should walk in. We have some areas of service that we need your help in on Sunday mornings. We need about...

There are 120 new servants, and there are many of you who already serve. If you want to serve in a new place, that's great! However, if you don't serve, you need to get involved. We need a refresh team. What's a refresh team? Well, they make this place look good in between the services. They ensure that there are towels in the bathrooms and toilet paper because nobody likes to go into a bathroom without toilet paper. That's not a good thing, right? You can help fix that.

We also need a parking team. Currently, we don't have one, but we want to establish it. This group of people will be out in the parking lot directing traffic, waving, and welcoming new people as they arrive at the church. Then there's the greeting team. These are the individuals who stand out in the patio area. When they see someone who comes on campus looking lost—because every one of you came here at one point looking lost—they can help. No one has a clue where the bathrooms are because we hid them well. It wasn't intentional, but it happened. As a result, when someone says, "I don't know where I'm going," you can respond, "Hey, can I help you find the children's ministry? Where do you check in your kids? What are you looking for?" If they say, "I'm looking for the bathroom," you can show them where it is. You don't need to walk them to the stall, but you can guide them.

The hospitality team is another important group. Everybody loves coming to church to get a doughnut, and Delano Martin and her team do a great job with that. We need more people to help serve at the hospitality table. My son Ethan's favorite thing about coming to church is seeing Rich and Sally Wall and getting a doughnut.

Then we have the connection point team. These are the people who stand at the connection point when someone needs help finding out what's going on at the church and how to get plugged in. The security team is also essential. Maybe you don't have a happy face and can't be a greeter, but you can be a member of the security team.

The usher team consists of the guys and gals who serve in the sanctuary, helping people find a seat, receiving the offering, and passing out communion. These are just seven areas where we need the most help. Seven is the number of completion, so come on and help us fill these roles today. Before you leave, grab a card, sign up, and leave it at the connection point. You can put your name, phone number, and email address on it, and circle a service that you can serve in. Leave this with Pastor Mark or the people at the connection point, and we'll be in touch with you this next week.

We want you to step into what God has for you. Here's the thing: you will never grow to maturity in Christ until you start exercising your faith through faithfulness. But as you do, you'll grow, and everyone who has made that step knows that this is true. So before you go today, help us out, plug in, and be a part of it. God has great things He wants to accomplish—exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think. That's what He wants to do, and it's our desire that in 2015, we would grow in maturity.

And grace, and service, and faithfulness. If God were to write His letter to Cross Connection, He would say to us, to the saints that are in North County, who are faithful in Christ Jesus. May it be that this is the testimony of us as His people here in this place. Amen.

Would you stand with me as we close in prayer? Our worship team is going to come and lead us in another song of praise to the Lord.

Father, we thank You for Your great grace. We thank You that our position, our identity in You, is not according to our activity, but according to Your grace, which You have poured out upon us. As we will see next week, when we were totally undeserving and without strength, You gave it to us.

So, Lord, as we think on this week and over the next five weeks following it, as we reflect on who we are, who we were, who we will be, and who we should be right now, and who we can be by Your grace, help us strive to be those things. 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."