What does a police officer ask for when you get pulled over? Your driver’s license. It’s your ID that he wants to see, because he needs to know who you are. Your identification will tell him all about you. ID can take several forms. Driver’s license, passport, and even a credit card. Your ID has been issued from a governing body and it establishes the legal requirements and limits of your freedom under their authority. As disciples of Jesus, we have been issued an official spiritual ID. It should tell other people everything they need to know about us. What does your ID look like? Who issued it? Who does it say you are? Does it say that you are a church member? Too many “believers” are using the ID given to them by their church membership committee. Church membership ID grants people all the benefits of offered by that church. And they join up with whichever church offers the most attractive membership package. They put a sticker on the back of their car to show their membership. But membership also carries the weight of responsibility. And when they act outside of the membership rules, people will judge the governing body that issued the sticker according to the behavior of that one member. People love to get their spiritual identity confused with the
identity of their church. When someone asks if they are a Christian, they reply, “Oh yes, I go to ______ church.” Their ability to identity as a Christian is tied to that church. But does going to church make you a christian? No more so than standing in a garage makes you a mechanic. Today we will look into what our personal spiritual ID is supposed to look like as a disciple of Jesus. We must recognize the difference between our natural ID which can change from season to season and our spiritual ID which permanent. I used to work in television so I had press credentials which allowed me into special places. But now that old ID won’t get me anywhere. It’s expired, so it’s of no use to me. We can’t keep trying to use an ID from a past season of our life. It won’t work now because the rooms it used to get you into are not the rooms you are supposed to be in now. You can’t move your life forward by using an old ID. Mine used to say “producer”, but now I have one that says “pastor.” Your ID is issued by the governing authority in your life. Who is that? Are you allowing your life to be identified by a past season? Maybe you had something that failed in your life...a marriage, a business, a family relationship. That may have failed, but your ID is not supposed to say “failure.” You cannot allow a season to be the governing authority in your life. The same is also true of good seasons in your past. Just because it was a good season, doesn’t mean you are supposed to be identifying by it. It may be time to let it go and move forward into what God has for you today. What does your ID say? The bible says that our ID, our identification, our identity is “in Christ.”
2 Corinthians 2:17 “17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” There are 160 verses in the Bible that talk about the concept of who we are “in Christ.” If you look at an ID, the first thing you will notice is that there is a picture on it. And the picture on the ID should look like the person holding the ID. Does your ID match who you are? For a disciple of Jesus, our ID supposed to have the image of Christ. When someone looks at you, do you match the image of Christ? Romans 8:29 “29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” When people look at you, who do they see? Is it you, your church or Jesus? God want’s you to be conformed to the image of Jesus. Jesus is the Son of God, but God didn’t want just one son, He wanted many sons...all doing His will in the earth. How can we become conformed to His image? Colossians 3:5-11 “5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do
not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.” You conform to the image of Christ, by putting your old life to death and putting on your new one which is renewed in the knowledge of Christ. If you are not in the word, you are not allowing your life to be renewed. This is the work of the Holy Spirit in your life. He will remind you of what you are studying in the Word of God. He will reveal to you the things you should be putting away and the things you should be taking up daily. Now I’ll say something that may hit some of you sideways. If you are a disciple of Jesus, your current identity is not, “I’m a sinner saved by grace.” Am I saying that I don’t sin since I’ve accepted Jesus? No, that’s not what I’m saying at all. Do I sin? Yes. Am I a sinner? No. I’m saying my current identity is not “sinner”, it is Child of God, Citizen of heaven, Co-Heir with Christ and Disciple of Jesus who has been set free from the law of sin and death. If I keep confessing with my mouth that I am still wrapped up in my old identity as a sinner, it keeps me in bondage to the law of sin and death, which wants to rule in my flesh. The more I confess that I’m a sinner, the more likely I am to allow myself to sin. Your words are powerful, they have the power of life and death, so be careful how you speak over yourself and what you claim as your identity. You will live the life you are confessing. You can’t conform to the image of Christ and put away your old life of sin, if you continue confessing you are a sinner. Let me put it like this. Let’s say I had been adopted by my parents when I was 4 years old. They gave me their name along
with all the rights and privileges as a child of theirs...but even now, 50 years later, every time someone asks me who I am, I reply by saying I am an orphan who was adopted by the Owens family. Does that sound right? Adoption, was a fact of my past, but it is not my current identity. I was an orphan, but I’m no longer an orphan. I haven’t been identified as an orphan for the last 50 years by my parents. But that’s how I refer to myself. How do you think it would make my dad feel if I never identified as his son and never accepted my new identity. The truth is that if I continue to call myself an orphan who was adopted, I will never be free from the orphan mentality. The orphan mentality says that you are not loved, and will always be alone. After my adoption, I’m supposed to have the identity of Randall Owens. I’m supposed to take on a new identity as the son of my father. I’ve been given the Owens family name and when someone asks me who I am, I’m supposed to proudly proclaim I am Randall Owens, the son of JC Owens. Here is what happens when I do that. Those who know my dad will associate me with all of his qualities. They will say, Oh if Randall is a child of JC, he must be a hard worker, a good leader and a man of God. And that is how you are supposed to identify yourself. The same way your Heavenly Father identifies you. How do you think it makes God feel when you call yourself a sinner saved by grace? You are not in alignment with God’s thoughts about you. According to Him, you are no longer a sinner. You are a Child of God, a Citizen of heaven, a Co-Heir with Christ and a Disciple of Jesus who has been set free from the law of sin and death. That is how your Father in Heaven sees you. And that is how He wants you to see yourself.
When He looks at you, He does not see the sin you once lived in. When He looks at your past, all He sees now, is the blood of Jesus. It’s the same principle as the first passover. When the blood was applied to the doorposts of the Israelite houses, the death angel didn’t see the people inside...all he saw was the blood, which made them impossible to touch. The blood of Jesus, that He gave as a perfect sacrifice, has freed us from sin and death. Ephesians 1:3-5 “3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,” Jesus was the first born of many sons and was the one to show us what it looks like to live as a new man outside the law of sin and death. He is the first born which makes Him our older Brother, because through Him we have been adopted into the family of God. Romans 8:14-17 “14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.”
God is our Abba Father. Our adoption into the family of God makes us a Co-Heir with Jesus. Your family name is on your ID and it is the proof that you are qualified for an inheritance. Ephesians 1:11-12 “11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. Here’s the thing about an inheritance. You don’t get it until the age of maturity. You can be a millionaire on paper based on a will, but if you are underage you can still be broke. But as soon as you reach the age of maturity your inheritance will be given to you and you can begin to live like who you already were as an heir. You don’t give a child a million dollars, because in their immaturity they will waste all the resources that were meant for their future. If you are not spiritually mature God will not turn you loose with all the gifts He wants you to have. Your maturity will be the sign that you are ready to receive what God has for you. The parable of the Prodigal Son is the example of what happens to an inheritance that is given to an immature person. It is wasted. Are you breaking the third commandment? Do not take the name of the Lord in vain. Are you carrying an ID that says you are a kingdom citizen, but not abiding by any of the laws of the kingdom? Have you ever wondered why there is just as much divorce in the church as in the world? Have you ever wondered why there is just as much stress, anxiety and worry among “believers” as
there is in the world? It’s because church attenders don’t actually believe what the word of God says. And so they don’t live according to even the most basic spiritual laws God has laid out. If they actually believed them, they would live accordingly. They prayed a prayer for salvation, but have no desire to move forward in the Spirit and accomplish His will. So they go about their lives as though the only reason Jesus came was so they could go to heaven. But their life on earth is miserable, because they are not fulfilling the purpose that God created them for. They live with an attitude of, “it’s all about me.” And here is the result. They end up dealing with all the physical consequences of breaking all those spiritual laws. Then what do they do? They want to blame God for how terrible their life is. This is a situation we see over and over in the church. But it is not supposed to be this way for the body of Christ. Your ID shows your citizenship status. Philippians 3:20 “20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,” Ephesians 1:13-14 “13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.” Your citizenship is in Heaven, you are sealed by the Holy Spirit and you have an inheritance...start acting like it! Here’s a question that has not been asked often enough.
Do you have a fake ID? Are you pretending to identify as someone that God didn’t create you to be? Genesis 1:27 “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” This has become a major issues in the world today. We have taken these simple basic biological facts and tried to bend them to accommodate for our sinful desires of the flesh. In the days live in now, it’s considered hate to even speak about how the word of God instructs us to view men and women. Let me stay it clearly for anyone who is wondering what I believe about this topic. I believe what I just read in Genesis 1:27. There are only two genders. Male and female. God created us that way and that is the end of that conversation. Marriage is between a man and a woman. God created it that way and that is the end of that conversation. I don’t care what law any government pass, God’s word is right and always will be. As ambassadors for God, our opinion does not matter. The only opinion that matters is the one of our King, and I just read His opinion to you. If someone doesn’t like that opinion, they can take it up with God, the One who wrote it. So, what does your spiritual ID look like? Do you resemble the image of Christ that is on it? Is it a fake ID? Are you living up to who it says you are?
Komentarze