Identity Crisis is Real… the question is How Did We Get Here?
Genesis 1:26-28; 31 (NIV)
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.
God Created, God Distinguished, God Endowed
Propagated by Relationship
Genesis 3:5 (NIV)
“For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
To be ‘just like God Himself’, became the beginning of human identity crisis. Being who God created Adam and Eve to be was not enough… they had to be like God.
Identity Crisis is the result of SIN.
Identity Established “Outside In”
Found in Achievement
Propagated by Guilt
From a Biblical Perspective –
John 3:1-3 (NIV)
Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.” In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”
Samaritan Woman – John 4
The Apostle Paul - Acts
From a Cultural Perspective –
Traditional Identity as Fulfilled in Culture:
- Family Traditions
- Soldier Tradition of 20th Century
- Asian Culture…
- The Church…
Identity Established “Inside Out”
Found in Discovery
Propagated by Feelings
The Modern Identity is often the rebellious response to Traditional Identity:
• “I have ‘done’ what I’m supposed to do… ‘achieved’ what I was told to achieve… and I still struggle with Sense of Self and Sense of Worth.
• Instead of looking outside in… I’m going to look inside out.
• My identity is not found in achievement; it will be found in discovery.
• I will no longer be controlled by guilt… I will be led by my feelings.
From a Biblical Perspective – Gnosticism
I Timothy 6:20-21 (NIV)
Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care. Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge, which some have professed and in so doing have wandered from the faith.
Knowledge – gnoseos (Gnosticism) – knowledge based by personal spiritual experiences.
From a Cultural Perspective –
Gender Identity – a personal and internal sense of oneself as male, female, or other. Gender identity, gender expression, and gender roles, a variety of combinations may occur and can change over time. (WebMD)
The Physical Doesn’t Matter… the only thing that matters is the “Spiritual”… in fact the physical becomes irrelevant.
But whether its identity found in achievement or discovery… fueled by guilt or feelings… it’s a False Identity. It gives False Hope. With disastrous results!
The Only Hope for Identity Crisis - GRACE.
IDENTITY IN CHRIST
Established in Christ’s Redemptive & Restorative Work
Found by Faith
Propagated by Relationship
• In Christ, we do not lose our true selves… we become our true selves! Fulfilled in Whom God has Created us to be! Identity in Christ connects us to Creative Identity!
Ephesians 2:3-6 (NIV)
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will – to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.
• It’s an Identity “IN” Christ, not just “OF” Christ. The Holy Spirit dwells in us, as He did the earthly Christ; so that Christ’s joy… complete in us. Christ’s love… complete in us. Christ’s peace… complete in us. Christ’s strength… complete in us.
Colossians 2:6-10 (NIV)
So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.
• Our Identity in Christ is the transforming agent for a world that is lost in their own identity, and critical of ours.
Daniel 5:10-12 (NIV)
The queen, hearing the voices of the king and his nobles, came into the banquet hall. “O king, live forever!” she said. “Don’t be alarmed! Don’t look so pale! There is a man in your kingdom who has the spirit of the holy gods in him. In the time of your father he was found to have insight and intelligence and wisdom like that of the gods. King Nebuchadnezzar you father – your father the king, I say – appointed him chief of the magicians, enchanters, astrologers and diviners. This man Daniel, whom the king called Belteshazzar, was found to have a keen mind and knowledge and understanding, and also the ability to interpret dreams, explain riddles and solve difficult problems. Call for Daniel, and he will tell you what the writing means.