The Crossing
No one really denies that we now live in a Post-Christian Nation. The foundations of faith have been eroded. This provides a significant advantage to people of faith when we live a counter-cultural life BUT only if we stand securely on a Christian Worldview revealed in Scripture.
The world tells us our identities are constructed from our core identity - our hard wiring as individuals, our chosen identity - our skills, where we live and what we do, and our given identity - our age, gender, race and physical characteristics and that our choices and decisions are a product of that identity.
What if we had a “hidden identity” that was far more precious and wonderful than anything we might construct or society would shape us into?
Ephesians 1:3-14 NIV
Chosen to be holy and blameless.
Ephesians 1:3-4 NIV
This only happens in Him. It is how He chooses to see you.
Adopted into His family
Ephesians 1:5-6 NIV
This is who we are in the context of our family. It was His choice, and He did it in love with great joy!
Redeemed and forgiven
Ephesians 1:7-8 NIV
Sin is the reason we question who we are, but God has taken care of our forgetfulness and paid the debt through Jesus.
He has revealed our hidden identity
Ephesians 1:8-10 NIV
We are chosen but must choose this identity for ourselves.
Ephesians 1:11-14 NIV
Our identity is sealed with the Holy Spirit when we hear the message and choose to accept it.
Ephesians 1:14 NIV
“Sealed” may sound like a banking term or a will, but it is actually far more personal like a betrothal or engagement ring.
God declares our identity, one that is so much more than the identities we have constructed for ourselves. The question is whether we are willing to trade that identity for the one He speaks over us?
Trading our old identity is difficult because our constructed identity is so full of lies, and we have made agreements with lies our whole lives.
Carlos Whitaker, in his message “Kill the Spider,” describes a spider as an agreement made with a lie. The answer is not to clear the cobwebs, but to kill the spider.
Ephesians 1 is like Raid for spiders. The spiders in our lives hide our true identity.
So much of our identity is tied to our need to control it, but control is an illusion. We don’t need to try harder, we need to yield harder - to who God says we are, surrendering our constructed identity to the identity He declares over us.