Who am I? 5/8/2005
John 14:6
There use to be a TV game show that I liked to watch where you would have different celebrities that would put on blindfolds and then someone would come out and the job of the celebrities was to ask questions to try and identify the person.
And the same words that were used in the show still come up today. “Who am I?” Today we have more modern games like Gestures where we act out certain things to get the other players to say what we are doing? But sometimes the game gets more serious. Some people will use the question of who am I in a different way other than some game.
So this morning lets look at this question of who am I and see if we can find the answers from God’ s word.
Who am I as the excuse? (Exodus 3:11)
Here we read about Moses making up the excuse of who am I when asked to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt. Now when you think about it, Moses whole life was designed for that purpose. Think about it.
First you had the miraculous saving of his life. Pharaoh had sent out a decree that all Hebrew males should be killed by drowning them in the river. Moses was born then his mother hid him 3 months without getting caught. Now can you imagine keeping a baby quiet for that long? I can remember my oldest son, Zach, crying and crying. I would think why is he crying? Well we found out that he had colic; but babies cry. That is how they communicate with us and tell us they need feed and changed.
Then she placed him in a basket and put him in the reeds by the river not knowing what his destiny would be. And low and behold who comes down to the river to take a bath; Pharaoh’s own daughter.
She had her maid to bring Moses to her and he started crying and the Bible says, “She had compassion on him”. She realized that he must have been crying because he must be hungry and so she sends Moses own sister to find one of the Hebrew women to nurse him. So sisters goes and gets mom and then Pharaoh’s daughter tells his mom, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.”
Not only is she getting her son back, but also she now is getting paid to raise him. Now if that is not God’s hand at work. So when he is grown his mom sends him to the Palace and learns what it is like to be the grandson of Pharaohs. He probably saw the Pharaoh often and sat at his table and developed a relationship with him.
So when God knew that he was ready he allowed him to kill an Egyptian so he has to flee the pleasures of the palace and dwell in the deserts of Midian. Strange for him to live in a desert; did it ever accrue to you that it might just be more training ground for the task that God has given him to do?
So who am I? Who else was more qualified? Who else had a better inside track? Who else had the experience to live in the desert? Moses whole life was just God preparing him to do what he had asked him to do.
We should never ask God, “Who am I? “ when He ask us to do something. Because God will not ever ask you to do anything that He will not have planed and prepared and empowered you to do it. And God tells Moses, “I will certainly be with you”.
So as you go through the trails in your life, when you are having to live in your deserts, then just think; it might just be God preparing you to do something. Don’t make excuses just thank God for the opportunity to serve Him.
Who am I in Humbleness (1 Chronicles 29:12-14)
Here we find King David giving praise to God. David is best known as the slayer of the giant, Goliath. And we know from reading the Bible that David was a good-looking man. He eventually became the King of Israel. Even God calls David a man after His own heart. David defiantly had a lot going on.
But even with all of that he was and all the he had, David knew where everything came from. (Vs.14 For all things come from You)
I can remember a song that Mac Davis sang talking about how hard it was to be humble. And although that song was written to be funny, it is a sin that affects many. People start answering the question of who am I with I am something else. We are within ourselves nothing. We cannot do anything without His power or His permission. He empowers us to do His will then sometimes he allows us to try things our way. Go ahead, try it your way and maybe then you will be ready to do it My way.
It was pride that caused Satan’s fall. Him thinking he could be a god. Pride, or thinking your really something when the truth is we are really nothing; is a sin.
James 4:6 “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.
Pride will split a church. We should never think if it were not for me, this church would never make it. If it were not for God we could do nothing. Nobody who is obedient to God and doing what God has for them to do in His church is any more or any less important than the others.
Romans 12:3 For I say, through grace given unto me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more than he ought to think,
Who am I? I am nothing a sinner saved by the grace of God. And that leads me to my last who am I.
Who am I that Jesus would bleed and die for?
Did you ever think about that? Why would Christ give up all His glory in Heaven and come down to this earth to suffer and be persecuted and eventually lay down His life for. Why would He do that for me? What makes me so special?
Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love towards us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
You have heard me say this before, but I believe that if in the beginning God created Dean Meadows and then He would have stopped there. I believe if I had been the only person to have every lived then He still would have died for me.
Why? Because He loves you and me so much and His desire is to have a personal relationship with you.
I think about that old song, “Who am I?” Who am I that a King would bleed and die for? Who am I that He would pray, not my will thine for. The answer that I may never ever know, why He ever loved me so. But to an old rugged cross we go, for who am I.
You see there is only one difference between anyone here today or anywhere else. We all are sinners. The only difference is that some of us are sinners saved by grace and the rest are sinners bound for Hell.
So for anyone who is on the latter of the sinners then God’s invitation to you is that you come into a personal relationship with Him. God instead of asking who am I, say’s Here I am!
Revelation 3:20 NIV Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. IF ANONE HEARS my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.
So as Jesus asked the disciples in Mark 8:29, "Who do you say I am?" That is my question to you this morning. Who is Jesus to you? Is He someone you go to when you are in trouble? Is you someone that you know of but you have never known?
You can know Him today! And if you know him but your don’t have much of a relation with Him, then you can change that also. You can go from making Him not just your Savior, but making Him your Lord!
