A Better Identity - 1 John 3:1-3

Cody Hale

Who Am I? • Sermon • Submitted 10 months ago • Presented 10 months ago

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Introduction

My wife and I built a house a few years ago. And by building a house, I mean that we hired someone to build us a house. Our house plans called for a large deck in the back, and I was excited when I saw the lumber for it delivered. I could already picture drinking coffee in a rocking chair. So, I was shocked when I came back that afternoon and the lumber was gone. Confused and worried that it had been stolen, I called my contractor. He said, "I sent it back. You don't want anything built out of such warped wood."

A good house must be built out of solid materials. Many of the people I meet have a self-perception built out of warped lumber. Aesthetically, their house is attractive and impressive. But behind the stunning facade, they're crumbling. There’s a gap between who God says we are and who we believe we are. So, we’ve constructed our identity out of warped lumber.

God’s Word

But, there’s a path forward for those who have an unhealthy sense of self. By understanding who we are from God’s perspective, we can construct a healthier sense of who we are and how we fit. Three Realizations of a Healthy Identity: (Headline)

There’s an “inherited” identity “true” of all people.

(show comparison photos of Josiah and me) Our children inherit a lot from us. On one hand, that’s beautiful. I see these pictures of Josiah and me, and it’d be hard for me to deny that he’s my son. It’s like looking in a strange mirror. But, it’s so cool, and it brings me joy. On the other hand, it’s terrifying. He can be so strong-willed and hard-headed that he’ll just drive you nuts. But, it’s weird because it’s like I’m getting mad a little me for the same things I do! They get the good and the bad from us, don’t they?

In Romans 5, Paul explains that we all received an inheritance from our first father, Adam. On one hand, like Adam...

We have a “God-given” identity.

Genesis 1:26-30 “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.”

We saw this last week in Genesis 1. Humans don’t come pre-downloaded knowing who they are. So, God tells our original parents who they are and what was true of our original parents is still true of every, single one of us today. We’ve inherited it. So, just like them we’re special and significant. That is, we’re born in God’s image with a purpose of spreading God’s glory. We’re born dependent and blessed. That is, we’re like God, but we’re not God. We’re need him to provide for us, and He’s promised to do just that. We’re moral and accountable. That is, we’re born with a conscience, a sense of morality in the image of God, and we’re morally accountable before God who is the Judge of the universe. And, we’re social and complimentary. We were created by God to fit together and accomplish our purpose together. It’s not good for us to be alone.

But, the main point of Romans 5 is that we didn’t just inherit the dignity of Adam, but we inherited the sin nature of Adam. We inherited the consequences of Adam’s sin. So, we don’t just have a God-given identity...

We have a “sin-confused” identity.

Genesis 3:16-19 “To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.” And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.””

Perhaps, at the forefront of our minds when we think of the identity crisis that defines our age would be gender dysphoria. People are so confused about who they are that they don’t even know whether God has made them male or female. It’s really heartbreaking. But, what we should see is just the most radical extreme of the confusion that sin has brought to each of our sense of identity. None of us thinks of ourselves exactly as God does; thus, none of us thinks of ourselves just as we ought.

We saw this last week in Genesis 3 when Adam and Eve rejected who God said they were in favor of who the serpent said they could be. And, the consequences of that decision led to devastating effects on our sense of self. If you look at the consequences that resulted from Adam and Eve’s sin, you can group it into two inheritances that we receive as a result. First, we receive a sin nature by which we will bring consequences into our lives. Eve will experience pain in child-bearing. She’ll have conflict with her husband. Adam’s work will be laborious and less than satisfying. They’ll both die. But, that’s not all we inherit. We also inherit a broken world as a result. The ground through which God blesses will be filled with thorns and thistles. All people will die. One son will rise up against the other son and kill him. There will always be conflict between the genders. We won’t live in the Garden.

When you ask people who they are, it is common for them to share with you none of their God-given identity and only from their sin-confused identity. That is, you can often categorize many, if not all, of their answers as the result of either their sin nature or this broken world. And, this highlights the identity gap. I often ask people who they are when I meet with them, and we write it on the board. Failure. Afraid. Adulterer. Broken. Worthless. Disappointment. Addict. Survivor. Homosexual. Think of how different these categories are from the ones that God has assigned to us. We come to think of ourselves according to what has happened to us because of the broken world (abuse, firing, childhood trauma, cancer) and according to what we’ve done wrong (cheated, lied, abandoned, adultery).

You see, we’re building out of warped lumber. We’re using the bad materials of the enemy rather than the sturdy foundation that God has given us. But, God has made a provision by the cross of Jesus to bridge the gap between who we understand ourselves to be and who He has made us to be. We can overcome our inheritance.

There’s a “new” identity “offered” to all people.

Romans 5:17 “For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.”

2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

That is, our inheritance can change, and it can change through Christ. This is Paul’s point in Romans 5:17 “For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.” We were born as sinners who sinned and ruined their lives. We were born as those over whom death reigned. But, there is a new inheritance that has been offered to us through Christ that reverses it all. 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

The broken can be called whole. The sinner can be called son. The worthless can be called dearly loved. The identity that God has given to us can be fully recovered and enjoyed through Christ. John helps us understand who we can become through this new identity in Christ by the way he describes to those early Christians who they are.

We can be “children.”

1 John 3:1-2 “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.”

Our parents teach us who we should be called. They may teach you to be called “inadequate” if you can never make them happy. They teach you to be called “worthless” if they abuse you. They may teach to be called “in the way” if they’re always annoyed by you. So much of our identity is shaped in that way, isn’t it? Remember it isn’t pre-downloaded. But, what they’re supposed to teach you is that you matter. You’re loved. You’re provided for. You’re not ultimate.

So, notice what the gospel does. Notice what Jesus accomplished. He brings us into our Father’s house so that we can be called what we “should be called.” “We should be called children of God; and so we are!” You may call yourself worthless. Your dad may call you “in the way.” God calls you child! If you are in Christ, those old categories don’t hold a candle to who you now are.

And, as God’s child...

We can be “beloved.”

Now, we might ask: Why did this come about? John tells us. The reason that you can call yourself “children of God” is because God has “given to us” his love. He has adopted us as his children for the simple fact that He wants us and loves us. It’s not our merit that brings it about. It’s not the success of our life that attracts him. It’s his love!

So much so, that have a second title given to us here. We’re not just called “children.” We’re called “beloved.” It’s a different degree of love that God has for the world. It’s particular, saving, adopting love. Look, I love my community. I love my church. But, my children are “beloved.” My children are the ones who so fill me with affection and passion. My children are the ones to whom my greatest devotion lies. My children are the one who I am willing to make the greatest sacrifices. Why? They’re beloved. And, that’s who we are in Christ. We’re beloved!

We can be “forgiven.”

1 John 2:12 “I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his name’s sake.”

And, we should just ask why, but how? How can we be beloved after all that’s wrong with us? That’s a question we ask ourselves all the time, isn’t it? Well, John tells them how they became children of God. “Your sins are forgiven,” he says. We’ve been made children, and when we were made children, all of the debts of our old identity, all of the sins of our old person, they’ve been forgiven. God’s Son made us sons and daughters by purchasing our forgiveness. We aren’t defined by our adultery or addiction or dishonesty. We’re defined by Christ.

You see, there’s not a single identity question that isn’t answered by the new identity that Christ has given to us. We are children! We’re cared for. We’re provided for. We’re tended to. We’re beloved! God doesn’t tolerate us. He loves us! God doesn’t begrudge us. He loves us! God isn’t annoyed by us. He loves us! We’re forgiven. We aren’t what our past says. We are who God says.

Christ has secured for us a qualitatively better identity. It’s an identity that we’ll have and enjoy forever. And, it can redefine how we understand ourselves and live today. That’s why...

There’s a “better” identity “pursued” by God’s people.

1 John 3:2-3 “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.”

John succinctly explains the tension that we’re all living in, if we know Christ. He’s helping us to understand why we can have an entirely new identity and not always feel like it or live like it. He says, “we are God’s children now.” That’s reality. That’s our identity. That’s who we are. And then, he adds, “what we will be has not yet appeared” and “we shall be like him.” We are already fully in Christ. We are not yet fully like Christ. The full enjoyment and application of our new identity is yet to be known as we live in this world. So, we have something better, and we should pursue now the full knowledge of this better identity. That’s what he’s getting at when he says “purifies himself as pure.” Purify from our lives what’s keeping us from being who He’s making us to be. So we should...

Tear out the “warped lumber.”

Part of growing up in Christ is adopting more and more what He says about me instead of what my parents or peers or culture have said. So, it’s finding the warped lumber that’s been used to construct my identity, and it’s ripping it out. It’s realizing that everything that is different than what God has said is a lie, and it’s it’s rejecting it.

It’s allowing my given and purchased identity to overtake my constructed identity so that my constructed identity is built from God’s materials. (I’ll draw four sets of circles. The first two apart. The second pair will overlap showing how Christ has bridged the gap. The third and fourth pair will overlap more and more. I’ll explain how this gives us the operating system that we’re meant to have and that Christ died for us to have so that we can flourish as He intends.)

Rebuild it the “right way.”

There’s a second way that we should think of this. We shouldn’t just use the better materials. We should make sure that we’re constructing our identity in the right order. That is, what God intends to be the foundation of your life must be the foundation of your life, and what God intends to be lightly held must be lightly held if you’re to have the healthy identity you think about.

Our layers are found by however would answer “Who am I?” “I am___________.” Christian. Dad. Husband. Pastor. Outdoorsman. Student.

(I’m going to draw an identity pyramid. The foundational level is “never changes — what God has said.” The second level is “never changes, but not ultimate — husband, dad, son, ethnicity, nationality, family. The third level are those that may change — job, responsibilities, affiliations. The fourth are those that will change — season of life.)

If you get any part of your identity in the wrong order, it will wreak havock on your life. Think of what happens when if you put parent at the foundational life. Your worth and your security is as erratic as your kids are. They can’t even handle that kind of pressure and attention. Think of what happens when you move your career down to the second level. Those areas that are most central to who you are become neglected for something that is far less significant. If the house isn’t built right, the whole thing can come crashing down around you.

So, how is your house built? Are you using the materials that Christ has provided? And, do you have them in the right order? He offers you a truly better way to understand yourself and to live your life.

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