Series: 23&Me
Sermon: Identity Crisis
Scripture: Genesis 1:26-28
ICE BREAKER: Do you have a New Year's Resolution, and if so, what is it?
REVIEW:
This week we launched our new series, 23 & ME! We are focusing on Identity for the next six weeks and answering the question, "Who Will I Be, In 2023?"
IDENTITY is simply what makes you WHO YOU ARE.
To start the series, we acknowledged that our culture is in an identity crisis. When we think about Identity, we usually go to things like Personality/Temperament, Physical Appearance, Attractions, Worst Mistakes, Skillsets/Accomplishments, Career, and Interests.
While these all certainly play a role in how we perceive ourselves, they are a terrible foundation to root our Identity in. All these things shift and change, sometimes quite rapidly, throughout our lives!
In this first week, we suggested the following:
To know WHO you are, you have to know WHY you are here.
The aspects of Identity listed above CAN NOT tell you the core reason you are here on earth. What is your purpose? What is your mission? What does a life of meaning look like?
To have a life of stability, confidence, and purpose, we must root our Identity in something deeper and more robust! That is precisely what scripture shows us. In the creation story, God creates us IN HIS IMAGE!
Genesis 1
26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness...
What does it mean to you to be made in the image of God?
When you think about your Identity, how much weight do you give being created in God's likeness?
The truth that all of humanity bears the image of God changed the world forever! It meant that the core of our Identity is rooted in something TRANSCENDENT! The followers of Jesus who believed this were the first to study science, build hospitals, open orphanages, break down ethnic barriers, fight to end slavery, and so much more!
However, over time people grew so knowledgeable through science and reason they no longer felt they needed God to answer life's biggest questions. But that left a HUGE problem:
ANSWERING "WHO AM I?" AND "WHY AM I HERE?" WITHOUT A TRANSCENDENT GROUNDING.
With God out of the picture and only philosophy and science to guide us, our Identity could only be rooted in fickle, changing, shaky aspects of our humanity.
To fortify our identity, we must ground ourselves in who God says we are - Divine Image Bearers! The BIG IDEA that will carry through this series is:
Your IDENTITY Is Rooted In The Garden
What God FIRST said about you when he created humanity still remains true today!
APPLICATION:
So WHY ARE WE HERE? What is our purpose? God speaks that out as soon as he creates us!
Genesis 1
26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, the whole earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth."
28 God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth."
God blessed us by making us in His image, He empowered us by giving us the capacity and the right to rule over the earth, and He called us to explore the world and graciously subdue it. To put it simply:
THE CREATION MANDATE IS TO:
-IMITATE - WE ARE IMAGE BEARERS OF GOD
-ASSIMILATE - DISCOVER OUR PURPOSE / WORSHIP THROUGH OUR WORK
-CULTIVATE - USE WHO WE ARE TO REACH THE WORLD
When Jesus came, he gave us updated Marching Orders. We call them "The Great Commission." We are called as followers of Christ to:
IMITATE JESUS
ASSIMILATE INTO YOUR WORLD
CULTIVATE THE GOSPEL
HERE ARE THIS WEEK'S APPLICATION QUESTIONS:
Over the last few years, what has your Identity been rooted in? (Personality/Temperament, Physical Appearance, Attractions, Worst Mistakes, Skillsets/Accomplishments, Career, Interests, etc.)
What is ONE WAY you can begin to think differently about your Identity based on the truth of scripture?
As followers of Jesus, we are called to imitate Him, and this is how we live out the image of God. What is ONE WAY you can practically be more like Jesus this week?
PRAY:
Thank God for the great gift of being made in His own image. Pray like King David did - in complete wonder for how much God thinks about us and love us. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal where you have rooted your Identity in things that cannot bring stability or peace.
Comments