HOW IS OUR IDENTITY DETERMINED?
First in series: “Identity Theft?”
Rev. Todd G. Leupold, Perth Bible Church, Sunday May 4, 2008 AM
INTRODUCTION:
The Who, Who Are You
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THE BIG QUESTION: Is who we are determined by what we do, OR is what we do determined by who we are?
IDENTITY AT CREATION: What We Inherited From God
Genesis 1:26-31; 2:7-25
1. God’s ’Image’
Literally, we are a created representation of our Triune Creator.
We are distinctly similar, and yet fundamentally different from Him.
Because God is spirit (Jn. 4:24) and not a physical being, we reflect His image not in our physical appearance but in the nature & character of our spirit!
From the beginning, humanity was a very special and unique creation of God, formed, molded and filled to live as His image. We were created in His image, but never were or intended to be Him. Humanity was created to be God’s representative, not as a perfect, carbon copy, but simply in His likeness: as similar to Him in nature & character as any created being ever could be!!!
2. Physical Life
Our physical bodies, vitality and health are all gifts from God.
At creation, this was a strong physical body that was seemingly immune from disease, sickness, injury or even decay.
3. Spiritual Life
Notice that the first human, Adam, was not alive until God Himself breathed His Spirit into Him.
It is our spirit that is from God, the body is from the dust of the earth.
It is our spirit that gives us vitality and transforms us into an image of God.
4. Purpose & Significance
From the moment of original creation, the LORD God bestowed on humanity – both male and female – the greatest purpose & significance any created being could ever have!
In Gen. 1:28ff, we see that He gave them a tremendous blessing in declaring their purpose to “be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it” with His image (textually implied)!!!
He didn’t declare this just for Adam & Eve, but for all who were to follow them from their union together!
5. Safety & Security
Both to bless us, and to help us fulfill His destiny and purpose for us, the LORD God Almighty took great pains as well to provide us with everything we could ever possibly need – including an environment of perfect safety and security!
Even in the one and only means of danger that could harm them or their destiny (the tree of the knowledge of good & evil – the ability to always know and choose either), God gave them sufficient warning and protection.
6. Unobstructed Intimacy
First, Adam & Eve were blessed to have unobstructed intimacy with the LORD God Almighty, personally, directly and unhesitatingly walking and communing with Him every day!
Second, God blessed them with the ability to have unobstructed intimacy with one other such that the two – a man and a woman - would become as one. They would be one without strife, without jealousy and without divided attention or loyalties.
7. Innocence & Purity
- They were naked and had no shame (2:25) because there was nothing, external or internal, physical or spiritual, that they had any need to hide, worry, or be embarrassed about.
IDENTITY BECAUSE OF SIN:
What We Inherited From Our ’First Parents’ Genesis 3:6-7, 16-24
Our ’first parents’, Adam & Eve, chose to take this image which God had given them, and to instead seek to define themselves for themselves. Through this sin, its effects upon them, and their natural transmission to us the nature and attributes of humanity were gravely and greatly changed!
1. A Mutated Image
Sin has caused a mutation in God’s original creation of humanity that has distorted and warped the image we were at creation.
Because, as Adam’s offspring, we are born ’of his kind’ and ’in his likeness’ (Gen. 5:1-3), through mutation of sin is transmitted from generation to generation.
As a result, ALL humanity since has been and is born in an image different than we were created and blessed to be! This is what is often referred to as “Original Sin.”
Psalm 51:5; Romans 3:23
What was ’good’ is now ’wicked.’ What was intended to be a masterpiece likeness has become a mutated sculpture that none can truly define or seem to know what to do with! Kinda like ’modern’ art!
As the image has been distorted, so have the blessings of that image. Whereas once there was spiritual life, now there is . . .
2. Spiritual Death
Ro. 5:12;6:23
Instead of physical strength & vitality, there is . . .
3. Physical Weakness
Genesis 3:16-19; Romans 7:24
Now, also, rather than purpose and significance, there is . . .
4. Randomness & Insignificance
When absolutely connected to God and in the fullness of His image, Adam & Eve never had to wonder why they exist, what is their purpose, what does God want from them, what makes me special, do I matter . . .
Now, it seems most people can’t stop asking and wondering about those things and no answer seems to be certain or good enough!
Psalm 22:6
Similarly, lives of complete safety and security in every way possible, have instead been transformed into lives of . . .
5. Toil & Worry
Originally, of the nearly infinite choices available to Adam & Eve, there was only one possible bad choice: to disobey God, to desire other than His desire.
Today, it seems things have reversed. We have so many choices, sometimes even complex choices we don’t know what to do or what is right or wrong anymore. Often (like, say, during an election year), we even find ourselves feeling forced to make a choice between ’two evils.’
It seems every moment of every day presents an ominous and important choice, effort, or worry.
Matthew 6:25-34
Perhaps most troubling of all, however, is that we have gone from have unobstructed intimacy with God to feelings of . . .
6. Rejection & Loneliness
John 15:5-6; Romans 3:10-12
Our sin separates us from God and leaves us rejected and alone.
Therefore, we are left to lives which are inevitably filled with . . .
7. Guilt & Shame
The Holy Spirit and our own conscience convict us.
We try to run away, but we cannot. We try to wash it, but neither the stain nor the stink will go away.
We try to call it something else (low self-esteem, depression, a stomach ache), but it’s nature and truth does not change!
Who we are because of sin is NOT who God desires us to be! Nor is it who we must be!
OUR OPPORTUNITY FOR RESTORATION: What We May Inherit From Jesus Christ
1. Salvation
John 3:16; Romans 6:23
2. An Extreme Image Makeover
2 Corinthians 5:17; Colossians 3:10
3. Eternal Significance
4. Eternal Acceptance
5. Eternal Security
CONCLUSION:
Illustration: My young child’s picture. What is it? Not what I thought. Who’s right – the critic or the artist?
Only our Creator has the right, authority, or ability to define who we are!!! Will you believe Him or someone else, maybe even yourself instead?
