Jesus Gives A Better Identity
I've been listening to a podcast series on Esther by Mark Driscoll in conjunction with the Beth Moore study I am going through with a women's small group at my church here. Beth & Mark are two totally different teachers, but the Word is the same and it's been so cool to see the overlapping and overarching truths that God has been pounding into me through these studies and other sources as well. One of those themes has been identity. I read this quote by Mark Driscoll from one of his speaking engagements at a conference a few weeks ago:
"Our identity is received, not achieved."
I was blown away by that simple thought, and my mind kept looking for my own patterns in how I identity myself vs. how God identifies us. I was reading a little bit in Colossians during a week off of my Esther homework, and it hit me again in the first verse:
"Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God..."
Another one of my favorite speakers always harps on how we so often skip over Paul's intro, so I paused and just kept reading this phrase over and over again. This is how Paul identifies himself in every letter he sends to a church. Here's my own paraphrase: "I'm Paul. I've seen and experienced the Risen Jesus and am now sent out in authority by Him to tell the world of His great love. This wasn't by anything I've done or because I was seeking after Him. This was the will of God, not the will of man." His identity, the core of who he was, was wrapped up in what God had done for him and what Jesus had said to him when He met him. He didn't do anything to become an apostle. In fact, he was doing the opposite things. Prior to meeting Jesus, he was trying to earn his identity. If you look at Philippians 3, you clearly see this. He was a strict adherent to the law, he was zealous for making sure he was earning his righteousness, even if that meant becoming a persecutor of those who were preaching Christ. But then Jesus met him and everything changed. His life diverged with Christ's and God's will took over his will. His old identity became rubbish in his eyes, because it was all based upon his feeble merit. But his new identity was received freely, by grace through faith. He knew he couldn't add to it nor detract from it. So he embraced it and quit trying to earn God's favor. We need to do the same.
Here's a video from the latest Esther sermon that deals with identity. It's only 4 minutes long, so take the time to listen, not just for Mark Driscoll's voice, but for God's.
A quote not included in this clip from earlier in the sermon that I wanted to also share is this:
"My past may explain me, but it does not define me."
"Our identity is received, not achieved."
I was blown away by that simple thought, and my mind kept looking for my own patterns in how I identity myself vs. how God identifies us. I was reading a little bit in Colossians during a week off of my Esther homework, and it hit me again in the first verse:
"Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God..."
Another one of my favorite speakers always harps on how we so often skip over Paul's intro, so I paused and just kept reading this phrase over and over again. This is how Paul identifies himself in every letter he sends to a church. Here's my own paraphrase: "I'm Paul. I've seen and experienced the Risen Jesus and am now sent out in authority by Him to tell the world of His great love. This wasn't by anything I've done or because I was seeking after Him. This was the will of God, not the will of man." His identity, the core of who he was, was wrapped up in what God had done for him and what Jesus had said to him when He met him. He didn't do anything to become an apostle. In fact, he was doing the opposite things. Prior to meeting Jesus, he was trying to earn his identity. If you look at Philippians 3, you clearly see this. He was a strict adherent to the law, he was zealous for making sure he was earning his righteousness, even if that meant becoming a persecutor of those who were preaching Christ. But then Jesus met him and everything changed. His life diverged with Christ's and God's will took over his will. His old identity became rubbish in his eyes, because it was all based upon his feeble merit. But his new identity was received freely, by grace through faith. He knew he couldn't add to it nor detract from it. So he embraced it and quit trying to earn God's favor. We need to do the same.
Here's a video from the latest Esther sermon that deals with identity. It's only 4 minutes long, so take the time to listen, not just for Mark Driscoll's voice, but for God's.
A quote not included in this clip from earlier in the sermon that I wanted to also share is this:
"My past may explain me, but it does not define me."
Comments
Post a Comment