D-NOW RECAP!!!!
HIGHLIGHT VIDEO
CARRIE MOSLEY’S TESTIMONY
FRIDAY NIGHT SERMON:
(Scroll to the bottom for these sermon notes)
SATURDAY NIGHT SERMON
SUNDAY SCHOOL SERMON
SUNDAY MORNING SERMON
Identity Crisis
Galatians 2:20
October 24, 2021
D-Now
As I’m sure you are all aware, entire theme for this Disciple Now weekend
Has been “Identity Crisis”
The concepts of identity have escalated in recent years
As we have heard the discussions of the world
Regarding people’s supposed identity.
We hear people say, “I Identify as…”
And so recently it has come to our attention that
Our world is having an identity crisis.
But as we have discussed with your kids this weekend,
THIS IDENTITY CRISIS DIDN’T JUST BEGIN.
This identity crisis started at the very beginning.
• God created man in perfection.
• God created man in glory.
• Man was created to be the image bearer of God.
Genesis 1:26-27 “Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”
It was the purpose of Adam to represent God to all of creation.
• Adam was given authority.
• Adam named the animals.
• Adam became a living soul.
• God spoke to Adam face to face.
• Luke’s gospel refers to Adam as “the son of God”
And it wasn’t just man, God said the same about woman.
She also was created in the image of God.
Woman also was created to be the image bearer of God.
That is true human identity.
Humans were created to bear the image of God to all creation.
But the fall happened and this image became distorted;
This image became marred.
Man who was created to bear the image of God corrupted
As that image man fell into sin.
Man is still created in the image of God
But without fail man presents a distorted and fallen image.
We likened it to a corrupted painting.
There once was a beautiful painting made which was meant to describe the very essence of God.
• It was a painting of man; a painting of Adam.
• But the picture got distorted and marred.
• It’s like a Picasso painting, it’s all distorted.
And so not only was the picture distorted,
BUT NO ONE KNEW HOW TO FIX IT BECAUSE NOW
Because no one knew what it was originally supposed to look like.
And so man spent years in darkness and confusion.
Humanity developed and “Identity Crisis”.
We no longer knew what man was supposed to look like.
And because man was the imager bearer of God
We also lost an accurate picture of what God was.
And really all that identity confusion you see today
Is just a representation of the fall
And the confusion that started in the garden.
Man lost his true identity of what it actually meant to be human.
Man lost his concept of who God was because the image was distorted.
But then something remarkable happened:
John 1:14-18 “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John testified about Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’ ” For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.”
Colossians 1:15 “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.”
Christ came to restore the image.
Christ came to restore the painting.
He became a restored portrait of what it meant to be human.
And Jesus was again the true image bearer of God.
Jesus came to restore what Adam corrupted.
Jesus is the first time humanity ever saw her true identity.
Jesus is the first time we ever saw what it truly meant to be human.
• Passionate and yet meek
• Holy and yet merciful
• Powerful and yet humble
• Zealous and yet kind
• Friend of sinners and yet uncorrupted by sin
Jesus was the first picture of the true human identity since Adam.
But Jesus was also FAR MORE than just an EXAMPLE of humanity.
Jesus also became our means
Of becoming once again accurate imager bearers of God.
As one scholar put it, Jesus “RE-HUMANIZES” us.
AS STEPHEN TAUGHT US:
• Through Christ, God “bestowed” (gifted) His love to us.
• “While we were yet sinners Christ died for us.”
• And Christ restored us to the status as “children of God”
Through His atoning work on the cross,
Jesus causes His followers to be “born again” as a “new creation”
So that we might once again bear the image of the heavenly.
1 Corinthians 15:49 “Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly.”
Colossians 3:9-10 “Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him”
And so we understand that to live as a Christian
Is to live as the human God created you to be.
It is to be the child of God you were intended to be.
To be born again as a new creation.
To be conformed into the image of Christ.
To walk according to the fruit of the Spirit.
To know the love of the Father.
To enjoy the peace and love of a restored relationship.
This is what it means to be Christian.
AND INCIDENTALLY, THIS IS PRECISELY WHAT PAUL DESCRIBED
In his famous statement in Galatians 2
Which has become our theme verse for the weekend.
“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”
What you see in that verse is again the very essence of Christianity.
What you see in that verse is Paul describing his true identity.
Paul who are you?
• “I have been crucified with Christ”
• “Christ lives in me”
• “I live by faith in the Son of God”
This is his identity.
Indeed, this is meant to be the identity of every believer in Christ.
And so let’s discuss that briefly.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE “CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST”?
It is the concept known as “IDENTIFICATION”
(you see “identity” in this)
Romans 6:3-4 “Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”
Romans 6:6 “knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;”
At the INCARNATION, what was Jesus doing?
He was identifying with humanity.
In the GARDEN, when He felt the condemnation of God and even prayed that this cup might pass from Him; what was happening?
He was identifying with sinful humanity.
On the CROSS He bore and felt the very wrath and condemnation of God; what was happening?
Jesus was identifying with sinners.
He died
He was buried
And He was raised from the dead
Now, the call of Christianity is that we are to be “in Him”
We by faith are to identify with Christ.
In some strange and even miraculous way,
When a person places their faith in Christ
God identifies them with Christ.
We are said to be in Christ.
He is said to be in us.
He bears the wrath and judgment for the life we lived.
We bear the grace and good-pleasure for the life that He lived.
We are identified with Him.
And this is what Paul is referring to when he says:
“I have been crucified with Christ.”
Paul was NOT physically on the cross next to Him.
But rather, by faith Paul was in Christ.
• So through identification Paul died in Christ.
• And through identification Paul was buried in Christ.
• And through identification Paul was raised in Christ to a new life.
And if you are a Christian this is your reality.
• You are one who has also died with Christ.
• You denied yourself, you took up your cross, and you followed Jesus.
• You said “good-bye” to your former manner of life.
• You let go of all your former goals and ambitions.
As Paul said in Philippians 3
Philippians 3:7-8 “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ,”
And this is the very thing Paul is announcing here again.
• My life is not my own.
• I am not who I was.
• My life ended when I came to faith in Christ.
• My life now is united with Christ.
• I am His!
And it’s not just that I am in Christ.
Paul said, “it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me;”
This is the FLIP SIDE to the union and the identity.
After a believer dies to self and is united with Christ,
The believer then receives of Christ’s Spirit
Who indwells the believer and gives them new life in Christ.
(the Spirit begins to restore the original painting in their life)
Romans 8:10-11 “If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”
The believer is even commanded to no longer walk like the old man,
But now to walk like the new man that Christ is making him.
Ephesians 4:17-24 “So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.”
SO THE SIMPLE POINT IS THAT
Now since I died with Christ and now since Christ lives in me.
• No longer do I live by the flesh.
• No longer do I live by my old fallen identity.
• Now I strive to live like Christ.
Which is also what Paul said:
“and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”
That is Christianity 101
• That is Christian Identity
• It is meant to be the human identity
That is the SOLUTION to the world’s identity crisis.
The true identity crisis of the world IS NOT
Trying figure out if they identify as male or female,
That is just one small aspect.
The true identity crisis of the world IS that
They were created to be like Christ,
But they are still living in the flesh.
And so the world seeks to find their identity in all sorts of meaningless things that totally miss the point.
BUT LISTEN, THE CHURCH BEARS PART OF THE BLAME IN THIS.
When the church still tries to find her identity in the things of the world
We once again display a distorted picture to the world.
If we’re confused about who we are,
How could we ever expect the world to know?
We were created to be lights in the midst of darkness.
We were created to be salt in a tasteless world.
We were created to be conformed into the image of Jesus Christ.
This is the very essence of Christian identity.
(if we lose this idea, we are failing in our calling as image bearers of God)
NOW LET ME SHOW YOU PAUL’S MOTIVE FOR THIS TEXT
We’re going to back up a little in the chapter
Because I want to show you a man who was a Christian,
But who was having an identity crisis.
That man is named Peter.
Just a brief background to the story.
• Paul had been going all over the Gentile regions of Asia preaching the gospel and Gentiles were being saved left and right.
• But this bothered many of the Jewish Christians because these Gentiles were uncircumcised.
(If you don’t know what circumcision is, ask your parents when you get home,
But just know that it was the official sign of Judaism)
• So it wasn’t long before these Jews started saying that if Gentiles wanted to be saved then they needed to become circumcised.
Acts 15:1 “Some men came down from Judea and began teaching the brethren, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”
What followed was the first ever church council.
Paul and Barnabas were summoned to Jerusalem
To stand before Peter and James and the others
AND THE GOAL WAS TO ANSWER THIS VERY QUESTION.
Do you have to be circumcised to be saved?
Do you have to come under the Jewish Law to be saved?
Well, for time sake I’ll tell you that the answer that was reached was
“NO, YOU DO NOT.”
And during the council
Peter actually had perhaps the most compelling argument.
Acts 15:7-11 “After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brethren, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the word of the gospel and believe. “And God, who knows the heart, testified to them giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us; and He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith. “Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? “But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are.”
Peter was crystal clear.
• Clearly Gentiles are saved because God has given them the Holy Spirit.
• The Law didn’t save us, why would you throw it on them.
• We believe we are all saved by grace, not works.
That was Peter’s final statement and the church agreed.
Following this event Peter traveled to the Gentile church headquarters.
That was at a place called “Antioch”
And Peter is likely feeling pretty good about himself.
• The church has just reached a milestone decision that salvation is by grace
alone.
• The church has just said there was no distinction between Jew and Gentile.
• The church has just said that Gentiles are also saved by Jesus.
And so Peter went to Antioch to fellowship with some Gentiles.
But something happened while he was there.
Peter fell into an “Identity Crisis”.
READ GALATIANS 2:11-14
• Peter was happily eating with Gentiles
• Then some men who at least said they were from James walked in.
• These men were the Judaizers.
• They claimed Christianity but were still zealous for Judaism and the Law.
• These Judaizers would have never eaten with unclean Gentiles.
And we read that Peter “began to withdraw and hold himself aloof.”
The indication there is that it was NOT an abrupt and immediate split.
Peter didn’t just jump right up and run away
Like if he was caught actually doing something sinful.
• No, Peter began to gradually pull away.
• He started skipping meetings…
• He quit saying high at the market place…
He slowly started segregating himself
According to those old discriminatory lines.
And Peter’s leadership again rubbed off on the other Jews around him.
Paul said: “The rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy.”
It was a full blown “Identity Crisis”.
And Paul said, (11) “I opposed him to his face”
Look at what Paul said:
(14) “But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in the presence of all, “If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?”
IT MUST BE NOTED that Paul’s concern was that Peter was “not straightforward about the truth of the gospel”
Peter’s actions were undermining the gospel.
• Was a man saved by grace or not?
• Were works like circumcision necessary or not?
• Did Jesus die for Gentiles or not?
Peter’s actions put all those questions back on the table.
So Paul confronts Peter and here he has him over a barrell.
He says:
“If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel Gentiles to live like Jews?”
You see Jesus had declared all foods clean…
Jesus had liberated them from a misunderstanding of the Sabbath…
• Peter had eaten unclean food.
• Peter had worshiped on the Lord’s Day; Sunday.
• Peter had lived like a Gentile in a sense.
So Paul asks him about it.
The question is this:
PETER, ARE YOU SAVED BY BEING JEWISH?
• If Peter says “YES” then Paul asks him why he has been acting like a Gentile.
• If Peter says “NO” then Paul asks him why he has pulled away from the
Gentiles.
What happened?
Peter had an identity crisis.
• In a moment of weakness…
• In a moment of peer pressure…
• In a moment of bad judgment…
Peter started acting again like the old Peter
And forsook who Christ was creating him to be.
It was a moment of backsliddenness.
It was a moment of identity confusion.
Now, THERE IS MUCH MORE there which Paul said about the ramifications of this decision which we DO NOT HAVE TIME to cover.
BUT WHAT I WANT YOU TO UNDERSTAND
Here at the end of this weekend is this.
There are times when even believers have an identity crisis.
There are times when even believers seem to forget who they are.
Even believers can be sucked into the mindsets and confusion
And prejudices and meaningless activities of the world.
BUT YOU ALSO NEED TO KNOW
IT IS NOT OK
When Peter did it, Paul confronted him.
But look, it WASN’T just that a few Gentiles got their feelings hurt.
The problem was that through his identity crisis
PETER WAS DISTORTING THE GOSPEL.
Peter was doing what Adam did.
• Peter was giving a corrupted picture of Christianity to the world.
• Peter was giving a marred picture of Jesus to the world.
And that is why Paul confronted him.
AND THAT IS WHY ultimately
Paul reminded Peter of what it means to be a Christian.
“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”
And so THIS MORNING
I want to kind of thrown down the gauntlet a little bit here again.
And I’m no so much speaking to those of you
Who have never confessed Jesus as your Lord.
(Certainly if that is you, you must do that
For He is the only way to be saved and to be restored to a true identity)
But this morning I want to talk to those of you who claim to be a Christian.
And I want to ask you:
WHO ARE YOU?
What is your identity?
Is it in Christ or is it in something else?
And then I would ask you:
WHO DOES THE WORLD SEE?
Peter was a Christian but on that day all the world could see was a Jew.
And that was unacceptable.
And so let me be REAL FRANK with you this morning.
I get that in this world
We all fill different secular roles and occupations and hobbies.
And those aren’t a bad thing.
• It’s not wrong to be an athlete…
• It’s not wrong to be academic…
• It’s not wrong to be a doctor or a lawyer or a teacher…
• It’s not wrong to be a Jew…
BUT IF YOU ARE IN CHRIST
NONE OF THOSE THINGS CAN BE YOUR IDENTITY.
Most in here will agree that our world is spiraling into chaos.
• There is division and confusion everywhere.
• No one trusts anyone else.
• There is fear of what tomorrow holds.
• It’s hard to know who is telling you the truth.
So let me be clear to those of you who are saved.
• The world doesn’t need any more athletes.
• The world doesn’t need any more scholars.
• The world doesn’t need any more doctors or lawyers or teachers.
I’m NOT SAYING there is not a place for all those roles
And I’m NOT SAYING quit your job or your hobby.
What I am saying.
THE WORLD NEEDS CHRISTIANS
The world needs to see people who have been crucified with Christ.
The world needs to see people whom Christ lives in them.
The world needs to see people who live by faith.
The world needs people who have been restored
To true image bearers of God through the redemption of Christ Jesus.
The world needs people who proclaim and live the gospel.
• People who are filled with the Spirit.
• People who show “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”
And so my call is to you who are Christians
TO PUT AN END TO THE IDENTITY CRISIS.
It’s time to get real about who you are.
It is time to identify as the redeemed.
It is time to identify as Christian.
Leave all those other minor and insignificant titles behind.
Make Christ a priority.
Let Christ be your life.
Let Christ be what others see.
Paul said:
Philippians 3:7-8 “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ”
And then Paul tells us to discover that same identity.
Philippians 3:17-21 “Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ;”
This morning I am asking those of you who are Christians
To put an end to the identify confusion and the identity crisis.
It’s bad enough when a lost man or woman
Demonstrates some sort of identity crises.
We get angry at a lost man who is showing an identity crisis.
We get angry at a lost woman who is showing an identity crisis.
WHY WOULD WE EXPECT THEM
TO DEMONSTRATE A TRUE PICTURE OF IDENTITY?
That is the job of the Christian!
We are the ones who have been redeemed.
We are the ones who are being restored.
We are the new creation.
Don’t be angry that the world
Holds a distorted painting of human identity.
Be grieved that the church refuses to show them the restoration.
Christian, it is time to take off the old man and put on the new man.
Let it be evident to the world that you are a Christian
first – foremost – forever.
Be uncompromisingly Christian.
Let Him be your identity.
And let the world see the restored picture of what humanity is supposed to be.
GENESIS 1:26-27 SERMON NOTES:
Being Human
Genesis 1:26-27
October 22, 2021
D-Now Friday Night
Let’s Pray
Tonight we’re going to kick things off a little
And I’m going to do my best to sort of SET THE STAGE for some studies That we’re going to have the remainder of this weekend.
You see the theme: “Identity Crisis”
Amy is actually the one who first identified this as a good theme for Disciple Now this year, because she works in the school and she sees first hand the struggle that goes on in so many teenagers regarding this very issue.
Now probably at the FOREFRONT, and certainly the most controversial
Aspect of this topic has to do with GENDER IDENTITY.
Our culture has embraced the lie that your gender is not defined by your physical characteristics or even your DNA or chromosome makeup,
But rather your gender is defined by your emotions.
So today we actually see people who were born girls seeking to “identify” as a boy or people who were born boys seeking to “identify” as girls.
It just represents the CONFUSION OF THE HUMAN RACE in general
That they have no idea what their identity actually is.
And let me just put it out there for you
As clearly as I can to start this weekend.
Every single human is born with an absolute identity crisis.
Oh, you may know if you are a boy or a girl
But I promise you that even still
YOU ARE BORN WITH A TERRIBLE CONFUSION REGARDING YOUR IDENTITY.
When you are born you have no idea who you are.
SO YOU START THE DISCOVERY PROCESS.
• Now you quickly learn who mom and dad is.
• You learn quickly what your name is.
• And you begin to learn some things about life.
For example, you learn that you like sugar and you don’t like peas.
And you literally start processing all this data
And filing it away on a quest to find out who you are.
Then at some point you are THROWN INTO A SOCIAL CIRCLE,
• Maybe daycare
• Or you go to school or church
• Or you are around cousins or something
And you start trying to see who you are
In a cultural sense or a relational sense.
You try to figure out “Who am I in the grand community?”
I remember Hannah,
• About 1st or 2nd grade, coming home from school
• Talking about some of her friends
• And the things she perceived that they were good at.
She was starting to identify special qualities in some of her friends.
• I’m sure one could draw…
• I’m sure one was funny…
• I’m sure one was athletic…
• I think Kori could do the best armpit fart…
She was starting to identify other people.
And she asked me one morning, “Daddy, what am I good at?”
What was she doing?
She was trying, at an early age, to find her identity.
• Who am I?
• What makes me unique?
And so through the course of living around your community
You start checking boxes and unchecking boxes.
And YOU THINK your identity starts to come into focus.
And for some people this is a very POSITIVE EXPERIENCE
And for others this is a very NEGATIVE EXPERIENCE.
Those who see themselves as
• “the pretty girl”
• “the good athlete”
• “the smart kid”
They tend to develop this good self-esteem because
They have identified themselves as exceptional in some given area.
And the really quickly start to feel good about themselves
Because their identity (they think) is a GOOD identity.
It is FAVORABLE to them; they LIKE who they think they are.
That is certainly some of you.
But then there are those kids
Whose initial identity awareness is NOT SO POSITIVE.
They see themselves as
• “the chubby kid”
• “the dumb kid”
• “the non-athletic kid”
And they tend to develop this negative self-esteem because
They’ve identified themselves as below average.
And they quickly start to feel bad about themselves
Because their identity (they think) is a BAD identity.
It is UNFAVORABLE to them; they DON’T LIKE who they are.
It seems like God has played some sort of cruel trick on them
By not making them smart or fast or thin or attractive or whatever.
And their initial grasp of their identity is a negative one.
And so you come to this sort of point or epiphany of your identity.
You become aware of who you think you are.
And then YOU EITHER live with it or you strive to change it.
Now, to be certain, some are pretty ambitious
And they set out to either change their identity or forge a new one.
• You know, they work harder,
• they push themselves,
• they strive to be a better person.
• And since society praises that, people are really drawn to it.
Some even do this in a very negative way,
• They have even done harmful things like eating disorders
• or performance enhancing drugs,
• or things like that because their goal is to forge this new identity.
• They try reckless behavior to gain attention and break into the cool realm.
Others aren’t so ambitious.
• And then some just sort of settle in to whatever identity they’ve found
• And just want to make the most of it.
• They just adopt this attitude that “This is who I am, and you should just love me for me, and I don’t care what other people think”
You’ve heard it all.
And you probably see yourself in one of those descriptions
But here is what I want you to understand at the beginning tonight.
NOTHING of what I have just told you
Has anything to do with your identity.
None of that has anything to do with who you are.
As if being fat or thin, fast or slow, academic or simple
Had really anything to do with the purpose for which you were created.
God certainly created you.
God certainly designed you.
• If you are fast it’s because He made you fast.
• If you are slow it’s because He made you slow.
• If you can sing it’s because He gave you the ability.
• If you can’t sing it’s because He didn’t give you that ability.
But our world has picked out this perfect image
Of what they think humanity is supposed to be
And if you fit the image then you like you’re identity
And if you don’t fit the image then you don’t like your identity.
Let me tell you why that is so flawed.
• BECAUSE OUR WORLD HAS NO CLUE WHAT HUMANITY IS
SUPPOSED TO BE.
• OUR WORLD HAS NO IDEA OF WHAT IT ACTUALLY MEANS TO
BE HUMAN.
You heard me correctly.
Our world doesn’t even know what it means to be human.
(and I’m about to show you how I know that)
But if I’m correct that the world doesn’t know what it means to be human,
Then why would you let the world direct your identity?
So this is where we are GOING TO START TONIGHT.
Before we take a look at perhaps who you are individually,
Tonight we are simply going to examine
WHAT DOES IT EVEN MEAN TO BE HUMAN?
And to do that we’re going to look back in the Bible
At the first human ever created.
So turn in your Bible to Genesis 1:26-27
We read:
“Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”
So this is the creation of the first ever human.
And what are some things we notice about this human that God created?
What does it say about him?
HE WAS MADE IN THE IMAGE OF GOD
“Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness”
“image” and “likeness” are two different words
But they are regarded here as synonyms,
It is what is known as parallelism in the text.
But we see that man was in the image of God.
What else do we see?
HE WAS MADE TO RULE
“let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
This human was given the highest place in all of creation.
This human was created to rule.
You probably remember that it won’t be long before
God will bring all the animals to this man named Adam
And Adam will be charged with naming all of them.
Adam gets to name the creatures because he rules over them.
What else do we see?
THEY WERE MADE MALE AND FEMALE
“God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”
This certainly settles the question
Regarding how many genders there are in the world.
How many are there? – 2
It also settles the issue of who get to determine a person’s gender.
Who gets to determine a person’s gender? – God
But more than that, it also from the very beginning
Reminds us of the equality of men and women.
The Bible specifically states that both men AND women are created how?
“in the image of God”
Now this DOES NOT MEAN that they don’t have different roles,
Scripture is clear that they do.
(Perhaps you’ll learn some about that in the breakout sessions tomorrow)
But the point to see tonight is that
From the very beginning men and women
Were created in the image of God. They are equal before Him.
They are human.
BUT WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
What does it mean to be born in the image of God?
What does it mean to be created in the likeness of the Creator?
Well that DOESN’T MEAN so much that we are VISUAL REPLICAS.
• The New Testament teaches us that God is Spirit.
• Yes the Bible says that God has hands or God has feet,
• But it also mentions His pinions or wings.
What it means is that
Man was created to be God’s image bearer in creation.
MAN IS GOD’S REPRESENTATIVE TO CREATION.
• Man above all creation was made to have a relationship with God.
• God breathes life into man’s nostrils and he becomes a living soul.
• And man is given rule and authority over all creation.
So man sits in the midst of creation as the image bearer of God.
He is God’s representative in creation.
• He is God’s authority in creation.
• He is God’s example to creation.
• He was created to be the picture of God to all of creation.
If I could put it another way.
Creation would learn of God by looking at man.
Man was the image bearer of God.
Let me show you an interesting verse about Adam.
• The third chapter of Luke gives us the Genealogy of Jesus.
• It traces Jesus back, through Mary and King David all the way back to Adam.
It starts like this:
Luke 3:23 “When He began His ministry, Jesus Himself was about thirty years of age, being, as was supposed, the son of Joseph, the son of Eli,”
And it ends with this statement:
Luke 3:38 “the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.”
What is Adam called?
“the son of God”
Adam was the image bearer of God.
He was called God’s son.
Now certainly Adam was the CREATED son of God
Whereas Jesus will be the UNCREATED Son of God.
But you see that Adam is called “the son of God”
You see the same language
Between Adam and God as you do between Adam and his son Seth.
(Turn over to) Genesis 5:1-3 “This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day when God created man, He made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female, and He blessed them and named them Man in the day when they were created. When Adam had lived one hundred and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth.”
JUST AS Seth bears the image of his father Adam,
SO Adam was created to bear the image of his Father God.
Adam bears the image of God.
• This is the purpose of humanity.
• Man was created to be God’s representative to earth.
• He rules and reigns on earth under God’s authority.
But there was a problem wasn’t there?
What happened to Adam?
• He fell.
• He committed sin, he disobeyed
• Adam became the PRODIGAL son.
He failed to love God and he fell into sin.
And in Adam the human image became distorted.
In Adam the human identity became corrupted.
Adam was no longer the human he was created to be,
He fell into a corrupted form, a marred image.
We might say that
“Adam, after the fall, was a mere shadow of the man he used to be.”
Now covered in shame, now mortal, now fallen,
Adam was less than he used to be.
Now, he DIDN’T TOTALLY LOSE his identity.
He was still made in the image of God (it was just a corrupted image).
You may remember well after the fall,
• After God flooded the earth because of the sin upon it.
• When Noah came out of the ark God gave a command prohibiting murder
And here is why:
(Turn over to) Genesis 9:6 “Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man.”
So even after the fall, man is still said to be made in the image of God,
But that image was corrupted, it was marred.
And now we see humanity in a fallen form.
Paul described the deeds of the flesh
Galatians 5:19-21 “Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Romans 1 describes humanity now:
Romans 1:29-31 “being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful;”
And Romans 3 says:
Romans 3:10-18 “as it is written, “THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.” “THEIR THROAT IS AN OPEN GRAVE, WITH THEIR TONGUES THEY KEEP DECEIVING,” “THE POISON OF ASPS IS UNDER THEIR LIPS”; “WHOSE MOUTH IS FULL OF CURSING AND BITTERNESS”; “THEIR FEET ARE SWIFT TO SHED BLOOD, DESTRUCTION AND MISERY ARE IN THEIR PATHS, AND THE PATH OF PEACE THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN.” “THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES.”
When Adam fell, we lost our understanding of what it meant to be human.
Humanity fell into an “Identity Crisis”
But that wasn’t the only problem.
When humanity became corrupted
Humanity also lost its recognition of who God was.
Adams was the imager bearer.
Adam was supposed to be the explainer of God.
When the imager bearer of God fell into distortion and corruption
• Humans lost their sense of what it meant to be human.
• And since humans are supposed to bear the image of God.
• Humanity lost its sense of who God was (because the image was corrupt)
I heard it explained like this, and it is a great illustration.
Imagine a masterpiece being painted of God.
• Imagine a portrait perfectly depicting His likeness so that all could see Him.
• But then imagine that portrait getting marred or distorted.
And so the objective is to get the painting repaired or fixed,
But the problem is that no one has ever seen the original
To know what it was supposed to look like.
Since man was corrupted, so was our understanding of God.
Do you see the dilemma?
THIS IS THE IDENTITY CRISIS OF THE WORLD.
Now let me show you another verse about Adam.
(Turn to) Romans 5:12-14 “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned— for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.”
Did you notice what Paul said about Adam there at the end?
• Adam “is a type of Him who was to come.”
• Adam was the pattern of Him who was to come.
• Adam was a picture of Jesus.
The Garden of Eden was meant to show us the end.
The Son of God ruling God’s glorious creation.
Adam was supposed to picture that, but Adam fell and marred the picture.
And humanity was left in darkness.
• Humanity didn’t know what creation was supposed to look like.
• Humanity didn’t know what humanity was supposed to be like.
• Humanity didn’t know what God was like.
We had no sense even of what it truly meant to be human
Because we lost our only example.
But consider then what the Bible says about Jesus.
Colossians 1:15 “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.”
The Bible says that Jesus came also in the image of God.
(Turn over to) John 1:16-18 “For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.”
If I can complete the illustration.
JESUS RESTORED THE PAINTING.
When we saw Jesus
We finally saw what it means to actually be human.
• No corruption…
• No defect…
• No sin…
He was never selfish, never cruel, never rude, never arrogant.
Jesus was the perfect human.
Michael Reeves said:
“Jesus was utterly loving, but He wasn’t soppy. His insight would unsettle people and His kindness would win them. Indeed you read the gospels and you see Jesus was a man of extraordinary and extraordinarily appealing contrasts. You simply couldn’t make Him up. Just try to imagine the perfect man. If you do you’ll come up with some wooden caricature of a man; a saintly bore. But Jesus is so much more realistic; so much better than any imaginary perfect man. See we would make Him only one thing or the other. But Jesus you see He’s red blooded and human, but not rough. He’s pure, but He’s never dull. Serious, but with sunbeams of whit. Sharper than cut glass, He would out argue all comers in debate, but never for the sake of a mere win. He knew no failings in Himself and yet was transparently humble. He made the grandest claims for Himself and yet does so without a whiff of [arrogance]. He ransacked the temple, He spoke of hellfire, He called Herod a fox, He called the Pharisees ‘corpses in makeup’ and yet never do you doubt His love as you read His life. With a huge heart He hated evil and felt for the needy. He loved God and He loved people. So you look at Him and you have to say, ‘Here’s a man truly alive, un-withered in any way, far more vital and vigorous, far more full and complete. Far more human than any other.’”
https://www.ligonier.org/learn/conferences/made-in-the-image-of-god
Jesus was the very epitome of what it means to be human.
• He is the very picture of what humanity was created be.
• He is the very image bearer of God.
And then Michael Reeves would go on to say.
“And so it is for those who come to know Christ. They find themselves being rehumanized in His image, after His likeness.”
(ibid)
That is to say that It is not only Christ who shows us what a human is, but it is Christ who re-humanizes us into what we are supposed to be.
The world thinks a good human is good looking.
The world thinks a good human is athletic.
The world thinks a good human is academic.
And the world goes looking for their identity in those things.
Well I hate to be the one to tell you but according to the Bible
• Jesus had no stately form that we should be attracted to Him.
• Jesus never won a single athletic competition.
• Jesus was never educated.
BUT SO WHAT
Because those things have nothing to do
With the true purpose of humanity.
Those things have nothing to do with who God made you to be.
Jesus didn’t care if you could bench press 400lbs.
Jesus didn’t care if you weighed 400 lbs.
Jesus wanted you to be like your Father who is in heaven.
What are the fruits of God’s Spirit?
“Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”
That was Jesus.
That is what a human was created to be.
BUT YOU WILL NEVER BECOME TRULY HUMAN ON YOUR OWN.
Only in Christ can we start to become truly human,
As we were created to be.
This is why Scripture says that God is at work in our life to make us like Jesus; in essence to make us truly human.
Romans 8:29 “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;”
This is what I want you to understand at the outset tonight
As we begin this weekend talking about our identity.
• God created humanity in His image.
• Man and woman were to be the image bearers of God.
• But sin and the fall totally wrecked humanity and now humanity has no idea
even what it means to be human.
But Jesus came, not only to show us what it means to be human,
But also to restore us to what God created us to be.
And that is why in Christ we have verses in the Bible like this:
1 Corinthians 15:49 “Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly.”
• We have all spent enough time looking like the fallen Adam,
• But in Christ we now begin to bear the image of what we were created to be.
2 Corinthians 3:18 “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”
• We look in a mirror and we see that distorted image of humanity,
• But in Christ it is being transformed through sanctification into what we were created to be.
Colossians 3:9-10 “Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him”
• That is the calling for those in Christ to realize that in Christ we are finally becoming truly human.
• We are finally beginning to bear the image of God in our lives.
Ephesians 4:22-24 “that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.”
So tonight we begin with a simple premise.
Your identity is not bound up in what you do or what you look like
Or some other insignificant talent or feature.
You were created to be more.
You were created to be human.
• You are not a dog…
• You are not a cat…
• You are not a horse…
YOU ARE HUMAN.
You were created to bear the image of God.
That is your identity.
But apart from Christ you can never be truly human
Because only Christ can restore the humanity
Which God intended for you to have.
• Only Christ can restore the righteousness which was lost…
• Only Christ can restore the kindness the goodness the faithfulness the gentleness and all those things which bear the image of God.
If you want to find your identity.
If you want to find who you were created to be.
Look to Christ as THE EXAMPLE
And Look to Christ as THE MEANS.
HE IS OUR TRUE IDENTITY.
