TEACHING

Identity Theft

What we believe about our identity and calling has huge implications for who we are becoming as followers of Jesus. Identity is our controlling self-understanding and self-worth. All of us live with a concept of who we really are and what we believe to be most fundamental and important about us. We often find our identities from what we do, what we have, what we want, or even what others think about us. But unlike these other approaches, the unique Christian claim is that identity is not achieved but received. The truest thing about us is that we are loved “in Christ” (Eph 1:1). We are the Beloved (Rom 1:7). We are God’s children. (Jn 1:13) We are the friends of God (Jn 15:15). We are Saints (1 Cor 1:2), free (Rom 8:1-2), and citizens of heaven (Phil 3:20). We are God’s temple (1 Cor 3:16), God’s workmanship, God’s poem (Eph 2:10), and God’s good creation (Gen 1-2, Ps 139). Yet, so often, we forget what is most fundamental and important about us. We can sometimes believe lies about our identity. As theologian and professor Henri Nouwen suggests, the lies we believe about our identity are ….

I am what I have. I am what I do. I am what other people say or think of me. I am nothing more than my worst moment. I am nothing less than my best moment.

In this teaching series, we want to take time as a community of Jesus followers to explore what is most fundamental and important about our identity by examining the different ‘identity thieves’ and false statements we are tempted to believe.