IDENTITY
INTENTION:
Whom we are is more
than what we see in the mirror. When we are Born-Again, we are instantly
changed from being of this world to being of our Father God. Our identity
becomes that of our Father in Heaven, and just like our sibling Jesus Christ.
How fantastic is that!
How you see yourself
can affect your everyday life. Let’s know we are Born of God!
I.
TOPIC:
We want to look at Identity—our identity as humans in
relation to Christ Jesus (also a human).
Back at Lesson 001, we looked at God's original Creation
(which He proclaimed as “good”). It was at Creation that He set into motion a
governing Law of Design. Firstly, He Himself created every plant, every animal,
and every human at the beginning. From the 7th Day of creation, He has been
resting from that Creation (no longer creating). Having, from those days
instructed each plant, each animal, and each human to "reproduce after its
own kind" (Genesis
1).
So, as human, we are the by-product (offspring) of the first
humans: Adam (that is both male and female). And from that beginning, all
mankind are offspring of them: the resulting product (child) reproduced after
its own kind (their parents). And we can see this result in the appearance of
the child representing a merger of both the male and the female parent who
created the child—the child thus bearing the image of their creator (their
parents).
Genetics, biology, and science has confirmed this Law of
God's Creation. Trees reproduce trees, cats reproduce cats, dogs reproduce
dogs, fish reproduce fish, birds reproduce birds, etc. And humans reproduce
humans. Quite simple.
Because we are, in this way, created by our parents, we
identify ourselves with them. Even the nature vs nurture upbringing defines
that identity: engraining positive/negative nurturing and positive/negative DNA;
and instilling habits, iniquities, beliefs, physical characteristics, and more,
from parent to child. We, in that sense, become our parents (we can see an
in-grained relation of the child to the parents).
But here is where we confuse our identity and are often
deceived in it, both as children and as parents. Our identity is not who bore
us or who raised us, our identity is and should always be the Lord! For it is
the Lord (Father, Son, and Holy Ghost) that said at Creation that we humans
are, "made in THEIR Image". This is something we have lost in those
thousands of years since Adam. However, since then, we have experienced the completed
work of Jesus Christ for humanity (as a human, and God)!
As such, whether we are male or female, we need to see our
identity as being Christ Jesus—renewing our minds and hearts to this
revelation…even if it means rejecting our own natural heritage!
·
Refer also: https://cbadenhorst.blogspot.com/2018/08/heart-of-god-part-1.html
https://cbadenhorst.blogspot.com/2019/02/heart-of-god-part-ii.html
Bible Study Lessons 012-017 –Tabernacle: Body, Mind, Soul, Heart, Spirit
Bible Study Lesson 028 – The Humanity of Jesus
Bible Study Lesson 040 – Final
Judgment
Bible
Study Lesson 044 – Our Duality (Flesh & Spirit)
II.
READING: 2
Corinthians 5:1-21 (ESV) {PoG}
For we know that if the
tent {tabernacle} that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building
from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For in this
tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, 3 if indeed by putting
it on we may not be found naked. 4 For while we are still in this tent {tabernacle},
we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be
further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 He who
has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a
guarantee.
6 So we are always of good courage. We know that while we
are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, 7 for we walk by faith, not
by sight. 8 Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the
body and at home with the Lord. 9 So whether we are at home or away, we {are
accepted by Him}. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ {1
John 4:17}, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done
in the body, whether good or evil {to believe or to not believe}.
11 Therefore, knowing
the fear {reverence} of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known
to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience. 12 We are not
commending ourselves to you again but giving you cause to boast about us, so
that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not
about what is in the heart. 13 For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God;
if we are in our right mind, it is for you. 14 For the love of Christ controls
us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all
have died; 15 and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for
themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
16 From now on,
therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once
regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he {that person} is a new creation.
The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who
through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of
reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to
himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the
message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God
making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, {you are
reconciled with God}. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so
that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
III.
RELATED VERSES AND QUESTIONS:
A. Galatians
3:25-28 (ESV) {PoG}
But now that faith has
come, we are no longer under a guardian {the Law}, 26 for in Christ
Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27 For as many of you as were
baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek,
there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all
one in Christ Jesus.
Question: What do you feel God was saying (or
what He was eliminating) by saying this?
B. No
partiality (“no respecter of persons”):
Acts
10:34-38,44-46a (ESV)
So Peter opened his mouth
and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, 35 but in every
nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. 36 As
for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus
Christ (he is Lord of all), 37 you yourselves know what happened throughout all
Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed: 38 how
God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went
about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was
with him.
44 While Peter was still saying these things, the
Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. 45 And the believers from among the
circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy
Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. 46 For they were hearing them
speaking in tongues and extolling God.
Romans
2:11 (ESV)
For God shows no
partiality.
James
2:1 (ESV)
My brothers, show no
partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.
Question: What does it mean to you that “God
shows no partiality”—and that we shouldn’t either?
C. Hebrews
10:9-10,12,16-23 (ESV) {PoG}
then he added, “Behold, I
have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish
the second. 10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of
the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single
sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.
16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them
after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws {the Law of believing
and Loving (1
John 3:23)} on their hearts, and write them on their minds,” 17 then he
adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.” 18 Where
there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin. 19
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the
blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the
curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over
the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of
faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience {sin
conscience} and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the
confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.
Question: Do you identify with your sins or your
righteousness?
D. Romans
7:15-25 & 8:1-11 (ESV)
For I do not understand my
own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16
Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17 So
now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know
that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to
do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the
good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do
what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at
hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my
members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive
to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who
will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus
Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with
my flesh I serve the law of sin.
1 There is
therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law
of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and
death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By
sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned
sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be
fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the
Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the
things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds
on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but
to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on
the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it
cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 You, however, are not
in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you.
Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if
Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life
because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the
dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give
life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
Question: Can you feel the “dual-personality”
that seems to be your own fight between your flesh-identity and
spirit-identity?
E. Our
inner battle:
Ephesians
4:22-24 (ESV)
to put off your old self,
which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful
desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the
new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
Colossians
3:1-14 (ESV)
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are
above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on
things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died,
and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life
appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 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. 12 Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and
beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13
bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving
each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And
above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
Galatians
5:11-25 (ESV)
But I say, walk by the
Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires
of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against
the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the
things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under
the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality,
impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of
anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and
things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such
things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness,
self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to
Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we
live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.
Question: How do we identify what is of the
flesh and what is of the Spirit? Where is the battle between our old self and
our new self?
IV.
FURTHER THOUGHT:
A. Romans
10:9-13 (ESV)
because, if you confess
with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised
him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is
justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture
says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is
no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all,
bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the
name of the Lord will be saved”.
Thoughts: Paul quotes a scripture (Joel
2:32) that talks about our salvation. The words "call upon" speak
of making our identity as His (Christ's). The Greek translates to:
Call Upon – G1941:
epikaleō
1.
to put a name upon, to surname
a.
to permit one's self to be surnamed
2. to
be named after someone
It’s as if we are changing our surname to His—our identity
no longer whom we think we are (our core identity), to whom we really are (our
ideal identity). We truly become adopted by the Father, as His child, into His
family, with HIS NAME! We share the same name as Jesus Christ.
B. Read
through the Parable of the Prodigal Son: Luke
15:11-32 (ESV).
We can see that both sons
did not understand their inheritance or value. The prodigal (younger son) didn’t
expect to be welcomed home, thinking he was a nobody; yet was never accused by
his father of losing his value or “sonship”. For the older son that stayed
home, he saw his identity as a servant and not a son, working for the
inheritance—this led to bitterness and anger that his younger brother received
praise from the father when he didn’t do any work for that reward.
NB: This is also a
representation of the Jews and the Greeks: the Greeks did not expect an
inheritance and the Jews felt they had worked for that inheritance. Yet God’s
gifts not on our merits, but on His Grace.
The father accused the
older son of not understanding this, having been given the inheritance (rights)
to claim all the father had as his own—this being the same inheritance the
younger son was given as well. This is what the father showed the younger when
he returned, throwing a feast.
We should then view ourselves, not as either son did of
themselves, but as the father saw each son: as a son worthy of everything the
father has. Which is exactly as our Father in Heaven sees us—so, whether you
are someone who’s tried to work for God’s goodness, or one that feels unworthy
to be called a son, the Lord will receive you into His family as His own—remember
you have been legally given His surname and identity!
C. What
do you call yourself?
Because often our thoughts
and our words define who we are, creating our own identities: “ugly, fat, thin,
bald, afraid, shy, timid, stupid, blind, crippled, sick, having allergies, mentally
ill, worthless, a whore, a paedophile, a gangster, a specific race, a specific
nationality, a personality type, religious denomination, and more”. When we use
these terms for ourselves (or others), we limit whom we really are, instead of
believing whom God says we are. And when we hold onto these “anti-identities”,
we create conflict in us as these relate to the flesh when we are spiritual
beings (Galatians
5:16-24 and 1
Corinthians 6:9-11). And this conflict of identity keeps us from truly
experiencing the “righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit” that is the
Kingdom of God (Romans
14:17).
Take heart though, if you
struggle with an anti-identity, there is no need to fear any reprisal from the
Lord; for He will meet you where you are and will not hold back from gifting
you all He has, and always loving you!
D.
Arthur Meintjes: Adoption. Loved
and accepted. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=My62eVLmAHE
E. Carlie
Terradez: Who Do You Think You Are? https://carlieterradez.wordpress.com/who-do-you-think-you-are/
Change your
confession, change your life. Start speaking out who God says you are today!
I am
____________________________________________ (your name)
I am a
party waiting to happen, 1 Peter 1:8! Angels rejoice over me, demons
flee from me, James 4:7, and God himself dances over me with singing, Zephaniah
3:17. I am the bearer of good news, Isaiah 52:7, a minister of
reconciliation, 2 Corinthians 5:18, the carrier of the King of Glory, Colossians
1:27. I am the righteousness of Christ, 2 Corinthians 5:21 and a
temple of the Holy Spirit, 1 Corinthians 6:19. I have an unction from
the Holy one and I know all things, 1 John 2:20 I have the mind of
Christ, 1 Corinthians 2:16, I am anointed by God, 1 John 2:27,
And I was created by Him for good works, Ephesians 2:10! I have favour
with God, favour with man and a good understanding, Luke 2:52. I am
chosen by God, John 15:16, Ephesians 1:4, I have been sanctified,
1 Corinthians 6:11, and made truly Holy. As Jesus is, so am I in this
world, 1 John 4:17! I am always on God’s mind, He thinks about me
constantly, Psalms 139:17-18. Even before the creation of the world, I
was planned, Ephesians 1:4. I am a child of the King, adopted into his
family, Ephesians 1:5, An heir in Christ, Romans 8:17, Accepted
in the Beloved, Ephesians 1:6. I am blessed with every spiritual
blessing in heavenly places, Ephesians 1:3. I lack no good thing, Psalms
34:10. I have an abundance for every good work. 2 Corinthians 9:8. I
was predestined by God for success, Romans 8:28-30. I am placed and
seated with Him, a king and priest, part of a chosen generation, a peculiar
people, 1 Peter 2:9. I am blessed coming in and going out, Deuteronomy
28:6. My family is blessed, my flocks are blessed, Deuteronomy 28:4,
and everything I touch prospers, Deuteronomy 28:8. I am the head and not
the tail, above the circumstances and not beneath them, Deuteronomy 28:13.
No weapon formed against me can prosper, Isaiah 54:17, no plague can
come near my dwelling-my house or my body, Psalm 91:10! And nothing can
separate me from the love of God—not angels or demons, not principalities or
powers, nothing in this world or out of it, Romans 8:38-39! I am
equipped with the full Armor of God, Ephesians 6:13, packed full of the
Holy Spirit, with more than enough power inside of me to raise the dead, Romans
8:11, heal the sick and cast out devils, Matthew 10:1. My faith can
move mountains, Mark 11:23, my words contain life and death, Proverbs
18:21, my life was bought at a price-Jesus covered it, 1 Corinthians
6:20. My days are appointed, Psalms 139:16 my life is protected, Mark
16:18 angels encamp around me, Psalms 34:7, and the blessings of God
encircle me, Psalms 103:4, go before me and overtake me, Deuteronomy
28:2. The creator of the universe, my Dad, loves me with an everlasting
love, Jeremiah 31:3. He is with me always, Hebrews 13:5, He
thinks about me constantly, Psalms 139:17. He knows everything about me,
even the number of hairs on my head, Matthew 10:30. His love for me is
inescapable, insurmountable and irrefutable. I am all round awesome, just ask
my Dad!
V. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT & SUPPORT:
A thank you to Kelly and Joshua who are inspirational in this life-journey. And to all the family, friends, sponsors, and donors who have fed into this ministry and outreach.
If you would like to support this ministry and outreach, you may do so via our website or at:
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