A Case of Mistaken Identity

A couple months back, Kelsey was going to, and she did go on a trip with my parents out of the country. And prior to her leaving, we wanted her to get a passport so she could come back home.

There's some other technical aspects to that, but that was the important one. If there was anything that came up that she'd be able to get back home with that. What's interesting, though, is filling out the paperwork. Laura and I both have ours, but it's been a while since we filled out all the paperwork. It's amazing how many places we have to prove who we are to the government with that. Not only did we have to have her social security number, we had her address, of course, where she lives. We have her date of birth.

They needed her a copy or her actual birth certificate. We couldn't even just send a copy. They needed an actual stamped one, which has where she was born, the day, all these aspects to who she is, her identity.

Not only that, but for her. But then we had to fill out and send things in that said who we were. I was her father, where I was born from. Her mother's maiden name, where she was born, here in Michigan. We had to send all of this information and go to the post office, make an appointment, and get all that through. It's amazing how much personal information, how much of our identity we provide to something like that. I know that when I filled out bank forms or things like that, loan applications, and they say, well, we need more personal information who says who you are and everything like that.

It's amazing how much we have to prove our identity, and we have to know what our identity is. With that passport that we got for Kelsey, it opens doors to the world. She can travel wherever she wants to, pretty much in this world now, because of that passport, because it proves who she is, and that a country will back up that this is who is on here, who it says she is. With that, we've done some traveling. I know when I went international, I'm not a great international traveler, so I don't think you guys want to all agree to go with me someplace.

I'm great if I'm going with you, because you work all the details out, but if it's left to me, I get a little bit anxious. When we were over in Italy, and I remember being nervous just because even though it's a comfortable country to be in, the walls are different. The rules are different. My biggest fear would be doing something silly or accidental that got me put in jail or got me arrested, which I would know not to do here, because we know the rules. But when you're in another country and you're abiding by their rules and you have your passport that says who you are and your identity, that's what that is, that ticket to get back in and get back home.

I remember walking back to the airport and coming up to the customs desk with the American there who was working at customs, and he's looking at my information and verifying that it looks like I am who I say I am, that my identity is intact and that I'm not forging or pretending to be somebody I'm not. And I remember him saying, welcome home.

It was a wonderful feeling to have somebody say welcome home. And it was the first time in my life I almost really that feeling of wanting to kiss the ground, because you're actually home. And it's a wonderful feeling to realize that you have that document that provides access and entryway back home.

And how it's just amazing how much of our identity is tied to that passport and how much of our identity is involved with obtaining something like that. Where do we get our identity? Is our identity based on us being a gender of a male or female? Is that our identity? Is our identity based on the roles we serve within our family? Is our identity based on where we work or what jobs we have? Is our identity based on our house address?

I think in a lot of ways we could say yes to these things. This is part of our identity, the full makeup and part of the access of who we are. What about on a church or congregational level? Is our identity based on how we serve? Is our identity based on a list that our names are on service areas that the responsibilities that maybe you have here in this congregation?

Is our identity based on what congregation we actually attend? The Flint congregation? Is our identity tied here to Flint? Or how long is our identity tied on how long we have attended the Church of God? Again, I'd say yes. Part of our identity is tied to these aspects of who we are, these physical attributes of our life. But would you say these attributes make up your true identity?

Or is our true identity based on something else?

Just like our identity is characterized by who we are, what we are doing in our lives, and the plans that we have for our future, our true identity can be characterized in a very similar way. Our true identity is that identity that is based on God and how He views us. And our true identity was established that moment that we were pented of our sins, that we were baptized, that we accepted the sacrifice of Jesus Christ as our personal Savior, and that we were baptized, and that we received the Holy Spirit. But even with our true identity being based on God, many times people we struggle as we continue to try to understand our true identity. Sometimes people struggle with self-doubt. Am I really who I think I am? Do I really behave as a Christian? Do I really do the things that I'm supposed to do? So self-doubt enters in. Sometimes people struggle with their purpose. Am I living the life that I should be? Am I fulfilling my role as part of the spiritual body of Christ? This is an important topic that we consider at this time of the year as we're in between a couple of the Holy Days. We just came out when we observed the Holy Day season, when we observed Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread, where we again remember that commitment we made at baptism to follow God, to lay our hand to the plow and never let go, to be building always our tower, in a sense, as we continue to strengthen our relationship with God. And as we examine our lives and try to remove the sin with the power of the Holy Spirit and God's help to remove those sins, that may even be a stronghold, a strangling aspect on our lives, but that we realize it can't stay here. We can't have this going on. And so we come out of those days, and as we get to the next Holy Day, which is just a few short weeks away with the Feast of Pentecost, we remember and realize that the Church started with God granting His Spirit on that day of Pentecost after Christ's death, that by the Holy Spirit being able to be received and given and received freely to all who would be baptized, who would repent of their ways and accept Jesus Christ as their Savior, that a new life would start inside of them with the Spirit, and that a new opportunity would be presented to them. And we'll get into that in a little bit. We can go through life struggling with things that are out of our control, such as, what do others think of me? Is that part of my identity? What others think of me? Or do I allow that to be part? I know I struggled with this as a teenager, personally. I wanted my friends to like me. I wanted to impress them. I didn't want to seem weird. I didn't want to seem different than everyone else. That was something I struggled with, what others think of me. Some struggle with, why am I not taller? Or why am I not thinner or smarter? Or why do I not have a different ethnic background? Some people struggle with things that are out of our control at times. But this isn't the way that we should lead our lives. God wants us to live with purpose. We are called to love, to sacrifice, and to give to others. So what is our true identity in our eyes and in God's view? And once we understand our true identity, how should we let it shape our lives? So today, let's explore aspects of our true identity and the power that is held in this identity. If you enjoy writing, keeping the title, track of the title, today's title is the case of mistaken identity.

Often in life, to understand where we are going, we need to evaluate where we've come from. We have to look back and review our past. And sometimes, for the purpose of this message, we have to review and think back. What was our identity in the past before being called by God? Before being baptized? What was our identity? Let's open our Bibles today in James chapter 3 and verse 13.

The passage we're going to read through here in James chapter 3, it may, in some ways, describe your previous identity. It may not, because each of our lives are different. This chapter doesn't encompass every aspect of who we once were. But it gives interesting thought and things for us to consider as we think about, before we progress to our true identity, what has been our identity of the past at times? James chapter 3 and verse 13 says, Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, that might have been part of our previous identity, self-seeking and bitter envy. He says, Do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. In a lot of ways, it's physical. These things that maybe our identity has been tied to, or maybe even still is part of our identity today. Earthly, sensual, demonic. Or where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every other evil thing are there. Again, that evil and self-seeking.

Moving forward to chapter 4 and verse 1, where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. This lust is part of our previous identity. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive because you ask amiss that you may spend it on your pleasures, adulterers and adultresses. Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever, therefore, wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. That's a strong three words there. Enemy of God. As part of our maybe previous identity created us, made us as an enemy of God, some of the things that we looked at and we received and we read through here. These other parts of maybe our identity that people would recognize and say, yep, that's part of who this person is or that's something I recognize in that person. He continues on in James 4 verse 11. He says, do not speak evil of another one of another. Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother speaks evil of the law and judges the law. Verse 13, come now you who say today or tomorrow we will go to such and such city and spend a year there, buy and sell and make a profit. Maybe that was part of our identity, is we were self-motivated. We wanted to march toward the beat of our own drum. Do things our way. Make our decisions. A lot of an inward focus. He goes on to say, whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow for what is your life. It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that. But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. Chapter 5 in verse 1, come now you rich. Weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth-eating, eaten. Your gold and silver are corroded and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasures in these last days. Another, maybe, connection to our identity. Seeking after things that we can acquire, things that we can count up. How much money do we have? How many cars have we owned? Maybe this is tied to part of our previous identity as well.

Verse 4, it says, indeed, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabioth. You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury. You have fattened your hearts, as in the day of slaughter. You have condemned. You have murdered the just. He does not resist you. It's one of the passages that we have where we can read through and consider how do we line up today? How have we lined up in the past? But for the sake of what we read through today, I'd like for us to keep in mind the identity, our identity, things that we're known by, ways that people would describe us. And as we consider our past before going to our future, I believe that we can each say, much of what we just read, in some senses, could be part of our previous identity that we once had. An identity that was based on seeking our own will, our own pleasures. An identity that was based on falsehood and lies at times, not on the truth that God has opened our eyes to. But then, something happened in our lives. God took that amazing first step towards us and draw, called us and drew us to Him. Our minds began to open to the truth of His Word in a way that never happened before, in a way that you had maybe even read the Scripture before, but it never sunk into your heart like it did in the moment that God started working with you and with me. We started to see the attributes that our identity was based on. We started to explore how other people viewed us, and as we grew in grace and knowledge and came to the point of being baptized, a new identity was established and a new attributes of that identity started to develop.

So, with the remainder of the message, I'd like to look at four different areas of our identity, our true identity. I don't think this, in any way, could fully encompass our true identity in four points, because all through God's Word, as we read this, it's just like layer after layer of layer of how God views us, of what our true identity is. But these are four aspects that I'd like us to consider for today as we consider our true identity, and the first is our identity in Christ. Our identity in Christ. Let's look to Galatians 2 and verse 20 as we consider this first aspect. Galatians 2 and verse 20. Paul was one of those who, I think if we would have read through the book of James with him, he would have said, ouch, that hurts. Yep, that kind of describes me in a lot of ways. He was one who had a different identity, though, on that road to Damascus when God started calling him and worked with him and started changing who he was, and when he became baptized, his identity truly changed. So when he describes himself in different passages that we read, or when he says these things, think of it from the standpoint of somebody who knew where he had come from, and he knew what his true identity was based on. Here in Galatians 2 verse 20, the apostle said this. He says, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live. See, he's saying, my identity is now based on Christ because I died with him. He's saying, it's no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Another aspect of our true identity is that we have a Savior who did not even withhold his own life, but was willing to give it for you and to me in order to fulfill the plan that the Godfather and that him had for the purpose of our existence. This is that aspect of our identity that Christ gave himself for me and for you, and that we must no longer live according to our own identity that was of the past, my desires, my selfishness, but to live a new life with a new identity in Christ. Again, we just came through the spring holy days where we examined our lives. We considered those aspects where we're not allowing Christ to live as fully in us as we should. That bread of life, that the true nourishment that we desire so much. I mean, as we hear with the shows about nutrition today, junk in, junk out with our bodies. We eat a whole bunch of just filler stuff. Our bodies are going to pay the consequences for that. But here, we're talking about the true bread of life. The nutrients that not only feed us spiritually, but change who we are. That we can allow God to live within us and give us everything we need to go into battle against ourselves and against our, maybe, identity. How we're viewed as, by others, how they would look to us and how they would describe us.

Let's also look at how Paul described this aspect in 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 16.

2 Corinthians 4 and verse 16.

2 Corinthians 4 and verse 17. Here again, the apostle says, therefore, we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, and he's talking about a physical death. He was recognizing his age. He was getting older. His physical life was coming to an end. But we can also view this as that part of our identity that dies off as we continue to let God live within us. To let Christ live, our identity in Christ, live within us. He says, even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is before a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. While we do not look at the things which are seen, such as those physical attributes of the world that always end up perishing, the cars, the jobs, even our own health. Some people base their identity on their health, their strength, their vitality. All these things are the things that can be seen. But he goes on to say, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen, those spiritual elements, those spiritual attributes of who we are, how we identify ourselves. For the things which are seen are temporary. They fade away. They die. They pass. They're not kept. But the things which are not seen are eternal. So again, it's not about where we work, who we're married to, how many children we have, what kind of car you drive, what kind of home we live in, what part of this country we are blessed to be able to live. It's not about these physical attributes, the physicalness of our identity, but more importantly, much more importantly, our true identities based on the character traits, the inward attitude when we allow Christ to fully live inside of us. So that's the first aspect of our identity in Christ. The second one is our identity, our true identity in being called by God. Our true identity in being called by God. Let's turn to Ephesians 1 and verse 3.

Ephesians 1 and verse 3.

Again, the apostle Paul here in Ephesians 1 says this as we consider our identity in being called by God. He says, Now granted, we had an aspect to that that we had to respond to that calling, but let's not forget that he chose us first, that he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself. This is a huge aspect of our true identity, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace by which he made us accepted in the beloved.

He says, In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace, which he made to abound toward us in wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in himself. All aspects of our identity are throughout this passage, that the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, in him. In him also we have obtained an inheritance, another aspect of our identity, that we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of his glory. In him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, this calling by God of us to him, and being able to know that we can receive the Holy Spirit. Going on in verse 14, which is a guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession to the praise of his glory. There's an aspect in verse 13 that we would be a mess to skip over without focusing on. It says, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. The sealing is critical because, as you know, in ancient times and even still sometimes today, people seal things with a stamp or something that is identifiable to who that person is, so that you realize that if that has that mark, that you know where the source of that came from. You know whose stamp that is. And we have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. We are identified by that seal. The New Living Translation says this for verse 13. It says, And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the good news, that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. This sealing, this identification, is what helps us to understand more perfectly who our true identity is, what it's based on, and where it comes from.

Going on in Ephesians 4, if we flip ahead a couple chapters, Ephesians 4, in verse 30, Paul says this, continuing the thought, the tie-in, he says, I do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed, and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Again, that New Living Translation says he has identified you as his own, the same thought that he used previously. Verse 31, it says, let all bitterness, and these may be descriptions of our previous identity, let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. Why? Because our identity is not based on these things. We were sealed with someone who this is not their attributes, not their character. We were called by God who has a different way of life and a different motivation behind him. He's motivated by love, not by get, not by everything that can be acquired. That's where bitterness comes from, that somebody has something that you don't, that something's going well for them that's not for you, all these things, all these attributes. And instead, though, being sealed by God, verse 32 says what we should be, what we should be known by, what our identity should reveal, and be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another even as God and Christ forgave you. So let us not forget that our true identity should be based on that we were called by God himself, that he was the one that took that first step. He was the one that drew us to him, and because of that we have a new identity to live our lives by. The third aspect with our identity is our we have a new identity in name, new identity in name. Each of you know me as Mike Phelps. That's my name. My birth certificate says Michael Dean Phelps, if you want to get technical. But on some of those bank forms, I'd fill out at different times with loan applications, different places. I think it was even on the passport form when I originally filled out, says, do you go by any other aliases? Have you ever seen that on any bank forms or official forms? Because they want to know, are you truly who you say you are or are you pretending to be someone else? Is this another name that you go by? Some people go by tiny. It's not on their birth certificate. I don't know very many mothers who would name their kids tiny, but they go by tiny. So is that an alias that some people go by? My life, it's pretty easy. I either go by Mike or Michael. It's not complex. How does God refer to us by name? Let's look at 1 John 2 and verse 28.

1 John 2 and verse 28.

Here the apostle John says in 1 John 2 verse 28, he says, and now little children, abide in him that when he appears, speaking of Jesus Christ, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of him. Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called children of God. Exclamation mark. Children of God. Therefore, the world does not know us because it did not know him. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. He goes on to saying everyone who has his hope in him purifies himself just as he is pure. Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. And you know that he was manifested to take away our sins, and in him there is no sin. Whoever abides in him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen him nor known him. This is part of that identity because we are called children of God by name. We must represent. Our identity must be seen in that we overcome the challenges we have in life, that we put away the past life. We put away our previous identity, maybe the things that people knew us by, and that we live in this newness of life. Verse 7, he says, little children, let no one deceive you. He who practiced righteousness is righteous, just as he is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for his seed remains in him, and he cannot sin because he has been born of God. In this, the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest. That previous identity, and now our true identity, is made visible. It's made manifest. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. Yes, we have a future as a spirit child of God, but still today, we have an opportunity, and we are children of God in a physical sense. God wants us to have a full and meaningful life with a relationship with him today. This is our identity. This is why we are Christians, because we follow our Lord and our Savior in deed, in actions, in words, in how we handle our lives. This is what having an identity in his name means for us today, and for our future. The fourth aspect of our true identity is our identity in having his spirit within us. We referenced his spirit previously, but let's focus a little more narrowly on our true identity in having his spirit. Let's turn to Romans 8 and verse 1.

Romans 8 and verse 1. Again from the Apostle Paul, he says this, For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death, for what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh. On account of sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. For those who live according to the flesh, that their minds on the things of the flesh. Where's my address? What kind of car do I have? How do people think of me? How many children do I have? All these aspects that are part of our identity, he's saying that's where the focus used to be on these things of the flesh.

I think I was in verse 5, continuing on. But those who live according to the spirit, the things of the spirit, that becomes our focus and what we're identified as. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is empty against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if indeed the spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, he is not his.

This is where we get down to just the core of our identity, in that we have been given God's own spirit that he has shared. He's poured out onto us, as he did on the early church, on that Pentecost, when 120 believers were received his spirit. Now if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, he is not his. This is that newness of identity that we must strive after. Verse 10, and if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit, which dwells in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh to live according to the flesh, for if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. Again, a critical verse in verse 14, for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. How do you know if you're in the church? How do you know if you're in the body of Christ? Right here. For as many are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the Spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs of God enjoin heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together. Again, we've gone through several passages where we look at what our true identity is based on. This is just a capstone, just a high-level view of it, because there's so much depth to the way you and I live our lives. The decisions that we make in the past, what our identity used to maybe be based on, what our next door neighbors thought of us, that if we had to look at our identity and say, well, I know this person, this is their behavior, this is their actions, this is what they spend their time doing, we get down to what we've looked at here, and we look at and we examine what should our true identity be based on? How do we know if we're truly changing ourselves? If we're truly a Christian, well, our identity changes, our behavior changes, our attitudes change. We no longer are identified as that on that passport. It's kind of like taking that passport to the customs office, you're about to come back into the country and they open up the passport and they look at it and they say, this isn't you. And you said, yeah, yeah, I got that 10 years ago, and they're saying, this doesn't resemble you. This doesn't look like you. Is this where you live? Because it says, you live in an earthly home, and you're like, no, I don't anymore. And that's that change that happens with our lives. That passport that we got years ago that had our identity in it before we were called by God shouldn't be the same passport you and I are using today to get through customs. It's a different passport, one that they wouldn't be able to recognize us from. We need that new passport. We need that updated passport, right? That's what this key is to this, to the message today, is this true identity that we are to be known by. Our identity must be in Christ. Our identity must be in being called by God. Our identity, our true identity, is having a name as children of God, and our identity in having God's Holy Spirit living and dwelling within us.

Through this message up to this point, we've looked at different aspects of our true identity. You may be thinking, well, this is all fine and good, but what does this really mean for me today? How does this impact and change my life? Knowing and understanding these aspects should motivate us and should impact the way that we live our lives because there is true power within this identity.

So many times, our lives are based on who we are and the things we have accomplished, where we went to college, what career we had, how many people we managed in that career. Maybe it was how great of a homeschooler you were to your children, or just how many children you have. Sometimes people place their identity on those things, on things that are accomplished or acquired.

It's mostly based on physical attributes, but as we read earlier, these are temporary, and each one of these will perish with time. Think about the memories you have of others you have known. Think about your own memories, the legacy that you want to leave behind. I think we all want that. We all want people to remember us when we're gone, to tell stories, our children, our grandchildren, our great-grandchildren to know us. But truth be told, in time, what happens? Truth be told, we're forgotten in time. That these attributes, these ways that we have lived our lives, these choices that we've made, more times than not, kind of fade away as time continues on. Unless maybe you have a biography that is written about you, but even then, does it truly paint a picture of who you are today, just somebody's view in a book written? Even if you wrote it yourself, it would encompass only certain aspects of your identity, of your story. Truth be told, as we go on from this physical life, those physical aspects of our identity, they fade away as well.

But there is power in having an identity that is based on the foundation of living eternally with God. This identity that we continue to let change us, that we continue to morph, that it's not recognizable in that passport anymore, does not fade away because it's protected in holy attributes of God. Get down to the core of it, love. If we develop love today, that stays with us forever. It doesn't just fade away, it stays as part of who we are, and God protects that, and God knows it. The things we go through and the difficulties that we overcome become part of our true identity because God is building us into a new person that will stay with us forever. And this identity is permanent because the attributes of God are true, good, and permanent as well. So yeah, the physical aspects of our identity that we may be known for, that physical address that we live at right now, that's going to disappear and be gone with an attribute of love, of kindness, of peace. These attributes are eternal and remain with us. But what happens in life as we go through life and we mess up and we fall short? Does our true identity change? When we lose our temper, can someone say, oh, that person has a temper, let me go ahead and tag them as somebody who loses her temper. Does that become part of our identity? Or if we worry more about what other people think of us and we change our behavior to match what we think other people want us to do or how we think we should behave, does this become our true identity? When we make poor decisions that impact our lives or the lives of others around us, does this become our true identity? We live in a physical life and we are not perfected yet in this physical form. But does our imperfections change our true identity? Let's look at Philippians 1 and verse 6. Again, the Apostle Paul addresses this idea of, are we perfected? Will we ever be perfected in this physical form? Will the work that God has started in us be finished? It's a big question a lot of people ask. Even though I wear a new identity, a true identity, am I perfect right now?

Paul addresses this in Philippians 1 verse 6. He says, being confident of this very thing that he who's begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. We live with a new identity in God and in Jesus Christ. And as long as we're willing to keep our hand on the plow, that does not change our true identity, how we're viewed as by God, how we are called His children. He doesn't just call us His children and then we mess up. He goes, well, you're not my children anymore. He doesn't disown us. He completes and continues changing us as long as we are in the game. As long as we're willing to acknowledge and to repent of our past sins, He is saying that He will continue to work, guide, lead us. And that doesn't mean that our identity then changes because we mess up, we fall short, or we maybe even put on some of that old identity that maybe we've tried to get away from in time because it's difficult to get away from maybe our past. But there's power knowing that our true identity is based on how God views us and how He describes us. And knowing that our God is faithful to forgive our mistakes and forgive our sins when we come before Him and repent of our transgressions, this gives us power in order to embrace our true identity before Him. This is why our mistakes are not part of our true identity.

Often in life we mistake our true identity because it's so easy to do. We think our identity is, again, based on these physical attributes, who we associate with, those family or those friends that we talk with, who or how we serve, what it is that we do in our profession, our genders being male or female, what city or neighborhood we live in, what state we live in, what nation we live in, what universe we live in, all these things often we focus on as our true identity. But that's mixing it all around because none of these things really define or make up our real identity. We are children of God. Can't repeat that enough, can I? Can you hear it enough? That we are children of God. That is our true identity. That's what He calls us.

We didn't make this up. We didn't just say this would be nice to have. We are truly children of God. And with this understanding is power. Power to overcome our weaknesses. Power to rise above our past. Power to be strengthened by our own spiritual father. This is why we must never lose sight of our true identity and allow the choices that we make and the feelings that we feel to distort our view of this true identity that we have. In a sermonette this morning in Ann Arbor, Mr. McGuire shared something that I wrote in my notes to share with the congregation there, and I want to share it with you. He was talking about the importance of change, the difficulty sometimes of habits that develop in life. And in case he shares it here, I won't go into too much. But he says we have to unlearn faster these aspects of how we handle ourselves, how we think of ourselves. If your identity has been based on maybe some of these things in the past, we have to unlearn that foundation to change it. He mentioned this equation. He said, pain plus insight plus time equals change.

Pain plus insight plus time equals change. Pain of knowing who we truly are, of being disappointed in ourselves, of God revealing the aspects of our life that we're not happy with.

And then the insight of God showing us the direction to go, to walk in newness. You've got the pain plus the insight plus time. I'm so grateful that God doesn't just say, well, here's your five chances of overcoming this challenge. That's your time. You get five. Use them wisely. Be careful when you get to four. God doesn't do that with us, and I'm so thankful for that. He gives us time. We have an infinite amount of time as we continue to breathe and live life. We don't know how long it's going to go on. We've got to take each day and grasp it for what we can, but we're thankful that God gives us years of life to continue to change, as we are called. So pain plus insight plus time equals change. As we continue to embrace our true identity and realize that God is working with us, that God is showing us who we are for Him, how He views us, that passport doesn't resemble us anymore. When we hold it to the guy at the border crossing, he's not going to let us back into this earthly realm because our passport doesn't match who we have become, because God has changed our identity. He's working within us. We have allowed Him to change that identity. Satan wants to rob us of our true identity. He wants us to forget who we are in God's eyes. He throws worldly pursuits in our path, power, fame, and fortune, tempting us with physical things. He wants us, and He hopes that we'll forget who we are, hoping that we will forget our true identity. Satan wants us to feel like we need to please others around us more than we need to seek to please Him. He wants us to get our identity from the things that we do, Satan does, from our address, from our jobs, from our education, from our background. He wants us to get our identity from all these physical things. Why? Because he knows they die in time. They fade away. They're worth nothing in the end.

But instead, we should seek things of God for our identity, because then Satan loses.

If we bypass having our identity tied to the physical aspects, and we instead change it to the spiritual aspects, God wins, and we win with Him. But again, as we go through those different stages of life, as a wife or a husband, as a parent, as maybe that best homeschool mom, we must not lose sight that all these things are temporary identifiers, and these are not the things we should put above our real and true identity and how God views us. As we close, let's look at a passage in 1 Peter 2 and verse 1. 1 Peter 2 and verse 1, because he speaks in this passage of our true identity. We've seen the Apostle Paul talk about it, the Apostle John talk about it. Now, let's look at what the Apostle Peter talks about our true identity. What is it? 1 Peter 2 and verse 1. He says, therefore, laying aside all malice, again, that old, these old identifiers, our old identity, that he's saying, laying aside all malice, all deceit, all hypocrisy, all envy, and all evil speaking.

But on the flip side, our real identity as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious, coming to him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious. You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices accepted to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore, if it, therefore, it is also contained in the Scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on him will by no means be put to shame. Therefore, to you who believe, he is precious, but to those who are disobedient, the stone which the builder rejected has become the chief cornerstone, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense. They stumble, being disobedient to the word to which they were also appointed. But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people. Now, tell me that's not the identity that you want. What an amazing identity that we have as Christians, followers of God, with his spirit in us. Let's read that again. You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Who were once not a people, the New Living Translation says, once you had no identity.

Again, that passport that you walked up to, imagine they open it at the border, at the customs agent, and they open it up, it's empty. No picture, no name, it's just a blank passport. That's what he's saying. Once you had no identity, you came up, you gave him that passport, thinking you're going to get in, it was empty. Nothing in it. No words, no picture, no information about you.

Who were once not a people, once you had no identity, but are now the people of God.

That's that new passport that you and I have, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

As we continue to live in this new identity that we have, it's a wonderful blessing that we have before us. So let us take these words that I've shared with you today and let us not suffer from a case of mistaken identity.