In Christ I Am Blessed Series

In Christ I am Blessed

Series: Made for More

Brad Bailey – April 24, 2022

Introduction

Welcome… wherever you find yourself.

I am excited to launch into a new series and focus today…one that really flows from last Sunday’s celebration of the resurrection of Christ.

As we began to engage last week…when Christ arose… it created a crack not only in human history by which we date our calendars…but it brought the power to be restored to the source of unending life and love.

In the risen Christ was the reality of being made for more.

The truth is that apart from God we spend our lives with shadowy identities… defined by the surface of what we see and do.

Who do you think you are?

That is, what is your ultimate identity? How would you finish the statement: "I am _____________."

If we’re honest… it’s not a question that we may be quick to answer.

Our lives become a long process in which we become attached to various ways of seeing ourselves that don't really answer who we really are.

It starts when you’re little. Were you the first-born? Were you the baby in the family? What were you like? Were you the funny kid? Were you the chubby kid? Were you the athletic kid? Were you the artsy kid? But out ultimate identity is not simply our general traits.

As we continue forward in life and we hit the teen years... we usually become even more uncertain…and try to find some group to identify with. It’s like “survival of the fittest.” But out ultimate identity is not simply some social fit.

Often in college and young adult years we sense an opportunity to completely reinvent ourselves. We think it's finally time to define who we really are...as we begin to make our own choices. But out ultimate identity is not simply that we can make choices.

And if we get married...what we thought was going to help us become who we want to be...doesn't turn out to be so simple...because that spouse has a way of knowing that we may not be all that we think we are. They seem to have their own ideas.

If we become parents... we can find ourselves in the strange position of becoming identity givers ….who are still not sure who we really are.

The truth is that…

If we look at others to define us... ultimately we are reduced to some desperate need to please and appease the needs of others.

If we look at our accomplishments …we become human doings.

If we dare to look within... we will face more questions than answers… we may feel some genuine impressions about ourselves…but we’re separated from the ultimate source.

Only God as the source of our existence can tell us who we really are.

So we’re going to spend the next several weeks letting God answer this question as expounded upon in the Biblical Book of Ephesians.

But first...take a quick look at Genesis 1:26-28

Genesis means “beginnings.” It’s the first book of the Bible because it’s the book of beginnings.

And there we find the beginning of our identity.

Genesis 1:26-28 (NLT) ?Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like ourselves. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.” 27 So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. 28 Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it.

And here’s what the Bible says:

“Then God said, ‘Let us.’” There’s an allusion there to the Trinity: one God, three persons, us.

“In our image, after our likeness.” I want you to see, that’s identity language. Who are you? God says, “I’ve made you in my image and likeness.”

That’s your truest most original identity. Human life was created as a bearer of God's image on earth.

We are created to be a representation of God’s nature in the created world.

So many of our identity decisions are about, “How will this make me look?” That’s the wrong question. “How am I to represent the likeness of God…the nature of God?” That’s the right question. “

You not just distinct because from other creatures you have an opposable thumb. You’re distinct because you are a unique representation of God.

In verse 28 -"Then God blessed them

Adam and Eve didn’t do anything to obtain this identity.

God made them, God spoke to them, God defined them, and God blessed them. It’s all God.

Your true identity was never achieved, it was received. It’s not something you do, it’s something God does. It’s not what you earn, it’s what he gives.