Our Identity

Message by: Jodi Lenker

What is your identity when you are in public?

What is your identity in private?

What is your identity when you're driving?

As you go through life, you will have different identities. Your identity at 13 is different from your identity at 30.

i·den·ti·ty

/īˈden(t)ədē/

noun: The fact of being who or what a person or thing is; the characteristics determining who or what a person or thing is.

Our identity should have the same moral characters as Christ.

Luke 14:25-35
[25] A large crowd was following Jesus. He turned around and said to them, [26] “If you want to be my disciple, you must, by comparison, hate everyone else—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. [27] And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple. [28] “But don’t begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it? [29] Otherwise, you might complete only the foundation before running out of money, and then everyone would laugh at you. [30] They would say, ‘There’s the person who started that building and couldn’t afford to finish it!’ [31] “Or what king would go to war against another king without first sitting down with his counselors to discuss whether his army of 10,000 could defeat the 20,000 soldiers marching against him? [32] And if he can’t, he will send a delegation to discuss terms of peace while the enemy is still far away. [33] So you cannot become my disciple without giving up everything you own. [34] “Salt is good for seasoning. But if it loses its flavor, how do you make it salty again? [35] Flavorless salt is good neither for the soil nor for the manure pile. It is thrown away. Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand!”

Here, Jesus was speaking with large crowds that had been following Him.

He was not calling us to hate people, but He needed them to know that identifying with Jesus requires placing Him above all of those things.

At the time of this speech, Jesus hadn't been on the cross yet. People hearing this would see a cross as a punishment for criminals. Upon hearing this, He must have lost many in the crowd.

Are you ready to lay down and leave behind things that are not good for you and don't align with Him? This might even be to the point of leaving relationships.

We take for granted that we live in a country where we can share Jesus in public, but there are places where they can't.

Jesus is calling us to follow Him.

What happens if we don't?

How do we follow? How do we identify with Him?

John 15:18-27
[18] “If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. [19] The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you. [20] Do you remember what I told you? ‘A slave is not greater than the master.’ Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you. [21] They will do all this to you because of me, for they have rejected the one who sent me. [22] They would not be guilty if I had not come and spoken to them. But now they have no excuse for their sin. [23] Anyone who hates me also hates my Father. [24] If I hadn’t done such miraculous signs among them that no one else could do, they would not be guilty. But as it is, they have seen everything I did, yet they still hate me and my Father. [25] This fulfills what is written in their Scriptures: ‘They hated me without cause.’ [26] “But I will send you the Advocate —the Spirit of truth. He will come to you from the Father and will testify all about me. [27] And you must also testify about me because you have been with me from the beginning of my ministry.

The world will hate us… or push us to the side.

John 16:7-11
[7] But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you. [8] And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment. [9] The world’s sin is that it refuses to believe in me. [10] Righteousness is available because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more. [11] Judgment will come because the ruler of this world has already been judged.

What does an advocate do? They fight for you. The Holy Spirit is our Advocate.

The world will know what convictions the Holy Spirit is highlighting, just as we do.

But, if we know Him, we know what to do and what not to do. We will identify as Christ if we have the Holy Spirit.

We have to grow in our relationship and in our identity with Christ - in the Holy Spirit.

If you identify as a coffee drinker, you need your coffee every day.

If you identify as a mom or dad, you don't get days off from that.

If you identify as a Christian, you should be chasing Him, through the Bible, every day.

If the Holy Spirit is calling you to give something up, not giving it up will come against that relationship.

Do whatever it takes to keep and grow your identity in Him.