IT’S A Matter of Identity

 

IT’S A Matter of Identity

 

Laying a Foundation for Your Children’s Identity

 

Four Principles of Identity

In the life of Jesus

1. Identity has to do with who you belong to Matt. 16: 13-17

Jesus asks two questions

1. Who do men say I am?
2. Who do you say I am?

Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”

Four things we must know about Identity: 1) Identity has to do with connection.  To whom was Christ connected too? (The Father) 2) Identity has to do with Power.  To whom did Christ draw His power? (The Father) 3) Identity has to do with the vision of the Father.  In John 10:30 Jesus said, “I and the Father are one.”

 

2. Identity has to do with Power. Matt 16:17-19 (John 12:48; 5:19) Jesus did not say I am going to build my Church on Peter, but on the knowledge and faith that comes from the Father.  In John 5:19 Jesus tells us He looks to the Father for everything.

So, what do we do?  We try to connect with the one we think has the power to fill our wants or place in life.  Do you recall Jr. High School?  Who had the power?

3. Whoever you want to identify with, you give them the power to shape your life. Matthew 16:15-19, In Peter's case, he chose Jesus and gave him the power to shape his life.  Whom have you chosen to shape your life?  In Luke 4:1 Jesus was led by the Spirit in the desert, Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit.
4. God has ordained that the father be the primary source of identity for his son either passively by what he doesn’t do or actively by what he does do.  Matthew 16:13-17
1. An example of the Father’s wisdom; “But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.” James 3:17

 

Identity has to do with shaping your life.

       

1.     Because of Jesus, I’m being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.  For, this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.  2 Corinthians 3:18b

2.     Why am I the way I am?

a.     I believe it is because Jesus Christ has become my life.  For much of my adult life, I’ve let my passion for the world and my flesh rob me from living a Spirit-controlled life.

b.     I’m on a new path, and that path has Jesus as my master guide.

c.     That path is focused on Jesus’ example and by the Holy Spirit's power I may abound in hope.  Romans 15:13

d.     When the Spirit of Truth comes, He will lead you into all truth.  John 16:13

Hope or Vision

       

1.     All of us are looking for someone who gives us hope or vision.

2.     My dad was a good provider, but he did not instill a vision of being a man.

3.     His dad did not give him a vision and it is hard to pass on what you have not experienced or been taught.

4.     In Deuteronomy 6:4-8 we are told “The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”  God not only told the fathers to put this in their hearts but to teach it diligently to their children.  Not at church, but in your house, and in the car, and on trips, when you are shopping, or playing, and when you rise and when you go to bed.  When your child sees you, he should see Jesus living out His life in you.  

a.     If you are just taking them to church for someone else to tell them about God you will lose, them.

b.     Fathers we are instructed in Ephesians 6:4; “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”

c.     As a son, I must “Trust in the Lord with all my heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.”  As a son, when you read Proverbs 3:1-7 you will begin to understand that your heavenly Father has told us to not trust in self or man but to acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.

d.     Fathers never forget; “The one that gives the most hope holds the heart.”

 

Validate the Son

 

1.     It is a must that we as sons know and have our hearts enlightened on the promises and hope of our calling.  We have an inheritance in Christ that sets us apart; Jesus the giver of life has come to live in us.  Ephesians 1:18

2.     Look at this promise; God called us not because of something we had done, (like be a good guy) but because of His own purpose and grace, which He gave us in Christ Jesus before time began.  See 2 Timothy 1:9

 

Our Society has devalued the role of the family, and it has targeted the role of the dad as not important.

 

1. We see men moving to independence!
1. Trying to connect with anything but sons or daughters.
2. What happens: independence from God, family, and other men.
3. It leaves the woman to do family
2. God has never asked the woman to call out her sons, he has told the dad to call out sons.  We are told that John the Baptist was one who would come in the spirit of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.  Luke 1:17  

 

Some very interesting statistics 

 

            If the child is the first in the family to be converted it will affect 3% of the 

           family.

 

            If the Mother is the first in the family to be converted it will affect 7% of her   

           family.

 

            If the Dad is the first in the family to be converted it will affect 94% of his family.

 

God’s Blueprint for the Family

 

• Deuteronomy 6:7-9
• Deuteronomy 11:18-21

 

Men’s hearts naturally turn to work and stuff.  What happens to the sons of a man who does not call his son out into manhood?  Judges 2:7-9 we have a good example of what happens.  Joshua was a man, who walked with God, and the men of his generation followed the lead of Joshua, but they did not walk as Joshua did.  What happened to Joshua’s grandchildren or the children of the generation that followed Joshua?  In Judges 2:10 “And that generation also were gathered to their fathers.  (They died) And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.  It only took three generations for Israel to forget the God of Joshua, to forget the God of their fathers, why?  

Because dad was too busy, too busy too self-centered to teach and to live out the Christ life in front of their sons and daughters.  So as in Joshua’s time, they lost their sons in three generations, it is happening in America.  Men will send them to church, and they may even go with them, but they do not live out the life in their family.

What a sad story, sons with no hope.  You can only give what the Father gives you.  So, we see then and now, men who go to church, but at home the children can tell it is not real.  What will these sons and daughters do, they will go after other gods, gods from among the people around them.  It is happening now and it is a repeat of Judges 2:10-12.

You may also want to look at 2 Kings 17:7-8, where the sons and daughters follow the lead of the kings who went after the customs of the people whom the Lord had driven out before them.

 

Kings of the land today

 

1. Madison Avenue

The advertising folks know how to sell a 15-year-old boy on buying Bud.  You show him the supermodel with not much on and imply if he drinks Bud, he gets the girl.  The world has been teaching him that life comes from women, so he is going to go for it.  And if the ad guys know if they can get him drinking Bud at 15, they have him for life.

 

2. Wall Street

 

A worldview of how much you can die with.

 

3. Music

 

Designed to build false desires and opinions in the hearts of our sons and daughters.

 

4. Hollywood, College sports, and Pro- sports

 

The desire is to steal your son's and daughters’ hearts and give them a false identity.

 

This is not your identity

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice