Psalm 57:2 (CSB)
I call to God Most High, to God who fulfills His purpose.
Jesus is seen by the world today in many different ways:
•Savior & Lord
•Loving
•Influential
•Irrelevant
Jesus’ life is a vivid illustration of the priority of identity.
•Luke 2:49 -Jesus saw God as His Father
And He said to them, “Why were you looking for Me? Did you not know that I must be in My Father’s house?”
•Matthew 3:17 – The Father saw Jesus as His beloved Son in whom He was well pleased.
And behold, a voice from heaven, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am welled pleased.”
The Father tells Jesus this before Jesus has preached a sermon, called a disciple, performed a miracle, or completed the Father’s will by dying for our sin.
That allowed Jesus to following the Father’s directions.
•John 8:28
So, Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing on my on authority, but speak just as the Father taught.”
Notice what the Father did not say to Jesus:
•Go evangelize the world
•Do the right thing
•Fulfill My law
•When you die, fear not, I will bring you back
The Father confirmed who Jesus was, the Father’s beloved Son & how He felt about Jesus, well pleased. Identity took precedence over instruction.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is knowing who we are in Jesus.
Jesus, right after His baptism, is led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted. The first two temptations that Jesus faced were aimed as His identity, “If You are the Son of God…”
Jesus based His entire earthly ministry on who He was and who He is.
He did not base it on:
The people He knew
His education
His miracles
It all flowed from His identity as God’s beloved Son in whom the Father was well pleased.
We can live & relate to others, ourselves, & God based on our identity in Jesus, who He says we are.
Jesus sets the example here:
●His identity directed His actions. – John 10:11: As the Good Shepherd He
laid down His life for the sheep (us).
●His identity allowed Him to give us access to the Father. – John 14:6: He is the way, the truth, the life, and the only access point to the Father.
●His identity gave Him authority. – John 11:25-26: He is the resurrection and the life and those who are dead live in Him.
Our lives are best lived when we know our God-given identity and when we let God reveal that identity to us.
What is an identity?
Identity is who a person is in totality. It is the real truth about the real you. We all have a God-given identity, but we may not know it or want it or understand it.
Relationships flow out of our identity. So, relationships are the interaction of our identities that enable us to know and understand one another. The depth of our relationships is greatest when who you are, and who they are, can freely open up, understand, and speak the truth in love.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is relating to others based on who we are in Jesus.
Anytime in Scripture God created something, He always marked it by naming it. – Genesis 2:19
Names in Scripture meant something that show the person’s real character, their identity. There are instances when God changed the character of a person, He also changed their name. Today when we hear a name, we associate it with a character trait based on some person with that name that we had known.
Who we really are matters to God. Discovering what God knows about us and how He views us should matter to us.
We are all on a journey of identity. We come into life not knowing who we are. We learn our identity as we live life. Some of our teachers are good and some are bad, some are trustworthy and some totally unreliable.
Some things we learn about our identity are simple: I have brown eyes.
Some things we learn about our identity are complex: I never felt understood by my parents.
Over our lives we discover new things about our identity. Things like:
Our Strengths
Our Weaknesses
Our Successes
Our Failures
Our Shames
We learn how to adjust and adapt and deal with the positives and negatives.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is allowing God to reveal to us through His Word who we are.
We might believe we don’t think very much about our identity, but the truth
is our identity is actually a deep underlying part of our thinking most of the time every day. It is our identity that either clarifies or confuses the choices we make in life. In 2 Samuel 11, David makes several bad choices based on the false belief that as king he could do what he wanted. Our identity affects almost every area, including how you think and feel at any given time. It affects the way you approach daily opportunities and how you react to problems, and how you tend to view God and your present circumstances. Job is an example. He didn’t see his situation in the same way his friends saw it.
Shawn:
Is a sharp, intelligent employee, excellent at solving problems. He has a great attitude – that is, unless he fails or someone criticizes him. Then he panics, explodes in anger, lashes out at others, and withdraws into self-pity for days.
Luann:
Is an amazing mother to her three children. But when her youngest son left for college, she suddenly felt like her life as a mom was over, and she quickly sank into an unexpected depression, including suicidal thoughts.
Colby:
Grew up in church and decided to follow Jesus at a young age. But in his teen years, he developed a dark addiction to porn that has enslaved him for more than a decade. He desperately wants to be used by God, but he is haunted by shame, and he struggles with ongoing doubts about his own salvation.
Chelsea:
Is a beautiful girl with a bright future. After being sexually assaulted on a date in college, she’s been deeply broken emotionally and feels like worthless, damaged goods. Carrying loads of misplaced shame, she began drinking to medicate her pain and has battled alcoholism for years.
Jerome:
Has retired after twenty-five years as a pastor in his community and gladly passed leadership to a young man fresh out of seminary. Less than a year later, however, he’s frustrated with his empty calendar and has a hard time not being angry at how well the church has moved on without him. He feels jealousy over the new pastor’s success and has grown bitter toward God for taking his church away from him.
If you had a causal relationship with any of these people and listen to their stories you might come up with some assumptions about each of them.
Shawn just has anger issues.
Luann’s problem is her empty nest.
Colby needs an internet filter.
Chelsea needs to control her drinking.
Jerome is merely a grumpy old retiree.
But the truth is, in each case, their external behavior is actually flowing out of internal issues deeply rooted in their hearts. God sees into the heart (1 Samuel 16:7). They all need love and a listening ear, compassionate understanding, accountable relationships, and encouraging support. They also need to discover some key truths about their identity and value that could set them free. – John 8:32
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is looking at others with the eyes of Jesus.
Questions that We Need to Ask Ourselves:
●What do you think God thinks about you?
●Do you believe He really sees, cares, and knows you intimately?
●Do you feel like He accepts you, just tolerates you, or rejects you?
●Do you genuinely believe He loves you?
To know and be known is a powerful thing.
To love and be loved is a beautiful thing.
To know your purpose and fulfil it is a priceless thing.
But to know God and be known and loved by Him is better than life itself. It is, in fact, eternal life. – John 17:3
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is knowing that God knows and loves you.
We can then have the confidence to pray Psalm 139:23-24 and know that what God tells us will always be the truth and for our good.
In God’s Grace Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,
Joe
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