Identity Crises

Identity Crises, Confusion
We are living in a day in which personal and gender identity is in a state of crises and confusion for many people. Gender identity is now much more than just male and female. We have an organization called the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transexual) that defends the rights of people to express themselves any way they desire.
In New York it was proposed that young students would not have to declare their gender until they were sure of who they were and if they wanted to change their identity they could do it at any time. We are seeing an increase in the number of people who are living with a different identity than what they were born.
Guatemala and El Salvador have serious problems with gangs. In El Salvador a law was passed recently that would allow the police to arrest anyone who was in gang and put them in jail. Many who join the gangs are looking for a new identity and a sense of belonging to a group of people. They cover their bodies with tattoos that are identification marks of being part of their gang or they wear certain clothing in a specific way that identifies them as one of the gang members. Being identified with the gang is very important to them as it gives them a place to belong and a purpose for living even though it is not at all what God created them to be and do. There is a new movie called “Reparacion” about the gangs in the prison in Guatemala.
The identity of these gang members has been the result of growing up in a home without a father who did not help them identify who they are and unfortunately many churches were guilty of not reaching out to help them realize their true identity in Christ. Your identity determines your purpose in life.
The enemy has been very successful in creating massive confusion regarding man’s true identity. You can choose who you want to be regardless if it is against God’s original design for mankind. We are expected to be tolerant of others choices and not try to force a moral standard upon them. Let them be who they want to be is the mantra of our day. There is increased acceptance and pressure to give approval to the identity that a person chooses for himself or herself. The ultimate goal is to get everyone to believe that it is natural and choice is not involved.
The Bible is very clear about our identity and our purpose in life. We have been created in the likeness and image of God and our purpose in living is to know God and enjoy a personal relationship with Him that is based on love. God created us with a free will to choose to love Him. As we read the Bible we see what has happened to man when he has lost his identity and lives outside of the boundaries God has established. When Adam and Eve sinned against God a major change happened immediately. They lost the glory that clothed them and the innocence in which they lived after they ate of the fruit. They alsol lost the intimacy they had with God. Immediately they were filled with fear, hid from God and tried to cover up their nakedness. They knew they had violated God’s command and their reaction of hiding and covering themselves because a change had taken place. They were no longer innocent people but were people who were ashamed. They had a new identity that was not what God had originally intended for them. Man quickly degenerated as this new identity was passed on to succeeding generations. Man became so wicked in this new identity that God had to wipe out the human race and start over again with Noah and his small family. God chose Noah and then Abram to be the people whom He would reveal Himself and reestablish the identity of God’s people. Through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob a nation of people were created who would understand their true identity through the revelation God gave them through the laws and the prophets. The nation of Israel was to be a kingdom of priests who represented God to man and interceded between man and God (Ex. 19:5,6). Through the nation of Israel God would send the Messiah who would make possible the restoration of man to God. The intent was that the nations would come to know God through His chosen people and understand their true identity through their relationship with God. Israel did not do a very good job at being the nation that followed God. They identified themselves with the gods of the other nations and abandoned their true identity and purpose. Eventually they were taken captive by the Assyrians and Babylonians as punishment for their abandonment of God. When the captors destroyed their cities and took them into their lands they immediately split the people up and dispersed them throughout the land to destroy their identity as a nation. Separation and isolation were great tactics to destroy the identity of the people. Yet in spite of their efforts to disperse them and destroy their identity, God maintained a remnant of people who would not lose their identity. The story of Daniel and the 3 Hebrew young men is a great example of how the conquering nation tried to change their identity. First they were removed from their homeland, separated from their families and everything that was familiar to them. Then they were given new names that were names to honor the gods of their captors and give them a new identity. (Daniel 1:6,7)
Their names carried meaning. Daniel meant God is judge, or my judge. Hananiah’s name could be translated, Jehovah is gracious. Mishael’s name, as Daniel’s, contained the shortened form for God (el) and meant who is like God. Azariah’s name asserted that Jehovah helps. These godly names were changed into compounds of the names of the Babylonian gods.
To make them forget the God of their fathers, the guide of their youth, they give them names that savour of the Chaldean idolatry. Belteshazzar signifies the keeper of the hidden treasures of Bel; Shadrach—The inspiration of the sun, which the Chaldeans worshipped; Meshach—Of the goddess Shach, under which name Venus was worshipped; Abed-nego, The servant of the shining fire, which they worshipped also. (Matthew Henry Commentary)
Next they were reeducated in the knowledge of their captors. Finally they were asked to adopt the customs of the Chaldeans and forsake the laws God had established. This was the point where they would not give in. They would not bow to the gods of their captors and identify themselves with them. They knew their God and they were determined to not compromise their true identity as children of the One True God.
Our enemy tries to do the same thing with each of us to get us to lose our true identity. He tries to separate us from other believers by creating divisions or he tries to exploit us when we are in a situation in which there are few believers. He wants to isolate us so we feel alone and then are more susceptible to his temptations to adopt new gods and standards for living. Unfortunately many Christian college students fall away from the faith because of the isolation they feel as believers in a godless campus that is filled with many opportunities to be engrossed in sin and be accepted.
One of the reasons we have the Monday night worship service in English is to counter this tactic of the enemy to isolate and separate believers who come to Antigua. It is easy to fall away from the faith in Antigua, the temptations are there and being away from home where no one knows you makes it even easier to give in to temptation and change your identity. When I came to Antigua in 1999 the Lord put in my heart the desire to start these meetings because I saw and felt the need for fellowship among the English speaking people who were here. These meeting have been going on since January 2000 and I am glad you have come to be a part of it. It is a great way to meet people, get connected and be encouraged in your faith.
Beside separation and isolation the enemy will do his best to expose us to a new way of thinking about life. He will try to destroy our Christian world view and replace it with the current philosophies that the world embraces. If you are not solidly grounded in your faith or a Christian worldview of life, you will be unprepared to recognize and refute other world views and begin to adopt them as part of your life. Someone once said, “If you stand for nothing, you will fall for anything.”
One of the greatest examples of the power of wrong values and philosophies of life was witnessed in Germany when Adolf Hitler rose to power. I recently read the biography of Dietrich Bonheoffer and learned many things about what was going on in Germany when Hitler’s philosophy of life ruled the nation. He viewed the Jews, the disabled and the elderly as expendable. He sanctioned the death of millions of Jews and used them for medical experiments that were unconscionable. He saw no value in disabled children and ordered them put to death. Much of this happened without the knowledge of many of the people in Germany and when people found out they were appalled that these things were happening. Unfortunately the church did not make a united stand against him for a variety of reasons. One of the reasons was the people were afraid they would lose their identity when they would eventually be defeated. Those who were opposed to Hitler tried hard to convince Britain that they were serious about overthrowing Hitler and they did not want the whole world to think that everyone was in agreement with his philosophies. A few Christians tried to overthrow Hitler and kill him but were unsuccessful. Hitler’s worldview influenced an entire nation and led to the death of millions of innocent people. Ideas have consequences and we must be vigilant to expose false philosophies that undermine God’s values. When you lose your true identity, you expose yourself to many ideas and philosophies that can be very destructive and your purpose in living becomes something God never intended.
When you call yourself a follower of Christ you will be put to the test. It may be in a small thing or something that could have devastating consequences. Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego and Daniel were all faced with decisions to conform to the ways of their captors or stand faithful to their beliefs. They were asked to eat food that was against their beliefs but they refused to do it. They were asked to bow down to the idol and refused to do it. The consequences were not good, a fiery furnace waited for them. God honored their stand for righteousness and protected them. Daniel refused to stop praying against the order of the King and was thrown into the lion’s den. He stood for his beliefs and God stood with him. These men refused to change their identity and their beliefs. They knew who they were and whose they were.
What you believe will be tested, the enemy will make sure you go through the fire to see what you are made of and what is your true identity. I knew some Christian people who bought a roundtrip plane ticket with the intention of having one person fly on the first part of the trip and a different person fly back using the same ticket. In their mind it was a way to save money as a one way ticket is always more expensive. So in order to do this they had to created a false identity card so when they presented it at the check in counter it would match the name on the ticket. They were able to do it and they did not get caught. But in retrospect they were willing to expose themselves to a damaged reputation and possibly a fine for the sake of saving a few dollars. How valuable is your reputation? What is your price? I heard another example of a youth pastor who when attending college used the identity of someone else to play basketball in a health club so he would not have to pay the nonmember club fee. When asked his name at the desk, he gave the name of a friend who was a member of the club and then stated that he had forgot his membership card that had a photo i.d. He got in and began to play basketball when the attendant at the desk came to the gym with the person who he had stated he was!! He had been caught and now established a reputation with the attendant that he was a liar, deceiver and willing to sell his reputation for a small amount of money.
Some of you may have read the news of the past week in which a pastor of a megachurch in Atlanta has been accused of sexual abuse of 4 teenage boys in his church. He has denied the charges and time will tell whether he is truly innocent. He is going to go through one of the greatest testings in his life and I pray that he truly is found innocent of all charges.
None of are exempt from having our identity tested and we all must be careful to keep ourselves in the love of God and always respond with love toward God whenever we are tested.
God has made you in His image and likeness, He has chosen you, He has called you, He has made you a new creation in Christ, you are His, He has you in the palm of His hand, you are precious and of great value to him. Your identity is found in Him. Your purpose is found in Him. Your values, beliefs and behaviors are to reflect who you are in Him. Paul stated, “It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me.” His new identity was found in Christ and that is the beauty of Christianity. We remain unique in our personality, gifting and abilities yet we share the same values of Christ. Christ is forming his character in us, conforming us to his nature yet expressing it through our uniqueness.
Erwin Lutzer, pastor of Moody Church in Chicago told the story of one of his daughters who invited a friend over to their house to play when she was only 4-5 years old. Her friend was not acting right, she was doing a lot of bad things that bothered Erwin’s daughter. Finally his daughter asked her friend, “Do you have Jesus living in your heart?” Her friend replied that she did and Erwin’s daughter responded, “I think you have a bunch of other people living in there as well.”
When Christ comes to dwell in us, we have a new identity. We no longer have to try to be someone we are not. We can be free to be the person God created us to be.
We are going to watch a drama performed by our DTS students called “King of Hearts”. It is a powerful drama about how we try to hide behind a false identity.
We need to establish our identity in Christ. We can be free in Christ to be who we have been created to be. We do not need to try to be something we are not to hide our fears or present a false image to other people.
In Christ we discover our true identity and our purpose. Celebrate your uniqueness and enjoy the great variety of personalities in the Body of Christ. Be secure in your identity in Christ. Don’t be a copycat, be who God created you to be.